Once upon a time, our investigator quit his job...

Yeah, you read that right.  One of our investigators told us yesterday that his boss told him he couldn't have Sundays off anymore to come to church, and he quit!  I was so surprised and happy for him - that is such incredible faith!  We are praying for him now that he will find a good job that will give him Sundays off so he can attend church.  By the way, he's getting baptized in two weeks.  He's awesome.

Speaking of baptisms... remember back in October when I wrote you all about the mother and daughter who came in right before General Conference looking for a new church?  Well, they both got baptized in the last month and we couldn't be happier for them!  They are such a wonderful addition to our ward, and I love them both so much.  I think what has made their conversion possible is the welcome they had into the ward from the other members and from the bishopric.  It has been awesome to see them make friends and become a part of the Church here.

In other news, three of our elders had birthdays this week. (There are twelve people in our district and two thirds of them have birthdays in January and February.  It's ridiculous.)  To celebrate, we had a little party for which I made dessert using the new cookbook that the other sister companionship bought last week: The Complete Magnolia Cookbook.  This cookbook is based on recipes from a famous bakery in NYC, Magnolia Bakery, and oh boy... they are good.  For the party I made pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing since all the birthday Elders love pumpkin.  They turned out so good!  And I thought I wouldn't have cooking adventures on my mission... ha!

This week has been a week of referrals from the mission office.  There are apparently some Mandarin speakers in Uptown Manhattan who want to know about the gospel, and we are happy to oblige.  The other night while we were trying to contact them, one of them gave us the number of another friend who was interested.  Shortly thereafter, that friend gave us ANOTHER number.  So that's right, we got a referral, from a referral, from a referral.  It was crazy.

I have been thinking a lot about the power of the Book of Mormon recently.  In the mission field we are told over and over that the Book of Mormon, along with the influence of the Spirit, is our most powerful conversion tool.  I firmly believe that through reading the Book of Mormon, we grow closer to God. If any of you are not currently reading the Book of Mormon, start now!  It is never too late.  If you have read it before, read it again!  President Gordon B. Hinckley told us that no matter how many times we have read the book, as we read we will find new wisdom and guidance.  I know that is true.

I love you all!

Sister Beer

P.S. I just want to give a quick shout-out to Sister Murray who I hear has been reading the blog.  Hello!  Your son is pretty awesome, and we are lucky to have him here in Chinatown! :)

P.P.S. [A note from Caitlin's dad] 

Here's a write-up from Meridian Magazine on Caitlin's Christmas dinner!  I saw it because they had the photo of her companion, Sister Liu (the last picture in the article), highlighted in the day's summary, and I recognized her.  
 
Caitlin confirmed this was "her" dinner, and said it would OK to put this link in her blog.
 
http://www.ldsmag.com/article/1/12046