Sister Barden in Taiwan - July 15, 2014

The week of the Taiwanese duanchuans!

Sister Keung and I were able to split up in our area this week because two YW from the stake volunteered for a special missionary experience activity. As result, we got an UNBELIEVABLE amount of work done. These Taiwanese sisters brought miracles by the bucketload!!!

I was paired with a little Sister Wu who was baptized by Sister Edwards (so cool!) back in February. She had the funniest, driest, most loving sense of humor you could possibly imagine. I loved seeing her change over the course of the week. She wasn't afraid to work hard, and even though she was shy at the beginning, by the end she was sharing scriptures and bearing testimony to people in street contacts. Whoa! She and I are now incredible friends. I love her faith. We saw dozens of miracles together, but I want to share two special ones in particular….

One evening, Sister Wu and I were contacting in a small town called Wu Jie. It was dark and almost no one was on the streets. We had been trying to follow the Spirit and had felt led to a cluster of houses. I am very new to the area and had no idea where we were supposed to go,however, we said a prayer together and stopped a minute to see if we had any feelings. We rode up to one of the lit houses and rang the doorbell. A mid-older aged woman came to the door. She had big brown eyes and a light in her face... an openness. We began talking to her and she shared her feelings about God, listened to our message about baptism, and told us she wished she could increase her spirituality. She wanted to increase her spirituality!? Sister Wu and I just looked at each other. This woman then told us she felt a special love about us and wanted to hug us. We testified that she was feeling the Holy Ghost and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us how to love. She read Moroni 7:45-48 in the Book of Mormon and agreed to read the book. She then asked us to come back to her home in a few weeks as she was taking a long vacation to Egypt during the rest of July. She seemed too amazing to be real!! I will never forget the powerful spirit that accompanied that lesson on her doorstep.

Another finding miracle took place later in the week. Sister Wu and I had 30 minutes left to find in the dark and we - again- didn't know where to go. I told Sister Wu we still had someone we needed to find... I could feel it. We parked our bikes and stopped to say a prayer. We prayed to find a family and to know where they were. On the next street, we saw a home with a lit window.... a young girl inside was playing the piano. The door was knocked on.... we were let inside... we taught the little family about prayer and baptism... I'll never forget telling the little boy that he could make a call to Heavenly Father to talk to Him. The little boy looked up at his mom and said "What is His phone number?!" He then said a quiet, little prayer before we left. The family told us we could come back in a little over a week. UNBELIEVABLE! The spirit is REAL..

This week, in scripture study and in the work, I had lots of little experiences that reconfirmed the reality that God is in the details. We are in His mighty hands. He "leads us along" and teaches us "line upon line, precept upon precept". This week, I simply feel that I ...."stand all amazed" at the wonder of it all... and want to never lose that sense of wonder. I want to see Him more in my life by praying for eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that more fully comprehends the love and peace that He constantly speaks to my soul.

Sister Keung! I missed her this week! She is still teaching me many things. Her little Taiwanese companion had a wonderful experience with Sister Keung as they worked together. One of the things I admire about Sister Keung is her patience. It is one of her great attributes. I'm continually working on patience so I'm lucky I get the chance to learn from her!

Life is good. Oh so good.

I love you all so much!

From your soon to be 22 yr old! (That sounds so old?!)

Sister Barden