Anbby's Baptism and the Ward Culture Night to celebrate

                                                                                                                                                        August 27, 2017

Hey all! Hope you all had a great week! Mine was crazy busy. Feel like we weren't able to get a ton of proselyting done =( That's ok though, still doing the Lord's work!

On Saturday, Anbby was baptized!! Filling out the batismal form, found out her English name is spelled Anbby, not Ambi. Haha. Her Chinese name is Mingming Zhao. She is soooo cool!! She got baptized in the morning cuz Saturday evening was the Ward Culture night. She was nervous before, but also excited. She was worried Miaomiao was gonna cry. The ward members took good care of Miaomiao though, and Anbby was able to focus on the talks and her baptism. After she was baptized, we realized her clothes were still in the room, so we ran them to her. She was like, "I feel so clean!! All the bad things are gone. I remember them, but, I just feel so good." It was sooo cool and the Spirit was so strong. I love her. Then after the service, she said, "so tomorrow I complete my baptism when I get the Holy Ghost." Yep. Anbby was so prepared. We can't wait to take her teaching with us. The ward loves her, too! Brother Tamayo, the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric, talked to her a little about the temple. She's really excited to go. She was like, "So you two will be here in a year, right?" We told her we would love to meet her at the temple and go through with her when she goes. Guess I'm going to Hong Kong next year! I love Anbby so much! We told her we are going to work with her husband too, so they can get sealed as a family. 

In district meeting this week we were talking about what we want to accomplish before the end of our missions. I said, "Be able to speak Chinese fluently enough to carry on a decent conversation." Sister Jenkins wants to read the Book of Mormon in Chinese (I have the coolest companion!). But that question has got me thinking a lot recently, about what other things I want to accomplish. One thing I really want to change about myself is being impatient. I thought I was a decently patient person, but, especially recently, I am seeing how impatient I am. I want to be so patient; even when someone says something contentious, I don't want to respond with anger, or impatiently, but rather with patience, with charity. I think that is one big thing the world is missing today. We are all so fast to respond, so quick to judge, so unwilling to be understanding of another's viewpoint, that contentions run high and relationships are destroyed every day. I want to change that about myself, starting now. I hope and pray my Heavenly Father and Savior will help me. 

Ward Culture night was super cool. I'll tell ya'll bout it next week. Gotta go.

Til next time. Zai Jian!!

Sister Springer

North Korea, The Standard of Truth, and I am a Child of God

Hey all!                                                                                                                                               August 13, 2017

So I know there's some concern from back home about all the threats of bombing Guam is facing..... I hope to calm some of those fears, and to let you know that, no matter what happens, I know I am where God needs me to be, and will be for the duration of my Mission. 

First off, if God needs His missionaries somewhere else right now, He will tell His Prophet. And so if we are needed here, bomb or no bomb, here is where I will stay. If the Work is meant to continue in the Micronesia Guam Mission, than it will continue. "The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calamity may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independently, til it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; til the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say, 'The Work is done!'". I believe that's true. And so, while we've heard about the threats, I'm not worried. 

This week I went on exchanges with the other Sisters. Sister Kaleopa has a super good voice and Ambee noticed at church. So when we went to her house, MiaoMiao was sleeping and she asked us to teach her I am a Child of God. She asked Sister Jenkins and I to not start lessons with songs..... mostly cuz of customers, but now I'm convinced it's cuz we can't sing hahaha. Anyway, she's going to learn I am a Child of God in English so she can teach MiaoMiao. So cute!!!

On another note, President said we can get Chinese names!!! They have these half English half Chinese name tags they use in Hong Kong and Taiwan, so we are working on getting some. Good thing too, because it's hard for our friends to read and remember our names, haha. Super excited for those. 

This week was pretty good. We are trying to find some more investigators, cuz our pool is running a little low. William is back from Taiwan for school! He came to church with his parents. I spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and bore my testimony in Chinese. Our investigators really loved it cuz normally they can't understand anything in church. So cool!!! President is working on getting us some translation microphone things so we can translate better for our investigators. Hopefully our Chinese is good enough x.x 

We also got some more Chinese materials! It's been sooo helpful already. We have some where we can hear words, and more learning book things, and we found Preach My Gospel in Pinyon!! (the sound of the characters). Gonna start working on reading Chinese too. 

We just finished a transfer, and so evalutated our goals and set some new ones. This transfer is gonna be super good. We have plans to use our time better, cuz our area is so big (the whole island) that we spend a lot of time going place to place. So we'll divide the island in half and only stay there until we go home from lunch/dinner, then go to the other half after. We'll see how it works out. I feel like our Chinese is on the brink of skyrocketing, too. So cool ^^ I love the Chinese people so much! 

So with the new transfer, we have 19 new missionaries coming in! Only one Sister. Elder Ieru and Elder Taan will stay Zone Leaders, but they are both training. Elder Meza is the District Leader, and his companion is Elder Jensen, who flew in from Chuuk on Saturday. Pretty cool. All good missionaries!! So excited to see where this new Zone takes us =) All the areas boundries on Saipan (except the Chinese area of course) changed. 

Well, out of time. Sitting in the internet cafe listening to a Chinese argument behind me. Haha. Fun times here on Saipan. 

My thoughts and prayers are with you all! Stay safe

PS. If you read 8 chapters a day, you can finish the Book of Mormon in a month. If you read 4, you can finish in 2. Try it!

Have a great week!

Sister Springer

Solar Eclipses and Zone Conference

I hope you all get a chance to at least catch a glimpse of the solar eclipse! Sounds cool. It's going to miss us entirely, this little rock in the middle of the ocean... haha. It's cool though. It kinda freaked some of our investigators out.

Ambi's being forced to move out of her house by the end of the month... So we are hoping and praying she finds a new one soon. She gets baptized this weekend though!! Super excited!! She's so ready =D I love Ambi and her cute little family <3

Zone conference was super good! I love President Poston. He just has this quite but powerful nature. He talked a lot about faith, and how faith can do so much: literally move mountains, part streams, heal the sick, raise the dead. The Zone Leaders and I gave training on how we can be "anxiously engaged through faith that the Lord will provide". It was pretty good, I think. The Assistants training at MLC was on "Anxiously Engaged", so we took that and applied it to our zone needs. Love the Spiritual Firehose of learning at these meetings!

Saipan got new area boundries yesterday (but doesn't affect Sister Jenkins and I really, because we cover the whole island. 

Right now Sister Jenkins and I are trying to find more investigators. We have a bunch, but only a few are solid. Ambi, of course; then Angel (a member's wife), Yingdi (I think she'll get baptized soon!) are probably our best investigators right now. We have a ton to follow up on. This week should be a lot of walking and what we like to call "friending" (tracting, but consecrated missionary style)

I hope all is going well for you all back home. Life on a mission is hard, but it changes you in ways that nothing else can. I love my mission! It's going by way too fast! I'm learning so much every day, it's all becoming a blur. 

A little explanation on the pictures: The cards strung across the ceiling (thanks for the string, Mom!) are scriptures Sister Jenkins and I have memorized. We're going to have that string so full by the end of our mission!

Zone Conference pics

Pics of super comfy socks from Taiwan, from Steve and his Wife, Veronica. 

The Elders had a 3 baptisms this weekend!

That's it for this time. Talk to you all next week! Also, don't forget to read your scriptures every day. We need the Spiritual protection and strength EVERY day, in this dark and struggling world. Love you all! And I know without a doubt that God and Jesus Christ love you, too.

Sister Springer

Hey

Hey, I'm out of time but just wanted to say hi real fast.

Went to MLC this weekend. It was soooo good!! I'll tell you about it next week. President Poston is really cool. 

Book of Mormon has all the answers. All of them. Just read it and you'll see. 

3Ne3: how to respond to fear/contention/threats.  

Talk to you all next week! Be safe, have a great week! Praying for you all!

Sister Springer

PS Saipan is on the edge of a typhoon that I guess is hitting Japan. That's fun.