Miracles!

Here are a few of the miracles we saw this week:

-Alpha and Beta

We have met with them several times in the past week and a half and they are doing so well- soaking it all in. When we had our second meeting with them, we asked them how their Book of Mormon reading was going and they had read the first 2 chapters of 1 Nephi in 3 days, which is huge. They had marked stuff and written in the margins. They are so awesome! Beta came to church this last week and stayed for the whole thing. They always ask the greatest questions, and we are so excited for their baptism on May 17th!

-Contacting in 'Miracle Park'

We found a great walking park and contacted a ton of great people. We had a conversation with a couple that was super prepared and asked a lot of great questions. We also started talking to a lady named I. Her sister's family was there at the park (the son, A, was shooting off water rockets and let us have a try- see the pic!). She was amazing! She kept asking us great questions, and she is already Christian, so she wanted to know what makes our church different. She practically took the Book of Mormon out of my hands. We met with her on Sunday and taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel and she committed to pray and read. We are praying really hard that she will get and answer and keep meeting with us. 

-S

S is our cute 9 year old. When we went in, her dad and some of his friends and family were having a party. It was super loud, so we ended up teaching her and her mom and little brother the Plan of Salvation in a closet. She had absolutely zero trouble focusing, though. She really wants to be baptized. S is so sweet- she has such simple faith. We asked her if she believed Joseph Smith, and she said, "God answers my prayers- why wouldn't he answer Joseph Smith's?" (Joseph was confused because there were so many different churches and they all understood the Bible differently.  One day in 1820, after reading James 1:5, a scripture that had a great impact on his heart, he decided to pray to God to know which church he should join) She also has a baptismal date for the 17th, and we're really praying and working with her to make that goal.

-M Li

We were walking home on Sunday after having dinner at the bishop's house, and we were near the church when I heard a lady say in English, "Are you Mormon?" I turned around and told her yes!. She said she wanted to come to our church and asked when it was and when we had activities. She said she has a teenage son and she wants to come to church with him. This NEVER happens....so amazing!! She really wants her son to have a belief in God and come to our church. Sweet!

It rains A LOT in Taiwan

 -C JM

She came up to us at church on Sun and said she wanted to be baptized. Apparently her son was baptized here a few years ago and she was at all the lessons with him and came to church with him, but had no interest until now...she said she's ready to be baptized!

-Bugs

We came, we Raid-ed, we conquered!! Yay! No more giant horseflies or little toothbrush bugs! We discovered that our back door has a huge gap in the bottom, but once we fixed that and nearly suffocated the place with bug spray, they stopped coming in. Woo! I said to Sis Petersen that we were getting places with the bug situation, and she responded, "Yep, we're going places alright...places with lung cancer! If raid will kill a horsefly, it will definitely kill a missionary!" Hahaha! We've gotten so much companionship unity from our war with the bugs.

Bugs beware-your days are numbered!

 This really has been a miracle week. I know that all of these miracles are gifts from Heavenly Father. The week before last, we had a lot of promptings while we were out on the streets- go talk to this person, ring that doorbell, go back and give them a pamphlet- and none of them were fruitful. Every single time we would follow a prompting, the people wouldn't be interested or wouldn't be home. But I think this was Heavenly Father's way of testing us to see if we would be obedient. I think we showed Heavenly Father that we are willing to follow him, and this is one of the reasons why we have seen so many miracles this week. 

Other things that made this week great:

-lots of white butterflies

-lots of referrals from our members

-cool, overcast weather

-finding a little neighborhood with tons of greenery that looked totally untouched right in the middle of the city

-old men chewing binlong and yelling out "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!" in English. Totally not as creepy as it sounds. Everyone tells us we're beautiful because we're white, and it's not a creepy thing. Sounds weird, but it's hard to explain. 

-other old grandpas who pass us on the street and say "amen! hallelujah!" when they see our tags

We are working so hard and seeing so many miracles here in SongShan. 

I love being a missionary and I love you!

Me :D