Herroww!
Well when I said Elder Wu's Mandarin wasn't that good I mean his pronunciation is pretty poor. But his mandarin is quite good. Despite the fact that mine might be just a little bit better (mainly in the pronunciation dept.), we only use Mandarin to communicate. Elder Wu is pretty cool. We get along really really well for the most part. Maybe even better than Elder Luo and I did since Elder Wu grew up in the church and as a HongKonger is a little more westernized. Also doesn't have random radical views of Chinese superiority/ethnocentrism haha.
Whatever the case, that sounds pretty serious about the nuclear plants in Japan. Although, let me share with you how it's affecting the work here in San Francisco. Got the most ridiculous message the other day from our investigators with an excuse for canceling our lesson I have not yet encountered on my mission. They were like (actually just the girlfriend sister jiang) (and i'm quoting word for word) "Sorry we won't come today and I recommend you not to be out neither. The cloud with nuclear radiation from japan arrives in SF today so that it very dangerous of the rain now. So don't go outside when it rains"... I was soooooo mad. The most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard for canceling anything in my whole life. NUCLEAR RADIATION CLOUD FROM JAPAN!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?!? Also since we'd already invited a member to come to our lesson and this was about 5-10 minutes before we were scheduled to meet. I was so so angry. So I sent back (although I wanted to be more angry in my text) "We actually invited a firend to come to our lesson today so we'd love it if in the future you could give us an hour or two prior notice to let us know if you won't be available. To be honest there is absolutely nothing to worry about with regards to radiation from japan but if we turn into mutants or something we'll let you know. Are you coming to church tomorrow? or going out of town?" I'm not sure if she knows what a mutant is, but I guess she never will since we suffered very few ill effects from swimming through the dense cloud of nuclear radiation falling from the sky upon our heads.... Well Elder Wu and I had a bit of a headache... but we think that's mainly a result of our investigators being really annoying.
Apparently their parents had like called/emailed them and said that Chinese news was really talking up the radiation that was gonna come over to SF and so told them to stay inside and that although they know local news says it's nothing (it was), they trust Chinese news is more "reliable". Which two terms I always considered somewhat anathema to one another... At least one good thing came out of the experience since I had to learn what radiation was in chinese: 輻射。Whatever the case, that's cool you had a chance to take part in missionary work mom! Yep! That's pretty much how it goes! Investigators drop off the map and then don't answer their phone/the door and you don't have any idea why. Kind of like an investigator who was looking super golden who we met a couple weeks ago and set a baptismal date and then canceled an appt. via text saying she was sick and has, since that time, not answered our phone/texts which is really annoying and frustrating. Anyways, I'm sure everything will be ok in the end. Just depends on the will of God.
Elder Wu and I are always like "靠神的旨意！ 我們什麽都不需要做！“華華華！(the hua hua hua being of course a reference to something Anirudh once said in our chinese class in 9th grade... pretty good... I'm sure you remember...).... Clearly joking... but still fun to say.
I love speaking chinese in downtown san francisco. There really is no downside to SYL here since a)no one can understand you so you can say whatever you want and no one knows what you're saying, b) If they do understand you, then you get to talk to them about the gospel and start teaching them, c) Helps improve the ol' chinese speaking skills and d) Contacting is totally not awkward cause people around you don't know what you're saying and so your conversations are totally private... Also cause I don't have to use english to contact which although I do occasionally, is always awkward and not my favorite activity... although a couple people we've contacted have ended up being pretty cool and getting baptized. (Ok one guy so far... and he's kind of crazy... so... still... not bad.)I actually think about the parable of the sower a lot dad. Like how Sister Ying is like 100 fold awesomeness and then there is brother OuYang who is like the one that falls upon really shallow ground and when the sun comes up, gets all dried out and dies... sigh... so sad... If his stupid kids weren't such brats... ok that was harsh... but they are pretty bratty. Also since his wife isn't that supportive, and although I'd say it would help, I still think most of the power in that family lies in the hands of the children...which doesn't make very much sense to me but is really annoying. Especially since they're 4 and 9 and don't know anything.
However, we had a pretty successful week this week. Had a lot of lessons (11! Which is the highest for our area... Never had more than 11 but it's still the highest... we tried to set a record... but failed.... ) Also we found this awesome hotel right across from our office where we can just 隨便 go in and out without any problems at all and therefore can teach a lot more lessons with female investigators cause we don't need to find a 陪課 which takes a loooot of pressure off. Especially since a lot of the time having a 陪課 isn't even that useful since our members aren't very good at fellowshipping and don't really seem to get the purpose of coming along to lessons which is kind of frustrating. I wish you could come and give a pep talk too mom.
Haven't been singing too much. Had a musical number where we did 3 part harmony (tried 4... didn't really take since I ended up having to go sing base with Elder Wu he was having a little trouble and so the first verse was sounding pretty rough... ok really rough.. but after that it sounded pretty good.
That's pretty awesome you got to participate in that brother's sponge bath hospital experience mom! Keep it up! That's good that rochester is making friends. Always nice to hear updates on how he's doing. Getting in any fights with squirrels/mice lately? Although I guess all he has to do is chase them into the bathroom and they'll do the rest hahaha.
Anyways, that's about it for this week. Had 2 investigators come to church yesterday which is better than 1 but not all that great... at least sacrament meeting was in Mandarin yesterday instead of Mantonese... I just wish our branch was better cause it seems like none of our investigators really understand the importance of church attendance and as Elder Wu said "There's not really anything to attract them..." Which I can't really disagree with... but I don't really know what to do about it. We're thinking of hiring a rock band or putting on some chinese acrobatic shows... let me know if you have any other suggestions...
In any case, I guess i'll stop here since although there are a billion gajllion things that happen within the week, I cannot write but an hundredth part of them (get that reference?!?! I AM studying the scriptures and stuff!)... much less remember that much. Also I only really keep occasional journal entries (once every few days...) since we're pretty darn busy all the time and most nights we have to make a bunch of phone calls anyways....Kay. Love you guys! Thanks for your emails!
Bai bai!
-Ian
Monday, March 21, 2011
We are sowing daily sowing...
March 13, 2011
Well it only took me 3 hours but I finally finished reading your email mom! Haha just kidding... more like 2...
That's awesome michelle is there! Get me a buddy pass! I want to go to NY/DC to hang out for the weekend! Mostly cause I'm afraid michelle will steal away all my friends while I'm gone... which she probably WILL. So good at making friends... and stuff... too good...
Yeah heard all about the earthquake in Japan since they thought there'd be a small tsunami here so our district leader called and was like "don't get drowned..." even though I think it didn't end up coming... or if it did it was like a foot high... 8.9 is pretty huge though. I guess they're kind of expecting an earthquake of that magnitude happening here sometime in the near future... but fortunately we all have 72-hour kits handy so we should be good. Also that's amazingly lucky they were having zone conference at the time in Japan. Pretty good timing.
That's cool you're developing such an appreciation for art mom. Although I'm not sure if I'd really be able to share in the artistic revelry with you since everytime we'd go to museums my eyes would glaze over after the first hour or 2 and then I'd just like walk through like a zombie going "oh look (motioning to some masterpiece or other)... art... that's nice... let's go"...
As you will recall dad, I AM in america... and as such am in possession of said refrigerator. And said nifty refrigerator magnet will most certainly be a wonderful addition to our apartment's decor. Although most mornings I don't really think about all that much aside from how tired I am... especially since Benjamin Franklin stole an hour of our sleep yesterday which I wasn't too happy about... especially since Elder Luo and I forgot about daylight savings when it was actually in our benefit and so ended up being up an hour too early which was a bummer... more like a tragedy actually.
Whatever the case, I had a pretty good week here, unfortunately, however we had to drop a lot of baptismal dates. 2 were because we found out they live together (boyfriend and girlfriend) which made us think that we couldn't really justify keeping their baptism date for April 3 just because of how many changes they need to make in their lives before they could really meet the requirements. 1 is because she isn't returning our calls/texts and we assume that she either a) lost/forgot to charge her phone or b) heard some anti-mormon propaganda which kind of scared her off. And the last is because he isn't really up to coming to church because he works the night shift doing some kind of repair work on BART and gets off work at 8 AM on sunday morning. Also, his parents always make him take them to look at houses and he's not exactly consistent at picking up his phone which is another problem. However, we added one additional baptismal date which is looking fairly stable, especially considering she is on spring break next week and will have more time to come to church and hopefully make it a habit.
Coming to church however is still a major challenge for all our investigators, since it really isn't ever very convenient for anyone and less so for students who have a lot of homework and no car. We are really going to do our best this week to help our investigators recognize the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy... which we also worked on last week, but this Sunday I guess was just too soon/too busy for most of our investigators.. kind of annoying... but.. whatever...
Fortunately, the one investigator who did come, Brother Zhou, is super solid. He has quit smoking for a whole week now and is still going strong. It's really investigators like Brother Zhou, and sister Ying (his girlfriend who was baptized two weeks ago) that make missionary work so great. Just really prepared people who you can actually see their faith growing. Unfortunately, for each one of those investigators, it seems like there are 5 or 10 others who aren't big on keeping commitments and therefore don't have much progression. It really does strengthen my faith to see investigators like brother Zhou though who didn't even believe in God before he began meeting with us and who's faith has just been getting stronger and stronger because of his commitment to reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church.
Elder Wu and I have really kind of given up contacting places other than AAU (Academy of Art University... don't ask me why they have both Academy and University in the name... seems rather redundant to say the least) just because it's so effective. I'd guess that at least 30% of the student body is from China and it seems like for every hour we spend there we get at least two fairly solid potential investigators. I don't know if it's some natural spirituality of art students or something but a lot of them seem very interested in the gospel. Of course it also doesn't hurt that our downtown office is literally right across the street from their campus which just makes it especially convenient.
One thing that Elder Wu and I are finding becoming more and more challenging is finding members to come along to lessons since our branch is pretty small and we have a lot of female investigators who we really need a 3rd male present for, of which the branch is also rather short of. We're always afraid of using the same people too often since two members who were baptized in Sunset before I got here have already kind of been driven into inactivity likely because of how often the missionaries called them. Which I don't really get because they could always just say no... Whatever the case, it seems like our branch has a little problem with retention since a lot of the people who have been baptized in the past year or so have already gone less active which I find very annoying. Especially since we really have enough less active members in the church as it is and it doesn't really do very much good to baptize people into inactivity.
For example, both investigators Elder Luo and I baptized have already gone inactive. One because he was sick for a long time and is now preparing to go back to China, and another just because his kids are so against going to church and his wife isn't a fan either. Mostly the kids though since they are kind of ruled by their 9 year old daughter and 4 year old son which really really frustrates me just because there's no way their family is going to see any changes in their lives unless they actually LIVE the gospel and I feel like they think our message just didn't really work for them... when they don't realize that it's not working because they're not working at it. Just frustrating.
Anyways, for the most part, things are going fairly well. Also, Elder Wu just typed this super long letter to president wade and since we're using macs, he did ctrl C to copy it instead of command C and then consequently lost it all... And naturally is rather frustrated as a result. Fortunately it's just a letter to president wade and not a master's thesis paper... which would be worse... although I don't why he'd be typing one of those...
Whatever the case, thanks for your love and support and emails and stuff! Say hi to James for me and tell him I'll take extra long on my homecoming talk for him.
Love you!
-Ian
Well it only took me 3 hours but I finally finished reading your email mom! Haha just kidding... more like 2...
That's awesome michelle is there! Get me a buddy pass! I want to go to NY/DC to hang out for the weekend! Mostly cause I'm afraid michelle will steal away all my friends while I'm gone... which she probably WILL. So good at making friends... and stuff... too good...
Yeah heard all about the earthquake in Japan since they thought there'd be a small tsunami here so our district leader called and was like "don't get drowned..." even though I think it didn't end up coming... or if it did it was like a foot high... 8.9 is pretty huge though. I guess they're kind of expecting an earthquake of that magnitude happening here sometime in the near future... but fortunately we all have 72-hour kits handy so we should be good. Also that's amazingly lucky they were having zone conference at the time in Japan. Pretty good timing.
That's cool you're developing such an appreciation for art mom. Although I'm not sure if I'd really be able to share in the artistic revelry with you since everytime we'd go to museums my eyes would glaze over after the first hour or 2 and then I'd just like walk through like a zombie going "oh look (motioning to some masterpiece or other)... art... that's nice... let's go"...
As you will recall dad, I AM in america... and as such am in possession of said refrigerator. And said nifty refrigerator magnet will most certainly be a wonderful addition to our apartment's decor. Although most mornings I don't really think about all that much aside from how tired I am... especially since Benjamin Franklin stole an hour of our sleep yesterday which I wasn't too happy about... especially since Elder Luo and I forgot about daylight savings when it was actually in our benefit and so ended up being up an hour too early which was a bummer... more like a tragedy actually.
Whatever the case, I had a pretty good week here, unfortunately, however we had to drop a lot of baptismal dates. 2 were because we found out they live together (boyfriend and girlfriend) which made us think that we couldn't really justify keeping their baptism date for April 3 just because of how many changes they need to make in their lives before they could really meet the requirements. 1 is because she isn't returning our calls/texts and we assume that she either a) lost/forgot to charge her phone or b) heard some anti-mormon propaganda which kind of scared her off. And the last is because he isn't really up to coming to church because he works the night shift doing some kind of repair work on BART and gets off work at 8 AM on sunday morning. Also, his parents always make him take them to look at houses and he's not exactly consistent at picking up his phone which is another problem. However, we added one additional baptismal date which is looking fairly stable, especially considering she is on spring break next week and will have more time to come to church and hopefully make it a habit.
Coming to church however is still a major challenge for all our investigators, since it really isn't ever very convenient for anyone and less so for students who have a lot of homework and no car. We are really going to do our best this week to help our investigators recognize the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy... which we also worked on last week, but this Sunday I guess was just too soon/too busy for most of our investigators.. kind of annoying... but.. whatever...
Fortunately, the one investigator who did come, Brother Zhou, is super solid. He has quit smoking for a whole week now and is still going strong. It's really investigators like Brother Zhou, and sister Ying (his girlfriend who was baptized two weeks ago) that make missionary work so great. Just really prepared people who you can actually see their faith growing. Unfortunately, for each one of those investigators, it seems like there are 5 or 10 others who aren't big on keeping commitments and therefore don't have much progression. It really does strengthen my faith to see investigators like brother Zhou though who didn't even believe in God before he began meeting with us and who's faith has just been getting stronger and stronger because of his commitment to reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church.
Elder Wu and I have really kind of given up contacting places other than AAU (Academy of Art University... don't ask me why they have both Academy and University in the name... seems rather redundant to say the least) just because it's so effective. I'd guess that at least 30% of the student body is from China and it seems like for every hour we spend there we get at least two fairly solid potential investigators. I don't know if it's some natural spirituality of art students or something but a lot of them seem very interested in the gospel. Of course it also doesn't hurt that our downtown office is literally right across the street from their campus which just makes it especially convenient.
One thing that Elder Wu and I are finding becoming more and more challenging is finding members to come along to lessons since our branch is pretty small and we have a lot of female investigators who we really need a 3rd male present for, of which the branch is also rather short of. We're always afraid of using the same people too often since two members who were baptized in Sunset before I got here have already kind of been driven into inactivity likely because of how often the missionaries called them. Which I don't really get because they could always just say no... Whatever the case, it seems like our branch has a little problem with retention since a lot of the people who have been baptized in the past year or so have already gone less active which I find very annoying. Especially since we really have enough less active members in the church as it is and it doesn't really do very much good to baptize people into inactivity.
For example, both investigators Elder Luo and I baptized have already gone inactive. One because he was sick for a long time and is now preparing to go back to China, and another just because his kids are so against going to church and his wife isn't a fan either. Mostly the kids though since they are kind of ruled by their 9 year old daughter and 4 year old son which really really frustrates me just because there's no way their family is going to see any changes in their lives unless they actually LIVE the gospel and I feel like they think our message just didn't really work for them... when they don't realize that it's not working because they're not working at it. Just frustrating.
Anyways, for the most part, things are going fairly well. Also, Elder Wu just typed this super long letter to president wade and since we're using macs, he did ctrl C to copy it instead of command C and then consequently lost it all... And naturally is rather frustrated as a result. Fortunately it's just a letter to president wade and not a master's thesis paper... which would be worse... although I don't why he'd be typing one of those...
Whatever the case, thanks for your love and support and emails and stuff! Say hi to James for me and tell him I'll take extra long on my homecoming talk for him.
Love you!
-Ian
Monday, March 7, 2011
Reach, Preach and Teach
Hi!
I get to stay in Downtown San Francisco for at least another 6 weeks! Transfer #5! Aw yeahhh!
I am so excited to be able to help all the investigators that Elder Wu and I have found to continue progressing towards baptism in this area and I really feel that there are even more people out there who are prepared to receive the restored gospel. Although we had a rather average week, it's actually really above average as I went back and looked at my old planners last night. I can't believe Elder Luo and I actually had a time when we had 6 weeks with only 1 investigator come to church. Elder Wu and I have been so blessed in this area. Also it really is the coolest area in the mission. Downtown San Francisco. Pretty awesome. Although Elder Lee is leaving to go serve in Downtown Oakland next transfer which is a bummer cause it means i'm just gonna be in a district with a whole bunch of people from hong kong... and one other American sister... but who's originally from Singapore... so i'm the only white person basically haha... but that's nothing new I guess.
One thing that's really tough in this area is getting investigators to come to church just because it's so far and we have no members to pick people up and no one in our area has cars. However, it means that the investigators who do come just have to show that much more faith which I guess is good for strengthening it. It's just getting them to take that step that is so hard. Like we have 7 investigators with a baptismal date but only 2 that came to church on Sunday... arghhhh!
Our investigator who got baptized last week Sister Ying, got confirmed this Sunday which was pretty great. She's so solid! I really can see her becoming the Relief Society President or just going back to China and starting a new stake by herself haha. Also her boyfriend, brother Zhou, committed to quit smoking yesterday and fasted for that purpose. We also gave him a blessing yesterday and he really has a great resolve to quit as we set a baptismal date with him last thursday for April 10th which I am really excited to help him meet.
We also found several new investigators this week who have a lot of promise (ok well about 3 of them do) and Elder Wu and I are going to do our best to help them have a baptismal date and commit to come to church.
One investigator we added this week is a 60+ woman from GuangDong which kind of reminds me of when I was with Elder Luo haha but it was kind of frustrating just because of how slow we had to go with her since it seemed like she wasn't even listening when we were talking to her which seems kind of common with older/middle aged folks from guangdong just because of how long it's been since they've been in school (assuming they went) and just a huge change from all the young students that we've been teaching lately who understand a principle after you say it once.
Also one other guy we added was a student from XinJiang who is studying game design at AAU (Academy of Art University... which is basically where pretty much our entire teaching pool is centered right now haha) and he was like "i'll only meet with you if we do it in english cause I want to improve my english" so we were finally like "ok..." But it turns out he's really more interested in learning Bible stories and western religious culture so he can write better script for his video games... which was really annyoing just because of how disrespectful he was being the whole time while we were teaching him... just not really prepared I think. Anyways, we'll keep working with him and see if any miracle happens.
Anyways, sounds like things are going well back in the VA. Although it kind of hurts my pride a little bit to hear Bronwen got a 34 on the ACT haha. That's pretty cool. Good for her. She can just mozy on up and pick up that Monson scholarship that they didn't give to me. But whatever, I didn't want it ANYWAY!
Also it sounds like you're being a super duper awesome Relief Society President mom! I kind of wish that you were our branch's relief society president haha. Not that our relief society president is bad or anything I just think she doesn't have as much energy and gungho-ness as you do. Mainly cause our branch is really not very good at hanging on to recent converts which really frustrates me because we can only really do so much as missionaries but after people get baptized they should really get more attention from the ward. Kind of like how the OuYang family is already inactive and no one really has done anything about it. Not that I can really blame them since their fellowshippers are inactive as well and everyone here is really busy but it's still so frustrating.
Anyways, I'm getting kind of tired of writing, which isn't probably such a good omen since I'm going to be having to do a lot more of it once I get back to school... but I should probably get going.
Thanks for your emails guys! I love you!
-Ian
I get to stay in Downtown San Francisco for at least another 6 weeks! Transfer #5! Aw yeahhh!
I am so excited to be able to help all the investigators that Elder Wu and I have found to continue progressing towards baptism in this area and I really feel that there are even more people out there who are prepared to receive the restored gospel. Although we had a rather average week, it's actually really above average as I went back and looked at my old planners last night. I can't believe Elder Luo and I actually had a time when we had 6 weeks with only 1 investigator come to church. Elder Wu and I have been so blessed in this area. Also it really is the coolest area in the mission. Downtown San Francisco. Pretty awesome. Although Elder Lee is leaving to go serve in Downtown Oakland next transfer which is a bummer cause it means i'm just gonna be in a district with a whole bunch of people from hong kong... and one other American sister... but who's originally from Singapore... so i'm the only white person basically haha... but that's nothing new I guess.
One thing that's really tough in this area is getting investigators to come to church just because it's so far and we have no members to pick people up and no one in our area has cars. However, it means that the investigators who do come just have to show that much more faith which I guess is good for strengthening it. It's just getting them to take that step that is so hard. Like we have 7 investigators with a baptismal date but only 2 that came to church on Sunday... arghhhh!
Our investigator who got baptized last week Sister Ying, got confirmed this Sunday which was pretty great. She's so solid! I really can see her becoming the Relief Society President or just going back to China and starting a new stake by herself haha. Also her boyfriend, brother Zhou, committed to quit smoking yesterday and fasted for that purpose. We also gave him a blessing yesterday and he really has a great resolve to quit as we set a baptismal date with him last thursday for April 10th which I am really excited to help him meet.
We also found several new investigators this week who have a lot of promise (ok well about 3 of them do) and Elder Wu and I are going to do our best to help them have a baptismal date and commit to come to church.
One investigator we added this week is a 60+ woman from GuangDong which kind of reminds me of when I was with Elder Luo haha but it was kind of frustrating just because of how slow we had to go with her since it seemed like she wasn't even listening when we were talking to her which seems kind of common with older/middle aged folks from guangdong just because of how long it's been since they've been in school (assuming they went) and just a huge change from all the young students that we've been teaching lately who understand a principle after you say it once.
Also one other guy we added was a student from XinJiang who is studying game design at AAU (Academy of Art University... which is basically where pretty much our entire teaching pool is centered right now haha) and he was like "i'll only meet with you if we do it in english cause I want to improve my english" so we were finally like "ok..." But it turns out he's really more interested in learning Bible stories and western religious culture so he can write better script for his video games... which was really annyoing just because of how disrespectful he was being the whole time while we were teaching him... just not really prepared I think. Anyways, we'll keep working with him and see if any miracle happens.
Anyways, sounds like things are going well back in the VA. Although it kind of hurts my pride a little bit to hear Bronwen got a 34 on the ACT haha. That's pretty cool. Good for her. She can just mozy on up and pick up that Monson scholarship that they didn't give to me. But whatever, I didn't want it ANYWAY!
Also it sounds like you're being a super duper awesome Relief Society President mom! I kind of wish that you were our branch's relief society president haha. Not that our relief society president is bad or anything I just think she doesn't have as much energy and gungho-ness as you do. Mainly cause our branch is really not very good at hanging on to recent converts which really frustrates me because we can only really do so much as missionaries but after people get baptized they should really get more attention from the ward. Kind of like how the OuYang family is already inactive and no one really has done anything about it. Not that I can really blame them since their fellowshippers are inactive as well and everyone here is really busy but it's still so frustrating.
Anyways, I'm getting kind of tired of writing, which isn't probably such a good omen since I'm going to be having to do a lot more of it once I get back to school... but I should probably get going.
Thanks for your emails guys! I love you!
-Ian
Monday, February 28, 2011
Too Many Investigators?
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
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)