Tender Mercies of the Lord

8.2.15

Everyone in our mission got to go to the temple this past week except our zone, we live too far away:) But we were busy down here creating holy experiences for ourselves.

I think a lot this week I was focused on my spiritual progression and what Heavenly Father still has for me to learn. I came across this scripture while reading in Alma 27:18 "Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness."

I have been thinking a lot about how to ALWAYS, no matter what, no matter if its 110 degrees outside and you have to bike for 45 minutes, no matter if no one wants to talk to you, no matter if someone stands you up for a lesson or says they don't want to meet with you anymore, no matter if someone is not keeping commitments, BE HAPPY. And this was an answer to that prayer. We need to SEEK it. Be humble and repentant and remember that happiness is a quest, a constant thing we need to work for. So I have to SEEK this happiness, actively and not stop. I remember at the beginning of my mission I made it a goal to seek how to be the most obedient I could, and now that that has become part of who I am, I can now also focus on seeking how to be the most happy. It's invigorating:)

We had a super fun preparation day in TaiDong last week, definitely what we needed. We stayed the night there and proselyted in TaiDong monday night!!! We had interviews on Tuesday, President Jergensen is awesome!!!:)

Tender mercy this week:
We have this investigator Zhu Jiemei, she is going to get really busy during August because she has to go harvest her flowers at the top of the mountain every day all day (yes the native Aborigines of Taiwan have giant crops of flowers at the very tip-top of mountains that they have to take care of), BUT she has been reading, praying, and coming to church. She says she feels a power every day keep pushing her to do what is right, pushing her to do what she needs to do in order to be baptized. She says that we came at just the right time in her life. When we knocked on her door, she had been wondering why none of the missionaries she saw riding by had stopped to visit her in a while. She also was thinking of how to handle the poor relationship she has with her husband. But we came and helped her remember that Heavenly Father's help is always available. She got super emotional when I just bore my testimony that through Christ's Atonement, we can make ANY change that we need to make. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson.

We didn't have any super crazy fun stories this week like we have in the past, or maybe I'm just so used to the way things go down here in the East Coast that I can't remember:) We proselyte in tiny towns where you have to walk for 15 minutes to talk to anyone. We drip sweat from every pore and have people offer to give us napkins to wipe our faces. We eat chocolate when we are sad because people won't accept Christ and we eat chocolate to celebrate when people make steps to becoming more like their Savior. This past week 仁傑 bore his testimony to a less active young man. He pondered a long time about what to say, and then he said "家庭是永恆的。不用擔心。" or for you people who don't read Chinese;) "Families are eternal. You don't need to worry." His testimony is so pure and so strong. His little brothers both came to church too...we hope to still work with 仁和 to get him baptized!!! We are finding new people, almost every day. The thing is is that we live in such a tiny place, and so many people live in other tiny places, up in the mountains that we, on our little bikes, have NO WAY to pedal 2 hours up a rocky slope to get to...BUT we have faith we will find a way:) I love being down here and getting to meet people that are the gold of Taiwan. It's a very special place and even though its hard to love at times, Heavenly Father is putting that love in my heart. We are ALL His children, and He doesn't compare us against each other, He wants ALL of us back. How lucky I am that I get to take part in His plan, no matter how small of a part I play. I love you all!!!!

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