Letter # 77

This was a ground breaking week!

The Zhou family passed their Baptismal interviews and we are pretty ecstatic over here! This will be the first time that I have seen a full Family get baptized on my mission. What more could a missionary ask for? It is the biggest blessing from the Lord. I am so happy that I get to see them baptized and most importantly, see them PROGRESSING. They are really starting to get it and its wonderful.

The Mother of the family is a little scared. She has many friends in the Catholic Church and has been in contact with it for some time. Last week in our lesson she was being a little quiet and a little hesitant to say much about her Book of Mormon reading or anything. For some reason I felt like I should ask her a question. I looked at her and asked " Are you scared this is all true?". She then replied by saying "ya I think so". We all kind of laughed but I knew that she really was scared and was worried about joining the church. The only thing I think she is really worried about is facing all of her Catholic co-workers. But I think she is going to be fine. She has a great husband and he is just glowing right now. He is progressing so fast. He is really starting
to get it. He will help her progress. I'm sure of it. Well their baptism is scheduled for the 23th of October.

We also have another person being baptized on that day. He is a member of the Guo family (That's the Mom we baptized 2 weeks ago). He is 9 years old. He and his little brother are hilarious. Before she got baptized they used to get mad at her if she drank tea or forgot that a drink had tea in it and drank it. They'll be great missionaries. The mom will speak at the baptism. I am excited to hear her. Her testimony is already so strong.

There was a huge miracle that she saw in her life this last week that strengthened her testimony even more. Two weeks ago when we were all at General Conference a member came up to us and told us that Sister Guo needed a blessing. We went up to her and asked what was wrong. At first she didn't know what we were talking about. But the member that suggested we give her a blessing was with us and told her that her hands had an allergy and needed a blessing. At that time I guess that I had noticed that her hands had band aids on them ever since we started meeting with her, but I never took much thought to it. The Member was pretty persistent and insisted that we give her a blessing. She explained to us that her hands have this rare allergy where they break out in open wounds if she is exposed to certain types of climate. I guess her hands have needed bandaging for over a year now. We explained what a blessing was and then took her upstairs to give the blessing before the next session of conference started. Four days later we met with her and she told us that her hands were better and that she didn't have any wounds on them and that she didn't need band aids anymore.

My first reaction was "Gen de ma?". Which means "really?" with a very surprised/doubtful feeling behind it. She said "really" and then let us look at her hands. I was amazed. She then went on to thanking us. I pointed my finger up to the sky and said "Thank Him". I immediately felt a little bad and probably a little like how Thomas felt in the New Testament. I doubted, and I allowed myself to be surprised about it. I felt bad and it reminded me that I needed to repent. I feel like this was a very important lesson for me, that being "not putting any boundaries on the Lord". This is something that a missionary told me just a few days ago while we were on exchanges and it hit me really hard when he said it. So I have decided to make that the motto for the rest
of my mission. "Do not put any boundaries on the Lord".

As of right now I have decided to exercise the most faith possible and cast all the fear and doubt out of me, and I expect by doing so that there will be many miracles following. That's about it for this week. I wish there was more time because there is more I want to say. But something I thought was funny was that I think that I am starting to turn more and more into my Dad. My companion has been on this thing lately where he enjoys making fun of the little idiosyncrasies I have and imitating me, which immediately reminded me of all the family dinners where we would laugh at the things Dad does. Ahhh yes.... the thing I feared most is beginning to happen. ha ha its okay. It was going to happen eventually. I am turning into my Dad.
[Editorial from Dad - "Poor Chris!!]

The scripture this week. Mormon 9:19-21

And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

Much love,

Elder WEI

Letter # 76

Hello everyone. This week was again another good week for us.

Conference was fantastic. Being a missionary and watching it is the greatest blessing. Whether it's just spiritual growth or the fact that as a missionary you are completely desperate for advice and words from the prophets, it is a very spiritual experience every single time I listen to one of their talks. I am so utterly convinced that if a person actually watches General Conference and listens to their words, they will come out of the Conference session a better being, and their hearts will be changed. This General Conference was very particularly special for me. I got more out of it then I could ever imagine. It was filled with so many spiritual moments for me. It was great. My favorite session I think was Priesthood. I really like the talk from President Ucthdorf, and then from President Monson. One of my favorite comments made was by President Monson when he was quoting "Alice and Wonderland." He talked about how Alice came to one point in her journey where she confronted the Chester Cat and two paths she could take. Alice goes on to ask the Cat which path she should take and the Cat replied by saying; "That completely depends on where you want to go." Then the Cat says "But if you don't know where you want to go, it doesn't really matter which path you should take." It was interesting how Conference seemed to focus on Agency and the importance of the choices we make.God has already told us everything we have to do to be happy in this life. The next step is our choice. Are we going to follow, or not?

Well this week for still okay as far as teaching investigators. It was so nice to see the two people baptized last week at conference yesterday. That made me so touched to see them walking into the church. What a blessing it has been for me on my mission to see the wonderful change that this Gospel has made in other peoples lives. There is no greater gift as a missionary.

The Zhou family has moved their baptismal interview to this coming Saturday. So everyone, please continue to pray for them. The mother of the family probably has the largest concern out of the both of them. She is struggling with the answer of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She believes in God and Jesus Christ, but she comes form a very Catholic background. I think it scares her a lot of the time knowing that it all in fact could be very well be true. I think for that reason she is a little hesitant in actually reading and praying about the Book of Mormon the way her husband does.

The other investigators are actually doing incredibly well. My companion and I have truly been blessed so much this last transfer, and with the start of a new one (Today) we have lots of plans and goals for this next month and a half. We have multiple people getting prepared for baptism. One of them is interesting. He is a 15 year old kid that I met on the street. His name is Wu. The way we met him is cool.  One night we were on our way to a lesson and we had to stop because my companion started to contact someone. Just then three middle school aged kids walked up just in front of me and started debating with each other who I was and what I was doing. At that time I am pretty sure they had no idea that I could understand what they were talking about because when I rode up to them and started talking to them, he and the two girls he was with started laughing and looked pretty startled. I told them that I was a missionary, and because of time I kind of just got to the point and asked if any one of them wanted to come to church? The two girls kind of shook their heads, but Wu said that he would be willing to go. He asked for the address and the next day he showed up for Church. He has been meeting with us ever since, and I asked him last week why he likes coming to meet with us. He told me "I don't know, just a feeling I guess."  To me that is amazing. The Holy Ghost is working in him and he is feeling it.

Well this week the scripture that I want to share is Mosiah 3:13.

And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive bremission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.

I love the Prophet that we have guiding us today. He is the Prophet of God. I know it because I could never possibly doubt the feeling I get when he speaks. The Spirit confirms it every single time.

I love you all

Elder Wei

Letter # 75

Wow, What a great week that was filled with so many spiritual experiences.

Sister Guo was baptized and so was Brother Lin. The baptism was one of the best that I have attended on my mission. The spirit was so strong. Another great part about it was that we had multiple investigators attending the baptism, including the Zhou family. All the investigators thought that it was a great experience, especially the Dad of the Zhou family. The most spiritual part for me personally was when, after they were baptized, they both shared their testimonies and shared with everyone their reasons for joining the Church.

It was so powerful, especially Sister Guo's testimony. She shared her testimony of how God helped her to be baptized and the miracles she saw before the baptism. I will share a couple of those miracles later in this letter. She also explained that the reason why she joined was for her family and that she wanted her two boys to grow up and be just like the missionaries. Obviously I was touched down to the core, and inspired to become even more Christ like to live up to the impression that we had given her. She also started to get a little teary when she talked about how religion had split her family before and, in other words, destroyed some relationships within the family and how she new that this was the right place for her family and the path she wanted for her children. It was a great testimony from an individual who has been completely prepared to receive the fullness of what God has to offer her.

This last weekend was overall a very uplifting and spiritual experience for me personally. In Sacrament meeting yesterday one of the members performed "Love at Home" on the piano and I just remember it hitting me so hard then that this gospel truly is the "ONLY" way to happiness, "REAL" happiness. That I can really testify of with all my heart. The Church is true. It takes any person regardless of circumstances and molds them and refines them into a person who is prepared for eternity. That is happiness! Wouldn't it make sense that Heavenly Father's way is the happiest. After all he did create happiness in itself. So the plan that he has given us, if followed, is guaranteed to work 100% of the time in spite of some temporary trials. Ah it's awesome! and there is nothing like it.

Well, so about the miracles that led up to Sister Guo's baptism. The first one is really cool. This was last Monday and we were still unsure if she was going to be able to be baptized because, like I said last week, she had not told her husband about her desire to be baptized. She told me on the phone that her original plan was just to just be baptized with her son and not let anyone know about it. When she told me that I told her that was not the right thing to do. I told her that we are not just teaching her for baptism but that it was for her and her family to be able to be together forever. She agreed and decided that she was willing to fast before she talked to her husband about it. That night I called her and she told me everything that had happened. She went on to tell me that her husband said that it was okay as long as she could still attend some of the traditional Taoist ceremonies, mainly because if she didn't the Mother-in-law would not be happy and the family situation would get even worse.  The members of our church in Taiwan have been given permission by the first presidency to be able to be in some of those religious ceremonies, as long as they obviously know that the ceremonies to worship those other Gods have no relevance. She was so thrilled on the phone when she talked to me. I know that it was because of prayer and fasting that the husband said it was okay. She had told me previously that she was certain that her husband would say no.

The next miracle was the day of her baptism. She wanted her husband to attend, but in all honesty he wanted nothing to do with it. She told us that she said a prayer and asked that the whole family would be able to make it to the baptism. She went on to say that when she tried to talk to him about it again he was willing this time and said that he would go with her. When we saw the whole family at the baptism together my companion and I were ecstatic. The baptism, like I said, was great and the Dad actually said that he liked it. I am certain that the seed has been well planted in his heart and he is being prepared. Now it is only a matter of time in my opinion. He will have the spirit that his wife carries with her now around him all of the time. Elder Clavel and I will be doing our best to include him in everything we can.

Elder Clavel and I broke our record again for church attendance. We were able to have 13 investigators at Church this last week. He and I are really happy about it. If anything it gets us to want to work harder and see even more next week. So we are really looking forward to everything coming up. Please pray for our investigators. They all need everyone's prayers, especially the Zhou family right now. They are supposed to be getting their interviews this coming Saturday. Okay, the scripture I want to share this week is in Alma 41:10.

Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

Wo ai nimen

Wei Zhang Lao