Thursday, February 26, 2015

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 2015

"I know this church is true. I know that death isn't the end. I know this life has a purpose. 
I encourage everyone to diligently seek Christ. Those that seek, shall find Him." 




Hello Friends and Family!

Happy New Year! The Chinese New Year was this week and it was tons of fun and also difficult missionary work! Lots of people going to Buddhist Temples to worship their ancestors, lots of empty streets and closed stores and restaurants. Other than 7/11 there was nothing open. It was a crazy week because none of our investigators were able to meet because they were out of town with family. Chinese New Year is like Christmas is to us. Most people go home and spend time with their families and eat, and eat and eat. So it was a crazy week, but one that was filled with lots of miracles!

This week we had tons of members feed us! We had a total of 10 meal appointments and that is an INSANE amount here in Taiwan. Super blessed! We ate lots of great food and gross food haha. Had lots of weird Tofu, soups, pig foot, pig intestine, pig testicle, weird fish dong1xi, little fish, big fish, sea cucumber, etc. There were also lots of good meats, vegetables etc. I probably gained like 5 pounds this week because members here this week kept saying EAT EAT EAT! KEEP EATING! Once in a lifetime! Oh it's great. The member love this week was amazing.  Such awesome people.

Little fishes
Big fish







Since none of our investigators could meet, we had lots of finding time. It was a very tiring week but one that was so rewarding mainly because of these 4 tender mercies from the Lord:

1. We were knocking doors and it was hot outside. We kept getting rejected and rejected. We even had people mocking our religion and making fun of us. It was hard having people disgrace the things I keep so sacred. As Elder Jensen and I biked away we pulled over to the side of the road and I was like, we need to sing and pray. We both sang my favorite hymn "How Firm a Foundation." Then we prayed together and you could literally feel the Lord making our burdens lighter and reassuring us that we were going to get through that trial. Such a cool moment for me. And it turned out to be a great day because we found a few kids on the street who we had lessons with and we placed a Book of Mormon!

2. The next day I was worried was going to be rough as well because we had 6 straight hours of contacting on the street. But the first person we talked to was this cool 60+ year old lady, Lu3 Jie3 Mei4. She starts telling us how she is Christian but not a member of any church because no church can answer why there are so many Christian churches and which one is true? We were shocked and immediately taught her a sick Restoration lesson. She ended up coming to church as well! It was awesome. Lu3 JM doesn't live in our area, so chalk one up for team Jesus, but it was another really cool moment!

3. Another tender mercy was with our awesome LA Tang2 DX. We prepared a lesson on temples and when we got to his house the first thing he said to us was how he really wanted to get back to the temple. We were like YES! That's what we wanted to share with you about today! Super awesome.



4. This last blessing is one of the coolest contacting miracles, if not the coolest, from my mission. I felt like I should stop and talk to this lady even though my comp was way ahead of me. I start talking to her and she just looks really sad. Her name was Sister Xiao1 probably in her 30's or 40's. I asked her if she was OK? How has your Chinese New Year been? She just broke down into tears. She starts telling me about how her mom unexpectedly passed away 3 days ago and she has been devastated because she couldn't be with her for the Chinese New Year. She also said she started praying for help that God would comfort her. As I told her that she indeed will see her mom again I felt this overwhelming love for the Plan of Salvation. We then sang to her "Families Can Be Together Forever." As tears rolled down all of our cheeks I felt so blessed for such a loving God and His plan for all of us. As we prayed for her and taught her the wonderful plan Heavenly Father prepared for her you could literally see her countenance change. She even smiled. She said she knew that God had arranged for us to meet her. She also said she had a dream 2 days prior of two people on scooters/bikes who would end up talking to her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she seems really willing to meet with us again this week! We are so excited. Please pray for her!

I know this church is true. I know that death isn't the end. I know this life has a purpose. I encourage everyone to diligently seek Christ. Those that seek, shall find Him. 

Everyone vote for NATE this week! Chahooooo. Once a Cat always a Cat!







Love you all!

Elder Willes

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