Special email on Dad's memorial Day (Oct 12, 2012)

Mom,

I got permission from President Meredith to email you today.

Hope you are doing ok. I know it is hard, but I also know you are MY mom and I love you.

I just want to share a song with you that I heard Sunday morning session of General Conference. I really love it. Hope it will help you today.

The song is called Does the Journey seem Long? You can click on the green square to listen once you put the mouse over the song

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/music?lang=eng#sort=title&dir=asc&page=&lang=eng&clang=eng&search=&conference=10491_000_000&session=Sunday+Morning+Session

Lyrics are:

Does the journey seem song,

The path rugged and steep?

Are there briars and thorns on the way?

Do sharp stones cut your feet

As you struggle to rise

To the heights thru the heat of the day?

Is your heart faint and sad,

Your soul weary within?

As you toil beneath your burden of care?

Does the load, heavy seem

You are forced now to lift?

Is there no one your burden to share?

Let your heart be not faint

Now the journey's begun;

There is One who still beckons to you.

So look upward in joy

And take hold of His hand;

He will lead you to heights that are new ---

A land holy and pure,

Where all troubles doth end,

And your life shall be free from all sin,

When no tears shall be shed,

For no sorrows remain.

Take His hand and with Him enter in.

Take His hand and with Him enter in.

:) love you Mom.

Here is something else to help your day: Alma 36:3, Joshua 1:9, D&C 61:36, Ether 12:4, D&C 84:88, Alma 7:11-12

I think being on a mission makes me realize just how much God cares about each of His children. I know God cares about you and knows how you feel. I'm not there for you to talk to today, but He is.

I love you, Mom, and I'll talk to you on Monday :)

Meng

General conference week (Oct 9, 2012)

Hi Mom!

Sorry didn't email you yesterday. They cleaned the carpet in the family history center where we usually email, and yesterday was Columbus day so all the libraries were closed. But we get today.

I got a postcard from Justin and Bonnie again. :)

How is grandma? Are they happy in China?  sjz still have the church, right? She is still going?  God certainly appreciates your efforts while they were here:) My mom is so good. All the sisters here already like you and want to meet you. :)

So did Emily and Brooke and Cam come eat yet? Em sent a letter to tell me too. It'd be good. They are happy people :)

I know it's Dad's anniversary soon. I've been thinking about him too, but I think teaching about the plan of salvation gives me a much better perspective. He is in a good place. Though he is still evil dad to leave us. Alma 40 might help. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?autoplay=true&index=1&locale=0&sourceId=b63b822d7ecc8210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD
I don't know if you got to watch the mormon messages yet, but they are really short and spiritual. Something to keep you mind occupied. 17 Miracles is good movie to watch too. Somethings to keep the day occupied :) Love you. :)

We watched all four sessions of general conference. It was really good. I really appreciated general conference more. Really modern scripture for each of us. :) I especially like Elder Gay and Elder Holland's talk. If you look through my Jerusalem pictures, somewhere along the JC folder you can find the talk Elder Holland gave to us in Jerusalem. It was so similar to the one he gave at conference. So powerful. I had to run to the bathroom right after to clean my face. Elder Gay, the general authority who visited our mission, I like because he is so directly but not blunt that makes you feel guilty. I guess you can say it is calling people to repentance without directly saying that.

What did you think about general conference? What did you like? How do you feel about the announcement? Maybe all these new missionaries would help to get prepared to open up China :)

We have an investigator who is getting baptized on the 21st. He is literally someone who was taught from the beginning. He didn't know if God existed at the beginning when we met him. For the last few weeks we met him, there wasn't too much difference. He loved what we taught him and wanted to keep meeting. He liked going to church and especially the people at church. But this last week we really saw the change in him. He had a story--the lost wallet. You know, when you lose something and expect that you can't find it and pray and then miraculously find it. He left it outside in Oakland, which pretty much means don't expect to see it ever again, but he went back after a whole night and it was still there. The miracle really changed him I think. That or something else. He was so much more spiritual. He got more out of reading the Book of Mormon and even explained the scriptures to us before we asked him what it meant. He watched a whole 30 minute movie--finding faith in Christ, without falling asleep or yawning too much. It's quite the progress. During institute right after, he even bore his testimony to a less active. He said the church really gave him perspective in life and he likes it and he is getting baptized. We were so proud of him, so happy. :) He is ready. He quit smoking too, as soon as we told him about the word of wisdom. No problem, he said. :)

Anyway, the week is good. Work is going forward. We get our transfer calls this week. We'll see if I stay in Berkeley or not. :)

Loves, hugs, kisses,
Meng

4 people are willing to be baptized (Oct 1, 2012)

Mom!!

Glad you are back from China. Got the package, so heavy, but made me happy :) I think that was a record in package size received in the visitor center :) Everything I like, but a few I'll send back to keep since they might not let me wear it here. We weren't supposed to wear anything that attracts attention :) Like the food though, especially tang2 hu2 lu4 :)

Hmm...so this week has been quite good. Lots of miracles still. We have four people who are willing to be baptized now. Two of them have a date in October, the other two we need to set the date. So the work is really picking up.

I think we have a really wonderful ward. Singles ward is great. Half of them are RMs and want to help out. The most recent ones especially. We have an RM from Hong Kong who said he'd rent a car to pick up our investigators, so amazing. He took the bus to go to lessons with us, since we can't take him (gender rule). We got a new rule that we absolutely cannot teach unless there is someone from the same gender within sight, and it can't be in public places either. So about 20+ people volunteered to help the elders, since they have to keep to the same rule. It's quite amazing.

We went to the visitor center with one of our investigators who has a baptismal date. Afterwards, when we told him about the word of wisdom, he told us he had a problem with smoking, but he said "no problem, I'll quit." Wow! so happy. He even said there is no problem he'd quit by saturday. :)

Our eternal investigator, amazingly, he even went up on the stage to bear his testimony this sunday. Even though he didn't say anything about doctrine truths, but he thanked everyone for being good examples. I think it's so cool. :)

We have a new investigator. He went to school at Cambridge study abroad with a lot of BYU students, and he was always impressed that they could hold to their values while he couldn't, even though they all believed the same values. Now he is back and he went on mormon.org to refer himself to meet with the missionaries. So amazing, so we get to teach him and he already wants to get baptized no problem. He came to church this sunday and had a really wonderful experience. All the lessons were really good and inspiring. I think it might've been too inspiring though :) Sometimes I think we forget the they aren't used to all the spirituality that's there. He's ok though. He's happy.

I had president interviews this past week too. President Meredith is really so amazing. We talked about the spirit. He pretty much told me that we shouldn't expect to be led everywhere. It's not often that the Lord wants us to go to a specific place, because he has people prepared everywhere. sometimes He doesn't necessarily need us to go down a specific street. Also, he said that not all of us feel the spirit at the same time. Sometimes some of us needs some truth confirmed while others do not, since they already know it. Thus, when my companion feels the spirit, I don't have to, but could.

We had an amazing experience of prayer being answered. Well, a lot, but one of them is when our investigator told us he really wants to get baptized but wants to work out with his parents first. We prayed to know whether we should set a goal with him right then or in later lessons. And whether we should do 10/28 or 11/4. My companion prayed, but it was amazing that I knew the answer before she said it. We at first decided we are gonna pray for telling him right then and do it on 10/28. But as she prayed, she prayed for doing it later. And I juggled the two date in my mind, and 10/28 just kept being wiped from my mind, so when she said 11/4. it was no surprise to me. So amazing. Little things, but the Lord cares. :)

Hmm...a good quote "gospel is to help us in our trials, not after our trials."

Oh, and this webiste http://mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages has lots of good short videos, so when you get chance, should see them :)

Ok, loves, kisses, hugs,

Meng

Weekly Miracles (Sep 24, 2012)

Hi MOM!!!

I think the emails are weird today, so if you didn't get the pictures, check hotmail
So, you are finally back in the U.S. now :) Make sure you eat well. Still need to eat even though grandma is not there to cook.

 How about grandma? Did grandpa know what was going on?

I got letter from both Faith (Sister Goimarac) and Emily this week, so happy :) Did  you know it takes a month for letter from here to get to Paraguay?

This week, there was lots of miracles. We had lots of things that were on the edge, but was resolved. One of our investigators' mom didn't want him to get baptized so soon, but he wants to, so we had to talk to him and figure out what he really wanted to do and help him to make the decision.

We had a investigator we are about to drop because it seems like he was on drugs half of the time and really don't have the desire to change, even though he feels great every time he sees us and even asked us, when am I seeing you again? It's really sad when you see people who knows there is something special about this gospel yet they refuse to change. :(

But, we had a great miracle. Last week we got a call from our eternal investigator, he says he doesn't want to meet anymore because he has lots to do. We were so sad because we know he is SOo good. He believed and knows everything is good in the church, but just have to regain his testimony. So we were so sad. We prayed for him a lot. I specifically prayed for him, asking God to create opportunities for him to reconsider his decision (I don't remember exactly how I worded it).

Anyway, so in sacrament meeting yesterday. It was our ward mission leader's turn to speak. He literally answered my prayer. He said he didn't know who his talk is intended for, but after he is done, I knew, along with many friend of this investigator, that the talk was for him. So amazing, God answers prayers. :) Anyway, after his phone call on Thursday, he agreed to meet yesterday to talk, so we sat down together with another member who was his friend before. It is really an inspiration to get her to come, and she had the prompting that she needed to come. We sat down and really, I thought this was pretty much the end of us meeting him. I really had hope that it wouldn't be the end though. We had fasted for him and prayed for him and pretty much I don't know what more we can do. So anyway, our member had a great idea for him and made a plan to do some things and pretty much everything is ok now. He is gonna search around, but will still keep God a part of his life and keep seeing us. :) We were so happy last night.

We also had a miracle meeting one of our new investigators. We were trying to contact one of our referrals. We were outside the apt complex and couldn't get in, there is passcode. We tried a few times before but nothing worked. This time, we were about to give up, and I pretty much punched the keypad randomly. And, I was Soo surprised that the screen said "Please Enter" rather than "Wrong Passcode." I pretty much stood there for a second not believing it, then just grabbed the door and went in. :) The thing is, the person we were trying to visit wasn't home.

So we were pretty much wondering what is going on. Why God let us in if we can't visit him. So we came down and there was a man sitting outside of one of the restaurants. We talked to him. Pretty much, he is the reason we were there. If we didn't get in to the apt complex, we would've left already and he would never had the chance to hear the gospel that day. But we did get in and he got to hear about the Church and we taught him the Restoration later that day and he is now looking into the church in addition to his own beliefs. It's amazing how God works huh? :)

Anyway, lots of good things happen this week. It was good. :)

Loves, Kisses, talk to you next week. :)

Mengmeng

Pictures in front of Oakland temple (Sep 17, 2012)

 

So Mom, you are on the plane right now. :(

You know I always like packages :) I have lots of drawers just for food my Mom sends me. Especially the big packages, they take some time to eat and enjoy. :)

Did I change? I don't feel like I've changed at all, at least physically. We don't have a scale, so I might've gotten fatter for all I know. But then we have to exercise almost everyday so I'd say that might work the extra weight off. I like yang2 da4 wan3, hmm...we should eat it when we go back. Don't forget to send me your picture.

I get to eat lots of different food here. Because Berkeley is a university town, there are lots of people who come from all over the world. We get all sorts of food, including Middle East, so I get to eat felafels and kabobs :) They are actually quite food and almost authentic. I'll take you here when we come back :)

Yes, I'm used to talking to people first. In fact, we did a booth this week too. I remember my first time doing it I was afraid to talk to everyone, now I'm just thinking. Hmm, that person might be interested, and just go for it. Cuz really, all they could say no. If they do anything worse than that, we'll just laugh later. :)

So this week. It's been intense. We fasted for one of our eternal investigators. He is so ready, already has all the background, already living the gospel, all he needs to do is to get dunked. :) He has two RMs as roommates, not to mention others as close friends. One of his roommate spoke in sacrament today. It was so good. There is something about how he talked that just lets you know that this person is speaking with the spirit. He talked about perspectives. We all have our purposes, but how we approach our purposes is different.

Also on sunday, it was just a really good day, we had another speaker who talked about where you look is where you go. So the question was, is where you are looking where you want to go? He talked about how if we can see the beginning and the end, then how would we act. It was good to think about. It was a really good sacrament meeting.

We also went to the temple this week. Second time to go :) Always happy. Can't really say much except it was quite spiritual. :)

Our recent convert is doing quite well. She is so nice, she makes stuff for us every time we go.

Yep, that's the highlights of my week. :)

Lots of loves, hugs, kisses, and safe trip.

Meng

Me and my companion (Set 10. 2012)

Dear MOM!

Got your letter. The handwritten one and the dear elder. Good to know you got my card :) Makes me happy. Happy to know you had a great birthday too, so many good coworkers. Like I say, "see, you are so popular."

And thanks for the Costco address. It's funny cuz Sister Poon wanted to go to Costco this week, then I said, well, my Mom just sent me the address :)

Don't forget to eat Beijing duck there for me, and Yang2 Da4 Wan3...

So this week has been pretty much normal. We have three super awesome but tough investigators. One of them knows and believes everything but wants to get baptized when she is back to Chile which means it will be four months later and who knows what'll happen. One of them "knows" there is no God but loves to meet with us, and I think his heart is changing, because we invited him to pray and he finally did, and he loves to read so Book of Mormon is no problem for him. He is a tough case, but it's good to see that he is moving forward, if only a little at a time.

Our other investigator by all definition should be a Mormon except he is not baptized. He has a calling, he is friends with lots of people in the ward, he is in the ward directory, he reads the Book of Mormon, he comes to church, but his family is super opposed to him getting baptized. He doesn't want to break with his family, even though his family tell him they'll respect his choice. He knows if he keep meeting with us he'll be baptized, and he is still doing it despite what he knows about his family. So, lots of wonderful people whose hearts are prepared, at least deep inside. We'll see what happens. One thing I learned this week was that God always answers prayers of faith, but on his timetable.

It's like when Enos in the Book of Mormon prayed and asked for things, but he never told the Lord "I hope this will happen by this date"... So I think it'll all be alright. Also, we heard from someone in stake conference this week who mentioned the scripture "how great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul unto me," and he explained that there is really no way to bring Only One soul, that soul usually touches another soul in some way.

Wami, in her letter to me, mentioned how someone she taught, that person's son is serving a mission. So amazing, that everything you do has ripple effect.

One amazing thing happened this week too. We were gonna teach one of our investigator, and he brought lots of friend. The member we were gonna bring said she was busy, but my companion had the inspiration that she needed to ask her to come again, even though Sister Poon just texted her it's ok not to come. So that member came. It turned out that the member was gonna speak at stake conference that day and was trying to decide what to do, and she ended up speaking on a lot of what she heard in the lesson. So, everything happens for a reason.

Hugs and kisses!

Meng

Got hair cut (Sep 3&4, 2012)

HI Mom!!

How was your birthday? I want to know all about it.

And I haven't asked you much about work, how is that going? We saw in the Chinese Liahona that they are going to have Liahona in Mandarin now, only four times a year or something, but still good news. :) Did you have anything to do with that?

Hmm...this week has not been very eventful, except transfers. Both me and Sister Poon are staying in Berkeley. Not a big surprise. There was a lot of changes in the VC though, with five new missionaries coming and a lot of them going full proselyting. A lot of people going back to the area where they served before, which is unusual. So for them and for those of us who are staying, I guess we haven't found the people we were supposed to find yet.

This is my last week having two hours of companion study. For new missionaries, for two transfers (12 weeks), we have two hours companion study. Starting from tomorrow, we'll only get one. I really liked the 12 weeks program, it's for training new missionaries. I especially like this last week, we had three videos that we watched, all super spiritual. The missionaries in the video talked about their experiences on the mission. All six of them had their own story. One of the elder's story was really touching. He said before he came on his mission, he got cancer. He doesn't know how long he is going to live, but he came anyway. It was a big motivation for him though, that the Lord kept him alive for a reason, so he was going to find everyone the Lord has prepared for him. It really makes me think cuz we are all alive for a reason.

We had huo3 guo1 with the Chinese district on Wednesday. Lots of good food, not enough time to eat :) I think I'm eating a lot faster now though, had to. :)

A cool thing happened in testimony meeting this sunday. One of the people me and Sister Sampaio visited before went up to bear her testimony. That day we went unannounced because felt like so, she was a little upset that we went. We had a short thought and then Sister Sampaio asked her, are you reading the Book of Mormon? She said she is not, and she'll not commit to reading everyday because she won't do that and God knows her situation so He'll understand. So we left rather surprised. Yesterday, though, she said that she thought about it a lot after we left. She then bore her testimony about the Book of Mormon as the word of God. It really showed me that the things we do, they might have effect now that we can see, but sometimes afterwards we'll understand why we went where we went and said what was said.

So yeah, that's pretty much my week. :)

I cut my hair today. The guy was really good, so I think I look ok :) Sent you a picture of the after. The other pictures is one I took earlier today at a random place in Berkeley that had Here and There, don't know why. And where is YOUR picture? :)

Say hi to everyone :)

Tons of Love, Meng