It's that time again where you get to hear about the comings and
goings of the souls in Xin Zhuang. HOLLA!
First of all-- the goings.. Or is it the comings? Lol.
All I tell you about is the miracles we see. But I have a purpose
here and so I will tell you about something we see daily that is nothing but a
growing opportunity for me. Often we'll have blocks of time (typically on
Wednesdays) where we have nothing planned and so we have to find someone to
teach. We will plan what to teach, where to teach it and head on out. A common
person we find here-- similar to a bible basher, is a buddha basher. Or more
readily understood is someone who believes everything is good and just wants to
argue with you in chinese about how all religions are good, every god is good,
and how there is not really anything real when it comes to religion. Okay so
they aren't buddhist at all... but it starts with a "b" so we call it
buddha bashing. Obviously this is a situation we'd like to avoid, but it's
sometimes hard to get them to stop. I find that in these cases, I don't really
feel like they are rejecting Christ-- it feels like they are just picking on us
because they think what we're doing is a joke. It's not a joke. It's salvation.
But they don't know that right now. The moral of the story is that we must
never forget the scripture "bless those that persecute you." There
are people in the world young and old who will act towards you and a less than
dignified manner. It happened to Christ and it will happen to you. In these
situations, let us ever stand stronger in our resolve to do the best we can as
a member of Christ's church on this earth. Let us recommit to keeping the
commandments. Let us find strength in the gospel and strength in our family
relationships. And as family members, let us not take the place of the bashers.
Our home and our familial relationships ought to be a place of refuge where we
can rest from the raging storm of persecution around us. People act likes terds
sometime. Rise above the persecution. Stand strong. Hold tight to the iron rod.
Hold tight, knuckle white. The Church is true. The people who are fighting
against you are simply giving you an opportunity to stand as a witness of God
at all times. Pray for them. They need it.
Anyway. Stepping off my soap box. Love you all <3
If you want to know how my burn is doing-- it's doing well. Last
monday I found 4 nice blisters on it (go figure I was burned by hot iron). No
big deal.. until I accidentally kicked it with my pedal and ripped them all
off. I can't describe how badly that one hurt. We went home at that point.
After a minute of playing doctor and treating it I was fine-- although it was
still hurting. Now, a week later, it is clean scabbed over and turning into a
scar instead of an open wound. This is much more desirable. No need to worry. I
hope I have a wicked scar from it because it's a good story. (:
Also in the news. Last Saturday we brought our investigator to
Taibei to do a temple tour. It was good. On our way out we ran into someone
unexpected. Yes that would be the one and only Kyle Bishop. Small world. The
craziest part is that he was speaking to my investigator in Chinese and I
finally understood. Dear all my friends from Chinese class, thank you with your
patience with me in class (heaven knows it was a hassle listening to me butcher
the language). I can now have conversations with you in Chinese. I love
Chinese. <3
Also on Monday nights we have started doing FHE with the sweet 16
year old who is waiting to get baptized. Her friend is the only member in her
family so we're starting a tradition of FHE with them every Monday night at
7:00pm. We've invited them to start bringing friends. It will be a simple way
to help them be spiritually fed every week in a comfortable atmosphere. Holla!
Last thing I want to share about this week is a new finding
technique. Last week we found 9 new investigators. I don't know how we did it
because we really aren't too great at the finding thing. This week, by the
time Saturday rolled around we had found no one. We decided we needed to reform
our ways. We spent some time in companionship study brainstorming finding. We
came up with a long list and stuck it to our wall. That day we decided to play
where's waldo. We went throughout the rest of the day looking for a woman with
bangs, wearing pants, and a white shirt. If that shirt had any writing on it---
GOLD, SHE'S OUR GIRL! Anytime we saw waldo, we stopped to talk to her. Let me
tell ya, it was a great success. That evening we found 3. The first was willing
to take a Book of Mormon and exchange information saying that we could get in
contact and find a time to meet. The second was in a McDonalds with her cousin.
Her family is all christian. They were willing to pray with us, take individual
copies of the Book of Mormon and set up to meet. They also said we could
probably meet with their entire families. The last was a woman that has come to
english class once. We said a prayer with her on the street and she set up to
have us go to her house the next evening. We met with her whole family and they
all became new investigators! Mmm. Waldo--consider him found. (:
I love this place. I love the work. We're going to Dan Shui today.
So excited.
Keep doing missionary work. Keep saying your prayers. Keep reading
your scriptures. I love you all. <3
Catch ya on the flip side!
Cae
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