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| "...if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." (D&C 4:3) |
How's it going? How was swimming this
past week for everyone? Good! Everything is nice and dandy here in
Taiwan. The weather has started getting colder than usual, mainly just in the
mornings, which means fall is here. I haven't really noticed just because there
are no trees to judge it by, but the past few morning jogs have really shown
it. We heard the big news yesterday on the change on missionary standards and I
personally feel that is super awesome and never thought about why it never was
that way in the first place. I had also wondered why all the Taiwanese
missionaries here could serve when they were 18, and why it wasn't the same all
around the world. Spencer, start preparing NOW! Start preparing for the best two
years FOR your life.
I love what Elder Russell M. Nelson
said, "The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual
destiny of the missionary, his or her spouse, and their posterity for
generations to come." He also said, "A desire to serve is a natural
outcome of one's conversion, worthiness and preparation." The
time to start is now! Spencer, and all you others, do all you can to get that
desire. Well, just from the few things I've been told, it sounds like General
Conference went amazing! I'm super pumped to listen to it this weekend,
and I've been preparing this past long while by reviewing last April's
conference talks. Ah, so good! Well, let's get on with this past week shall we?
There were just a few little changes here and there, not too much, but the work
is moving forward.
Jerry is getting better and better. His
desire to drink alcohol is gone out the window. We have been helping him
with betel nut this week (I've talked about it before, if you are still
confused what betel nut is just let me know) and he has done super good with
it. The amounts he chews daily has gone significantly down, and is now chewing
less than 15 per day. In fact, these past few days he has successfully gone the
entire morning without chewing any at all. We shared the Plan of Salvation with
him this week and along with the Atonement of Christ we shared D&C 59:9-10,
testifying that coming to church and partaking of the sacrament can guard us
safe from the things of the world. He got really stoked to come to church, so
did I, but in the end didn't come due to him not feeling well (could be a
reaction from not chewing so much).
We have a new investigator, Brother Wen,
who is a referral from Elder Garey. We visited him on Monday night and I felt
like that was the best lesson Elder Lathen and I taught together. We were
unified, following the Spirit, and just listened to what he had to say. At
first he was just interested to know what the difference between Catholics and
Christians were, but as he opened up more we learned that 'love', the love of
God, caught his attention, and that is the message we have to share, God loves
us! Everything he has done up til now and will do forever is because he loves
us. It is true how if we missionaries listen with love we won't need to worry
what to say and teach, it will be given to us by the Spirit.
Spencer, and all those boyz who may
receive this letter, just know I love you. May sound weird, but I do. I
am so grateful for the time I've had to serve a mission and for the remaining
time I have (only 8 months...). The short time of a little over a year I
feel has changed me for good. I feel like I am the same individual, but
my desires in life, my attitude towards specific things, and a whole lot more
has changed for good. Only by truly living the gospel plan can this change for
good come about. The time to prepare for the best two years of your life is
right now. Looking back I wish I would have done a lot more preparation, but
there's not much I can do about it now besides to just keep swimming. I
know without a doubt this church is true and that it is lead through revelation
by a loving prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know he has been called of God.
I'm so excited for the chance I have to hear his voice this weekend. This
IS the true church and it was restored by our loving Heavenly Father and His
Son, Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. Boyz, a mission will shape
your spiritual destiny, your spouse, and your posterity for generations to
come. Get ready for the time of your life! Love you all! Til
next time…
With all my love,
司馬長老
