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!