Sister Samantha Haacke: Working in the Rain

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

What an amazing week this has been! I don't even know where to begin!! Hopefully, I will have time to give a quick run down of all that happened:

Monday: Last Monday our new FAMILY investigators took us out and gave us a tour of their whole town--RuiSui! They were so excited to spend the day with us. Mostly the dad but it was fun to be with them while their kids we at school. They went and showed us Hot Springs, went to this rafting place, a small zoo (with just a few animals--the cutest--mini horses!) where we drank REAL cow milk. However, I have come to absolutely love Soy Milk. Another Tropic of Cancer line monument, a place where you can see all of RuiSui, and a Aborigine Shop. It was really fun to spend the day with them in the car. Today though, they got pretty much the whole lesson of Word of Wisdom. They asked us if we wanted some tea or coffee and we told them we don't drink. They asked why and at first they thought it was just while we were on our missions then when we said it was a lifetime, they asked if it was a religion thing and the mom got the whole lesson while her husband was using the restroom and taking a smoke break. She is pretty surprised and taken back--their faith just needs to grow and then it will be okay! Monday night after Preparation day, we spent the night finding in RuiSui. We met this cute older couple who invited us to eat dinner with them. When we asked if we could pray for and with them, and what they wanted us to pray for, the man started to tear up and there was complete silence in the room for a good minute. He then looked over at me and asked that we pray for all the wickedness in the world. It was a very powerful experience.

Tuesday: We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders in Hualian. I went to Hualian and spent the day serving with Sister Hendricks! It was really fun. We are in the same generation so it was crazy how much we have grown and changed! We laughed about previous memories and got caught up! But, we also saw some miracles while we spent the afternoon street contacting. One of the saddest things is that their 19 year old investigator was planning on being baptized this last Saturday and we went to go meet his parents and they didn't give him the permission he needed to be baptized. They told their son that when his grandma passes away they will think about it again because if he got baptized now, it would totally affect the relationship that their family currently has. The desire this boy had to be baptized was huge. In tears, he said goodbye to us and to the Elders who taught most of his lessons but they had to give him to the sisters because he lived in their area. We also taught a lesson to a part member family who has a 9 year old who wants to get baptized. It rained most the night and we didn't have rain gear so we got pretty drenched but it was worth it! I love missionary work in the rain!

Wednesday: I came back to YuLi and spent the day finding...in the rain. It was crazy but we had so much fun. All of our lessons fell through so we took out the umbrellas and went knocking away. We were able to meet some really neat people but none who really had interest in learning about the gospel. Wednesday nights we also teach English and at English class is when we received our big miracle for the day! In our advanced class, we had two new students--Sam and Jasmine. Jasmine stayed after and talked to us for a while. We asked her how she found out about our English class and her aunt is a less-active member who told her about it. She just recently moved over to the east coast and is working up near RuiSui. AND she wants to learn more about Jesus Christ so we set up for next Wednesday after English Class!!

Thursday: WPS day. Not much happened. We visited some Less actives and did some finding.

Friday: Our RuiSui day where all the miracles come flooding in. In the afternoon, we visited Lai Bi Yu and had a whole lesson on faith. She goes back and forth from debating if she is too old or not to change religions. We always promise her it is never too late. We have it set up for a member to go pick her up for church but this week Lai JM decided not to come but she promised our member next week she would come! We also did some finding and found another really potential investigator. She just moved to RuiSui and is Christian but has yet to find a church that she likes to attend. So, we invited her to come her and her brother where there (they are adults but her husband is out somewhere else working so they live together) and they were both really interested and curious about the Book of Mormon. WE promised them that if they read it and prayed and pondered, they would come to know of its truthfulness! We are going back this week! Walking to Zhong JiaTings house, we talked to a man on the street who was taking a pit stop from Taidong up to Taipei and had a really powerful lesson with him. He used to believe in God but that belief has kind of left him. We invited him to start praying in his life again and he agreed. He agreed to missionaries contacting him in Taipei where he lives! AND our family!

重家庭 is phenomenal. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation with them up to earthly life and then invited to baptism. The dad was super willing and ready to go but the mom brought up a concern. The mother-in-law comes by their home everyday to make sure they worshiped their God and gives her a basket a fruit twice every month that then she is supposed to take to the temple to do a sacrifice. She is really worried and knows she will fandui if she finds out if they become christian (even though they are already telling everyone they have become Christian) and that she wants them to put a big alter in their home but we told them that it is a problem that can be worked through and that if they had to, they could still baibai with her just to show her kan. Right after we solved that, we realized we had 5 minutes until our train was leaving so we had to hurry and close and quickly get to the train station. So this next week we are hoping to set baptismal dates with them!! BUT THEY CAME TO CHURCH!!

Saturday: We went to visit a new investigator and taught her the first lesson. It was an absolutely amazing lesson filled with the Spirit. When leaving that lesson, Sister Coleman and I turned to each other and said, "Wow, that was crazy. That was such an amazing lesson." It honestly was probably one of the best lessons we have ever taught together. And we take no credit, we give it all to the Spirit but it was amazing!

Sunday: MIRACLE DAY!!!! The Zhong family came to church yesterday!! All four of them! It was the biggest surprise! Our whole branch was also so surprised that a family came and they were all great at welcoming them and introducing themselves. They are a great family who really have a strong desire to learn. Wang Zhi Wen also came to church for the second time yesterday! He is still on date to get baptized on Sunday, December 27th! We are still working with him to completely get rid of drinking tea but other than that, he is pretty ready to get baptized! A long time English student also came to church-Vivian. She has been an investigator in the past but due to her husband fandui has yet to get baptized. She hasn't been to church in a long time except last week for an hour and this week for an hour and it was all because of just a simple invite during English Class!! IT WAS HUGE! The whole branch was SO excited! They were so shocked how many of our investigators came to church!

Back to the family: The Family stayed for 2 hours but then had to leave. We called them last night and followed up with them about church and they said that they loved it! They know absolutely nothing about Christianity and in Gospel Principles the Elders taught about the Scriptures and it was all new to them--everything about the Bible included. So, they learned a lot but we told them to not worry about remembering everything and that it will come over time!

But, yet again, at the end of Gospel Principles, Zhong JM asked us why we can't drink tea...we answered her and then will be covering that next time we go to their home in more depth.

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, all four of us missionaries gave talks and Sister Coleman and I sang Silent Night. It was a really good sacrament meeting. But the family that was supposed to speak couldn't come because her dad passed away so we all got to cover for them.

Our Recent Convert, Zhu Hui Ling, is doing much better. She is so much happier and is not as depressed and sad as she has been in the last couple of weeks. The light in her eyes is is back and it is so great.

It was honestly an amazing week. We saw so many miracles! It was so amazing!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Have a great week!
Love, Sister Haacke