chronicle of Vasha 27

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT"S SOOOOO GOOOD! ahhhhhhhhhh! THis is huge news! OH MY 

GOODNESS!!!!!!!!You're going to be the best ever! and this will be good for mama as

 well!!! (Dana has been called to be the first counselor at BYU to Bishop Paul Hansen of BYU 168 ward)

I have extactly 6 minutes to type this email so i apologize for the shortness and lameness of it! 

AMBER GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHH SON!!!!!!!!! BOOOOM! She's gonna be

 the most golden, active, eternally converted member EVER! The baptismal service was also 

amazing and the ward actually participated, attended, and provided refreshments after! 

That has NEVER happened in Xiaogang! It's amazing and i'm soooo glad that our efforts of working with the ward are paying off! Also her baptism was the quickest, literal "dunking" i've ever seen! Her friend Bro Hong (age 20) baptized her and she told him before hand that if he failed the first time she'd have someone else do it.....so he threw her under the water and yanked her back up...in like .05 seconds! hahahahahaha soooo freaking funny!!! But she was in an out and he did not fail! SUCCESS! 

Sister Haupt and I are doing really great! I had a bit of a humbling experience this week, and 

I'm continuing to pray for humility and patience. I was in the wrong this week and was 

corrected by our new Zone Leader in an awkward way aka he was super not tactful and 

there was no increase of love! (D&C 121) I did not handle the situation very well and got 

defensive. I apologized about an hour later  I need to be obedient humble. I set a goal to be 

humble and obedient to ALL my leaders, whether or not i agree with their xiangfa. I'm 

continuing to be humbled and taught lessons be the Lord everyday, maybe someday i'll 

finally learn! Because of this experience, i've also decided to study Humility, Obedience, and

 Patience this week in my personal study. I pray the Lord with help me to become the

 missionary and follower he needs me to be. 

RANDOM STORY:

***I LIFTED AN OLD LADY ONTO THE BACK OF A SCOOTER AT 8:56 pm Saturday 

night on the way home from the baptism. We had to be home by 9pm since we did not have a lesson, and we were hauling down the street when i see this like 90ish yr old lady with a cane and a huge empty water jug tottering down the middle of the highway....so i told sis haupt we were gonna be late getting home and pulled over. we saw a guy pull up to her on his scooter and we watched to see if he would give her a ride, but he just tried to herd her over to the sidewalk to she would be a danger to the cars! what the?! so we rode over to her, and this 20 something girl pulled up on her scooter and tried to help her but we finally tried to  convince her to go with the girl. so  we had to get her onto the back of the scooter.....no easy feat! it took three of us with me holder her under her arms.....wow she was sweaty!....but we got her all settled, sent her on her way, and i'm just gonna assume it all went okay and she got her water? yeah yeah yeah!!!!!!

Well that's all the time i have today, but i love you all and hope you all have splendid weeks! Hope On. Journey On. and Don't ever stop Believing!!!

LOVE BAO JIEMEI!

naivasha.burrows@myldsmail.net

Chronicle of Vasha 26

Well Hello Hello Everyone!

This week has been great! Prepping for a Baptism, getting higher numbers, meeting and getting new Amazing investigators. Overall this week has been filled with seeing the fruits of our labors. And oh it does taste just so sweet!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Ezra Taft Benson:

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

 

I love this sooo much! I don't even know what to say about it, except that it is 100% true! The world really does focus on the outside, and sometimes i forget what's important and do the same. But Jesus focuses on our souls, on our hearts, and on our minds. Not on our bodies, faces, smells, etc. He knows what's important and what's at the center of it all. If you want to help someone to change their situation, overcome their problems, and come unto Christ, we need to first help them overcome their own self will. Change their own hearts and minds. They need to have a desire to change and follow Christ. They need faith. Hope. Belief. and Trust. They they have the power to change. Change themselves, change their surroundings, change the world. 

 

Hey Tell tanner that i love him and hope he is doing amazing! He is such an amazing guy and great leader. He is going to do amazing on his mission and really become a great example to all those he comes into contact with. Something that i think makes a great missionary is one who is obedient, diligent, loves god, the work, his comp, and also one that has fun doing it all. Tanner is someone who will do all of those things wholeheartedly. Love that kid!!

 

I cannot believe that Landon is home from his mission. Tell him I love him!

 

 

Okay a little background on our investigator AC. she will be getting baptized this next week. She's so amazing and is down here in Gaoxiong going to Law School! She is studying to become a Prosecutor. So she's really smart. Which was a little detrimental to her investigating the church. She's seen many bad things and abuse and such, she had a hard time believe that God exists and lets that kind of thing happen. She's learned to rely on faith though and to just have hope and trust. She's definitely going to be a lasting convert, not one of those who goes LA after a few weeks like many people here we see. She's 21 and her family all lives in Taibei. Her mum died while she was in HS so that was another hard thing she was trying to understand. Her when people go to uni they don't have to do the general stuff first before they go to law school. They just go straight into their major and get really good at it. Seem like a better idea to me! hahahahahaha

FUNNY/AWKWARD/AWESOME/ADVENTURE MOMENTS OF THE WEEK:

***Li Jiamei  (sister) got baptized! She's not our investigator, but she is the other Sisters in our District's. She's so amazing! Sister Haupt taught her before they split the area and i came down to Xiaogang. It was a really good baptismal service and she's going to be an amazing addition to the Qianzhen ward!

***Everyday I remember funny little memories or things that have happened to me in my life. I'm so grateful to the Lord for helping me to have these happy moments that can lighten my day and my attitude!

***When we were at our bishops house, his little boy looked at me, had a piece of candy in his hand, and chucked it as hard as he could at my head. He's about 4 yrs old. Before the candy hit me though, I snagged it out of the air with incredible cat like reflexes....(I have no idea where they came from!) hahahaha after that he was super amazed (so was I!) and now everytime he sees me he chucks things at me to see if  I'll catch them!

Well that's all the time I have today, but I love you all and talk you to next week on: THE TAIWANESE EXPERIENCE. Hope on .Journey on. and don't every stop Believing!

PREVIEW: Next week on  THE TAIWANESE EXPERIENCE....drama, baptisms, and maybe a surprise mini zone conference. Stay tuned!

Love, Bao Jiemei!

naivasha.burrows@myldsmail.net

Chronicle of Vasha 25

DA JIA HAO!!! 

Well, Let me just start off by saying....the fire is burning in Xiao Gang!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Operation Baptism Inferno is now in effect and the sparks thereof have started a fire......because our investigator IS GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT WEEK!!!! yeah!!!! she's been investigating the church for almost a year now....and I've been so blessed to see the changes in here in just the last few weeks I've been here. It was mostly a problem with faith for her....but now she understands that she only needs believe and her faith will develop with action! She's so amazing and is finally going to enter at the gate of the strait and narrow path! SOOO PUMPED!!!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

ELDER JEFFREY R HOLLAND:

"...hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. It was of this very incident, this specific miracle, that Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”⁶The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know."

Soooo Good! This is what we used to help Amber understand that to be baptized that she does not need perfect faith....She asked us if she only had half faith and half belief if God would still accept her baptism....don't worry we assured her he would! She's so amazing and I'm excited to help her continue to progress even after she makes this first covenant with God! :D 

AWKARD/FUNNY/AMAZING/RANDOM ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK:

***Wu DX: "Try it! It's seafood!"

       ME: "Okay!" *Grabbed one and popped it in my mouth and bite down hard*

       Wu DX: "Wait! Don't eat the teeth!"

       ME: "WHAT DID YOU GIVE ME?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE TEETH?!"

       Wu DX: "Squid Beak! don't eat the middle part....that's the teeth/beak."

It was actually quite delicious after I de-beaked it! Like a seafood tasting mushroom!

 

***Okay the first contact of the day, only 15 seconds left on the light before it turns green. I turn around to say hello to a lady on her scooter behind me and right after I say hello I DROOL A WATERFALL! wow.....so I was like great, I just ruined that contact. The light turned green so I start to ride slowly, awkwardly away on my bike.....BUT THEN....she rode up next to me and was like "Wait! Can I have your phone number? I want to meet with you sometime!" MORAL OF THE STORY: Drooling does not ruin the contact! Contact on!

 

***Interviews with President Blickenstaff and Sister Blickenstaff!!! They were sooo great! And they both interviewed us actually! They are really awesome, and I'm excited to work with and under them in such a great work as this! Great things are going to happen to the Taiwan Taizhong mission and I'm so grateful that I'll be here to witness it! :D

 

***Met with the Bishop of the ward this week! Apparently it's supposed to be hard to set up with him according to past missionaries? I didn't know this so last sunday when I saw him I just was like "Hey bishop! Can my companion and I come visit your family sometime this week?" and he was like "Yeah! How about tomorrow?" that easy! Then we had a meeting with him and told him a bit about what we've been doing, what our goals and plans are to accomplish them, and what we hope to do with the area/ward of Xiaogang. Then asked him what he would also like us to do. I think he was impressed and we will continue to work closely with the ward to further the work and accomplish our mission....OPERATION BAPTISM INFERNO....and STRENGTHEN AND BUILD XIAOGANG WARD!!!!!!!!

 

Mommy and daddy, it is awesome that the reunion was so fun.  Way to go to play with all the little kids:) Good job aunt Jackie and Nika for organizing it.  Thank you Uncle Ed and Aunt Kathy for the money. 

Sorry this email is so short, but know I love you all and the work is progressing! I hope you all have splendid, miracle-filled, and service oriented weeks. LOVE YOU! Hope on. Journey on. and "first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe." 

Chronicle of Vasha 24

July 7th email

Hey everyone!!!

Sorry i've been having email issues these past few weeks, so if you didn't get last weeks email, please let my mum know and she'll forward it to you! 

Said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.”

This is sooo true! I know that everything....especially as missionaries....depends on our obedience. We cannot see the fruits of our labors, and receive blessings unless we are obedient. STRICTLY obedient. It is something that I've seen in my mission, and everyday i receive confirmations of this truth. Our happiness, peace, progress, prosperity, and eternal salvation all depend on it. I'd say that obedience is probably pretty dang important. Dui bu dui?! (Isn't it true)

I love this place soooo much! There is so much work cut out for us....but that's what makes it great! if we could white wash or go into an area that needs a lot of help...for my whole mission....I would be soooo happy! There is so much to learn from each place and each companion, and every place is so different, i get to use all my ideas and think of new one and then see the fruits of my labor....or at least the seeds! :D The ward here is pretty good, but the relations with the missionaries are again, not as good as we'd hoped. I'm excited to try some new ideas going and light the fire of the Xiaogang ward! My comp Sister Haupt is super excited as well, and we've already seen so many miracles together because of our obedience and hard work :D the Lord is really watching out for us! We are meeting with the bishop tonight to discuss the area and get to know him and his family because we don't really know him! I'm super excited and only pray that we can bike down and find his house in a timely manner :)

MIRACLES/AWESOMENESS/AWKWARDNESS OF THE WEEK:

***WE FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR! Her name is Lin Jiemei and she's 18 yrs old. We found her when we were doing an LA look up at her neighbors house, ran into her and she invited us in. Then we shang'd ke with her and taught her a whole first. I was able to bear testimony of many different aspects of the gospel, and we all felt the spirit. She told us she believes everything we've been telling her, including that Joseph Smith has seen God and Jesus. She is so prepared and I've never met anyone or taught anyone like her! She came to church yesterday and LOVED IT! she's even coming to english on Wednesday and bringing her little brothers. The only thing that might hold her back is if her parents say no.....they are very opposed to Christianity, but if she continues faithful, and we are obedience, i know the lord will bless us!

***69 cats seen!!!!

***Exchanges with the STLs....who also are our roommates! Wow I learned so much! I actually feel inadequate and like I've been slacking off as a missionary after being with Sis Taylor for 24 hours..;.....she contacts everything under the sun! people, pets, cars, bikes, scooters, houses, trees.....holy cow she's soooo renzhen! super intense.....I feel like I really need to nuli  (work harder) and get going in my missionary work.....

***Interviews with President Blickenstaff this week! Super excited to meet him and his wifey! 

LOVE YOU ALL AND SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT AND SPASTIC! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A MIRACLE FILLED WEEK AND LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE OTHERS! love you allllllll!!!!!! Hope On. Journey On. and Don't EVER stop Believing!!!! :D

LOVE Bao Jiemei!

naivasha.burrows@myldsmail.net

chronicle of Vasha 23

July 1st 2013

Well Hello There EVERYONE!!!! :D 

Gaoxiong has been fantastic! Everything i hoped for and more! My companion 賀姐妹 He4 Jiemei and I have had so many miracles this week! Gaoxiong is very different than up north in Taizhong. It really is a separate mission, there is a whole different feel and everything. Everything and everyone is much more relaxed. Including the missionaries. It's very strange. At first i was worried and wondering if there was going to be a obedience problem, but nope it's all good! My companion 賀姐妹 is amazing and perfectly obedient! We've seen so many miracles this week that i'll talk about later, and I know that it's because of our obedience, and the faith that we have that the Lord will give us success this movecall!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK!:

Keith B. McMullin:

"Duty does not require perfection, but it does require diligence."

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK!:

Ecclesiastes 12:13

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

I think that these two quotes/scripture go perfectly together! I also think that Duty can require perfection. Perfection in Obedience and Faith. We ourselves are not perfect beings, we all make mistakes, it is impossible for us to become perfect as God and Jesus are, but we can strive for it. We can also be perfectly and exactly obedience and exercise perfect Faith. If our whole goal is to be perfect, then why don't we strive to make the things that have the ability to become perfect perfect? Hmmmmmm....worth thinking about i think :D

MIRACLES/RANDOM/AWKWARD MOMENTS OF THE WEEK:

***I'm the new English Leader for our English Unit down in the Xiaogang/Qianzhan District. It is a scary thought that I, Naivasha Burrows, am supposed to be leading an organizing a whole English Unit. Good thing I love English Class so much! I've switched things up a lot, and keep it organized. During our English Meeting on Wednesday, had everything all planned out, conducted the meeting, and had planned/assigned all the spiritual shares and training segments for the whole move call. Everyone kept looking at me weird and I was thinking that i was doing something wrong, but then the DL and ZLs told me that they've never been to a English Mtg that was so organized, planned, and thought out. I was worried, but they are willing to follow and support me....soooo let's hope we can do a good job! Also our Party Theme for week 6 of the movecall is "Ninjas in Space" so if anyone can think of any fun game or activities involving ninjas or space.....PLEASEEEE let me know! 

***We found the most delicious food place called Hobo's Diner! It's this man who's from Kentucky, grew up in Cali, fought in 'Nam, and now is living in Taiwan married to a nice little Taiwanese lady. They have American food and it's really good! and the prices are pretty bu cuo! yeah yeah yeah!!!

***We went on a search on Friday for a Filipino lady who had bu jian'd and we showed up at her house but it was all closed up. We called her number like 3 times but each time the call was rejected like right away. So while my companion was writing her a note to leave in the mailbox (because she can read and write characters....I'm telling you she's studied Chinese since she was 13 so it's PERFECT), i stood outside under a window and yelled up to the 3rd story "MYLENE!!!! MYLENE MORALES JIEMEI!!!! MISS MORALES!!!! ARE YOU HOME?!?!?! NI ZAI JIA MA?!!" in mostly English.....then.....the garage door started to open slowly! it was super awkward because it was opening soooo slowly and we couldn't see inside and so we had to wait and see if it was her....and it was! and then we shang'd ke (teach) with her....in english! Awkard! and she gave us her correct number! And we set up to meet with her this coming week. MIRACLE OF THE FOUND LOST

***We also have a RC that is LA....the same day we found Sister Morales, we went to her house to see if she was home because she had also bu jian'd (disappeared). They didn't answer either...so while 賀姐妹 was writing another note...i jokingly started yelling "Song Jiemei! Ni zai jia ma?" up to the 2nd story....AND SHE CAME OUT TOO!!!! and we Shang'd ke with her and set up with her as well!!!! 

***So our day was going to good, we thought it was too good to be true....but we'd had an investigator who backed out of her baptism at the last second and then ran off to Singapore....we weren't sure if she was back yet or not....but we figured we'd go check and see if our luck had run out....IT HADN"T! we ran the doorbell, waited forever and no one came, so i rang it again just to see....and SHE ANSWERED, MIRACLE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!

***We also have a secondary area called Linyuan. It's about an hour bike ride south and it is on the OCEAN!!! I am in fact on an island! i have seen the ocean...i know it's true now! hahahahaha We looked up every single female member we had down there and found EVERY SINGLE ONE! or if they had moved, we were able to talk to their neighbors and get information....

Overall, this week has been absolutely amazing and i'm having a blast! It's been a weird transition as everything down here is completely laid back and chill.....but we're still able to get to work and start on our plan of OPERATION BAPTISM INFERNO! 賀姐妹 and i are planning on seeing more miracles this week, trusting in the Lord, and GETTING TO WORK.. 

The work is hard, the gospel is true, and God is with us always! Hope on. Journey on. and Never stop believing! :)

LOve Bao Jiemei! 包姐妹

--

Peace be with you, keep the faith, and Godspeed. 

Sister Naivasha Hani Burrows