Sister Cecily Roberts: Week 35: Dragon Boat Festival ... Peace!

HELLO!

Ni men hao! Sorry I'm too lazy to write in Chinese characters! It takes a lot of time and I would rather write you.

This week was pretty stinkin good! We saw so many awesome miracles!!! First I'll bao gao (report) on our investigators. So far we still haven't met everyone, but we're getting there. So far we have three that we are mainly working with, and have met with twice.

Jeremy Z:. Our most progressing investigator. He wants to know truth, and he's trying. His problem is faith. He thinks he has to believe before he can know, but we are trying to teach him that he needs to make the effort, then God will help him believe. If that makes sense. He also says that he knows he's supposed to follow the commandments, but that he doesn't like the constant reminder in the scriptures. Or it gives him an uncomfortable feeling. He had a date for the 25th, but then didn't come to church, so he won't make his date.

Our next progressing investigator is Peng DX. He is almost 50 and lives with his girlfriend. He knows he's breaking the law of chastity and he wants to do what's right, but he doesn't think there's any way. Or he's waiting for an answer from God before he makes any change with his girlfriend. He's waiting until 50 to get married because then he won't have the financial responsibility for her 4 kids, and his 2 kids, who are almost all in college. He came to church on Sunday all dressed up and I can just feel that he is so special. God loves him so much and I know that he will get baptized, we are just working on building his faith to the point that he will be willing to move out or have his girlfriend move out.

Then there is Lin DX. He's super great. He is a little hesitant about reading and praying just because he forgets but he wants to know and is willing to be baptized, but it's kind of a man man lai thing with him (slow).

We saw some awesome miracles this week!!! For the first time I really felt like we were guided to very specific places. This one man came out of his house and said, "Where are you going?" I said "Here" He said "No one here is interested, they are all sleeping" Then I kept talking to him and he invited us in to his house for water. His whole family was there so we went in. And it was super crazy but so awesome. I shared the first vision/lesson with him while SIster DeWitt talked to the rest of the family. They were visiting from Taibei and they said we could give their number to the Taibei missionaries. So that's super awesome! And then the owners of the house set up a time for us to come back! So that's super super sweet!!! Miracle basically. In the middle of the rice fields, we found a miracle. That's usually how it is actually haha. Who knew? Oh yea God haha. :)

THEN we were knocking and had been knocking for a little over an hour, and we were about to leave, but the last house we knocked on, they invited us in and were incredibly friendly. We were kind of taken aback. They acted like they knew who we were. Well haha hou lai (turns out) they did. We found a previous investigator. Well actually he is a current investigator! He was almost baptized but he fang'd his own baptism because he smoked!!! Fang'd means he ditched, or was a no show. So talk about a miracle. We have a huge area and just happened to knock into him? God is amazing. We set up time with him and he fang'd us...so we will have to see about still meeting with him ... oh well.

That's pretty much it, but I just love being a missionary!!!!! I think the hardest thing this week was just knowing that everything that has happened has been God's will. Sister DeWitt is so fun and she's so prepared. And sometimes it's a little intimidating :) She had an amazing experience in the MTC and she just talks about her investigators like they were real investigators. She's just an awesome missionary and yes I'm a little intimidated. But I'm working on it.

I have also realized how much my Chinese has improved. I can understand so much more in lessons and I can teach lessons better in Chinese. I just didn't realize how much I could actually speak and it's a miracle. An absolute miracle!!!!

There's been a lot of rain recently. Like everyday. It's rainy season. And I found out that July and August is Typhoon season, and we are right by the coastline. So I'm not really looking forward to that.

This week was dragon boat festival so we ate a lot of zong zi (traditional food). Kinda cool! So delicious!!!! I love Taiwan!!! Oh and they say Peace instead of happy.

Also....i'm terrified that I'm coming up on 8 months. Next month is my halfway mark. I haven't been counting but I want to make sure my time isn't gone. But man I'm just scared! I just have to be so much better than I am!!! Basically that's it. I just love being a missionary so much and I don't ever not want to be one, seriously.

So I have one last thing to say. A lot of times on the street, we'll ask people if they've gone to church before. And I'm so impressed that a lot of people say that they've gone before with their friends. And I just realized how awesome that is. That people are inviting their friends to church! So my invite to you is invite people to church! Even if they only come for an hour! There is such a special spirit about church. Seeing families together, the Sacrament, etc. You never know what will happen until you invite. So that's my invitation to you.

I know that this church is true. With all of my heart, and then more. I cannot deny nor will I ever deny that my Savior, Jesus Christ lives. He is the center of this message that I share as a missionary. He lives and He died for each one of you, so that we can change. So that we can become better, so that we can live with God again.