January 6th, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR! wow- 2013 was really amazing. I'm so grateful that i was able to spend a full year as a missionary. 2013 has been so great and i'm grateful that sister Park is a champion at setting goals and making plans. she is working on chinese and english at the same time and she's a great example to me. i'm still working through the Book of Mormon in Chinese and sometimes i get pretty stuck on the city names and the Nephites preparations for war. i don't use 'breastplate' very often in my everyday vocabulary. haha. but i love this language and i've been able to really see the Lord help me learn a lot these past couple of weeks.

I got the package! thank you so much for the pictures. i passed them out to all the members and investigators and they loved them. i love the earrings and i'm so grateful that i got it last week. thank you so much! dad thank you so much for getting the information about the vietnam branch. i'll tell kathy about it- she was super excited to hear that you're going to be there next week. she says that Hanoi is about 2 hours from her home. we read the Book of Mormon with her last night and it was so special to hear her continue to testify how every time she reads the Book of Mormon, it helps her with a current concern. she says that the HARD part is opening the book and starting to read. once she starts reading she loves it. but starting is the hard part. sounds like me and exercising. she wants to read everyday this week- despite the fact that she is preparing for finals. reading the Book of Mormon daily is what got me through finals. haha i love the power that comes from prayerfully studying the scriptures. 

i had a really cool experience on saturday. i feel like i'm finally learning some things about being a mission.on saturday afternoon, we had a lesson fall through and looking at the back up plan, it just didn't feel right. i had the feeling that we should start biking in the opposite direction, but i wasn't sure where exactly we were headed. I kept praying that Heavenly Father would guide us to know where we needed to go and i kinda felt like Nephi "being led by the spirit, not know beforehand the things which i should do." we kept biking and i had the thought to drop by a woman we tracted into. As we pulled to her home, a woman on a scooter pulled up and started putting flyers in the mailboxes. we offered her our help, which led to us talking about the gospel,  which led to her giving us her number. it was amazing to feel like the spirit was guiding us. i learned to really seek the spirit, to plead for guidance and to follow it. even when i didn't know why. i know that Heavenly Father puts people in our path and we can help them feel His love. 

we attended a wedding on saturday and it was so happy! my recent convert Hou JM from nanzi took a train up and i was able to see her and casper. i love them both so much. i'm so excited for you kelly!! temple weddings are such a blessing and they are so happy. just know i'm going to be crying through your entire wedding. haha i love you

i'm doing really well. i'm grateful for supportive missionaries who are great examples to me. i'm grateful to the Lord for this amazing missionary experience and i'm grateful that missionary work is a life long calling. The chruch is true. President Monson is God's prophet. the Book of Mormon is God's word. 

i love you all so much. i'm praying for you

love 

sister Newman