Octopus, Dogs, Stake Conference

 Dog-Watching

English Student's Mom

A Member's Dog

An investigator's baby

     One day, our English student randomly came up and cooked some pork, sweet potato leaves, and octopus soup. I tried the octopus, and it was very chewy with a faint fishy flavor. It was kind

of hard for me to eat, because it tasted different. One elder told him that we weren't used to seafood, which is why it is hard for us to eat the octopus. I thought that was interesting and true. 

     Elder Simonson had some friends come all the way down from Taipei to visit him (that is one goal I want on my mission: to make really good friends with the members to the point that they would come far distances to visit :)   and they brought Costco stuff that we ordered. The elders got some brownies and made them for members.  We all wrote notes, too, and put a photo with them to deliver to the members.  

     It was a member's birthday the other day, so we wrote birthday cards for her. Her husband is 
American (we have two older Americans married to two older Taiwanese women in the branch), so she can read and speak English pretty well, but I wrote her a note all in Chinese. I was pretty happy, I can read, write and text more and more in Chinese (Shen de bangzhu, "God's help"). 

     Our investigators are doing ok, but we have one that is really shining. Her name is Ding Jiemei (Sister Ding).  She is a member's friend and has a word of wisdom problem (coffee, tea, alcohol). She used to be protestant, but left because of the contention in their church; tried bai bai (ancestor worship), but that was useless, so then her friend referred her to us. Yay! A few weeks ago, she was drinking some alcohol when she heard the Spirit tell her that it wasn't good for her body. Her doctor told her a few days later that she needed to give that stuff up because of health problems. She has been going strong ever since. She is still overcoming it, but she has been flying in the lessons. We will teach her the word of wisdom more in depth the next time we see her.   She is getting baptized on December 17th. She has a testimony and everything! She gets along soooo well with the members, it seems like she is one already. She even went on the four-hour roundtrip drive to the

A stop on our way down to stake conference.

Hualian stake conference with the members!  It seemed like all the talks were meant just for her! They were all on the last lesson we taught her (Lesson 3 - Faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end). A lot of the talks were especially on the Holy Ghost, which I thought was special to her, since she had that special experience hearing the Spirit that she keeps referring back to.  At the end, when I asked her if she liked the conference, she said she really enjoyed it. She even looked like a member as she sat on a row of our Yuli branch (the only row from our branch other than a small family from the branch).  I am so excited for her! This will be my second person on my mission and first Taiwanese person (other than the 8-year-old whose mom God helped reactivate) we will help get baptized (the first was the Filipino in Xinzhu). She is such a blessing in our lives and makes Yuli all the more enjoyable. She is such a light in  my life right now, she doesn't even realize how happy she makes me. 

     The best part of the stake conference for me (other than hearing President and Sister Jergensen speak) was when the stake president spoke. He said, 'Elders and Sisters, please stand up."  (All of us from Taidong, Yuli and Hualian, which is about 30-40

missionaries total stood up.) He then said that he and the members were grateful for our service, then told us to sit down. (It was cute; a member I didn't know sitting next to me thanked me for my service as I sat down). He then went on talking about how the stake needs to help and support the missionaries, and that he wants the members to help the missionaries reach the mission goal of having one baptism per month per missionary companionship. We were silently applauding him, we were so happy he reminded the stake members that they need to help us. 

     After zone conference, we went and talked with President and Sister Jergensen. President Jergensen reminded us Yuli missionaries that we were the last branch in Taiwan (didn't know if he meant just our mission or all of Taiwan, but we are guessing the latter), and that he has faith in us to help it become a ward, even though it's hard. 

     After the conference, the stake president had a meeting with us. He first shared his conversion story and gratitude for the missionaries who taught him the gospel, and began to point out his counselors and other members in the room who were baptized between eight years ago and eight months ago or so. It was cool how he still remembered the missionaries and was grateful for them for sharing the gospel with him and his family. I also liked one counselor (an American) who said that in a little while his daughter's friend is getting baptized, reminding us that anyone can get baptized, the members just need to remember that. After sharing his testimony, he then asked the zone leaders in Hualian, then our district leader, then the Taidong zone leader what concerns we have with the members in the area. The biggest problem for all of us is the members' lack of energy getting missionary work done. The stake president then suggested ways to help us improve relations with members to help get them more excited about missionary work.

     When he came to us Yuli missionaries, the stake president began telling us how Yuli is a hard area, especially because it has a long history of member conflict (which he said was caused because of pride), which has definitely hindered missionary work (what also makes it hard is that it is a very big, open area with little towns, which also makes it hard, as well as not having a lot of people, which makes them even more tired of seeing missionaries and less likely to meet with us). He said about five years ago, sisters were introduced to the area which made it better. It made my eyes water when the stake president told the other missionaries our struggles;I could feel the other missionaries' sympathy for us. He then suggested for us to help the members remember the gospel so that they can be humbled and can get along better. Some members have been really helpful to us. The branch is kind of at a low point right now.  Please keep us in your prayers that the area will get better.

     I know that God loves us all and is helping us return to Him through Christ and His gospel. I am so grateful for His help and for the opportunity to help Ding JM come to Christ. 

     Love you all!

-Sister Brinkerhoff