Oct 20 Week 63 - Xu's, Winter, Elder Evans, Margaret in Corona, Deng's and 3 referrals, Wei Zhu, Brother Xiong, Home Teaching Morgan, Yuyi

Pretty good week!  

Monday we went to see the Xu's again.  The lesson didn't go very well, she hadn't read so we went to read with her, she totally didn't understand it.  I tried to explain and her husband tried to explain... but I think it just confused her more.  She then asked that we not come back, but her husband protested and decided we could come back this Friday.. I don't really think she wants us to come back though.  Her husband really wants us to try thought.  So I am more than willing to.  We also met with Winter.  She is still doing good.  She just needs to get married!  We didn't get a chance to meet with Norris (her boyfriend) yet.  

Tuesday we went to Corona again to visit Margaret and her really old Dad that is a member.  He started talking a lot about the endowment... a little too much maybe.  Margaret had eye surgery so she can't read the Book of Mormon, but we committed her to pray and come to church.  They said they weren't sure about church and said to call on Saturday.  So we did but they didn't answer.  We tried again at night and they answered and I asked if they could come. They asked if I had set up a ride, I said I hadn't yet.  They got all angry and said how can we go if you haven't set up a ride yet!  Ugg.  So I just asked if they would like to come next week when we have full Chinese sacrament meeting.  They said ya.  So we'll see.  At night we went to the Deng's to practice teaching and ask for referrals.  They gave us 3 referrals!  They also fed us dinner.  It was really good.  Then we went with Brother Miao (WML) to a meeting with Elder Evans of the Seventy so we could translate.  It was cool to go see.  

Wednesday we got to go meet with Elder Evans.  It wasn't what I was expecting.  I thought there would be like this intense training and he would look at our numbers and give us suggestions to improve, sort of like DDM.  But he spent 4 hours talking with us about scriptures he had assigned to us and answering questions.  After lunch he talked about making sure we stayed with our companions, stayed away from members of the opposite sex and not doing anything stupid.  Then he also told us we need to ask for referrals from EVERYONE and not forget, and then also to talk to everyone possible. He said this is way better finding than tracting or street contacting.  So we are trying to do that.  Wednesday night we met with Winter and Sister Zhang.  That went well.  Then we had English class.  Wei Zhu and his wife were the only people there.  He had seen something online that said Congress had tried to outlaw the church.  I didn't know about that, so he told me to search it online and gave me his phone. I told him I couldn't and they were sort of shocked we couldn't use the internet to look at news.  Then at the end we had texted a member to come help us teach a lesson to them.  I called him and he came.  

Thursday we met Melody at the institute building in Rancho.  She hadn't read or prayed at all. We invited her to baptism, but didn't go for a date.. I don't know why.  I just spaced it.  She came to church this week though.  At night we went to see Brother Xiong with Brother Miao.  Originally Brother Xiong said he had no time, so I told him just 15 minutes.  Well they talked a lot longer.  It went pretty good.  Brother Miao is an awesome fellowshipper, and got brother Xiong's wife to come to church.  Brother Xiong didn't though, he was really busy with work.  He also said he was worried about getting baptized.  We assured him he was ready.  The biggest thing is just coming to church.  We also went with Brother Miao home teaching to see Morgan.

Friday we biked around in the morning.  In the afternoon we met a lady we talked to outside our apartment complex.  Her daughter is here having a baby, and she was interested in learning more.  The lesson was ok, she seems nice.  We just met her outside of our apartment community center thing.  Then we met a former named Wade... not interested.  We had English calls and a lesson with Zhu again.  Then we met Sister Katey Zhang's new renter at her house.  I thought her brother was there but he walked in half way through so we had been in without a guy... also her brother is sort of mentally not all there.  So we have decided not to go there without bringing a guy again.

Saturday we went to Chino to see the referrals... no luck.  At night we met with Yuyi and he was cool.  Then Louis came and met with us and Winter.  That was good.  

Sunday we had 9 people at church!  it was awesome.  Wei Zhu wore a suit, Melody wore a dress.  It was good.  Although one member chastised me in a lesson for giving late notice to come help us teach.  I had tried to text him the night before but it didn't go through.  And even then I still gave him 7 hours... So after church I texted him and asked for help teaching  Zhu on Wednesday. and apologized for not giving him enough time and promised to not do it again... he texted back... noted.  

I am super stressed about having the trust of the members.  I don't want to offend them or make them think we are bad missionaries.

also i didn't get dad's letter this week :(

-Gotta go

ILY

Oct 13 Week 62 - Su's, Katey Zhang, Melody, Brother Xiong, Old Police Head gets them to Temple on time, Miaos and Louis Yu's Baptism

This week was good!  We got 3 new investigators!  The first was on Monday.  There is a family that lives in Corona named the Su's.  The dad got baptized when they lived in Utah.  His daughters are all into primary, but the wife has shown  no interest.  Well we went over and the husband sort of forced her to come in because we were Chinese speaking. The lesson went really good.  We are going back again tonight to teach the Plan of Salvation!  

Tuesday we met with some less actives.  Including that lady that texted you.  She is named Katey Zhang.  She got baptized when the first set of Chinese missionaries were here.  She is really nice. Elder Merriman chastised me after the lesson for giving her your number, she offered to send it to his mom, but he said his mom didn't have a phone.  It was a little weird having her text you while we were right there.  I didn't dictate any of those texts though so I technically wasn't communicating with you, but Elder Merriman is right.  Maybe next time someone wants to send a pic wait like 45 minutes before responding.  

Wednesday we got our 2nd new investigator named Melody!  She is awesome, she has come to church twice now and really enjoys it.  We committed her to read and pray and get baptized if she knows it's true.  Her response was, I don't know.  So we said just read and pray and then we will talk.  I have a testimony that anyone that reads and prays about the Book of Mormon will feel that it is true, no matter if they are atheist, Buddhist, or whatever.  The hard part is finding the people that really want to know the truth.  I think Melody does so we will meet with her on Thursday.  We also finally met with Brother Xiong again!  We put him on date for November 2nd!  He is super cool.  We went over all the baptismal interview questions with him.  No problems!  He just needs to show up on time for sacrament.  

Thursday we went to the temple.  I got us a ride with a member of the stake presidency who used to be head of Riverside police dept.  He is straight out of one of mom's crime shows.  He is a really cool guy.  He talked about going into the army, his son just did.  He made me sort of want to try it out.  I wish you could just go do the training for a while, (and get college paid for) but not have to commit so much time, or go overseas to fight.  But going in as an officer sounds pretty good, and you get some extra bonuses for being an Eagle scout and speaking another language.  Anyways we were sort of late getting out, so he used his years of car chase training to get us to the session with 10 minutes to spare.  It was really fun.  The temple was also really good.  Everytime I am in the Celestial room and pray, I have a really good peaceful feeling, and I know that everything will be ok.  Thursday night we taught Winter the Law of Chastity.  She lives with her boyfriend.  She was really upset afterwards.  She doesn't have anywhere to go, but also doesn't want to get married right now.  We talked to our Ward Mission Leader (Brother Miao) who is super cool as well.  He said just to give her time.  She still meets with us, she still came to church and Louis's baptism on Sunday.

Friday was ok, we did weekly planning and went to go see a former investigator.  English class we only had this one guy named Wei show up.  We taught him English for a while and also taught a lesson on repentance that we had prepared for English class.  He came to church yesterday and the members were very good at fellow shipping him. We gave him the Restoration pamphlet and that will be our next lesson on Wednesday.  

Saturday we met with Winter at Brother Miaos.  The lesson was good.  Brother Miao is probably one of the richest people I have met, He owns Taiwan's equivalent of Home Depot, but he doesn't show it at all.  He and his wife have a nice house, but they buy a lot of stuff at DI.  They are amazed at how cheap it is. :)  They spend their money on their garden in their  backyard and traveling back to Taiwan to visit family.  They are awesome.  Saturday we also met with Morgan.  He is doing good, but Katey is ordering a restraining order against him, so he can't come to church.  We also met with a less active named Yuyi.  He is also less active because his parents don't let him come.  He still reads and prays everyday.  He is 18 years old.  He is really cool. 

Sunday church was great!  I translated again.  Wei, Xiong, Melody and Winter all came.  We also got to go to Louis Yu's baptism.  (our investigator from Riverside)  I baptized him.  It was really good.  He is a cool guy.  

Well that is the week!  I hope we can keep it up!  I love you guys

I haven't gotten the package yet, I will go downstairs and ask.  

-ILY

Dex  

Oct 6 Week 61 - Sam Li, Fiona, Winter, Korean Member in Ragnar shirt, Car Recall, Chen Homemade Chinese food, General Conference

Ben and Kims email were really amazing this week... one day I'll get there.  

This week was pretty good!  Last Monday after e-mailing you guys we went to teach a recent convert/less active named Cheryl Zhang.  She was really nice, I don't think she got we were reviewing the lessons with her mostly just to practice Chinese, she kept going ahead in the lesson and saying that she already knew the stuff.  It was good practice though.

Later that night we went to see a referral from the 1st counselor in our ward.  It was this guy named Sam Li.  He just came here and is a Christian in China.  He said he is looking for a church here that is the same as the one in the bible.  Bingo!  Unfortunately he left for China the next day to visit his mom, but will be back in a week from now.  

Tuesday we went out in the morning to parks to look for Chinese.  Not to much success.  Old Chinese people (which are the ones in the parks in the morning) are less receptive than young ones.  On Tuesday we also helped a family move  for a bit,  Then we went and finally met with Fiona, the potential that Heaton and Huggie left us.   She goes back to China in November, but she is really interested.  Her only thing is she is worried about keeping the commandments.  Our plan is to talk more about the atonement and repentance to help her understand that she doesn't need to be perfect, she just has to try her best.  At night we went to Corona to visit a less active Chinese guy and his wife.  They were busy but rescheduled for tonight.  So we will see.  We also saw a former investigator named Margaret and her 87 year old dad who is a member.  They were good, we had a quick lesson with her, and then went to see Winter, we took a member named Brother Zhang.  The lesson was pretty good, at least we had some good fellowship there.  Winter's boyfriend and room mate sat in on the lesson too!

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders.  It was good.  We oymed in the morning again at the parks.  I ran into this guy wearing a Ragnar shirt that is Korean and already a member, we got his information and asked to stop by.  In the afternoon we went in to get our car looked at because there was a recall on it, but they were too busy so we left and met Winter again.  The lesson was not so good, the ZL kept trying to cut in and help, but with the language barrier it sort of wasn't helping.  She said she really doesn't want to be baptized because she doesn't want to be put into a box and have all these rules to follow.  Li Rui actually showed up for the last bit.  At night we had a good English class.  This old guy and his wife we oymed came, they were really nice!

Thursday we went to the car shop again and got it all fixed.  At home we did studies and planning, then we went to Rancho Cucamonga.  We visited some potentials they left us and tried to go see some less active members.  We got one quick little message in with a sister on her door step, because her husband wasn't home.  They are named the Su's, super cool family that got baptized in the Arcadia mission.  At night we saw a less active named Selin.  We had a good lesson with her on faith and repentance.  Then we had a lesson with Fiona at the Jiang's  house.  Bro Jiang talked a lot...  but I think it was ok.  He shared his testimony and how he came to know this was true.  I enjoyed it.

Friday we helped the Chen move a fruit tree in their backyard, then we had a nice ZDM.  After ZDM the Chen's made us lunch.  I love homemade Chinese food.  At night we had a good English class and then went to meet the Hu's (that family that has 7 kids!)  We sort of just ended up talking with him and inviting him to start reading and praying again.  

Saturday CONFERENCE!  so good.  In between sessions we taught Winter.  We taught how God loves us and gives us rules for our benefit.  We committed her to live the Word of Wisdom and she accepted.  The best was her prayer at the end she said, Thank you God I love you!  She came to church the next day even.  She is progressing well.  Next step Chastity.  She lives with her bf.. I will keep you posted.  Also sad news.  Annie and Jonny,  the family I oymed from the car offically dropped us.  They said they want to stick with buddhism.  Sad, but the Jiangs said the same thing and a year later the missionaries found them in the formers and saw them again and now they are sealed in the temple!  At night we saw the Korean guy I ran into.  He is an RM.  He saw some stuff about the book of mormon online that really shook his testimony.  We committed him to start reading and praying again.  Hopefully he does.  He is super cool.  He got baptized at West Point and he has been to Iraq.  His name is Lawrence.  Oh and I have kept him and not passed him off to other missionaries, because he speaks some Chinese... we still mostly talk to him in English, but oh well.

Sunday conference was great again.  I really liked Elder Scott's.  I love just having specific, simple things we can do to help us be truly happy.  Pray, read, FHE (I loved our FHEs)  and going to the temple.  

Ok I typed a lot.  

ILY

DEX

Sept 29 Week 60 - Winter, Jim and Mia, Moving Service, Meet the Mormons, "Burn in Oven like cookie dough"

Ok another week over.  This week I worked really hard, but nothing really has happened.   I have been making a lot of calls and trying to visit people, but the only real investigator we have now is that Winter girl.  She came to Church yesterday!  Yes!  

Monday night we met with Winter and Jim (Mia's husband who was Muslim but got baptized.)  It was an ok lesson we just recommitted her to read and pray.  

Tuesday we had DDM and it was awesome to see Sister Sterner!  She and her companion seem solid!  In the afternoon we had an appointment with this girl name Fiona that Elder Heaton said had real potential, but she goes back to China in Nov!  We had to reschedule the appointment for the next day, because I couldn't find a team-up.  We also met this old couple, whose son joined the church.  They were nice, but teaching old Chinese people is probably the hardest thing I've done here.  They told us not to come back to November as they are going back to China for a while.  At night we had correlation meeting with our Ward mission leader, Brother Miao.  He is a super solid member from Taiwan.  It was good to talk with him.

Wednesday we did studies then met with this guy that I oymed in June that Elder Heaton and Huggie hadn't gotten a hold of.  His name is Tyler.  We met him at the church and taught the restoration.  It was a good first lesson, but when I asked for a return appointment he said 2 weeks.  I should have tried to move it up, but I didn't... live and learn.   We then were supposed to have Fiona come meet us.  She stood us up though.  So we went out to visit the potentials that were still in our area book.  Every time we went to a new house we'd also hang up English class signs in the area and knock some doors that looked Chinese to me.  At night we had English class.  We had 4 people come.  It was all their first time.  Heaton and Huggie had ended the English class for a bit.  The class was good we had a good spiritual thought on prayer, I was too chicken and didn't ask the people if they wanted to learn more about the church, I was too afraid they'd not come again and we'd have no one.  I should have just asked though, again.. live and learn.

Thursday we had a good weekly planning session!  Then this family that lost their job called us for help moving so we went there for a couple hours.  After that we went out to try to see other potentials and investigators that didn't answer calls or texts.. no luck.  At night we met with Winter and Brother Miao!  It was also an ok lesson.  After we went to meet with Jim and Mia.  Only Jim came though.   So after meeting with Jim I asked if we could say hi to Mia.  She came and said hi to us and was nice, and they said they wanted to come to English class the next day.

Friday morning we went to help do a little more moving again, then we went to have interviews with President.  Mine was good.  President really trusts me.  I got permission to go out earlier in the mornings to look for Chinese doing morning exercises, and he suggested just biking around neighborhoods instead of tracting.  We haven't had to start tracting or biking around yet, but I think this week we will!  I am really excited. I love finding and talking to people.  I fasted yesterday to find new investigators and I will do everything I can to make it happen!  After interviews we watched meet the Mormons and ate lunch with President.  I loved the movie!  Then we went to go to an appointment with another potential from the area book, but they called on our way and very rudely dropped us.  Then our car had low oil so we took it in for an oil change which took forever.  We walked around on the street and got oyms.  This one guy rapped to us about how "we gonna burn in the oven like cookie dough"  and then this other lady said she only needed the bible and then told us about this other "very deep" book called the book of Enoch.  Turns out the flood of noah had to happen to destroy all the fallen angels and demi-gods on the earth... like Hercules.  Who knew?  Well after that we met with a member had practiced teaching and asked for referrals.  No referrals though :(  English class started with 2 girls.. I was a little unsure on what to do.  We have the class in the community center so there are other people there and I just propped open the door.  After a while more people showed up including Jim and Mia and this family with a cute 8 year old kid that doesn't really want to learn English.  It was a good class.

Saturday we had a stake breakfast for missionaries which was fun.  After 2 Elders asked us to drive them home, they lived forever away so we didn't get home till 10:00.  After studies we met another member who ranted about how much she doesn't like Mainland Chinese, but she gave good tips on improving Chinese.  After we went and visited potentials again and hung up signs.  Lots of rejection or no answering.  We ate dinner at a Chinese place which was just ok.  Then we went to meet Tracy and Morgan and show them this silly movie from the 90's called "On the Way Home".  I love it.  Bro Miao gave it to us to show them.  Tracy didn't watch it she cooked dinner.  Also the appointment we had set up with a part-member family that night cancelled and then showed up at Tracy and Morgan's. Haha.  They didn't really watch either and then when we shared our testimonies and invited them to read Alma 40-42  pray to know if the Plan of Salvation is real.  They critized us for not reading the Bible as much as the book of mormon and said that they think the bible is easier to understand.  It was an awful lesson.  After that we went and tried to visit potentials again.  No luck.  So frustrating.  We also visited another member to practice teaching and asking referrals, but I forgot to ask for referrals... dang it.

Sunday we had Ward council, Church was great! I had to translate sacrament and it wasn't so bad.  My Chinese has gotten better.  After Church we went and helped an old Chinese couple with their computer... well Elder Merriman did.  I need to learn more.  Then we saw a less active lady, but her husband wasn't home so we couldn't go in.  Then we went to see a referral from an oym that turned out to have already been baptized in Macau China, but said he was too busy to meet us.  Then we went to a meeting for the Zone focus this month.  Then we met with Bro Jiang, a super awesome member that has been baptized for 2 years now.  His sister was in town.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation and praying to know these things are true.  Bro Jiang bore his testimony and his Sister cried.  We committed her to pray to know these thing are true and said we'd follow up when she comes back. (she goes back to China tomorrow)  Bro Jiang also asked us to give her a priesthood blessing, so we did that too.  It was a good lesson.

Dinner was a Tongan family that gave us fried Oreos.  

At night we met with another member and practiced teaching and asking referrals.  Our other appointment fell though.  So tired to see potentials and hang up English class signs again... ugg I hope we find some new people soon, or the old investigators start replying to us.  

-Elder Murray 

Sept 22 Week 59 - Back in Eastvale again - Sister Sterner is in District; Morgan, Tracy and Winter; Dong Fang and Emma given Temple Picture

So I am emailing from Eastvale again. We live in a nice place.

 I am excited, but also a little stressed out.  I just have to keep smiling and reminding myself everything will turn out.  We had to pick Elder Heaton up from Morgan and Tracy's new house in Eastvale where we met one of the investigators Elder Heaton and Huggie got last transfer.  Her name is Winter.  She is a fashion designer from Taiwan.     As we where leaving I asked if there was anything we could do for them.  She asked us to wash her dishes... I said no because there wasn't a guy at her house, but she told us her boyfriend was there, but sleeping.  So we went and washed her dishes really quick and then left.  I felt weird about it though.  So I am going to be super careful.  It seems like Elder Heaton has built a really good relationship with Winter and Tracy and Morgan.  They are sad to see him go.  

We are back in car.  I hope I still remember how to drive after 1 year.  Elder Yeung drove most of them time here. It still smells like cow here.  I will probably get to see Sister Sterner tomorrow!  That will be fun.  Elder Merriman is good.  He works really hard at Chinese.  He reminds me a lot of Austin Kirk.  He is super willing to help and do everything.  

Saying goodbye to everyone yesterday was really hard.  Louis is doing really well!  He is super ready to be baptized!  He just needs to come to church.  

Francis talked to his parents about us and they freaked out.  They already have government jobs lined up for him and his dad if afraid of getting inspected at work.  The Communist party is evil.  I really hope it dies out.  It is so sad.  I can't even believe how bad it is over there.  It gives me second thoughts about going to China. Anyways he can still come to church and learn with us. but baptism is up in the air right now.   

Dong fang is doing well, and so is Emma.  They are awesome we gave them a picture of the temple and wrote notes to them on the back.  We committed them to having a goal of going to the temple to be sealed they accepted, and said they'd pray that we come back.  :)  

Other stuff...

I went on exchanges with my district.  I went with this new missionary who was  nice.  

I went around speaking with a stake high council man yesterday asking the stake for Chinese referrals.  It was fun.  The high council guy (used to be stake pres.) was awesome, he is also a retired CPA.  I guess it is a sign.  I am definitely  going to look into accounting to see if I like it.   

Numbers wise it was a great week, we got 9 member presents and 10 other lessons!  The Zone Leaders are really pushing us to get standard, I tried my best.  

Well keep me in your prayers this week.  I need a lot of help!

-Elder Murray

Sept 15 Week 58 - Still HOT, Dong Fang, Alan, Shelly in Elder Simmons ward, Lost Korean Student, Louis, Jim Baptism

I am dying reading all of your letters about being in sweats and taking walks in the brisk fall air.  It is HOT here.  I think this is the hottest it has been the whole Summer.  Hopefully it gets a little nicer in the next few weeks.  Alright well this week has sort of been a blur. 

Monday night we met with Dong Fang.  We read the Book of Mormon with him since he hadn't been reading the last couple of days.  Then we gave him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet to prepare for the next lesson.  He wasn't too thrilled with it. 

Tuesday was rough. No one could set up to meet.   We had DDM and then just went out to look for people without a lot of success.  That is basically what we did all day.  We just bike around areas where Chinese people might be, and try to talk to everyone we can.  It is tiring, but also fun.

Wednesday we had a trainer trainee meeting.  It was fun, but I don't really know why we had it.  It was probably mostly for the trainees.  We split up and they met with President while we met with the AP's.  They put in a District video for us and left.  Then came back and realized they had put in the wrong video.  Oh well.  After the meeting we met with Shell.  She is still doing good.

We also saw wen xun, she referred her son to us.  He doesn't speak Chinese though. Darn.  At night no one came to English class so we went and visited this potential named Alan.  He is really cool.  He has been in the US since he was 9.  He knows about the Church from when he lived in Hacienda Heights.  Speaking of that, it is the ward that Shelly is now attending, and guess what?!  Elder Simmons from the MTC is serving there.  Small world.  Alan was cool, but we might have to give him to English too.  He understands things better in English than Chinese.  

Thursday I set up an interview with President.  President told me he is thinking that he is going to move Merriman and I to Eastvale.  I have mixed feelings, because I really love the investigators we have right now, but at the same time, I really want to be with the ward over there.  I have been at UCR a long time.  Thursday night we met with this family that I have oymed a lot, but they always rejected me.  Finally they set up.  Tomorrow they are going to SLC to see the temple, and they to Yellowstone.  They were really nice and talked forever.  We committed them to read and pray and be baptized if they knew it was true.  They are coming back to Riverside Sept. 28.  so we will see them when they get back!

Thursday we met with Emma,  Dong Fang was going to come, but he cancelled.  Emma said that she really wants Dong Fang not to drink, and that she will thank us if we could get him to stop.  

Friday we got our new English class sign.  It looks really good.  We met with Li Rui for the first time this transfer so she could help us write a smaller sign to put out on Wednesdays and Fridays so people see that it is happening that night.  We also talked to her about doing family history, hoping they have Chinese records.  She also asked us a lot of questions about BYU I dress code.  She is hoping to go up in Dec,  Then we went to find.  We ending up helping this lost Korean student find her apartment.  She was going the totally wrong way into the more sketchy area next to the school.  We saw Wen Xun's son that day.  He was a little awkward, but he was nice and agreed to meeting with missionaries when he starts school again in Oct.  At night we had English class and this guy we talked to 2 weeks ago came.  His name is Francis Deng.  He liked the spiritual thought and we set up for the next day.

Saturday was super hot.  We had a good day though.  We met with Francis, he said that he had prayed the night before for the first time and felt really peaceful.. We taught the first lesson.  At 3:00 I was going to Jim's (the muslim from Eastvale) baptism.

  So I invited Francis to come.  He came the baptism was really good and afterward Francis told me he started to cry during one of the talks.  He came to church yesterday too!  Pretty awesome!  At night we went to meet Dong Fang again, he stood us up again.  He has things come up in the lab.  We are going by again tonight.  I hope we don't lose him.  Oh Frank dropped us on Thursday, that was a bummer.  

Sunday was really good.  In the morning while Merriman was at ward council I went out with the Engish Elders and got 3 potentials in 2 hours.  Really successful.  Church was good.  After Church we met with Louis.   He didn't come to church.  We taught the Sabbath Day and committed him to come every week.  He said yes.  He is ready to be baptized on the 28th.  He is doing awesome.  At night we met with Alan again.  He is doing good.

Today we are going with Elder Heaton and Huggie and Morgan and Tracy from Eastvale to the Mission Inn in Riverside.  Should be cool, not temperature wise though :(

Love you guys have a great week!

Sep 8 Week 57 - Mid-Autumn Festival, Promptings and Dong Fang, Frank, Louis, Bruce and Daniel, "Set Apart" hair

Well today is the mid-autumn festival.  An investigator gave us a moon cake last night.  Not bad.  We are going to see if we can find some better ones after e-mailing.  

Also I have to go get my hair cut by someone I don't know for the first time.  (I have always had mom, myself, or other missionaries do it.)  So we will see how that goes.  

This week was pretty wet.  Tuesday we met with Xiu Huang again.  She is not progressing.  She won't pray to know if this Church is Jesus Christ's true church.  She went on to tell us how the Catholic's were much more "serious and strict" than us "Christians" (we haven't taught her any commandments yet.)  At first I was just frustrated.  I had to take a deep breath and realize all I can do it bear my testimony and invite.  If they won't I have to accept that.

Tuesday I did have a really cool thought while pondering as I rode my bike.   

Preach My Gospel has a quote on how to recognize the promptings from the Spirit.  You'll have to look up the exact quote, but it says something about how anything that invites us to do good, to stand tall, and help others is of God.  So I was wondering if every thought I had to do something good was a spiritual prompting.  For example what if I have a thought to go talk to a guy across the street, but we are hurrying to an appointment and they street is full of heavy traffic.  There is another quote in PMG from Dallin H Oaks that says that while we should desire to be led by the spirit we need to recognize we will not be led in all things.  Sometimes when we pray for guidance we don't receive an answer because both choices are good, or the Lord trusts us to make the right choice and wants us to use our own reasoning power to make choices and grow.  

So he is my conclusion.  We definitely need to pay attention to thoughts and feelings we have that invite us to do good things.  They could be Heavenly Father telling us to do something.  However, if we aren't sure about it.  We should study out the pros and cons.  Then pray about it.  One of 3 things will happen.   Heavenly Father answers and  you will feel that it is right, or He answers you and tells you not to.  The third option is you don't get an answer you still feel unsure.  This means that Heavenly Father trusts you to use you best judgement to make the decision.  

I had a cool experience with this this week.  We were on our way to go look of Chinese people to talk to.  I had a thought to try to visit with Emma and Dong Fang.  Usually we meet with them on weekends because he is super busy.  I wondered if calling and asking to meet would annoy Dong Fang.   So I prayed and asked if the thought I had was what we should do.  After I prayed I felt the answer, yes you should.  So I did.  They answered and were really happy to meet and we had a great lesson.  

Sorry that took up the bulk of the letter.  Ok well I will just write a few things really quick about the investigators.  

Frank didn't come to church.  Worried that he hasn't felt the spirit.  He want's to push his date back.  It is a bummer, but if he isn't ready there is no point in pushing him.  

Dong Fang.  SUPER BUSY.  He still reads and prays though.  The only thing is Church. We can't get him to come.  He has a lot to do to graduate.  We tried promising him blessings of help, strength, peace to deal with the stress he is having, but he still didn't come on Sunday :(

Louis.   Accepted a baptismal date despite Li Rui trying to dissuade him.  It was so funny.  We got him on date.  And right after Li Rui said.  Are you sure?  Have you taught him the Word of Wisdom yet? :)  So we taught him the word of Wisdom and he said no problem!  He didn't come to church either though.  

On Sunday we taught two new guys Bruce and Daniel.  They are cool, but not too sure how solid they are.  We have a return appointment for Saturday.  Oh and Andrew dropped us this week too.  He is moving to San Jose.  We have a final meeting with him next Monday.

On Wednesday we had multi-zones.  On Wednesday President told the whole mission that 4 missionaries went really bad.  Watched a ton of movies, took naps, slacked off, and to top it off drove to  Newport beach.  President said he almost sent them home, but after praying felt he should try to work with them.  He did send in some disciplinary stuff to Salt Lake.  They still might get sent home.  Pretty crazy  

Saturday we had a meeting with all the Chinese.  Elder Heaton and Elder Huggie, us and Elder Dyer and his English trainer.  Elder Heaton is struggling with a non-Mandarin speaking comp. He asked president to switch us.  President asked my thoughts.  I said it would give us both a chance to speak more Chinese.  So we might get sent to Eastvale.  nothing for sure though.  We will see in 2 weeks!  

Alright that is the week.

Some funny stuff.  This missionary spoke up in our meeting and told his experience of how parting his hair every Sunday to set himself apart from the world had helped him have the Spirit.  

-Elder Murray