My testimony- December 29, 2014

Hey everyone!

In this last email before I come home I  just want to bear my testimony really briefly:

I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that we are all His children. I know that we can communicate with Him through prayer. He will hear us. He will answer us. 

I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I know that the Atonement is a real thing. We can use it in our lives and become the people that God wants us to be. 

I know that God called, and still calls, prophets today. Through their teachings we can find true happiness. I know that Prophet Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that when we truly apply its teachings to our lives, we will find lasting happiness. 

I know that through faith in our savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, we will find a lasting happiness in this life and in the world to come.

I know that family is the most important social unit in the world. We must focus everything on developing our relationship with them. Families can be eternal. 

I know that God's commandments bring true happiness and protection. 

I know that for the rest of my life, I want to commit everything to being a true disciple of Christ. For the past 18 months of my life, I have spent every second trying to do so and I have never ever been happier. I have never ever seen more blessings in my life. 

I am absolutely in love with my mission. 

I love you all. Thanks for supporting me. 

Skype with family on Christmas Day!

Love, Sister Tracy

(next to last edition): Miracles! - December 22, 2014

Hello! 

So not much time to email today. I basically just spent most of this time uploading pictures from last week. I made it a goal to take more photos...so that’s what I did! Yay for attaining goals! (Beware- LOTS of pictures!)

But some highlights you can find from these photos/this past week:

-We had our Ward party (HUGE SUCCESS!) A ton of LAs, RCs, Investigators, Members all came!

-I learned how to make sushi and dumplings

-We went to a Disney Exhibit for Pday and it was amazing

-Sister Wu found a GIANT worm in her dinner...all she had to say about it was "Well, Taiwan uses really strong fertilizer...not bad." then kept eating! hahhaha Epic! I love her. 

-I taught a bunch of Asian children how to do the hokey pokey

THAT’S WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

Lastly, thank you for praying for Sister Ke.. unfortunately, she didn’t pass her interview. She still has a small concern that needs to be resolved. I probably will not be here when she gets baptized...But I know one day, she will be baptized. After her interview, that same night, I was in my room saying my night time prayer and I just had a really strong impression..."Don’t worry, she will be baptized. The Lord is proud of you for helping her." It was probably the strongest impression I’ve had on my whole mission. I know I know I know it will happen! 

It is such a privaledge to serve here in Xin Dian. We see miracles every day. Miracles really do happen every day. We just have to be alert enough and know how the Spirit speaks to us in order to find them. 

Love you all! Look for the miracles this week!

And have a Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Sister Tracy

Pray for a Christmas Miracle!- December 15, 2014

Hey everyone!

First and foremost EVERYONE please please please pray for our investigator 柯舒譯 (pronounced Ke Shu Yi). She should be getting baptized on Christmas. Her interview is scheduled for the 20th (this Saturday). It can happen, she just needs to work out some things with beforehand. Everyone please please please pray for a Christmas miracle!!!! I have so much faith that she can do it!--We have been working with her for 3 months now. I have seen the gospel literally transform her life from day 1 to now.

The other day we were in a lesson and we asked her to write down her testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ. At first she didn't really know what to write. She started by making a list of things that she usually prays for every day: help her co-worker have good health, protect her boyfriend, get married to her boyfriend next year...Suddenly she started to realize that in the past 3 months--God has done ALL of these things for her. She told us a month ago her co-worker went in for a check up--thinking that maybe her cancer had come back, but it didn’t come back! She's totally fine. Also last week her boyfriend got in a car wreck but he came out without a scratch. Also the other night she was eating dinner with her dad and he out of the blue said, "I have a feeling you're going to get married very soon." She realized that God had been looking out for her all along. When she shared this with us I was BEAMING. I felt prompted to ask her: "Do you believe that God is your loving Heavenly Father?" She smiled, looked at the ground for a second, then looked back up at me with tears in her eyes..."Yes, I do," she said crying. 

I know she can do it! Please include her in your every prayer! 

Merry soon-to-be Christmas!

Our ward Christmas party!

Nativity sets!

Love,

Sister Tracy

One Soul- December 8,2014

Hello everyone!

This week I would like to share a super awesome experience I had in the temple. This last week we had the opportunity to go to the temple with our recent converts and do baptisms for the dead. We took our recent convert 林育甄 to the temple for her first time. The morning of we went to her house and read D&C 109 with her:

12 That thy glory may rest down upon thy people, and upon thisthy house, which we now dedicate to thee, that it may be sanctified

and consecrated to be holy, and that thy holy presence may becontinually in this house;

 13 And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of theLord’s house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to

acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness.

We promised her that at the temple God's holiness really would rest upon her and she would be guided and protected and have the Spirit to be more with her. She was really excited but also really nervous about going in because she’s really afraid of water. She has scoliosis and when she did her own baptism it was super hard because she couldn't bend back all the way--it was too painful. It took about 5-6 trys until she was finally fully immersed. So she told us--"I'll go to do confirmations, but I don't want to do the baptism part."

When we entered the temple later that night, we were sitting in the waiting room all dressed in white and we asked her how she was feeling. She said really peaceful. After she got confirmed she was sitting by the baptismal font. A worker asked her if she would like to do baptisms for the dead. At first she panicked and said, "No, no that’s okay." The worker asked, "Are you sure?" Suddenly she stopped shaking and sat still for a moment. She didn't say anything for about 20 seconds, then she finally said, "Okay, I'll do it." She got up and went down into the water. And then...she did it!!! She had such a brave look on her face too. The worker behind me said, "She is so brave." 

My heart was just bursting. I was so so so happy. I felt the Spirit so strong. Proudest moment of my life. 

The following Sunday she bore her testimony at church. She read the scripture from D&C 109 and started to cry and said, "I know this promise is true. And I will keep going to the temple." 

Lately we haven’t had much success with investigators and baptisms. At first it was getting me down. But after this week I've learned a very valuable lesson...this is a work of ETERNAL salvation, which means we need to have an ETERNAL perspective. I've been thinking a lot lately about why I'm here in Xindian, why it’s been so hard lately to find new investigators and such, but I had a real impression the other day that if anything I am here for 林育甄. And if that’s the reason, then my time here is worth it.

D&C 18:15

 15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto

me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

I love you all :)

Sister Tracy

He is the Gift!- December 1, 2014

Hey everyone!

HAPPY DECEMBER! Yay! I set a goal that I would wait until December 1st to start celebrating Christmas. Today I am going to open my Christmas package, write Christmas cards to RCs and investigators, and members, decorate our apartment and start listening to Christmas music! YAYAAYYAYAY. 

The other day we received some training from President Day. The Brethern want us to go crazy on sharing this video called "He is the Gift" below is a link:

http://www.mormon.org/christmas 

Everyone should watch it right now, and then post it on your FB wall or your twitter or your whatever. Share it during visiting and home teaching, share it at church, share it with a random stranger. 

Missionary planning meetings

Why do we celebrate Christmas? Why do we give and receive gifts? It's to remember and celebrate the greatest gift of them all! The gift that God gave us--Jesus Christ.

The other day Sister Wu and I were at a park and we contacted a mother watching over her little boy. We asked her if we could show her a video on her phone and she said okay. After she watched the video we asked her how she felt and she said she felt good and wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. We then began to show her the Book of Mormon and how Christ knows her every trial and every happy moment and that she can rely on His gospel to help her. She accepted the book and even agreed to meet with us again next week. 

The Gospel is for everyone. I testify that we all have a Savior. We all have a perfect example. We all have this person, who knows every pain, every happy moment, every little detail of our life. It only makes sense to trust Him, to trust this Gospel. 

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions andtemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilledwhich saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses ofhis people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bandsof death which bind his people; and he will take upon him theirinfirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according tothe flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succorhis people according to their infirmities.

I know that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and  can change lives. I see it every day in the lives of others and my own. I invite everyone to read the Book of Mormon and try its teachings out. They're true. 

I love playing with kids.  Especially Jenga!!!

Love, Sister Tracy

A week of charity- November 24, 2014

I'm Studying my Chinese!

Hey everyone. Thank you so much for the emails and letters of encouragement :) I love you. 

So obviously last week was really rough, BUT thanks to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, I was able to jump a huge hurdle and figure things out. This week was a lot better. After reading Preach My Gospel Chapter 6 on how to Develop Christlike Attributes I decided to make a goal of developing more charity. This has changed everything about how I go about doing missionary work. I made a goal that this last week, I would not focus on trying to have a lesson with someone or just going through the motions of teaching/street contacting...I made a decision to constantly ask myself this question, "How would Christ do this?"--"How would Christ make this bike contact?" "How would Christ talk to this struggling mom?" "How would Christ treat the man smoking on the side of the road?" It all came down to--He would love them. It all came down to love. As I kept Christ on my mind this week I was able to love everyone and listen to them and just BE HAPPY. I absolutely LOVED doing missionary work this week and it's because I made a conscious effort to follow Jesus Christ. I know He is my Savior. I know He is the perfect example. I know that it’s only through following Him that we are able to find happiness. 

I invite you all to try this experiment out with me. Develop more charity. PMG lists these attributes of a person with charity. Commit these to memory, strive to develop them and you will be so much happier.

Strive to:

1. have a sincere desire for the welfare and happiness of others

2. pray for the pure love of Christ

3. try to understand other's feelings

4. always forgive others

5. help those who are sad/struggling

6. tell others you love them

7. look for opportunities to serve

8. say only positive things about others

9. be kind and patient with others

10. find joy in others achievements

On that note...I love you all!

Sister Tracy 

Christ is the reason- November 17, 2014

So not gonna lie, this past week was probably one of the roughest weeks of my mission. Just a lot of things tested my faith this week. 

One being: we have an investigator who was supposed to get baptized next Saturday. We spent the majority of this past week getting her ready: teaching her the rest of the lessons, took her to Yi Lan for a stake activity, she passed her baptismal interview and everything. Last night after a lesson our investigator called us crying telling us that her parents were arguing. Apparently her father extremely opposes her getting baptized. We went over to her house to talk to the mom. When we got there our 11-year-old investigator was sitting on the doorstep in the rain crying. I've never felt more discouraged in my life.

I got super sad last night because...I guess stuff like this has just been happening for the past 2 months. Baptisms getting so close but falling through last minute, no one willing to set up with us, people not keeping commitments. And we've been working super hard, non stop. I’ve never worked harder in my mission. I guess last night was kind of the final straw for me. I told Sister Wu I felt like my faith was dwindling. 

God answered my desperate prayers through my companion, Sister Wu. After I told her what was going through my mind she just looked at me and...I don’t even know how to explain it but then she just said everything I needed to hear. She spoke with the Spirit. She reminded me that no effort is wasted out here. Even though our investigator wouldn't get baptized anytime soon, she reminded me of all the good we've done for her. We helped her meet people in the ward, we did service for her mom, we helped her know how to pray (which she does every day now). She reminded me that were here to do what Christ would do. That's all this mission is about. She asked, "Do you feel that you help people the way Christ would?" I said, "Yes." "Then your efforts are not wasted."

I love my companion. I love that God answers our prayers through others. Despite my doubts and my feelings of distress, I know that this church is true. I know that I am not wasting time out here. I know that faith is the power. Love is the motive. The spirit is the key. And Christ most certainly is the reason. 

 

Outing to the Museum!

Love,
Sister Tracy