Hualien - Week 43 - 12 Things I've learned in 12 months

Last week, Thursday, August 16, 2018, I hit my one-year mark on the mission. I'm thinking about the gratitude I have for those who helped me to come here. I couldn't do it without the prayers and support of my family. And I am beyond grateful for the love I continually feel from my dear friends at home. 

As a way to honor these last life-changing 12 months of my life, I will share with you 12 things I've learned on my mission so far.

1. Keep your commitments and stay true to your word. We have been stood up more times than we can count...people who have set up to learn about the gospel with us and then never show up, people who confirm with us to come to church and then don't. If there is one thing I have learned from this, it is that I always want to stay true to my word and do what I say I will do.

2. Quit not having faith in Jesus Christ. President Jergensen snapped me out of my doubts a few months ago by telling me firmly that I have been putting my faith in the wrong place and I need to quit doing that. I need to center my faith in Christ, because through Him all things will come to their proper place. Faith in Christ leads to happiness and peace.

3. The key to dealing with stress: Hymns, Humor, and the Holy Writ. Sister Lee and I had an awesome opportunity to go to Trainer-Trainee Follow-Up meeting last Thursday. All the trainers and trainees who've been together for six weeks already went to Taipei to have a meeting with President and Sister Peterson! Sister Peterson shared an experience where the words "And if we die before our journey's through, happy day, all is well," made them laugh in a time of stress. It's funny because we sing that same song while we're riding our bikes and it keeps us going! Studying the scriptures is a key as well.

4. It's not about never getting your hopes up, it's about keeping your hopes high. Because when your hope is in the Savior and His Atonement, you can always have high hopes no matter what happens.

5. I want to be a humble seeker for the rest of my life. It's the best way to learn and to soak up all the good in the world around us. (Alma 27: 18)

6. We are already inherently enough, but with Christ we can become more. (Jacob 4:7, 2 Cor 12: 9-10, Romans 8: 39) We are children of God, so we are already amazing and more than we think we are. But when we apply the Atonement of Christ, our weaknesses will become strengths for the betterment of ourselves and those around us.

7. "Feedback is a gift." Even though it stings sometimes to receive correction, it's the way to improve! (Job 5:17)

8. We are ALL blessed with the ability to choose for ourselves. Therefore, we can choose whether or not to be happy, whether or not to follow Christ and receive the blessings. God really respects the agency of all of His children, and He will not meddle with it. (2 Nephi 2: 26-28)

9. Christ always told everyone to "be of good cheer," and He is telling us the same thing today. 

10. Embrace the 辛苦 and keep going. As I have been seeking for more personal revelation in my prayers, seeking to know the Lord's will about how we can help those we are teaching come unto Christ, both of these phrases have come to my mind.  "辛苦" just means tough/rough/difficult. I know that as we go out and go ham, as we embrace every experience, we will see miracles!

11. The Lord is so ready, so eager, so quick to forgive the truly repentant. President Peterson shared a story at zone conference recently about his son when he was younger. His son had done something wrong and ran to President Peterson, crying and hugging his leg. He kept repeating "I'm sorry" over and over again and it was SO easy for President to forgive his son. That is how Christ is with us. We have to say sorry and mean it, and He will forgive us. (Moroni 6:8) Repentance brings peace of conscience, clarity, and hope.

12. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, which means we are all brothers and sisters. It's just been so cool that since coming on my mission I have been working on my ability to communicate with the Chinese people. I never thought I'd have a chance to come to LOVE these people so much. I see them in a whole new way because now I can speak with them, listen to them, and connect with them. And even though our homes are across the world, they are my family and I know God loves us all. I have this fiery blazing desire to master Chinese. I know it will take a lifetime of study and practice, but I want to continue to improve my Chinese language skills foreva. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me, folks! Even though I've been away, my love for you all has GROWN over this last year.

Stay strong and keep going.

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No rain, no gain...