Sister Rachel Caroline Edwards: Monday September 23, 2013

Monday September 23, 2013

Dear family,

This week I have been overcome with amazement and happiness at the miracles!! Last week a girl, Mandy, basically contacted me at the Carrefour, (see last weeks post) and this week she met with us. AND brought a friend when she did! She is so prepared. These people really exist!!

Also this past week we met with somebody we met on the street a while ago, but didn't call for a while, and she is ALSO SO prepared!! She accepted the baptismal invite in the first lesson, and we've met with her twice in this past week.

And then we met yesterday after church with one of our progressing investigators. She came to church!!! YA YA!!!! Usually she is working and so she can't come. I just realized how much faith she already has, and that she is right where she needs to be. She still doesn't know yet, but she is doing everything right to know. I know that if she continues, she will know. That has been a huge part of all these miracles. These people don't know yet, but they desire to know, and are willing to act. I know that if they act and ask with that real intent, Heavenly Father WILL answer their prayers. It's cool to see them so prepared, and to be able to know that Heavenly Father has them in His hands. He will answer their prayers! It's as simple as that.

The girl that we met on the bus and set up with

Missionary work is so up and down, but whenever I feel super down, Heavenly Father reminds me why I'm here. This past Friday or Saturday night I wasn't feeling super great as we were traveling home. Then we sat next to a girl on the MRT studying notes for an Economics class. My major is economics. At first I just noticed that her folder was cute, but then I realized what she was studying and I had to talk to her. Our stop came really fast and we didn't have time to do more than give her a tract, but all of a sudden all of my horrible, guilty feelings were gone, and I remembered: THIS is why I'm here. It sounds so simple, but it really hit me. Heavenly Father really provides."

Speaking of moon festival . . . we are swimming in You4zi and moon cakes!! Good thing I love youzi and moon cakes :) And my companion doesn't really like moon cakes . . . so they're aaalllll mine! Moon cakes' interior is bu yi2ding4 (not certain), but most of the ones that I've eaten have been a flaky pastry on the outside, and then the inside has a (cooked) egg yolk surrounded by this dark sweet paste. It's a salty sweet flavor, but I really like it! Oh and someone gave us a Hong Kong type (nai3huang2bao1) yesterday that was really different and tasted like cake batter!

We've also had a lot of BBQ's lately-- which is the moon festival/autumn thing here. Some . . . are better than others. The picture of the squid is evidence of my adventurousness! Actually the squid wasn't too bad . . . the lamb is what really got to me. I don't think I like lamb. It's a good thing I'm not a picky eater. I've been grateful for it here lots!

The picture with Sister Day is us making cookies with her last p day! It was a lot of fun. Oh that cookie dough was so good! It wasn't my favorite Brittni's-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-but-without-the-chocolate-chips cookie dough . . . but it was pretty dang good!

The green hats are youzi peels! That's the tradition--you peel it and then the little kids wear it as a hat. We're not little kids . . . but we thought we looked pretty cute anyway :) The man wearing it with us is the Bishop!