Power Week

(This email was from last week, February 24, 2014.  Michaela's mom needs to get on the ball)

We were listening to music this morning as we were getting ready today and "This is the Christ" came on. It made me think of the day before you took me to the MTC and we went to Deseret Book and bought that CD and then on the way home listened to that song really really loud haha. It seems like that happened last week. But it's been over a year! So crazy. 

This week seriously had SO MANY! This week was "power week", so basically every single day we came home absolutely extra exhausted. Every day President Blickenstaff gave us a goal to hit and we left the house early (at 9:30) to go out and hit the goal. Because we went to the temple (which I'll talk about later) it was a little messed up for us, but we still worked our very hardest to hit all the goals. It was fun! Monday we went out and tracted, hoping to get let into two different houses. We didn't hit that goal, but in the process we found a girl that we tracted into a while ago and said we could come back. So that was cool. 

Tuesday's goal was to hand out 13 Books of Mormon and exchange contact info so we can follow up with them on how they like it. We handed out 13 books but 1 person just would NOT give us their information haha. So we just barely missed the goal. That day we ran into a bunch of Americans, they were all Christian and it made me really grateful that I am serving in Taiwan. They basically said, "I admire your search for God and Christ, I can see that you really believe in what you're doing, I'm just said that you haven't found Him yet." It wasn't that much fun. Xinku missionaries who go to the bible belt. 

Wednesday we went to the temple!!! Oh man, it was SO GREAT! We do the session in English, and we saw the new movie! It was SO GOOD! Oh man, I love it! I learned a lot from that temple trip, the biggest thing I think I've been learning lately is that God created us so that we can have joy. He wants us to be joyful! He wants us to not only have joy in this life, but eternally. And the best way to have that joy is through living up to our potential. The only way to fully live up to our potential is through Christ. 

Thursday we had to drop in 5 week E baptismal goals, which means that they want to work towards getting baptized in March! We didn't hit that goal either, but we did meet with a new investigator that we found a while ago. She came to English class a couple of times, and while she was there we gave her a book of Mormon. We kind of lost contact with her because she was busy, but we met with her this past week and when we got to her house she pulled out her Book of Mormon. Turns out she has been reading at least 2 pages every single night before she goes to sleep! She loves it! We gave her a baptismal goal, but she is super busy, so it's hard to meet with her. Her son has autism so she is always taking him to classes and to see the doctor and stuff. Pray for her! Her name is Liu Jiemei. 

Friday we had to confirm 14 people for church...we confirmed 12! haha so close. 

Saturday we needed to talk to 20 families about the gospel! We did it! Woohoo! Including meeting with our family, the Lin Jiating (family of 6, 4 kids). Our lessons haven't been going that great with them, we have been having a really hard time teaching them. We finally realized that we just need to be really, really simple with them. They have absolutely no idea who God is, who Christ is, or anything. We are started from nothing. It's hard! haha. I'm really excited to see them grasp the gospel, though. They have a desire to know (otherwise they wouldn't keep letting us come back haha)

Sunday the goal was to have 4 investigators at church. Ready for a huge miracle? we had 10!!!Ten investigators at church! That is the most I have ever seen on my mission! The Lin family came, all 6 of them, at 8:30 in the morning! They came for all 3 hours! Man, we were so happy! We also had a less-active husband come who we have met with twice, Wei JM (our amazing investigator whos parents wont let her get baptized yet) brought her friend who we will meet with this week and then Xie JM. Xie JM is a miracle in and of herself. Let me tell you about her.

I don't know if I've mentioned Xie JM before or not. Her husband is already a member, he served his mission in Canada. Anyway, they went to Japan a while ago and we lost contact for a month. Two weeks ago we finally met with her and told her she was ready for baptism, she just need to decided to do it and then work hard for it. So she said ok! Then this past week we met with her almost every day, finishing up all the lessons and helping her prepare for baptism. And she's ready! She passed her baptismal interview on Saturday! She was telling us that her 7 year old daughter kept asking why she wants to get baptized. She said because she wants to be with dad for forever. Then the daughter said, I want to too! Can I get baptized? So we got her a children's Book of Mormon with pictures and after her interview on Saturday we all sat in the park eating fruit and read (and looked at the pictures) from the Book of Mormon. I got to talk to Xie JM about the temple and how amazing it is and she is so excited to be able to go be sealed to her husband. And oh man...they're going to have an eternal family!! It's the best feeling in the world! I love Xie JM so much! She has completely changed. You can physically see the change that the gospel has brought to her life. It's amazing. Oh man.

A lot of miracles, right? Well that's not even all of them! Sunday we were riding home from church and decided to stop at a park and talk to some families there. We talked to one family and the mom was like, I've run into you two on the street....three times..! haha. Heavenly Father is really putting her in our path. She was there with her husband and two kids, all of whom are willing and excited to invite us over to their house and listen about the gospel. We gave them a Book of Mormon and will call them tonight to set up a time to meet. ALSO. Last night we went over to Wei JM's house, we went last week and met with her and her mom. Her mom committed to reading the Book of Mormon, and we also told her about priesthood blessings. She has some heath problems and so we arranged for Su Dixiong to come over last night to give her a blessing. So last night we talked about faith and we all shared some experiences we have had with priesthood blessings. The spirit was really strong. After the blessing we asked her mom if she would let Wei JM get baptized this Sunday. She said we will have to ask her dad, which I think is a step forward! We are praying SO HARD for a miracle. Wei JM deserves it.

Also, yesterday Bishop Stevenson (the general presiding bishop of the church) came and spoke to us. We got to hear from him, his wife, and President and Sister Blickenstaff. It was so good! I also got to see Sister Mancilla and Sister Anderson! Oh man, it's been a long time since I've seen Sister Anderson. We hugged for quite some time. I love her so much!

So yeah, basically this week was really really...really really great. Heavenly Father LOVES HIS CHILDREN! I know that to be true with all my heart. I am so blessed to be able to be here and to get to know these amazing people. Move call is next Monday, I'm super scared I'll be moving. I don't want to leave,  l love my area so much. That's usually how you know it's time to go, though...

Well, I think that's about all. I hope your week goes really great, mom. I love you so much! Thank you for being the best mom in the world. 

Sister Fuller