Hello!!!
So this past week and couple days have been great! A lot has happened so I will try to figure out where to start. So this week we received a new missionary in our district. His name is Elder Tensmeyer and he is from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an amazing elder and he reminds me so much of my good friends back home, he has their exact same humor. The other day we went up to UCI (University of California Irvine) and went to visit a potential investigator but they were not there. So as we were walking back we saw a younger Chinese man walking by us. So we said hello to him and immediately he was taken back. So Elder Bray and I said some more things in Chinese to him and he covered his mouth and looked absolutely stunned that we were speaking Chinese (haha I love it when we get that reaction). We talked to him some more and he invited us to his apartment where we taught him and he is now a new investigator! We got to teach a lady that was a referral from temple square, but we could not find a member to come with us to save our life. So we ended up having a brand new returned missionary come with us, he did not speak Chinese, he went on his mission to Poland. But he loved it and we extremely grateful he came with us. The language stressed me out a lot this past week, and I remember we went up to a door and in my head I was still frustrated but I told myself I would knock on the door because the Lord would help me get over those feelings. I knocked on it and a Chinese man came to the door, I started to talk to him but since I was still a little frustrated I kept stumbling all over with my Chinese and I started to feel bad, but immediately he said "Come in, come in". I knew right then, that the Lord knew what I was feeling and as long as I forget myself and just go to work, he will take care of me. It may seem like a small thing but it meant a lot to me. We also had a lesson with an investigator that I have been teaching since I came into this branch, she said she has decided she will get baptized!!! The only thing is that she is keeping it a secret! She is 68 years old and has the funniest personality ever! It is definitely a funny situation but she is very stubborn about not telling us yet, when the date is that she chose haha. Please pray for her so we can finally find it out! This week I also came to know that our recent convert loves photography and more importantly, sponge bob!! i think it is so funny that my first convert out in the field would love those two things, just like I do ;). We also met with another investigator for the first time and the lesson went amazing, we committed her to be baptized on the 5th of February and she accepted! She said she had an amazing spiritual experience at church the reaffirmed that she needs to be baptized! There has been so much more that has been happening but I don't have enough time to write about it all. i love this mission and I love being able to help and serve other people! I know this church and this work is true! I love you all! Until next week, Zaijian! (Btw, zaijian means goodbye).
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011
OK, well this week has definitely been a roller coaster. We were preparing all this week for our investigator Levi to be baptized, and on Wednesday we are on exchanges so I was serving in westpark. That night when my companions came to switch back with me they looked really sad and told that Levi had called and said his parents back in China extremely oppose him being baptized. So the next day we went to go teach him and asked him about the whole situation. He said that his parents had heard bad things about the church and they did not want him to be baptized. So he called them and tried to explain how he knows that the church is true and he bore his testimony to his parents but they would not believe him and went further and said if he is baptized or even goes to church, they will cut him off financially and make him come back to china. Since Levi's parents are supporting his education and everything he has, he cannot afford to be cut off from his parents. The hard part is that he wants to join the church so bad, he has such a strong testimony. They now call him everyday to make sure he has nothing to do with us...it is a very tough and sad situation but we are still trying to work through it. I can admit my companions and I were very sad about all of this, but we are pushing through and putting our faith in the Lord that things will change for the better. I refuse to let this get me down because I know the Lord can do anything and there are still more people out there that are ready for the Gospel. This week we also found a new family from Taiwan, they were a referral from church head quarters, so we went to the address we were given. One thing I have learned about California is that there are a lot of gated communities. And this one we went to was particularly intense. We pulled up to a gate, and a man came to our car and asked us the purpose of our coming, then he asked us the address we were planning on visiting. He looked at his computer and then said "I don't see any scheduled appointment here, can I have your name?", and then he called the family we were planning on visiting. They asked who it was and so the guard asked me for my name, out of habit I said "Elder Ellis" and he looked at me all confused so I just said "Josh" and somehow miraculously, they gave me a pass and opened the gate! ha ha, it was an intense but cool experience :). The family was very nice and we have another time set up to go meet with them again! This Sunday we had 6 investigators come to church! Today is transfers, and nothing is changing in our companionship. It is still me and elder Kim and elder bray. The only thing that switched is Elder Bray is now driving. It is crazy to think I have already been in this same area and branch for over half a year now! I love this area and the people so much! I am so excited for this transfer because I know great things will happen!! There is more I could say but today's email is bit shorter because of transfers. I love you all and thank you all for your support!! Hope all is going well!! Wo ai nimen! zaijian!
Monday, January 3, 2011
January 3, 2011
Hello!!!
This has been one of the greatest weeks I have had out in the field!! The work has been exploding this past week and we have found a ton of new investigators! We have been praying hard and trying our best to think of what things we could do to find more people and how we could better teach them, and this week it seems that our prayers have been answered more then we were expecting! We taught our investigator Levi, he is from mainland china and has only been here 3 months. Our first lesson with him we taught him about the Restored gospel and then committed him to be baptized. He accepted!!! Since that lesson we have met with him about 5 more times this week and he is now going to be baptized this Saturday!! He asked me to perform the baptism, so it will be my first time ever baptizing someone, and it will be in Chinese!! Levi, has been prepared so well for the Gospel, his testimony is so strong and in only 2 days he read 82 pages out of the Book of Mormon! When we taught him about the Word of Wisdom we talked about not drinking Tea and we were afraid he would have a problem with that because it is a huge habit for Chinese people to break...however during our lesson he grabbed a can of tea that was on his dresser and said, "Well, I have this...but for some reason when I came to America I didn't feel like drinking tea anymore, so that won't be a problem, I can stop"This week we are preparing for his baptismal service and it will be a great way to end the transfer because transfer day is next Monday! This week we opened up our closet to find more ants......so we had to take everything out and spray everywhere...I hope it is the last we see of them. We also had the opportunity of teaching another investigator named Matt. He is also from mainland china and has always been taught there is no God. However, he told us he has never believed that and he believes there is a god. We taught him about prayer and the Book of Mormon and then asked him to pray. He is 31 and has never said a prayer in his life, when we asked him he told us he couldn't and said he would feel like he is lying because he doesn't know for sure that there is a God. So we helped him with his concern and read from the Book of Mormon. After a long time we asked him to pray again and he said yes. We got down on our knees and closed our eyes and he didn't say anything for a long time but then he finally prayed. I can't describe the feelings that we felt, the spirit was so strong and that was the first time he has ever prayed in his life. It was a very spiritual experience for all of us. This Sunday Levi came to church and brought his roommates and they are all interested in the church!! I am so happy and the work is going so well! I have learned that nothing is better in missionary work then just getting out there and talking to everyone! I can't believe it is already 2011! I hope everyone had an good New Year!! I Love you all! Until next week! Zaijian!
This has been one of the greatest weeks I have had out in the field!! The work has been exploding this past week and we have found a ton of new investigators! We have been praying hard and trying our best to think of what things we could do to find more people and how we could better teach them, and this week it seems that our prayers have been answered more then we were expecting! We taught our investigator Levi, he is from mainland china and has only been here 3 months. Our first lesson with him we taught him about the Restored gospel and then committed him to be baptized. He accepted!!! Since that lesson we have met with him about 5 more times this week and he is now going to be baptized this Saturday!! He asked me to perform the baptism, so it will be my first time ever baptizing someone, and it will be in Chinese!! Levi, has been prepared so well for the Gospel, his testimony is so strong and in only 2 days he read 82 pages out of the Book of Mormon! When we taught him about the Word of Wisdom we talked about not drinking Tea and we were afraid he would have a problem with that because it is a huge habit for Chinese people to break...however during our lesson he grabbed a can of tea that was on his dresser and said, "Well, I have this...but for some reason when I came to America I didn't feel like drinking tea anymore, so that won't be a problem, I can stop"This week we are preparing for his baptismal service and it will be a great way to end the transfer because transfer day is next Monday! This week we opened up our closet to find more ants......so we had to take everything out and spray everywhere...I hope it is the last we see of them. We also had the opportunity of teaching another investigator named Matt. He is also from mainland china and has always been taught there is no God. However, he told us he has never believed that and he believes there is a god. We taught him about prayer and the Book of Mormon and then asked him to pray. He is 31 and has never said a prayer in his life, when we asked him he told us he couldn't and said he would feel like he is lying because he doesn't know for sure that there is a God. So we helped him with his concern and read from the Book of Mormon. After a long time we asked him to pray again and he said yes. We got down on our knees and closed our eyes and he didn't say anything for a long time but then he finally prayed. I can't describe the feelings that we felt, the spirit was so strong and that was the first time he has ever prayed in his life. It was a very spiritual experience for all of us. This Sunday Levi came to church and brought his roommates and they are all interested in the church!! I am so happy and the work is going so well! I have learned that nothing is better in missionary work then just getting out there and talking to everyone! I can't believe it is already 2011! I hope everyone had an good New Year!! I Love you all! Until next week! Zaijian!
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