The Tribal Mountain People are Really into the Gospel

Helping in the rice paddie!

So we spent a lot of time up in the mountain villages this week....a treacherous bike ride but so worth it to get to learn about and love these people and share Christ's gospel with them! We are teaching 3 families up there right now, one old couple who can't read so we just read to them, and one family of 3 kids. I don't have pictures of them yet, but when you think of Taiwanese people, what you think of is NOT what these people look like. The Aborigine mountain tribal people are all dark skinned and look TOTALLY different than the rest of Taiwanese people haha:)

I wanted to share what I have been pondering lately. Covenants. A covenant is a promise we make with Heavenly Father. We promise that we will use our agency to do all that we can in our power to seek out and then perform His will according to Christ's gospel. At first I was a little bit scared of coming home and not being able to keep my covenants through missionary service. But the little simple things we do like loving and laughing with and supporting those we love is also very much included in keeping our covenants. Anything that we do that inspires our friends and family to keep walking on their path back to Heavenly Father counts:) That perspective makes it so much easier and not as scary to think about keeping covenants. He asks so little of us, yet blesses SO MUCH. 

I would like to share about Zhu Jiemei. Her husband is an alcoholic and is very violent and rash in his decisions. He has recently brought up that he wants a divorce. Well Zhu Jiemei, she is making AMAZING changes in her life. This past-alcoholic lady with a fiery, abusive temper has changed into someone who I would trust with my life. She has changed so absolutely right before my eyes. She expressed to us this past week, after her husband had had a drunk rage and yelled at her, accusing her and insulting her, she left the room and said a prayer. Zhu Jiemei is the type of person who, if you insult her even the littlest bit, will throw a chair at you, punch you in the face, swear at you, then leave the house. But not anymore. She felt her temper calm down immediately and she was able to sleep peacefully that night. She realizes that Heavenly Father is preparing her for possibly harder trials in the future, but that with His help, she can do it. She is SO CLOSE to quitting drinking and chewing binlang, and then she'll get baptized:) I love her with all my heart.

We had a run in with one of our investigators drunk dads this week. I have met a lot of drunk people in my life, but WOW was he gone. Literally staggering, trying to speak English and Spanish and teach us the gospel even though he is Buddhist. It was....great. 

We met a very special friend this week, someone who had met with the missionaries in TaoYuan before and while she was down in YuLi for service for the Catholic church, she wanted to see us. A big part of the miracle is that her friend, who we do service for, called us and set up a time for us to meet with her!! Well this 22 year old Zhang Ting is her name...she is VERY special. She POUNDED us with questions from every lesson, every doctrine. She took the pamphlets we took to teach The Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, The Law of Chastity, and Tithes and Fast Offerings. We answered what we felt like we should, but mostly told her to read the Book of Mormon and pray, since that is the way we receive truth anyway. :)

Well I am about out of time today, but this week was amazing. We are going to go to ANOTHER beach today later, that is exciting, then outdoor zone conference tomorrow in Hualian YAY!! Life is so good here, I love being a missionary, if any of you couldn't tell:)

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