THIS WEEK WAS A WEEK OR MIRACLES!...But I guess....what week isn't a week of miracles when you are out 24/7 serving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!? :) So, lets dive right into it!
東港, this area was supposed to be a "dead area" meaning that nothing is going on here and nothing will happen. I don't know you started that silly rumor because this place is AMAZING! All of the people are SO GREAT, the food is good, the companion is better and the miracles are the best! We have been working hard and leaving the rest to the Lord....which means that we give him a lot....haha, but he sure does pick up all that slack! We were finally able to hit the Mission Standards down here! (Numbers givin' to us by our Mission President, it kind of gives us all a goal to hit to help us to keep working hard, it is not like a quota at all....rather it is more like him telling us what score we have to get on our Finals to get an A in the class....okay that was a bad example too haha...but the point is that it pushes us :)) So anyways, Elder Anderson and I were SUPER stoked to hit the standards because it just showed us SOO clearly that this is the Lord's work, there is NO WAY that we could have done it on our own! NO WAY JOSE!
We did a lot oh fun things this week and met a lot of amazing people! First off, last Monday we just played around 東港 and I got to see the area since it was my first real P-day down there! So nothing too special happened that I can think of....and it is even worse now that I am totally stinking at writing in my journal! I KNOW I KNOW!...gotta fix that for sure. But I do know that on that Monday night we were able to hold a big Family Home Evening that Monday night! SUPER FUN! If you are not holding regular Family Home Evenings, just start now (There is your invite!! If you are already doing it than I invite you to brush off your shoulders and keep going!!) :) SO FUN AND SO WORTH IT! We played some card games (yes we can play all chinese card-games now hehe) and had a small spiritual share and just had a good time strengthening the amazing people here! There are only about 15-25 people that come to church regularly and so they really look to us missionaries, it is kind of sad to see, but also so amazing that this people have so much faith! I love and am so grateful that I have gotten to know each one of them so well! And what made it even better was that at church this week we had SO many people show up...maybe around 40 or so. And everyone just got SO EXCITED! It was totally a huge miracle! LOVED IT!
After church we held what is known as a fireside (a small specialized training thing...but also fun...it is hard to explain haha, mom help! :)) So yeah, we had a fireside on missionary work (of course), Elder Anderson and I didn't really know about it till last minute but we still had a GREAT TIME and were really able to feel the spirit working in this little amazing area!
Side note...it was totally awesome because here they just use Electric Pianos for everything in church. So they asked if I could play....I said yes...(WHAT?! You can play the Piano!!?!?....noo....but I do know how to pick a song on an Electric piano! :)) So people thought I could play until I started playing with one hand....then no hands haha.
I was also able to meet with President Blickenstaff for an interview this week! That man is so inspired and totally knows what he is doing! I am so glad to have a leader like him here! The things he teaches us go so far beyond our little two years here in Taiwan...they are things that I will need to know and utilize with my future family and the rest of my life!
I want to share something with everyone that I found while I was studying the scriptures, pondering and praying. I very often hear people tell me that I need to forget myself as I go out to work. I was thinking about this and I have had a small problem in trying to think about the difference in going out and being this robot missionary and in being a true disciple of Jesus Christ....I think the problem is that too often people really do FORGET themselves in the work. They separate their mission life and their "other life." This is what can cause people to just become total robots or to go back home after 2 years of sanctified service and quickly stop going to church. I think that the difference lies in forgetting yourself...forgetting who you really are. I would like to propose that instead of forgetting ourselves and going to work we REMEMBER ourselves and go to work! Remember who you REALLY are as a child of God. Remember that these people around you are your brothers and sisters. Remember that God Loves you and that he has givin' you so many blessings! Remember why you are here, remember where you are going, remember what is important! :) (Thanks for ingraining that in my head Mum!! :)you are the B.E.S.T BEST of all the R.E.S.T. REST!) It was a really interesting thought for me. There have been way too many times when I have really forgotten myself. And it is at those times that I am especially grateful for the ability to repent and to truly change our core being. We will NEVER have to say "that is just how I am," because "just who we are" is children of God, eternally progressing beings. And we can ALWAYS move forward! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each of us and that because of his Atonement we can progress!
Love you all!
SHINE BRIGHT!
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Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao
葛勝龍長老
