May 1, 2013

Washington - 4/22/2013


Dear family and friends,

Thank you for all your support!!!

SARAH JENSEN, thank you so much for sending me that letter with all the sparkly stars that fell all over me when I opened the envelope.  haha I will write you today and try to send it sometime this week.  - You're the best and I can't wait to visit with you after the mission! :)

MARGIE/MARGARET emailed me this week.  - What a pleasant surprise!!! - I was super excited to hear from her and really appreciated the quote she included in her email - so much that I decided to include it in THIS email.  It's a quote from Elder Holland, and if you know me, you KNOW I LOVE inspirational quotes:
   
Here's a great quote from Elder Holland:
"Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and
happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some
don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus
Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and
believe in good things to come."

Isn't it the best quote ever?! - I feel like it is so applicable to EVERY single person!!!

Ok, and this is a shout-out to everyone: HELP THE MISSIONARIES!!! - I've learned that the members are the main resource in helping people be truly converted in the Lord.  - Go teach lessons with them! Feed them!! Offer rides!! - Invite non-members over when you have them over for dinner! - Missionaries need all the help they can get, and when the members are ACTIVELY involved and supportive, the work accelerates even more. WE ARE ALL MISSIONARIES!!!!! - Also, BE BOLD.  I am so grateful for Mom.  She is SO BOLD and she is SO STRONG. 

I have learned to teach simply and lovingly.  In all that you do, be genuine.  Have CHARITY.  Remember that through small and simple things are great things come to pass.  - It's so true, and I know that everything we do - the way we present ourselves, dress, act, and LIVE - Some of the things we do may seem small, but they do impact more than we know. (The same is with bad habits.  If you start small, things add up and you find yourself engulfed in misery. - DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!!!)  It's so important to be strictly obedient in life.

I know that when we are obedient and when we give our all to the Lord, we WILL see miracles, and we WILL be happy.  People become happy when they serve.  I honestly can say that right now, I am SO HAPPY because I am serving the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

This week, one of our on-dates cancelled.  She decided to be baptized in the summer by her father who lives in Utah.  I know that the Lord has a time and place for everything and am so excited for her to go through with this decision. On your mission, not everything goes the way you planned, and that's the same in life. So, when you face downfalls or tribulation in your life, don't give up.  Like the quote says, "Don't you quit! Keep walking!..." Read it over and over again.  - Read your scriptures over and over again.  I have SO MUCH faith in those words and the things that are written in the scriptures and said by prophets.  We are SO BLESSED to be a part of this work today. 

Alright, enough of the "pep talk"! Sister Huddleston and I are getting along super well.  We are the super team and always work together and listen to the Spirit.  We have been able to meet with the ward mission leader and work out a plan to improve member support and get everyone involved in missionary work as much as possible.  That is why I was so happy to hear that Mom and Dad are supporting the missionaries, going with them to teach lessons, and befriending investigators and future members!!! - GO MOM AND DAD!!! - If China opens while we are alive, I bet our family will voluntarily go there and serve. - It's no coincidence that ALL of us so far have been sent on Mandarin-speaking missions!!!!! - I wonder where Jon Jon is going to be sent, though!! What an exciting thought!

We have been able to eat dinner with many of the members and other families we are teaching.  - I think I have more pictures of me and all the cute kids over here than I have of me and my companion.  haha It's the best.  The kids are great. They make us laugh and smile all the time. - I always make them little paper cranes and let them color and give them stickers when we are trying to teach a lesson.  - IT WORKS!

We also did a lot of service this past week.  I got to mow a lawn!! WOOHOO!

Also, I played "I Believe in Christ" yesterday in sacrament meeting.  Music is amazing because it gives us opportunities to meet new people and talk with them!!! 

OKAY, I hope you are all safe and happy wherever you are!! I love this gospel and I know that you can love it too!!!!

I'll include as many pictures as I can!

Love you so!
Sister Verina Chen




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