Sunday, October 28, 2012

Happy Birthday Anthony! and Happy Halloween to you all!


Do you like my costume? Happy Halloween
Dear Family and Friends,
Can you believe it?  November is just around the corner.  But before it comes, Happy Birthday Anthony! wow, it feels like just the other day that I wished you Happy Birthday.  Hope you have a fantastic day and enjoy some cake and ice cream for me.  As for the rest of you, Happy Halloween!  Enjoy those sweet, sugary sweets for me, and send me some if you can :)  Well this week had it's ups and downs as usual, but was a great learning experience in and of itself.     
This week began off fantastic with a companion exchange with Elder Garey.  It is so much fun getting together with a former companion and classmate and working together to establish the church here in Taiwan.  Our exchange began off as cruised on back to XiaoGang in a rush to get the work going.  Along the way we ran into a man doing road/cleaning work and began talking with him as he walked along the road.  He then introduced his to his fellow workers and got talking with all of them.  He went off on his own as we talked to the group of adults, but none of them had any interest in learning more.  We extended the invitation to all and then out of nowhere, this man reappeared and was willing to meet.  We visited him the following day and taught about the nature of God and prayer.  He is a humble man and willingly accepted our invitations.  He suggested we come visit with him more at his work and we're excited for those visits.  
We had another great lesson with a new investigator, Brother Zhuang, at a members home this week.  He is Christian, very familiar with the Bible, and I guess just wanted to learn more.  We had already shared with the the message of the Restoration, and in this particular lesson emphasized the Book of Mormon, going some sections in the introduction to the Book of Mormon.  It was so great to have the help of the members in that lesson, especially the testimony a Sister Hong.  She talked about how the main point of reading and praying about the Book of Mormon isn't just to know whether the it is true or not, or to know if this is the only true church.  Those things are important to know and are key in building a strong foundation of faith, but what it truly comes down to is what it says in the introduction of the Book of Mormon where it says the Book of Mormon tells us what we must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.  She brought it down and said, "If God says to do something a certain way, then we have to do it in order to receive that promised blessing."  The Spirit testified to me that  what she said was true.  The Book of Mormon truly does contain God's word and adds on to what the Bible says, enabling us to know more about God.   
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).  I love this scripture, it states it clearly.  Life eternal is to know God.  Through developing our faith in Chirst, repenting daily, making and renewing our covenants, and enduring to the end can come to know more and grow closer to God.  It's a never-ending process that comes line upon line, and precept upon precept.  I'm grateful for the privilege I have to serve here as a missionary, to help my brothers and sisters here in Taiwan to know God, their Eternal Father, unto life eternal.  There is no other work in the world more joyous than this.  I love you all!  Happy Birthday Anthony!  Happy Halloween!
Love you all,
司馬長老