[Editor's note: Get out the tissues first, this is a great one!!]
Dear family,
Good morning, America! Thank you for all of the updates - I love you all so very much. It's been a miracle week here in Taipei! Let me tell you about it.
Well, first let me tell you about Taipei. I'm in charge of two wards here which meet at completely different times. So I'm at church pretty much all day on Sundays. Dad, I now know that it kind of stinks to be you sometimes... :) But they're great - it's my first time working with wards and not branches, and it's been surprising to see how many people are at church and at meetings and are willing to help. It's also been surprising to see how many people here have been members for a long time - the average here is probably 15 or so years. The average in Taidong and Hualian was much smaller - I found out the day before I got to Taipei that my first convert had already been made the Relief Society President in her branch. Pretty crazy, right? Yes, there are a TON of non-Taiwanese people here. It still is kind of freaking me out. I told my companion that one of the reasons that God sent me here was to help get me accustomed to America before I go home. She looked at me and protested that I wasn't going home for a while yet. I said, "I know, but God knows that the transition from Taiwan to America is going to take a looonnnnggg time. So that's why he sent me here with so much time still left on my mission." It's so Western here - Western people, Western signs, Western food... I haven't had any fried rice for over a week now! And I'm not happy about it! Don't worry, we'll hopefully find someplace tasty soon.
As I said last week, Taipei also provides a lot of opportunities to see way more missionaries than I ever did in the Hualian zone. We had a sister missionaries temple tour training meeting (there's a beautiful chapel right next to the temple and the sister missionaries rotate every transfer with giving tours of the chapel - we call them "temple tours"), where I saw pretty much every single sister missionary in the mission. I had a great reunion with Sister Christensen (my MTC companion); she's still just as fashion-savvy as ever - she told me that she went shopping a couple of weeks before that and bought over 700 items for really cheap. Although I'm not quite sure how cheap "really cheap" is when over 700 items were purchased.... I also had a lovely time going to the fireside that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago - Sister Linda Reeves and Sister Mary Cook from the General RS and YW presidencies came over to Taiwan! It was a miracle that I got to go, actually, because we were supposed to have an investigator with us if we wanted to attend. None of our investigators could, so we prayed that we'd find someone who could come with us. Lo and behold, it happened! A wonderful woman named Annie became our new investigator just a few days before she came with us to church on Sunday AND the fireside that night. I was a little worried because church was about the gathering of the 12 tribes of Israel and then the temple in sacrament meeting... And then the first speaker in the fireside talked all about the new online curriculum for youth. Don't get me wrong, it's exciting stuff, but I was just worried that it had nothing at all to do with Annie (she's not married and doesn't have any kids). Thankfully, Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers: the second speaker talked about our love for God and His love for us and acknowledged a few times that she knew there were people who hadn't yet joined the Church and testified of the truthfulness of the Gospel. It was fantastic! But the best part was when I brought Annie up at the end to meet both of these great sisters. I told both of them that it was Annie's first time at church - both of their reactions were great. Sister Cook first said: "That's so wonderful. How did you feel?" Annie replied that she felt very good inside. Then Sister Cook testified of the Gospel's power to change lives and invited her to listen to what we had to say (I especially liked that part). Next it was Sister Reeves' turn. She just cried and then gave Annie a hug then pulled back, looked her straight in the eyes, and said: "This is true. This will bring you so much joy. I am so happy that you are here." There was so much power in her words that Annie just nodded as she started to cry. The Spirit was so strong! I love those women. Afterwards I thought about what I can do so that my words bring as much power and Spirit as their words did. I think it's just bearing my testimony more. And being really personal about it - this is true, it has blessed my life and it will bless yours, etc. I'll keep you all updated.
As far as other miracles go, there were a lot. We met or got close to meeting a lot of goals, many of which were much higher than what Sister Briggs was used to. It was a witness to me that goals "reflect the desires of our heart," just like PMG says, and that Heavenly Father supports our righteous desires (D&C 11). We've been trying to work with the members more, which has been good thus far. Still no immediate results quite yet, but I'm sure we'll get there soon. Even if nothing's happened quite yet as far as numbers go, the attitude's definitely different. I didn't really realize it because I've only been here for a week and a half, but Sister Briggs did - after we had our meeting with the ward missionaries and the ward mission leader she said, "Everything's completely changed since you've gotten here." We also started meeting with an unbaptized child of a less-active member, something that President Day invited us to do more a few weeks ago. I feel like his training, as always, was so inspired. It's really helped me here when I haven't quite known what to do.
There have also been some miracles that have shown me that God has put me specifically here for specific reasons. For example, we met a girl who rejected us at first but then as I talked to her more I found out that she was from Hualian, a common bound that both of us shared. :) It turns out that she had been to our church before in Hualian a couple of times and thought it was great, but she hasn't had much time since then because she moved to Taipei and then started a busy internship at a hospital. Then she said, "Actually, I have time next week to meet with you. Does Monday night work out alright?" Of course it does! I know that the fact that I'd lived in Hualian before helped her warm up to us and set up a time to meet... tonight! And even though that story's great, there's an even better one that happened this week as well:
As most of you know, my brother, Elder Daniel Winters, is now serving in the California Anaheim mission, Chinese-speaking. We were together at the MTC, which was incredible, but since then our connections have been kind of few and far between. Every time they do happen, though, I'm thrilled - there's nothing quite like knowing that someone you love dearly is doing the same soul-saving work as you are. And with Daniel we have the added bonus of serving the same people - we both love the Chinese people and are so grateful we can serve them. Anyway, this past week I had the best connection with Daniel that I've had yet. A while back in July and August he was teaching a girl named Cindy who was Taiwanese but who went to California to live with her member aunt for summer vacation. She liked meeting with the missionaries and learning about the Gospel, but was scared to take the step to be baptized. Daniel kept on working hard but finally accepted that he might not be able to baptize her while she was in California. But then Cindy surprised him by asking him to baptize her the day before she went back to Taiwan. Great story, right? I prayed so hard for a happy ending, and it happened! But then this week the ending got even better. We were supposed to meet with a Sister Cindy Chen, a recent convert, this week. As I chatted with her, I found out that she had lived in California this past summer. When I asked where she said that she had lived in Orange County. I said that my brother lived in that area and asked her if she had ever attended the Irvine branch while she was there. She said, "Oh! I know the Irvine branch! I went there every week while I was in California." I said, "Seriously? Well if you went there this summer, then you've met my brother! Wei Zhanglao!" She said, "Wei Zhanglao? He was my teacher!" Me: "Teacher? What kind of teacher?..." Her: "He taught me the Gospel." Me: "WHAT? WAIT. You're THAT Cindy?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!"
...It was probably a taste of what Heaven's going to be like, honestly. It was SO COOL teaching the girl that my brother baptized! I reviewed the Restoration of the Gospel with her and thought, "last time she heard this, it was my brother that was teaching her." So so so so cool. So yeah, Daniel taught all of the investigator lessons, and now it's my turn for all of the new member lessons. When things like that happen, it's impossible to think that God doesn't know exactly where we are and put us exactly where we need to be!
Speaking of Daniel, happy birthday, Daniel! One of my greatest sources of happiness is to be serving a mission at the same time as you.
Okay family, that's it for this week. Do good things and love life! I'll do the same.
Love,
Sister Winters
Oh wait, one more thing: I love my companion. Sister Briggs is so funny and we have a great time together, as you can see in these pictures. She is in love with all things Asian, so she's already perfected the Asian-style photo. I, on the other hand, am still working on it. Maybe if I stick around then she'll show me her ways...
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