First of all, I hit my mission half way mark in two weeks, how crazy is that?! I swear I just came here yesterday, and I swear it was yesterday my trainer, Sister Bain told me that she hit her halfway mark when she picked me up to train me! She will go home this December.
Speaking of which, guess what week it is? That's right, TRANSFERS! And what does transfers mean? CRAZINESS! I don't know if I will be in Xinzhu next time I email. I will let you know. I love Xinzhu and will miss it if I go. I think my companion and I will stay here and train since we are having like 40 new missionaries come (1/5 of the mission), so everyone will either be training, a leader or breaking.
My trainer, Sister Bain, (who I lived with for four transfers, which is funny because missionaries leave their trainers or their trainers go home back to the US, but not for me, I'm still with my mom/trainer :) had a companion who went home a week early along with a huge group, because school starts this week at BYU. So she doesn't have a companionship, so we have been the three amigas, or as they say in Taiwan, pengyoumen. That's right! She is the Sister Training Leader (equivalent to Zone Leader), so she had a lot of duties, such as attending an Mission Leadership Training Conference after the meeting with Elder Evans (more info to come). She has had some Ba De buddies help be her companions for a few days, which is good since we need to work in our area and she needs to help her area.
Yesterday was sooooo amazing! We had the new member of the Asia Area Presidency, Elder Evans, speak to us. He was soooo goood! He used scriptures and stories to help teach us. He served as a mission president in Japan as well as on the Missionary Executive Board.
He was here to change the culture of our mission, which is good, since this next transfer we are getting A TON of new missionaries! There are fewer missionaries than when the previous mission president was here. Sister Bain was in the first group for President Jergensen, and she goes home in December. I thought it was cool, how we are constantly trying to change and improve. For example, during the prelude music before the meeting, people were talking and socializing since it's the whole mission including missionaries who live far away in Hualian, Taidong and Yuli, who rarely come up to Taipei. He said that we were trained in life to still socialize during the prelude music, but Elder Packer said that the time right before the meeting (about 7 min) should be quiet time, time to reflect and feel the Spirit to get ready for the meeting to start and to receive revelation. I've noticed that with General Authorities in conference, during the prelude music, they are all sitting, quietly and ready to listen instead of socializing right before the meeting. Elder Evans wanted us to start that, so when the music starts before a meeting, we should be seated and listening so we will be ready to feel the Spirit. I invite you all to try that at church this Sunday.
Some things that Elder Evans mentioned:
OUR MISSION PRESIDENT IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD! I am not kidding, Elder Evans said that he has met with hundreds of mission presidents, and he has never, ever seen one that is so obedient and dedicated to follow the instructions of the first presidency. I agree, Pres. Jergensen is so amazing! We had to read a talk given at a mission president's seminar about the best mission presidents, which are ones that have both high expectations and lots of love (I immediately thought of the Pres., because it's sooo true! He has a lot of love and high expectations). Plus he has the same first name as my little brother, Jace! Also, he told the story of how President Jergensen took Elder Evans and his wife to see a Terra Cotta warrior exhibit in a museum. On the way, they meet with a lady from Japan and a person who is either not active or not a member. President begged her to come to church 17 times at that moment, and since she had good English, he finally asked her if she could come to church to translate for his wife, Sister Jergensen. She came to church and felt the Spirit and wanted to teach her non-member dad about the gospel. I love how he even tries to do missionary work!
LEARN THE LANGUAGE! We will use it for this life and the next to teach people about the gospel.
There are a lot more sister missionaries now! Elder Evans said his daughter said that if they had the age change for sisters earlier she would've gone on a mission. Same with my roommate in college. I think I would have still gone despite the age change. It was interesting, my trainer Sister Bain keeps saying that. What she got out of the conference was that our missions are prepping us for life, how to follow God, how to be better family members, church members and great people overall. It's so true, I have been through the refiners fire (still in it) and have seen so many people change.
Follow the WHITE HANDBOOK, especially on the rules regarding interaction with children, opposite gender, AND BE WITH COMPANIONS AT ALL TIMES! He said that Elder Cook said that 90 percent of the problems while on missions come from missionaries who don't follow this rule, and that if they all followed it, there would be no need for a missionary council or some organization that has to deal with that stuff.
Do not forget to teach about repentance. He told this story about one elder who told a story about repentance. This one elder said that before his mission, took Elder Evans aside and told him that he was born before his mom and dad were married (since it was in the 60's and at that time people were rebellious). Missionaries later taught his parents and had them get married and get baptized. The dad then said that the missionaries made him go through a sincere repentance process which included a change of heart, which lead to conversion, and if that hadn't happened, he probably wouldn't be active, and that he was super grateful for the missionary's courage to teach them about repentance. Elder Evans was trying to teach us not to skip from faith to baptism without making sure the people have a repentance process, because that is the only way to be converted. There was a scripture or a quote from PMG that said something like that only through the Atonement of Christ can the natural man become a saint.
Sister Evans told a story that made me cry. It was one about faith:
There was this elder from Hawaii that was of Japanese descent and had a Japanese last name, but he didn't know Japanese really well. He struggled with the language, and to make matters worse, when he would walk down the street, people would assume that he was Japanese and would talk to him rather than his American companion who had better Japanese. In his last area, he asked to be a zone leader in the hardest area of the mission (no member support, no baptisms in years). Elder Evans, who was president at the time, was prompted to promise him that if he worked hard and did his best, he would see a baptism before the end of his mission. The rest of the mission came and went and still no baptism. He flew home and was with his family. He was unpacking his stuff and his non-member dad saw his journal on the bed. For some reason he was touched as he saw the journal, and he asked his son when he could get baptized! (The whole family were members, the elder's older brother also served a mission, and many missionaries tried teaching him, but nothing worked) The dad got baptized that afternoon, right before the son was released by the stake president!
He spoke A TON ABOUT GETTING REFERRALS, especially from new investigators and less actives, since the regular active members get asked a ton.
I am excited about it all! Love you all and remember to always follow God and rely on Him!
-Sister Brinkerhoff
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