Comings and Goings in the Chinatown District

This has been a week of change for the Chinatown District.

Possibly the biggest news is that my trainer, Sister Liu, returned home today.  I miss her already, and it was hard to say goodbye.  China doesn't know how lucky they are to have such a wonderful sister.  I look forward to a time when I will be able to see her again.

Second to that is all the other changes that happened in our district.  First off, my new companion is...Sister Khong!  Sister Khong and I entered the mission field together, and she is pretty fantastic.  We are going to do good work together, I can feel it.  We have a new sister in our district named Sister Chan who will be trained by Sister Woo, another Mandarin speaking sister who has been serving English speaking since I got here.  They are awesome.  Some of you may be wondering (or not...I don't actually know) "but what about Sister Chueh?"  Sister Chueh, along with two of our elders, have been transferred to English speaking areas.  I am sad to see them go, but I know they will bring the awesomeness that is the Chinatown Zone to other areas.

Now that is out of the way....

This week was great.  I felt a lot of support from Heavenly Father as we prepared Sister Liu to go home, as well as doing our normal proselyting work.  One of the most awesome things that happened this week is that one of our investigators (remember the one who quit his job to come to church?) got baptized!  He is so solid, and shared a wonderful testimony with us about how he received a confirmation from the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  It was so awesome.  I love seeing this real growth in our investigators and members.  It is an assurance to me that the work we missionaries are doing is really the work of God.

I was studying this week a lot about commitments.  Commitments are one of the ways we as missionaries help others grow closer to Christ and repent of their sins.  Repentance, as I understand it, isn't just saying "I've done something wrong, please forgive me," but is also a change of lifestyle and thought to the way Heavenly Father wants us to think and act.  As we commit people to do different tasks, like live the commandments or read the scriptures, it is important to follow up with them.  As it says in Preach My Gospel, committing someone without following up is like buying a ticket and never going to the concert.  I think that everything we teach should have a commitment attached, whether it be in FHE, Sunday School, a spiritual thought before an event, everywhere.  What we teach, what we do, should challenge people to be a little better and to live a little more like the Savior.

That's all I've got this week.  I love you all and I appreciate the prayers, support, and love that I feel from all of you!  Thank you!

Love,

Sister Beer