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| Cleaning up the Streets Service Project |
How's it
going? You all doing alright? Sounds like this past week was a bit
crazy for you all with school and everything thing else. That's great!
This past week was a bit crazy for me as well, which is always keeping me
on my toes. I love hearing from the family especially my brothers and
sister (hint hint) and just all the fun things going on back in the
state of Utah. Well, let me tell you what went on here in XiaoGang
this past week.
Monday was the
best. We went with a few Elder's to the Dream Mall, one of the bigger
malls here in GaoXiong. (Picture attached). Enjoyed eating some
burgers from T.G.I. Friday's and then exploring the many wonders of the $39
kuai mall (similar to a dollar store). We had an amazing lesson with a
Mr. Huang tonight as well. He is your typical smoker and betel nut chewer
but has already started making some big changes in his life, for example he
quit smoking last week. Well, we just got to know him a little bit and
just everything he said let perfectly into what we could teach. One in
particular he said was that a lot of people in this life don't know which road
the came here from, and so that's why there are a lot of different religions
because they are all trying to find the road that leads back to where we came
from. We taught him about the Restoration, and he actually jumped the gun and
asked if Joseph Smith was the man who restored the road that leads back. He
seemed real great and we're hoping and praying he is the one that has been
prepared for my companion and I to work with.
Tuesday was
amazing! Began with our Zone Training Meeting and learned on how we can
best apply what we learn from our studies out on the streets. This
provides us with some fresh, fruitful, finding/contacting ideas. It
really helped me out personally on how I can best do so. From there I
enjoyed a wonderful day with my wonderful friend and previous companion, Elder
Garey. I went to his area and enjoyed spending time working with him.
We mainly did a lot of finding in his area, and so we had fun while doing
so.
Wednesday we
just kept up our finding efforts until we exchanged back just in time for some
teaching English. That's about it.
Thursday began
by going to do a baptismal interview for one of the sister's investigators that
is getting dropped in this week. Our sister missionaries here in this
area are on fire and are so awesome. Anyway, this sister that had her
interview passed and is so prepared for her baptism (that happened this
sunday). We then visited with our good friend Jerry. He is doing
really great. He talked about how he has fallen into the temptation of
drinking a few times, but the amounts he drinks is significantly less. It
has gone from drinking an entire bottle to about 3 small cups. It has
also gone from tasting really sweet to the most bitter taste he can possibly
imagine. He knows that this is because he has been reading and praying
daily and that God is helping him quit. We talked about repentance and
the steps it takes to fully repent, and how to do it properly. He is
doing really really well, its just a matter of time for him and helping him
slowly quit drinking, and then smoking, and then chewing betel nut. He
actually just called me and said he misses me because when we are with him he
doesn't have those desires to smoke, drink, and chew. I love him! and
miss him!
Friday I went
on Zone Leader exchanges with Elder Peel in the more city part of GaoXiong.
We had a few lessons with their investigators, enjoyed some McDonalds,
and I overall learned a lot from his example.
Saturday we
cleaned up the world. Had a wonderful opportunity to do service for the
city by cleaning up the streets. It was an activity that all of Taiwan
was involved with. Super fun!
That
summarizes this past week. Sorry, some days it just gets to the point
where I don't want to type anymore. That's why some days are a lot
shorter than the others. I love you all, and stay tuned for next week.
Cause next week is...
With all my
love,
司馬長老
