This week...

Red Squadron? (She provided me with two captions, but only one picture...)

I don't even know what to say...  more finding.  And those we found and had amazing lessons with either 1) Didn't want to meet again or 2) Live in Lingya (I'm in Shizhong)  I'm not complaining.  Just a little bit sad I suppose.  But!  It's okay!  Another week is beginning and we will find even more prepared people to meet with!  Prayers, Diligence and Faith week.  Hahaha.  What else happened?  Honestly it's all a bit of a blur.  But today we will be going to Monkey Mountain. Wish us luck!

Sister Hsu

P.S. Our fearless Red Leader (District Leader) is moving to Taizhong today.  He will be sorely missed.

They gave us the official copy of the Mission Christmas picture. Can you find me? Haha

Always on the go!

We are so happy that our two good friends were baptized, but this also means to of our best investigators have become recent converts that and both of our other investigators couldn't meet this week.  So what does that mean?  Finding!  And lots of it!  But really, tons of finding activities this week.  I think this is the most concentrated finding I've done in a really long time.  But, it went way better than I expected it to.  We came up with a lot of different ways so we wouldn't get bored or too tired.  It went better than expected because it was fun, but also not as well as hoped(for the first half of the week anyway) because no one was interested in learning more about the gospel.  By the end of the week, the numbers of lessons we had were still in the single digits.  I had just about resigned myself to the idea, that we just weren't going to really have any lessons with people for the week, but we didn't give up!  We kept the fire going! And lo and behold, the miracles came.  By Saturday night, we had a full day of lessons set up for Sunday.  And the biggest miracle is all of them actually happened!  Not a single no-show and they were all great.  I don't know if all of them will become progressing investigators, but all the lessons we had were guided by the spirit and helped to to more fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I say a success.  

What have I learned from this experience?  When times get tough and you feel like there is no winning, go just a little bit further and put in just a bit more effort, and after the trial of faith and our faith is turned into action, the Lord is prepared to shower us with blessings.

Just Do It.  Haha.

Other than this amazing stuff, we were also able to do some service this week for a member who went out of town.  We went to her home and fed her cat and played with him for a little while (at her request) so he doesn't get too antsy.  It was fun.  I love animals.  :)

Sister Hsu

White Christmas!

Jin Fang's Baptism

They did it!  Our two investigators were baptized and confirmed this last Saturday and Sunday.  They had separate baptisms and both were just so full of the Spirit.  Their testimonies were so powerful and I loved seeing the change that they allowed the gospel to make in their lives.  It was so good to see their friends, family and the ward members all come to support them.

Tania's Baptism

Other than this wonderful event, it was also Christmas.  Last Christmas I had just gotten on island and I didn't really miss family or "American" Christmas, I suppose I was still slightly adjusting and maybe in shock, but this time around was definitely different.  I really felt the lack of festivities and decorations on ever building and house.  You ask how people are going to celebrate and they say they are gong to be working.  But, I loved our ward.  We really brought the Christmas Spirit with love, joy and Christ.  I think my favorite part aside from being able to be with the people I love in my ward, was being invited to the DeWitt's home for Christmas dinner.  They had their son and daughter-in-law and two grand children staying with them for the holiday.  It was nice to feel that love of a family.  The Spirit was so strong and we ended the evening together in bearing our testimony about Christ.  What do I love about this Church?  You have family no matter where you go.

The Dewitt's

I have been loving my time here with my as of last week, new companion Sister Porter.  We are working hard!  

Love you all!

Sister Hsu