Hualien - Week 47 - A Child's Prayer
We had a miracle this week that we attribute to Heavenly Father as he poured blessings upon our heads after we fasted last Sunday. We have been teaching an 11-year-old girl with a believing heart and a willingness to keep the commandments. She was to be baptized at the beginning of September. But she went to Taoyuan to live with her grandparents for two months and came back saying she didn't even believe in God. She also didn't want to chance her habits of drinking black tea. After reviewing the lessons and gospel doctrine and then having a Spirit-filled lesson where we sang "A Child's Prayer" together with her, she said she felt like God was with us in the room. That song invites the Spirit so strongly to testify to us of our divine identity. We are all children of God! He has a plan for each of us. We decided to fast for this girl, in order to do as much as we could to help her. And we discussed a way to help her start following the Word of Wisdom. The change in her was remarkable! We are hoping that she passes her baptismal interview and is able to be baptized this month! God is so ready to bless and help His children. He will never choose for us, but He will always provide a way where we can choose to follow His Son.
I feel that God's plan for me includes where He has sent me to serve. (Transfers are this Thursday and since I have been here for 6 months, we are pretty certain that I will be leaving. If I don't leave that would be kind of awkward because everyone thinks I'm out of here. Plus, they last-minute made me speak in sacrament to give a farewell message. Haha.)
But anyway, I said goodbye last night--maybe for the last time--to our friends in Beipu, a mom and her 9-year-old son who was baptized in April. I remember the first time I rode into their humble neighborhood on a hot April night with Sister Tu. We were heading to meet a member family and a woman that the previous sisters had been teaching. We rode down an alleyway and saw kids playing outside their small homes with a ball and a step stool being used as a net, and I felt so nostalgic. Memories of romping about cul de sacs and playing on the streets with friends came to my mind.
There was young and lively boy among the children. Bright eyes, brimming with energy. Even though we'd never met him, he seemed to know who we were. We found out that the boy was Sister Chen's son. He had been taught by the missionaries too.
"Will you be coming to church this week?" asked Sister Tu.
"Yeah," he said as he tossed a ball to his friend, "of course!"
I remember that night we had our first lesson with Sister Chen, sitting outside their home on tiny stools among two big dogs. The Spirit was there. I could feel it inside my chest, in the stillness of the warm air.
In the end, Sister Chen chose to stop meeting with missionaries and has not continued to learn the gospel, but we saw her often. We'd see her each time we went back to the neighborhood to teach her son after he was baptized. It didn't take long to feel a deep love for her and her neighbors. It feels like our second home there.
But anyway, I said goodbye last night--maybe for the last time--to our friends in Beipu, a mom and her 9-year-old son who was baptized in April. I remember the first time I rode into their humble neighborhood on a hot April night with Sister Tu. We were heading to meet a member family and a woman that the previous sisters had been teaching. We rode down an alleyway and saw kids playing outside their small homes with a ball and a step stool being used as a net, and I felt so nostalgic. Memories of romping about cul de sacs and playing on the streets with friends came to my mind.
There was young and lively boy among the children. Bright eyes, brimming with energy. Even though we'd never met him, he seemed to know who we were. We found out that the boy was Sister Chen's son. He had been taught by the missionaries too.
"Will you be coming to church this week?" asked Sister Tu.
"Yeah," he said as he tossed a ball to his friend, "of course!"
I remember that night we had our first lesson with Sister Chen, sitting outside their home on tiny stools among two big dogs. The Spirit was there. I could feel it inside my chest, in the stillness of the warm air.
In the end, Sister Chen chose to stop meeting with missionaries and has not continued to learn the gospel, but we saw her often. We'd see her each time we went back to the neighborhood to teach her son after he was baptized. It didn't take long to feel a deep love for her and her neighbors. It feels like our second home there.
So last night when we were about to leave, Sister Chen's random neighbors who must have seen us biking back and forth week after week said "We'll miss you!" I told them I'd miss them too. I gave Sister Chen a hug and told her I loved her. She said "Me too." And it pricked me in the heart, causing gratitude to then pour from there into my whole soul. We have a lot of hope for that family, hope that they will all someday accept the gospel so they can be sealed in the temple as an eternal family.
I am so grateful that I have been able to spend a life-changing six months in Hualian so far. I have been able to meet the most amazing people in the members, our friends, those we have been blessed to run into as we go throughout our day. I am grateful that I get to share "the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul" (Jacob 2:8). Even though we face many struggles, we can know for a surety that God is looking out for us. And through Christ's Atonement, we can overcome any challenge, temptation, sin, burden, and heartache. I know that's true and I know God loves you!
I love you all, and I want you to know that Heavenly Father is really there, and He really does hear and answer every child's prayer.
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Sister Love and Sister Lee invite the Spirit as they share a brief message and sing A Child's Prayer to a recent convert...
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