WEEK 34

Another new transfer! I'm staying in Danville for another transfer and Sister Leung is my new companion. She is from Hong Kong and we were roommates before and served at the Visitors' Center and the Oakland Chinese branch together. Sister Hsiao is going back to the Visitors' Center and she will serve in a singles ward at Berkeley. I will miss her SOOOOOOOOO much! We had such a great transfer serving together. I have laughed the most this transfer and we have both learned so much from each other. It's hard to leave a good transfer and move on to the next, but we all know that there is much more we will learn in the next transfer and the transfer after that. So I am excited for new things to come! By the way, this is the first time I don't need to move anything anywhere! I get to keep my bed, my closet, my proselyting area, and my roommates. The only thing that's changing is my companion. So it's the least change I've been through so far =)
Anywayz, I know I will be going back to the Visitors' Center soon (probably next transfer…the same transfer when Ashley Soh arrives to the Oakland Mission in November!)
The highlight of this week is the musical fireside presented by the Saints Unified Voices (SUV) choir, a (LDS) gospel choir directed by Gladys Knight. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to 3 of the 4 sections and I wished the whole family and ALL my friends were sitting with me enjoying the beautiful music and powerful testimony of Sister Knight and her husband, William Dowel (spell?). They were so funny and humorous, and Sister Knight did a couple solos that just blew the crowd away. I mean, the spirit was so strong in this fireside that you just knew you were in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. If Gladys Knight and the SUV choir ever tour in your area, you HAVE to attend one of those firesides!!!! The baptism rate of the mission will also definitely increase tremendously after that! Guaranteed! So be sure to bring ALL your non-member friends to feel the spirit through powerful song and testimony.
When I first learned about this scripture D&C 25:12 back in those seminary days, it became one of my favorites:
"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."
I have a testimony of music and how it can draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. Last Monday I received mom and Ray's letter in the mail [thanks mom and Ray! =)]. Mom shared with me about how she is sacrificing her work life to allow her body to rest and her heart to be healed. Her priorities in her life are according to our Heavenly Father's will and she has put her trust in our Savior to be healed. She shared with me the lyrics to the song "Consider the Lilies" and asked me to share this song with Sister Hsiao. On Thursday I was asked to do a musical number for our District meeting and I sang this song for my companion and my district. The whole room was filled with tears (I made 2 Tongan elders cry…oopsie..=P) as we were reminded of the healing power of the atonement.

Consider the lilies of the field
How they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky
How they fly, how they fly.

CHORUS
He clothes the lilies of the field
He feeds the birds in the sky
And he will feed those who trust Him
And guide them with his eye.

Consider the sheep of His fold
How they follow where he leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountain
He knows the meadows where they feed.

(Chorus)

Consider the sweet tender children
Who must suffer on this earth.
The pains of all of them he carried
From the day of His birth.

He clothes the lilies of the field
He feeds the Lambs of His fold
And He will heal those who trust Him
And make their hearts as gold

Just as the lyrics to this song says in verse 3, Sister Hsiao and I both know how much pain we sometimes must suffer on this earth – physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. We have a testimony of the healing power of the atonement. As we turn our hearts to our Savior, He will do as He promised in Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We have found this rest, both in body and in spirit. Sister Hsiao is also back to health and we have worked so hard this last week of the transfer! I am grateful for EVERYTHING that I have been given. I am especially grateful for each one of you and how you have touched my life, and how you have helped me turn to my Savior, Jesus Christ. He lives! And He loves us! And I hope to stand before Him at that great day, with each one of you by my side!