holy cow it has been an amazing week. i can't even believe all the miracles and blessings we have seen as we begin working in this area and with the nanzi ward. whitewashing is so fun! and i feel so blessed for all the help that we have from our mission leaders and our ward. its really great to feel supported. and my companion is amazing! sister xie is diligent and happy and we are just laughing all the time about how much we love gaoxiong. this area is amazing and we have what we call "the dream team". our ward leaders are so great! everyone is really excited about having sisters in the area and we are praying to know how to best serve them. we called our bishop the second day we were here and he immediately set up to meet with us. he is a relatively new bishop and a returned missionary. he has a lot of enthusiasm for the work. we are hoping to help many people feel Christ's love.
we had a cool experience as we have been planning nightly. the second day we were here, we didn't really have anything set up. so we found some less actives on the ward list and some formers. one of the last sisters we had set up was what we thought was a former investigator. we went and visited her and talked to her, and it turns out that she was a less active. we invited her to church and the spirit was so strong. she has a desire to come and she told us how she feels the difference between when she comes and when she doesn't come to church. our ward has been really great at continuing to fellowship her. it was a miracle because on sunday, our relief society president suggested we go visit her- and we already had. the spirit has really guided us. its amazing to realize how much we need to, and should, rely on the spirit. i am so grateful for the opportunity to open an area.
going to church on sunday was so great. we have a ward of about 105 people and the bishop has a goal for 120 by the end of the year. we are excited to help this area grow. Heavenly Father has given us this amazing clean slate and we are so grateful. we have a english group that meets in our ward building on sunday nights. we went last night and it was two Philippians sisters, two american members in our ward, and the missionaries. the elders blessed and passed the sacrament and then we had a short testimony meeting. the spirit was so strong and i am amazed at how this ward seeks to serve one another. i love the faith of the members here. we have so many families and so many members who have grown up in the gospel. i love seeing the church be established in TAIWAN. i love this place. we have an investigator who can't walk and has no transportation. we called a member in our ward and he was willing to drive her to and from church. they are so amazing. we are excited to get to know them and earn their trust. the missionaries have a great relationship with the ward. our bishop has a goal of every member doing an hour of missionary work every week. We are so excited to help him meet that goal.
we contacted a man yesterday in the park who is Christian and started talking with him about church and Christ and the Book of Mormon. as we were talking with him, i realized once more how important our message is. only baptism and endurance in Christ true church can guarantee salvation. if we don't choose Christ's true church, it ultimately doesn't matter whatever else we have chosen. believing in Christ is not enough. Believing in God is not enough. we must be lifelong disciples of Christ, living His gospel daily. i love this message and i feel an increased desire to go share it.
i love you all so much. i am grateful for all your letters and your support. and especially your prayers. the power of prayer is real. this work is God's work and i'm so grateful that we all have the opportunity to be a part of it. I heard general conference was great! i am so excited!! we are so blessed
i''m praying for you all. thanks for the pictures!! keep the faith
love
sister Newman
No comments:
Post a Comment