Well,
this week has been crazy! Because of the new chapel in FengLin, our
group leader asked us on Thursday to hand out invitation cards to people
in the area, and let them know about an open house activity we were
hosting. We were totally fine with that, until we realized these cards
were addressed to specific people, who happen to live all over our area.
And our area is quite large. Quite large indeed. So, we spent 10 hours
on Thursday, biking to every part of our area, to hand out these cards
to people! We were thankfully able to enlist the help of another set of
Elders, and get them all done, but... I'm tired.
But
more important than my physical or mental health is THE MIRACLES! We
had some really cool experiences this week, especially with Tian Mama,
one of our investigators. She has known missionaries for a little while,
and is very willing to hear our message. Because she was born into a
Aborigine family, her main language is an Aborigine dialect that
unfortunately is not offered at the MTC, so we do not speak it. But, her
Chinese is good enough that we can share the lessons with her, and we
also have members in our area that speak the same dialect as her. Also,
she recently had a son pass away, and that was very hard for their
family. But she has such a simple and burning testimony of Jesus Christ,
and of the Love and Protection He gives us, and she truststhst he will
send her son again. We have recently been talking to her more about
baptism, and she is working towards getting baptized on January 6th of next year, or earlier! She is such an amazing example to me of trusting in God, and relying on Him to guide us.
This
week has had its ups and downs, but by far THE GREATEST part of this
week, and every week, is sharing about my Savior, and His love for me.
In October of 2016, one of the speaker's in General Conference shared a
talk entitled "God Shall Wipe Away All Tears". In the talk, he spoke of
the apostle Paul, and his trials. Paul was beaten, he was stoned, he was
shipwrecked, and he was betrayed and abandoned, but still he declared,
with full faith and confidence, that his afflictions were light. This
apostle of the Lord suffered his whole life for what he believed and
what he knew, being imprisoned and ultimately killed, but he endured his
persecution, knowing the eternal reward was worth the momentary pain.
In our lives, we are forced to deal with pain, with loneliness, with
sorrow, and burdens we feel others cannot understand. And sometimes we
feel we can't keep going, that one more step is just too many. We want
to give up, give in, or go home. But I know, with all my heart, that God
does not give us trials we can not handle. He will try us, and test us,
because He wants us to grow. But He will NEVER leave us alone. We may
not seem Him, and sometimes it might even be hard to feel Him there, but
the times we feel weakest, the times we feel the most on our own, are
the times He is giving us the most help. He gives it through His Son,
our perfect Brother. I know personally that I have a Savior, that loved
me enough to give the entirety of His life to teaching, testifying,
pleading, serving, sacrificing, suffering, and ultimately dying, so that
I didn't have to wander through this life alone. So that there could be
someone who understands my pains, my sorrows, my heartache, who could
truly empathize with me, and who could show me the way to face my
trials, with peace, and with hope. I testify that He was born, He died,
and He lives again. And because He lives, we don't have be alone. I wish
that I could show him even a portion of the love that He shows me every
day, but my attempts are inadequate. I am so grateful for the
opportunity I have to bear testimony of Him, and share the message of
His love with the people of Taiwan, and with you. I love you!
Love,
Elder Shope
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