Monday, January 16, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
January 2, 2012
Happy New Year!!
This week has been by far one of the greatest weeks of my mission. It started out very slow, and it seemed that our investigators haven't been progressing. Elder Bray and I just continued to work hard but it seemed everything kept falling through. Then near the end of this week we had a miracle given to us! We were called by our Branch President and he told us that he was just called by a member of another ward that was at our Chapel. The member ran into a Chinese lady that was asking for a Chinese Book of Mormon. The member got her information and then we were given her number. I called her and she told me how 4 years ago she met the missionaries. At that time she said she just had a baby and he was delivered pre-maturely and she was having a really hard time with all of the complications. She said that on one of the hardest days she was having that two missionaries came and knocked on her door. They talked to her for a while and then they prayed for her and her baby. She said they continued to come back to serve her and pray for her. She told me how she was so touched by how they would go out their way to do those simple things for her. She said those missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon, but after a few months she had to move and when she moved she accidentally lost the Book of Mormon and lost contact with the missionaries. She said she forgot about all of it during those 4 years but recently she has been having very strong feelings to get a hold of another Chinese Book of Mormon. She said she looked up where she could find a chapel online and then went to the closest one. She tried going 5 times but each time no one was there. This final time was when the member was there. So when I was on the phone with her I asked if we could meet her at the Chapel again that day so we could give her more information about the Chinese branch and she did. When we arrived I got out of the car and asked if she was Shanel and she said yes, then she said "Where is the Chinese man I talked to on the phone earlier to meet him here." I said it was me and she was completely shocked haha. We took her on a quick tour of the Chapel and explained more about the Branch and she said she was really excited to come to church. On Sunday she came and in Sunday school the teacher taught about Baptism, and at the end of church Shanel came up to us and said she wants to be baptized! We had a lesson with her after church and through out the whole lesson she kept saying she felt so happy and had these feelings that were telling her this is all true. I shared with her the experience that the prophet Joseph Smith had when he was praying to know which church was true, and afterward she said she was very moved, I asked her if she could explain what she was feeling and she said "Wubi de xiyue" which translated in English means "Incomparable Joy". She is leaving for China on Saturday and she said that after feeling that peaceful feeling she wants to be baptized before she leaves. It was the most amazing lesson I have taught on my mission and she has been so prepared for the Gospel! It is such an amazing story, one that I never thought could happen on my mission, but it really builds my testimony that God is preparing people to hear the Gospel. God loves all of his Children. I can't believe it is already January of 2012! I am so excited for this new year and to see this Branch continue to grow! I love serving the Chinese people! I hope everyone had great New Years celebrations! I love you all!
This week has been by far one of the greatest weeks of my mission. It started out very slow, and it seemed that our investigators haven't been progressing. Elder Bray and I just continued to work hard but it seemed everything kept falling through. Then near the end of this week we had a miracle given to us! We were called by our Branch President and he told us that he was just called by a member of another ward that was at our Chapel. The member ran into a Chinese lady that was asking for a Chinese Book of Mormon. The member got her information and then we were given her number. I called her and she told me how 4 years ago she met the missionaries. At that time she said she just had a baby and he was delivered pre-maturely and she was having a really hard time with all of the complications. She said that on one of the hardest days she was having that two missionaries came and knocked on her door. They talked to her for a while and then they prayed for her and her baby. She said they continued to come back to serve her and pray for her. She told me how she was so touched by how they would go out their way to do those simple things for her. She said those missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon, but after a few months she had to move and when she moved she accidentally lost the Book of Mormon and lost contact with the missionaries. She said she forgot about all of it during those 4 years but recently she has been having very strong feelings to get a hold of another Chinese Book of Mormon. She said she looked up where she could find a chapel online and then went to the closest one. She tried going 5 times but each time no one was there. This final time was when the member was there. So when I was on the phone with her I asked if we could meet her at the Chapel again that day so we could give her more information about the Chinese branch and she did. When we arrived I got out of the car and asked if she was Shanel and she said yes, then she said "Where is the Chinese man I talked to on the phone earlier to meet him here." I said it was me and she was completely shocked haha. We took her on a quick tour of the Chapel and explained more about the Branch and she said she was really excited to come to church. On Sunday she came and in Sunday school the teacher taught about Baptism, and at the end of church Shanel came up to us and said she wants to be baptized! We had a lesson with her after church and through out the whole lesson she kept saying she felt so happy and had these feelings that were telling her this is all true. I shared with her the experience that the prophet Joseph Smith had when he was praying to know which church was true, and afterward she said she was very moved, I asked her if she could explain what she was feeling and she said "Wubi de xiyue" which translated in English means "Incomparable Joy". She is leaving for China on Saturday and she said that after feeling that peaceful feeling she wants to be baptized before she leaves. It was the most amazing lesson I have taught on my mission and she has been so prepared for the Gospel! It is such an amazing story, one that I never thought could happen on my mission, but it really builds my testimony that God is preparing people to hear the Gospel. God loves all of his Children. I can't believe it is already January of 2012! I am so excited for this new year and to see this Branch continue to grow! I love serving the Chinese people! I hope everyone had great New Years celebrations! I love you all!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
December 26, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy new year!!
This week was a really good week! This week we had our zone conference and it was amazing! Our mission President had us do a gift exchange, for elders we were to bring a tie that we wanted to trade and for sisters they brought some type of jewelry or accessory that they wanted to trade and we each wrapped one and picked a number from a bowl and got a random one. I got a pretty nice looking red tie, it was really fun! Our Mission President also had us watch a movie "A Christmas Carol" the old version. It was the first real movie I have seen in a long time but it was nice and set the Christmas spirit. This week one of our investigators had to leave town to go take care of her father who recently ended up in the hospital, but we found out that he passed away on Christmas day. If you could keep Vivian and her family in your prayers that would be greatly appreciated. I love this time of year because we were able to do a lot of caroling this week to investigators and members! I don't really know what else to say this week because i talked to my parents on Skype yesterday but I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas! Next week there will probably be more to write about.
This week was a really good week! This week we had our zone conference and it was amazing! Our mission President had us do a gift exchange, for elders we were to bring a tie that we wanted to trade and for sisters they brought some type of jewelry or accessory that they wanted to trade and we each wrapped one and picked a number from a bowl and got a random one. I got a pretty nice looking red tie, it was really fun! Our Mission President also had us watch a movie "A Christmas Carol" the old version. It was the first real movie I have seen in a long time but it was nice and set the Christmas spirit. This week one of our investigators had to leave town to go take care of her father who recently ended up in the hospital, but we found out that he passed away on Christmas day. If you could keep Vivian and her family in your prayers that would be greatly appreciated. I love this time of year because we were able to do a lot of caroling this week to investigators and members! I don't really know what else to say this week because i talked to my parents on Skype yesterday but I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas! Next week there will probably be more to write about.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
December 19, 2011
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
This week has been a really good week! Things have been a little slower lately mainly due to the Holidays and everyone leaving on vacations or being too busy with Holiday parties and things. I was still sick for the first half of the week, I had gotten a really nasty cold but I got a blessing and guess what? It is gone! I think we really take for granted being healthy! But now that I am better my mind is a bit more clear to focus on the work again. Being sick while I am in the Chinese branch was pretty interesting. I got about just every remedy known to man to get better from colds. From regualr cold medicine all the way to Chinese traditional medicine and healing methods. Believe it or not I think it was the Chinese methods and medicine that helped me get better a lot faster. This week we taught our investigator Vivian, she is so amazing. The lessons have been going very well and she comes to church every sunday. This last lesson she started refering to me and my companion as her little angels. Now everytime she sees us or talks to us she calls us her little angels hah. She has recently received opposition from her christian family but she says that she feels what we are teaching is true so she keeps praying for her answer and then she will be baptized. This week was Elder Mensink's birthday, and a member had all four of us missionaries over to their house to have a birthday dinner for Elder Mensink. She asked Elder Mensink beforehand what kind of food he wanted for his birthday dinner and he told her american food such as pizza and hamburgers. Myself, Elder Bray, and Elder Mensink were all really excited and looking forward to the dinner because it has been a while since we have had normal american food. However when we got there it turned out to be the complete opposite of what we expected haha. She decided to just make him a super traditional chinese meal instead to help us all experience the culture...that is the first time I have eaten a whole pigs foot....yummm. Haha needless to say, there were a lot of traditional dishes that I would have never thought people actually ate. For desert we had a really good chocolate cake!
Christmas is this week! Time is flying by way too fast. This will be my last Christmas while on a mission so I am going to enjoy every minute of it! I love you all and I hope everything is going well! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
This week has been a really good week! Things have been a little slower lately mainly due to the Holidays and everyone leaving on vacations or being too busy with Holiday parties and things. I was still sick for the first half of the week, I had gotten a really nasty cold but I got a blessing and guess what? It is gone! I think we really take for granted being healthy! But now that I am better my mind is a bit more clear to focus on the work again. Being sick while I am in the Chinese branch was pretty interesting. I got about just every remedy known to man to get better from colds. From regualr cold medicine all the way to Chinese traditional medicine and healing methods. Believe it or not I think it was the Chinese methods and medicine that helped me get better a lot faster. This week we taught our investigator Vivian, she is so amazing. The lessons have been going very well and she comes to church every sunday. This last lesson she started refering to me and my companion as her little angels. Now everytime she sees us or talks to us she calls us her little angels hah. She has recently received opposition from her christian family but she says that she feels what we are teaching is true so she keeps praying for her answer and then she will be baptized. This week was Elder Mensink's birthday, and a member had all four of us missionaries over to their house to have a birthday dinner for Elder Mensink. She asked Elder Mensink beforehand what kind of food he wanted for his birthday dinner and he told her american food such as pizza and hamburgers. Myself, Elder Bray, and Elder Mensink were all really excited and looking forward to the dinner because it has been a while since we have had normal american food. However when we got there it turned out to be the complete opposite of what we expected haha. She decided to just make him a super traditional chinese meal instead to help us all experience the culture...that is the first time I have eaten a whole pigs foot....yummm. Haha needless to say, there were a lot of traditional dishes that I would have never thought people actually ate. For desert we had a really good chocolate cake!
Christmas is this week! Time is flying by way too fast. This will be my last Christmas while on a mission so I am going to enjoy every minute of it! I love you all and I hope everything is going well! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
Happy Holidays!!
This week has been a roller coaster of a week. A lot of success and a lot of non-success, I am sick right now with a pretty bad sore throat. But let me start near the beginning of the week. SO we have been using our phone book that we created and it has been working really well. We found a man named Bruce off of that list and he and his family just moved here from Taiwan and they don't really know anyone around here yet, he is really interested in learning more and also in coming to our English class that we provide every week. He was originally going to try and make it to our Branch Christmas party but he ended up not being able to, but we will be seeing him again soon!
As you could tell we had our Branch Christmas party this week and they created a program that walked everyone through the story of Christ's birth, and I was chosen to be one of the wise men, and we sang "Three Kings of the Orient", it was me, our branch president, and another brother from our branch and it turned out really well! This week as we were tracting in an area we ran into a man who was probably one of the rudest people I have met on my mission, he yelled at us for about 15 minutes and told us to get out of his neighborhood or he would call the Police...even if he called the Police we weren't doing anything wrong so they couldn't do anything to us....the man was probably just having a bad day and used us as a punching bag to vent frustration but it was ridiculous. I just politely told the man that we were allowed to be there but if he really wanted us to go we didn't want to argue so we would leave and then we started walking back to our car and he followed us all the way back to our car screaming and yelling and cussing us out telling us we are a cult....I don't why people have to act like that, but what made it more sad was that he was doing this and saying all of this in front of his little daughter. I hope whatever caused him to be that angry that day will get better so he can enjoy the Holidays.
On the other hand the work in the Branch has been increasing and I am so happy to be working with this Branch mission leader! The members are starting to understand a little more of how they can work together to invite their friends out to church and helping investigators feel welcome. I love this work! I got sick this week, I have a pretty bad sore throat, so if you could all pray that I can get better faster that would be greatly appreciated. I love you all!!
Christmas is coming fast!! Have a happy holiday!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
December 5, 2011
Hello everyone!!
This week was a really good week!! We finally finished the project that we have been working on for the past couple of weeks. And by project this is what I mean....So we have been trying to find the best way that we can find and work with all the Chinese people. It is hard for us just to go to neighborhoods and tract because we only talk to a few Chinese and then the rest are all American. A while ago we started to use school phone books and we would just look for the Chinese last names and then go visit the Chinese people that way, but recently we thought of an even more intense idea. We just recently finished our 'White Pages' project. We took the city of Irvine, and went online and used 411.com and white-pages.com, we used about 125 most common Chinese surnames and copy and pasted all of the addresses into one big comprehensive list. We took each address and found the map coordinate to each one so that whenever we are in a neighborhood we know which other people are close by so that way we can work more effectively. We finally finished doing all 125 names for the city of Irvine and then organized it and got it bound. For mine and Elder Bray's area we have a list of over 4,000 addresses. And the other Chinese companionship also has their list of about 3,000 addresses. We literally found the entire Chinese population of Irvine! We have been using it and it has been working wonders! I wish we would have had this a long time ago because now we are speaking to Chinese people literally all day long!!
One of our investigators named Angela has decided to be baptized on the 24th of December! We are very excited, and it will be a memorable Christmas for her! This week we went to a members house to eat lunch with one of our investigators, they asked Elder Bray to make Mexican food for them since he is part Mexican and used to cook it all the time back home. He asked them if they would like it spicy and all of the Chinese people there said "Yes, we love spicy" but Elder Bray warned them that Mexican spicy and Chinese spicy is a bit different, but they told him it wouldn't be too spicy for them. When we ate I thought it was sooooo good! It was pretty spicy but not too bad. It ended up making all of the Chinese members cry and sweat because it was so spicy haha, they said next time they want me to make some kind of dessert instead haha.
I am loving every minute of it out here! I can't believe it is December and still sunny and 70 degrees most of the time, the lowest it gets is in the high 50's. I hope everyone is doing well back home!! I would love to hear from you all!! I love you all! Talk to ya next week!
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
Hello everyone!!
This week has been a really good week! This week we have been discussing a lot of plans of what is going to happen to all of the Asian programs within the mission. We have been discussing about maybe having the borders of our mission be opened so we could go a little further because our Chinese branch is the only branch that is close to those Chinese people for a very long way. We have to write a letter to the presidency of the seventy, so we have been working hard on how we will explain everything. This week our old Branch mission leader moved to Virginia :(, he is one of my favorite people ever! Before he left he treated me and my companion to dinner, we will definitely miss him in the Branch.
Thanksgiving was great! I was really scared because this year an actual Chinese family had signed up to feed us on thanksgiving (last year it was with our American Branch President) so we didn't know what kind of food to expect, but it turns out all of it was normal thanksgiving American style!! They told us that this year they tried their best to help us feel like we were at home for thanksgiving....it just wasn't Elder Kim's normal thanksgiving dinner ha ha. There was a lot of food and I was extremely full! So you don't have to worry mom, I was definitely fed.
I got to go on an exchange with my companion from the MTC Elder Mensink! It was an awesome exchange and we saw a lot of cool miracles happen that day. BUT i don't think anything tops what happened this Sunday!!! This Sunday we were able to teach a friend of one of our Branch Members. We taught her friend and her entire family and the are extremely interested!! We finally found a family!! 5 members of the family baptismal age! Elder Bray and I have been praying for a miracle and working really hard. I feel this just may be that miracle that we have been working for and it seems to have just landed in our lap out of nowhere. I love how the Lord works...you just never know.
Everything else is going really well! I hope everything is going well for all of you! I love you all! I would love to hear from you and I will do my best to get back to you as fast as I can! Until next week!
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