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!