So as many of you may recall, last week Sister Chen and I spent 19 hours finding people, with only four potentials out of the 212 people we talked to. Oh this was frustrating, from the paper perspective, but as this week has progressed, my view has changed and I am ever grateful for the people we are teaching!
Sonia, she is a cute girl from Taiwan with the longest asain hair I have ever seen! She was taught by missionaries before and lost contact somehow. However, Sister Chen and I met up with her this week, established her understanding, taught her about faith, repentance, baptism, recieving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End; then listening to the Spirit I blurted out in terrible Chinese grammer "We invite you to be baptized!" I think I scared her a little bit because she just stared at me. Then Sister Chen cleaned up the mess I had just made and explained that we wanted her to set a date for the future in order to prepare for baptism. Sister Chen cleaned up well, and now Sonia is on date for the 14th of December!
Eric and Joyce are heaven sent! There are golden investogators and then there are, as Sister Chen has coined it, "diamonds." Eric and Joyce just arrived from Taiwan and are boyfriend and girlfriend who live together. Now that may seem like a bit of a problem, but so far no problem. we have been teaching them and they have just soaked up everything so far. They actually read the Book of Mormon, and pray! Even though prayer was a bit awkward for them at first, they continued to do it. Joyce, explained to us last night that she doesn't always know what to pray for, but she does it anyways because she knows it will help her come closer to God. We invited them to be baptized, and they said they would think about it, because they understand it to be a very big commitment. It is so exciting and they are so friendly. Joyce "read our palms" and said I was a happy person, romantic, and would marry younger than most people do in the world. It was so cute the way she gasped when she "read" that I would get married young. The Chinese culture doesn't get married until they are in their 30's usually. I love Eric and Joyce.
Tony. Tony has been on date for the 23rd of this month for three weeks, but had yet to come to church. In order for him to be baptized he needed to come to church this week. I prayed dilligently for Tony to be able to come to church this week--my prayer was answered. Tony, who is usually late to everything, even showed up to the place we give rides on time! It was such a relief to see him come to church, partake of the sacrament, and watch the little kids sing (it was the Primary Program).
The Primary Program was awesome, they incorporated Chinese into the program and it was beautiful. One of our Chinese members and the ward choirister, Jessie, helped the kids sing "I am a child of God" in Chinese for the closing hymn, and my heart was about to burst. This church is for everyone, we are all children of God, and that is a beautiful thing. Sadly, Jessie leaves this week to go to the states for a holiday, and then she will return for a short while before heading back to China. I am sad to see her go, but I know that she will be happy as she chooses to pursue her goal of living in Utah. She's a gem.
My final exciting news is that yesterday at church Sister Chen and I had 5 investigators at church! That's a ton of people. It was crazy trying to make sure everyone felt welcome and understood where they were going and such; but oh so rewarding as we saw them laugh at the Primary kids, and feel of the peace that can be felt only in a house of God. It was a great week. I love being a missionary and I love the people I am blessed to come in contact with.
Fun Side Notes:
-I had Lamington this week: a Australian Dessert that is sponge cake dipped in chocolate, cooled and then rolled in coconut with cream and strawberries on top. YUMM!
-I made the best scrambled eggs!
-I finally feel better. The power of the priesthood is real, use it!
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