Dearest family and friends:
Here are some of the events/journal entries of this past week:
TUESDAY: Sister Liu and I went on exchanges with the sister
training leaders. I stayed in Zuoying with Sister Lisa Smith, and Sister
Liu went to Sanmin with Sister Jian. It was such a wonderful
exchange! Joseph totally knows Sister Smith! She's such a wonderful
person, and I look up to her so much. Something I learned that day during
zone conference is the importance of knowing how to use numbers with
faith. We've had a lot of changes to our key indicators recently which
have helped us to focus more on the people and not so much on the
numbers. It's really interesting. I feel like at the start, I was
more concerned about what other missionaries thought/saw of me when they looked
at my numbers. Don't get me wrong. Numbers are important.
They can help you push yourself, set higher goals, and track your
history/progress; however, there is a difference between numbers and
people. It's important to remember to treat everyone like a precious,
child of God. Every contacting/teaching situation is and should be
difference, according to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. On that note,
I feel like everything must be done in wisdom and order!! If in doubt,
PRAY. Seriously, trusting completely in God to help you establish
goals/become a better person is easier said than done.
I love the scripture in Alma 13:18-19: "But that ye would
humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and
pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and
thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient,
full of love and long-suffering; Having faith on the Lord; having a hope
that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your
hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."
Yesterday during our ward missionary meeting, one of our mission
leaders shared that scripture. It really hit me because humility really is
the key to truly repenting/changing/progressing in life.
WEDNESDAY (journal entry): Yesterday was awesome! Sister Smith
and I visited Qiu De Zhen's (1st counselor of the Zuoying ward) less-active
daughter and her boyfriend last night! We were able to go over the
restoration with them. We ended up referring Sister Qiu's boyfriend to
the elders in our area and are excited to see them both progress. A lot
of the people here are really shy. Most of the less-actives don't
remember anything about the gospel and need a good review! There are so
many part-member families over here in Zuoying. Sister Liu and I are
working hard to help these families be able to one day, enter into the temple
and be sealed for eternity!! We have strong desires to help everyone receive
such eternal joy!! I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.
We also had time to go English proselyting by Costco.
During our time proselyting, Sister Smith was stopped by a cute girl on a
scooter named "Xiao Shu" - "Little tree". She ended
up coming to English class and is super cute!! After proselyting, we had to
bike really fast to our next appointment, grabbing a quick dinner on the way
there. I think the most memorable times over here are the moments like
rushing to appointments in the rain and laughing with your companion the whole
way. Funny story: Every time we go English proselyting, we always
open/close with a prayer. It was really hilarious because I was asked to
say the prayer IN ENGLISH. Since all my companions and "duanchuans"
have been native speakers, I haven't had many opportunities to say prayers
aloud in English. My companions and I have only ever communicated in
Chinese. So anyway, I said this prayer in English, and it was sooooooooo
awkward. Everything I said was super slow and really chopped-up.
After I said "Amen", everyone just looked at me and said,
"Haven't spoken English in a while, have ya?" HAHA It's funny,
right?
Speaking of biking (NOT - This is a totally random note): we
contacted a kind of crazy man on the street on our way to our
appointment. His name was Alan. Anyway, he had met missionaries 40
years earlier and had some really crazy misconceptions about our church.
It was great because we were able to give him an opportunity to meet with the
elders. He ended up giving us his contact information, and the elders
will contact him this week! Every time we contact these people at red
lights, I always smile really big and make them smile! It's super fun and
effective. A lot of people are willing to pull to the side of the street
and quickly write down their contact information. I think I'm learning to
love contacting more and more every day!! Plus, my paper-crane-making
skills are spectacular now. TIME ME.
Continuing on with my Wednesday journal entry: Here are my new
goals to become a new, successful missionary:
1. Pray for the Spirit consistently/constantly
2. Love people and desire their salvation
3. Do all I can to get up and go to bed on time.
4. Focus on one Christlike attribute every week.
5. Pray for strength/humility every night.
6. Set daily goals and always work with DILIGENCE
7. Increase less-active member attendance and SAVE them!
8. Extend an invitation to think/do good to every person
contacted on the street.
9. Learn from other missionaries, especially my companion.
10. Talk with everyone and be genuine/be myself.
Fun events of the week:
-Putting eggs on top of my bike box because we had too many
groceries and biking back home with Sister Liu laughing and screaming at me to
be careful!! haha
- Getting back home with the eggs unbroken and as good as new.
- Making banana crepes and fruit salad for breakfast.
- Learning how to make different kinds of noodles/dumplings and
eating too much food.
- Finding joy in the smallest things like sneezes.
- Laughing because the only language you CAN speak fluently is
Chinglish.
- Laughing even harder because you and your companion start
acting like an old couple and you realize that both of you are super weird and
will totally be awkward returned missionaries.
- Feeling older and older as you see new missionaries come out
into the field.
- Meeting missionaries that taught your parents during TRC at
the MTC. (DAD AND MOM, keep doing TRC!!!)
- Buying flowery spandex because they are comfortable to sleep
in.
- Listening to Chen Mama tell stories about how she met her
husband! She's the cutest. She related to us an experience she had
a long time ago when her husband was still alive. At school, her son's
teacher asked the class to raise their hands if their parents fought at
home. All of the students raised their hands except Chen Mama's son!!
Chen Mama later told me that whenever she and her husband got into an argument
or had a little bit of tension, they would always write down their feelings
instead of say them out-loud. When they wrote down their feelings of
tension/anger, they would always start laughing because they would realize how
silly they were being for fighting/arguing about such petty things. Don't
you love that story?! - I made a goal and wrote in my journal to do the
same. Chen Mama also gave us insight on choosing who to marry. She
said that we should find someone who can 1. Cook vegetables, and 2. Visit old
people. I love how those two things are so simple but are totally
indicators great qualities in any person. :)
Miracles:
- TWO of our less-actives/recent converts answered our
phones this week and met with us!! YES!
- Gao Su Fen, our investigator with a week D goal is totally
progressing and attended church this week.
- One day, we had scheduled a new investigator at
the church. When we arrived, she didn't show up, but one of our
other investigators was randomly at the church, so we sat down with her and had
a miracle lesson.
- FIVE of our investigators came to church this week!!!
WHEW!!! I haven't even written Thursday-Sunday's events, but, I
think I included the most important content in this email!!
There is seriously so much that I have learned during these past
weeks on my mission.
One last share:
Yesterday in church, we learned about CHARITY. I feel like
CHARITY is the best thing!! In Gospel Principles, it says, "We
should not try to decide whether someone really deserves our help or not (see
Mosiah 4: 16-24). If we have taken care of our own family's needs first,
then we should help all who need help. In this way we will be like our
Father in Heaven, who causes rain to fall on the just and on the unjust alike
(see Matthew 5: 44-45)."
By the end of my mission, I want to be able to say that I truly
developed this Christlike attribute. I want to be able to everyone and be
humble enough to accept change and accept myself. I know that it's just
as important to love and accept yourself as it is to love and accept/help
others. Changing yourself to be in accordance with God's will is way more
important than changing others to live in accordance with God's will.
I know that everything that has happened on my mission has
happened for a reason. I love learning and becoming the person God wants
me to be. I feel like He's really helped me to stay focused and really
understand/realize how important it is to work diligently and faithfully.
I know that this church is true. People ask me everyday why I'm serving a
mission. I feel like a huge reason was to find and develop a testimony of
my very own. So many times, I feel like the mission is for ourselves!!
It's for us missionaries to find ourselves, to change ourselves, and to decide
and make plans/prepare for the future. I am constantly reminded of how
merciful God is. How great is His plan! How wonderful are His ways!!! I
hope that regardless of what trials/hardships I face, I will be able to stand
firm and always be willing to change and learn from every experience.
I love this work. I love this church. I can't
even express to you all of the love I have for my family and this
gospel!!
I hope everyone of us can be able to develop Christlike
qualities and strive to settle for nothing less than our best!!!!
Love you all so much! Thanks for all the emails, examples, and
kindness!!!!! Keep it up!
Love,
Sister
Verina Chen
Here are some fun pictures of me and Sister Liu on P-Day/other
days when we are in the apartment.
One of them is of me in the poncho one night when we were
drenched from the typhoon. I was carrying Chen Mama's violin on my back
and had to wear the poncho over the violin case, so I ended up looking like the
Hunchback of Notre Dame. You can't really see it in the picture, but we
both thought it was hilarious.
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