Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Grace of God, June 3, 2012

Dearest Family,

Hello there!! This week has been pretty amazing! We have seen a lot of miracles--and I really do believe it came from striving to actually discern the needs of others, along with the grace of God. He is so merciful to us, His Children. I have really had that hit home this past week. While I was studying in Helaman I found so many gems!!! I really liked Helaman 3:27-30--it is kind of what started me thinking about the grace of God. He is so willing to help us--He has already prepared the way!!!! I just need to make sure I keep myself and those around me on that path. And that can only be done through charity--by really loving God and all of His children.

One of the huge miracles from this week is that we were able to hit our finding goal! It still isn't up to what it should be, but we usually don't even get close to hitting it! So we were really excited---especially since we found some AMAZING people. The Lord is blessing us with formers, part-member families (found through doing less active work for the the Bishopric), member referrals and from the street. It feels like we were really supported by our ward and it is such a blessing. We love our wards sooo much!!!!! The Tainan Second ward Elders did an amazing job with the ward activity we had this last week--we had a little skit and I was the investigator. I ignore them a billion times until my friend refers me--we were trying to encourage member involvement. It was hilarious and in the end they put a baptismal picture up on a power point...me in a baptismal suit...it was soo funny. I was still wearing my dress under my jumper and it was hilarious because when we were taking the picture our ward mission leader walked in...it must have been pretty funny to see Elders taking a picture of me in a baptismal jumper...lol. ANYWAYS, I see really good things coming from this. But no matter what we do, it always comes back to the grace of God. Last night He wrought mighty miracles for us! We were getting ready to visit one our less actives when our phone rang. A lady had a member friend from Yongkang that told her to call us if she was looking for more peace. So she did! And then we met up fifteen minutes later. She agreed to baptism and we all felt the Spirit so much in her first visit.

Then, as we were heading over to our original appointment, we passed by another Less Actives' work place. She hasn't been answering our calls, and didn't express much interest in meeting, but her really active sister has been working with us to find a way to bring her back. So when we drove past her work (which was because I took a different way for some "random" reason) we saw her outside and decided to say hi. Surprisingly she invited us in (it was after hours, so no one else was there) and we had pretty awesome visit! She was so sweet to us and because her sister had given the lesson in R.S. I had learned they didn't work in the morning anymore. So I asked if we could have lunch together (we are going to make the Chinese chicken salad--everyone just LOVES IT!)--and she said yes!!! Her sister will be there too--and the appointment is tomorrow!!!!!!! Huge miracle!

I just love being with Sister Thomas--she is exactly who I need right now. I am so proud of her righteous desires and know she will keep working miracles and doing her best to become the best missionary she can be. Today is her birthday and we are going to go to the beach as a zone to celebrate! Wooohoo. Since we will be playing Frisbee (we played last week too) we get to wear casual clothes...we are wearing our hippie pants!!! You will see pictures for sure.

I was also ALMOST a movie star....but then the it didn't receive approval---and I didn't really want to do it. But some Tainan movie people wanted me to do this short film for a competition...it was sooo weird! Anyway, I will have to tell you about that later. Time to get going!

Love you all sooooooooooo much,

---Sister Brooke Smith

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