Week 64

Adversity: The Best Teacher

This week we saw a lot of blessings, but, as always, we also saw a lot of trials. 

We have a lot of investigators progressively working towards baptism! However, there are also obstacles to overcome and trials that we must face. I recently read that your mission is like a "mini life."  And I do believe that the Lord lets you learn a lot of lessons on your mission in order to prepare you for tests that you will have to face throughout your life.

For example, our investigator, Larry, has not contacted us in about a week. Although this is pretty common for him (not contacting us), it has been an especially long amount of time. However, I keep feeling the urge to keep trying and to not give up on him.There is a big conflict I go through every time we try to get a hold of him or send him a text. I feel like we should stop trying and maybe give him time, but then I have a feeling that I should keep going and keep trying. A part of me feels like it is for nothing, but the other part of me has enough hope that I keep trying. I just always feel like there is something special about him, and it"s important that we keep trying with him. There is a chance that I will never see him again, but I think more important than that is if I am willing to follow the promptings I am receiving. I know the Lord has a plan for all of His children.

Another problem is Sister Lin. She is experiencing some opposition and has settled with getting baptized in half a year. However, from this experience I learned a different lesson. After she told us she wanted to wait, we invited her to simply continue to read and to pray and to come to church. After church yesterday, we approached her and asked her if she had any change of heart. Although she still wanted to wait, she told us that she has recently felt an increase of love and encouragement from God. She is starting to really desire to return and live in God's presence. A lesson I learned is that we are just missionaries; the person who does the real converting is the Holy Ghost. We do our part, then we need to have faith that God will do His part.

I don't think being a missionary is very easy. It is a fun time and it is a happy time, but it is also full of trials and lessons that must be learned. I am so grateful I was able to come out on my mission. This is like the MTC for the rest of my life. I feel like I have learned so much about the gospel and the importance of it, and also grown a lot myself. I have seen God change my very desires. I hope I can use the rest of the time I have on my mission to really help the people I serve here in Taiwan. 

Pray for me! Pray for the people of Taiwan! 

I love you guys!

Elder Quist