July 2, 2012

Hi Mom!

It's so cool me and Jason have same birthday. :) Say Thanks to Stephie!

 Our mission is actually quite cold compared to other places, so we rarely wear short sleeves, which means I need some long-sleeved or cardigans to be warm.I thought they send to everyone. Hmm...I'll have to see. Check next this next week see if someone forward you an email that has their names in it. I might ask them to forward it.
We have a nurse at the mission office, and we can go to doctors if needed. Don't worry :)

It's summer so most of the Berkeley University ward is gone, only a few are bringing their friends to church, that is the most effective way for us.

You know what's funny though, when we go tracting the other day, about half of the people we met were Chinese. I don't know how they all just suddenly popped up. It's so cool. Sis Sampaio said I'm the first Chinese speaking missionary in Berkeley for a while, so I guess I'm here for a reason! :)

BUT, our Chinese investigator is doing awesome. She is so good and she is always coming to church and doing everything pretty much. I don't know if I told you, but her parents are not allowing her to get baptized cuz they read all the crazy stuff on the internet. Hopefully, when her dad comes, we can let him see what's the church really about. It's hard though, because he doesn't come until after Sis Sampaio leaves and maybe after I get transferred. She is doing great though, so good.

We are having more member lessons now. They are quite nice, there are a few that are really willing to help out with misisonary work. The truth is, there is hardly any work without members' effort, such as right now, so we are slow, but we are working on members spirituality also so they can realize how important their input is.

We met our new mission president on Friday. They have such a cool story of how they got called here. They were serving in the Richmond Virginia mission when Elder Nelson came to a mission conference and saw them from the stand. He thought he was gonna get called to speak but nothing happened. Then a week later he got a phone call, someone who sounds familiar but he doesn't know who, the man asked about his life and such. When Pres Meredith finally asked who it is, he just kept on talking. Finally at the end, the person said "This is Elder Holland." and asked for a meeting with them two. :)

So they got to meet President Eyring, actually, and accepted to be mission presidents, THEN they were told that they would be going to our mission. So cool. They are awesome. He is much like President Wade. Mission won't change much from what is done in the past. President Wade set up a good transition.

We met Pres Wade one last time before they went. He and wife gave us some advice for post-mission. They are great people. He actually will go work in the Church missionary Department. Maybe in the same building as you?

Oh, guess what. I had to take a Chinese group on a tour in the Visitor's Center. There is about 30 people and I had to speak Mandarin. Didn't do all that well, stumbled over a few words, but it was actually not bad. It's kind of sad to think that I need the gift of tongues in my own language, eh?

I am learning Cantonese though, not the least because nearly everyone in Chinatown speaks Cantonese and about half of the other Chinese speak Cantonese. Plus, Pres Wade said I should. So yep, I'm splitting my language study to half Mandarin, half Cantonese. It's hard to learn with just a teeny vocabulary book though, I had to ask the Cantonese sisters at the VC to check my pronounciation sometimes...I know about four sentences now, or maybe more :)

Anyway, the elder was really bold and asked the whole group to be baptized right there, a few actually accepted, so great! There are even more who decided to meet with the missionaries and one who told me they are definitely joining this church and getting his whole family too. It was great. You know, sometimes people come and go, but sometimes, you get to see the work done right here in front of you. :)

We had one person who cried really bad after God's plan, have you seen that yet? Visitor Center is really the bright spot. People come to you and most of them wanting to be inspired, and you have all the resources to do just that. I'm so glad VC is part of my mission. Now, I'll probably get assigned to San Francisco sometime, then I won't be in the VC anymore. We'll see.

Bad new is that I have p-day on Tuesday next week because we are in the VC all day Monday. So look for me Tuesday instead.

So loves you tons, Mom!!

Meng