Hualien - Week 35 - Staying put for another 3 months!
Last night at about 10:10 p.m. I got a call from the assistants and they told me some news that made me fall over: I AM HAVING A BABY!!! Don't be alarmed, in mission language that just means that I am going to be training for the next two transfers. I can't wait. I remember what it was like to come off the plane and enter the warm, humid Taiwan for the first time ever, wide-eyed and ready to meet my trainer, excited to try to baptize the entire nation of Taiwan! Lol. It's crazy to think that I am going to be on the other end of training this time. On Friday I'll meet my trainee...I feel humbled and overwhelmed with excitement, nerves, hope that I don't fail this new little missionary. After all, I still feel like I'm a new little missionary! How time escapes us.
Also, President Jergensen, our beloved mission president, and his family are returning home next week after three years of faithful service. I am so beyond grateful to him and his wife, Sister Jergensen, for the way they led our mission with such love, grace, and reliance on the Lord. I am so grateful to President for everything he taught me, and I will cherish these first 6 transfers of my mission with him as my mission president!
So last last week while we were attending zone conference in Taipei, they gave each of us missionaries a sheet of paper that we were to fill out with contact information, the areas we have served in, our companions, a description of our favorite mission memory so far, and a reflection on how we have changed as a result of our mission. I realize now that this was like a halfway-point-of-the-mission-r
What a daunting assignment!
I sat there, eating a waffle, pondering what I could possibly write about...what is my favorite experience so far? Impossible to answer! I feel as though my mission up to this point is like a big, colorful, unfinished quilt threaded together with multi-colored yarns, each representing a different moment that, whether happy or sad, faith-filled or hopeless, I will always cherish. Every yarn is needed inside the quilt, you can't cut any out! Haha, but I ended up writing about the joy it was to teach and witness Sister Wang come unto Christ through baptism when I was in training, and the joy that I feel now to be able to call her my dear friend.
I think it was harder, though, to come up with something to write about how I've changed so far on my mission. I ended up writing that I feel I have developed patience with others and with situations I can't control, which is true. After I gave the Jergensens the paper, however, I continued to think about it. It's a big question that I had avoided until then, but as I continued to ponder I remembered something I had written in my study journal a few days before:
"I didn't really know how to repent before the mission. I didn't repent every day. I used to say 'please forgive me for my sins' in my prayers when I was much younger than I am now, but over time I just felt like it was overkill....How would my life be different if I never started going to my knees at night and reviewing my day with God--the things I did well, the things I could have improved on, the things I need to ask forgiveness for?...Now as a missionary, we teach the steps of repentance often. We read about it and study it and know that it's not just for huge mistakes that we need to repent. It's for everything we think, say, or do that is not in line with God's will for us or His teachings. Holy cow. No matter what, because we are mortals who have not yet been perfected in Christ, we need to use repentance, apply the Atonement of Christ every day in order to become better, in order to become closer and closer to who God wants us to be. Sometimes we will not move forward, we'll back track. The Atonement of the Savior covers these situations too. Wherever we are in our journey, we all need Jesus. We all need Jesus, exactly the same."
What a daunting assignment!
I sat there, eating a waffle, pondering what I could possibly write about...what is my favorite experience so far? Impossible to answer! I feel as though my mission up to this point is like a big, colorful, unfinished quilt threaded together with multi-colored yarns, each representing a different moment that, whether happy or sad, faith-filled or hopeless, I will always cherish. Every yarn is needed inside the quilt, you can't cut any out! Haha, but I ended up writing about the joy it was to teach and witness Sister Wang come unto Christ through baptism when I was in training, and the joy that I feel now to be able to call her my dear friend.
I think it was harder, though, to come up with something to write about how I've changed so far on my mission. I ended up writing that I feel I have developed patience with others and with situations I can't control, which is true. After I gave the Jergensens the paper, however, I continued to think about it. It's a big question that I had avoided until then, but as I continued to ponder I remembered something I had written in my study journal a few days before:
"I didn't really know how to repent before the mission. I didn't repent every day. I used to say 'please forgive me for my sins' in my prayers when I was much younger than I am now, but over time I just felt like it was overkill....How would my life be different if I never started going to my knees at night and reviewing my day with God--the things I did well, the things I could have improved on, the things I need to ask forgiveness for?...Now as a missionary, we teach the steps of repentance often. We read about it and study it and know that it's not just for huge mistakes that we need to repent. It's for everything we think, say, or do that is not in line with God's will for us or His teachings. Holy cow. No matter what, because we are mortals who have not yet been perfected in Christ, we need to use repentance, apply the Atonement of Christ every day in order to become better, in order to become closer and closer to who God wants us to be. Sometimes we will not move forward, we'll back track. The Atonement of the Savior covers these situations too. Wherever we are in our journey, we all need Jesus. We all need Jesus, exactly the same."
It is through repenting daily--and through inviting our investigators to repent by making commitments daily--that I feel like I have come to appreciate the Savior in a whole new way. I need Him and I love Him. I feel like I am getting to know Him more and more and I'm happier as a result.
I love you guys. This week I invite you to ponder what Jesus Christ did for you, and see how a deeper understanding of His sacrifice influences you.
See you next week when I can introduce you to my baby! Lololol.
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