Qin was baptized! It was such a tender baptism. She is a timid person
with such a soft little voice. She was so nervous for her baptism!
Unfortunately Sis. Howard and I didn't do as good of a job as we
should explaining the mechanics of baptism and she had to twice. The
first time her feet floated up and poked out of the water. The poor
youth that was helping her get baptized didn't know what was going on
either as it was his first time baptizing someone. But in the end
Zhang Shu Qin was able to make a covenant with the Lord on Saturday
night and then on Sunday be confirmed a member of the Church and
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Yay! Sis. Howard and I were really
lucky to have our first baptism together be someone that we worked
with from the very beginning. Most missionaries first baptisms are
someone that their trainer and their previous companion were teaching.
So we may have gone one whole move-call without a baptism, but our
first one this move-call was awesome! We don't have anymore solid
baptisms set up for the next couple of weeks, but we have not given up
on our goal of 25 before Sis. Howard goes home.
It was kinda weird reading all of your letters about General
Conference already because we don't have it for another week.
Sometimes I forget that I am half the world away from you. It just
seems like it is 5 o'clock on Monday everywhere when actually you are
all sound asleep. But what is time really? :D
This week was a great learning week for me! It was hard, but good. It
is really interesting having to teach in a completely foreign language
because it requires so much faith, not only in Jesus Christ, but in
myself. And unfortunately I lack that faith in myself during a lessons
a lot and then am not able to teach very well. I learned this week the
importance of believing that I can speak Chinese and in believe that
my testimony and what I have to say is worth being heard. I am nowhere
near the kind of teacher that I would like to be and sometimes I find
myself dwelling on that instead of working hard to become that
teacher. The last couple of days I have been working extra hard to
focus in lessons on the investigator and not on me. I know, that seems
like such an easy thing, but it is much easier said than done.
While I have been trying to focus on improving my Chinese and teaching
skills, Sis. Howard and I have had some really interesting lessons
that have helped me really be able to focus on my teaching. We have
recently started teaching a mom and a daughter, and then a Philipino
lady and they all need/want the lessons in English. I have been
focusing so hard on learning how to teach the lessons using Chinese
that it is really interesting trying to do it in English. But these
lessons are really helping Sis. Howard and I become more unified in
our teaching as we do not have the barrier of the language between us.
I love how the Lord truly does give us experiences that we need to
truly test ourselves. The Lord knows each of our weaknesses and He
knows what we need to experience to be strengthened. I love being a
missionary! I am so grateful that I can be right here, right now,
serving my Lord and Savior. I know that when we trust in Him we can do
all things, whether it be finish 8th grade, finish High School, finish
College, or just finish each day.
I love you all and am so grateful for you in my life. I am more and
more grateful each day that I can call you my friends and my family.
Thank you!
Wo zhende ai nimen! (I really love you!)
Yuan Jiemei (Sister Reece)
(p.s. Chinese does not sound as cool written in Roman characters,
especially without the tones. But there it is! :D)
p.p.s. I have attached a couple different pictures for your viewing
pleasure. If I remember correctly (and clicked the right ones) There
are a couple pictures of our adventure at the Chinese "buffet" last
week. Yes, that is a teeny octopus Sis. Page is eating. There should
also be a pic of me in front of really pretty Chinese temple, one of
Sis. Howard and I with Zhang Shu Qin (yes, she does smile somtimes)
and a funny sign that was in a shopping cart. I love reading things
with awful english! Love you!
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