Hsinchu - Week 52 - One year on the island

I have been on the island for a year today. For a year I have been on and off drenched in sweat, rain, and tears and I want to keep soaking in it, soaking it all in.

Today, you get a story.

Our friend, Sister Lin, was scheduled for baptism on Saturday, Oct 20. She'd already passed her interview, everything was in order. Starting on Monday night, though, she disappeared for four days. Off the face of the planet. Answered no phone calls, read no Line messages. Soon our hearts began to beat a little faster, our breathing pace became a little quicker. 

On Friday we realized that if we didn't find her fast, she might actually not show up to her baptism. So that morning we dropped by her house. Her brother-in-law told us she was asleep inside. After we left, we ran into her mother-in-law on the street and she told us that Sister Lin wasn't really home, but she wouldn't tell us where she was. We decided go wait outside Sister Lin's apartment and do studies there. That way we would see her if she was home and came out to buy lunch at her usual place. 11:40pm came, then 11:50, then 12:00 and no sign of Sister Lin. So we got lunch and went inside to do our Weekly Planning Session.

After planning and a lesson with another friend, we had the thought that we could try to find Sister Lin at her work. She works in her own small clothing shop amid countless other small clothing shops in a night market that isn't even in our area. But we knew we had to find her, so we jumped on our bikes and started pedaling towards the night market. Soon we realized we should probably pray, so we stopped on the side of the rode and prayed for guidance. Then we got back on the road.

Once we made it to the night market, we began weaving through row after row of shops. It was our best (and only) bet. I was looking at all the shops on the left, Sister Phillips was searching for Sister Lin's face on the right. I saw fashionable store owner after fashionable store owner and none of them were the innocent, conservatively-dressed, make-up-less Sister Lin. Not ten minutes later we made it to the sixth row of too many rows to count and halfway down the lane I heard Sister Phillips gasp and shout our friend's name, "林姐妹!" I whipped my head around and there was our dear friend, sitting on a little stool in front of a clothing-decorated wall. 

We ran to her and her eyes widened in surprise. "How did you find me?" She said with a smile. Guidance from God, if you ask me. We started to chat with her and feel out the situation. It soon became clear that Sister Lin had been avoiding our texts and calls, buried in a pile of stress caused by her family opposition, conflicted with wanting to follow Christ but also wanting to appease her family members. Her mother-in-law is of traditional Taiwanese background and she was offended that Sister Lin wanted anything to do with Christianity. The mother-in-law sweetly and slyly told Sister Lin that if she joined this Church, it would break her mother-in-law's heart and cause her to be devastated. Sister Lin didn't want to be the cause of so much pain, so she decided to hide away and get through the weekend without being baptized. Even though she wanted to be baptized so, so much.

We didn't know what to do at first. We called her fellowshipper, Sister Yang, and the two of them chatted for a while. "What if I start by keeping all the commandments and just put off baptism until my family forgets about it?" said Sister Lin. But we know that if a person is ready and they meet all the qualifications in D&C 20:37, we don't put off something as serious as baptism. She was so ready to receive God's promised blessings! We sat there on tiny wooden stools, praying and pondering on what our solution could be. Of course it won't be easy, salvation is and was never easy! It is not easy at all, there are almost always obstacles in the conversion process, on the path of discipleship. I have seen it time and time again. If, however, she has faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, then all will be made fair and right. We testified of that.

Sister Phillips began to ask Sister Lin the first baptismal interview questions and she practically shouted that she knows this restored gospel is true. She was prompted to bear her testimony, and as she answered the questions and expressed her firm conviction, she was filled with a burst of faith. We asked her to kneel with us and say a prayer, asking God if He thinks she should be baptized on Saturday. After she offered a beautiful prayer, we suggested that she read from the Book of Mormon to find her answer. She thought we meant for her to randomly open it right there and she'd immedatley flip to her answer, so she did. She opened to Mosiah 3:9-12. She found her answer.

The next day, all dressed in white she entered into a covenant with Heavenly Father to take upon herself the name of Christ and serve Him until the end. She was SO happy! On Sunday in sacrament meeting, she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She will always have the Spirit to be with her as she keeps her covenants and chooses the right. What a sweet, sweet blessing.

I love being a missionary. I love seeing the power of Jesus Christ's gospel work miracles in the lives of these friends. I have seen people change, and I have changed. I now know the best WAY we can change, and that way is repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

It's only been a year but it feels like a lifetime of experiences have been jam packed into it. I love you all so much. God loves you too.

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Sister Williams and I celebrating our 1-year mark...