“Control the controllable, fight hard, and good things will follow.”

1554716781700 Hey everybody!

We had quite the week down here! It went so fast! It was so good!

Miracles are real, I’m just gonna put it that way.

But I think I’m starting to learn another thing…haha

That would be this:

Control the controllable, fight hard, and good things will follow.

We are all faced with obstacles we can’t control. Others negative attitudes, burning sun or sudden grey skies and rain (whether literal or figurative), health deficiencies, rejection, and more. We can’t control those. All we can control is our attitude and activity. If those are on the right track, we’ve done our part, and God will help us overcome any obstacle we are faced with.

When we work hard in the best way we know how, good things happen.

God is ready and willing to bless us. He wants us to succeed. His love is infinite. His greatest hope is for us to access the cleansing and enabling power of His Son’s sacrifice. Blessings beyond measure await us.

“I bear personal witness this day of a personal living God, who knows our names, hears and answers prayers, and cherishes us externally as children of His spirit. I testify that amidst the wondrously complex tasks inherent in the universe, He seeks our individual happiness and safety above all other godly concerns…Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive.”
– Jeffrey R. Holland (“The Grandeur of God” Oct. 2003)

So let’s see some of those blessings from this week:

– We have a person that we are teaching named Xu JM (JM=姐妹=Sister). She is a referral from one of our bishops and his wife. The first time we met her, she had been invited by them to our ward family home evening. Well two lessons later, and this week she has set a date that she wants to be baptized! Her year and a half year old daughter is also really adorable and is the one who reminds her to pray. She will randomly stop playing with toys and just fold her hands Haha so her mom goes okay, I guess we should pray. So cute! Little kids are awesome!

– We have been meeting with a less active from our ward named Xie JM for a while. This week after a tender lesson we had with her we simply told her that Heavenly Father loved her and testified of that fact. When we asked her how she could show Heavenly Father she loved him, she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be at church on Sunday.” And she finally came!!

– We went to Taimali again to visit the Li family. Over there we saw a funny tender mercy. Sister Smith was craving some Buddha head fruit. But it’s pretty expensive, so she didn’t want to buy it. When we got to the Li family’s house, they had 5 Buddha head fruits cut up and ready for us to eat, and then they gave us about a dozen and a half to take home. It was very kind!

– We went on exchanges in Hualien this week. We got to meet with one of the people they are teaching to share the Restoration. As we were sharing about Christ and the apostasy, she was getting so nervous because the truth was gone from the Earth, and she kept asking us, what do we do? what happens next? Haha it was really cute. Well, we shared the story of Joseph Smith and put her mind at ease. She is excited to continue learning more about the true church.

– We have a 13 year old friend named Anita who has been coming to church and bringing friends with her, but we were struggling to find a time to sit down with them and share our message. Well, this week, we finally found time. In this lesson, Anita had brought along two friends. When we mentioned baptism is how we make a promise to God and join the church, they all got really excited. They started asking us when they could get baptized. They got some more things they have to learn first, but we are glad they are so excited!

That’s not even all, but it’s the pretty big ones. It’s pretty awesome! God is so willing to bless us! Being a missionary is amazing!

Funny things that happened this week:

1. I have a love for fuzzy blankets. My companions turn the air conditioner on super cold to sleep…so I sleep with 3 of the fuzzy blankets. Well one night, my companion woke up to me dead asleep but tightly gripping/stroking her blanket haha apparently I’m still a blanket thief without even realizing it!

1554300075128 2. We had a member feed all of the missionaries down here this week at an aboriginal food restaurant. Let’s just say, I ate some interesting things…watching a whole chicken be torn apart by hands is really [dis]comforting…and chicken feet should not be a real food. BUT snail is actually really good!