Almost half-mission (Jan 28,2013)

Hi Mom,

 

Well. Another week. Lots of miracles and prayers answered, sometimes I have to remember to write these down, because sometimes it gets so routine, like you expect these things to happen, but still have to remember to keep them special.

 

Sister Chan had a baptism in Oakland which we went back to. This man has been through a lot of things, especially as an new immigrant. He said he did a lot of bad things. He talks like someone who had such a past. But he is like a totally different person now. When he bore his testimony after baptism, it was so sincere. He talked about his change and how far he'd come. It's always great to see people change because of the gospel. Not many other things can do what the gospel can do to people who want to change. He is not the first case I've seen of the "bad" (as he called himself before) change to a saint. The Atonement can do that to people.

 

One of the great happy thing this week was that one of our investigators finally started not drinking coffee, for two days. He had been taught by so many missionaries and always this one problem preventing him from getting baptized. I don't know what's different this time, but he at least started doing it.

 

We also taught the mom of a part-member family. I could see how hard the situation was for them. All her kids and her husband want her to join the church so they can be an eternal family, but she held on to her own beliefs. It's a hard dilemma for the family--let her be or keep trying and take a little risk. She is an really awesome person, always giving us food too. Sometimes I think it's hard for people to see that they don't have to alienate all their nonmember family, leave all her Buddhist family traditions to believe in Christ. What she seeks is enlightenment, and I wonder if the gospel can't bring more enlightenment than anything else. All the good truths are found here, concentrated.

 

We also found two super awesome new investigators this week. One of them from Taiwan. Her family are just all super religious. Her kids won't let her throw away all the Bible-related flyers. :) She wants to go to church and she loves to read. She said she had no problem with reading the Book of Mormon too. They pray already. Just super prepared. Need to know about the restored gospel though :)

 

Mengmeng