Joseph Smith Story From Mainland China - October 9, 2013

HELLO, HELLO!!! So let's just start by saying that this week was AWESOME!! My companion and I were nervous about this week. All day Thursday, we were in Angers for a tri-zone conference and with General Conference, we thought "Wow...that doesn't leave a lot of time for Missionary work". But the Lord takes care of his work.

The Rennes ward has had a lot of recent converts this year (WOOT! GO RENNES WARD!!) and so each week we have about six recent convert lessons. However, this week, we had only one. Why is this a celebration? Each one of our recent converts brought a friend or family member to their lesson, who wanted to know about the Gospel.

So the lesson quickly turned into a lesson with a new ami!! WOOT! Talk about convert power! It is amazing to me, the faith of these recent converts. They don't know everything about the Gospel and some of them are so new that they still need refreshers on the basic doctrine BUT they know how they feel WITH the Gospel and they remember how they felt without it. They are so ready to share that with others. It's such an example to me to NEVER take advantage of the Gospel and to share it will all our friends and family. Because in all honesty, what better gift can we give?

SUPER cool thing this week: So we were in our RDV with Sophie and we had decided to talk about the Restoration. Some background on Sophie: we have taught her a few times. She is from Mainland China so Christianity is really new to her…actually believing in God is really new to her. Before, it was something that she had read in textbooks, not a way of life. So teaching her is really slow.

We have to describe in depth each word we say (I.e. Faith, Prophet ≠ Profit). Anyway, so we sit down and we start talking about Joseph Smith and then she exclaims “I KNOW THIS STORY!!” And I thought to myself “I doubt it.” Haha She had just learned of the miracles of Jesus Christ last week. She described Christ’s miracles as “supernatural”. But then she starts to recount to us the ENTIRE story of Joseph Smith. *Pause for moment as I pick my jaw off the floor*. I then ask her how she knows of Joseph Smith and she explains that Joseph Smith is in every history textbook in China. So any girl who was a good student will know the story of Joseph Smith. Mind Blown.

Also, conference was just great. Themes I noticed:

· Missionary Work…ya and I don’t think I noticed it because I’m a missionary. Haha.

· Making and Keeping Sacred Covenants

· Protecting the sanctity of the family

Conference was SOO good. I loved what was said (can’t remember who it was) about watching conference will not build your testimony but LIVING the things that you learned sure will. It’s true that we can have such wonderful experiences at conference and feel the spirit so strong but it is when we apply the things that we learn that we really grow.

Great news: Annabelle, Anne and Ulzii all came to conference!! WOOT. Annabelle came to the R.S. session and she LOVED it. She told us that she was so nervous on the bus and almost turned back but she came anyway. YES! Anne was able to stay for both the R.S. broadcast and Saturday Morning (here those are back to back). She loved it as well. She understood most of it but I’m excited to get them to her in Vietnamese. Ulzii is a new ami this week that Tugsuu brought to her lesson. Apparently she has wanted to come to church for a long time and so when we invited her to conference, she was THRILLED. We weren’t able to talk to her after but we will see her this week and ask her what she thought.

Dear Howard and Lori: Thank you SOOO MUCH for the Birthday cake. We had SO much fun with it haha. And it was surprisingly delicious! Below are birthday fun pics. It also worked out really well because my companion’s birthday was this last Sunday :) So we both blew out the candle haha. Love you! Thank you so much!

This week in Mission Conference, our mission set a goal that EACH companionship bring a FAMILY unto the Gospel for Christmas. This meant for me to SERIOUSLY change my style of missionary work. The way I find, teach and even pray. We are working harder than ever; and then with the Prophetic demand at conference, who could deny that the work is moving forward.

"If every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful gift to the Savior." -Elder Bednar

The Lord has called you to the work—each and every one of you. Now the only question is, Will you respond to the call?

But no stress :) Just remember that "the task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us."

I love you all.



Soeur Bitter