The story of Hong Dixiong.
This is a story that is very near and dear to my heart, and has been a long time in the making.
Our second week in Yuanlin, we started working with a part-member family. The wife is a member and they have two adorable little kids. When we first started meeting, their dad (Brother Hong, also known as Hong Dixiong) just didn't seem interested and we were kind of nervous around him cuz he didn't seem to really like us. But then he started asking us questions about God and we realized he was actually curious. We spent something close to two hours planning his lessons because we were just so nervous.
But over time, he started to change. We invited him to read one verse of the Book of Mormon every day. He did. And every time we met with him after that, he was happier. His relationship with his wife was better. He laughed! He became a person rather than just a name with a face. This man who we were scared of has become someone who we love so much. We love the Hong family and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to know them. Finally we invited Hong Dixiong to be baptized and he said yes! We set a date for February 18th.
But things have just not really worked out. We haven't had much time to teach him all of the lessons and he's not entirely sure of his personal testimony yet. So we're postponing the baptism so that he and his wife can focus on their brand new baby, who will be born we think on February 19th!!! We are so excited for them.
We have seen God's love working in the life of this man. He has become a whole new person and it's amazing. We won't see him be baptized, but we have seen how God's light has touched and changed his life. And for me, that's enough. (Plus, his wife is super awesome. We know she'll get him baptized sometime soon :)
In other news, this transfer is going to be 5 weeks instead of 6. When Sister Reeve and I heard the news, I kinda broke down and cried...a lot. I'm not ready to leave her or be done with training. I had a week of training stolen from me and that was hard. But I have to have faith that the Lord knows where I need to go.
In other other news, this week we met with Kelvin, who is Taiwanese but speaks amazing English!!! We were able to teach him the Joseph Smith story in English which was so weird but I loved it. He is looking for a church that he likes and we let him know that through prayer he can absolutely know that this one is true! He's been reading the Book of Mormon and it's so awesome!!!
We had a very strange lesson this week...a member invited us over to her house to meet her nonmember husband, who just quit smoking and drinking and she said he was ready to be baptized. But we show up and he's bustling around the room in his long john underwear...and he only speaks Taiwanese. He gave us hot pumpkin juice (it tasted nothing close to Harry Potter's), then went back into the kitchen to get lemon tea. When he came back and saw I hadn't drank all the pumpkin juice yet he yelled "YOU HAVEN'T DRUNK IT ALL?" He also gave us vinegar lemon (which tastes EXACTLY how it sounds). So in between the very sour faces we were making Sister Reeve and I worked up the courage to say..."Mmm...hao chi..." He also had no interest in gospel so we won't be meeting with him anytime soon. XD
And to end this letter on a very strange note, this week an old man pulled us over to the side of the road to ask if we were American and then told me I looked like I was related to Trump. Great. We are not immune to American politics over here, apparently.
As you can see things are going pretty darn great here in Yuanlin :) I never want to leave. Pray that I'll survive transfers!
Also, the BIGGEST miracle of this week is that my wonderful friend Holly Lesser is COMING TO TAICHUNG WITH ME!!!!! I thought such a thing was too good to be true, but God really has a perfect plan. He sure loves us a whole lot. I AM SO HAPPY.
Much love!
Sister Daynes
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