Let's just say this was one of the most special Christmas' I have ever had in ma vida. I feel like there are categories of Christmas: Christmas with family and Christmas away from family. I had no expectations because I have never been away from fam at this time before but DANG this Christmas exceeded all the expectations I never had lolz
FAMILY AND LAURA getting to see your faces this Christmas was the best gift I could have asked for! Ahhh so 感動 <3 I feel like I have had a teddy bear in my heart since I hung up hahaha. The joy from that Skype + seeing the incredible people I have in my life has got me feeling so blessed and grateful and I just can't stop smiling. I LOVE YOU<3
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and were able to think about the gift of being with family! And if you were unable to be with family that knowing the Savior was born was able to provide peace and happiness.
Christmas Miracles:
1. Seeing the people I love most for the 1st time in 9 months. <3 the feeling is so indescribable! I love you i love you i love you i love you
2. 5 people came to Sacrament meeting yesterday!
3. A girl from China walked into the chapel 15 minutes before church was starting. She said that the other day her taxi driver drove her past the chapel and told her it was a good place and she needed to go there on Sunday. She showed up 100% randomly and it just happened to be right before the meeting was starting! She loved it and talked about how she is always so curious to learn more about Jesus Christ but doesn't know how to learn more in China. She also ended up coming back at night for our Christmas choir concert and brought 3 other friends she had met here in Taiwan. INSANE!
4. At the performance (fam, isn't it presenting??) last night, we had an investigator show up that we have not seen in f o r e v e r and she is meeting with us this week! She heard about the activity through a member friend she met a while back and she came and asked if we could keep sharing the gospel with her... #yas
5. Pretty much half of the ward members from my first area (ZhongHe) came to the Christmas performance last night and it was one of the most joyful experiences I have ever had. It hit me so hard how much these people become your family for the weeks you serve in that area! They care for you, love you, feed you, put medicine on your booboos, teach you Mandarin, and treat you like family. I love the Taiwanese and I love Taiwan!!
Needless to say many tears were shed yesterday:') I am in awe at the love of Heavenly Father for each of His children. Yesterday sort of reached overwhelming levels happy-it felt like time had stopped and I was watching everything from a different perspective. I looked at all the people I know and the friendships made and the ways that they have influenced my testimony and all the millions of ways that these people have served me and my companions as we serve on our missions. I fully believe that if we look at people and we pray to God to help us love them as He loves them (even if they are people you already love a lot!) He will give you experiences that truly overwhelm you and you will feel a love you never knew you were capable of feeling. It is a type of love that will help you know that God really does exist and that He hears your prayers. It is a love that will help you understand a tiiiiiiiiinnnyyyyy bit of the way that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel for you and it is a love that will change your life. I have been pondering so much about this and about the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us. We have the chance and opportunity to change our lives through Jesus Christ! The joy and comfort and peace that God wants to give us is so much more than anything we can imagine. If we just open our heart to Him and trust Him and His timing and His plan, God promises us He will give us more joy than is possible to attain on our own. When I think about it like this, I wonder why I ever think I can do this on my own. God, the Creator of this world and the Father of all of us promises He will bless us if we just trust Him. So trust Him and follow Jesus Christ's example and our lives will change in ways we could not have changed on our own.
I am very very grateful for this Christmas season and for my mission and the way that learning of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father has changed my life and perspective.
After the Skyping...apparently my English is suffering so I apologize for any errors or anything incoherent in my emails. hahahah
...actually incoherent has to do with my brain right?
I'll work on that too lolz
maybe
can't make any promises
I love you and MERRY CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR! eat veggies and spread the light of Christ
xoxxo
莫姐妹
1 One of my greatest friends here- Cai JM made us into caricatures (is that the right word? cartoons?) and wrote me a Christmas card. I am OBSESSED with how cute it is
2. I got to see my best friend from the first area I served in!! ——> 林妹妹 ^o^
3. dis be 黃致茄 and I also love her very much
4. also a person I love from my first area! 蘇姐妹 we were at the Christmas activity and when it ended I heard this person screaming "莫姐妹 , 莫姐妹!!" and she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and it was pure JOY
5. This is the famous running-after-us-on-our-bikes guy! His name is Henry and HE GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY in another area called Beitou! At the Christmas activity last night, he came and found me afterward and he said "if you hadn't driven past that store that night I would have never had this chance to find the truth. i know it was God's plan for me, thank you."
6. There is a college student in our ward studying art and last week I was super annoying and asked her to paint me something and yesterday she gave me this....how beautiful is this? :o speechless
