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Sunday, November 22, 2015

A new start, missionary church, we all need to find God, conscious choice, leads us to our knees, search for me with all your heart

With Ruby, the investigator we found in the park [see story in last week's letter]
23 November 2015
Jiayi, Taiwan


A New Start
It was a good last week of the transfer. It's crazy how fast the transfers go by! Went on an exchange, went to a missionary training meeting in Gaoxiong, and visited some great members this week. 


November 19: Specialized training session by President and Sister Blickenstaff on
various leadership skills, including ministering, teaching, time management, companionship unity etc. 
I'm excited for a new start! It's move day today, and we'll be having some new sisters move into our zone and a new district leader which I'm excited for. I'm also very happy I didn't have to pack! That's the worst!! 


Missionary Church
Yesterday, the Bishopric gave the entire sacrament meeting to us missionaries. So we had about 45 minutes to talk about missionary work and it was a great opportunity! My topic was "the Lord's church is a missionary church" and I enjoyed thinking about that topic last week in preparation. 

Our district
There have been times on my mission where I've thought to myself that missionary work is terribly inefficient and that because it's God's work, "There's gotta be a better way."

Some days we talk to probably over 100 people and maybe if you're lucky 5 of those people will have a real conversation with you, 1 is willing to set up [an appointment] with you, and whether or not that person will even end up getting baptized, we don't know. The point is that we get rejected all the time, but every missionary knows this is what they're signing up for because that's how it was with Jesus Christ too, and our purpose is to focus on each one person. 

The Lord's church has always been a missionary church (Moses 5:58, Mark 16:15, D&C 66:5). I believe that's evidence that this truly is God's church. 

Of course God would require us to preach His gospel because He knows every single one of His children needs it, no matter what country they live in.

He loves us all the same and hopes that we'll all be able to return to Him. 

We all need to find God
I think there are a lot of reasons God's church is a missionary church, but I chose to talk about one: God's church is a missionary church because we all need to find God. 

For me, this is not an easy thing that God requires of us. We know that in order to go to the celestial kingdom, we all need to have faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I personally have never found that an easy thing that comes super naturally. 

Hard work, conscious choice, diligence, trust, humility
Sister Wawro and me: two peas in a pod?

In my experience it has been hard work--a decision that is intentional, one that takes a conscious choice and much diligence.

Believing in things that we can't see takes humility, to trust that there is much beyond our understanding--that just because we can't see things or comprehend them, doesn't mean they are not real. 

I think that God requires us to search for Him because it helps us go against our prideful human nature which is to doubt, and be skeptical, and to want to trust and rely on ourselves and no one else. 

Leads us to our knees
It leads us to our knees, to the scriptures, and it strips us of pride. 

Searching for God opens our eyes and broadens our perspective. 

It makes us more loving. 

It makes us realize there's so much more than we realize and there's more to life than just ourselves. 

Search for me with all your heart
The scripture I chose before leaving on my mission was Jeremiah 29:13, and it's still one of my favorites for all these reasons.
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
The search is never over! There's always more we can do!

All my love,
Sister Hancock

Sisters in our district

Sister Wawro and me
English party--we love Costco muffins
The Elders in our district

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