Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year!!

Hi Everyone!!!

Happy last day of 2012!!! Crazy huh?!!! I can't believe it!
This was a week of miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have investigators finally and I'm so excited! Thursday we were finding and saw a Filipino lady crying in a park. We sat down with her and she told us that she couldn't find a job and that she didn't have enough money to pay the fee she needed to pay in order to find one. We said a prayer with her that she could find a job and then gave her a Book of Mormon. I called her on Saturday night and she excitedly told us that she found a job and thanked us for our prayer! I asked what she was doing on Sunday afternoon and she said, "I was planning to come to your church." We arranged to meet her at 4:30 so we could show her how to get there and when we got there she was sitting on a bench waiting for us! It was all I could do to keep from running up to her and giving her a HUGE hug! On the way there, she told us that when she got home the night we met her, her aunt called and said that she could give her money to find a job. It was just in time because her visa expired today! I asked if she had had a chance to read the Book of Mormon and she said yes! She showed us her book and her bookmark was at least a half centimeter in!!!!!!! That's definitely past 1 Nephi!!! The sisters at church did a great job of welcoming her and she made friends right away. The Relief Society president said she was talking to our new sister and she said that after she found a job, she promised God she would come to our church. We're meeting with her tomorrow!!!!!!!! Not only all that, but she is boardmates with a group of people that visited our Christmas party and we have been having a hard time getting in contact with them again. We told her to invite them to church!
Miracle 2. The International missionaries in Wan Chi met an Indonesian lady and started teaching her. She is in Macau waiting for her a visa, so they gave her our number. One of the first things she did when she got a cell phone here was call us! I admit in the shuffle of things yesterday we forgot to call to see if she knew how to find the church, but SHE texted us today and said, "Can I come to the church tomorrow?" of course we said yes!!!!! She called later so we could set up a place to meet and she asked if she would still be able to be baptized. I assured her that we would teach her everything she needs to know. She will probably get baptized in Hong Kong, but I'm sooooo excited that we get to teach her.
Miracle 3. One of our member's brothers came to church yesterday and we are teaching them both tomorrow.
Miracle 4. One of the other sisters in my apartment met a man when we were Caroling last week. He came to church last Sunday and yesterday. He got lost on the way but luckily (miraculously) ran into the other sister missionaries who showed him the way.
Miracle 5. The Elders were able to baptize a lady yesterday.  It was sooooo cool to hear her testimony after she was baptized. Apparently, when the Elder met her, she really didn't have any interest but was nice, listened and gave him her number. Then he called her for like 3 months. She said she couldn't figure out why he was so persistent. She would usually schedule him and then not show up, or ignore his calls. Finally, she felt bad and came to church, "but only for one time and then never again." Hahaha!  She said that she hasn't had a very good view of herself during her life, but for the first time she felt like she was doing something right. She also said she knew she was perfect, but she knew how to talk with God and that He could help her. It was cool to hear her acknowledge that. I know a lot of people expect to be perfect when they are baptized and it's a bit of a shock when they realize that they're not. I'm glad she knew that and had enough faith in the Atonement not to worry about it.
Her story is pretty funny because she did EVERYTHING that investigators always do to us, I guess we just need to be more persistent. One of the Elders asked me yesterday, "So do people cancel on you all the time? Just out of curiosity how many times did you get cancelled on this week?"
Me: "1. . .2 . . 3 . . .4. . .5. . .6. . ."
Elder, "Ok ok, I get it that's all I needed to know."
Me: "Oh, I only counted back to Thursday."
Elder: "I'm so glad I have Chinese work to back me up!" (They serve in both branches)
I know from the sister that got baptized and from the events of this weekend that eventually Someone is going to show up and we are going to be able to teach them!
Miracle 6. We had tacos for lunch yesterday for Sister Law's birthday.
Miracle 7. We have been visiting lots of members and it has been really, really cool to hear all of these sister's stories. I love them sooooo much!!!
Ok Questions:
1 - Are there any celebrations for January 1 or do they just celebrate the Chinese New Year? 
I think so, we saw a number of stages with countdown things as we were out and about today.
2 - I can't remember, how often do you get to go to the temple?
Once every few months.  It used to be every move, but they just changed it. I guess I'll just wait until I get out of Macau or until Zone conference in February! It's been sooooo long and I miss it, but we are blessed to have the option, so I can't complain.

Well, That's all for this week! I love you!!!

Happy New Year!!
Love,
Kasey
  

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