Great Day!
Today we got to learn from an apostle of God . . . Elder Nelson! He came to the Wan Chi building (HK) this morning along with his wife and the entire Asia Area Presidency. Amazing! Before he and the presidency spoke to us, we took a mission picture with them, and then as we filed out, we each had the chance to shake hands. Haha for the mission photo, I got to stand right behind him and his wife with Sister Cheui (my friend from BYUH)! Weeee! He just has this glow about him. Amazing!
When Elder Nelson got up to speak, he said of us, "I see you as you're going to be . . . and I also see you as you once were." He also said he sensed that some of the missionaries were fasting to receive an answer to a prayer, and he opened up the meeting for any questions we had for him. So here are some of the questions and his answers:
Q: How can I be more focused on things that are important and not distracted by things from home?
A: Think of what you want more than anything else in life and aim for that!
Q: How can I help investigators focus and progress?
A: To help your investigators focus, be like a doctor. Find the hurt or source of concern and resolve from there. "The temple is your answer."
Q: How can I inspire a bishop to help with missionary work?
A: You have total control of how you feel about him. If you love him, it will show! You can't command love, but you earn it! Same with getting referrals . . . we cannot just ask for them because we need to earn them as well.
Q: In your opinion, how can we become better missionaries?
A: For Hong Kong; use the topical guide, especially the headings under Jesus Christ. You can forget all the scripture names at times, but don't forget what the scriptures are all about--Jesus Christ. Focus on Jesus Christ's mortal ministry and mission.
It's neat cause he also showed us a scripture from Isaiah 49:11-12, which says that the path to eternal life will be prepared even for Sinim (China!). Horray! And of course, Elder Nelson talked about obedience. He shared a story of how he was obedient to a prophet's voice in a meeting when the prophet told all who were present to learn Mandarin. Even though he had no interest, he had a tutor come every Wednesday to teach him and his wife Mandarin. Because of this, he was able to meet with the president of the ministry of health in China at a random doctor's meeting and become friends with him. Fun, huh?
In the end, he gave us an apostalic blessing that we will literally be able to feast on the gospel of Jesus Christ, speak with power and conviction, be missionaries all our lives, and have a testimony of the divinity of this work. Horrah!
So there are so many changes in Macau! Sister Harding and I were so sure that we'd be able to stay with each other again for another moves but I guess not! She was moved out and my new companion is Sister Benton, from the U.S. We are now a threesome with Sister Wong, who will be training an in-coming, native HK missionary Sister Pun (from BYUH too!) next week. It's kind of crazy because even though I am not the official senior companion, I am anyway. Sister Wong doesn't like to lead anything and Sister Benton doesn't know anything about Macau. Plus, there are two new international elders who don't know anything about the international ward so I'll be helping them, too. It'll be so much fun cause Elders Jackson and Crowder are now in Macau and they're in my MTC district. Yaya!
When Sister Harding left, our investigators were all so sad! Wah! We have really become good friends, but in the last visit, two (Tek and Vincent) committed to be baptized in March, and Dev will be baptized this Sunday. I am thrilled to pieces!
Coming into Macau today, I found out that I only have about 20 more days in Macau, which was really unexpected cause I thought I would have enough time to finish the move (six weeks). Wah! I guess not! Sister Benton will have to learn fast cause I will have to be moved back to HK to stay soon. She is amazing so I have no worries!
This place is so fun because not only are people more receptive to the message, it's also such a cultural experience. I was just thinking about my current investigators, and they're from the Phillippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Africa, and Macau. I've even met people from India, Portugal, England, and someone from Madagascar here (By the way, I've never seen the movie Madagascar, but the guy I met said the place is nothing like it!). I love it! Last Monday, Tek and Rupa invited us over to have some Nepalese food. Rupa made homemade dumplings with a sauce made out of all these spices, and then they gave us a humongous plate of rice. They LOVE rice! There were all these little side dishes filled with sauces, pickles, vegetables, and chicken. It tasted so amazing with all the spices! I just felt bad that I couldn't finish, and I hope they didn't get offended. They even gave us white roses before we left. I love them so much!
Vincent (the one from Africa) has made so much progress in the past week. Now that he's made friends with the YSA (young single adults) in the ward, he's been so much happier and came to church more! He thinks he doesn't know if Joseph Smith is really a prophet but I think he really does! He is willing to keep all of the commandments and gave up his coffee and smoking. Still, he has a baptism set for March 8 so we have time to work on it. Yay!
Pray for the people of China!
Love,
Sister Chu :)
P.S. Dar: Yesterday, I ran into Samily Kwok from BYU. Do you remember her? She's back in HK and says hi!
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