Sanchong District - Week 11

This week was one for the books. (Haha, I guess every week is one for the books because I write about what happens every week.)

In the midst of non-stop rain, we had some days where NO ONE wanted to talk to us. We were like, what happened??? This last Saturday we made a goal to have 20 Gospel Conversations. These include getting to know the person for a second, introducing a doctrine of the restored gospel that will ideally address their needs, and inviting them to do something (such as allow us to share more with them or come to church). On average, most days we get about 8 solid Gospel Conversations, so this was a big undertaking. Not including all the people who completely didn't want anything to do with us/only talked with us for a few seconds, we accomplished our goal of 20 Gospel Conversations! And guess how many people wanted to learn more?

No one. Not a one! That night, in Luzhou, we had even participated in a finding activity with members of our Zone. We were outside a mall and were asking people what their personal goals were. In theory, they'd tell us a goal of theirs and then we'd use scriptures in the Book of Mormon to help them learn how they could accomplish those goals and set them up to meet with us again. The only problem was, almost every single person we talked to didn't have any goals for their lives! So that night, we didn't really see any fruits of our efforts. 

But that doesn't mean there weren't any. I want to remind you all that even if you can't see immediate results from something good that you do, it doesn't mean you didn't make a difference. Therefore, never stop doing your best! Never stop showing love to people even if they don't show love to you, or working hard at something worthwhile even if it's difficult. You may have no idea what good will come from the good you do.

The downs are always a bummer, but in the end they don't really matter because the ups make everything worth it. 

Such as, Wang Jie Mei got baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, January 7! Right before she went to enter the baptismal font, she was sitting next to me and I could tell she was nervous. She grabbed my hand and held onto it, and in that moment I felt so blessed. So blessed to have been a part of her process of preparing for baptism. So blessed to have been able to help teach her and get to know her. I love her so much and I'm over-the-moon happy that she made this choice to follow Christ. After she was baptized, she played the piano while Sister Clyde and I sang "When I Am Baptized" in Chinese. It was so special; it's the song I sang at my own baptism when I was eight years old! The Spirit was strong and I felt, again, that this is Jesus Christ's work on the earth. It's the most important work we can be doing!

I love you all and I hope you keep doing your best. You will be blessed for your efforts.

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Wu Pei Wu, who we taught on Christmas!

 The convenience store sweet potato was my Christmas dinner because we had no time!

 Service project...