I have a new companion! Yep, Sis Pieper got
transferred to Taibei- which I was pretty surprised about. I thought for sure
we would be together for another transfer. But my new companion is Sis Smith,
who is in my same generation! I didn't know her super well in the MTC because
she was in the other zone, but now that makes 3 companions whom I've known from
the MTC that I've served with here! This week it was confirmed to me again-
just as it has many times on my mission- that God knows me SO well. There is no
way he cannot be my Heavenly Father. Being companions with Sis Smith is just
what I needed. She has an incredible fire, desire to be obedient, and so much
faith.
Our people made a lot of fantastic progress
this week:
-M SET A BAPTISMAL DATE THIS WEEK! Apparently she has
been progressing behind our backs- wow. We had an incredible lesson with her
and she bore her testimony to us, told us that she knows this is all true and
that she needs to get baptized. She even brought a friend to church this week.
She still really wants her husband (who is not interested in the gospel) to join the
church with her, but our peike shared a great personal experience with her and
helped her see that she can't let her husband's lack of interest keep her from
the blessings of the gospel. She is set for the 28th of March. We are thrilled.
:D
-H is also doing really well. We taught
him the Word of Wisdom (the Lord's law of health) last week- he took it really well and admitted that he really does
rely on alcohol. He said how happy his friends and family would be if he could
quit.. And we also cleared up the difference between God, Jesus, and the
prophet. :D
-Last Sunday after church, we were leaving the
building when we saw L standing in the hallway. We asked him what he was
doing, and he said that he and his wife were getting temple reccommend
interviews so they could go do baptisms on Friday!!! (baptisms for the dead is a practice described in the Bible that was restored to the earth when the fulness of the Gospel was restored. 1 Cor 15:29) We were so excited! We got
to meet with them on Saturday and hear about their experience. They didn't
participate in ordinances- they just wanted to go in first and feel the spirit
of it and watch- but they talked all about the peaceful Spirit that was there.
We had a great lesson about the temple (I showed them my temple book, Mom,
which they loved- thanks again for that!) and the best part was that they kept
talking in terms of 'when'- "when we are sealed", "when we reach
a year of membership and receive our endowment in the temple". Made me so so happy. That
has been my mission-long dream, to baptize people whose sealing I can later
attend. And I made myself a promise at the beginning of my mission that I would
try to do everything I could to return to Taiwan to see my converts receive the
ordinances of the temple. The miracle of the gospel is not just that families
are able to be together forever, but that they can want to be.
We also had some super interesting experiences
this week:
-We were knocking doors and were let in by a
nice buddhist couple with a really large and lovely altar. They explained that
they worship Pusa (a buddhist God), and we had a little discussion about our
beliefs and then about theirs. Then the wife went into the kitchen and came
back with a large burgandy tin of cookies, and gave them to us, saying that
they should be ours because we are white, and there was a white person on the
front. We tried to refuse, but Taiwanese people are extremely generous,
especially when it comes to food, and they just don't take no for an answer. We
finally accepted and then she said that that morning when she was bai-bai-ing
to Pusa, she had a feeling that she should give the cookies to someone, but
didn't know who...until we showed up at their door. She said we should just
consider them a gift from Pusa. We gave them a Book of Mormon in return.
-We had a lesson with a guy this week (who
turned out to not live in our area, darn) who, after being taught about God
being our heavenly father, asked if Heavenly Father had a companion. He
reasoned that if we are all spiritual sons and daughters of God, then there
can't just be a Heavenly Father. First time I've ever met someone outside the church who's figured
that out.
I read 1 Chronicles 29:5 this morning-
"And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the
Lord?". There is no way that I can, in good conscience, call this mission
a sacrifice. After all that the Lord has done for me, this is just a tiny drop
in the bucket.
Love,
Sis Murri
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