Taiwan Taipei Mission

Taiwan Taipei Mission

Monday, July 6, 2015

Celebrating the 4th

Family and Friends!

Seems like you had a great 4th of July--spending time with family, the Osgood Community Breakfast, parade, boating, Melaleuca Freedom Celebration...I'm glad you all had fun! 

It was another great week in the field! Definitely had its' challenges but it was good! 

The most exciting day this week was probably Saturday, July 4th! I was praying all week Saturday would be busy so that I wouldn't miss home and be thinking about what you would all be doing and Heavenly Father answered my prayers!! We started the morning by visiting a potential investigator. She is very Catholic and had some interesting beliefs but was really nice and fun to talk and share about Christ with her. We then ate lunch with Elders Dixon and Merrell and Jeffrey at KFC to celebrate the 4th! Jeffrey brought an American flag so it was fun! We talked about family traditions and what we normally do on the 4th! After, we had a lesson with one of our investigators, Chen DiXiong. He just graduated from High School and is preparing for college starting in September. We shared with him POS. He seemed to have little interest and was distracted by his phone the entire time. So we will have to see what happens with him.  After, we went and did some finding over across the bridge. We had little success but talked to this sweet 88 year old lady who gave us a referral to a Christian home just down the road. We had a lesson with Gan JieMei. It was very interesting. Our member that normally comes with us came today after not being able to come very much so Gan JM and her spent pretty much the entire time 'catching up'. We didn't quite get in the lesson we had planned but hopefully next week. Gan JieMei is continuing to read the Book of Mormon faithfully every week. She just won't come to church. I pray We can find more ways and things we can do to help her know the importance of church. 
 
After dinner, we had a night full of finding. We knocked a lot of doors and were able to talk to many people. None were interested though.  After about and hour and a half. Sister Cardon and I stopped on the side of the road and said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us find the prepared. Literally 30 seconds after our prayer, the MIRACLE came! We rounded a corner and saw a cute young girl sitting on her motorscooter. We went over and started sharing a family tract with her. Ye XiaoJie has been to a Christian Church before with some friends, she has heard prayer before but not quite sure how to do it. We were able to pray with her and share the Book of Mormon and have a return appointment for next Saturday afternoon! 
One of the most important things I learned tonight is the importance of listening to the Spirit-being led by the Spirit and saying what the Spirit prompts you to say. Our contact with her was honestly really really awkward. I don't think I have been that awkward since my first two weeks on Island but, she showed so much interest and wanted to learn more about our Church and about Jesus Christ. I know the Spirit was with us and even though Sister Cardon and I were really really awkward (ha) the Spirit testified to Ye XiaoJie of the truthfulness of our message. 

Our new investigators--Zhang JiaTing--are so so neat! They came to English class together and they brought their daughter on Wednesday night. Their English is really good so they attended the advanced class and then we met with them Thursday night at their home. We brought Wu JieMei, a member in our branch, with us and she brought her 11 year-old daughter. We had planned to go in teaching Lesson one about the Restoration. We prayed about it not knowing if we should teach that or the Plan of Salvation first. Sister Cardon and I both felt really strongly we needed to prepare lesson one but when we got in to the lesson and explaining Heavenly Father, Zhang XianShang started asking all these really good questions that the Plan of Salvation answered. So, we switched gears and taught the Plan of Salvation. His Christian friends have all told him that after this life if he doesn't believe in God, he will go straight to hell so we were able to clear that up and explain the knowledge we have about the after life. It was neat to see how he was comforted knowing what is going to take place after this life. 

Overall it was a pretty good week! I love what I do. It is so neat. This week, we were able to teach the Plan of Salvation a lot more than usual. I was able to study more about it in Personal and Companion study. I know without a doubt the Plan of Salvation is true. I know after this life, we will all be resurrected and have eternal life. But the glory and happiness of our eternal life comes from the daily decisions and choices we make right now. I love in True to the Faith it says, "As you ponder your progress on the "strait and narrow path," be assured that eternal life is within your reach. The Lord wants you to return to Him, and He will never require anything of you that you cannot fulfill. All His commandments are calculated to promote your happiness. When you exercise faith and serve Him with all your might, He gives you strength and provides a way for you to do whatever He commands you. Remember that as you give your greatest effort and repent of your sins, the Atonement of Jesus Christ will compensate for you weakness and for the inequities, injuries, and pains you experience in this life: "We know that it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do". 

I love you all!! Have a great week!! 
Love, 
Sister Haacke
 


 

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