林 姐 妹’s Baptism!

Me and Sister Wadworth with 林 姐 妹!

Me with 林 姐 妹. LOVE HER!

After the baptism!

After biking up a mountain. Don’t look too close, I am really gross at that point.

Squid. Really chewy. Like a tire almost.

Well this has been a FANTASTIC week just full of miracles! I feel so lucky every day that I am here and that I get a chance to participate in this work. It is amazing how much our Heavenly Father cares about each and every one of his children. I am so lucky to see His love for His children here every day as I try to help them come closer to him.

Tuesday was cool. In our companionship study we were watching the District as part of 12 Week Training and the video of Elder Holland bearing his testimony of The Book of Mormon really hit me again. I love the Book of Mormon. I also love Elder Holland. (P.S. I’m slightly jealous that you all have already seen conference. I hope you loved and appreciated it! We get to watch next week because of the time difference and possibly some translating time. So excited!) We also had our district training meeting. No one in our district moved this time around so we were just really excited to keep going and working. We had a couple of solid lessons that afternoon. We’ve really been working to teach more and more by the power of the Spirit and it has been incredible to see the difference. When I am truly following the Spirit, I don’t think about Chinese, because there are so many more important things to think about. That’s probably been the biggest lesson that I have learned so far- to work my hardest and to trust that the Lord will take care of everything else. He always does. Later that night we actually got stood up by an investigator, but our member that was there to help us out with the lesson still really wanted to help us do something. She has a couple of kids on missions right now and is a convert herself and loves to help us out with anything. She went tracting with us which was just awesome and we got to talk to a lot of wonderful people. She was quite the miracle that night.

Wednesday was super amazing. We saw several miracles that led to us meeting with 2 new investigators for the first time. Both of them have been very prepared to hear the gospel in several different ways. We also had English class that night. We had 22 people in our class, which was crazy and fun and insane! We found “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?” in English at the library at taught colors and animals. It turned out pretty great.

Thursday was great. A member and her mom wanted to meet with us over lunch and took us to the greatest sushi place ever. I ate a little squid. Later that night we had a really incredible series of miracles. We were headed to visit a member who lives clear up the mountain at the very end of our area. We actually got lost for a second and went up the wrong mountain. We didn’t quite know what to do, but then our amazing investigator 林 姐 妹 (who is totally one of my favorite people) turned around the corner and help us figure out where to go! Miracle! Then we proceeded to bike up the right mountain for a solid amount of time. Sorry if this is too much information, but I sweat more than I think I ever have in my life because it is SO STINKING HOT here. It was a work out. But it was so worth it in the end! This member is one of the happiest sisters I’ve ever met in my life. She is the only member in her family, and due to that and some other things, it is very hard for her to feel the Spirit in her home. It was absolutely incredible to sit there with her and share scriptures and sing some hymns and just see how happy she was to really feel the influence of the Spirit in her home. I love her and I’d climb up that mountain any day she needed us to.

Friday and Saturday were both just really solid days. We taught some good lessons. Met some cool people. Lots of miracles in between. Helped with a surprise party for a minute. A little kid came up to us Saturday and very politely asked us who we were and where we live and then proceeded to warn us about a big monster that lives in Dali that eats people. It’s true and he’s seen it. It was ridiculously adorable and funny and we were glad to be warned.

Sunday was 林 姐 妹’s Baptism! She is so amazing. The first lesson I taught when I came here to Wu Feng and Dali was with her. She first met missionaries when they talked to her at a stoplight about 2 weeks before I got here. Sister Wadsworth and her previous companion Sister Higham had met with her once or twice before I got here and since then we’ve been able to see her humble commitment to live the gospel. She has worked so hard to prepare for this and she was so prepared by our Father in Heaven. I also consider her an amazing friend of mine at this point. Her English is really good, and she’s also really patient with my Chinese. We’ve had so many wonderful experiences together and I was just so excited for her. The baptism was really great. Our district did a last minute musical number of “Teach Me to Walk in the Light” and I played the piano. We showed the Because of Him video. Our Relief Society President and Bishop spoke. It was so good. She was really excited to wear the white clothes. It was such a powerful moment to see her come out of the water with such a light in her eyes. I just love her. I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to have a small part in the many miracles that have taken place to bring her to the waters of baptism.

There is nothing more happy than this work. I love you all so much and thanks for your support!