Sister McKenna Tracy: It's cold...but the miracles are warming me up!- December 2

Nimen to the Hao

You guys are totally going to laugh at me. I am seriously turning into a Taiwanese person. Lately in JiLong (one of the coldest places on the Island, mind you), all of the people have been saying it's going to be freezing lately! Well, in Taiwan "freezing" is about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At first I thought, mehhh that's nothing..I'm from Seattle, I can handle that. Well...for the past few days I have been FREEZING. And its like 50ish degrees...I've been wearing scarves like every day and layers upon layers upon layers. Still freezing. You know you've been in Taiwan for a long time when you get to that point...hahah

BUT this week actually has been incredible. The miracles that we've seen have been warming me up!

It all started with my companion. Sister Zippro is amazing. I love love love the way she goes about missionary work. Her testimony is strong. She is very simple in her teaching. She is faithful. Her faith is really lifting me up. We were planning last week and she asked me, "How many baptisms do you think we can have this month." I looked at our board and gave her a number. She said, "Why do you say that number? We have more on the board." I said, "I just don't know how likely it will be that the other people will get baptized this month." She put down her things and turned to me and said, "Sister Tracy, I have no idea what I am doing here in JiLong. But we are both here to see miracles. I know our faith is going to make miracles." She really encouraged me to set higher goals and pray with more fervent faith. President emailed me and said we would see many miracles. And boy have we...

1. We had a lesson with an investigator named Michele. She is a former and lately it has been difficult teaching her. She is a genius. Really intellectual--so it gets a little intimidating at times. Her desire to come unto Christ is not too huge right now, but by the end of every lesson we know it's growing. This last lesson was miraculous. We re-taught Lesson 1. When we got to the part when we were talking about Christ, we read Alma 7:11-12 out loud with her. I don't really know what happened but as I read that scripture out loud for her, I read that scripture in a really different way than I have before. And I have read this scripture for people like over 100 times. As I started to reflect on why Christ was my personal Savior, I got really emotional. I bore testimony that Jesus Christ was my personal Redeemer. By the end of the lesson, in her prayer, Michele said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for letting me feel something tonight. Thank you for allowing me to learn about your Son. If He can really lift people's burdens like that...then I like that. I think it's a good thing, and I want to keep learning about that." The spirit will testify of truth. It will let you know what to say when you don't know what to say. It will carry into the hearts of others. I know this is true.

2. We went to a former investigator's house and she wasn't home. SO we decided to knock doors instead. Our goal was to find a new investigator. We had 20 minutes and at first I was doubtful, but then I remembered what Sister Zippro told me earlier that week. SO I said a prayer to have faith. The very first door we came to, we found our new investigator. We are meeting with her and her family this Wednesday. :)

3. Yu Mama is getting baptized this Saturday! My first baptism! I am so excited for her! She has so so so much faith. The miracle here was also that she wants to get baptized QUICK. So we had to teach all of the commandments in one hour! Really really really good practice for teaching the commandments as simple as possible haha.

4. We had a lesson with Lin Chun Zi and taught about fasting. We read Isaiah 58:3-11 together. It was so amazing. She immediately knew that fasting was a commandment of God. She came to Church yesterday and paid a fast offering and everything. Her husband's heart is softening. I really think she can be baptized soon! She is so much happier.

5. At temple tours we were giving our new investigators a tour and teaching the 1st lesson at the same time. When we got to the Joseph Smith 1st vision photo I totally blanked on how to say the first vision. BLANKED OUT. I said a quick prayer in my heart that I would remember. Suddenly the first word came into my head. The rest came out perfectly. The spirit seriously brings things back into our minds. I am also way excited because they both set a baptismal date! They are coming to Church next Sunday!

6. At the temple I also ran into a boy about my age that I gave a tour to on my first day giving tours (back from transfer 1). He told me he was getting baptized tomorrow! That was a sweet tender blessing from the Lord that I was able to congratulate him and see this conversion in him. I am glad that I was able to be a part of it.

7. Our RC ("recent convert" - mission lingo translation inserted by Dad) lost her job this week and almost had to get kicked out of her house. After fasting for her, and inviting her to fast, she found a new job! She won't have to move now!

8. As I have had more responsibility, I have been really really praying for the gift of tongues so that I can accomplish these things. It is amazing. My language is improving. Rapidly. The Lord is blessing me. This week I felt like I could understand so much better and speak so much better. I have been stuttering in my speech less and less. I can talk on the phone to everyone now and know what they are saying. I could never ever do these things before last last week. The Lord qualifies us!

9. At the temple we met a member from another part of Taiwan and he gave us all of these family referrals. We are meeting with them all this week!

10. We literally have the most golden investigator ever and this all happened yesterday. She called us (I had no idea who she was beforehand, someone that Sister Barden contacted last week) and said, "Can I come to church with you?" DANG RAN! (Of course!) So she came. She is this adorable 16 year old girl who has Sundays completely free--(MIRACLE). She LOVED church. We had an incredible lesson with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. Later that day we called her and invited her to a fireside by the temple. She came! At the fireside people sang Christmas songs and gave talks. She came up to me and said, "I feel like I need to teach about this church to my family. I am going to bring them to meet you tomorrow." YES!! Also, she already started reading the Book of Mormon and she said she would try living the Word of Wisdom (ALSO A HUGE MIRACLE. It is so hard for Taiwanese to stop drinking tea) AHHHHH SHE IS AWESOME!!

Well, I am doing a lot better this week. I just have a lot of faith this transfer. Good things are about to happen in JiLong. It is going to be a White Christmas (not snow-wise, but baptismal clothes-wise ) :)