A Miracle...A Baptism on Christmas Day, December 19, 2010

Christmas Day Phone Call Home
You are authorized to talk to your family on Christmas Day. You have two options for this phone call. You can arrange to talk to your family on the evening of December 25th or the morning of December 26th. (Taiwan time) *Calling on December 25th will be Christmas morning in the States. *Calling on December 26th will be Christmas Day evening in the States. Your phone call should not exceed 60 minutes (if your parents are divorced, then you may make two 40 minute calls, one to each parent) You and your family are responsible for the cost of the phone call; therefore please budget and be sensitive regarding the financial burden on your family. Please make sure your call home is uplifting to your family – this is a great time to let them know how much you love them and appreciate their support. Let them know how much your testimony has grown on your mission.Plan now how and when you will call your family, or receive their call. Coordinate with your companion, and then email your family giving them a couple of options for the best times to talk. Have your family call your apartment landline, do not use cell phones! If your family does not have an international call plan, the cheapest way to call is by using a phone card. (If you are calling with a calling card you will need to know the country area codes) USA 002+1+ # Thailand 002+66+# New Zealand 002+64+# UK 002+44+# Philipin’s 002+63+# Likewise, if you call your family, the cheapest option is a phone card. You can buy an international calling card at convenient stores (7/11) which can then be used from your apartment phone. This is the information that I failed to give about the Christmas phone call. Hello Wo Ai de Jiating! (My Loving Family), What an joyous occasion it was to receive your beautiful gifts. I didn't receive until the 17th, but it was a good day that they came (it came late since the Mission Home didn't pay to ship my package and we were not at our apartment at the time to pay the fee so I had to give our guard the money before they would drop off the package). Nevertheless, it was the perfect day they came because of the horrible day I had on Thursday. My birthday was great other than the fact that I couldn't celebrate with the people that I love the most. We celebrated my birthday by eating at "Pizza Hut" with one of our great investigators named Sister Lin (English name is Miranda). It was really thoughtful of them (especially since they wouldn't let me pay). This pizza was pretty good, but I rather have other things here in Taiwan that are healthy (and their pizza here is a bit different since they have seafood on everything and it was very greesy. I think they may have just poured oil on it :), but most things here are really oily). Later, my companion gave me a box of chocolates and Sister Xu (who we baptized a couple of weeks ago) suprised at English class with some chocolate and a cute puzzle card. I don't even remember telling her about my birthday, but somehow she knew. It was very sweet of her. (Luckily, I ended up secretly giving away most of my chocolate since I am trying to eat more healthy). In addition, my English class were really nice and remembered my birthday as well. Since Christmas is around the corner, we watched "Joy to the World" together for the spiritual share. The whole class enjoyed it and I fell in love with it was well. I hope family, that you will take the time to watch together as a family so you can remember the importance of our Savior at this time. Please do this for me. The reason why I enjoyed getting your package on the 17th was the fact that on the 16th is was freezing cold. Luckily, on my birthday it only seemed to rain when I was inside. However, the following day the temperatures dropped tremendously. It was so cold, especially since it rained all day. The entire day I could see my breath and the rain made me feel like I was swimming in Alaska. I now understand what Sister Roper meant by the cold here. It may not be as cold as Utah, but there is no heat anywhere (except for 7/11 and Family Mart). The churches, houses, our apartment....none of these places have heat. Houses and buildings are much colder here since they are made of cemet and have only tile and granite flooring. We are only equipped with 2 small heaters in our apt. I ended up getting a bad headache from the cold and even a stomach from not being able to warm myself up. Luckily, I had mom's leathers gloves that she bought me (thank you Mom), which kept my hands warm and luckily we stopped at the apt. in the middle of the day to put more warm clothes on. In addition, I had muscle aches in my thighs from going up and down stairs on the 15th for 30 minutes (since we couldn't run because it was raining). I don't mean to complain too much (even though I just did), but I just wanted to let you know how much your birthday package meant to me. Once I saw the lovely quilt that Mom handmade, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't stop crying as I read each of your letters (especially Moms) and the lovely gifts you all gave me. You all must of took a lot of thought (and in tune with the spirit) into each gift because I was in need of each gift: Mom and John: Thank you for the wonderful missionary blanket. I love to pieces and will make sure to have my companion and baptisms sign it. It was so thoughtful and something I needed to keep me warm at night since it is a bit cold and every apt. is only equipped with a bedspread. I will always cherish this blanket and it was such a great gift to me. I love it so much. Mom, you always have the best/cute ideas (just like the cute Christmas tree in a box) and it's because of how thoughtful and generous you are. Ash and Alex: I have to admit to both of you that I was wearing the "Road to Hana" shirt as I was opening your gift. You both obviously knew that I needed a new running outfit. Thank you very much; now I can look more decent in the morning when we go exercise. Somehow you knew I needed a new running outfit (I guess my pictures gave it away). Thank you again; it was obviously needed). Whit, Cole, and Paige: Somehow you all must of known that I also needed a new outfit. I am getting sick of my clothes that I constantly wear and it was so good to receive such a nice new outfit. I wore it yesterday for church and received so many compliments. Thank you for sending me a vibrant colored shirt since I have gotten comments from companions that I wear too much black and blue (whoops). I also loved the cute jewerly and wore them yesterday as well. The shoes were fabulous and my companion loved them. I just hope I don't ruin them when I'm riding my bike all day (however, I will be extra careful). I was also in need of a cute light shall because of the cold weather. Thank you all for taking the time to send me something so cute and in need. I love it! Thank you again Family for your thoughtfulness. It meant the world to me when I was not in a very good mood or had a very good attitude. I have to admit that there were a few times that I wanted to cry while riding my bike in the bitter cold. You all definitely lifted up my spirits and gave me the strength to continue moving forward. Each email, letter, or package I receive from all of you provide me with the strength and courage I need to continue moving forward even when things are tough. Well, my companion and I loved watching Sister Wen get baptized on Saturday night. She was very prepared and so excited to get baptized. Luckily, her mom (who is less-active) came and helped support her daughter. I already mentioned the story behind Sister Wen on how my companion and I helped her discover and realized that she had her answer the whole time and learned how to recognize the Spirit. It was really neat to watch her get baptized and come so much closer in receiving salvation. The spirit was really strong and it was amazing to watch Sister Wen and her mom embrace each other after she was baptized. We were so proud to watch this since her mom was wanting her daughter to get baptized and Sister Wen did as well, but wanted to find the right answers first (and to know that it was my companion and I that helped her realize she had the answers all along). The Christmas miracle happened on Monday night. I had mentioned to you all in my last email that we were not sure we could find a baptism for Christmas day (since Christmas lands on a Saturday this year and baptisms usually are held on Saturdays) and our district leader, zone leaders, and mission president have been stressing on having a "white Christmas" by having a baptism on Christmas Day. Well, we worked our guts out by looking through formers and part-member families who had been to church at least once (since they needed to be in order to be baptized on Christmas day). We ended up adding 5 week C's (but like I said before none of them came to church). However, on Monday night our plan didn't work to visit an investigator in Tanzi so at the last minute we decided to visit a part-member family. We had added a girl named Sister Li who is 12 and her dad and brother are members, but not her mom. She said she would come to church with her dad and wanted to be baptized, however her mom was against this. In addition, after she didn't show up to church members continually told us not to visit their family since their mom is very against the church. However, we still made the cautious decision to give it a try with prayers in our hearts that it would work out. We arrived at the house just in time to see her mom drive up on her scooter. She didn't look very excited to see us, but her daughter was jumping up and down when she saw who it was. Luckily, she invited us in to talk and 5 minutes later the husband came in. We sat down and gave a spiritual lesson on 3 Nephi 11 when Christ visit the Americas and blesses the little children. This soften the mother's heart and she explained that she didn't want her daughter baptized until she understood what it was and had a complete desire for it. Luckily, over the weekend we organized a calendar of things her daughter could read, questions to answers, and things to do to help her understand baptism. In addition, we called her every night and taught her a quick lesson on the gospel. Then, we met with their family again on Friday and gave a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the 5 steps on how to receive the salvation (the Celestial Kingdom). The daughter enjoyed the lesson and finally understood the lesson. We were able to get permission for her baptism and know Sister Li we'll be baptized on Christmas Day. What a miracle and an amazing way to celebrate Christmas (especially since I cannot celebrate with all of you, but I am thrilled for the phone call). What a blessing this is since we were worried we wouldn't have a baptism on Christmas day all because we followed the spirit and visited her family despite what other members had said. I love you all family and I have a list of things I hope you do before Christmas comes. I believe these things will help reunite you as a family during this season and the importance of our Savior and the true reason why we celebrate Christmas. First off (like I already mentioned), please take 30 minutes as a family and watch "Joy to the World". My companion and I continually watch this with our investigators and they love it. The spirit is very strong every time I watch it.Second, read about Christ's birth as a family (only a few short chapters Luke 1,2 and Mark 1,2) Please read them as a family so you can understand the importance of our Savior and what He did for all of us. Please make room for Him in your life (since there was no room in the inn for Him), especially during this time of the year. Third, go to temple square together so you can all remember the importance of families and being together. Surround yourself with the lights, the temple, and the family since these three things are vitally importance (light=gospel).Fourth, read the great Santa book that Mom all gave us a few years ago for Christmas (with the cute child and Santa praying together). I was reminded of this cute book and statue from a recent convert who asked me why we celebrate Santa during Christmas and not just Christ. Luckily, I was guided by the Spirit and explained to her that Santa actually can represent Christ and I related the cute Santa book and statue and how Santa and Christ are very similar to each other (they both wear red and white, have a beard, bring gifts, etc.) Please read this great book from a loving Mother who knows the importance of Christmas and celebrating Christ at this time of the year.Fifth, please open my Christmas package on Christmas evening (after you have done the first 4 above steps) and have a fun time opening each gift with each other and the letters that go with them. Please make sure to read the first Christmas article together as well which gave me a better perspective on the importance of family and the gospel. You will love the article since it made me think of all of you and how much I love you all dearly (it actually brought me to tears). Lastly, on Christmas morning I will give you a call. Make sure you are all together since I can only make one call for 1 hour. I provided you with the information and the top and since I am 15 hours ahead of you I will call you Christmas evening here. I apologize for the bad time different, but you will most likely receive my call at 6 in the morning (your time) since I will call you at 9 at night here in Taiwan. I will try and get my companion to let me call maybe at 10 at night so you don't have to get up so early. But most likely, my call will be at 6 in the morning. I am so excited to hear from all of you. I'll probably start crying so I am apologizing in advance (since this is what I have been looking forward to for so long). Being able to talk to all of you will be the best Christmas present ever!In addition, I have more great news to tell you. I received permission from the Mission president that you all can come to Taiwan. I will talk to you more about this when I talk to on Christmas day since my time is almost up.Alex, I loved your email. I'm glad you had a great birthday (even though you had to celebrate it late and without me). In addition, I'm very proud of you for getting good grades and will graduate in 4 months. How exciting! Carter's gift sounds great and fun, he'll love the cowboy outfit and stuff. I'm glad you're thinking about service at this time. Help the family out, they need it most and make sure you all do the above stuff. I love A!Whit, I did have a cake for my birthday. (Though I bought the cake my self at 85, just a slice and shared it with my companion. Thank you for your service of gift wrapping, you are the best at it and mom does sure neeed your help. Thank you also for spedning so much time with Pj and MN.Mom, I could never thank you enough for your service and hard work. I don't know how you and dad did it. I wouldn't mind at all helping out at the office and getting my insurance license if it's okay that I got to school as well.Love you all gotta to go!Love you always,