Sunday, February 17, 2013

Time flies (esp. when I only wrote 4 days ago)

Hello Family! How are you? I am fine, thank you. I'm a little shocked by the way time has been going so fast (without even consulting me first!). It's kinda bittersweet. Full of lots of confused emotions. The result is kinda a lump in my throat, if you were wondering. But the reason for this is because of Mark 10 verses I-don't-remember-what-number, where it says that no one has left home or family for the gospel's sake, except that they've found even more family members they never knew they had. That is what it feels like for me. But I miss you all too.
 
So, the picture I attached is from this Sunday. That is Choi JM and her fun little kids. She and her children have changed so much. She got a calling on Sunday! Her kids also used to run wild, basically, but now they love church. They still have their own personalities as you can see, though. This Sunday, while they were waiting for their mother, we played the Best Game Ever with them (according to Ga Ming, the little boy): you stick a post-it note to your nose and try to blow it off. Oh how I love them.
 
 The other pictures are of New Year's dinner at A-May's (the recent convert. Her relatives were there as well.) And of the view out our apartment window. It's lovely.

 
So, now you probably want to know what happened since last I checked in. Well, lots of hard work. And miracles! (of course).
 
Namely, we spent a lot of time finding because of the new year (and saw lots of lion dances. Did you know that they go around to various businesses and dance this lion dance thing so that the business has good luck? We've been hearing the drums everywhere we go). We've also seen lots of prepared people. So cool. I mean, every single finding time seems to have some miracle. We taught one girl that we found this week, named June, and she was really humble and prepared. Unfortunately she hasn't answered her phone since, but we're not giving up. We also have run into people who were willing to schedule us right away and we're seeing them this week. Wow!
I think the best part of finding, though, is just feeling guided by the Spirit and feeling the joy of sharing your testimony even if the crowd is tough.
 
Then on Sunday we had this great miracle! Coco and her family (Ng Family) came to church again! The whole family always does everything together, so if one comes, they all come. Coco is really adamant about that. That's why it was so happy to get to teach them all together finally! We taught the restoration and emphasized the blessings that come because of that, including the temple! Coco really wants an eternal family, and it was exciting to tell her that she could have one. I hope that they really understood the uniqueness of this message that we shared with them. They have been to a lot of different churches and they think that they're all about the same. They will get it as they pray and read the BoM.
 
Sunday was generally a great day, actually. I love hearing the talks that people prepare (WE get to be taught instead of just teaching all the time! Yay!), and I love the Tai Wai members. They are really loving, accepting, and amazing. They just love their missionaries, too. And we love them. I had to start telling people that I'm leaving soon (since I only have 2 more normal Sundays here. Ack) and they were so shocked. They are so sweet and loving, and I will miss them.
 
As for how our investigators are doing, Lulu is in mainland still, Wong HD has been busy with New Years and work, and Chan JM has been in mainland too. Wong JM (the mother of the LA boy) is doing ok. We visited her on Saturday, and miracle-of-miracles, her son came out to listen to the lesson! He didn't answer our questions, but he was thinking, you could tell. They might take a while, but I have faith they will really desire this gospel eventually. And that's the report mostly.
 
Today for P-day, I get to see a friend: Vina! I love that girl. She will be going bike riding with us for a few hours. Yay! I have asked for her to speak at this special fireside called "My Conversion Story" Fireside in which she will share her story. It's the Sunday before I finish my mission. I am so excited to hear her speak. She loves sharing her testimony. And I love her :)
 
The other things coming up are a visit from the Missionary Department this Friday (exciting!) and lots of wonderful missionary work. I'm excited.
 
in fact, I have really been loving these past few weeks, and I really love serving with Sister Palmer, who is a blast. She's kinda nervous about the fact that she's training in the next 6 weeks (strange, right?) but she's really building her faith. I know she can do it because the Lord would never call anyone to do something they couldn't do. But this is truly going to be a historic time in the mission, is what.
 
If there's anything I've learned on my mission, though, it's that everyone has a lot of weaknesses, but the Lord can help us overcome them. Faith, humility, and love are very real powers. It's incredible to see.
 
Well, I love life, I love the Gospel, I love my mission, and I love YOU. Keep ga yao-ing as well.
 
Love,
Sister Nielsen

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