Hello Dear friends and family! How are ya'll doing? This week went rather well. I learned a lot and the work is really progressing here!
So we went to a night market to talk to people and there was a huge group of families that came from Mainland China on vacation. And for some reason all of the people that we talked to were from China. They were super hard to understand. Their accents are so different! But we are spreading the word of God even if there are no missionaries in China.
We had a great lesson with Yang Jie Mei. She is a mother and sacrificing her time to meet with us. She loves learning about the gospel. Last time we invited her to read the Book of Mormon. This time she asked, "If the gospel can help families why is the family in the beginning of the book so messed up?" She was talking about Laman and Lemuel and their rebelliousness. She really understands the story, which is awesome! It is just the applying part that we have to explain. It is really cool that we can learn a lot from the examples of the families in the Book of Mormon. :) She is accepting everything though. The only thing is that she needs to come to church.
So we went to a night market to talk to people and there was a huge group of families that came from Mainland China on vacation. And for some reason all of the people that we talked to were from China. They were super hard to understand. Their accents are so different! But we are spreading the word of God even if there are no missionaries in China.
We had a great lesson with Yang Jie Mei. She is a mother and sacrificing her time to meet with us. She loves learning about the gospel. Last time we invited her to read the Book of Mormon. This time she asked, "If the gospel can help families why is the family in the beginning of the book so messed up?" She was talking about Laman and Lemuel and their rebelliousness. She really understands the story, which is awesome! It is just the applying part that we have to explain. It is really cool that we can learn a lot from the examples of the families in the Book of Mormon. :) She is accepting everything though. The only thing is that she needs to come to church.
That is the same with Yan Jie Mei. She has not been able to come to church, but she is very willing to do our commitments. She has prayed EVERYDAY last week and she loves it. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon. Starting off great! She is very accepting but not the "oh it is true because you tell me." She wants to pray and find out for herself. It helped her out a ton when she was able to say the closing prayer in lessons.
We made a surprise visit to Sharon. We planned to just drop some candy off to her. Her parents don't like the church so we weren't sure if we wanted to run into them or not. But her mom was pulling up from work as we were walking up the door. She let us in and she gave us 3 bowls of fruit. They were super nice. Sharon said that sisters haven't come over in almost 8 months! She is an amazing investigator :) Parents still don’t want her to get baptized.
Huang Jie Mei came to English class. So our second week we met this lady in the rain. She nicely rejected our message. And then the elders met her a couple of days later and started meeting with them. She has started taking the time to come to English class! And she and her husband are wondering, "Do we want to become Christians?"
We made a surprise visit to Sharon. We planned to just drop some candy off to her. Her parents don't like the church so we weren't sure if we wanted to run into them or not. But her mom was pulling up from work as we were walking up the door. She let us in and she gave us 3 bowls of fruit. They were super nice. Sharon said that sisters haven't come over in almost 8 months! She is an amazing investigator :) Parents still don’t want her to get baptized.
Huang Jie Mei came to English class. So our second week we met this lady in the rain. She nicely rejected our message. And then the elders met her a couple of days later and started meeting with them. She has started taking the time to come to English class! And she and her husband are wondering, "Do we want to become Christians?"
We went on exchanges this week. The STL that came with me really likes to talk. We have permission to stay up past hours on exchanges to get to know each other and so that the leader could solve problems. Well, I just listened and she talked and talked. We didn't get to bed until really late and that no sleep totally messed up the next 3 days. Never doing that again.
When I get grumpy SIster Daknis likes to buy me ice cream :) She is the best.
When I get grumpy SIster Daknis likes to buy me ice cream :) She is the best.
We had a great pancake activity! We made pancakes and had a mini spiritual share. It was a great opportunity to let non-members come into the chapel and get to know us and have a fun time. In a couple of weeks we are going to make pizza!
We have lots of potentials set up for next week that I am really excited about! Most are referrals and we all know that those who already have a friend in the church are more prepared and most likely to stay :))
During weekly planning Sister Daknis opened up a little bit more. I am starting to really get to know her and it has helped me be sensitive to her needs. We have fun together and are growing a lot together. Her Chinese is coming along. Sometimes in lessons I don't even have to translate!
I had a cool experience with prayer. I was trying to figure out how to share a message with an investigator during personal study. I felt stumped so naturally I prayed. I was slouched on my seat, folded my arms and said a prayer in my heart. Then the Holy Ghost was like "nope, get on your knees!" I didn’t want to move because I was really tired. But after hesitating I got down on my knees and said a real prayer. I was able to clearly see what God wanted us to teach this investigator. Heavenly Father really blesses us as we follow the correct way to pray.
So excited to Skype with the family next week!
D&C 42:61
Love, Sister Graham
During weekly planning Sister Daknis opened up a little bit more. I am starting to really get to know her and it has helped me be sensitive to her needs. We have fun together and are growing a lot together. Her Chinese is coming along. Sometimes in lessons I don't even have to translate!
I had a cool experience with prayer. I was trying to figure out how to share a message with an investigator during personal study. I felt stumped so naturally I prayed. I was slouched on my seat, folded my arms and said a prayer in my heart. Then the Holy Ghost was like "nope, get on your knees!" I didn’t want to move because I was really tired. But after hesitating I got down on my knees and said a real prayer. I was able to clearly see what God wanted us to teach this investigator. Heavenly Father really blesses us as we follow the correct way to pray.
So excited to Skype with the family next week!
D&C 42:61
Love, Sister Graham