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!