Hualien - Week 37 - Highlights of a Jam-Packed Week!
So much happened this week.
We got told off by our doorman (in a very nice way) for knocking on doors in our apartment complex...we didn't know that was illegal. Oops. It's just that we're teaching a woman right now named Sister Xu who lives in our building and has a baptismal date! So we wanted to find MORE prepared people in our building! Granted, we found Sister Xu when she was outside, but...
We met our new Mission President and his wife this week! President and Sister Peterson are AMAZING people who already love us and our mission so much. They are committed to following the counsel of our prophet, President Nelson, and his apostles in order to most effectively and with the Lord's guidance do His work! President and Sister Peterson have also helped us missionaries feel like we are part of their family. I am SO excited to serve with them. One of the transitions I am going to have to make now is, instead of referring to those we are teaching as investigators, we are going to call them "friends" now. It's awesome because the people we teach are our dear friends! We love them so much.
In other news, the elders in our ward had three of their friends, a mom and her two children, get baptized this last Saturday night! This family was referred by members in another Hualian ward and they were so prepared to accept the gospel; it it the truth they were looking for all their lives and they immediately knew that they found it here. Sister Lee and I were privileged to sing at the baptism. We sang "How Great Thou Art" in English and it was a beautiful experience to be able to sing these words:
"And when I think
of God his Son not sparing,
sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in.
That on the cross
my burden gladly bearing.
He bled and died
to take away my sins.
When Christ shall come
with shout of acclamation
and lead me home,
what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow
with humble adoration
and then proclaim
"My God, how great thou art!"
We are all imperfect beings who need mercy! I realized that again during sacrament meeting yesterday. I was SO stressed because most of our friends with baptismal dates cancelled on coming to church. And we report to our leaders weekly on how many of our friends come to church, how many have baptismal dates, how many new friends we find. This work is not about numbers, it's not about increasing the membership our our church. Jesus Christ reached out to each person one by one, and we want to do the same. BUT we count in order to have some way to measure how we're doing, how our area is doing, see where and how we need to improve, etc.
So as I was stressing about how no one was coming except two friends who were coming late and might miss the sacrament, I remembered something that the Petersons talked to us about when we met them. They reminded us that it's good to be concerned about helping our friends come to church in order to have a great experience there, but it's more important to have our own spiritual experience while we take the sacrament. President M. Russell Ballard said in last General Conference, "The blessing of receiving the
Every week we need take the sacrament seriously because it's the way we renew the covenants we made at baptism. It's the way to tell Heavenly Father that we are still committed to Him 100%, that we are still willing to follow His Son and repent. I remembered this and started praying for help to stop worrying about the friends who weren't coming and stop worrying about numbers and just focus on Christ. And I told God that I'm sorry for worrying about what other people think and I just want to worry about what He thinks (see Alma 42: 29-31). Then I was able to have peace.
Then a miracle happened after I stopped stressing! Sister Lee bumped my arm and I looked up and saw the two friends who were planning on coming walked in late, yes, but they brought another one of our friends with them! It was their first time at church and they were able to take the sacrament too. And then, there was a girl sitting behind me who was a friend of a member, and she ended up setting up to meet with us next week!
The Lord never stops pouring his blessings out upon us. Sometimes they come in ways we don't expect, but you can always see them if you look for them.
I am looking forward to trying to improve myself this week by focusing on the Savior and my purpose and not focusing on myself or worrying about numbers. We are here to invite and help individuals come unto Christ, and as we focus on them, that's what brings happiness and joy. I invite you all this next week, before you take the sacrament, to prepare yourself spiritually so you can know what the Lord wants you to improve. With His help, you can grow leaps and bounds and become better than you could on your own. We say it all the time but that's because it's true.
President Ballard's talk: https://www.lds.org/general-
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