JOY and CHARITY

Elder Coletti's Letter 02/15/2016 Week 30

HELLO!

This week was AMAZING!  GuoNian (中國新的一年 or Chinese New Year) was super fun!  I don't know where the Taiwanese ward members have been hiding all of this wonderful food,  but it was amazing during this celebration! However, there was something that was a little bit better than the food, and that was the work of our Heavenly Father!;)  I don't know what it was, but I had so much JOY this week.  It wasn't something that specifically happened, but rather just a feeling I had all week. I felt almost as if I knew I was doing the right thing and that I have learned so much in my short time as a missionary so far in Taiwan. (Almost 7 months!).  I don't know where it came from, or why this feeling came over me, but it was there!  It seemed like an overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything that I have experienced so far.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

We have an investigator who is so close to being baptized. If you had asked me last week if he was ready, I probably would have told you that he isn't quite ready. He is unsure about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and has a little Word of Wisdom problem. But this week Elder Crawford and I went and asked him all of the Baptismal Interview Questions and he changed SO MUCH! He was answering every question perfectly and he even changed his mind about being hesitant about Sabbath Day observance.  He said he would take Sundays off from work. This was a HUGE miracle! The Lord truly prepared him and softened his heart. We are super excited for him and for the future. I absolutely love being here in MeiLun. When I left my first area in SanXia, I wasn't sure how I felt about change. I had gotten so close to the members and our investigators. But now that I am here in MeiLun, I know I am in the right place. I have grown so much these past couple of weeks! I am absolutely ecstatic for what the future holds!

Back to JOY.   I just loved the feelings of pure enJOYment I experienced this week!  I think JOY is one of the most important feelings that we can have today and I feel like JOY is a choice.  I was so grateful this week for all of the members help, and our investigators that still wanted and were able to meet  with us during GuoNian.  I was filled with gratitude and love for all of the wonderful the people of Taiwan.  They are truly amazing people.  I learned a very valuable lesson this week about loving where you are in life at any given moment.  Loving your life no matter what check point you are at and no matter what situation you are in at this time in your life.  There are blessings everywhere wrapped up in little packages, we just have to find the PRESENT.  We have all made mistakes in life.  That is just part of life , part of learning and that is the beauty of the atonement.  There will always be things in the future that we worry about.  But if we can live in the PRESENT, then we can truly enJOY each moment!   God didn't send us here to dwell in the past, but rather to dwell in the now....to be PRESENT.   God sent us here to experience JOY! I learned from this week to enJOY everything that I have and to live in the moment.  To not think to much about what could've happened, because if you keep thinking about what could've happened, it will never happen!  Just go on, one day at a time, and enJOY your blessings, one blessing at a time.  I challenge everyone to enJOY the day that you have been given.  Soak in the JOY of each and every moment, and enJOY it!;)

Here in Taiwan, Valentine's day is basically nonexistent.  So no Valentine's for me this year...;)  I truly love everyone single one of you.  As I have been on my mission, I have learned that the most important attribute a person can have is Charity.  It doesn't matter how good you can speak the language, or how well you know the doctrine, or even how hard you work!  All that matters is if you have love....true, pure, Christ like love.   I want to challenge everyone to love one another like Jesus would. 

Love you all!

Elder Coletti