On My Last Legs of Teenagedom

I don't know if that subject line makes sense but I hope it does. My birthday is coming up and I'm starting to feel old in every way!!! Only thing I want for my birthday is letters;)

The TEMPLE was today!!! I mean...sorry english bad....I went to the temple today!!!!!!! The temple was JUST what I needed, plus seeing friends and eating mango ice cream and getting packages from fam and friends:)

Well my amazing cousin Madelyn Whitlock got home from her mission this past week....weird!!!!

I also skyped my amazing family, but I'm so super awkward and I wasn't even excited, I actually forgot about it until it was time to go Skype....sorry family:) Plus Walker and Weston's hair is TOO long so it was hard to look;) haha just kidding!

So Sister Haupt has really started coming out of her shell...and by really I mean very very very slowly. She is very shy, well maybe just more reserved as well as shy. She doesn't like to talk and feels uncomfortable sharing a lot. Well I am the opposite of that and I told her to first start talking freely with me and then contacting people on the streets and participating in lessons will come easier. It has really made a difference in our companionship unity, at least for me to know what she's thinking instead of just worrying about why my companion hasn't said anything. I think patience is the thing I am working on the very very most right now and I can't wait to keep working on it!!! Well...patience in developing patience...go figure!!

So our mission got a kick in the butt last week and had some major changes in the way we are going to be doing things. We are becoming more diligent and more consecrated and the changes and hard but good. But despite that, lots of unexpected let-downs have been happening. Our investigator Liao Dixiong who was supposed to get baptized this saturday, passes his interview then his mom said a hard NO YOU CANNOT. That was super disappointing. The same night we found out his mom said no, our most golden investigator family dropped us hard core and said that even though she knows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is true, she believes Orthodox Christian is the path she needs to be on...but she will continue to pray with her family and read the Book of Mormon because it's great but she doesn't want us to "waster our time on her." Sister Haupt's first break-up with an investigator went pretty rough!! We both went home in tears because her family is broken and needs this gospel SO badly and she just feels it and loves it but won't accept it. That is one of the hardest things as a missionary, when people deny themselves this happiness.

We have been finding every day for at least 2 hours and every single door has been slammed in our face. It's been pretty interesting, with us renewing our efforts and praying to LOVE finding and inviting people to baptism on the street....and every contact has been a rejection. But we have a firm faith that Heavenly Father is preparing the very most GOLDEN family for us to find and teach and baptize in the month of June!!! It's all about the FAITH!!! However, our key indicators for conversion have increased despite the fact that we have been rejected like crazy. We are seeing miracles in ways that are hardly discernible day to day but the difference is spiritual. Members are helping us more and I know that the referrals we are giving people will be good blessings in the future. I'm going to apologize right here and say this week my Chinese and English were both barely understandable and no language ability has come back to me yet so I am sorry if this email is less than coherent. 

We DID however find an old man and his wife climbing up 5 flights of stairs and the husband just left his wife, who has a fake leg and was only able to use one arm. I dropped my bag and helped carry this lady up the stairs. It took us 30 minutes because she had to stop every half flight of stairs. But I felt like Harry Potter carrying Bathilda Bagshot up the stairs so it was totally worth it:) She recognized us as servants of Jesus Christ and that's what matters. 

Returned missionary from Taiwan, Michael Bowcutt came back to visit 八德 this week. its cool because he actually was my Ward Mission Leader in my mini-mission in Sandy YSA in Utah!!! It was such a coincidence that he came to visit when I was serving there!! But the BEST news he told me was that my recent convert from Sandy, Jonathan Bosch, is his Home Teaching companion!!!!!!!!!!! That literally made me so happy!!! AND HE'S GETTING MARRIED SOON!!! Having a recent convert still active (cuz it doesn't always happen like that in Taiwan for a lot of missionaries) is the best. Speaking of RCs, Duncan bought us Costco muffins again this week!!!!!!!!! He is literally an angel, perfect, and he GOT HIS TEMPLE RECOMMEND THIS WEEK AND THE AARONIC PRIESTHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! He was a 3 week miracle and is continuing to be my miracle every day!!!!! 

Another miracle this week, we were able to squish 5 HUGE cockroaches in 1 minute. Also, we prayed to find an investigator last last week and as soon as we looked up from our prayer, a lady walked up to us and asked what the Book of Mormon in my hand was. She said she actually had no where to go and didn't like going home because her son got angry at her for being Christian, so we shared the message of the Restoration with her and then she came with us to a visiting teaching lesson with 4 missionaries, 2 members, and an RC!!! So awesome!

I love you all very much. I challenge you all this week to find one thing you would like to change about yourself and in your morning and evening prayers, ask Heavenly Father to give you the strength to change it!!

Sister Wright (Taiwan Taipei Mission)
Rèn Jiěmèi 任曼欣姐妹

YSA FHE featuring Taiwan RM Michael Bowcutt!!! So fun!!