A Shocking Twist of Events

Last week Sister Angulo and I were 99.99% positive that I would be transferred today. Looks like the .01% came back to bite our predictions, because I'm still in Yongkang. Sister Angulo moved to Guiren (only about 30 minutes by taxi from Yongkang), and Sister Ma moved from Guiren up here. I was definitely completely shocked when we got our move calls, but I'm excited to stay here and to keep working with the same people!

Sister Ma is amazing. She's ABC (American-born Chinese). Before the mission, she was going to school in Idaho, but she also worked as a fire fighter--the kind of crew that gets flown in to areas that have forest fires and stuff like that. Pretty awesome. More importantly, she's full of faith and hard work, and I'm really excited to get to be with her for six weeks. I'm so blessed when it comes to companions! Actually, I don't think I've met a single sister missionary in my mission that I wouldn't be excited to serve with. It's been quite a while (since my second move) since I was the one who knew the area best out of the companionship. This is when I get to see a lot of blessings in terms of remembering where things are, knowing who we need to go help, etc. as my companion gets to know the place and the people. I know she'll also have help to learn and remember quickly so that we can work together to the blessing of this area. We have several investigators that I believe will be prepared for baptism this move. I'm so grateful to be a part of that process.

It's going to be a good move.

Temple Blessings

We all went to the temple last Wednesday and it was AMAZING. The closest temple is in Taipei. Our mission goes once a year in two groups (i.e. half the missionaries go one week, the other half go the next week). Because the trip is every February, and I'm only in Taiwan for one February, this is the only time I'll get to go during my mission. I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity at all. The temple is unlike any other place. As soon as you walk in, the peace starts to settle in. Changing out of street clothes into all white sort of completes the process for me. It feels like all the fog and complications are cleared out and only the most precious and simple truths are left. It was especially nice to go with the other missionaries and my mission president. Temples allow us to do the ordinances necessary for salvation in the Kingdom of God. Through the ordinance of the endowment, we make sacred covenants and receive knowledge and blessings that allow us to return to our Heavenly Father. Through temple marriage, God is included as a party to the marriage covenant, and families become sealed to live together again after death. Endowments and sealings, as well as baptism and confirmation, can all be performed in proxy for the dead in the temple. All missionaries will receive their endowments before they begin their service, so we were all doing that ordinance in behalf of people who have already died. It is a wonderful opportunity to do something for someone that she cannot do for herself. It's also a huge blessing to go remember our promises to the Lord, the blessings He promises in return, and to receive enlightenment on our concerns and questions. Suffice it to say, I think we all felt spiritually rejuvenated by the whole experience. I can't imagine any success or accomplishment in the world that could possibly bring more satisfaction to me than the feeling of being in the temple with people I love around me.

It is by grace that we are saved, after all that we can do.

The exact reference for that scripture in 2 Nephi chapter 20-something is eluding me, but let me say that I have learned once again how true that is. Every night when my companion and I plan the next day, we begin and end with a prayer. We usually take some time to individually ponder and pray over who we should visit or what activities we should do, and then we compare our impressions and make the best plan we can. This week we got several confirmations that the Spirit does help us to do what we could not do ourselves. I can think of two people who we visited, one former investigator, one less-active church member, who both asked us how we knew to come at just the right time. The former investigator's father died recently (which we didn't know), and at the time she visited she normally wouldn't have been home, but that day her schedule was a bit different. She said seeing us was like seeing old friends. It was such a blessing to be with her at that time. The less-active member is going through some back problems that may require risky treatment. We showed up the night before her examination, which she was very nervous for. We were able to get two priesthood-holding men from the ward over to give her a blessing (to understand what the priesthood is, I recommend checking mormon.org or lds.org). She said every time she's having especially many trials, the missionaries show up. I know we do all we can, but in the end it's grace and guidance from God that saves us and allows us to do what we need to do.

Family History Extravaganza

Well, the festivities are basically over, and the routine is mostly back to normal after a few weeks of turbulence. One of the major variations from our usual was helping out at a family history activity in Tainan city. Last Wednesday through Friday, the Church here hosted a family history open house in a school behind a Buddhist temple. As we all discovered, Tainan during guo nian is bustling, so there were lots of people around. We were there Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and afternoon, and parts of Friday handing out fliers on street corners and inviting people to come check it out. Family history seems to be of particular interest to Taiwanese people, who are culturally (and religiously) inclined to honor their ancestors. I think about 3000 people attended. They were often excited to hear that the Church could help them trace their ancestors for generations. Some were also curious to know why a Christian church would be doing this sort of research. One of the things I would really like to get more into after my mission is family history. There's a lot of interesting things to learn about the stories and background of one's own family, but the best part is getting to take names to the temple to do ordinance work. We believe that certain ordinances (baptism, confirmation, endowment, sealing in families) are necessary for exaltation. However, a fair God would have to make provision for those who didn't have opportunity to complete those ordinances on the earth. At the same time, He would also be unfair to force anyone to accept them if unwanted. So members of the church go to temples to perform ordinances in proxy for the dead, believing that those spirits will hear the gospel in the spirit world, and then have their own decision of whether or not to let the ordinance apply to them. As the saving ordinances apply across generations, families are linked together through sealing for eternity. I love this doctrine because it does illustrate how fair God is, and how meaningful our families are; despite inequalities on the earth, in the eternal scheme, each person has an equal opportunity to obtain eternal life with the people most dear to us.