Hello Dear friends and Family! I love you all so much! And a special shout out to my wonderful parents. I read a talk in the Liahona the other day that talked about homemakers and how a home should be a safe place of refuge. I am so grateful that my parents made our home a safe place of refuge. I am so grateful that I could come home and feel the Spirit and Love when I stepped in the door. |
We watched Meet the Mormons in Chinese for FHE this week which was really fun. The one thing that stood out to me the most was that these people live great lives. They are surrounded by people of other faiths and they are so happy to be together. They really respect each other. I have always respected other religions. But I feel like this week I have found a great love for those of other faiths. We are all Gods children and we need to help and lift each other no matter what! WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!
Monday:
We went to a museum that is near our place … but it was closed. We walked along the grounds. It was beautiful. We went as the sun was setting and it was very quiet and peaceful. What a perfect way to spend P-day.
We also went to a cute Italian restaurant with a member, Zhou Jie mei. She is the cutest thing ever. She just lost her job but she is holding onto Christ with all her might. She is full of love and compassion towards others. She is making a lot of changes in her life to live the gospel more fully and to help her family come to know Christ. She is amazing. She always makes me happy.
We went to a museum that is near our place … but it was closed. We walked along the grounds. It was beautiful. We went as the sun was setting and it was very quiet and peaceful. What a perfect way to spend P-day.
We also went to a cute Italian restaurant with a member, Zhou Jie mei. She is the cutest thing ever. She just lost her job but she is holding onto Christ with all her might. She is full of love and compassion towards others. She is making a lot of changes in her life to live the gospel more fully and to help her family come to know Christ. She is amazing. She always makes me happy.
Tuesday:
We talked about the Tree of Life with an investigator today. We explained what everything represented. We asked her what her favorite part was. She said "faith, repentance and enduring to the end."
We had a couple of other lessons today. Sister Nelson is sometimes scared to talk in lessons because of the language. But she has so much to offer! I can tell that when she doesn't talk in a lesson something is missing. That extra witness is gone. Every missionary has something to say, something to testify. :)
Wednesday:
We had mission tour today. It was an ALL day thing. It was really good! President shared his view of mission standards and key indicators. And we had a great discussion on teaching people not lessons. What it means to be a true disciple of Christ. It was very spiritual. And I got to see a lot of missionaries from the MTC there! It was awesome! :))
We talked about the Tree of Life with an investigator today. We explained what everything represented. We asked her what her favorite part was. She said "faith, repentance and enduring to the end."
We had a couple of other lessons today. Sister Nelson is sometimes scared to talk in lessons because of the language. But she has so much to offer! I can tell that when she doesn't talk in a lesson something is missing. That extra witness is gone. Every missionary has something to say, something to testify. :)
Wednesday:
We had mission tour today. It was an ALL day thing. It was really good! President shared his view of mission standards and key indicators. And we had a great discussion on teaching people not lessons. What it means to be a true disciple of Christ. It was very spiritual. And I got to see a lot of missionaries from the MTC there! It was awesome! :))
Thursday:
We went up to Da du and spent the day up there. (it’s like a 30 minutes bus ride away). We had nothing planned for the whole day. It was all finding. And you know what kind of day that is. Out in the heat all day, getting rejected - but today was actually probably one of the best days of the week. We met a lot of amazing people! I was smiling all day. We didn't get a whole lot of new investigators but that is ok. We met lots of wonderful people and I treasure the time with them. We did meet someone who is promising though, Zhang Xiao Jie. She talked the whole time that she was with us. She has read the Bible before. She is Buddhist. But she loves Christian material. She is convinced that everything is the same between our religions. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she wants to see us again :) super excited.
We went up to Da du and spent the day up there. (it’s like a 30 minutes bus ride away). We had nothing planned for the whole day. It was all finding. And you know what kind of day that is. Out in the heat all day, getting rejected - but today was actually probably one of the best days of the week. We met a lot of amazing people! I was smiling all day. We didn't get a whole lot of new investigators but that is ok. We met lots of wonderful people and I treasure the time with them. We did meet someone who is promising though, Zhang Xiao Jie. She talked the whole time that she was with us. She has read the Bible before. She is Buddhist. But she loves Christian material. She is convinced that everything is the same between our religions. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she wants to see us again :) super excited.
Friday:
We saw lots of miracles tonight. We were at a 7-11 calling people. We called a potential investigator and she wanted to meet right then. And then the Relief Society President called and wanted to meet. BTW I have not met the RSP before. She has been sick and then out of town for the past 3 months. We met with the potential and she is so awesome. Already Christian and wanting to listen to our message - but it is super hard to set up with her. That is probably one of the hardest things here: setting up with people. They say that they don’t have time, their schedule is not definite, or when we do say a specific time they say "we will see." So sometimes we just have a free schedule and then after calling people we just meet with them right then or later that day.
Saturday:
Today was awesome! We held a fun activity for the Qing Shui branch and the Sha Lu ward. Us missionaries found that our members needed to know how to help us out. And we realized that fellowshipping and sharing the Gospel were two big things that would help out the most. So we had a fireside to help with this purpose. We wanted a fun, relaxed activity, with food, but also got the message across. There are pictures :)) It was sooo much fun!
We saw lots of miracles tonight. We were at a 7-11 calling people. We called a potential investigator and she wanted to meet right then. And then the Relief Society President called and wanted to meet. BTW I have not met the RSP before. She has been sick and then out of town for the past 3 months. We met with the potential and she is so awesome. Already Christian and wanting to listen to our message - but it is super hard to set up with her. That is probably one of the hardest things here: setting up with people. They say that they don’t have time, their schedule is not definite, or when we do say a specific time they say "we will see." So sometimes we just have a free schedule and then after calling people we just meet with them right then or later that day.
Saturday:
Today was awesome! We held a fun activity for the Qing Shui branch and the Sha Lu ward. Us missionaries found that our members needed to know how to help us out. And we realized that fellowshipping and sharing the Gospel were two big things that would help out the most. So we had a fireside to help with this purpose. We wanted a fun, relaxed activity, with food, but also got the message across. There are pictures :)) It was sooo much fun!
Sunday:
Church felt different today. We had a great fireside with the members and now I feel like we are all on the same page. A member gave us a ton of Less Active Members names, phone numbers and addresses. She told us that if we set up with them she is willing to help fellowship. We had another member bring a LA to church today. She hasn't been to church in 2 years. Now they scheduled a permanent time and place to meet to come to church together every week. I asked her what made her want to come back. She said it was the love that she could feel from this other member. Love and service. Reach out. You can save lost souls.
Church felt different today. We had a great fireside with the members and now I feel like we are all on the same page. A member gave us a ton of Less Active Members names, phone numbers and addresses. She told us that if we set up with them she is willing to help fellowship. We had another member bring a LA to church today. She hasn't been to church in 2 years. Now they scheduled a permanent time and place to meet to come to church together every week. I asked her what made her want to come back. She said it was the love that she could feel from this other member. Love and service. Reach out. You can save lost souls.
We were supposed to go visit a couple of people and do English proselyting in the afternoon. We started out on our bikes. It was a really really hot today. And there was this huge hill that we had to bike up. Well, we actually would have had to walk. But then Sister Nelson almost fainted so we had to skip the hill. It is still super hot and humid here and it’s very easy to get dehydrated! Anyway, we were still able to do some contacting. Even when we are hot and sweaty – I love this work!
Quote of the week:
We didn't know where we were holding a meeting. Elder Gathright said it was in a room that was behind the chapel. "We'll take you to the closet." meaning not to worry about getting lost. He says the funniest things.
Hey how did DXC do at state???
-Sister Graham
Quote of the week:
We didn't know where we were holding a meeting. Elder Gathright said it was in a room that was behind the chapel. "We'll take you to the closet." meaning not to worry about getting lost. He says the funniest things.
Hey how did DXC do at state???
-Sister Graham