Hey!

Hello family and Friends!

 

Hello from Dali! Life is... going here in Dali. Unfortnately though we are not seeing as much progress as we wish we were. I still feel like I am doing lots of missionary things but not seeing the results. I hope the problem is not that is not that the links on my "missionary train" are not connected but rather this is just what the Lord has "set up" for me right now. I am not so sure though. We're getting a pretty good number of lessons each week, but it's not really showing with investigators coming to church and setting baptismal goals. So we are teaching lessons, but something is going wrong in that those we are teaching aren't showing real progress. Sister Liston and I have been discussing this and we think part of the problem is that we haven't done a very good job of helping our investigators and new members understand what real repentance is. This week as part of the First 12 Weeks (the new in-field training program we use) we studied the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we did so I came to better understand how essential daily repentance is in all that we do- not just we as missionaries, but we as sons and daughters of God. We hope that as we focus more on helping those we teach truly repent we will begin to see real progress here in this area. I can feel in my heart that there are so many prepared souls around us each day. We just need to find and help them.

 

Yesterday we had a cool experience while visiting an investigator. This particular investigator likes to talk a lot and makes it hard for us to get solid doctrine in during our visits. But yesterday she said, "Sister Liston, you don't talk very much. I want to hear you speak Chinese." That opened a perfect opportunity for Sister Liston to bear a beautiful testimony about the Plan of Salvation and our Savior Jesus Christ. And the investigator listened intently the whole time. The investigator wanting to hear Sister Liston speak was a small, almost unnoticeable miracle. We have been wanting to really be able to share the Plan of Salvation but haven't been able to get her to listen much. But I know that yesterday she was touched by the simple, yet strong testimony my companion gave. It was awesome.

 

All in all I love this area and everything about it. And I love being a missionary for Jesus Christ. There really is no cooler thing than telling everyone about our Savior. There is a lot a still don't understand, but there also is a lot I do know. I know that families really can live together forever. But we don't have to wait till we die to experience "heaven". That can be created right now, in our homes on earth. Where ever we live we can have more happiness than we thought possible. If you're not sure how, ask your local missionaries or your friends LDS neighbor. I know they'll all be more than happy to help you better understand.

 

I love you all! Continue in the faith!

 

Sister Amy Reece