Letter #6

Hello Family.
A lot of things happened this week Wow!
So it's STILL raining non stop. Not kidding. We will be riding our bikes down a street and it will seem sunny and fine and then we turn the corner and BOOM! ...a wall of really heavy rain hits us and then just stops. It is the craziest thing. The weather here is more unpredictable then Utah! But I am getting used to being soaking wet, I guess.
Oh ya, I got in my first Earthquake. We were teaching a lesson and it sounded like something was banging against the apartment building we were in. It was weird. Then before I realized it we were shaking. The lights and lamps and stuff were all moving. Ha ha! I was way to shocked to be scared. Then the lesson just ...continued. (kinda funny I guess!?)
Things really started to pick up with investigators. Not only have we been finding some new people to teach, but we are really seeing success with this inactive member. He is 20 and lives in the tiniest thing I have ever seen in my life! His house is literally 8ft by 8ft. His bed IS his house so we have to teach him on his bed. He was baptized about a year ago but moved into our ward from the ward he was baptized into. The first time we met with him was about 1 month ago and he was not doing to well. He was not leaving his room or anything. He wasn't even really eating, and had some issues with the word of wisdom. We have seen him twice a week since then and have been really working with him. I am really thankful that we were able to meet with him. He has completely turned his life around and he comes to church with us every single week. We take him to firesides and all that good stuff. One of the last times we went and met with him he had church music on when we got there.
It was awesome.
I know before a missionary comes on a mission they think a lot about baptisms and things like that, but seeing him has made me just as happy if not happier then a baptism. It has taught me a lot about service and the blessings that come from Charity.
Ah, awesome!
Last night something interesting happened. The sisters in our district were on the street and some person ran up to them saying that their father was in the hospital and that he was going to pass away within the hour and needed help. The guy told them that he needed people that believe in God. "Church People", he said. The sisters initial reaction was to get some of the elders to go give a blessing. We had someone for the lesson at that time but they didn't show up so we were the ones that had to go. When we got there the father had already passed away. The kids were all older 30's and 40's but they were just sobbing and they wanted us to come in and say a prayer with them. So my companion went in the room with the two kids and the Dad who had already passed away. My companion offered the prayer asking for blessings for the family and peace to be with them. When the prayer ended we both had a very confirming feeling that the father was exactly where he was supposed to be and that the family would understand that. The son was just crying and saying sorry to us for making things inconvenient for us.
We left and my companion made a comment how humble the Chinese people were. He said, " There Father just died and they were saying sorry to us for bugging us". I started to cry a little bit realizing what my companion had told me.I felt so bad for the family. These people are so unbelievably soft hearted and humble. That was a really interesting experience.
Well Elder Bednar came on a mission tour to our mission this last week and we all got to sit in a room with him and ask him questions. It was a amazing. I got so many answers to prayers.
He could answer every question with the scriptures. I learned so much about prayers and the power of the scriptures and the true importance of a missionary. It helped me better understand that we are to be teachers and to serve. And that these people are our brothers and sisters and should be treated as such. We all got to shake his hand afterwards and I looked at him straight in his eyes. That was a feeling I have never had before! I wish I could talk more about that. But I gotta run.
The scripture for this week is in the Words of Mormon 1:7. It comes along with a lesson I learned about receiving answers to prayers. Sometimes we wonder why certain things happen in our lives and how could that happen to us if we are doing the right things. It is God's Will. He has a plan for everything. Just trust him! It's a great scripture.
- Love you all so so much!
Your in my prayers,
Wei Zhang Lao

Letter # 5

Family, Ni hao.
Things are going good in the east!
I have officialy become pro at riding a bike (Dodging in and out of cars and scooters constantly will do the trick).
So this last week went pretty good. My companion was really sick from something we ate so we went home early one night and he was in the bathroom a good part of the night (Ya, it was not good). But things are much better with him now.
So I heard about the new apostle. Thats awesome! We dont see conference until this next weekend. But every missionary here was like "making bets" and stuff on who it was. Kinda like betting on a sports game or something. Hah! (it's as edgy we can get on mission right?)
The work has picked up since last week. We have a couple new investigators one is an older couple who are really into the standards of our church but still believe all of the buddhist beliefs too. They want us to teach there kids and everything. We are really looking forward to that. The next is this sixteen year old kid who came with us to church for the first time last week and then we taught him for the first time last night. HAh ...we taught him out in front of a seven eleven with scooters flying by and dogs and all that good stuff. But the kid now has a baptism date and is willing to work towards it. (after that it just kinda hit me the situation we taught that kid in. Funny... but it worked so no complaints).
Other than that things are all the same here, still raining and all. I love it though.
Oh ya, I have found an extreme love for peanut butter. Our budget is super tight, so we cant just always have the best tasting things.. Ha so we just get
random fruit and bread. All you have to do is just throw peanut butter on it. Its amazing!
Anyway, love you all keep the emails and letters coming I love hearing form everyone.

Okay so the scripture this week is Alma 14. The whole chapter. Its not the most pleasent chapter but it helps us understand the sacrafice htat was made by so many of the people who believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially the blessings of Sacrafice.

Letter # 4 with NEW PICS

Well hello Family,
So is everyone excited for conference? Everyone here for sure is! Its super exciting because I have so many questions I am looking forward to getting answered. But unfortunately we don't get to see it for two more weeks because of the time here. What we do is have our own little mini conference session. We do it at the mission home. We follow the exact same time as if we were in Salt Lake but it’s just a week later. So that will be cool!
Last Pday we went to these gardens and this 200 year old mansion. It was Gorgeous! You all would have loved it! So the work is getting a little hard of course. We are really trying to get some new investigators. Especially a Family! I am really hoping for that! So I am going to tell you a little bit about the food here! I’m in trouble...... I am already sick of Chinese food. Ha ...but other than that the food is so so good! The fried rice here is insane! and the fruit is amazing to. We are eating really really well. (Partly because every house we go to they just feed us tons of fruit!) Oh ya, I would not recommend cow stomach to anyone. It’s kind of a weird texture! ha ha not kidding! Umm ya.
Well I love you all so so much. It’s hard not to think about everyone! But I know this is where I am supposed to be (Sometimes very hard, But that’s all part of the growing process). Okay so the scripture for this week is Mormon 9:15-21 Everyone read this it’s amazing. The thought that goes along with this scripture is "The Key is Trust". We must trust god. He is capable of all things. If we trust him in all that we do, we will see miracles, and the miracles that we already have in front of us will be made known"