Hai!
Thanks for your emairs! Pretty good this week. You know, since I rate them every week. This week, on a scale of 1 to pretty good, I'd say they were about a 29.54... or so...
Had a pretty good week here. We are adding new investigators like crazy, and I don't think I'd ever say this, but I think we're kind of getting too many investigators in our teaching pool and it's getting really hard to think about all of them and have enough time to really consider and address their needs. However, I'm sure that as I just take it one at a time and rely on the Lord, things will work out.
Yesterday, quite the opposite of flaking out and getting dropped, Sister Ying was baptized (by me!) which was probably the best baptism I have ever attended. She was so prepared and just so excited the whole time. Throughout the whole service, the Spirit was really really strong and I know Sister Ying's three friends really felt it. Her boyfriend, brother Zhou, who we are also teaching and had a baptismal date for next month (past tense only because he's having trouble quitting smoking), told me when I called him last night that he felt the whole thing was really moving and really felt good about it. He says his faith is increasing everyday and going to the service yesterday really helped him have a confirming witness of the spirit that what we are teaching him is true. Now the only problem is helping him to quit smoking. He really has a desire to quit and has really reduced his smoking to about 1 or 2 cigarettes a day which is good, but not enough; which he knows as well. This week when we teach him we're really going to try to concentrate on building his faith in the Savior and helping him know how to rely on the Lord to help him through this process.
Last week, we added 9 new investigators which was pretty crazy. 2 of them were actually taught by the chinese elders in Sunset who only found out they lived in our area after they taught them so that was nice haha and we added 5 others all at once on Saturday night which was probably one of the most challenging lessons I've taught on my mission so far since I've never really had to teach 5 people at once before. All 5 of them are students at Golden Gate University studying English and we first met two of them on the street in Chinatown and told them to invite anyone who wanted to come to our lesson we set up with them later that night (i.e. "the more the merrier"). Anyways, they really took that to heart I guess and brought along three of their friends. The lesson went fairly well, as far as lessons with 5 people go. It was pretty tough though because there were one or two friends who just came along we think because they had nothing else to do and weren't really focused during the lesson, and another friend kept asking questions like "so what's the difference between this and just an emotional crutch?" and was not very willing to accept commitments and since he was the most outspoken, it was hard to get any of his friends to commit to anything. Anyways, we set up an appointment with them for next week and Elder Wu and I are considering trying to split them up to teach or doing more planning to try and accommodate teaching 5 people at a time.
Whatever the case, it was an interesting experience. Lately, I've been reading a chapter of Jesus the Christ a day in my personal study which I really think is helping me to come to a more complete understanding of the Savior and his life. One line I read today which I found really profound was when Talmage is talking about John the Baptist and mentions how his teachings were that of a "practical religion, the only religion of any worth." When I read this line, I really came to realize how practical the teachings of Jesus Christ truly are. An experience that really helped me to realize this even more clearly was our first lesson with brother Zhou, which I think was one of the better lessons I've taught, and we really set clear expectations and helped him to see us as representatives of Jesus Christ who weren't there to discuss some really deep points of doctrine and show off how much we know, but really to help him change his life and help him to become better, starting with his smoking addiction. I like it just cause it seems like the Mormon church is a way of life. I remember my first or second week here, Elder Luo and I contacted this guy on the street who was playing the trumpet but then just started talking to us and was talking about how other christians say they're christian just like something like they play basketball or they like soccer or they play the piano but it doesn't really affect their behavior which he didn't think was right and which really isn't. I love how being in our church truly is a lifestyle.
I'm really loving the work here in downtown San Francisco, and I would really love to stay here at least another transfer. We're adding tons of new investigators and it really is just the start. When I first got to this area, Elder Luo and I worked really hard but we really didn't see all that much success and I was beginning to think that this area just is like that; but as Elder Wu and I have come into the area and have kind of moved away from the Chinatown population and more into the younger students attending university, we've been seeing tons of success and I really would love to continue in this area helping those we've found progress in this gospel towards baptism. Unfortunately, that's all up to President Wade and the Lord and whatnot. But if it was up to me, I'd definitely be staying here in downtown for a while yet. Hopefully, we'll all just agree.
I remember learning about that super great ploy in IB History last year actually dad haha. Operation Bodyfloat, as I believe it was called, or maybe Operation Floppyfish... whatever the case, pretty ingenious. I did actually know the real name at one point but have since forgotten it. That's pretty annoying about the oil prices, good thing I don't have a car, nor do I really want one since I think it'd just be kind of a mafan and you'd drive past all kinds of people you could otherwise be talking to... just overall lame. And yeah, I agree with the psycho church members. I guess we can probably do without more psycho converts. Since there seem to be a lot of normal people around here these days who are interested (i.e. Sis. Ying, Ding, Bro. Zhou et al.)
Anyways, with respect to Elder Wu: He's from the New Territories, his family is LDS, he came out 4 weeks after me (we were at the same new missionary orientation haha), he's getting along fabulously. Yesterday, he shared a talk on the holy ghost at Sister Ying's baptism that made everyone cry. It was pretty powerful. It was funny at the beginning of his talk, he was like "I'm so grateful for the success the Lord has blessed Elder Christensen and I in this area, my last area wasn't so successful since it was an English area and my English isn't that good, except now i'm in a mandarin area and my mandarin is pretty bad too so..." And yeah, pretty accurate, although I'd say his english pronunciation might be a little better than his mandarin, I think his mandarin vocabulary just more expansive just cause if you can speak cantonese, you can basically understand mandarin. Elder Wu is pretty cool and we get along really well for the most part.
Anyways, good luck on your garden mom. I remember last week in your email you were writing about how you jsut kind of idled away the afternoon on the porch enjoying the sunshine and I told Elder Lee and we were like "oh yeah I wouldn't want to do that anyways...... ......." But like... sarcastically... so basically, just tell me all the hard stuff that you do that I wouldn't enjoy doing. I guess once you get your garden started it can be about how much yard work you'd be making me do if I was there and stuff...
Anyways, gtg. but I love you guys and thanks for all your support and emairs and stuff!... despite the fact michelle and joel HATE me! And didn't email me this week... but that's ok... i'll just hate them forever... or maybe just for the next minute or so...
Love you!
-Ian
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Insane or Just a Little Crazy
Hai Gaiz!
Thanks for your letters. I actually moved into a new apartment this week that's kind of like the Biltmore Estate. Except for all the grounds and bathrooms and stuff. Ok so I didn't actually move but were I to I definitely would go to a place like the Biltmore.... or the Ritz...
Had kind of a rough week this week. Firstly, that rather eccentric, possibly mentally ill investigator we had Brother Kuang appears to have had a more serious handicap than we had originally anticipated. He basically thinks everyone in our Branch knows about his past and background and are in league with his stepfather who is out to get him. Also, since they won't say anything about it he can't get along with them because he thinks they're just putting on a sort of front to fool him for some reason. He talked to President Pearce (our branch president) which somewhat quieted his concerns as he seems to trust President Pearce, but he said that he couldn't get baptized into a church where the members have a problem with him (as imagined as it is). And then later last night he called and said he didn't want to continue meeting with us because he didn't see that it helped his life at all to meet with us and accept the gospel. I did my best to resolve his concerns by hearing him out and then trying to bear testimony and the importance of faith, patience, and baptism... but it really didn't work. It's just kind of tough to have someone you meet with for such a long time just completely drop you in one day... Especially since this was really the first time he came up with these types of concerns... Why does he have to be so insane!?!?
I was translating during Sacrament Meeting (horribly... I didn't even really understand what I was saying in English... but fortunately there was only 1 person listening to the headset), but Elder Wu was sitting next to Kuang Dixiong and told me that during the sacrament he took out his phone (which was off) and said "they're putting poison in the water!!!"... which to me doesn't really appear to be the action of someone who is mentally stable...
We also lost a couple of other baptismal dates this week as well, one because of parental opposition, and one because she is too busy and doesn't have time to really "investigate" as it were.
So not altogether an excellent week. But also not all that bad since we added two new really cool investigators on Thursday who have a lot of promise. One thing I really feel I need to do better is to have a greater influence of the Spirit in my life. I just feel like, and Elder Wu kind of agrees, our lessons don't have as strong a spirit as they used to and we're not entirely sure why. But we went through the "Remember This" sections of Preach My Gospel today and found some things we felt we could be doing better and so this week we're definitely going to strive to improve.
Our recent convert, Brother Ouyang, has a really weak testimony that seriously needs hedging up. Especially since he and his family went out house-hunting yesterday instead of coming to church which really really really annoys me. I can't believe these people. What makes me the most frustrated I think is when people know what they should be doing and then don't do it. Frustrates the heck out of me! The Heck!!! But I guess it just helps me know how Heavenly Father feels when we don't do what we know we should be doing... annoyed and really disappointed...
Anyways, sounds like the country's going to heck in a hand basket or however the saying goes. But I guess if that means a couple days off for you, dad, then that's pretty good. Also, speaking of Taiwan, we ran into like 2 separate Taiwanese girls (yes more young girls...) yesterday who both agreed to meet with us... so... they're not all THAT bad...
Yeah I kinda gave up on Cantonese since it's super hard to pronounce and remember and no one that speaks Cantonese and doesn't speak Mandarin is interested in the church anyways. Standard conversation with Lao Taitai from Taishan, Guangdong:
Me: What do you think is most important in life?
Them: HEALTHY BODY IS MOST IMPORTANT!
Me: Why do you feel that way?
Them: OF COURSE IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT LAAAAA!!! NO HEALTHY BODY NO NOTHING LAAAA!!!).
A little stereotypical I'll admit but after 5 months of talking to them... I think I'm at least a little qualified to make that kind of a judgment call... mostly since Elder Wu and I have really changed the demographic of people that we contact and have had way more success as a result.
Not that it comes without a certain price... since Elder Chen and I were on exchanges on Saturday night and contacted a girl who was totally flirting with us (i.e. “You guys have such sweet smiles!!!”)... and then she came to church on Sunday and kept complimenting me about various things... kind of funny. Fortunately, she lives in the sisters’ area and they set a baptismal date with her for the 27th of next month so I guess it's all good.
Anyways, I gtg get a new camera now... and Elder Wu has to go record himself playing piano to send to his girlfriend... so… thanks for all your emails! I love you guys! I'm grateful for your support and prayers and I know they're helping. I hope next week will go better and I’m pretty sure it will.
Love you!
Thanks for your letters. I actually moved into a new apartment this week that's kind of like the Biltmore Estate. Except for all the grounds and bathrooms and stuff. Ok so I didn't actually move but were I to I definitely would go to a place like the Biltmore.... or the Ritz...
Had kind of a rough week this week. Firstly, that rather eccentric, possibly mentally ill investigator we had Brother Kuang appears to have had a more serious handicap than we had originally anticipated. He basically thinks everyone in our Branch knows about his past and background and are in league with his stepfather who is out to get him. Also, since they won't say anything about it he can't get along with them because he thinks they're just putting on a sort of front to fool him for some reason. He talked to President Pearce (our branch president) which somewhat quieted his concerns as he seems to trust President Pearce, but he said that he couldn't get baptized into a church where the members have a problem with him (as imagined as it is). And then later last night he called and said he didn't want to continue meeting with us because he didn't see that it helped his life at all to meet with us and accept the gospel. I did my best to resolve his concerns by hearing him out and then trying to bear testimony and the importance of faith, patience, and baptism... but it really didn't work. It's just kind of tough to have someone you meet with for such a long time just completely drop you in one day... Especially since this was really the first time he came up with these types of concerns... Why does he have to be so insane!?!?
I was translating during Sacrament Meeting (horribly... I didn't even really understand what I was saying in English... but fortunately there was only 1 person listening to the headset), but Elder Wu was sitting next to Kuang Dixiong and told me that during the sacrament he took out his phone (which was off) and said "they're putting poison in the water!!!"... which to me doesn't really appear to be the action of someone who is mentally stable...
We also lost a couple of other baptismal dates this week as well, one because of parental opposition, and one because she is too busy and doesn't have time to really "investigate" as it were.
So not altogether an excellent week. But also not all that bad since we added two new really cool investigators on Thursday who have a lot of promise. One thing I really feel I need to do better is to have a greater influence of the Spirit in my life. I just feel like, and Elder Wu kind of agrees, our lessons don't have as strong a spirit as they used to and we're not entirely sure why. But we went through the "Remember This" sections of Preach My Gospel today and found some things we felt we could be doing better and so this week we're definitely going to strive to improve.
Our recent convert, Brother Ouyang, has a really weak testimony that seriously needs hedging up. Especially since he and his family went out house-hunting yesterday instead of coming to church which really really really annoys me. I can't believe these people. What makes me the most frustrated I think is when people know what they should be doing and then don't do it. Frustrates the heck out of me! The Heck!!! But I guess it just helps me know how Heavenly Father feels when we don't do what we know we should be doing... annoyed and really disappointed...
Anyways, sounds like the country's going to heck in a hand basket or however the saying goes. But I guess if that means a couple days off for you, dad, then that's pretty good. Also, speaking of Taiwan, we ran into like 2 separate Taiwanese girls (yes more young girls...) yesterday who both agreed to meet with us... so... they're not all THAT bad...
Yeah I kinda gave up on Cantonese since it's super hard to pronounce and remember and no one that speaks Cantonese and doesn't speak Mandarin is interested in the church anyways. Standard conversation with Lao Taitai from Taishan, Guangdong:
Me: What do you think is most important in life?
Them: HEALTHY BODY IS MOST IMPORTANT!
Me: Why do you feel that way?
Them: OF COURSE IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT LAAAAA!!! NO HEALTHY BODY NO NOTHING LAAAA!!!).
A little stereotypical I'll admit but after 5 months of talking to them... I think I'm at least a little qualified to make that kind of a judgment call... mostly since Elder Wu and I have really changed the demographic of people that we contact and have had way more success as a result.
Not that it comes without a certain price... since Elder Chen and I were on exchanges on Saturday night and contacted a girl who was totally flirting with us (i.e. “You guys have such sweet smiles!!!”)... and then she came to church on Sunday and kept complimenting me about various things... kind of funny. Fortunately, she lives in the sisters’ area and they set a baptismal date with her for the 27th of next month so I guess it's all good.
Anyways, I gtg get a new camera now... and Elder Wu has to go record himself playing piano to send to his girlfriend... so… thanks for all your emails! I love you guys! I'm grateful for your support and prayers and I know they're helping. I hope next week will go better and I’m pretty sure it will.
Love you!
Happy Heart Day!
Feb. 14, 2011
Herrow! Happy Valentine's Day!
I was actually gonna send you a card and stuff for it but... I forgot last week... even though I wrote it down... Sorry!!! I did really like the box you sent me though... even though I can't stop eating candy lately... which isn't altogether a good thing....
Whatever the case, had another excellent week this week. The Lord truly is blessing Elder Wu and I in this area. One thing I think we are just getting better and better at is being bold in inviting people to be baptized and make other commitments.
Anyways, I got invited by our mission president to this leadership training conference that was held last week on wednesday-friday which was really really good. We had the head of the church proselyting dept. there kind of running things which was really cool cause he was one of the people who worked on Preach My Gospel so he was telling us all these stories about the apostles receiving revelation for the book. Anyways, the one thing that he emphasized throughout the entire conference was the importance of the doctrine of Christ, that is, faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation. Pretty much core of everything we do as missionaries. If anything we do is not helping others to a) increase their faith, b) repent, or c) prepare for the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, then it's really not what we should be doing. I really enjoyed the whole thing and it really helped me to change my perspective and become more focused on what I need to be doing as a missionary. Not that I wasn't already kind of doing that, but I think it is pretty easy to sometimes fall into the trap of just going over and sharing a message of some kind and kind of losing sight of the big picture, or what is most important. I also learned alot from the training we had on wed-friday. Elder Wu and I have already started applying it as we tie everything in our lessons back to the doctrine of Christ. I think it really does help us to focus more on what is most important in missionary work. It helps us to keep our purpose at the center of all of our lessons and help our investigators better understand our message.
Another thing I found very helpful from the training was the new method of inviting investigators to sacrament meeting: emphasizing the spirituality of sacrament meeting rather than just the benefits of the church as an institution. I think in a large part it was this new method of invitation that let us to such great success yesterday with 6 investigators at sacrament meeting, which is the most I have ever had come before. Even better, one of our investigators, Sister Ding, who's baptismal date was looking a little rocky since we hadn't been in contact with her for about a week and a half, came to church yesterday and we were able to set up an appointment with her so we can continue preparing her for her baptismal date on the 27th!
I also had an incredibly good lesson last tuesday with one of our investigators Brother Zhou in which we invited him to be baptized and to quit smoking, both of which commitments he accepted. I had to make about 50 phone calls in order to get Brother Yang, one of our members who had previously quit smoking in order to get baptized, to come to the lesson since he needed someone to take his kids to the church for an activity, but I finally found someone to do it and it paid off big time since Brother Yang's experience and testimony were really really helpful. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson and Brother Zhou was talking about how although at first he was only investigating the church for his girlfriend Sister Ying (scheduled to be baptized on the 27th), but that now he really does feel that it's something he wants to pursue for his own reasons and just feels like it's right.
Anyways, things are going really well and I'd write more but I only have 2 minutes left on this library computer!
Thanks for your emails guys! I love you!
-Ian
Herrow! Happy Valentine's Day!
I was actually gonna send you a card and stuff for it but... I forgot last week... even though I wrote it down... Sorry!!! I did really like the box you sent me though... even though I can't stop eating candy lately... which isn't altogether a good thing....
Whatever the case, had another excellent week this week. The Lord truly is blessing Elder Wu and I in this area. One thing I think we are just getting better and better at is being bold in inviting people to be baptized and make other commitments.
Anyways, I got invited by our mission president to this leadership training conference that was held last week on wednesday-friday which was really really good. We had the head of the church proselyting dept. there kind of running things which was really cool cause he was one of the people who worked on Preach My Gospel so he was telling us all these stories about the apostles receiving revelation for the book. Anyways, the one thing that he emphasized throughout the entire conference was the importance of the doctrine of Christ, that is, faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation. Pretty much core of everything we do as missionaries. If anything we do is not helping others to a) increase their faith, b) repent, or c) prepare for the ordinances of baptism and confirmation, then it's really not what we should be doing. I really enjoyed the whole thing and it really helped me to change my perspective and become more focused on what I need to be doing as a missionary. Not that I wasn't already kind of doing that, but I think it is pretty easy to sometimes fall into the trap of just going over and sharing a message of some kind and kind of losing sight of the big picture, or what is most important. I also learned alot from the training we had on wed-friday. Elder Wu and I have already started applying it as we tie everything in our lessons back to the doctrine of Christ. I think it really does help us to focus more on what is most important in missionary work. It helps us to keep our purpose at the center of all of our lessons and help our investigators better understand our message.
Another thing I found very helpful from the training was the new method of inviting investigators to sacrament meeting: emphasizing the spirituality of sacrament meeting rather than just the benefits of the church as an institution. I think in a large part it was this new method of invitation that let us to such great success yesterday with 6 investigators at sacrament meeting, which is the most I have ever had come before. Even better, one of our investigators, Sister Ding, who's baptismal date was looking a little rocky since we hadn't been in contact with her for about a week and a half, came to church yesterday and we were able to set up an appointment with her so we can continue preparing her for her baptismal date on the 27th!
I also had an incredibly good lesson last tuesday with one of our investigators Brother Zhou in which we invited him to be baptized and to quit smoking, both of which commitments he accepted. I had to make about 50 phone calls in order to get Brother Yang, one of our members who had previously quit smoking in order to get baptized, to come to the lesson since he needed someone to take his kids to the church for an activity, but I finally found someone to do it and it paid off big time since Brother Yang's experience and testimony were really really helpful. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson and Brother Zhou was talking about how although at first he was only investigating the church for his girlfriend Sister Ying (scheduled to be baptized on the 27th), but that now he really does feel that it's something he wants to pursue for his own reasons and just feels like it's right.
Anyways, things are going really well and I'd write more but I only have 2 minutes left on this library computer!
Thanks for your emails guys! I love you!
-Ian
Diamond Vs. Cubic Zirconia
Feb. 7, 2011
Hai!
Right I was gonna mention about that but I actually got used to it after the first couple of days (being senior companion that is). The first couple days I was like flipping out cause of all the responsibility and having to deal with everything and make phone calls and stuff but I really feel that the Lord has supported me in this calling. Not only with my language but also just with knowing what to do a lot of the time. I feel that my teaching skills have improved a ton in the past couple weeks and Elder Wu and I are seeing a lot a lot of success in this area. Not really through anything that I've been doing, but the Lord has been blessing us so much. This week we added 5 new investigators, have 4 with a baptismal date, and taught 7 lessons with a member present, which is pretty phenomenal. We have a lot of new investigators with a lot of potential.
Actually one of the new investigators we added was totally by accident haha! Last week we set up an appointment with an investigator named sister yin. And when I called to confirm, she had no problem and we set up for saturday at 2:30. Anyways, it turns out she was sick on that day so we rescheduled for tuesday at 4:00. So we set up to meet her in union square and were calling to set up a place to meet and stuff and everything went really well. Anyways, when she finally showed up, Elder Wu and I were like "who... is this?!?" It turns out the person I had been calling the whole time was a totally different person named sister YAN. Somehow, the whole time I was calling her on the phone and setting up and confirming appointments and stuff, it was a completely different person from the person I thought I was talking to hahahaha. Pretty hilarious. So anyways, we taught her a lesson and set up a return appointment and then called the person I had originally thought we were going to meet. She was like "yeah I was wondering about that cause I was waiting for you guys to call me on that day but I don't have your number so I couldn't get in touch with you. Haha so we set up an appointment with Sister Yin yesterday at the library which went really well as well.
For some reason, the only people we seem to be adding as new investigators are young women... which seems kind of sketchy... but it's not! Like we added 5 new investigators this week and 4 of them were girls between 20 and 25. So my new contacting strategy is to ignore everyone except for people who fit that demographic.... Just kidding!... Except only kind of... cause really... success. The other new investigator is a referral given to us by one of the diamond investigators we added last week which just adds to her diamondness. Unfortunately, the other diamond investigator is looking a little bit like cubit zirconium (Don't know if it's cubit... but I'm pretty sure the zirconium part is right... anyways that fake diamond stuff)... since she didn't come to our appoint last week and we haven't been able to get in touch with her lately. But we still have hope that she's actually just super busy lately and still is up for getting baptized in 3 weeks. Anyways, her friend sister Ying is still absolutely amazing and is more active than most of our members haha. Especially since she's already given us a referral which is pretty unheard of for the members in our area.
Another of the girls we added, Anita Long, is looking pretty darn golden. We met her on the street as we were walking towards chinatown and she was like "yeah i'm looking for a church to go to... I went to one the other week but it was all young people and they didn't seem very reverent/serious about their religion so I'm looking for something else"
Anyways so then we had a lesson with her on monday and then on last saturday right before our branch's new years party and set a baptismal date with her on the 5th of march which looks pretty stable. Also, her parents are coming to the states tonight and she said they're also interested in going to church which is pretty much really awesome!
I really don't know what's happened to our area but this is the most success I've seen since I've been here. People are really just coming out of the woodwork and the Lord is putting those prepared to hear and accept the gospel in our path. I've decided that contacting in chinatown isn't the most effective thing ever since it seems like people from GuangDong are almost universally either too busy to care about religion, or too busy and anti-religion. Elder Wu and I were just talking about it the other night and he was like "yeah it's just their culture, they just say "There's no god, rely on yourself" And right after he said that this guy from Guangdong walked past and I was like "hi we're representatives of Jesus Christ!" And he was like "I don't believe in god, I believe in myself!" It was quite ironic.
Anyways, as far as teaching female investigators is concerned, we've got it pretty much covered but we do need a 3rd male present if we teach them in a non-public place. So if we cant find any males to come along we have to end up teaching them in the library or parks and stuff... which isn't that ideal... but better than nothing.
Our other investigator with a baptismal date (Elder Kuang) is doing really well. He came to church for the first time on sunday and really liked it. Looking really solid.
I'd talk more about my investigators, and I really could, but I don't have that much time left and still have to write my letter to the president. Sounds like you're doing pretty good in washington. That's awesome you're having so many missionary experiences mom! I know that there really are so many people that are looking for this gospel and really need it, I know that the spirit will help you to know those times and give you what to say when you need to say it (D+C... lots of places...).
Also, I don't remember writing mean things about yoav in my engilsh journal... but that does sound like me haha. That must have been 9th grade or something... although that seems kind of old to be writing grammar sentences... but I can't really remember not liking him that much before 9th grade haha. Anyways, I've repented... also it helps that I haven't seen him in years...
Anyways, thanks so much for your emails! I love you so much! One thing i've realized this week (well have known for quite a while actually) is that the Ouyang parents are literally controlled by their kids... and I'm so glad I have very little control over you guys... and I really appreciate everything you did to raise me to be the really great and amazing person that I am today (ALSO HUMBLE!).
Love you! Have a fantastic week!
Ian
Hai!
Right I was gonna mention about that but I actually got used to it after the first couple of days (being senior companion that is). The first couple days I was like flipping out cause of all the responsibility and having to deal with everything and make phone calls and stuff but I really feel that the Lord has supported me in this calling. Not only with my language but also just with knowing what to do a lot of the time. I feel that my teaching skills have improved a ton in the past couple weeks and Elder Wu and I are seeing a lot a lot of success in this area. Not really through anything that I've been doing, but the Lord has been blessing us so much. This week we added 5 new investigators, have 4 with a baptismal date, and taught 7 lessons with a member present, which is pretty phenomenal. We have a lot of new investigators with a lot of potential.
Actually one of the new investigators we added was totally by accident haha! Last week we set up an appointment with an investigator named sister yin. And when I called to confirm, she had no problem and we set up for saturday at 2:30. Anyways, it turns out she was sick on that day so we rescheduled for tuesday at 4:00. So we set up to meet her in union square and were calling to set up a place to meet and stuff and everything went really well. Anyways, when she finally showed up, Elder Wu and I were like "who... is this?!?" It turns out the person I had been calling the whole time was a totally different person named sister YAN. Somehow, the whole time I was calling her on the phone and setting up and confirming appointments and stuff, it was a completely different person from the person I thought I was talking to hahahaha. Pretty hilarious. So anyways, we taught her a lesson and set up a return appointment and then called the person I had originally thought we were going to meet. She was like "yeah I was wondering about that cause I was waiting for you guys to call me on that day but I don't have your number so I couldn't get in touch with you. Haha so we set up an appointment with Sister Yin yesterday at the library which went really well as well.
For some reason, the only people we seem to be adding as new investigators are young women... which seems kind of sketchy... but it's not! Like we added 5 new investigators this week and 4 of them were girls between 20 and 25. So my new contacting strategy is to ignore everyone except for people who fit that demographic.... Just kidding!... Except only kind of... cause really... success. The other new investigator is a referral given to us by one of the diamond investigators we added last week which just adds to her diamondness. Unfortunately, the other diamond investigator is looking a little bit like cubit zirconium (Don't know if it's cubit... but I'm pretty sure the zirconium part is right... anyways that fake diamond stuff)... since she didn't come to our appoint last week and we haven't been able to get in touch with her lately. But we still have hope that she's actually just super busy lately and still is up for getting baptized in 3 weeks. Anyways, her friend sister Ying is still absolutely amazing and is more active than most of our members haha. Especially since she's already given us a referral which is pretty unheard of for the members in our area.
Another of the girls we added, Anita Long, is looking pretty darn golden. We met her on the street as we were walking towards chinatown and she was like "yeah i'm looking for a church to go to... I went to one the other week but it was all young people and they didn't seem very reverent/serious about their religion so I'm looking for something else"
Anyways so then we had a lesson with her on monday and then on last saturday right before our branch's new years party and set a baptismal date with her on the 5th of march which looks pretty stable. Also, her parents are coming to the states tonight and she said they're also interested in going to church which is pretty much really awesome!
I really don't know what's happened to our area but this is the most success I've seen since I've been here. People are really just coming out of the woodwork and the Lord is putting those prepared to hear and accept the gospel in our path. I've decided that contacting in chinatown isn't the most effective thing ever since it seems like people from GuangDong are almost universally either too busy to care about religion, or too busy and anti-religion. Elder Wu and I were just talking about it the other night and he was like "yeah it's just their culture, they just say "There's no god, rely on yourself" And right after he said that this guy from Guangdong walked past and I was like "hi we're representatives of Jesus Christ!" And he was like "I don't believe in god, I believe in myself!" It was quite ironic.
Anyways, as far as teaching female investigators is concerned, we've got it pretty much covered but we do need a 3rd male present if we teach them in a non-public place. So if we cant find any males to come along we have to end up teaching them in the library or parks and stuff... which isn't that ideal... but better than nothing.
Our other investigator with a baptismal date (Elder Kuang) is doing really well. He came to church for the first time on sunday and really liked it. Looking really solid.
I'd talk more about my investigators, and I really could, but I don't have that much time left and still have to write my letter to the president. Sounds like you're doing pretty good in washington. That's awesome you're having so many missionary experiences mom! I know that there really are so many people that are looking for this gospel and really need it, I know that the spirit will help you to know those times and give you what to say when you need to say it (D+C... lots of places...).
Also, I don't remember writing mean things about yoav in my engilsh journal... but that does sound like me haha. That must have been 9th grade or something... although that seems kind of old to be writing grammar sentences... but I can't really remember not liking him that much before 9th grade haha. Anyways, I've repented... also it helps that I haven't seen him in years...
Anyways, thanks so much for your emails! I love you so much! One thing i've realized this week (well have known for quite a while actually) is that the Ouyang parents are literally controlled by their kids... and I'm so glad I have very little control over you guys... and I really appreciate everything you did to raise me to be the really great and amazing person that I am today (ALSO HUMBLE!).
Love you! Have a fantastic week!
Ian
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