What a wonderful week we've had here in GaoXiong!!! My new companion and I have had a fantastic week! We've seen lots of miracles, had lots of laughs, had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, but the best was our wonderful baptism!!!!
So we'll start with last Monday. After we emailed we just went grocery shopping, and then that night we went to our recent convert, Pan JM's house, and we had family night with her and her husband, their kids and the elders. It was such a good family night! The kids really loved the lesson the elders did, and then we had a great activity for the kids. And Pan JM's husband participated and actually knows quite a bit about the gospel. We hope he will continue to be willing to meet with us, at least for family night. After that, we did some riding around trying to add people, and my rockstar companion added 3 people (an add is when we set up with them to meet on a specific day and time, and invite them to be baptized). So I was so proud of her!
Tuesday we had another day packed of adds and lessons. We met with Liu JM, who was getting baptized on Saturday and we resolved all concerns that we had. We also met some great people while we were doing English powerboarding (we stand on a busy street and hold up free english signs and pass out flyers), and one of the ladies has become a new investigator of ours! So that was a super great day!
Wednesday was another day full of adds! We didn't have a ton of lessons, but we had a lot of time to talk to people. And then we had English, and at English, one of the students brought a turkey! So we had turkey after English, and I got to carve it =] I wish I had pictures of that.
Thursday was packed full of lessons! We also got another new investigator that day, who lives just a few doors down from our current investigator =] Then that night we had a lesson with a lady I had set up last week, and she was so great! She too is now another new investigator that we have! And she seems really solid and we set a baptismal goal with her as well for December 29th. We are going to do everything we can to help her hit that goal!
Friday we had weekly planning in the morning and finalized everything for Liu JM's baptism! We had a few great lessons, but we didn't work as hard on adding people that day, but that's ok, it was still a great day! We also had another great lesson with one of our investigators and we've decided that yes, she does have a desire to keep learning about the gospel, so that is great!! We just need to start helping her progress.
Saturday was the big day! The morning had a few lessons and then were at the church at 3 to wait for Liu JM. She showed up nice and early so we had to time to get her changed and take pictures. And the best part was my old companion was able to come down from Tainan to attend! We didn't tell Liu JM this so it would be a surprise. We were in the chapel singing hymns when Sis. Liang snuck in and surprised Liu JM. She was very touched =] So we took pictures and then the baptism started! We had a few great talks and then us missionaries sang the primary song "I like to look for rainbows" in Chinese, with one elder playing the piano and one playing the guitar. Liu JM was very touched by the song. And then she was baptized!! It was so great! She only had to be baptized once! All in all, it was just so great. And we had another investigator attend who said the closing prayer at the service which was so awesome! We are hoping we can help her get baptized this month =] After the baptism we all prepared to head over to a ward members house who was having a Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries, investigators, recent converts and ward missionaries. It was such a good Thanksgiving dinner and provided a great opportunity for our recent converts and investigators to get to meet some more people in the ward. We were very grateful!
Then Sunday Liu JM came early to sing with the choir and then she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and is now a full-fledged member of Christ's Church here on the earth! I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had to be her "fu yin jie mei" = gospel sister = her missionary =] I love her and it has been so great to see her change, and I know she is going to be a strong member of the church here in Taiwan, and I am so grateful I called phones that one day =]
So that has been our week! And this coming week is going to be even better (except without a baptism...or we could have someone drop into a week A =] ). We have a lot of the adds from last week set up for this week, so we have a lot of lessons planned already for this week which is super awesome! And this coming Saturday we have another huge Thanksgiving party! Pray that I can make two turkeys and all the side dishes without going crazy or without anything burning or being undercooked!!!
Pictures:
#1: Baptism picture: Sis. Gibson, Sis Busath, Liu JM, Sis. Liang, Elder Jorgensen (he baptized her...his first!) and Elder Cox.
#2: Liu JM coming out of the font!
#3: Liu JM and I right after baptism!
#4: We were given leftovers from the Thanksgiving dinner, so we ate them for lunch and then had a little left for dinner, so I made a sandwhich (I didn't have my camera at any of the other dinners, so this is all I have a picture of)
I can't believe that this is the last week of November and that Christmas is almost here! I am so grateful for this time I have to be a missionary for the Lord in Taiwan!
Thank you all for your love and support! I am so eternally grateful for all of you!
Lots of love!
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