So first off, I'm terrible at taking pictures, so the only pictures we took this week were at this cool rainbow tunnel at a park in our area. Please enjoy these pictures, and see them as a symbolic representation of our own individual journey through life.
This week, we had a baptism! And it was great! It was for the 16-year-old member in our ward who grew up in the church, but her records got lost. We got to go through the lessons with her again, and on Tuesday she was baptized. Her family chose a Tuesday because her dad was going to China for work on Wednesday, and they wanted him to be able to baptize her. The first time she was baptized, her dad was out of town for work, so a member of the Young Men's presidency baptized her. It was really cool for the family, that the second time she was baptized, her father was able to perform the ordinance.
At the baptism, we were chatting with a sister in our ward, and asked if we could visit her later in the week. She said sure, and we set up a time and started making plans. Then we asked where she lived. Turns out she lives in Madou, one of the farthest of the little towns in our area. So on Friday we stocked up on water and trail mix and headed out for a 20 km bike ride down to Madou. It took an hour and a half, but it was really cool to see more of our area, especially since most of it was rice fields. It was really pretty! Our visit with our member went great, and we learned that there was a train nearby we could take, so on the way back we only biked 8 km to the train station, then took the train back up to Xinying. Still, we were pretty exhausted when we got back. I'm glad we have time scheduled to exercise every morning!
We went and visited a really cool Vietnamese recent convert this week. She works as a caretaker for one of the oldest members in the ward, and met the missionaries through him. She has the sweetest testimony. She said before she met the church, she was really unhappy. Her husband is working in Russia, and her two children are back in Vietnam with her mom. She hasn't been back for a couple of years. She felt like her life was going nowhere. After meeting the church, she said, "I feel completely different. I am happy now. My circumstances haven't changed, but my heart has."
Also, while we were at church, a random family wandered in off the street and asked for a church tour. They were curious why we are Christian, but we don't have a cross on our church. We set up another time to meet with them and share more before next English class! All of our members were super excited and shocked that someone would just walk in. So were we.
You know those moments where you look back and suddenly notice a pattern that makes a significant chunk of your life make sense? I had one of those this week. When I was really little, I had nightmares almost every night. I drove my parents crazy by crying every night at bedtime because I was afraid to go to bed. My parents taught me to pray every night and ask Heavenly Father to help me not have nightmares. Over time, the prayers worked, and the nightmares stopped. But I kept praying for it. Even now, 15 years later, I pray every night that I won't have nightmares. And there have been days even on my mission that I forgot to do so, and had a nightmare that night.
The other night, I was saying my nightly prayers, and I realized I hadn't ever really thanked Heavenly Father for all the help he has given me with not having nightmares. As I prayed in thanks, I looked back, and realized that the age when I started praying for this was the age when I was first learning to pray on my own every night. I always had a really hard time remembering, but protection from nightmares was a big enough incentive that I learned to build the habit. Looking back, I could see how Heavenly Father had guided and helped me through my fear of bad dreams to build a habit that would keep me close to Him the rest of my life. The Children of Israel were reminded of the Lord when they went out to gather manna every day for their food, and I am reminded of the Lord every night when I ask Him to protect me from bad dreams.
That's about all I've got for this week! We met a guy whose English name is Book. Hopefully we can start teaching him this week.
Have an amazing week! Love you all!
Sofi
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