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| Our whole mission together to hear a new apostle, Elder Stephenson |
Tainan, Taiwan
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| Thanksgiving lunch with Wu Jiemei |
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Mission-wide fireside with new apostle
This week our mission had the special chance of having a fireside with the newly sustained apostle, Elder Stevenson.
It was a mission-wide event, which meant the entire day was spent traveling to get there for it. Some people had to leave at 4 in the morning and didn't get back until midnight, but we were all so excited!
He shook each one of our hands and he and Sister Stevenson gave great talks. I took a full page of notes which is pretty rare for me, but their talks were that good!
He shook each one of our hands and he and Sister Stevenson gave great talks. I took a full page of notes which is pretty rare for me, but their talks were that good!
2 minute invitation & promised blessings
What impressed me most was what a good missionary Elder Stevenson is! Of course that's an essential part of their calling as special witnesses of Christ, but the way he taught was especially effective.
Getting investigators to come to church is one of the hardest parts of missionary work, so he briefly gave an example of a church invitation and promised blessings in about 2 minutes, but it was powerful!
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| President Blickenstaff and his counselors with Elder Stephenson |
If I were that investigator, there would be no way I would reject his invitation after that! It was simple, easy to follow, but very descriptive.
He gave incredibly detailed promised blessings that were personal and could relate directly to the investigator's life. And he mostly just made me realize I could do a lot better at promising blessings when I teach.
He gave incredibly detailed promised blessings that were personal and could relate directly to the investigator's life. And he mostly just made me realize I could do a lot better at promising blessings when I teach.
Another thing that stood out to me was a phrase he repeated several times: "We are servants."
So often I feel like the people here are serving me here! The Taiwanese are so kind and are always trying to make us feel welcome in their country, and especially the members in our ward are so willing to help us missionaries that I usually don't feel like a servant at all on my mission!
But that is my calling, so I'm going to work harder to find ways I can serve those around me, even through simple little acts.
So often I feel like the people here are serving me here! The Taiwanese are so kind and are always trying to make us feel welcome in their country, and especially the members in our ward are so willing to help us missionaries that I usually don't feel like a servant at all on my mission!
But that is my calling, so I'm going to work harder to find ways I can serve those around me, even through simple little acts.
Ability to love fully
As he was ending his talk he invoked some blessings on all of us missionaries; he blessed us with the power to endure, with confidence, and with the ability to love fully. Those words really hit home for me, "the ability to love fully." I'm still pondering the full meaning of that phrase, but I think it's absolutely beautiful.
I think a common theme of last conference was giving our hearts to God, and that's something I've been working on and pondering. I hope that I'll be able to love more richly and more deeply my investigators, my companion, and the members I'm blessed to serve with.
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| My city right now--Tainan |
Christmas music?
Have a wonderful week! I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas cheer!
Also feel free to email me Christmas music it would be greatly appreciated! It can be arrangements of hymns, or something MoTab sang, or anything written over 100 years ago :)
Love you!!
Sister Hancock
P.S. We have the best ward ever. I bet none of you expected us to be eating turkey for Thanksgiving in Taiwan!
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| Thanksgiving turkey |
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| Our Bishop! |
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| Unusual bathrooms in the local "Dream Mall" |
What a wonderful opportunity to meet with an apostle! I'm so glad you are having such good experiences. Thank you for the way you share your testimony with us!
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