October 15, 2012

      Darci is getting married!!!?!?!?!? You couldn't wait for me to get home!!??!!? Whoah that is so crazy I am bummed I am not even going to be there!! You will at least have to send me pictures!! Tell Darc congratulations for me and I love her! I haven't even had the chance to approve of this guy yet!

       Oh yes and I remember you asking a question about the chinese hymnbook. It doesn't have all of the same ones as the english one, but it has a good amount. About 200 songs! Audio scriptures, that sounds pretty convenient! Looks and sounds like Darci's engagement party was a hit! Wish I could have been there to party with everyone! Blake's part sounds alot like Dad typed it, hmmm....haha tell Blake I like his avengers shirt, he is a stud! 

       Well this week in taiwan was pretty fantastic! Conference was so good!! 18 year olds can serve missions now, so cool! Tell Trent to hurry up and get his papers in and get called to taiwan so I can be his trainer when he gets here! I learned so much from this conference! What was one of your favorite parts? I always love Elder Holland and Elder Bednar's talks! Elder Bednar has recently talked about testimony and conversion quite abit! Testimony is what we know is true by the power of the holy ghost, conversion is being true to what we know! He talked about how conversion is a proccess that happens gradually, almost imperceptibly, and requires all of our heart might mind and strength, much more than just knowing! So true, we never realize how much we grow or how fast until we look back! I am so grateful for our prophet Thomas S. Monson! He holds the authority of God to lead God's people, what an amazing blessing for us!

       Our investigators and recent converts are all doing quite well here in xinying. Our one investigator right now with a baptismal goal is Sister xu. She is about 55 years old. I am not sure if I have already told you about her? Oh yeah and here in xin ying there are no sister missionaries so we teach the sisters. She is doing pretty good, she is just working right now to give up drinking tea! She is doing pretty good, she has stopped drinking family mart tea which is a start! (Family mart is a convenient store that is on every corner here) Pray for her! She needs it! We had the opportunity to meet with a few new investigators this week as well that I am excited to keep meeting with. The recent converts here we have been working with are amazing too! I love the ward they are all so great.

       Hope all is well at home! Love and miss you!

       -Elder Ripley