RE: Sister Barden from Taiwan - August 17, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was so full! I feel as if a million little things happened in our area.

The most miraculous things were ... we kept running into the same people... within short times of our first meeting. We were biking around one night and received the prompting to take a fairly sketchy dark road hugging a riverbank. I'd never been there before but we rode in and stopped at a street of houses. With only 10 minutes to spare, we prayed and chose only one door to knock. As soon as we knocked, a man answered - his face full of surprise. "You missionaries prayed with my father three days ago. I saw you at the train station when I went to pick him up. My father is sitting right here." We looked in and, sure enough, saw his father waving at us on the sofa. This family's little house is a good 15 minute drive from the train station in a very crowded area... The spirit took us right there!

Another incredible miracle: We met a father in Yilan (top of our area) who was willing to give us his phone number. Our next appointment with him fell through and we were unable to get a hold of him. However, two days later, we were walking in the little town of Su'Ao (very bottom of our area) and ran into this same man! His eyes got huge when he saw the two of us. "This is miraculous!" He kept saying. "To see you twice in one week... in different places!?" We were able to teach him a wonderful lesson later in the week.

A final story.... We met a young man while he waited by his motorcycle. He said he believed in God. We invited him to church, had a lesson on the street and gave him our address. Saturday night, we called and invited him to church again. He told us he likely wouldn't be able to come but to try him next week. Sunday night, the ward YSA had an activity planned. Around dinner time I had the impression to call him and invite him to the activity - short notice. When I called, he said he would be willing to come! He also said he had unsuccessfully tried to find our church in the morning but had lost our phone number. Wow! At the activity, we gave him a Book of Mormon and set up for another appointment. As he left, he showed us a big smile and said "I'm so grateful God let you find me so I can know how to come closer to him. A few days ago I was praying about something hard going on in my life. Originally, I was scheduled to go to work tonight... but my schedule changed and I was able to come here." He was so happy and his faith was so innocent and genuine. We cannot WAIT to share more with him!

God is a God of miracles. He is in the details.

I love you all - Take great care of TJ this week as he recovers from the surgery,
Sister Barden