Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Week 47 in Field!



This week started off with Zone Conference on Monday!
We decided to kick off the day bright an early with a game of soccer at 6am with the other districts :3






Zone Conference started at 8am and it was a day full of spiritual enrichment, self-assessments, role plays, a special musical number by our district, games and lots of food!






Our Zone Leaders :P 


After a full day of training and fun, we were all ready for some sleep because the next day, Tuesday, was a regular working day!
And boy was it a miraculous day!

Among all the crazy things that happened on Tuesday, was a very special lesson at the very end of the day. 
We had just finished teaching our investigator, JiJi a short lesson and were all kneeling down as she offered us the closing prayer.
Soon after she started praying, she stopped and we could feel the power of the Spirit fill the room.
We could all feel that each one of us was praying in our hearts with all the power of our souls. 
The air was so thick with prayers that it was almost tangible. 
We knew that JiJi was praying in her heart for the confirmation that Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson were indeed prophets. 
It was silent in the room for several minutes...but it wasn't really silent at all as prayers resonated from hearts. 
I begged our Father in Heaven to help JiJi feel His love and pleaded with Him to enfold her in His arms as she knelt down in sincere prayer and as she reached forth her hand towards Him. 
I knew that the member who was helping us teach, Gaw, and my companion were doing the same. 
After several minutes JiJi finished her prayer out loud for the rest of us and through a teary smile told us that she had received an answer from God about prophets. 
I am so very grateful for JiJi's example of sincere, heartfelt prayers with real intent.
I know that she is able to get the answers she seeks through prayer because she doesn't ever doubt that Heavenly Father will answer her prayers and she is ready to act on the answers she receives!
It is a huge blessing to be able to learn from her example! 

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Week 46 in Field!



PDAY Adventures up to the Mountains!
As a district, we all woke up at 2am and left from the church at 3am to go on a four hour trip up to the mountains to serve and teach Sister Ying's family.



How can there be so much beauty in the world? 

























Giant Cucumber Baby! 









Cabbage Fields! 







Rice Fields!


Corn Field! 



Weeding... 








E. Sun trying to eat a butterfly...


Our shoes...? 











This was one crazy way to start off our week! But it was so very worth it.
Our district made the goal of trying to have more unity.
Although going sightseeing anywhere else would have been fun and would have helped us to get to know each other better and bring us closer together, being able to serve side by side and teach together was far more effective than we could have hoped for! 
There is nothing like service and the language of love to bring people closer together.
Charity has no boundaries!
Although Sister Ying's family speak Gallian, and most of us missionaries speak English as our first language, we somehow found common ground through Thai and Hmong and most importantly the gospel. 
As we testified of the Plan of Salvation language was not a barrier and we were all able to feel the Spirit testify of the truthfulness of the gospel. 
Our lost sleep was a little tough to deal with for the rest of the week, but this adventure up into the mountains was definitely a blessing that will always be remembered! 


Other adventures throughout the week included some climbing...






Changing the long incorrect number on our English Sign :) 




District Meeting - How to prepare our Investigators for Baptism! 
Elder Shipp as our Investigator... 



Our tiredness taking a toll...BUT still full of happiness as we serve the Lord in teaching repentance and baptizing converts! :3



Even Red Bull couldn't keep Sister Courchaine alive... 




And...some more climbing...



And break-ins to the church...

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That about summarizes my week in a nutshell! Plus all of our lessons with some awesome investigators who are currently preparing to be baptized on Oct 2! 
I'll write more about their stories later :)