December 27, 2010

Hello everybody!!
This week has been amazing as always! This week we got back in touch with a former investigator and we had the opportunity of teaching him and his son! We had to stay in one day for a little bit to let my body have rest because I was still pretty sick, but now we are all healthier and doing much better. On Thursday we woke up to an early Christmas surprise...we had ants everywhere in our apartment. They were crawling over the couch, our clothes, the carpet, my companions Christmas packages (they were inside all of them as well because of the sugar and candy). We spent the entire morning vacuuming and killing all the ants we could find and getting them off of all of our things. Apparently it is very common when it rains here for all of the ants to go inside because they are not used to all the rain that we have been having. We bought some ant killer and we thought the problem was finally over until I found ants crawling on my bed and I followed the trail to see them coming through the power outlet. We got that all fixed and we are pretty sure the problem is gone, but it was one of the most hectic and just plain crazy mornings I have ever had out here. We did a lot of teaching new investigators this week and we have two investigators with baptismal dates!! My first Christmas out in the field was great! It was definitely different than any other Christmas I have had, and I was excited to talk to the family on the phone! I can't believe how fast time has gone by and I am way excited for this new year! I hope everybody had a great Christmas!! And I hope you all have a happy new year as well!! Sorry this one is so short, but I will write next week! Zaijian!

December 20, 2010

HELLO!!!!!

Ok, so this week has been absolutely fantastic out here in the beautiful California, Anaheim mission!! I have so many experiences to talk about....Well, I will start talking about our tracting this past week. So being the Chinese speaking elders in this mission, it is our job to find the chinese people. However tracting we meet mostly Americans and find few Chinese people. So lately we have been trying to figure out a new method to find these Chinese people, and as a companionship we had an amazing idea come to mind! We call it "Phonebooking". We look up a common Chinese last name and then go visit all those people that live in Irvine with a Chinese last name! We have found so many people already!! This week our numbers were higher than this mission has seen! We had over 20 people say that they want to come to church and said that we could meet with them again. This Sunday we had 12 investigators at church!!!!! It was actually quite overwhelming because there are so many people to talk to and only three of us in our companionship. I have made a goal with myself to just try and speak to every Chinese person around me, whether they be in a line next to me or at the store, and my Chinese has been improving a lot, but it is still very difficult. This week got especially difficult because I got sick with a fever of 100.2 and had to stay at our apartment, I am still a little sick and my voice is almost gone but it isn't stopping me because we have to much work for us to do, so I have faith the Lord will help me get better. I love the atmosphere of Christmas time because people just tend to be happier and nicer, although down here in California it does tend to get extremely materialistic. We recently found a family of 5 that is from shanghai china (I have picked up a couple Shanghainese phrases), they are so amazing!! And our investigator Guo Jiemei (that I have been working with since I got here) has now said she wants to see the baptismal font and next week will set a date!!!! I am just so amazed at the blessings the Lord has given us! Some days out in the field are very tough and it seems like nothing is really happening but one thing I have learned on my mission is that if a day is going slow and seems like nothing is happening "MAKE IT HAPPEN!", we just get out there and do the work, find those people, and if we don't find any people that day, well at least we made one person smile that day :). i am really excited to be out and working on Christmas Day and be out and about finding people, although my companions are reluctant to go proselyte, but I know there will be people that need the Gospel, especially on Christmas! The weather has been a little strange lately and raining quite a bit. One thing about Chinese people is that they hate the rain, they won't even go outside if it is raining, so I am hoping the rain will leave soon. Well I love you all and hope all is well wherever you are! Merry Christmas!!! Remember the true meaning of Christmas and go help others have the happiest holiday :) until next week, Zaijian!!

December 13, 2010

No Letter for this week as someone accidentally deleted the email. We hope to recover the email and post it as soon as possible (fingers crossed).

December 6, 2010

Hello!

Okay, well this new transfer has been going pretty well so far! We have our new companion Elder Bray and he is from Connecticut. He served in the Taiwan mission for about 5 months but had to have surgery so he went home to recover and is now reassigned here. His Chinese is very good. So we have been trying to find a lot of Chinese people here, and pretty much every Chinese person we see we go talk to. This week with the language has been pretty tough, because I always feel that it is such a barrier at times and makes me feel like i am not really doing much to help in the work. But I have been trying to change that mindset because the reality is that it isn't me who is helping them, it is the spirit, so as long as I can help them feel the spirit, than that is all that is really needed. We went to visit a man named Chad that we had scheduled an appointment to teach him. When we got to his house, his roommate Will answered the door and said that Chad had a class that randomly came up and he had to go. So as we were talking to Will we were about to say "Well let him know we stopped by and will contact him later"...but I had a slight feeling that came to my mind, that we can't leave until we teach Will, so I told him we have a very important message we would like to share with him and he said he would love to hear. We taught him and the spirit was so strong! He is now a new investigator and we are meeting with him again! We had the opportunity of teaching an investigator we have had for a long time, her name is Gou Feng Zhu and we started teaching her when I first got here, our lesson her went very well and she told me that if I get transferred out that she will be very sad, and that I have to come back and visit. I love these people I am serving and I love all of the members here! We had another interesting experience this week. We got a call from some elders in our zone and they gave us a referral for a lady that they said spoke Chinese. So we decided we would go visit her, so I put her address in the GPS and followed where it took us. A miracle happened that we didn't even realize until afterward. So we followed the directions the GPS gave us and it took us to a street called monarch and we were looking for number 5, the GPS told us that we arrived at our destination so we got out and knocked on the door. An older lady answered and she was not Chinese, we continued to speak to her and she asked what church we were from so we told her and asked her some questions to find out more about her, just as we were about to leave I had a feeling to ask her if she needed help, because I sensed something was wrong and she said "Actually, I need a lot of help. My daughter is a quadriplegic, I am a photographer and my camera was recently stolen, I got laid off, and my husband is dead", then she started to cry and said goodbye and shut the door before we could say anything. We gave her as a referral to the other missionaries in that area and they went to visit her and her helping her now. The thing that is a miracle is that the original address we were going to was on Leda street, not monarch....the GPS changed the street and address and led us to her house. All I can say about that is the Lord knows his children and he can and will do anything to help them. I know this work is true and I thank you all for your support and prayers. I challenge those of you who are members to find missionary opportunities!! This work is too important for us to pass by opportunities to share the Gospel. For those of you that read this that are not members, please look into the church. Read the Book of Mormon, meet with the missionaries. It is the most important and best decision you will ever make. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on this earth. The Book of Mormon is true. God speaks, not spoke! He speaks through his prophet Thomas S. Monson. I know through the power of God Joseph Smith restored the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all!!! Until next week, Zaijian!

November 29, 2010

Continued...

Ok so this is my continuation from the last email on Friday! So lately my companion has been asking me a lot more questions about english grammar so he could learn more english. He was looking at random idioms on his dictionary and he found a couple that he really likes that just crack me up. His favorite new idiom to say is "Put up your dukes" haha. I love my companion and things are going so well out here. We have been cleaning up our area book by visiting a lot of former investigators and potential investigators. We were able to reconnect with a couple formers and taught some of the potential investigators! So not yesterday but then Sunday before that, it was the Chinese branch's one year anniversary! We had an overwhelming amount of non members come (enough to where elder Kim and I didn't even get a chance to meet all of them!) There is one food that the members make a lot out here and I really haven't had it before but it has pretty much become my favorite! Almond Jello! AMAZING! We went on exchanges this week and I got to work with Elder Brown in our district while Elder Kim went to work in his area with Elder Bannister. Elder Brown is an awesome elder. He and I decided to go tracting in a certain area, and as we were tracting we saw two girls on the opposite side of the street also going door to door. At first we didn't really notice but then as we made it to the cul-de-sac (or however you spell it....I have never actually written that word before now that I think about it), we saw the two girls at the door right next to us, then I realized they were Jehovah witnesses. It was pretty funny that we were both tracting the same street and then we both ended up overlapping each others sides that had already been knocked. It was pretty funny, we tried to talk to them but they really didn't want anything to do with us. We had thanksgiving dinner at the Branch Presidents house (President Bayers). I absolutely love the Bayers, I am pretty sure I was completely meant to come serve in the same branch with them! They have a funny tradition where while we eat, everyone in the house has to wear little turkey hats that their kids make. I will send some pictures later. There was one thing that happened recently that I think was better than all of that. We got back in contact with David Ong!!!!!!! He was the man we found while tracting when I first got here, and he had a baptismal date set and was progressing so well and then he just disappeared. It made me really sad, but we finally found him and his son again and I am so happy! We also recently had the privilege of going to the temple!! I feel like it has been so long since I had the last opportunity to go, but it has completely revamped me spiritually and I am ready to get out there and go find more people!! Today is transfer day! Elder Kim and I are staying in the same place but we are getting a new third companion! Presdient Watrous called me as a trainer. I am excited and hope I can do well as a trainer given I have only been out for 4 transfers. This new elder actually served in Taiwan for 4 months and then had a health problem and had to come home and is now being reassigned here. His name is Elder Brae and we will pick him up tomorrow. There are so many things to talk about and so much to say but all I can really say is everything is amazing!! The work is moving forward and I can't believe about 8 months have passed by. The language seems like it is starting to pick up again! It is tough but I can definitely see the improvement and I take absolutely no credit for it. The Lord has given me the help and strength to do it. I love you all and I hope everything is going so well! This is the time of year where the weather is a perfect 70 or high 60's and sunny, while everywhere else is cold and snowy and freezing :). I do miss the cold but I can live with this weather too ;). I love you all!! Please write me! I would love to hear from all of you! Zaijian!

November 27, 2010

Nihao!!

Well I am writing today because our P-Day was moved to Friday because we had the opportunity of going to the temple!! However, since Friday was the day after thanksgiving, the library was closed. So today is the day I can read the emails and reply! I will also get to on Monday of next week because it goes back to our normal P-Day. Well , so much has happened in the past weeks!! So we teach an English class every Tuesday night at one of the church buildings here and it is usually only 2 people that are there. So we decided to make fliers and get them translated and give them to everybody to try and have more students! Well, it just so happens that the night we had English class we still hadn't got any fliers out, but we had 6 Chinese people show up!!! We still have no idea how they knew about this class, but I say it is an answer to prayers! There is a man in our Chinese branch named Morgan Ying. He is so amazing, and such a great example. However he is really funny and is known to say things that catch people off guard. Well......we were in a lesson and we brought brother Ying with us. We were teaching our investigator Kin Tran about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was really strong and it was a great lesson. I turned to Bro Ying and I asked him "Since you know the Plan of Salvation and you know that you can truly live with your family together forever, what kind of feelings does that give you?" He waited a little bit and then replied saying "Mafan" which in English means about the equivalent of bothersome! I thought he was only joking and then was going to say his real answer but he said nothing else...haha it was definitely not what Elder Kim and I were expecting from him, but later he bore strong testimony and the lesson ended very well. the rest of the weeks having been going so well and the work is amazing. there is so much more to talk about but since the Library closes at 5 I only have 9 minutes left and way too much to still talk about, so this letter will have to be continued on Monday. I love you all!!

November 15, 2010

Another fantastic week!!!!!
Ok, well this week has been amazing! I don't know where to begin. So to start out the week we had a general authority "Elder Larry Gibbons" and his wife come speak to us for a mission conference! My companion played the piano in a mission choir they made and I was chosen to sing in it. I can say that I miss singing, but I was glad to have the opportunity to sing in this choir! Elder Gibbons taught us a lot on how to work with members to help them fulfill their missionary work responsibilities! It was amazing and I took so many notes! All of my companions have commented on the many notes I take of things and all the post it notes of quotes and scriptures all around our apartment. It is something I love doing so that I can always keep the right attitude and remember important things while I am on my mission. We also had our companion exchange this week and I got to go work with our new district leader Elder Bannister, he is from Boise Idaho and he and I get along really well! We talked to so many people that day! I have learned a lot of patience with other missionaries and my companion, and especially the language. On Friday Elder Kim and I made some awesome burritos!!....however, they gave both of us the worst heart burn we have ever had and we have both decided we will not eat burritos again on our mission, haha. We went tracting quite a bit this week and I think I am finally learning to love it! It no longer makes me uncomfortable to go up to peoples doors or talk to them on the street. I know how important this is and by all means I will let them know about it! Within in an hour we found 3 new people that we have appointments with to teach! And speaking of "by all means I will share it"....this week we had a Jehovah's Witness come to our door, I got up, grabbed a Book of Mormon and answered the door like I always do when someone knocks on our door. There was a man and a little boy, they talked to me for a little bit and then I asked the man a question that came to my mind and said "What has your religious background been?"....I don't know why I asked that question because it wasn't something I would normally say in that situation but he responded with he has been in pretty much every religion, but he said except The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I asked him if he has ever read the Book of Mormon and he told me he had one a while ago but never had the opportunity to read it. So I bore testimony of it to him and gave him the Book of Mormon, he took it and committed to read and pray about it. I don't think that's what he was expecting coming to our door but the Lord works in many ways ;). I love this work and this Gospel, it is all true! I love you all and hope all is well and invite you to all do your member missionary work!!!! And for those who read this and are not members of the church, I invite you to sincerely read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I promise you it is true and will bring more blessings and happiness and peace into your life than you know. I love you all!!

November 8, 2010

Alright!! Well, this past week has been amazing!! We have been working pretty hard and we are starting to see a lot more success through our faith and efforts to find and teach those people that the Lord has prepared! This last Tuesday we had 4 lessons and English Class!!! We were running and teaching all day! It was amazing! This week has been really tough in the language aspect of things, because it is hard wanting so much to talk to these people and help them but then having a huge language barrier, that makes it pretty tough sometimes. But I am continuing to work on my outlook and realize how much the Lord has helped me learn just in a little over 6 months! I have been studying really hard and trying more and more to use Chinese more in my daily conversations. This week we got to go do service for sister King in our branch. We helped her clean up her garden and weed it and take down her possum trap (which elder Kim and I were sad there was no possum caught!). Elder Kim tells me that he is very much a city boy and he really doesn't like to get his hands dirty and I tease him a little bit ;). We had the opportunity of taking an 18 year old boy in our branch named Keoki tracting with us! He wanted to go with us to get prepared for his mission (It is something I wish I would have done!!!!), we talked to a lot of people and got some referrals for the other missionaries and then we were going to leave but as we were about to leave I had the feeling just to knock one more house, I didn't know which but I knew we needed to knock one more. So we kept walking down the street and we walked past a certain house and I had a huge feeling to turn around and knock on that door, so I quickly turned around and told my companion and Keoki that we needed to knock that one. We did and a lady answered the door, she is from Iran and her name was Shela. We started to talk to her and she was an amazing lady and I think it was the first contact I have ever had where I wasn't thinking or worrying about what to say, the words were literally just coming out of my mouth. We ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and committing her to read and pray about it and then we set up a time for the other elders in our district to go back and teach her! The spirit was so strong and I am still amazed at how the spirit really is what does this work, not us missionaries. We are just lucky to ride along ;). We had three investigators call this week and tell us they no longer want to meet with us, that made us very sad but it helped me to know that the Lord is still blessing and preparing them, maybe now is not their time but it will be some day. I want you all to know I love you all and there is always so much I could say in these emails but I can't fit it all or even explain it all. But suffice it to say that I know this work is true. I know that God and Jesus Christ LIVE. I know they know each of us personally and they love us more than we could imagine. They have restored their true church on this earth. We once again have the blessing and power of the Priesthood Authority back on the earth that can seal families together forever. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and was written specifically for us in this day and generation. Everyone needs to hear this Gospel and know and understand the Plan that God has given us. I know we have a living prophet of God on the earth today that helps to know how we can live in accordance with Jesus Christ's gospel and lets us know the new guidance from Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father. It is all true! Once again I love you all!! Hope all is well! Zaijian!

November 1, 2010

Hello!!
Another beautiful amazing missionary week in California!!! To start off, I believe in the last email I mentioned that we taught a man named Fang (pronounced Fawn with a g). This week we had the blessed opportunity to go back and teach him! He is quite hard to understand, one because he is old and has a thick accent, and two because he had surgery on his mouth not too long ago so it makes it really hard to understand. But we taught him about the restoration of the gospel and he told us in the middle of our lesson that he could no longer speak to us because he didnt believe in God or Jesus Christ. So we went by the spirit and asked some inspired questions to find out more of his concern and we found out that he doesn't believe because everyone that believes always say they have seen these huge miracles and amazing blessings in their lives and he has never seen any. So we taught him more about who Jesus Christ is and helped resolve the concern that he had. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and he was very excited to read the Book of Mormon he almost couldn't wait till we finished hah. As we were leaving he looked at me and said in chinese, "you speak chinese, I really like you", then he looked at Elder Kim and said "I like you but I like the chinese speaking american more". haha. After we left we realzied that we forgot to give him a specific part to read out of the Book of Mormon, so an hour later we went back to give him that part and when we went back he said he was already reading! We were teaching another lady this week and her father and mother joined us in this lesson, it is very different teaching 3 people at once because you have to make sure to include all of them and make it personal for each but the spirit was there and the lesson went very well. After the lesson the mom asked if we would like water, so we said we would love some. She came back a minute later with hot water in each cup (chinese people love drinking just plain hot water). She told us to be careful because it was very hot, so I carefully sipped the water, however Elder Kim didn't hear that she said it was hot so he grabbed the glass and took a huge gulp of water, and nearly spit the water everywhere haha. I had my first interview with the Mission President this week! It felt funny not having my interview until now, the president said he considers me a veteran out here now. This week when tracting on saturday, it was very very hard becuase there was some football game going on and everyone and their dog was watching it. Yesterday was my first Halloween in the field! We tried to be creative while tracting and at one door we said "Happy Halloween, usually people ask for treats on halloween but we have a treat for you!" it was kind of cheesy but it worked! I am learning and growing so much out here! I have found that when i place my focus on others and there concerns and how I can help them and stop worrying and thinking about myself, then I am so much happier! It gives me no time to be upset or dscouraged because I am focusing on something more important! I love this work so much!!! I love you all so very much!! I hope everything is going very well! Write me letters! ;) Zaijian!

October 25, 2010

Hello everybody!

Alright, so this past week has gone very well! We had our transfers and I got my new companion Elder Kim from Korea. I am the senior companion and it has been a lot different for me with a lot of added responsibility. I was also chosen as the driver for our companionship! It is nice to drive again, but I have got to say that driving down here in California and more specifically Irvine, is crazy! Roads that in Oregon would normally be 25 or 15 mph, down here are marked as 55mph, and the freeways are even more ridiculous, everyone drives way above the speed limit (including cops) and there are exits on the left and the right and if you aren't paying attention you end up going in all sorts of directions. So the driving has been very interesting down here, and don't worry mom, I am driving the speed limit and I am driving safe :). Well, this week elder Kim and I found 3 new investigators all with a lot of potential, the Lord has blessed us greatly!! One of those investigators is an eighty something year old man named Fang (pronounced "Fawn-with a g at the end). When he first answered the door he looked at me and said in Chinese "I will only speak to you if you speak Chinese!" and so I said back in Chinese "That's good! Because I love speaking Chinese!", it caught him off guard but he stepped outside and started talking to us. He eventually invited us in and we taught him a little bit and then he told us that he is from Taiwan and he loved seeing missionaries there riding there bikes! We set up a time to meet with him again! We are very excited to teach him!! A funny thing about my companion: he is still learning English so sometimes I help re correct his sentences, but one night this week we were making dinner and I decided to make pancakes for both of us, after I made them I gave him some on a plate and we started to eat, then Elder Kim turned to me and said "This is very good, thank you chief", I started to laugh and he was really confused but then I explained to him that it would be chef and not chief, he realized what he said and then we were both laughing pretty good. Every morning before we go out the door he says "Let's kick this thing off" in his accent and it cracks me up every time ha ha. I am blessed to have a great companion. The language this week has been tough. It is really hard to see how much I have learned because there is always more to learn, so sometimes I get a little frustrated with myself because of the language barrier, but it is coming along day by day. This Sunday I had the opportunity to say my first sacrament prayer in Chinese!!!! That was an awesome experience. I actually ended up saying it twice because we ran out of cups at the last person who was taking it, so I said it again for one cup :). The work is going well and I am happy but I would be lying if I said this work isn't hard. It is a very very tough work, but I love it, even when it gets hard! I hope all of you are doing well! I also want everyone to know that I know that the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on this earth, I know that we have a living prophet that speaks to god and receives the guidance that we and our families need for this day and generation. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It truly has power. Power to change lives. Power to change our character. And Power to help us know that God has once again given us his true Gospel. I love you all! Until next week!

October 18, 2010

Alright

Well, first, I hope this letter will be a little longer than last weeks unless another missionary opportunity pops up ;). This week has been the last week of this transfer, we have been working quite hard and trying to find as many people as possible. My companion recieved an email from an Elder we knew at the MTC that went to Taiwan, he said that in Taiwan they are teaching over 20 lessons a week and more........California is definitely not an easy place to serve and we don't have near as many as that many lessons. The Lord sent me here for many many reasons that I realize more and more every day. I have been learning so much about this work and myself. This week had a couple of bumps in the road and it got a little difficult, but I don't let that bother me because I know that with faith anything can happen, and even if it looks like no success, if I made one person smile during the day, then I did my job. Today we have transfers! My companions Elder Mensink and Elder Chang are both leaving to different areas. One goes to Yorba Linda and the other goes to Placentia. I am staying as senior companion in the Yale Branch (chinese branch), with my new companion Elder Kim. Elder Kim is from Korea and he went to BYU for about a year. He studied chinese for about 5 years, so his chinese is phenomonal, I am so excited because he will help learn chinese and I will help him learn more english! I am a little nervous because I have a lot of responsibilty on my shoulders now, but I am so excited for what the Lord has planned for me! It almost feels weird to have a new companion because I have now had Elder Mensink as a companion for a total of 18 weeks and Elder Chang for a total of 14 weeks. I don't have much more time with writing this because we have to go to the mission office and transfer but I want you all to know the work is going great and I thank you all for your constant support! Until next week!

October 12, 2010

Well these past few days have been absolutely crazy and I don't have much time to write this, so I hope I can express my feelings and the things that have happened this week in a way that makes sense. This week I had my first baptism! Her name is Xiao Yue Hu, she has been such a strong example to me and she has such a strong testimony! She is from mainland China and she has been so prepared for the gospel, it is amazing! I will send pictures next week because I forgot my camera in my backpack in the car. This week it was kind of rough with my companionship and we actually had a moment where my two other companions kind of exploded on each other it took quite a while to bring the spirit back but in the end it has brought us a lot closer and it helped me to see just how easily Satan will set contention in our hearts. That is one thing I have been trying to keep away from me, because I have learned that even with the slightest bit of contention, there will be no spirit. We taught a man this week that gave us only about 15 minutes to teach him the 1st Lesson, even within that short little time the spirit was so strong! Well, I started to write this email but I have some people next to me asking about the Book of Mormon and what message I am sharing. Got to go share the most important message! I love you all!

October 4, 2010

Alright!

This week has been an amazing week! The weather down here in Irvine California is absolutely amazing! The city is so well kept and everything is just amazing. This week I got to have the pleasure of eating shrimp and chicken feet.....I hope I don't have to eat those again, but I know I most likely will ha ha. This week we had our my first Zone Conference! We had President Watrous teach us for quite a few hours on teaching about the Doctrine of Christ. I am still amazed at no matter how much we read the scriptures, there is ALWAYS more to find and understand out of them! President Watrous is such an amazing example of always exemplifying the Savior through his actions. At the zone conference we were counseled that we needed to do more and try harder to talk to everyone we come in contact with. I can honestly say talking to people on the streets or knocking door to door is not the easiest or most comfortable thing to do, but when he told us this I decided that no matter how I felt I was going to do it! We went on an exchange with our Zone Leader, his name is Elder Soffe. Elder Soffe showed me soooooo much about talking to everyone! We were literally running to catch up to people, and he had such a sense of urgency to talk to these people. It motivated me to put that into practice in my own companionship. So this past week I do not let anyone pass by me without me at least trying to talk to them. I have noticed since I have done that, the Lord has been putting more and more prepared people in our path. I believe that the Lord will not put those people in your path unless we are out there always pushing ourselves to do more. I think it is much easier for the Lord to guide us where we need to go when our feet are already moving, not when we are sitting down or just standing there. This upcoming week I will have my first baptism! Her name is Xiao Yue Hu and she is completely prepared and has such a strong testimony! We taught one of our investigators this week (she is actually our neighbor). We taught her more about the Restoration and watched the Restoration video with her and her two children (who are the funniest and cutest kids ever!). As we were watching it, at the part where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came down during Joseph Smith's prayer the little girl paused the movie and said "We pray all the time!! Why doesn't God ever come down to us!?!?". I am so happy that the Lord prepares people for the Gospel. And that through our faith we will find them. I know this work is true with all my heart! This is the ONE and ONLY true church, the same gospel and church Jesus Christ established himself when he came to the world (with the foundation of Prophets and apostles with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone as is written in Ephesians). He used the power and authority of God to do so. Without that Power and Authority we cannot have his true Gospel. I know that Power and Authority has been restored through a Prophet called of God. The way that one can know this is true is only through the Book of Mormon. Read it. Study it. Pray about it. Ponder about it. All with a sincere heart, and you will know it is true. I love you all and hope all is going well! Until next week Zaijian!

September 27, 2010

Well this week has been a rough week. We have been working extremely hard but it is just one of those weeks that tries your patience and faith. Despite our best efforts everything has been falling through and we lost investigators and it has just been pretty tough. However I am not letting myself get to distracted by it because I know the Lord has his plans and I will just continue to work hard and help those people he has prepared. This week we did have one investigator that we needed to visit, so we arranged a time and came to visit. When we got there she was waiting at her doorstep and we got to talk to her for a little bit. She doesn't have any beliefs but she is extremely interested! The spirit was so strong while we were talking to her, I am excited for our return appointment! We had the opportunity of helping an older lady in our ward named Sister King, she has Lou Gehrig's disease, so she can't do any of the yard work or things around her house. She had us remove a lot of plants and then we went to her backyard, and she asked us to remove a certain vine plant. As we started to remove this vine plant she asked us to close her glass sliding door, so she went inside and we closed her door, we didn't know why she wanted it closed but we soon found out. The minute we started to take down the vine we noticed a ton of wasps that were on it, they started to get angry and were flying around like crazy, we were jumping around swatting and then we could here her laughing from inside! Hah she is such an amazing lady, and very smart ;). We also picked her ripe dragon fruit and she gave some to us, I have never had dragon fruit before but it is delicious! Later this week we went to a very nice chinese resturaunt and there I got to try Octopus for the first time....it wasn't the greatest but at least I can say I have tried it now! A lady in our ward has been in the hospital so we were able to go this sunday and give her the sacrament, it was a very spiritual experience. I had a very interesting/intense experience this week. I was on exchanges with another area and this area was on bike, so i got to ride bike all day (which I prefer way more than riding in a car!). Well, it was late and time to go back to the apratment, so we were riding home and Elder Earl was about 30 feet ahead of me. As we were driving down this street I noticed a car sound very close behind me. Then the lights started to get much closer, I didn't really pay much attention to it, but it kept getting closer and louder, so I quickly looked over my shoulder and the car was coming directly at me and picking up speed, so I swerved to get out of the road but was going to hit the curb so I hit the brakes and in consequence flew over the handle bars and got beat up pretty bad on my hands, knee, and right arm. I tried to see the car, but it took off very fast. I realized I was run off the road on purpose, but I am glad that the Lord protected me. There are apparently some people around here that do that to missionaries. So I can easily say it has been a rough week. But I found a bunch of comfort in a scripture in 2 Nephi 9:39 especially the line "To be spiritually minded is life eternal", so as I was thinking about that, I thought, Satan gives us hard times and temptations every day, it is easy to be upset and feel down and get annoyed withourselves, BUT this scripture gives us the recipe to overcome those feelings! In that line if you take the first letter of each word it says SMILE. When we are thinking spiritually we will smile! WIth the Lord we can always get through tough days and trials. I know this work is true! I know the Lord is constantly blessing each and every one of us. I challenge each of you reading this to go read that scripture and do what it says! Smile! I love you all! Hope all is well! Until next week! Zaijian!

September 20, 2010

Alright,
This week has been amazing! I had many interesting tracting experiences this week. Being in the trio companionship is working very well, and we have been finding and teaching many people. Lately I have been studying a lot in the scriptures on how I can have the spirit more when I am talking to people about the Gospel, and allowing them to be able to feel that this message is extremely important. I love looking at the examples of the prophets in the Book of Mormon and seeing how much boldness and desire that they had. So this week I took some of those things that I learned and put it into practice! One thing that I have learned is that if you truly believe and have faith the Lord will put people in your path, he will. We taught a man this week and the only place we could teach him at that time was outside of a Del Taco resturaunt, there were a lot of loud people and music playing on the stereo system outside, and I think it is truly amazing how when the spirit is very strong all the influence of things going on around us just seemed to die down. We also taught a lesson to our investigator, that is actually getting baptized this week!! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and we are always nervous for this lesson becasue when working with chinese people the major hold for them is always tea. Tea in chinese culture is HUGE, they have it at almost everything they do. As we told her about tea she said "Tea??? but all chinese people love tea!" but then she said "Even though that might be a little hard to do, I am going to do it, because I believe that the prophet received that revelation from god and I know I will be blessed for following it", she is such an amazing person and has such a strong testimony. She hasn't even been baptized yet and is talking about inviting her friends to church and to meet with us! We also had the opportunity this week to teach our neighbor! She is an extremely nice chinese lady with two of the most fun little children I have ever met (and they speak circles around me in chinese!) We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she has already been reading it, and when we are walking to our apartment and she sees us she yells "Chuanjiaoshi!! Wo zai du moermenjing" (Missionaries! I'm reading the Book of Mormon!) This week has been such a great and spiritual week for me, and everyday things just get better and better! I am so hapy and blessed to be out here meeting these people! The language is still pretty tough, I can understand a lot more, but a lot I still don't. but I believe the Lord will continue to bless and help me with this language and I will continue to give it my best effort. I love you all and for all the examples you have set for me and I hope everything is going well! Until next week! Zaijain!

September 13, 2010

Alright,
This week has been very busy and very interesting especially since I am now in a trio companionship. We have found that having three people makes it difficult when teaching and contacting because it is hard to switch off talking, but one good thing is that we all get along very very well, so it is extremely enjoyable. We had a lot of referrals to go visit this week so we traveled around quite a bit. We had a really interesting experience one day in the car, as we were stopped at a red light a wasp flew into the car and the light turned green so we had to go, but if you could imagine three elders in a car spazzing out, laughing with a wasp flying around, and we couldn't pull over for about five minutes, luckily no one got stung but it was pretty hillarious. We met with one of our investigators Xiao Yue Hu (Vic) and we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and then commited her to baptism, she accepted! We have been meeting with her often and she has been progressing so much, however she speaks so quickly, she actually came up to me after one of our lessons and she said she is surprised we understand as much as we do because she has friends that were born in china and are fluent that still don't understand her when she speaks because she speaks so fast. We had another investigator this week that we taught, her name is Kin Tran....we hadone of the coolest experiences ever, she speaks mandarin, cantonese, english, and vietnamese (all fluently). When we taught the first lesson my companion used cantonese, I used mandarin, and the brother we brought used english, having the opportunity to be in the lesson where someone is being taught the gospel using three different languages was quite the experience! At our english class after I had finished teaching my assigned portion I sat next to a little boy (his family is in our branch) named Gabriel. He speaks chinese and he had me play a game with him that he called "feiji". He was explaining it to me in chinese so i didn't quite understand all of it but he is so cute. Now I can tell you all the most interesting part of this week. We were taken out to eat by one of the branch members and they took us to a chinese resturaunt. They ordered a fish and they brought out the entire fish....sister chen then scooped out one eyeball of the fish and put it on my plate...she told me in taiwan and china they always give the eyeballs to the guest as a sign of respect....yes I ate a fish eyeball!!!!!!!!! Not the best thing to eat in my opinion, but I did it ;). So all in all this week has been one of lots of first experiences. I am so happy to be doing this work and spreading the Gospel. I know this Gospel is true, and it is the only way to return to live with God again. I thank you all for the continued love and support and hope all is going well! I love you all! Until next week! Zaijian!

August 7, 2010

Alright, well this week was the last week of my first transfer in the field! This week was pretty busy and I had some fun experiences with tracting. I have been realizing lately that we sometimes let people just walk by without talking to them and every time it happens I feel bad because I missed the opportunity to help them hear the Gospel. So this week I decided to be much more bold and didn't let anyone walk by without telling them something about the Gospel. One contact this man was walking by and I tried to stop him and talk to him but he acted like he couldn't/didn't hear me and started to jog...normally I would just Keep on walking to the next person, but this time I all the sudden found myself turning around and jogging with him. I jogged with the man for about 2 minutes telling him about the gospel and then left him with a card...I felt like Kirby Heybourne in "The Best 2 Years" when he chases down the people on bikes. I have found it is hard to talk to Californians because they are always busy going somewhere or doing something, so you have to be quick and bold. That is one thing I have not necessarily been used to doing but it is coming much easier now and I find the more I just act like myself the better it goes and the happier I and the people I talk to are. We have a new investigator and his name is Johnny Kuo, I don't remember if I talked about him in the last email but i will now. He is the most amazing and funny old man. He is from Taiwan and speaks no English, he is extremely hard of hearing so we practically have to yell for him to hear us. He came to church all by himself, we didn't know who he was so we talked to him and he said he lives in the senior housing across the street and this is the closest Chinese congregation so this is where he will go. He is so awesome!!! He loves church and has read the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles book, Bible, the Church magazines, in about a week and a half. He gets a kick out of me being able to speak and understand him because I am white....he tells me that every single time we meet. We had a language training meeting this week about the English classes we teach every week. They are totally reorganizing how we teach the classes and we were taught by a man named Von Packard. He taught us so much and he focused on letting our body language showing what we want, and how it is the Holy Ghost that invites people to be baptized not us missionaries. Well as of yesterday my companionship is now myself elder Chang and my old companion elder mensink. We are in a trio. It is definitely different but it has been so great just in the few days we have been in it. I love this work! Until next time!

Zaijian nimen. Wo zhende ai nimen.

August 30, 2010

Well this week has been absolutely amazing! The work has been going great, not necessarily by big things happening but I have learned to enjoy the small successes and those have made me happy and see God's blessings in my life. This week I had the opportunity to go on two differed exchanges, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. The exchange we had on Wednesday I went over to the West park area and worked with Elder Earl again. We talked to a lot of people and helped some move but there was one thing that was especially cool. They have an investigator named Olivia Geller, the minute he said that name I recognized the name. Turns out that she is from Beaverton, Oregon and was in my classes and my friend all the way elementary school through high school at South ridge and she moved out here a couple years ago. We had a lesson planned to teach her and she recognized me when we met. I think it is so interesting that the lord placed me in this mission in that area at that time to teach an old friend of mine the gospel! It was an amazing experience and she has a baptismal date set and is very excited! This week we had dinner with a Chinese family that I absolutely love! They took us to a Chinese restaurant, as we sat down the mom (shu-qi) is her name, told me "Well, since you are in California you probably won't get to experience certain authentic Chinese foods unless we have you experience them"....as she said that i said to myself "oh no". Well I ended up eating "Stinky Tofu", which is quite possibly the most horrid smelling food on this earth, hence the word stinky already in the name. Then they had me eat "Fish Cake"....which does not taste like cake haha. Finally she had me eat two squid. Thos are things i probably never would have eaten, but it was fun to experience them at least once. The squid which I was most scared actually wasn't all that bad, go figure ;). The second exchange during this week was with the Zone Leaders. I got to work with Elder Wilcock (zone leader) and Elder Nielsen. They are such huge examples to me about the missionary work, they are very spiritual with what they do and we had much success because of it. One thing I learned from Elder Nielsen was not to be afraid to talk to people and just be yourself, as I watched him he is definitely not afraid of going up to people or talking to them, it is one thing I decided to try and incorporate more this week and it has been going very well. In the back of my mind while i try to be bold is always my brother, because that is his personality and it has been fun to think of me following in his footsteps. One fun experience was a man I taught with them called Jeron. In the morning while we were planning Elder Wilcock and Nielsen told me they felt we should teach the word of wisdom, when we arrived at his house we saw some used cigarettes and beer cans outside. So we went in and talked to him about the word of wisdom and he was a really nice man and he really wanted to stop but he said he needed help, so we told him how God has promised us if we try to live the word of wisdom we will added strength and blessings in our life and the ability to overcome. He had us take the beer and cigarettes out his house and we threw it all away for him. This upcoming week we have a baptism scheduled for our investigator Jerry, so i ask for all of your prayers for him to have strength and the desire to still be baptized. I love you all and thank you so much for all that you do for me! I am learning so much out here and I love meeting new people everyday! I know that this Gospel is true, without a doubt in my mind. I know Jospeh Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know this Heavenly Father has created a plan for us, to live with him and our families forever. Until next time! Zaijian!

August 23, 2010

Hello Everyone!!
This week has been pretty awesome! Well to start off this week on Tuesday we had exchanges again, except this time it was me and Elder Mensink (MTC companion) worked in the Chinese area together while our trainers worked in the other. It was definitely a fun yet tough experience with the language. To start off our exchange Elder Mensink and I went to the lake in Irvine, it is a huge man made lake but it is beautiful and lots of people walk around it. So we talked to a lot of people, but we ran into one man with his family, he was Chinese and we walked and talked with him around the entire lake. I have noticed when I stop thinking about my Chinese I can speak much better than I think I can, and without having Elder Chang there it forced me to speak and use as much as I knew. The rest of week was full of tracting and knocking on doors, and it is amazing to see how many different types of people there are. Sometimes it is very hard and kind of makes you feel bad when you get rejected all the time, but it is alright, because I know that what I am doing is laying a foundation on which others can build, so I don't have to be upset. We had the opportunity to teach our investigator Jerry about tithing and I used a scripture from Malachi 3, or it is also in 3 nephi 24:10, but this scripture says "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if i will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." It stuck out to me a lot when I read it, because it shows you how the Lord will bless us if we pay our tithing. The scripture is the Lord himself talking, and he has power to do ALL THINGS, and he essentially says in the scripture,"try me", if you pay your tithing, watch me keep to my promise that i will give you more blessings than you could imagine. Amazing scripture :). it is crazy to think it is already almost the end of my first transfer! next week will be the last week! However we got a call today from the Assistants to the president and they said that next transfer I may possibly be taking over the Chinese area, they would move elder Chang out and Elder Mensink be my companion until October when new Chinese missionaries come in and then we would be training them. It is very intimidating and I am trying to work on the Chinese much more now, I don't know why the Lord has chosen/entrusted me so much with speaking Chinese and pioneering this mission.....but there must be a reason for it and I am going to try my hardest. I will need all your prayers and faith. I love you all and I hope all is going well! Until next time! Zaijian!

August 16, 2010

Nimen hao! (Hello Everyone)

Alright well this week was a big change up from what normally goes on. This week started an all week leadership training from Tuesday to Friday from 9am-4pm everyday. Since my companion Elder Chang is my trainer and district leader he went to the training while they temporarily paired me up with Elder Mensink and Elder Vargo. They assigned me to drive for the week (which driving in California is soooooo different than Oregon, they go so fast and you always need to be watching). Anyway, we were assigned to work in the West Park area and the Newport Hills area (down by Newport beach). Newport Hills was so beautiful! The people that live there are very very rich and I got to at least get a glimpse of the ocean! Anyway, we tracted quite a bit in the Newport hills area and all the people there were very nice but none of them were interested but we just kept trying. In the West Park area we talked to a lot of people in parks, and we met some really cool people and got a few referrals. On Wednesday when we were walking around a park we ran into a Chinese lady and that was the first time I have contacted someone in Chinese without Elder Chang there to help if I needed it. It went very well! This week we ran into a couple more people that were calling us a cult and yelling at us, but I have learned now that when people do that I just look at them and smile and wave :). We hold an English class every Tuesday and Friday at 7pm and all the elders involved in it decided that I will be the teacher because I am the only white american elder. Everyone else even though they speak english and are asian, and we have found that the people coming to class get annoyed when they have another asian teaching them english, they like the white teacher haha. But the past couple of classes have been awesome! The people we teach are always so grateful for our help and I love working with them. This Sunday we had a little miracle happen. We were expecting 4 investigators to come to church so we waited outside but nobody showed. Elder Chang and I were pretty sad that no one showed up and it seemed like it was going to be a rough day. So in sacrament I decided to say a little prayer and ask the Lord to help our investigators to show up or help us somehow achieve our goal (which is 2 baptisms per transfer, and we already had one scheduled but needed another) But in the last 10 minutes of our Priesthood meeting a man walked in and asked if he could talk to Elder Chang and I. We were a little confused but went outside with him anyway. Turns out he got a new roommate who is from shanghai, China and he is not LDS but the man brought him to church to show him around. He asked us if we could talk to him because he doesn't really speak english. SO we got to know him and he is such an amazing guy, he is about 19 or 20ish (not exactly sure) but he came here to California and is going to college up in Santa Ana. As we were talking to him he told us that he smokes and he didn't know why his roommate brought him...needless to say we thought it wasn't going anywhere. But we asked him if we could teach him right then and he agreed. We taught him the first lesson and talked about the word of wisdom. He committed to a baptismal date of September 18th and agreed to live the word of wisdom! He told us of how he used to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day back in china but he promised his mom when he came to America he would stop, so he has been trying and is now down to only 5 cigarettes a day compared to 2 packs. But he loved here about the word of wisdom and saw how it would help him. I am kind of overwhelmed at the lord's blessings. I said a simple little prayer and he blessed me beyond what i expected or think I deserve. I know that this work is important and I love being out here serving others. It is changing me so quickly and for the better. I love all of you and your continued support. Until next week, Zaijian!

August 9, 2010

Well hello everyone!

Ok, well this week was amazing! To start off the week on Tuesday we had exchanges. That meant that I moved to the West Park companion temporarily, this exchange went from Tuesday to Thursday, it was a longer exchange because they wanted Elder Mensink (my mtc companion) to have a little longer so he could get some experience speaking Chinese. In the West Park area my companion was Elder Earl. He and I are soooo much alike that we clicked right away. Another awesome thing was that I got to be on a bike for three days! I can honestly say I prefer being on bike than in a car, even though it makes you very very tired. Anyway, everyone down here has been talking about the whole Proposition 8 thing again and it has caused some interesting things to happen. Elder Earl and I were riding down a street and a truck drove past us, as it was passing the man in the passenger seat yelled a few cuss words and threw a full pop can at elder earl, hitting him in the chest and almost knocking him off his bike. Elder Earl has a massive bruise on his chest now. It was pretty crazy, but throughout the past couple weeks there have been people yelling at us and people laughing at us about it all. It makes me sad. But other than that things have been great. When we were on the exchange Elder Earl and I decided to go visit a less active member, her name is Janice Wong. I got to meet her and she reminded me soooooo much of my grandma Reynolds (which made me miss her a little) but I felt this instant connection. We talked to her for a while and she was such a funny lady, but at the end I asked her if she would commit to coming to church on Sunday even if it was just for sacrament meeting, and she looked at me and said "I will but on one condition Elder Ellis" and i asked what that was and she said "I have to sit with you", I laughed and told her we could work that out. The more I meet the people out here the more I fall in love with this work. I did have another cool experience this week. We came up to a mans dorr and he answered, he was Chinese and the minute he saw me he said "No I can't speak English" and i said "Its OK! Wo keye jiang gouyu" (I can speak mandarin). It completely caught him off guard and he didn't know what to say so i just continued to talk to him. That has happened with many Chinese people we have run into and i think its a blessing in a way because they don't expect a 19 year old white boy to be speaking Chinese....neither would I haha. This week has definitely been tough in the language though. We had dinner at the Bian's house (a family in our Chinese branch), and she is from mainland china, has a crazy accent, and speaks ridiculously fast. Every time she asked me a question and i didn't know what she said she would just laugh at me, and then she told me to write my name in characters, so I did, and she told me my handwriting is horrible. haha now i understand by what my MTC teachers said by Chinese people are blunt, not necessarily being mean, they are just very honest, about everything. This week I have focused on studying the scriptures a lot lot more and I have been finding out so many amazing things. One cool little thing Elder Earl showed me....As we read in the bible Jesus was baptized in the city of bethabara, we also read in the bible the scripture that says "Jesus Christ hath descended below all" (that scripture, forgot where it is), well anyway, we found out, bethabara is the lowest point of land on this earth someone can stand....pretty cool, he literally descended below all things. Anyway, I want everyone to know the work is going great and the Lord is amazing. We had dinner at one brothers house this past week and he taught me so much about the power of our testimonies. He helped me realize when I bear my testimony it isn't just "I believe", it is "I have a certainty of knowledge". I have thought much more about that and it has hit me so strongly. I do know. I know without a doubt, with every part of my being that this church is true, that the book of Mormon is true and that we have a living day prophet on this earth. I know with a certainty that we can live with our families forever and I know that the Lord loves all his children and he wants all of them to return to him. It has definitely changed my outlook on missionary work and reaffirmed why I am out here. I know the message I am sharing is true and I will do all I can to help others come unto Christ. One thing I invite everyone reading this to do, stop and take a look at your life and think of all the tender mercies from the lord in your life, it is truly amazing how much he has given us and continues to give us. I love you all and will talk to you next week!

August 2, 2010

Hello everyone!
OK, well this week went pretty well. I have been getting to the members a lot better and I absolutely love the people in this branch. They all continue to try and help me with my Chinese, which i desperately need. The language has seemed to be a huge barrier for me lately and has been causing some stress, but I am continuing to have faith that the language will come. This week when we were tracting we ran into a man named Rick James Deleon, at first he came up and had a ton of tattoos and a bandanna on his head, so of course my impression was he wouldn't be interested. Turns out he was the nicest guy ever. We talked to him for quite a bit about the Book of Mormon and the restored Gospel, and he told us how he has relatives that are LDS in Idaho. I had a feeling to start explaining to him that the Book of Mormon can give him comfort, didn't exactly know why but i did. Only to find out that his 3 year old son was just diagnosed with leukemia. He told us the whole story and it was really sad but I assured him he would find solace in the Book of Mormon and he said he will start reading as soon as we left. We set up an appointment with him but had to refer him to other elders because we can only teach Chinese investigators...i think that has been hard on me. We have found so many great people and set up appointments but we can't teach them because they go to the English elders. But it's alright because as long as they are being taught the gospel and coming closer to Christ that is all that matters. David our investigator we haven't been able to get a hold of and it makes me sad because he seemed so ready, but i will continue to keep faith that things will all work out. This week we got to go to the temple for a grounds walk and the Mission President, President Watrous told us all about the Newport temple. Just to purchase the land it is on was $14,000,000. And to build the temple members around the area donated over $20,000,000. I was able to go inside and do some temple work and it is so beautiful! Starting tomorrow we are doing exchanges, so i will be temporarily moving to a different area with another elder while elder Mensink (my MTC companion) comes to serve with elder Chang so that he can use his Chinese. Well there is a lot more i could talk about but I don't know how to fit it all but I guess the thing I learned the most this week is the need for the spirit. The spirit is so quiet and needs so much preparation for you to be able to heed to its promptings. This next week I am going to focus on having the spirit more so that the people we meet can feel that spirit, because that is what helps them know that this gospel and the Book of Mormon are true. I love you all and I hope all is going well! Zaijian!

July 26, 2010

Alright, well this week has been pretty amazing. There is so much to talk about again so I will do the best I can. This week I have focused much more on relying on the spirit for the language....because the language is still very hard. But since I have been relying on the spirit I have noticed an immense change in my understanding of the language, I am understanding things people say that I haven't ever studied before (that is all the spirits help). The weather continues to be perfect here and the sun is really growing on me, there is just tad bit more here than there is back in Oregon ;). The area I live and serve in is called Irvine, it is one of the nicest cities around, everybody here is pretty affluent and some of the cars that drive by you only see in movies...they are very nice. Ok, well putting all of that aside, the missionary work has been amazing. We have two investigators we contacted last week, I think I talked about them in the last letter but their names are David and Jerry Ong. They are both very sincere and honest people, we had an appointment with Jerry and when we got there we saw his dad David was there as well! So we taught both of them and the spirit was so strong. We committed them to a baptismal date of AUG 14th and they accepted!! The lord has blessed me in so many ways just in the short time I have been out and I am truly humbled and amazed. We ran into a couple people where we contacted and the spirit was so strong and you could see that they recognized the importance of the message but they didn't accept, my companion would get kind of annoyed because they didn't set a return appointment and it wouldn't count in our numbers....I think that is one thing I have realized and believe myself is that it is not only about numbers. If I could just make someone smile or have a better day or know the love Jesus Christ has for them, and then I have done my job, I can't be anything but happy, because I helped bring happiness into someone else’s life. I have noticed down here in southern California there are a lot of churches that preach anti-Mormon, and this week alone I have been called numerous names and cuss words, been told that I am brainwashed, and told that I belong to a cult. I definitely have needed the lord’s comfort through that because it wasn't something I have quite yet experienced, it kind of shocked me. But I have learned that those people don't truly mean what they are saying because they have just lost sight of things. The scriptures have definitely given me lots of comfort because I read the stories of prophets of old that went through tough things and how they got through it, and it always turns back to faith in the Lord and keep your focus on what the Lord would have you do.

I talked to one of the presidency of the stake and he told me he knows the reason I was chosen to come here. I was confused so I asked him about it; this is what he told me. 'This Chinese branch is brand new; it started in November and hasn't been growing that much. The members were getting kind of down on the fact that they had no missionaries and it wasn't really growing like they thought it would. In January we thought and planned a Chinese New Year activity where we could invite as many people as possible to try and grow the branch. We had a fireside a week before that New Year’s party and I was speaking. While I was speaking I had the distinct impression to tell them that if they tried their hardest and got as many people to come to this Chinese new year’s event as possible, then their branch would start to grow, I was then prompted to say and by the end of the year you will have two Chinese speaking missionaries for your branch." He said that everyone didn't believe him because there was no way they were getting missionaries for their branch. Then he told me "Elder Ellis, you are who the spirit told me would come". I still don't really know what to think about all that but it was a story that I thought you would all like to hear, because the Lord truly works in amazing ways :) I am so grateful for this Gospel and for the love and strength the Lord continues to give me. I love you all and I am so happy I am on my mission serving these people and serving the Lord, there is no greater work I could be doing :), until next letter. Zaijian!

Elder Joshua Ellis

July 20, 2010

Nimen hao! (Hello everyone)!

Alright, well i have so much to say, but luckily i have much more time out in the mission field and not just 30 minutes to read and type! Well, i guess to start off, my companion and I woke up at 4 in the morning on the 13th to get our things situated and ready. We loaded the bus and headed for the airport, i can say that it felt very weird being outside of the MTC and seeing cars and city haha. We got to the airport and both my bags made the weight check (phew). It was a relatively short flight but it was nice. We arrived at John Wayne airport and the weather was perfect! I have got to say that the weather here is pretty amazing...and it is like this all year round! Well anyway we met my mission president and his wife and two other missionaries. This is the crazy part...we were talking to our misson president and he told me and elder mensink (my MTC companion) that we were the pioneers of mandarin missionaries in this mission!!! We are the first mandarin missionaries called to this mission. It is a little intimidating, but i am still excited. We went to the mission presidents house and there we had interviews and then were paired up with our new companions. My companion' name is Elder Chang, he is from toronto, canada, and he is serving with me in the Yale branch (or the chinese branch). He was called spanish speaking for his mission and studied spanish for 9 weeks in the MTC but they switched him to mandarin speaking because he knows mandarin and cantonese. For about a year he has been teaching all the chinese investigators by himself because none of his companions spoke chinese. He is an awesome elder and we get along very well. Elder mensink got paired up with an english elder and they are both teaching and speaking and teaching in english, so as of right now it is only myself and elder chang teaching and finding chinese people. The first day Elder Chang took me to a door and said "you got this one", and a little asian girl answered the door....it was an experience let me tell you, she talked circles around me in chinese (she was from taiwan). We have been having so many amazing experiences already!! My chinese is improving...slowly but improving nonetheless. The second day i was here we were tracting and talking to people, we were about to go back to our car but i had a feeling we should talk to this one chinese man getting his mail. Turns out he was way excited to hear the message of this gospel and he came to church on sunday and we already taught him the first lesson! He is an amazing man, his name is David Ong. There is so much more that has happened that the lord has blessed me with but i think i can sum it up by saying just these past few days i have been here with my companion we have taught more, found more, and had more success than they have had in about a year. I am absolutely amazed at the lords love and how he will turly bless us if we are doing the right things and constantly trying to help other people. I can also say I am excited because I am already getting tan ;), and i have still have a long time here! Well anyway, i met the presdent of our chinese branch and he is such an amazing guy! He is so fun and probably has the most unique and coolest laugh i have ever heard. This sunday i had my first experience of being in a chinese ward, and i was surprised with how much i could pick out but my head was hurting afterward because it is still very hard for me. I think one thing i have focused on for my mission is that I want to give everyone an opportunity to hear the gospel, no matter who they are, what they say, or what they seem like. Even if they are rude or don't want it, I believe everyone at least needs a chance to hear this message, because I know how important it is to me and how much it will affect and bless everyones lives. Sorry for this letter being all over the place but I am summing up a billion things in one email. But one other thing, we have cars in this mission and particualrly for us chinese missionaries because we are allowed to travel anywhere in the mission boundaries to find chinese people. Within this past week i have already been to about every area of our mission boundaries! Well, I want everyone to know I love it hear and I am so excited to continue my missionary work for these people in this mission. I know this gospel is true with all my heart. I know Jesus Christ lives and Heavenly Father lives and they love everyone. I know that families can be together forever through this Gospel. I know we have a living prophet on this earth that gives us guidance and direction from the Lord. I love you all for the examples you have set to me! Until next letter, Zaijian!

July 12, 2010

Hey everyone!!!

Well this last week here at the MTC has flown by! I made a huge push on diligence this week and try my hardest to finish out strong. It has been a little hard to focus sometimes because the filed is almost there! But i have been able to mostly keep myself focused. This week I have focused a lot on praying, and thinking of how sincere my prayers really are. I realized that my parayers can definitely be more sincere, so i have been working on that. I am so anxious and excited to go to California, I can't wait to serve the people in that area. I talked to a senior missionary last night, she is japanese and is from irvine california, which is in my mission and is probably the place i will spend the most time because that is where most of the chinese people are. She told me and my companion that the population in the city of irvine is over 200,000 people! That shocked me given how irvine really isn't that big at all. Last night we had our departure devotional and they gave us all the goodbye talks and advice, at the end of the meeting Presdient smith (the MTC president) stood up and said "This is a little out of the ordinary, but i want you to know that tonight for the fireside that when an apostle walks into the room, we all stand" and then he sat down. So at the fireside we got good seats and were all excited only to see on the screen Jenny Oaks Baker, we had no idea who that was and were kind of dissapointed but later found out that is Elder Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. Dallin H. Oaks came :) :). It was an amazing fireside even though Elder oaks didn't even sit on the stand. SIster Baker is one of the most accomplished violinists in the united states and she played and it was beautiful. Other than all that, we had our final TA(Teaching Appointment) this past week. It went very well and the spirit was so strong, I know that with a surety of my heart that this Gospel is the only true gospel on this earth. The book of mormon is the word of god and joseph smith was a true prophet of god. He saw heavenly father and Jesus Christ and recieved the guidance to restore the true church back on the earth. It is true. Packing all my things has been a weird feeling. I remember the first couple of weeks i thought i was going to die in the MTC but now it has grown on me and i am going to miss it here. I have learned so much here in the short 12 weeks i have been here. I have learned so much more about the gospel and so much about myself. I am so grateful for all the blessings the lord has given me and continues to give me. I know anyone can know the truth of this gospel as long as they read the Book of Mormon and pray to god with a SINCERE heart, with real intent to ACT on the answer they receive, and reading the Book of Mormon will bless everyones life so much more than you can see or imagine. The lord is waiting to give people the answer, we all have to do our part and study and read and ponder and then he will tell us the truth of it all through the Holy Ghost. I love you all and thank you all for all the support you constantly give me. I will talk to all next time from California!

Elder Joshua Ellis

July 5, 2010

Hey everyone!
Alright well this week has been a very interesting and difficult week for me. It started out great and I was learning a ton and on Wednesday I didn't feel so well, but i didn't want anything getting in the way of my study so i pushed it off. But i started to feel worse so i decided to go to the health clinic. While i was there they told me i had no fever therefore i am fine....(we've heard that one before right mom and dad?). Well the next day i felt even worse so i went back only to find out i had a temperature of 102. Massive headaches, chills, and nauseous. Well they swabbed my throat, drew my blood and gave me a shot to ease the nauseousness....but i ended up throwing up in the room right after they gave me the shot. The were going to put me in the sick bay but had no more room so they sent me back to my dorm. I slept for two days throwing up and still high fever so I asked for a priesthood blessing and a day later it was all gone! I am feeling much better now though :). Besides all that my the rest of my week went much better. This week during our TA (Teaching Appointment) we were teaching a Chinese teacher the 1st lesson in Chinese, we were told to teach them as they are so we didn't need to act like they were an investigator. My companion and I couldn't think of what we should focus on for her so i said a prayer and after i did i had a feeling we should talk about how much influence she has on missionaries and that through her teaching those missionaries she helps so many more people than she can even realize. After we taught her she started to cry and said we exactly the thing she had been focusing on all week on and she said she had been praying for help and we were her answer. I continue to be amazed at how beautiful and special the Holy Ghost is. Also this week a member of my district already left for his mission in new york so i have become the new district leader for this last week! Only a week of it but it is fun nonetheless. I am happy to be healthy again and back on my feet so that i can get back into it all and continue to serve the lord and my fellowmen :)! I love you all! I received my flight plans this week!! I leave next Tuesday for CALIFORNIA!!!!




Dad- Thank you so much for the Spongebob flip flops (even though they fit my right toe :) I absolutely love the towel as well! I love you and all the camping times we had together, even if i had to wake you up in the wee hours ;)

Mom - Thank you so much for the package and the dictionaries!!!!!!!! Yes i got to watch the fireworks that night! It was pretty fun! I love you.

Hailee - I haven't heard from you in a while? How are you? I bet you are still doing awesome

Aaron - I am almost there!!!! Into the mission field!!!

June 28, 2010

Hello Everyone! Alright, well to start off this week was spiritualy draining because so many things have happened.. First of all, this week was mission presidents week where they bring all the new mission presdients from around the world to the mtc and they are trained by the first presdiency and the quoroum of the twelve apostles, which mean all twelve apostles and the first presidency were here this week! We had a special devotional this week, and the people who came that i sat about ten feet away from were Elders......Jeffrey R.. Holland, Dallin H. Oaks, Richard G. Scott, Russel M. Nelson, David A. Bednar, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Anderson, Quentin L. Cook :) :). It was ana absolutely amazing meeting! And the whole first quoroum of the seventy and their presidency was there as well. I can't really describe it justly but it can be simply put......It was amazing. Other than that happening this week the chinese has still been chugging along, we taught a native this week and i had a full on conversation with her. IIIItttt is crazy to see how quickly i have improved but I do not give any thanks to myself for that. It is all the lord. This week I have been studying on how to recognize the Holy Ghost in my life and when I know if it is a prompting or my own thoughts. I have learned that the Lord wants to act on our own thoughts and when we do as the lord commands and stay faithful our steps will be guided. David A. Bednar said that we need to just stop worrying about it.. If we are making the right choices and act then our steps will be guided by the lord. I like what he said when he talked about how some people wait for a huge spiritual experience to get them going and he said "The lord should not have to be smacking us with the spirit to get us to get up and serve, we need to serve using our own effort and believe he will guide us". I love that talk. Well, i will be getting my flight plans this week, and then on the 14th I fly to california! I am so excited for what the Lord has in store for me! I love you all and thank you all! Dad--- Ok, there is an elder in my district his name is Dallin Erickson, he said his dad is about your age and also played football for ricks college! I want to know if you know him, his dads name is Todd Erickson. And please could you possibly send a pocket sized english to mandarin dicitionary......it would help me so much. The one they gave us is not a pocket sized one.. Mom--- I think the 8 apostles in one meeting is the most amazing meeting I have ever witnessed! It was so great! I love you! O and the box, well if you are sending it I don't have much longer here so it might need to be sent quickly. Hailee--- I am so happy to hear about you making the Guard!!! That is awesome! I always knew you were crazy good! Just try not to hurt yorself anymore, ok? ;) I wuv you! Aaron--- I am so excited to be getting into the field soon! I love you and I can't wait to experience the things you have been writing about. Everyone---I want all of you to know I know this church is true.. With all of my heart! And mom and dad I thank you both for helping me get to this point in my life. It has only been two months and i have already learned so much about myself and our purpose here. You are the best parents in the world, and I'm not just saying that because I am your son ;).

June 21, 2010

Hey everyone!, alright well this week has been really fun and a lot of hard work. We prepared all week to teach the second lesson al in chinese. I have learned to make best of the little amounts of random time i have throughout each day to study. Some of the elders learning mandarin with me say that learning the chinese words are hard to memorize because you have to remember a new word plus tones and they all sound the same but for some reason it just makes sense in my brain that the tones make a certain word. So i don't find it all that hard to memorize them but I also believe that my praying to the lord for help has blessed me with that. Well anyway, this saturday my companion and I had our TA, lets just say....we were sufficiently humbled. Our investigator was a native and she spoke so quickly and asked questions that were difficult to answer in english let alone trying to answer them in chinese. We did our best for the situation we had and at first I was dissapointed because i felt we didn't do well and that i did poorly, but then I realized that even though I may not have been able to answer her questions in chinese, I understood everything she was saying! The gift of tounges and interperation of tongues is real, BUT it only comes through hard work and having faith in the lord. Although I know there is sooooooo much more I can work on. I have been trying to change my focus to focusing on the investigator and not just teaching a lesson. It comes clearer to me everday why I am truly out here. The Lord loves his people and wants everyone to return to live with him. I have been thinking of that while I teach because I truly want people to know that the Lord does love them, he wants everyone to hear his gospel so they can live with him again. I know this is true. And the only way i know this is true is because I have studied it out, pondered, and prayed....a lot. We have to do our part before the Lord will give us that testiomny, it doesn't just come randomly. We had another awesome devotional this week and the speakers focused on remembering. Remembering all that god has given us, all that he continues to give us and bless us with, and how remembering that will help us become better people. For whoever is reading this go read (Mosiah 2:18-the end of the chapter.) Those scriptures are so strong on how much God has given us and how we need to remember that. I love this Gospel and I love all of you :). One thing I have learned here is to put on a smile, no matter what. Even if you dont feel like it, because once you smile it will only make you happy! Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!

Dad - I love you. Thank you so much for your example. It has helped me greatly, and I look up to you soooo much :) Happy Fathers day and birthday and "you are awesome dad!" I tried finishing a present for you in time but i will probably send it a little late.

Mom - Thank you for all the scarifices you have made for me, none have gone unoticed, I love you :)

Hailee - I love you. I hope all is going well, and know that God and Jesus Christ do know you and love you :)

Scooter - Woof!

June 14, 2010

Well hello everyone!
Well it is hard to say the weeks are more crazy or exciting than others now because it is the same schedule everyday. I have been doing a ton of studying both gospel things and language. I have got to the point now where the chinese has taken over some of my english, i know longer think of some words in english anymore, they are all chinese. I have especially noticed this week the blessings of the spirit. The spirit in this work and in our lives is of huge and major importance. An example of this would be our TA (Teaching Assesment) this past saturday. I memorized the first vision in chinese and we planned that i was going to say it during our lesson, and this time around i decided I was going to prepare a lot spiritually before hand. I focused on not thinking or worrying about chinese and just have faith that through my hard work that the lord would bless me with what to say. I can tell you it is true. When i started saying the first version i noticed i was saying it a little differently than i had studied and the pronunciation sounded like something i had never practiced. After the TA my teacher and the people we taught came up to me and told me that what i said was flawless, and i sounded like a native. I know it was all the lord that allowed me to be able to do that. Other than that experience I have been feeling the spirit more than I ever have before and it has been amazing. This week we had an apostle at the devotional again :), it was Robert D. Hales. He is somewhat softspoken but the messages he gives are so powerful and i learned so much from him. All of our new mandarin missionaries came in this past wednesday, we now have about 70 mandarin missionaries in our zone! We are all on one floor and with only 6 working showers, it gets crazy, but i wake up at 5:30am every morning to study and shower so it really doesn't affect me. One of the new missionaries in our zone is from beaverton, oregon! He went to Westview High School and I know some of his friends! It is awesome to have a fellow beavertonian here ;). Well, I am kind of in a rush today so i will end with my testimony. I know that God and Jesus Christ live. I know that because i have studied the scriptures and prayed about it. I know that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God and is the writings from the porphets in the ancient americas. I know that Jospeh Smith truly was a prophet and he restored the true gospel on this earth. I know that families can be together forever. I challenge anyone reading this to read the Book of Mormon. Even if you have before, read it again, and if you haven't find one and read it. I promise that if you read it with a sincere heart and study it out in your mind and pray about it you can know of the truthfulness of it for yourself. I love you all :)

June 7, 2010

Hello everyone!! Well I am sorry for any short responses in email or anything but I am pretty crunched on time. This week has been interesting. We have been speaking chinese as much as possible and I have found it is so much easier to learn chinese when you just speak it and try to use it, pounding my head with memorization and everything i have found doesn't work to well. My district bought chopsticks at the bookstore so we are practicing eating everything with chopsticks....haha and anything, i even tried cereal this week with chopsticks ;), yes i'm still a dork. Anyway, we found out the my favorite teacher leaves on the 19th of June, which is sad because he has really set a huge example for me and helped me out a ton. But the good news is, is that our new teacher that has been coming that will replace him is just as awesome and I get along with him really well. I have been reading the scriptures a lot during personal study and it amazes me how when i take a break from chinese to study the gospel, all the sudden my chinese improves :). The lord is amazing and works in wonderful ways. I am reading through the book of mormon again and chapter 13 of 1 nephi has been sticking out to me. It amazes me that Nephi was having revelation, and in that revalation such a long time ago, he talks about the revolutionary war, columbus, the native americans, the forefathers, the pilgrims. It is amazing, i challenge whoever reads this to go read that chapter of the book of mormon. It is amazing. Anyway, this week we had a devotional by one of the quoroum of the second seventy, brother foster (which by the way dad, is he related to your old bishop you loved? because he is from idaho). Anyway he talked about how large the universe is and how small we are in the whole picture of things. It just reassured me how this world and us, could not, and did not, happen by accident. This sunday we had a devotional and we had three LDS composers come and talk, robert cundick (composed Thy Holy Word), crawford gates (composed Our Saviors Love), and sister watkins (composed Press Forward Saints), I got my hymnbook signed by brother gates and sister watkins! Other than all that my chinese is slowly improving, this language is very awesome but very humbling. But i know i can do it :). The new missionaries for our zone start coming tomorrow! I am very excited. Anyway, I love you all and thank you for your continued support. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know he loves everyone. I know we can all know this for a surety if we pray to him with a sincere heart. I love this Gospel and I know it is true. Until next P-Day :) Zaijian!

May 31, 2010

Ok, Hello all!!
This week has flown by very quickly but it as been absolutely amazing! First of all, I said earlier that my companion and I have been having some struggles, well I have been praying and focusing on trying to change myself so i could be a better companion and this week my companion sat down and we talked. We were both very honest and we worked it all out. We are having such a better time and our teaching is getting much better! This next saturday we teach all in chinese! So we have been gearing up for the lesson! I have studied so much vocab i think my head could explode! But it is good, because i enjoy it! I had a dream the other night that was all in chinese, and in the dream I completely understood the natives i was talking to, but when i woke up i couldn't remember what they were saying or what i had said. It has also gotten to the point where i have trouble falling asleep because i have so much chinese stuff floating around in my head. Anyway, For my personal study I have decided to read through the doctrine and covenants, and i have found so many things in there. The older elders in my chinese zone are leaving tomorrow, so that means that my group becomes the top dogs :). But in about 2 weeks we have 40 new mandarin chinese missionaries coming in to our zone. It will be awesome. This past week for our devotional on tuesday we had the apostle D. Todd Christofferson talk to us. It is amazing hearing aposltes speak, they are so powerful and there is a spirit in the room like nothing i have experienced before. He gave us somthing very special, an apostalic blessing, he said "I bless you that if it is your desire that you will be able to teach so that no one can disbelieve you." He did however tell us in order to recieve this apostalic blessing, we must pray for and work for it. It is funny how the lord has so many blessings for us, but we need to realize that we need to actually work for them. That is one of the lessons I am learning while I am out here. The lord is waiting for us to our part and use our effort and then he will give us his blessings and pick up the rest. Be cause "Faith without works is dead". I believe that with all my heart.

I love you all :)

May 24, 2010

Ok! This week has flown by sooo quickly. It is crazy because the days go by slowly but the weeks fly by quickly, it is the weirdest thing ever. I have been meeting and talking to more missionaries that are going to other language speaking missions, some of the spanish elders are pretty fun and the tagolog are crazy. I have found though, that of all the people I meet the nicest missionaries I have met are the missionaries from Korea that are here learning English (for you dad). They really are, and we had a Korean elder sing a solo for a devotional and he was absolutely amazing! Anyway, this week I have been focusing on studying the language a lot more and trying to get about 50 new words a day down. It has been a struggle this week with my companion...I won't go into too much detail but it hasn't been too fun in that area. I had a nice interview with one of the branch presidency and he and I talked about it and he agreed with me on the issues, so that helped a lot. But don't worry, I don't let silly things like that get me down. The best is to just keep pushing forward. We taught another lesson for our TA on saturday and we contacted in chinese again, we all sat in a room with a ton of people to resemble the noise on a bus. It was tough and they gave my companion and I, 3 investigators. Now teaching a lesson to 3 investigators and making it personal for all 3 and not excluding any of them is very hard. But we did it. The spirit was so strong. It amazes me how much the spirit can do, even when we are just practicing. I have been focusing a lot this week on certain principles. One of them being the atonement. It has hit me really hard this week how much Jesus Christ loves us that he would die for us, i still can't even imagine how much pain he had to bear...no my own sins he would have had to suffer, let alone every single person who has ever lived. I also came across in the book of mormon where the prophets prophecy of america and the forefathers and the constitution. It is amazing! 1 Nephi 13. Those men who started this country were truly led by god. I have so much to say but only 3 minutes left of my half hour. I love you all and all the support you continually give me!

I love you all!!

May 10, 2010

Ok, well i have a few minutes left so i am going to go as fast as I can. This week has been a tough one but I have definitely learned a lot. I hit a barrier with the language and it was really frustrating but I think i have gotten passed the part now so I will just continue until the next barrier....haha its just how learning a new laguage works i guess. This week we had a devotional and I sat down with my district we were all just talking and then the announcer said "Elders and Sisters, we would like to stand when the speaker comes in because it is one of the twelve apostles!" So of course we were freaking out trying to guess who it was. It was Jeffrey R. Holland!!!! He gave one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard or had the experience to witness live. He is truly a messenger of god. There is no doubt in my mind. He talked a lot about obedience and working hard and not slacking off....which a lot of missionaries around here seem to have a problem with. I have been studying my scriptures a lot lately and it amazes me how much I can get out of reading the Book of Mormon no matter how many times i go over the same thing, new ideas will always come up! We had another TA this week where we contacted in Zhongwen (chinese) and it was awesome! I love speaking the language even though I'm not that great, I just go for it. My companion however kind of struggles so the contacting kind of falls on me, but o well, I LOVE CHINESE! The actual teaching the lesson was an amazing experience, the spirit was so strong. I have been struggling with being able to teach the lessons because I just think way too much and jumble up my thoughts, but during this TA i decided that I would just put all faith and trust in the spirit of the lord, and i was so amazed at what happened i was crying. I went in there and just tried to wipe my mind clean so that i wasnt thinking of any of the lesson and just forcing myself to rely on the spirit....that can get a bit scary. But I can tell you, i started saying things that i didnt even know and points I hadnt planned or really thought about. It was a huge testimony builder to me that the Lord lives. He loves us, and he will help us, we just have to stop worrying about ourselves and focus on what is important. I know that when we pray and ask god for answers with real intent and a sincere heart that we will know it is true. I know that with all my heart.

I love you all and thank you for everything, until next week

Zaijian!!

Elder Joshua Trent Ellis

May 10, 2010

OK, so this week has been super awesome!! I am loving it here! It is really quite an experience to be surrounded by about 2,000 + missionaries that are serving the lord. First off, my roommate Ben Farley from college is here, he was supposed to go to the MTC in Brazil but they were having problems with the visa so they sent them here instead, it's been great to talk with him! The trumpet player from BYU-Idaho i told you about is here as well, he and i run into each other almost everyday! Also....do you guys remember the other missionary the day i flew out at the airport? He is in my district, speaking mandarin ha ha pretty cool. One other thing. Sterling woodruff is here, i thought he was older than me but i see him a lot.

For the real letter...This week has truly been amazing. I feel like i have learned more Chinese in two weeks here, then i ever did in 2 years of Spanish in high school. But i know that is because the lord is here helping me. I was pretty overwhelmed the first week but it is all settling in and I found the best way to get through it all is just to do the work. Stop worrying about how or if I can, just believe I can and do it! I found an awesome scripture this week that helped me start working harder, its D&C 67:10, in essence it says that those called to do the lords work have the "privilege" to serve the lord. It changed my outlook on the work and I realize that it truly is a privilege to be doing this and it makes me sad how many missionaries here take that so lightly. But anyway, we have been practicing lesson one this week from Preach My Gospel, it has been great and my companion and I got to teach it many many times ha ha. My companion is from Texas and he knows his bible extremely well, so when we get to talking about the apostasy it is very hard to stop him...but other than that the lessons go well. My teachers are very spiritual and just fantastic teachers! Although my favorite teacher just got married so she won't be back for a few weeks but the subs have been just as good. Our branch president went to Taiwan on his mission and he knows a lot and is a very nice man. The older elders in my zone are all very cool guys and I get along with them well. I even sometimes surprise them with Chinese :). At the temple today we ran into a man who went to the Anaheim mission. He old us all about it and it sounds crazy :). I love it! But he said there was never a mandarin part, so that means my companion and I could be the very first mandarin to Anaheim :) :). Anyway, I need to wrap this up, but I want you to know I love you all and I am so excited to be out here! I know serving the lord is the greatest thing I could be Doing! Until next time, ZaiJian!!

We had our first TA (Teaching Assessment) this week where they have volunteers play the roles of investigators and we had to contact them in Chinese and find out as much about them as we could, and then we go and teach a lesson to them for about 45-50 minutes. I LOVE contacting and just SPEAKING in Chinese!!!!!! It is so awesome! I have been picking it up quite quickly but that is all because of the lord and the Holy Ghost helping me out.

Thank you dad for the postcard!! That room must have been pretty darn sweet!! And I loved the scriptures you sent, they helped a lot and I just love that story in general.The MTC food is....bad. I have never had food this gaseous in my entire life. O and a few things. Could you please send me a Mandarin Chinese for Dummies if there is one. And I also need a pocket sized dictionary, The Berlitz English to mandarin pocket dictionary is the best, The ISBN for it is 978-981-246-941-0. I would appreciate that very very very much :).

Yes I miss the dog but he will be just fine without me....as long as you guys fill his water dish every once in a while ;).

Mommy, I love you and i sent you a card in the mail, it should come sometime soon :).

Hailee, please get better. I hope you start getting better soon and i want you to know that I love you and I will pray for you! And thank you for your Dear Elder letter, it made me smile :).