Repentance is a Gift

I can say that I have definitely felt these truths in my life, but one of the coolest parts was seeing the members I worked with in coming back to church testifying of these truths as well. My last few days in 台東 we went to visit a lot of the people I had come to love so much in the past 6 months.

We did an activity with them that involved my Book of Mormon case which is covered with small pictures of Jesus Christ. We asked them to look for a while and then pick their favorite and tell us why. Usually I immediately had a scripture come to my mind that corresponded with their picture. I will share two of my favorites:

王思婷 (Wang JM) selected a picture of Jesus with an outstretched hand. Part of me already knew that was going to be the picture she liked. However as she testified of no matter how far away we feel from Christ, His hand is always outstretched, I knew it was true as well. She went on to say that it was our choice to either accept or reject His help. We talked a little bit about why we reject the help of Christ and concluded that life would be drastically easier if we just accepted His help.

何麗英 (He JM) selected the picture of Jesus visiting his mother Mary after he was resurrected. She told us she wondered what He had said to her when He saw her again which led us to pondering what He would say to us when He saw us again. She told us she would want to apologize for all the times she skipped church. We told her that that is what repentance is for right now, so that guilt can be taken away, and when we see Him again, we can just say thank you. She told us she knew she could never skip church again, and as my happy missionary heart was dancing, I decided to ask her why.

She proceeded to explain that she had skipped church this past week simply because she didn’t feel like going. That night she had a nightmare about her husband who passed away a few years ago. She said she hadn’t had nightmares for months, so it was startling to her. In this nightmare she came to the conclusion that she wanted to be able to help her husband, but didn’t know how. By reminder of the Spirit we began to reteach parts of the Plan of Salvation, temples, and family history. It was incredible!

Leaving 台東 with all the goodbyes was heartbreaking, but I’ve got a lot of faith in this ward of 桃園. 4 of the last 5 baptisms have been member referrals. There’s a baptism scheduled for September. At lunch on Sunday we received another referral. The members up here truly have the missionary Spirit. They want others to be able to feel the love of God, and it’s incredible!

Now to share a little bit about my awesome new companion. Her name is Sister Chan. Ellia Chan. Her dad is from Hong Kong and her mom is from Malaysia, but she was born and raised in Provo, Utah. That being said, her Chinese is incredible! She’s an amazing missionary already, and we are working together to try and figure out this new area. It’s scary, I’ve got to admit but it’s been a lot of fun!

Funny things that happened this week:

1. Last week on Pday we went to look at Day Lily Flowers. They were beautiful and we even ate deep fried day lilies. We also took some awesome jumping pictures in the fog, so let’s just say, I am officially Mulan and the Dragon Warrior from Kung Fu Panda.

2. We had a family home evening with the young single adults in our ward and surrounding wards last night. We were playing with these seeds that make sour things become sweet. I laughed so hard as I watched people drink straight lemon juice, make hilarious faces, eat the seed, then eat an entire lemon and freak out as it then tasted like eating pure sugar Hahaha it was so funny!

I hope you all have a great week!

I love you all so so so much!!!

安姐妹