I’m sorry for the email delay. We are going to the temple this week, so they changed our preparation day from Monday when the temple is closed to Wednesday. They didn’t tell us in advance so I wasn’t able to warn you. I’m so excited to go to the temple. It feels like it has been a long time.

The Chen family is still doing well. They’ve made some good friends in the ward. There is a Huang family in the ward with a similar situation. The mom is Vietnamese and the dad is Taiwanese and they have four children. Sister Huang has been really proactive in looking out for Sister Chen and has been a good support for her.

We’ve been working with a Filipino couple lately as well. Sister Jovie is loving the lessons and is finding a strength and comfort from the teachings of the Savior. She and Rudolpho have a lot of faith and a desire to do what is right–even when that means change.

The Chinese New Year is fast approaching, landing right on Valentine’s Day this year. The members are feeding us lunch and dinner every day for a week. They say that Taibei empties during this time of year as most people return to visit their families in the south, and by hearing how many of the members are leaving, I believe it. Nevertheless, it’s a great time to meet with those who are actually from Taibei and to find some new families to teach. At the New Year families will be home and will be together.

Enjoy the holiday (whichever one you decide to celebrate on the 14th.)

Love,
Sister Burton

‘m still in Sanchong, but I have a new companion again. Sister Mac Isaac was sent to Xinzhu, so I told her to take care of the people I left there. I keep sending Sister Hawkes, the senior missionary in Xinzhu, my companions. Hen hao wan. My new companion is not who I expected, but I’m really excited. Sister Zheng from Ping Dong is going to be my companion. She returns at the same time I do. It’s going to be a lot of fun to have two older missionaries together.

We’ve seen a lot of great things happen in the area in the last couple of weeks. I’m sorry that last week’s update didn’t make it through. The member relations have been improving in leaps and bounds, and the investigator pool has exploded with people. We’re going to be so joyfully, joyfully busy.

We’ve had more and more investigators at church each week, and we’ve had three members bring friends or relatives to church in the last couple of weeks. We’re excited to be working with a Su Bao Yu, a wonderful bubbly woman in her mid-fifties. She was brought to church by her neighbor and just loves the feeling of church and the message we bring to her. She’s already seen and recognized the answers to her prayers.

We’re also working with a Vietnamese mom and her two children. They love, love, love church. They’re our miracle family. Sister Mac Isaac handed them a tract at a stoplight earlier in the week, and after exchanging just a few words with them, they left. We didn’t think anything of it, but they showed up at church the next week all on their own.

And miracle of miracles, Cynthia came to church. We’ve been trying for as long as I’ve been in Sanchong to get her to church. If she wasn’t so diligent at keeping all of her other commitments, and if she didn’t have such a desire to learn, we probably would have stopped teaching her some time ago, but I just couldn’t do it.

She and her husband go to his parents’s house for the weekend, but they live quite close to our area. She has a hard time getting away for a variety of reasons, mostly centered on her husband’s disapproval of her attending church. Last Sunday, though, her little son woke up early, so she decided to try to come. She asked her husband if she could take their son to church, and he told her no. She said, “I didn’t know what to do, so I said a prayer in my heart, and then he said yes.” She couldn’t believe it, but she went to get ready to go. Her husband said he was going to stay home and wait for his mother to return. Cynthia and little Rui Shen started walking to the bus stop. As soon as they arrived, Cynthia’s husband called her and said that his mom had gotten home and that he was coming. He met them at the bus stop, and they all took a taxi into church.

They missed a lot of the meetings, including all of sacrament meeting, but we were so excited that they came. Cynthia was greeted by a lot of members and they were both befriended. They took their son to nursery and the dad helped him with his art project. They seemed to have a really good time. I was so astounded to see her, and especially to see her husband and son in tow. It was a great day.

We have many other good investigators. It’s going to be a great move call.

I love you.

Bao Jiemei

Wo xin ai de jiaren,

President Monson once said something along the lines of, “I know of nothing sweeter in life than to follow the promptings of the Spirit and then later find out that you were the answer to someone’s prayer or need.”

This week we found just such joy in serving a certain Sister Zhang in our ward. She’s an active member in the Church, and has a daughter on a mission in Taizhong. I know that Heavenly Father is truly mindful of her, as He is of each of us. She’s been facing a lot of intense trials lately. I know her daughter must plead with Heavenly Father on her behalf every day.

She’s very willing to help us and has quite a bit of time to do so. We called on her often for a while, but every time we invited her to accompany us at a lesson, the investigator failed to come. We invited her to come to meet with our most reliable investigators–ones who had never failed to come in the past, but they didn’t show up either. Each time this happened, we would sit down and share a brief message with her, and each time she’d share a little more of her feelings and her challenges with us. We finally realized that Heavenly Father was trying to tell us something–this member needed us more urgently on each of those occasions than the investigators did. The investigators could reschedule so that we could help to comfort and strengthen Sister Zhang.

We hadn’t seen her in a little while, so last week we went to see if she was home. I wasn’t actually sure that it was the Holy Ghost, but I felt worried about her. No one answered, so I wrote a quick note and left it on her mailbox. Yesterday, we felt again like it might be a good idea to visit her. We were close to her house and had a little time left that evening. We changed our plans and went. She let us in and looked so happy to have us there.

She kept asking us how we would have thought of her on that day that we left a note. She told us with some emotion of how upset and discouraged and low she had been feeling that day. She said that we wrote exactly what she needed. Through our card, she felt the love of God and knew He had heard her prayers. I don’t even remember what I wrote. I wrote it pretty fast and tacked one of my favorite scriptures on at the end. Heavenly Father knew what she needed, and knew how to get it through my pen onto that tiny page. She told us that because of that small, simple act, she knew that Heavenly Father had been hearing and answering her prayers all along–that she had just been too upset to hear Him some of the time.

I was astonished to hear her testimony and gratitude. I hadn’t thought twice about what we had done. I had hoped that the note would help her to know we had thought of her–jiu zheme danchun. I hadn’t thought much past that. But Heavenly Father did. I loved hearing Sister Parkin teach us to “never supress a generous thought” when she came to BYU a few years ago. So many times we get a gentle nudge from the Spirit, or a simple idea enters our minds. We don’t think too much about where it comes from, but if we follow it, we find that miracles happen. I’ve seen it over and over and over again. Don’t doubt the impression–just give it a try. After all, what could it hurt? It could just be the thing that makes the difference someone needs.

Li Jia Guang was baptized amidst much rejoicing. It was one of the best baptisms I’ve attended. The presence of the Holy Ghost was felt by all in attendance.

I love you all

Li Jia Guang is getting baptized on Saturday! He’s so excited, and so are we. We prayed so hard for him and for his mom. I look at his face and see the future of the Church in this part of the world. He’s a pure-hearted, courageous little boy. We met with them last Thursday, and Sister Li was still too scared to say yes. She said she still hadn’t gotten a clear answer when she prayed about it. She did admit that there was an answer in her heart, but she said she had a lot of different thoughts about it and wasn’t sure. When we asked Jia Guang how he felt when he prayed about it, he said, “I had the feeling that Heavenly Father would allow me to be baptized soon.” We talked to them both and helped his mom to see the promised blessings in D&C 31:1-3 and helped her discern her feelings and focus on the answer she had received. She went home and continued to pray about it. Saturday night she still wasn’t 100%. When we got off the phone with her, we knew she was going to be praying and talking to her son, so we started praying, too. When we talked to her Sunday morning, she gave us the go-ahead with confidence. Jia Guang came out of his baptismal interview with the biggest grin on his face. He’s ready, and he’s excited. He’s going to bless the lives of his family and many others. Missionary work is beautiful.

You Mei Han has reset her baptismal goal for February  and in the mean time is still working to get permission to be baptized from her dad. We taught her about fasting and she was excited to try it. We’re fasting with her today, and the elders volunteered to join us as well. She’s going to make it.

I can’t believe it’s preparation day again! Time goes and goes and goes. We’re so occupied with the work, that it seems preparation day comes as a surprise every time. One of these days I might forget about it altogether.

We have been really excited to see Lin Jia Jing turn over a new leaf and start wearing a skirt to church after her baptism. You Mei Han loves the gospel and wants so much to be baptized. Her father told her that was wonderful if that was what she wanted, and that he’d support her in that decision, but she needed to wait until she turned 18.

We’re trying to help Li Jia Guang, the ten year-old son of a new member get ready for baptism. He loves the feeling of coming to church. He knows all the the Book of Mormon stories and the Old Testament as well better than any primary child I know. (He hasn’t gotten to the New Testament yet–we’ll have to get him a copy of that one.) We used the gospel art book in our last lesson to review about prophets and the Restoration with him, and we were amazed. With every new picture we turned to, he’d rattle off the story with detailed accuracy. He really wants to be baptized so that he can be on the “right path” back to Heavenly Father. He prays and reads the scriptures every day. He is such a good little boy. It would be so good for his mom to have another member in the family, and especially a priesthood holder in a couple of years. He’s ready for it, too.

We’ve been involved in a lot of ward activities lately. We’re also developing relations with the ward, as evidenced by all the meals we’ve been fed lately. It’s been great working with Sister Mac Isaac. Her conversion story is not so different from many of the stories of the Taiwanese members and investigators. They are surprised to find someone who can understand them so well. Her testimony comes from deep within and always brings the Spirit in a remarkable way.

It’s wonderful how Heavenly Father prepares us to be able to help each other that we may all be one in the body of Christ, as Paul says. He truly does prepare us to help those in our path through our unique set of qualities and experiences, and for others to help us the same way. The most wonderful feeling in the world must be the feeling of knowing that you are on the Lord’s errand–to be able to see how you are the answer to a person’s prayer or need or wish. To see that they need you and that Heavenly Father saw fit to send you is a blessed gift.

We are not meant to walk through this world alone, but to learn to love and to give of ourselves as well as to learn how to depend on others. I really believe that learning how to lean on those that Heavenly Father sends to help us is an important part of our journey here. It’s all part of His plan for us that we should love and be love, help and be helped, and learn to recognize that all of these things are gifts from Him, for He loves us most of all.

I love you,

Sister Bao

It was wonderful to hear everyone’s voices on Christmas morning. I’m glad everyone was able to be there. I think I got to hear everyone’s voices, even Mack’s and Joel’s. I was glad to hear from Grandma and Grandpa, too. Thank you for your love and support, as well as your desire to understand my experiences and share in them with me. I must have the best family in the whole world.

I was able to meet Professor Lynette Zhou today. It was quite the experience. We were treated to a fancy eight course meal with Chinese cuisine from various regions. It included bitter melon, shark fins, pork ribs, dumplings, coconut milk, and other delights. She and her family are very kind, and we look forward to the chance to sharing more with them about the gospel that means so much to me. There were a couple of students from New York there as well, who were very interested in what we are doing. I was happy to answer their questions, but had to concentrate really hard to do it in English. Hen nan, hen nan.

We are working with a fourteen year-old girl who loves the gospel. She wants so much to be baptized. She lives the life of a busy Taiwanese student, but makes time to meet with us and to attend church every week. We are preparing her for baptism and working on completing the lessons with her. She is seeking permission from her father to be baptized. She has a lot of faith in prayer, and I have faith that she’ll be able to obtain permission, but a few extra prayers for You Mei Han wouldn’t hurt.

I love teaching her because anytime we talk about the gospel, her eyes light up. I think we could turn the lights off and still see to read the Book of Mormon by the light that is in her eyes. When we ask her how this principle or that commandment has helped her, she bears a sweet and powerful testimony. Her younger siblings have noticed a huge change in her. I wonder how many fourteen year-olds who are born into the Church or how many of the rest of us feel as much gratitude for the gospel or seek to learn its truths with as much humility.

We have some other wonderful investigators of varying ages who really are “honest seekers of truth.” They are each facing different kinds of life challenges, but each one can be blessed by the gospel. As they exercise the faith to put the gospel to the test–to “experiment upon the word”–the change becomes clear. Miracles happen every day. Each one can qualify for miracles.

Xu Yan Ru is facing divorce and abandonment by her husband. She has been struggling to know what to do and has been struggling to find work. She went home and sincerely prayed, expressing her feelings and her challenges. Next thing we knew, she was calling us to tell us that she found an accounting position and would need to change her meeting time.

Heavenly Father’s hand is in all of our lives. His love is ever present. Sometimes, we just need to ask.

I love you. May the joy of the season refill and renew your hearts.

Love,
Sister Burton

Yesterday we met with Xu Yan Ru for the second time. She came to English class a couple of weeks ago. She is married and has two children. Both her family and her husbands family are strong Buddhists. She has had very little contact with Christianity, but she agreed to meet with us. The first time she met with us she told us that she came because she thought it would be good to understand another culture better. She told us that her family said it was okay for her to understand a little, but not to get to deeply involved. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray. She was willing to read the Book of Mormon, but hesitated to commit to pray because she thought it would be bad manners to Heavenly Father to pray to him and worship other gods at the same time. She finally agreed to pray, though.

Yesterday was completely different. I felt strongly that we really needed to teach her about the Savior and His role in our lives. Then when she sat down with us, she immediately began to tell us about some major trials she is experiencing in her life. She looked at us with eyes that ached for peace and for direction, hoping against hope that we could tell her what to do. She kept saying, “I don’t know what to do.” She told us that her friends and family all told her that even if God or the gods of Buddhism wanted to help, there wasn’t anything He or they could do because she was in such a tight spot. They told her there was no way out. We testified of the power of prayer and the Atonement. We promised that there is a way out and that Heavenly Father truly does know and love her and that He can and will bless and help her. We asked her to find a time that day to kneel down and pour out all of her feelings to Him in prayer. She said, “If I cry while I pray, will He still listen? Will He understand?” We promised He would. We promised that no matter how her words came out, He would hear her. And He would answer.

She left with a little more hope in her eyes. She wants so much to believe that the things we taught her are true and will help her. I know they will. I don’t know what she should do. I don’t know how Heavenly Father will help her, but I do know that He will help her. He loves her and will let her feel that love. He will give her direction, strength, comfort, and assistance. He will not leave her alone. He will heal her heart.

I am so grateful for the individual love and watchcare of our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the atoning sacrifice of the Savior. I am grateful for scriptures and living prophets to testify of these things. I am grateful for personal prayer and the strength that we each can receive as we seek for aid. I am grateful for the infinite well of love and mercy by which each of us are succoured. I testify that Heavenly Father’s love is real. I know it. His love is beyond our ability to comprehend or to feel, but it is real and it is individual. Because of His love, we can “hope for a better world” and because of the Savior, Jesus Christ, we can realize that hope.

Heavenly Father is watching over you. I can feel that from all the way across the ocean. I wish everyone, the whole world over could know of these things. That is why I am here–to tell them. You and I who know must never forget. I love you. You are in my prayers.

Love,

Sister Burton

Hello,

Yesterday we had a zone meeting and we did role plays as a part of it. We were divided up and expected to practice teaching in companionship pairs. The only trouble was that they wanted us to do it in English for a change. It was so hard! I was trying to ask a question, and I knew what I wanted to say, but I got stuck and couldn’t think of the English word I wanted. My English is getting worse and worse.

That’s okay, because thankfully I can usually use Chinese if I get stuck in English and the people I teach are Chinese speakers anyway. Sweet little You Mei Han had a great lesson with us a couple of days ago. She’s only 15, but she just soaks up the gospel. Whenever we or the member present at the lesson said anything, she listened in perfect rapture. She’s shy and quiet, but like many shy people, speaks directly from her heart when she speaks. When we saw her off, Sister Beus said, “We pray for you every day.” She smiled sweetly and said, “I pray for you, too.” It was the sweetest thing to hear.

When Lin Wen Yao was baptized, we had a terrible time getting the water to work. We had members trying to figure it out, but even they couldn’t understand the instructions. This font is extremely complicated, let me tell you! Finally Su Fuzhujiao came to fix it, but by then they couldn’t get the water hot enough. It was 21 degrees. We didn’t know how cold it was until afterwards. We felt so sorry for poor Wen Yao and her father, who baptized her. We apologized, and do you know what she said? She said, “That’s okay. That’s okay. When Jesus got baptized, he didn’t have hot water either.” She bore the most beautiful testimony at her baptism. She’s so prepared, and such a joy to work with.

Missionary work is indeed the most remarkable, most joyous, most rewarding, and most urgent work there is. I love it all!

Have a wonderful week.

Love,
Sister Burton

On Saturday we met with Liao Gui Yin for the second time. She is the daughter of a new member in Taizhong. She’s about 30 years old and expecting her first child. We weren’t sure where she was with everything after our first lesson, but went back to visit with her again. She had her copy of the Book of Mormon opened on the table when we arrived. We followed up on her reading and found that she had done a great deal more study than we had anticipated. We were pleasantly surprised.

She summarized the first seven chapters of the Book of Mormon for us perfectly. She knew all the names of the people and places and what kind of people each of them were. She loved 1 Nephi 3:7. She talked about how Nephi, Sam, and their grumbling older brothers had gone back to get the plates. She knew how they tried twice with no success, but when Nephi went back things went smoothly because he had firm faith and trusted in the Lord.

She said she had a couple of questions about chapter 8. She then proceeded to summarize the events and selected a couple of verses to read to us and then explained what she understood and asked if she was right. She was. She had a couple of other questions in chapter 15 about whether the gentiles were righteous or wicked. She kept apologizing for not having read enough and said that she had only really gotten through 1 Nephi 8, but that she had read through a little past that. It was clear from talking to her that she had thoroughly studied the first eight chapters, but had read through at least the first fifteen. We felt fine about that.

She really understood what she was reading and knew how to apply it to herself. We need to be like Nephi, she said. You see, it was easy for Lehi to have faith because he was the one who saw everything–had visions, was shown books, etc. But Nephi was different. He listened to his father and exercised faith. Then, he prayed and he was shown a lot of things, too. (See chapter 11).

My favorite was when she told us, “Some people might read this book and see it as a history or a story, but you have to apply it to your own life and use the things you learn.” That is music to a missionary’s ears. We’re really excited about working with her. Sanchong is doing well right now.

And now for the bonus Chinese word: shuimu. It means “jellyfish” but translates literally as “water mom.” We learned that one during English class the other day and had a great laugh over that.

Being a missionary is so much fun. We’re so happy all the time. I can’t stop smiling. You should try it, too.

I love you!

Sister Burton

The Taiwanese are remarkably adept at guessing a person’s country of origin, including those of European descent. Last week, though, I got one that I had never heard before. We were at the church waiting for a lesson when the institute class was about to start. Brother Xu walked in with his nine year old daughter. She hung out the in doorway staring at me for a minute, and then burst out with “I’ve never seen this kind of person!” I greeted her and started talking to her. I told her I was American, but she wouldn’t believe me. “You don’t look like an American! Americans all have dark hair. You look like…you look like an alien!” By this point she had gotten braver and I beckoned her over. I showed her the family picture and told her, “See? Only my brother and I look like this. Everyone else looks normal.” She agreed that that was true. The elders walked in the door. I told her they were Americans, too. She said, “Yeah, they LOOK American!”

Sunday we had some really good news. Our so-called “eternal” investigator Lin Jia Jing set a baptismal date for December. She is more active than most members. She’s been concerned about hurting her relationship with her mom, but her mom just said, “You’re an adult; you can be responisible for your own decisions. Do what you want.” Then her mom went on to stick up for her to her brother. We’re really excited for her. We have some other great investigators who will be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks as well. I’m so thoroughly convinced that there are people everywhere who are prepared to listen to and accept the gospel. Some of them just need to be asked.

We found one of them on the street the other day. She is a mother of three (that’s a lot for here) and works at a hospital. I pulled up next to her at a light and introduced myself as a missionary. I saw the light turn green, so I invited her to pull over. She just nodded and pulled over on the other side of the light. Our conversation before she pulled over really was about like this: “Hello! I’m Sister Burton. I’m a missionary (I notice the light)…can you pull over up ahead?” She came and met with us yesterday. She’s fantastic. She listened eagerly to everything we had to share with her and was enchanted with the way the elders made friends with her 10 year old son after the lesson. She is excited to keep the commitments we gave her. She’s great.

Love you!