This week was so great. I actually don't really remember Monday through Friday. I was looking forward to the weekend all week.
Saturday Brother Huang entered into the waters of baptism and covenanted with his Heavenly Father. His entire family was there to witness their last member finally make the covenant of baptism. The ward is on FIRE! They've been wanting this kind of growth for the longest time. It's been a little bit of a tough year for the SanChong ward. The ward split. They didn't have missionary Elders for the longest time. Recent converts on the year are very few. Helping this wonderful Brother that so many of the members already knew really has brought a new life to the ward. They now have this family that they can work to help get to the temple and be sealed.
Heavenly Father really does answer prayers. After years of prayer, Sister Huang's prayers have finally been answered in her husband being baptized. Brother Huang, his family, us missionaries, and many ward leaders were praying for him to quit smoking and he received the spiritual strength to do so. Prayer is real. It works. It's a direct line of communication to our Heavenly Father. It's free, simple, and we all can do it. I feel like I often take this amazing gift for granted. God's promises in the scriptures are clear. We ask in faith for righteous causes, and he gives them to us. It's so simple. It's a true promise. And this time the promise came true to the tune of a wonderful father, husband, and son of God being baptized and confirmed a member of the church.
The other event I was looking forward to all week was the new member and investigator fireside put on by the mission. The first Sunday of every month there is a fireside held in the biggest chapel in Taipei, adjacent to the temple. It's always a great chance to see so many old converts, investigators, and acquaintances. Almost every time I go I'm met with the great news of someone I taught a long time ago in a previous area being baptized or the progression of a recent convert. This last transfer 2 of the people I was teaching before I left TuCheng have been baptized and confirmed!! The real reason I was anticipating this fireside though was that TaoYuan's Tsai Yong Sheng was speaking. Possibly my favorite convert! The one I was in a 6-month battle with Satan over his soul! He speaks with such amazing power! The whole congregation was hanging on every word. The topic was the gift of the Holy Ghost. He talked about growing up Catholic and not feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost. He talked about truly feeling it in our church. He was quoting the Bible like crazy (not a lot of people in Taiwan can do that). It was so powerful. He also thanked me for all the fasting and prayers I did on his behalf. I couldn't hold back tears. I don't know why I was so privileged to have the opportunity to teach and baptize him. He's such an amazing new member and since has had so many friends and families meet with missionaries and attend church with him. He's such a spiritual giant. I'm humbled and feel so blessed to have been able to be his missionary.
That's how I feel about so many of my converts. They're not MY converts, but I mean people I was blessed with the opportunity to baptize. I don't know why I've been given so many miracles. I don't know why I've been blessed to know so many amazing people and see the gospel and atonement change their lives. I'm so thankful for it though. Missions are so amazing. It's a little bit unreal to me that it's winding down. Time goes by SO fast. I'm so thankful for every minute of it. I'm grateful to serve the Lord in this capacity. Especially in Taiwan. What a wonderful place. What a wonderful people. The best mission in the World. I love the gospel. I love my Savior.
Another really cool thing happened this week. In English class I shared a spiritual message on the atonement. It was a very powerful class and everyone was really feeling it. After class I had a woman come and really want to learn more, so we set her up with the sister missionaries. The even bigger miracle though took place on Sunday when one of our students came to church. We found out he was actually an inactive member. He came back and wants to work toward a temple goal. It was such an amazing miracle!
I love you all.
CTR
Elder White
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