It's a bright and sunny Taipei morning,
and my companion and I are emailing early, because we are going hiking
with some Recent Converts for P-Day! Yay...! This last week has been
crazy, we have seen so many miracles, and been so busy! We had
Trainer-Trainee Follow Up Meeting, to see how we new missionaries are
doing after our first 6 weeks on island! It was such a great meeting,
and we had some really good training and practices! It made me feel a
lot more confident in missionary work!
My Story of the Week without a doubt comes from a miracle we saw Friday Night. On Friday
Night, we went to go teach a lesson in DaTong, which is about an hour
away from our chapel by bike. So we decided to take a taxi to the
lesson, because we were running late. It was a really good lesson, and
the Spirit was so strong! But after the lesson, we were walking home,
and about half way to our house, we realized we weren't going to get
home before 10:00, which is our mission curfew. So, we started looking for a taxi to take us home! Well, because it was almost 10 o'clock
at night, in a super busy area, we couldn't find a taxi headed in the
right direction. We looked, and kept walking toward home, but weren't
able to find one anywhere. Finally, we found a taxi that was turning off
a side street, and we hopped in and gave her our address. We quickly
started a conversation, asking her how work was going, and if she'd had a
lot of customers that day. She said she had, and then she asked us if
we had also had a lot of customers. We jokingly said yes, and so she
asked us what we did for work. We told her we were missionaries, to
which she replied "Oh, you're Mormons!" We said we were, and we talked a
little about the church. Then, quite frankly, she asked "What makes
your church special? Why are you different from other churches?" My
companion immediately started sharing the message of the Restoration
with her, including Joseph Smith's 1st Vision. He talked for a long
time, and I was worried she wasn't really interested. But after we
finished, she thanked him for sharing. I then asked her if she had a
specific religion, and she said that she is Christian, but that her and
her husband couldn't find the right church, because her work was so
busy. She told us about how much she wanted to go to church, and how she
truly believed in God, but she didn't know what to do. As we pulled up
to the curb of our apartment, we were getting ready to pay her, and she
said "Don't worry about it. This was God's will, meeting you two tonight."
I quickly gave her a Restoration pamphlet, and bore testimony . She
told us "Give me some time to read this, and then call me. I want to
learn more."
The circumstances of that meeting
were so impossibly coincidental, the chances of us deciding to take a
taxi, finding that particular taxi, and deciding to share the message of
the Restoration were slim to none. But it happened. It was truly a
miracle that we were in the right place, at the right time, that our
taxi driver was looking for truth, and that we were prepared to share
it. It was such a sign to me of God's love and awareness of His
children, and His desire to bring them back to His eternal family. There
is no one, besides an all-knowing, all-powerful Creator, that could
have orchestrated such a meeting, such a perfect combination of
circumstances. I am so grateful that I have followed God's commandments,
that I have been living the way He wants to me to live, and He has
considered me worthy to be a tool in His hands. I have seen many trials
on a mission, and faced some of the most difficult challenges in my
life, but I have also seen miracles. I have seen people's hearts
changed, and I have seen "coincidences" galore. But I know they are not
coincidences. I know God is aware of us, that He is mindful of us, that
He knows our struggles, and He knows what will bring us the most
happiness. And through the Atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ, we can
find that happiness. Through His restored church, our burdens can be
made light, and we can know long-lasting peace. I know it.
Thank
you for the emails from everyone! I love reading your stories, and
hearing about your experiences! I love you, and I know your Father in
Heaven loves you, too.
Love,
Elder Shope
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