Monday, August 30, 2010
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!
Monday, August 23, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, August 16, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
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!
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!
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!
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