Yay Xie mama got baptized!!! She is so awesome and her faith
is super 強!
I'll talk about that more in a sec.
So this week was actually a pretty rough week in comparison
to last week. Brother Fu has been super busy lately so we haven't been able to
meet with him and I fear he will have to leave soon. Brother Wan's parents
don't want him to meet with us (he's 15) so he said he can't meet with us
anymore. That was really sad. This week we didn't get many lessons set up but
we tried our hardest. I think that's the important part. We went out every day
and tried our best to find and teach. On Friday we went into downtown Gaoxiong
for a Training Meeting. It was our zone (North Gaoxiong), West Gaxiong and
Pingdong zones. It was pretty cool! We talked about a lot of things. Rule
changes and such and discussed Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts. We
really focused on learning from the 'unspoken word'. Lots of times at meetings,
I am looking for good quotes or cool things the people say, but sometimes I am
not too focused on the things that the spirit is telling me. It was pretty neat
to see what the spirit had to tell me.
But this week we met with Samson and discussed faith,
charity, hope, and miracles. Naturally, we shared parts of Moroni 7. We
discussed how through these things, miracles happen. We were trying to get him
pumped up to go an tell his parents about baptism again and try to help them
understand what it is, but he still seemed a little down. So, we decided to
give him a blessing of comfort. Elder Williams, myself, and a member gave him a
blessing and afterwards his countenance was totally different. He was so much
happier and he was ready to talk to his parents. The power of the priesthood is
real! The feelings that he had are the exact same feelings that I have after I
get a blessing. It was awesome. I called him last night and he said he's still
talking to them so we will definitely know by the end of this week. Pray for
him!
We also met with Gryphon this week! So something special
about our area is the fact that we also have an English sacrament meeting. They
do it for some members from the Philippines and other Americans and we attend
it because they need some people to bless and pass so Elder Williams and I do
that. Just one hour can bring the spirit strong. Gryphon attended yesterday and
a few weeks ago. As we met with him he told us that when he came he has some
special feelings. As we brought the bread to him, he said his heart just
started pounding and his whole body just felt incredible. After he ate the
bread it went away, then the same feeling came back as we gave him the water.
We described how this was the spirit and he understood and really liked it!
Gryphon needs a miracle. I know the spirit is slowly working on him and he will
get baptized. I just know it.
One cool thing: yesterday I really came to understand that
God is preparing EVERYONE around me. God puts everyone in our path for a
reason. There are no mistakes or coincidences in God's eyes. After planning on
Saturday, I said my nightly prayers and I told the Lord where we are going and
what our plan was. I asked Him to let us come across someone prepared. As we
were biking to a big park to contact there, we met a guy that was sitting on a
somewhat high ledge taking a smoking break. When I first saw him I tried to see
if there was a way to bike up the ramp to him but it was blocked and then I
thought it might be weird to talk to him when he is so high so I thought about
just passing him. But now, I realize it was probably the Spirit telling me to
talk to him. "Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed" so we stopped
and talked to him and he seems really cool. We talked for a bit and he is a
Christian and seemed interested in this message. We tried to set up a time to
meet with him but he is busy this week so we switched numbers and parted ways.
At the park we talked to tons of people but no one was willing to talk. As I
thought about it, God knew what road we would take to the park and He knew that
this man would be there taking his break. God wanted us to meet him.
I know that was rather long but it really had a big impact
on me. It reminds me of the scripture that says we should preach everywhere and
it "mattereth not, for ye cannot go amis."
So Saturday was Xie Mama's baptism! yay!! It went really
well! She was so happy! When she gave her testimony it was really cool. Even
though she cried a ton, it was still awesome. She talked about how the day that
we met her, she was sitting in her house watching tv (which is what she does
all day every day) and then it just shut off. She turned it on and it turned
off. Wouldn't work. She was super bummed. So she went to the park instead to
exercise. That was when we met her. She said she saw us and read 耶穌基督
on our name tags and she was just touched. She said she just felt God's love
for her. She used to go to some other Christian church but she hasn't been in a
year, and as she saw us she knew that God still loved her and wants her to come
back. Then when we talked about prophets she was just amazed! She thought
prophets are amazing! and they are :) Last thing I want to say about her is I
have learned so much from her about loving God and Christ. Every time we gave
her an invite or asked her to follow a commandment, she was always willing and
she always said "God wants us to do this so I will do it." She obeys
out of love for God and Christ. How many of us do that? I never thought an
investigator would teach me so much. She is awesome!!
In my personal study today I read one of my favorite
chapters in the Book of Mormon and that is Alma 39. Some people might think
that's a weird chapter to like but Alma really gives lots of good advice and
teachings. I love verse 4 "4 Yea, she did steal away the hearts of many;
but this was no excuse for thee, my son. Thou shouldst have tended to the
ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted." Obviously he is talking about the
harlot Isabel, but I feel like it applies to everything! Everyone around us is
sinning. Sin steals the hearts of many, disobedience steals the hearts of missionaries,
it works for everything. But it is never and excuse for us! When we know our
ministry, mission, identity, purpose, etc. we need to realize that God trusted
us to our ministry and strive to live as He would have us live.
Well I love you all so much!!!
Love
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