Staying Positive Amidst the Storms

This was a week of having to remember the miracles amongst lots and lots and lots of rejection. Let’s just say that every single lesson we had set up and confirmed for this week didn’t show up (except for 1)…it was 18 in total to be exact. That was really sad. So we have done our best to stay positive and keep finding the miracles, so I’m gonna share some more miracles!

Miracle #1:

I went on exchanges this week with Sister Lyman and she bought me an Oreo McFlurry haha that’s not the miracle but it tasted really good! So we were biking to a Seven to do our language study and all the sudden we get flagged down from the other side of the road, so after checking for cars we swerve over to go stop and say hello. Turns out this person is living in Guam but grew up in Taiwan and was home for the holidays. Plot twist, she has met with the missionaries before, been taught all the lessons, and wanted to get baptized, but because she was in high school at the time, and her parents refused to let her, she ended up not getting baptized. In the end, she was super excited to have run across missionaries again and find out that our church is also in Guam (side note, her husband is a member from Guam, but less active). We got her contact information and sent it to the missionaries in Guam. We got a text from this lady yesterday saying that she met with the missionaries in Guam and was so excited to be learning this Gospel again! Technology is amazing and the church is true! MIRACLES!

Miracle #2:

Also when I was on exchanges, we went to go find a member who hasn’t been to church in a while. We go to where we think her address is and can’t find the address anywhere. Well the house next door has their door open so we go to ask them to see if they know who this person is. They didn’t end up knowing who they were, but turns out this lady is also one of our ward members who hasn’t been to church in a really long time ! Haha so we sat down with her and she shared her amazing testimony of prayer. We invited her back to church, and this Sunday she came! Afterwards she came up to me and goes, “you know, I don’t really know why I stopped coming” MIRACLES!

Miracle #3:

I got to go to the temple! I love the temple!

Miracle #4:

I ate a Mexican burrito. I miss Mexican food a lot! No, it was not as good as Cafe Rio, but it will suffice for now.

Miracle #5:

We created a new motto this week of, “God gives people 3 chances to respond”. Well we had quite a few success stories this week of people answering the phone on the third call or the door on the third doorbell haha MIRACLES!

Miracle #6:

Hong JM. This lady is a walking miracle. I love her so much! We finished teaching her the last lesson this week and then we reviewed the baptismal interview questions with her. Earlier this week she was joking about how her husband didn’t think she was going to get baptized because he thought the Word of Wisdom was ridiculous. But it turns out the problem was deeper rooted than just giving up coffee and tea. The story is as follows…We went to church on Sunday which was supposed to start at 9am. At 9:20 Hong JM still wasn’t there and we were really nervous as to why. At 9:25 she walked in and came and sat by me, her eyes looked really puffy. She says, “sorry I’m late, I didn’t sleep well last night” and then turns to the front to start listening to the speaker. Halfway through this talk she turns back to me and says that she told her husband she was actually going to get baptized on March 2 and that she meant it. Her husband was furious and they argued about it all night long. At this point I didn’t know how to feel. I was sad and nervous and heartbroken yet hopeful. Then she goes, “the reason I am late is because at 9am my husband told me I could go to church and that he wanted to come watch my baptism. That is how I know, he supports my decision. I’m getting baptized on March 2. What do I need to do next?” MIRACLES!!!

I am so excited to be a missionary! All of the rejection just makes the “yes”es that much more precious. I love it so much!

Spiritual thought of the week:

My favorite General Conference talk I read this week is from April 2009 by Jeffrey R. Holland, called, “None Were With Him“. I encourage you all to read it. My favorite part says:

“Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].””

We are never alone.

Christ is always there.

If you are feeling alone, I encourage you to study more about the Atonement, because I know through Christ that we are never alone.

Funny things that happened this week:

1. Scooter contacts. We had some funny ones this week. Some of my favorites:

~ Falls off bike into side of garbage truck because my legs were too sore to catch myself as I was stopping Haha I was laughing so hard as I looked to my left and someone was laughing at me too, so I started talking and testifying of the importance of families haha so funny

~ Me: “Race you to the next light. If I win, you have to listen to my message”

Them: “haha okay” *revs scooter engine*

As you can imagine, I lost. But they still willingly pulled over and listened to my message

~ Me: “How are you?”

Them: “Still living haha“

Sister Lyman: “Well that’s good, but if you died do you know where you would go?”

Them: …….uhhhhh

Me: “Would you like to know?”

Them: “Probably”

2. I don’t know if last week I told you about the house we went to find that ended up being destroyed by an earthquake Haha but this week we went to go find another house. After not being able to find the doorbell we decided to take a step back and think of a new plan. My companion goes ummm, “I don’t know about you, but if you look through the second floor window, the second floor doesn’t look like it exists.” So we walk around to the back side of the house. Sure enough Haha the entire house has been gutted and only the front door is still standing hahaha I’m going to guess nobody lives there.

3. We were talking to some person on the street and as we were finishing testifying and about to give an invite, fireworks started going off right across the street. It was deafeningly loud for a solid 2 minutes. Haha talk about ending with a bang!

That’s all from me! I hope you all have a great week!

I love you all so so so much!!!

安姐妹