Monday April 28, 2014

Monday April 29, 2014

Dear Family,                         

Our eternal investigator, who was already dropped once before I got here, set a baptismal date!!!! Yay!

We got fang'd, the investigator didn't show up for our lesson.  We asked the member who was with us if we could practice teaching her. This is something that President Day had invited us to do. As we taught her, she thought of TWO people she wanted to introduce us to. One we met with this week and she became our new investigator!!!!!! This is the first time I've ever seen anything like that happen!!! So cool. AND another member that we met with when we got fanged set a date to meet with us and a friend of hers that she wants to hear the gospel. That is the real vision of missionary work.

This week I have felt the Lord's love while reading the Book of Mormon. Always read the Book of Mormon, pray, go to church, and follow the prophet, and everything else in life ALWAYS falls into place.

We're going to Taroko today, so the time is short, but I love you!

Sister Rachel Caroline Edwards

Time for pictures:

Krispy Kremes, Sister Steed and Sister Edwards

Sister Zhong and me

Sister Zhong did my hair:)

Sister Edwards and a friend Run3

Sisters Barden and Edwards-Roommates in Jerusalem and now on the same mission together!!!

Sisters Tracy and Edwards

 Rachel at the 
beach in Hualian

Girls' night out?  Does the Mission President know about this?
Actually quoting Rachel: "All the sisters who stayed in our apartment the day before a training so we could get there on time.
Sisters: Pieper, Lee, Wray, Knight, Haynes, Zhong, Chu, Wu, Williams, Tracy, Edwards and my companion Sister Steed

Sisters Edwards, Steed, Haynes and Zhong

Sisters: Edwards, Wray, Knight, Steed, and Du.  Sister Du was in our mission but just went home last transfer; we saw her in Taidong!

Cool Horse-
I'm a bit worried about Rachel's livestock differentiation if she thinks that this is a cool horse???

Monday April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

Dear family,

When I was with Sister Wu on exchanges, we went exploring in a new area in Taidong. There weren't a lot of people/houses, so we prayed about where to go. After we prayed, I pointed the direction that felt best to me, and she said, "That's what I felt before we prayed." Then we found two new investigators, plus some other set-ups, in probably about an hour and a half!  Follow the Spirit. It works.

I was with Sister Zhong in Hualian. We contacted this girl on the street, had a lesson with her and set up an appointment. Now this accomplishment in and of itself is one of the miracles of missionary work, but was not the part that really impressed me. As we spoke to her I felt that she had been searching for something like our message.  She wanted to know her Heavenly Father, and I felt the Spirit testify to her through me.

Saturday night we were calling all our investigators to remind them about church, and we called Jun1, who is a rather new investigator. She said she was in Taipei, but that she would be home in Hualian the next day . . . and that she would come to church! Then, despite going to bed at 2:00 the night before, she woke up at 6:00 on Sunday morning and came to all three meetings of church!!

 Zhi4 is one of those eternal investigators, but he made progress this week! For me this was a personal miracle. As we sat in McDonald's and taught him, I was more bold and persistent than I ever have been when I invited him to come to church. After the lesson I worried that I was pushing too hard and not really empathizing with him. Later as I thought back on the lesson, I realized that I had been guided by the spirit. In the lesson, I simply KNEW what I needed to say. It was so clear, and it felt so right. In the lesson I had no uncertainty or worry; I knew what he needed to hear and to do. Then I called him Saturday night, and after more talking, he committed to come to church. He did he came to church on Sunday!!!!  Only for the first hour, but he is finally putting forth some baby steps that will allow his faith to grow.

I love you! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Sister Rachel Caroline Edwards

Monday April 7, 2014

Monday April 7, 2014

Dear family,

I'm sorry I didn't get a letter out last time! I actually don't know what took me so long, but I ended up running out of time, and only realized afterward that I didn't tell you I moved! I moved to Hualian, the most beautiful place on the island!  Hulian is along the east coast and there are mountains and ocean. AAHHHHH!!!!! I'm in love with it already. I was really sad to leave Danshui, but it felt right too. My new companion is Sister Steed, who is awesome. She was trained by Sister Taylor, my second companion on the island, and so I heard a lot about her from Sister Taylor; consequently I already loved Sister Steed.  I was pretty excited when they announced that we would be companions.

 I actually am in a leadership position now, Sister Training leader. I think it will be really fun because we go on exchanges with lots of sisters. We have 6 exchanges this transfer (we "watch over" six companionships). This new calling is making me rely on the Lord more than ever, and He never lets me down :) 

 On Saturday we went out with a member for pretty much the whole day. At a light I started talking to a girl on her scooter, and she was willing to pull over. It turns out that she used to be Christian, but now she doesn't know if God exists or not. We ended up having a lesson with her on the street, gave her a Book of Mormon, and she agreed to start meeting with us, as well as pray and ask God if He exists, and read the Book of Mormon. Her name is Chen2.

We knocked on Shi4 Hao2’s door this past week, and ended up giving him a lesson in his doorway.  During the lesson he set a baptismal date. So cool we’ll see what happens!

We tried hard to follow the Spirit this week. One night we rode our bikes into an area parked, and realized that we really needed the Spirit to guide us. We said a prayer and listened very hard for the Spirit's guidance. We went to the doors that we felt guided to, and found two new investigators after knocking on five doors.

We also met a cute girl from China whom we gave a Book of Mormon to.

One of my favorite things: I'm Asian!! I had one person tell me last week that I look like an American, with my blonde hair and green eyes, but that I gave them the feeling of a Chinese person. I just felt like a Chinese person! And then someone else a few days later told me that I feel like a Taiwanese person. In high school my friends always joked that I was Asian at heart . . . it's the truth.

AHHHH!!!!! I just have to explode!!!! Sister Nelson sent me  pictures of Sister Zhao and the Zhang family's baptisms. I CANNOT CONTAIN MY HAPPINESS!!!!! Oh my gosh. Zhang family is an absolute miracle. God wanted that family  badly;  the spirit was so strong when teaching them. I love them and I love Sister Nelson  and Sister Zhao SO much!!

Baptismal pictures of
Sister Zhao and the Zhang family.