So, today is a little different that it has been lately. So this past weekend we had move calls . . . turns out that Elder Field got moved. I absolutely loved working with him, such a hard-working, diligent missionary. The news I bring today is that the world really is very small. As you may have known, Elder Field was from Bountiful, Ut. Well my new companion just so happens to have gone to elementary, jr high, and high school with me, Elder Marshall Garey. Crazy huh? As I got this exciting news I was also told that I would be senior, as well as district leader. A little more responsibility never hurts, but I'm super pumped to work with him.
So my last week with Elder Field started off last Monday by visiting with our little Emily friend and watching "The Restoration" with her. Yeah, thats pretty much it haha.
Tuesday we began by heading on up to DongGang for District Training Meeting, where we learned on how we can work on more effective ways to receive member referrals. We came back from the long ride and sat down with our good friend Hua dx and continued teaching him his new member lessons. He really understands each of the lessons we teach, and I'm sure he could start proselyting with us and teaching all these lessons. Later on we met with Klara, another one of our investigators, and talked about a graph, that is in the really old family home evening book, about Heavenly Father's plan for us and Satan's plan for us. It just helps us see that Satan tries to make us look at the downsides of keeping the commandments, while Heavenly Father only wants to bless us for our efforts. I really think she needed that because she has only looked at the downsides as we've met and taught with her.
Well, Wednesday we visited another one of our very old friends, who has started to understand our teachings. He has realized that his memory is bad, but has been able to remember all we have taught. He is really good, but his body has been in pain a lot lately, so its been hard to get him on out to church with us. We then went on over to the hospital with a member and gave his friend who is suffering from cancer a priesthood blessing of comfort. She has been scared to die, and so we shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation, which seemed to help her settle down. We then visited Zheng dx. Today he brought his friend and so we taught him about the Restoration. He seemed to like it, and was very willing to start reading.
Well, now I don't have much time to share about the rest of the week, but Sunday was a great chance to spend time with our recent converts. We took them up to GaoXiong for Stake Conference. The talks that were given were so good, each of them invited the spirit which was felt by all. One of the talks was so powerful that the earth literally shook. Who knew that what they meant in the scriptures about "they spoke with the power of God that it shook the earth" really could happen. No one will ever know if it was really by what he said, or if it was just a normal earthquake. Either way, it was the first one I've ever felt before.
Well times up. Thank you all for your letters, the package, and your love. I really love it here and I'm excited to work with my classmate Elder Garey for the next little while as District Leader. I love you all!
Love, Elder Smith
