Baptism

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

School is out?!?! Man, that school year went by so fast! And you are now going on a road trip! Have so much fun! Take TONS of pictures!! Love you all!! 

This week went by so fast! It was an amazing week! 

Greatest highlight of the week was that Lai Ming Jin got baptized Saturday night, June 6!!!! It was such an amazing service! The Spirit was so strong! One of the Elders investigators, Zhou DiXiong, also got baptized Saturday night! Lai Ming Jin was very excited! He has a fake leg though so he got baptized with one leg. His friend, Yang DiXiong, in our branch, baptized him. He had to get baptized three times because his head didn't go completely under the first time, his hand didn't go completely under the second time, but the third time was perfect! It was amazing and our investigator, Li DiXiong also came to the service! I am so grateful. Lai Ming Jin now has a new start. A fresh start. He has come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ--the greatest thing and most important thing! 

Other than the baptism, we stayed really busy this week having lessons with other investigators and finding. 

Monday night, we were able to meet with a less-active male and his family! He has two children. His wife is so fun! We had a little family home evening with them and taught the children how to pray. We colored prayer rocks with them and really got to know Wang DiXiong and his family. His wife, is super nice and seems to be really open to learn more about the gospel. The whole time we were at their home, their 9 year old son was asking questions about Christ. It was so neat! I can't remember if I wrote about how we found him last week--We were eating dinner at a shaved ice and chicken place and a man and his daughter came and sat near to us and he started telling his daughter who we were and what we do. We overheard him and he didn't look familiar so we started talking with him, figured out he was a less active, and exchanged phone numbers. I am so excited to see where this family will go. They seem golden. 

This week was also a week of meetings and training. Tuesday we had Zone Meeting and Wednesday we had Zone Conference. Wednesday was my last Zone Conference with President and Sister Day. They go home at the end of this transfer (end of this month)! It is absolutely crazy. They have been absolutely amazing mission parents and leaders! I love them with all my heart and will miss them like crazy. I am also looking forward to meeting our new mission president as well. Some huge changes are going to be taking place soon in our mission! 

We also met with a new investigator this last Friday. Xu DiXiong is 85 years old and is originally from China. He is so so cute! We sat outside in his garage area and talked about God and families. He showed us all these pictures of his family. It was so neat. He is really down to earth and just flat out amazing. 

Friday night we also taught Li DiXiong the Word of Wisdom. I was pretty nervous to teach this lesson because I knew he uses and drinks all five things the Word of Wisdom invites us to avoid. It was really funny actually because the first thing he offered us when we walked in was Hong Cha (Red Tea) and we can't drink it. He asked us why and we were like, "That's a great question and we will answer that today in our lesson!" The Spirit was definitely in the lesson. He had his bettle nut and cigarettes on the counter the entire time we were teaching and he said he is slowly working on giving up cigarettes. He took the lesson really well and committed to slowly start following it. He was really shocked with the things we are asked by prophets to avoid but agreed that they are all bad for our bodies. But, we didn't scare him away because he came to Lai Ming Jin's baptism the night after! Li DiXiong's faith is so big. I pray he will continue to be able to rid himself of using bettle nut, cigarettes, and drinking tea, coffee, and beer! 

Gan Qiu Yi continues to progress. She has already been baptized into a different church and still doesn't quite understand the importance of the Priesthood. Our lessons with her are always so good. She absolutely loves the Book of Mormon and she learns from it every week. 

Sunday afternoon we also met with a new investigator. She is a member referral from ZhuNan. She is also from China, five months pregnant, and her husband just returned to China for work. Her husband is Taiwanese. She is going to have her baby in Taiwan and then move back to China in December with her husband. She doesn't believe in God or has any religious background but she is really open to discussing religion and learning more. She has been to church once with her friend and really liked it! She has all the time in the world so we will be able to meet with her a lot! 

Overall, this week was great! There are definitely hard days and good days but everyday is worth it! Every day I am learning more and growing. I love the people of Taiwan. I love being a missionary--it is definitely the greatest calling in the world! 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Sister Haacke

 All the Sisters in my Zone and Sister Day at Zone Conference.

 

 A small rice field in TouFen.

 

Lai Ming Jin's baptism! His friend, Chen DiXiong is also in the picture. 

 

 Yes, our baptismal font is a portable hot tub. :)

 Sister Cardon, Lai Ming Jin, and I after his baptism.

Sister Cardon and I.

 We ate Sunday dinner at Hong JiaTing last night as well as some other members in our branch. 

 My current Zone at Zone Meeting.