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Monday, May 11, 2015

Lin Jiemei, Mother's Day, trying to the last minute, genuinely happy, cheerful giver, family!


Happy Mother's Day!


Monday, 11 May 2015
Qishan

Lin Jiemei
Things are going well here in Qishan! We're really excited for our investigator Lin Jiemei to be baptized on Saturday! She's super prepared and she's been excited for this day for a while now, so it should be awesome :) We also have a few potentials already set up this week to meet with us and we have Zone Conference on Thursday, so it's looking like a good busy week.

Mother's Day posters
Last night we made some posters with the elders and went contacting together at night. We stood at a busy intersection and wished everyone we saw a happy mother's day.  We talked to them about families and how the teachings of Jesus Christ can help us strengthen our families. 

As a district, we had a goal of 3 adds for that hour. An add is basically when you talk to someone and they are interested enough that you can schedule a time to meet with them and share more. Often times adds are hard to get because people are in a rush and don't even want to talk to you or they don't want to learn more because they don't feel like they need anything else in their lives. 


Trying to the last minute
So we went for the first half hour, and weren't super successful, but we kept going and pushing onto the end and right at 7:30, when we were ending, a lady came up to us because she had lost her Uncle and showed us a picture asking if we had seen him. We hadn't, but luckily we were able to keep the conversation going and we're actually meeting with her again tonight! It was awesome to see that enduring to the end pays off, and that often times, the miracles really do come when we keep on trying to the very last minute and keep up the faith. 

More consecrated
This week I've been thinking about ways I can become more consecrated. This is a really special opportunity that I have to be able to dedicate 100% of my time to serving, and I probably won't have another chance to do so in my lifetime. It really is a neat opportunity to be completely cut off from social media, the news and world events, music, etc. It's so cool to be able to focus all of my time and thoughts on the things that are most important. 

Genuinely happy
I'm genuinely happy to be in Taiwan. I've loved my mission so far, and I can honestly say that every week has been a good one! 

I think that has been a huge blessing to enjoy this time and to be happy to be serving, but I'm working even more on my attitude and trying to keep refining it to become better and better. 

Cheerful giver
From 2 Corinthians 9:7, we learn that it is not just enough to do good things or to make good decisions. I believe that in the next life when we look back at our lives with a perfect memory of our decisions, "judgment" will not be about a checklist of things. God knows our hearts and it is truly our intentions and desires and thoughts that are most important. 
"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver"  2 Corinthians 9:7
I believe it's not just enough to serve a mission and to go through the actions if our heart isn't there. We need to be fully engaged in this work and devote our time and energy and thoughts to caring for people we serve so we can know how to best help them. Though it is true we sacrifice a lot of things in order to serve, I don't like to focus on that. 

For anything I've sacrificed, I know God will bless me "an hundred" fold and that we already are eternally indebted to Him. I'm trying to always have this mentality and not ever pity myself while serving and to give this year and half "cheerfully". I never view it as something I simply need to endure or get through because it will be good for me. But to love every moment. God loveth a cheerful giver. 

Family!
So happy I was able to hear your voices and be able to actually see everyone! Seems like everyone is happy and doing well :) 

Hooray for a family visit via Google Hangout!
Me in Qishan, Spencer and Channing in Singapore, Sterling in Ventura,
Mama, Dad and Grandma in Palo Alto
Hope it was a wonderful Mother's Day!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE you all!
Hope everyone felt the importance of families today and God's love. I definitely did! 

All my love,
Sister Hancock

P.S. LOVE YOU MAMA!!! : Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!!! I sent a card for you by mail.  And here's a photo of me (at the top of blog) saying, "Mu qin jie kuai le!" [Happy Mother's Day].

I really love the journal you sent me! I've decided to use it as sort of a scrapbook journal writing about different pictures I'm pasting inside....

Our time's about up but it was so fun to see you today. Hope it's an awesome week! LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!

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