Year Mark! Fishers of Men and Liberty Jail

Hey everybody!

     Awesome, busy week. Had a lot of fun stuff happen so excited to tell you about it. We will go on a hike to some waterfalls today, so sorry my email is kinda short.

Monday

     Since it's New Year's, a lot of  the branch members had work off, so we all went to the ocean seaside. The water drops off randomly so nobody swims in the ocean, and there's no sandy beaches, just rocky ones. We first went to a member's little tourist shop store by the ocean, and went on a hike

nearby. It was so beautiful! The area used to be under the ocean. Meng xin, it was fun. We then went to a fisherman's wharf for lunch, had shrimp and other Taiwanese food, then headed to the rocky beach and skipped stones into the ocean. Really fun pday. That's why I titled this the "Fishers of Men" (as well as having awesome new investigators). Saw some fishermen with really long poles- like me, still trying to find ways to attract new investigators through the Spirit. 

Wednesday

     Went to zone conference in Taidong, super fun! Watched the Jan 2016 worldwide mission broadcast: TEACH REPENTANCE AND BAPTIZE CONVERTS  #TRBC. Soooo good!  The last time I saw it I was at the MTC. I invite you all to watch it. I liked how they talked about the Spirit being the teacher, and we are the vessels, not the other way around. Elder Oaks' talk was so powerful, about why we do missionary work- SALVATION AND EXALTATION!  All returning to live in God's presence. 

Friday

     YEAR MARK!!!!!!!!!! I have survived for a year on my mission! Yay! I spent it going on exchanges in Paradise Hualian with the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Toronto and Sister Guan. Saw a lot of miracles! Met one cool, lonely lady who will start meeting with the sisters! 

Saturday

     Continued exchanges. Went to a road that felt more like California than Taiwan because of all the palm trees. Visited some cool people. Since there isn't a McDonald's in my area, we went there to evaluate exchanges. Learned some great stuff from Sister Guan.

     The tropic of cancer runs right through my area, so its California weather here. Yay! My body is freaking out; it thinks it should be cold.

Spiritual share

     I finally feel like things are getting better here. We have some awesome new investigators, got an awesome new companion (she's been here in Taiwan for three months) who I am breaking for the third time (I've never had a companion other than my trainer who's been in Taiwan on a mission longer than me), and will get things started. We only have about 20 active members in the branch, but we will make things better with God's help. Will be a miracle transfer.

     We met with the branch president, and he pretty much said just work to have a good relationship with  members and you will get referrals. so other than new investigators, that will be a goal for us this transfer: gain their trust.

     A few weeks ago, before Sister Scharman left, we were listening to a talk by Elder Holland on her ipod speaker called, "Lessons in Liberty Jail." I invite you all to read it; it was powerful. It was about how Joseph Smith's worst time in his life was being stuck in Liberty Jail while his family and the saints were being persecuted and driven away in the cold winter. One historian called the place a "temple," because it was where Joseph drew closer to God and received revelation. Receiving some of the most beautiful scriptures we have came at a high cost (see D&C 121-123).

     It was so good for me, because I kind of felt like the last transfer was Liberty Jail for me in a way. I was stuck inside with my poor, sick companion, not able to do as much missionary work as I wanted. The branch was falling apart, I wasn't able to do anything for my sick companion to make her better, we are in a very spread out large area (middle of nowhere), Ding Jm our baptismal investigator had a lot of trials, we didn't have any other progressing investigators, and I couldn't go out and proselyte like I wanted to. It was so miserable. From that experience, however, I learned more to trust in God and that ONE DAY, the trial would be over. Like Christ when He suffered the Atonement. It must have been super hard for Him to keep going. I often ask myself what kept Him going, why didn't He stop even when it was so hard. I think that just that vision of us all being exalted with Him and Heavenly Father, having so much happiness with our eternal families was the sole thing that kept Him going, having that hope that one day it will all be worth it in the end. If He believed that one day His sufferings will be over, so can we. And that day came, when He was Resurrected. Same with us- one day, we will be delivered us from our trials.

     One day, I would like to write a song called, "One day, someday," about the hope that one day the trial will be over. But for now, I guess we can go for Orphan Annie's "Tomorrow." 

   Also, I love an article from the October 2016 Liahona (either in New Era or Ensign) called "Power to Persevere." It's the story of how a 16-year-old girl learning to trust in God at all times, especially when her family got in a car accident which killed her mother. Her story is amazing, I love the part about how she would every night go in her closet, read scriptures, write in her journal and cry for an hour and tell God how much she missed her mom. It really drew her closer to God rather than push Him back when she needed Him most. God is like a doctor, he can heal us, but we need to go to Him rather than turn away, or else we can't be healed.  I invite you all to read it.

Here's the link:   The Power to Persevere

      Have a great week!  
      
     Sis. Brinkerhoff