Hello Hello dear family and friends!! I dont have too much to write because I just emailed last Wednesday. But that is ok. It seems like I haven't emailed in forever! Thursday: I woke up in a grumpy mood this morning but I don't know why. Nothin that a few laps around the track can't fix. We had to travel a long ways for ZTM today. Guess who is in my zone! Sister Liu (my MTC companion) and Elders Chen, Fleming (also from the MTC). My STL is a cute girl from Colorado, Sister Olsen. We have a really good group :)) Tonight we went to Chen Jie Mei's house for dinner. She is the old grandma investigator. She made me MaPoDouFu. Dad and I used to make it on Sunday's. Her recipe was very spicy but SUPER good! My companion didn't like it. So I pretty much ate the whole thing. We had a great lesson with her and her family. We talked about The Restoration. Man, it was amazing! She had lots of questions about why there were so many churches and why everyone reads the same Bible but interprets them differently. She had pretty much the same questions as Joseph Smith. She was SO HAPPY to see the Book of |
Mormon was. That it is additional to the Bible and is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Things just totally clicked with her. *light bulb* It was like "duh of course God wouldn't let His children stay in the dark." She is willing to pray and read to know our message is true. She is amazing!! After that lesson I was thinking, "man, why was I so upset earlier today? There is no reason to be upset. Missionary work is GREAT!"
Friday:
So we are supposed to meet with three active members per week. Just to get to know the ward and help them with their missionary work. So this morning we met with Jennifer. She is kind of crazy but super cool. She is totally into merging of different cultures and languages and such. She lived in South Africa for a while. Anyhoo - We told her why we wanted to meet with her and she said "For my missionary work I want to help you with your Chinese." Uhhh ... well, now twice a week she is going to help us with our Chinese :)
So we are supposed to meet with three active members per week. Just to get to know the ward and help them with their missionary work. So this morning we met with Jennifer. She is kind of crazy but super cool. She is totally into merging of different cultures and languages and such. She lived in South Africa for a while. Anyhoo - We told her why we wanted to meet with her and she said "For my missionary work I want to help you with your Chinese." Uhhh ... well, now twice a week she is going to help us with our Chinese :)
We went to a 豆花douhua place for lunch. Every time I go there I ask the person working which one they think is the best and then I try it. I have had some yummy douhua. Well, today I tried the Superman. It's shaved milk with zhenzhu (boba type stuff) on it. Man, I was in heaven! It was soooo good! Totally making that when I get home...if that is possible.
We met with one of our investigators, Liu Jie Mei. She is the one who is closest to baptism. She is so ready. She decided to fast today about her baptism goal. She is so cool! We are going to meet with her tonight and see how it went. :)) Looking forward to her baptism next month :))
We met with a lady tonight that was in a car accident and her right arm is paralyzed. She had lots of questions about why Jesus has so many churches. And then she brought a video on a little USB. She wanted us to tell her what it meant. Man, it was the weirdest video I have ever seen. It started and she explained that it was about Jesus and that she didn't quite understand it. But then on the video a bunch of hippies came out of a van and started putting on dress up stuff and dancing. And there was a cross on top of the van. It was like a play and it was making fun ... I think. I couldn't concentrate because I had the worst feeling in the world! So I told her to turn in off and that we would just discuss her questions. Thank goodness we had a member there with us. Because she was really hard to understand. When the member talked and bore testimony the Spirit filled the room. I really just wanted her to teach the whole lesson. After the lesson we waited at the church because the investigator's dad needed to pick her up. So we all waited together. We all went into the chapel and the member played hymns on the piano. It was beautiful.
Saturday:
There was a Primary activity today. A big birthday party. They invited the missionaries over for free lunch. SOO GOOD! Spring rolls, curry, soup, salad,french fries, douhua, dong gua cha, boba.
Then we met with the Primary president. She is really cool! And she is a great example of faith. When she was investigating the church her husband opposed. But she went to church with her kids. Her husband would always talk bad about the church and what she was doing. But she stood strong and she said that it was all worth it. She has seen so many blessings from joining the church even though her husband didn't approve. He came around to accept it because of who she became.
We had a movie night and watched the Touch of the Master's hand. Super good short film. I love it! No one came except a member. That's ok. It was kind of short notice.
Sunday:
Man there were many miracles that happened today. Chen Jie Mei (The grandma) came to church without us reminding her and she brought her two grandsons. She is getting more and more comfortable with the ward. Our ward is awesome! Everyone is so welcoming and so inviting. They go up to our investigators and introduce themselves. We also had a member come up to us and ask when we are going to visit chen Jie Mei next and asked if she could go with us. This is such a blessed area! And everyone here is so ready to hear the restoration. Really, most of the concerns are "Why are there so many churches? How can you know which one is right?" And it just blows my mind that they literally tell us what we need to teach them.
For FHE we played chair soccer. Everyone had their own chair and you can't let the ball touch your chair. And you play soccer. It is so much fun!
Last week in DTM Elder Nipper invited us to make mission vision goals and plans. I did that in the MTC but I did it again and ever since then I have received so much personal revelation. It is quite amazing! I will be reading about war in the Book of Mormon and an idea will come to my mind. It isn't too much of what I read but more of the impressions that come to my mind. The Holy Ghost guides me to find those things that I need to hear or read. I know that God still talks to people. I know that He is mindful of everyone. All we have to do is listen and act. I believe that because I made those goals prayerfully, He has lead me in my studies to find answers to my prayers and help me become who he wants me to become.
Love you all!
-Sister Graham
We met with one of our investigators, Liu Jie Mei. She is the one who is closest to baptism. She is so ready. She decided to fast today about her baptism goal. She is so cool! We are going to meet with her tonight and see how it went. :)) Looking forward to her baptism next month :))
We met with a lady tonight that was in a car accident and her right arm is paralyzed. She had lots of questions about why Jesus has so many churches. And then she brought a video on a little USB. She wanted us to tell her what it meant. Man, it was the weirdest video I have ever seen. It started and she explained that it was about Jesus and that she didn't quite understand it. But then on the video a bunch of hippies came out of a van and started putting on dress up stuff and dancing. And there was a cross on top of the van. It was like a play and it was making fun ... I think. I couldn't concentrate because I had the worst feeling in the world! So I told her to turn in off and that we would just discuss her questions. Thank goodness we had a member there with us. Because she was really hard to understand. When the member talked and bore testimony the Spirit filled the room. I really just wanted her to teach the whole lesson. After the lesson we waited at the church because the investigator's dad needed to pick her up. So we all waited together. We all went into the chapel and the member played hymns on the piano. It was beautiful.
Saturday:
There was a Primary activity today. A big birthday party. They invited the missionaries over for free lunch. SOO GOOD! Spring rolls, curry, soup, salad,french fries, douhua, dong gua cha, boba.
Then we met with the Primary president. She is really cool! And she is a great example of faith. When she was investigating the church her husband opposed. But she went to church with her kids. Her husband would always talk bad about the church and what she was doing. But she stood strong and she said that it was all worth it. She has seen so many blessings from joining the church even though her husband didn't approve. He came around to accept it because of who she became.
We had a movie night and watched the Touch of the Master's hand. Super good short film. I love it! No one came except a member. That's ok. It was kind of short notice.
Sunday:
Man there were many miracles that happened today. Chen Jie Mei (The grandma) came to church without us reminding her and she brought her two grandsons. She is getting more and more comfortable with the ward. Our ward is awesome! Everyone is so welcoming and so inviting. They go up to our investigators and introduce themselves. We also had a member come up to us and ask when we are going to visit chen Jie Mei next and asked if she could go with us. This is such a blessed area! And everyone here is so ready to hear the restoration. Really, most of the concerns are "Why are there so many churches? How can you know which one is right?" And it just blows my mind that they literally tell us what we need to teach them.
For FHE we played chair soccer. Everyone had their own chair and you can't let the ball touch your chair. And you play soccer. It is so much fun!
Last week in DTM Elder Nipper invited us to make mission vision goals and plans. I did that in the MTC but I did it again and ever since then I have received so much personal revelation. It is quite amazing! I will be reading about war in the Book of Mormon and an idea will come to my mind. It isn't too much of what I read but more of the impressions that come to my mind. The Holy Ghost guides me to find those things that I need to hear or read. I know that God still talks to people. I know that He is mindful of everyone. All we have to do is listen and act. I believe that because I made those goals prayerfully, He has lead me in my studies to find answers to my prayers and help me become who he wants me to become.
Love you all!
-Sister Graham