Well, Chinese New Year is officially over. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm excited to get back to missionary work and have investigators who aren't busy with "guo nian". I loved it all none the less!
We had a FANTASTIC POWER WEEK!!! Wednesday we didn't have a goal because it was preparation day and English, but Thursday our goal was to have 4 "ma shang" lessons and invite them to be baptized on March 23, but the kicker was they had to accept and become our new investigator. So we headed to the Wen3 Hua4 Zhong1 Xin1 (Cultural Center) for a day of contacting people. We had some lessons planned, but almost all of them fell through, which was fine because we got more contacting time. Because we needed to have a lesson with these 4 people, including singing and praying, we were looking for people who were already sitting down. After about a total of 6 or 7 hours, we ended up with 4 "ma shang" sitdowns, but only two accepted a goal to be baptized, and one actually doesn't live in our area, but we can't say we didn't try!! We (along with the elders, who we kept running into) spent the whole day at the Cultural Center. It was warm, and I got super sunburned, but so fun! And we are excited for our one new investigator =]
Friday our goal was to confirm 20 people for church. Now normally this wouldn't be too bad, and we could spend some time on the road inviting people to come to church on Sunday, but Sunday was stake conference, in another city...about 30 minutes by MRT. SO...we worked hard confirming less-actives and our current investigators. And we did it!! We were down to the wire and we needed one more person. Two of our investigators weren't answering the phone, and we were trying to think of part-member families or other less-actives, when we thought of a less active sister, and she said she'd come!!! We were so thrilled! Unfortunately only a little more than half of the people that said they'd come actually came, but we are working on getting them all to come to church =]
Then Saturday was super fun! Our goal on Saturday was to talk to 20 families, as well as Dan Jones for 30 minutes. Dan Jones is where you basically preach in a public place and try to get people to come and listen to you. We decided to do this goal together as a district. We planned out some activities and places. The morning kind of failed...there were no people at the place we decided to go, and we decided that singing for Dan Jones was the best. The afternoon though was a HUGE success!!! We went to the Cultural Center and we had signs with "No success can compensate for failure in the home" though in Chinese. The members here love the quote and they even have stickers. We couldn't find any of the stickers so we had our own made. We went around talking with families about the quote and giving them stickers. And then we asked to take a picture with their families and the sign. It was a huge success! Out of the 20 families we talked to, we got information from 14 of them! I was so happy! We also had 5 sisters come and do the activity with us, so my companion and I were able to split up and we could talk to more people quicker. It was such a huge success and I want to do it again =] So needless to say, we accomplished that goal!
Then yesterday, Sunday, our goal was to teach 10 new people how to pray. We went to a park, where there were a million people, but there were no people just sitting and talking. So it was a bit more difficult and we only got 7, but it was fun none the less.
Yesterday was also Stake Conference which was really good! We had two investigators come with us, and a handful of recent converts. I love our recent converts! They are so incredible!!
So POWER WEEK took up the whole week, for the most part. We were super focused on accomplishing those goals. We did meet with one of our investigators, Lin JM, and she accepted a new baptismal goal! She came with us to Stake Conference and loved it! She is already taking care of our other investigators and is going to be a fantastic member! Her baptismal goal right now is March 23 and I am confident she will hit it. And we already checked that she lived in our area =]
Last Wednesday for preparation day we went to see the Lantern Festival! I will include some pictures. People make super cool lanterns and they were on display along the river next to our house. It was super fun to see them! Sunday there was also an international marathon and the runners ran right past our apartment! So I got to see an international marathon as well. I love where our apartment is located =]
Well, I think that is about all. Really, our week was just all POWER WEEK and I'm grateful we had the chance to do it! It was fun and super motivating to help me get back into the groove of missionary work after Chinese New Year.
I hope you are all doing well! The move-call is almost over, I can't believe how fast time is going! I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support!
Pictures:
480: One of the lanterns: It's Monsters, INC!
459: This is where I am serving. I love it here!!
533: My district, armed and ready to go and share the gospel with FAMILIES!
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