Sister Sinclaire Hancock: Earthquake, Chinese New Year, God needs you on His side, Saviors for the whole human family

7 February 2016

Tainan

Hello!

Earthquake

Thank you for all the prayers about the earthquake! We are all safe and all our members are okay.

Our ward mission leader,
Steve, checking in on us

It definitely surprised me though! I've never experienced anything like that before in my entire life. It hit in the middle of the night, around 4 am so we were in a deep sleep. But the entire house was shaking so we jumped out of bed and ran to the door frame. I and Sister Beus looked at each other and kind of said "that was weird... oh well, it's probably fine" and just got back in bed.

Shows how missionary work brings you to a new level of exhaustion. Not even exhaustion--I'm surprised that I still feel okay and by how much energy I still have after doing this for so long. I think it's just knowing that no matter what happens, you still have to get up at 6:30 am no matter what.

Recent convert from Taizhong,
checking on me

But right after we got in bed, our phone rang and it was Ruby (our recent convert) asking if we were okay. It was about a 4 second phone call, but she just asked if we were okay. I said back in my groggy voice "yes" and she said "go back to sleep!" I was touched that she thought of us and called that immediately after it happened.

Following my conversation with Ruby, we woke up to the door bell ringing. It was the couple that lives below us who are members saying we needed to run downstairs immediately. I just looked at him and said "it's probably fine-- are you sure it's that serious? We just want to sleep!" :P But of course he made us go downstairs because they're the type to watch out for us all the time. So they said we were going to wait outside for an hour to make sure it had all passed. We waited for a long time, shivering in our blankets. Then finally I just told them we were fine and that we were going to go back upstairs to bed.

So grateful for everyone's love and touched by how many people thought about us.

Chinese New Year

Had a fun week trying to do as much work as we could before the huge Chinese New Year slump. Absolutely nobody will schedule lessons and the streets are going to be empty. So it's going to be a slow week for missionary service ... but we're really excited for all the festivities.

Guo nian (New Year) begins!

This week our zone did a fun "Defeat the Nian" activity with a different challenge for every day, such as how many Book of Mormons to pass out, etc. We have a lunch and dinner appointment scheduled for every day of this week so it's going to be a week of feasting! Our members are so kind to spoil us and I'm excited to be able to get to know all of their non-member families. Time for referrals!!!

Admire Sister Beus and her desire to serve.
After asking lots of members, we were able to help do some cleaning this week

God needs you on His side

This week we had a couple of powerful lessons with 2 investigators that we've been working with for a while now. Both of them want to be baptized at some point and know they need to, but aren't quite there yet. There might be a little bit of fear and a couple commandments standing in the way. I'm to the point where we have a close enough relationship that I could talk pretty bluntly with them.

The lessons went something like this "God gives everyone spiritual gifts. I know you have special talents to offer. These are the last days. We're in a war right now. If you're not helping God, you're helping Satan. By not fully accepting the gospel right now, you're not only missing these blessings but you're also causing all your loved ones and those around you to also lose this opportunity. We need your help and God needs you on His side." Of course I tried to share this message lovingly, but I think the point got across. I really hope we're able to help them have enough courage to act and make the necessary changes that they need to and be baptized.

Saviors for the whole human family

I enjoyed studying this week about how we all need a cause, something that makes us feel valuable. I loved this quote that I came across by Elder John Witdsoe:

"We agreed, right then and there to be not only saviors for ourselves... but saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work."

I know each of us is important and has something to offer. Our purpose in life is to become our best selves and reach our potential by developing the special gifts God has blessed us with. Once we do that, we are in a position to help those around us to not only save ourselves, but those around us and those we love. God trusts us with this huge responsibility.

All my love! Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Sister Sinclaire Hancock