having faith in god’s plan for his children - October 7

Dajia Wu'An!!! My heart is so full :) We haven't had a chance to watch conference yet (4.5 more days!!!) but of course we heard the very exciting news about the change in policy for missionaries going out (boys at 18 and girls at 19). I totally freaked out when the senior missionaries in our ward told us on Sunday. I remember 3 years ago when I received an answer to my prayers and had the strong spiritual impression that I needed to serve a mission and how I longed for the leaders of the Church to lower the age that girls could go from 21 down to 19. Looking back I am grateful for the experiences I had in the span of those 3 years. I wasn't quite ready to go then...honestly I wasn't as prepared as I could have been to leave at 21, either, but I had some self-confidence obstacles to overcome. There were people I needed to meet to build my faith. There were so many experiences I needed to have. One of the Elders jokingly said to me on Sunday "Just think Sister Mack, you would've been home by now if you could've gone on a mission when you were 19." I'm going to be honest, that comment would have been a little too tempting to ponder a few weeks ago when I still couldn't figure out which way was up (I'm still not completely sure...it's the part with the tops of buildings piercing the billowing clouds, right? Hmmm....I also don't usually know which way is north haha but it's ok!) I felt so insecure. I could feel the darkness closing in around me as the adversary tried to weasle his way into my heart and make me think that the task at hand was too big for me to ever take on. But I have sought diligently to press forward. God has blessed me and upheld me. He has answered my prayers and helped me to recognize the answers to my prayers.
So when that Elder said that to me on Sunday, it hardly fazed me. I even thought how sad I would be that my mission was over. Each day I'm so grateful to still be at the beginning though the time is flying by..in November I will hit my six month mark....!!! I've never been away from home for so long! But anyways, it just was a reaffirming experience for me that I am where I need to be WHEN I needed to be. It was terrible for me to think that if I had gone on my mission two years ago, I would not have met the incredible people I have known and loved here in my first area. I'm so thankful for the Lord's timing and that He knows the big picture...because that makes one of us. We know some major parts of the big picture, but we don't always need to know all the little details. We just need to trust God and be willing and prepared to follow Him in faith. He will guide us in His great orchestra--our lives are each a movement. Ok now I don't even know what I'm talking about. Let us move on...
Here are numbers 7-10 of my Top 10 for Taiwan (2nd move call edition :) ) 7. Me and my companion always go to the same bike shop to fill our tires, get lights, etc. It's
where I got my helmet upon first arriving AND where I got the piece to raise my handle bars (they were way too low. I didn't realize that I was completely hunching over like a 200-year-old woman/turtle. But it has helped my bike to have a whole new attitude--much more confidence AND the circulation in my right hand doesn't get cut off so much making my fingers fat and numb! I hope you all enjoy the dumb things I do all the time...they make me laugh and also slightly concerned). The people who work at the bike shop are so sweet to us. We've had to go there a lot recently because my companion was having some light problems. Whenever we go, the owner and his son quietly check our tires for air pressure and the oil on our chains while the owner's wife chatters away. We have come to greatly savor the small kindnesses and goodness of people in our daily lives. What is it with bike shop people that make them so down to earth and easy to get along with? No matter where you go, whether it's a small town by a lake in Austria or a tiny shop tucked inside a busy street in the south of Taiwan, the bike people are good to you!!!!
8. Ukulele club. Our ward has a ukulele club. It's all girls. The women will jam their ukuleles into their church bags every Sunday. It's so hilarious and cute to see them get so excited about it. Sometimes we try to get a member to join us in teaching an investigator after church and they're like "I can't! We have ukulele practice!!!!" duh. There's an older lady in our ward, she's probably about 70, and she is crazy about this ukulele class. She literally runs out of Relief Society the second we say the word "amen" for the closing prayer so she doesn't miss a single second. :)
9. We have become regulars at the roll stand on the side of the road near our church. They have one red bean roll and one taro roll ready and waiting in a bag before I even get off my bike. They always smile and laugh and make some kind of comment or ask us really random questions.
10. Zhou JieMei. Ohhhh ZHOU jiemei!!!! She is miraculous indeed. She is an investigator we have been teaching for a few weeks and is preparing to get baptized on October 20th! I am so excited for her. One day the Elders spent 2 hours contacting people in the street and Zhou JieMei chased them down in her car because she knew who they were and she wanted to go to church!! We started meeting with her and she told us about how as a young girl she was baptized in another Christian church but didn't really stay active because her parents so strongly objected. She continued to develop her relationship with God, though, and felt that He lived in her heart and gave her strength through the really sad and difficult challenges she faced in her life. She always wanted to find the right church, but never felt like the ones she visited were really right for her. Needless to say, she has been very clearly prepared by God to receive the message of the restored gospel. Everything just makes sense to her. I am confident it is because she trusts God so much and is exceptionally in tune with the Spirit. My companion and I feel like we are hardly teaching her. She loves the Book of Mormon and is thrilled when she recognizes the similarities between it and the Bible. Today she took us out to lunch and to this national park in our city. I
love being around her. She is very motherly and just has a way of making my heart feel at rest when we've had a hard day or a long week. She is so warm and so loving. She is always so happy to see us and learn with us. She gives us the best hugs ever and she always holds my hand when we walk out of the church at the end of our lessons. I feel like I can't fully explain it but she really is a bright beam of light in our lives. Yesterday in church she came early. I went to sit by her before sacrament meeting started, and she was praying. I'm so grateful for her preparedness, for the little things she does that help me to feel sure that she is converted to God and devoted to following Him. This gospel is going to bless and enrich her life so much. It's so thrilling for me to witness!!!
Ok one tender mercy and then I want to share something I thought about in my personal study time this week. Jiang JieMei (our recent convert who got baptized in September) introduced herself to Zhou JieMei on Sunday and threw her arms around her. Then she asked Zhou JieMei when her baptism was and wrote it in her planner! It was so cute and just filled my heart with joy because Jiang JieMei is continuing to progress and grow in the gospel. She really is a different person since her baptism, so full of light and she is just...happy all the time. She's so happy to be a part of the ward in our area and is excited to share what she believes with everyone around her. I love these women. Growing in faith and coming unto Christ with them have been some of the most enriching and spiritually uplifting experiences of my ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!! I was reading the end of Alma/starting Helaman in personal study this week and it tied in really well to some teaching experiences I had. My companion and I have been talking a lot lately about the commitments and invitations we extend to people on a daily basis, "Will you come to church?" "Will you pull over to the side of the road so we can share this message with you?" "Will you completely keep the Word of Wisdom including quitting smoking so that you can prepare to be baptized?" and we talk a lot about how it's hard sometimes to not get mad when people are stubborn or use their agency to reject you. I feel like a lot of similar ideas are presented in Helaman chapters 7-10. In Helaman 7:24, Nephi cries out to the people saying "(the Lamanites) are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye have received." I love the concept of being true to what you know. Ok and then in Helaman 8:24 Nephi goes on to say "ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth as a witness that (the testimonies of God's prophets) are true." I feel like God gives us so many opportunities to find and embrace the fullness of truth, but even when we have all these witnesses or we received the undeniable witness that it was true once (or many many times), people can still choose not to receive and retain these things in their hearts and minds, and are slow to remember God, even to "(forget our) God in the very day he has delivered [us]" (Helaman 7:20). People are free to choose to "look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit" that they "might live, even unto that life which is eternal" (Helaman 8:15). It's so astonishing to me that people who have truly tasted and known the fullness of the gospel could choose to reject it...why would you choose anything less than the glorious and eternal blessings from an Almighty God? On the other hand I think about my own unsteadiness and how we are all "prone to wander" and "leave the God we love" because the adversary tries to keep us from overcoming the natural man inside us.
On the other hand we have extremely great examples of men and women of Christ like Nephi who choose every day to come unto Christ even when it is hard (maybe even especially then). I love the words God speaks to Nephi in Helaman 10. In verses 2 and 3 it says Nephi was "pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him" when he heard the voice of God. I think that action of pondering is part of how Nephi chose God in every facet of his life. When he had spiritual experiences, he treasured them up and took time to ponder them. I think this showed God he recognized the sacredness and value of those experiences and prepared him to receive further light from God. We meet with less active members all the time who aren't ready or aren't willing to change. It makes me sad because I know they knew once that this was true but now they just can't muster courage unto faith. It's so important for us to remember the Lord and to remember God's hand in our lives because on our own we just can't overcome that "natural man" which would keep us from being true to the experiences God has given us. Interesting things to think about. I have 96 seconds left on the timer! Yikes!!! I love you all. Be strong and courageous. Be true to what you know. Treasure up the sacred experiences of your life and choose to remember God :)
Love love love Sister Coco Mack
PS When I use names for people, those are not their real names. Just trying to protect their privacy.