Lauren Barden from Taiwan - December 16, 2013

Merry Christmas!
 
Funny story: I have to share this first before I forget. Saturday night I developed a wicked stomach ache that kept me from sleeping and eating anything. Luckily, we were still able to get to church and teach all of our lessons. There was a moment during the day where I asked Lu jieMei if I could sit down in a corner for just a few minutes to rest. As we sat, a mother from the Relief Society came around the corner and asked if we were alright. I told her I was fine and that my stomach was just hurting a little. "I can help you!" she told me. Before I could think about how to respond, she sat down next to me, and pinched the very tops of my ears with her fingernails. Hard. Ouch. It was so. painful. "This will help your stomach not hurt" she told me. And she was right. I momentarily completely forgot about my stomach pain. haha. Don't worry mom, the Taiwanese members are taking very good care of me :)
 
Miracles! Where to begin? This week was marvelous. One of our investigators is named Peng Dai Jun. She is twenty years old and had a few lessons with sister missionaries over a year ago. She is unbelievably prepared and hungry to learn about the gospel. This week, when we taught her about the word of wisdom and extended an invite to obey it, she gave us a big smile. "I remember the other sisters telling me you didn't drink tea. I told my sister I wouldn't be drinking tea anymore weeks ago." Wow. Tea is often a difficult challenge for many investigators. The fact that she 1. remembered tea was against the teachings of the church and 2. she was so willing to obey it of her own volition absolutely stuns me. She is a miracle. I have another story about her. During our lesson, she told us that she had gone to visit her sister in the hospital (her sister has been having some severe health challenges). She shared that during her visit, she had asked her sister if she could say a prayer for her. Her sister was unsure because she said she didn't have any faith. "It's okay" Dai Jun told her "I can still pray for you". Dai Jun said she knew her sister felt more peaceful after she had prayed for her. When Dai Jun told us this story, I remembered us teaching her how to pray only a few weeks ago and a deep warmth seemed to spread throughout my chest. To see Dai Jun developing a relationship with her Heavenly Father is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed on my mission.

We also had the chance to drive far into the country to visit a young, LA mother. Because she lives so far away, it has been difficult to find a member who has the time to drive the sister missionaries such a far distance. However, this week we were able to visit her home. Her husband passed away a little over a year ago and she has been working very difficult hours to take care of her two children. When we arrived at her home, we found a little, cabin like structure that reminds me of what I picture to be the classic novel, "Heidi"'s home in the alps. Inside, above the cement floor and simple furnishings, were pictures of the Savior and Joseph Smith in place of a traditional shrine. As this mother and her two little children gathered in the living room to hear about our Christmas message, a special feeling came into the lesson. "Thank you so much for coming." The mother said when we finished. "We haven't been able to have the missionaries visit for a long time". I really felt that God was aware of this dear mother and that He loved her so much. Simple but beautiful miracle.

I've been studying 'ministering' for some time because I hope to learn to minister in the way the Savior would. I found a particularly beautiful sentence in Jesus the Christ that has helped me to think about how to better serve investigators, members, and missionaries. Talmage comments that Christ had an “absence of formula and formalism in His ministration... a lack of uniformity of procedure", in other words- Christ ministered to everyone very differently. Sometimes he healed a blind man by physically touching his eyes, sometimes he healed another by merely speaking words to them. Everyone is different and the Savior understood each individual well enough to know how he could best minister to them. I hope I can seek the spirit more when I try to minister to others as the Savior would and think more about what they truly need than about trying to give them what I think they need.

Recently, I've begun thinking about Helaman 3:35, one of my favorite scriptures. The wording in the scripture is beautiful, particularly the part about "waxing stronger and stronger in humility". What an interesting concept: stronger in humility. I'm realizing I need to be more humble. God cannot strengthen or change something that is not malleable. My first reaction when I receive a complement or finish a particularly successful day can sometimes make me more proud than grateful, more thinking of myself than the role that God played in every miracle or busy day. I want to work on being more humble, being more willing to identify my mistakes, acknowledging all the things I can learn from my companion instead of all the things I can teach her, remembering that my opinion is never more important than the Lord's. I am the Lord's investigator, and I need to recognize I don't always know the best thing to do or the absolute right way to go in order to let Him guide me.
 
I love this season - Keep focused on the Savior - I know I can't stop thinking about Israel lately.
 
Love you all so much! Talk to you on Christmas!
 
Sister Barden