Hello Family Dearest Family Mine!
I love you all, dear Family! *mmmmphf!* That's a hug for all of you!
Well, how's life been this week? I hope it's been good for you. It's been good for me :)
The best part? My companion decided to STAY!!!!!! *speechless choruses of joy*
Well, without rhyme, without reason, out of time, and out of
season, Sister Lin decided to stay! (yes, you'd better get that
reference, family dear). And so, we're all happy. Here are the
conclusions I've come to: Hard work is the cure. Seriously. And also,
the way you view your call makes ALL the difference.
So, this is how this week went: She had decided to go and had
talked to the president about it. Well, we thought that was that, but
then the missionary department sent her a letter at the beginning of the
week, which got her thinking, and President Hawks said he would like a
final decision as soon as she could manage. She was about to send a text
to confirm her decision when something, I don't know what, stopped her.
So, then the rest of the week, I made us work very hard. I didn't give
her time to really stop to think about her big decision (Drill-Sergeant
Nielsen reporting for duty). At the end of the week, we took about two
or three hours to talk about what her thoughts were and what her
decision was going to be. And her mind/heart has been changed. MIRACLE!
She sees this as the Lord's specific call to her now, and as her duty.
She understands that this is not going to be a walk in the park, but
that she's committed to it. And that she can find joy in it. We have had
a happy week, really. I think the tricky bit of being a sister and
getting to choose whether or not you serve a mission is that once you
get your call, you have to remind yourself that it's not a choice
anymore. You have a call from the Lord and there's no looking back or
deciding you don't like what you got and would like to be done, thank
you. It was your choice to go and to accept your call, but once you've
accepted, you don't reject it. And the Lord will give you more blessings
than you've ever dreamed of. Really. I think that in serving a mission
we learn how to cope with the ups and downs of normal life much more.
Anyway, that is the biggest miracle of this week. I have been praying
for Sister Lin so much and I'm going to keep on praying.
There were lots of other things that happened this week, too,
though. Namely: We HAD A BAPTISM!!! Yeah! After months of not seeing
anyone actually get to that point, it was a tender mercy of the Lord to
get to see two baptisms on Sunday. Yuki, our little 12-year old
investigator got baptized! After a lot of nervousness about having to
tell her dad that she's been going to church instead of to school (she
hadn't told him yet) she finally told him! Yeah! And she even, in her
testimony after her baptism, mentioned that she was grateful that we
made her tell him.
The other baptism was A-May, a mother of two kids. The elders have
been teaching her family, and they are the awesomest people ever. The
two kids got baptized last month, their mother got baptized yesterday,
and the father has been hearing the discussions! This is a miracle
because at the beginning the father claimed that he'd never ever go to
church and believe. Now he comes to church every week and is a lively
participant in Sunday School. Also, after his wife got baptized, his
eyes were definitely all teary. He told us that he just had a cold, but
we knew better :) The Lord is really blessing this family.
I have attached pictures of these baptisms.
Also, the biggest blessing was how many people got to come to the
baptism and feel the Spirit there. Yuki's mom, who is less-active and
works really long hours found time to make it (she's in the last picture
on the left)! Also, Ammon, our 13-year old investigator came
because.......get this......he is really good friends with Yuki! Who
knew! Yeah, we might not have been able to get him there because of his
regular church meetings at his church. He was willing to come to support
a friend, though. And hearing her testimony at the end was really big
for him. She's a very fiesty little 12-year old, but seeing her really
calm and sure in her decision really hit him, you could tell.
Guess who else came! Apple! The investigator who is in high
school, is really busy, and whom we were afraid we'd lost! She came and
then stayed to all 3 hours of church! Wow. She's so reliable, she's just
been busy. In fact, we only called her once about the baptism, and she
said that she would check her schedule. We left it at that, and then on
Sunday morning, we got a call from her asking us which room the baptism
was in! I had to ask her to repeat herself about 3 times because I
couldn't quite comprehend this. I really think that she is going to be
prepared soon, too. She gets along famously with the Young Women. In
fact, we don't even have to stay with her during church, they just take
her under their wings so well.
And the last person who came was a miracle too. Earlier this week
we called some former investigators to try to schedule to see them. We
only took about 1/2 an hour to do it, and Sister Lin just randomly tried
some numbers. Well, she miraculously immediately found one lady, Lo
Jimuih, who had been investigating a year ago and who would love to see
us again! She saw us on Saturday and came to the baptism on Sunday. She
is in her 50s and doesn't have a job right now, though she's looking for
one. She is a lovely lady, and has dimples when she smiles.
Well, that's the big news from this week. It's also been full of
lots of street-contacting, lots of lessons, and lots of hard work. And
it's been wonderfully happy that way.
I know that this work is the Lord's and that He supports His children as they participate in it.
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
P.S. Did you know that this week I passed my one-year-in-Hong-Kong mark? Surreal, huh? Time goes way too fast.
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