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