Jan. 16, 2011
Had a pretty good week here. And by good I mean we had a whole bunch of appointments cancelled and ended up spending a whole lot of time walking aimlessly around Chinatown getting ignored by the same 80-yr-old Cantonese speakers. Then again it could be worse... since... like...
We DID however find a super super golden contact yesterday in Chinatown which was really awesome. This guy is named Brother Kuang and he seems really really golden. He fortunately had a bunch of time right when we ran into him so we immediately went to our office downtown and taught him a lesson. He's really humble and we already got a baptismal date with him for next month which is really cool. He was like "yeah, I definitely will prepare myself to be baptized on that date" and we were like "YES!" Hahaha. Especially since we got owned earlier in the day by our investigators who pretty much all didn't come to church. The OuYang family's daughter keeps abusing her agency and not wanting to come to church causing their parents to come either A) Really late or B) Not at all (yesterday). They said she was "sick" but then we went later that night and she was fine. The only thing I find weird about that is the fact that she's 9 years old but still pretty much controls their ability to come to church which is really annoying. Elder Lee was telling me that if he did that his dad would just like drag him along haha which I'm thinking the OuYangs really need to step up and do. Of course it doesn't help that their fellowshipping family the Tans set pretty much the worst example ever in that respect since they haven't been to church in forever and seem to treat it as a "well if I really really really really really really have nothing else to do I'll go" kind of activity. Which is really really really really really really really really annoying. However, they still have reasonably strong testimonies which they aren't shy bearing to the Ouyangs which is good. If only they would practice what they preach...
Whatever the case, things are still looking good for their baptism next week. Our mission is a minimum of 3 times at church before they get baptized and the OuYangs have fortunately already been twice so next week will be their third time and then afterwards they'll be getting baptized!!! Hooray!
Thanks for the notes on sacrifice. My first day in the mission field we had zone conference from Elder Jensen (some 70) who talked a lot about that. He said that faith cannot come without sacrifice. Which is definitely true. Reminds me of Ether 12:6 where Moroni says that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. It's true, though I've realized which means people have to at least have a desire to believe before they can receive a witness that it is true. Which I can recognize is hard for some people since there are a lot of things that if you believe hard enough you really can convince yourself is true. Fortunately, we have the Spirit to help us with that process and with that desire. It really is true that practically no one would convert to the gospel without the help of the spirit and if our lessons don't have it then they're pretty much useless. The spirit was definitely really strong in our lesson with Brother Kuang yesterday and I could really see his desire and his humility.
Oh also another guy, Xu, Ayong, who promised us he would come to church, didn't end up coming. The funny thing is that he called us at like 10:30 and then the OuYangs called us at like 10:31 to cancel right as we were ending our conversation with AYong who was cancelling. Double Whammy.
Oh well. The Lord gives success and can take it away I guess. And comparably, our area is doing really great. Compared with earlier that is.
Have a new senior couple serving in our branch which is nice. They're really cool and have already taken Elder Luo and I out to lunch twice in the 3 days they've been here haha. Once for Elder Luo's brithday which was on Saturday and once today since we went over and set up their internet and wireless printer. They're from Oregon, near Portland. Elder Johnson went on his mission in England and I don't think Sister Johnson has ever been outside of suburban America haha since she keeps commenting about how astonished she is that no one here has yards haha.
Whatever the case, thanks for your emails guys. I don't have a whole lot of time to write back since I have to go write my email to the president now. Love you! Thanks for all your love and support. I hope you have a fantastictubularisticlysplendiferous week!
Love,
Ian
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