Tuesday, July 3, 2012

4/10/12

Another Week gone!! O.o NOOOO BUt HI! :) I realized how fast time is
going for us out here in the mission.  I've never had time move so
fast, but it's ok.  I love it, and I can't wait for all this progress
with our investigators to continue to move forward! :)  I'm also
reading through Jesus the Christ and I would advise EVERYBODY to read
it! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! I've learned so much from that book.  After
I finish it, I'll just have to read the old testament :(.  That one is
a little difficult, and I probably will just read it after my mission.
Book of mormon again :)  Being a missionary is great because we get to
study the scriptures for TWO HOURS EVERY MORNING! :) YAY!

Sadly, we haven't had conference weekend yet.  I'm really excited to
see it soon though.  We have four chances to get investigators to
church! YEH! hahahaha. And we can always count on the prophet to
answer some of the questions that our investigators have.  Our whole
district is really excited to be able to watch conference at the end
of this week. :)  I hear David Archuleta sings.... maybe he's in the
MTC in which I apologize and say Elder Archuleta.  He's the man for
serving a mission. :)

Sadly, Elder Tsai is leaving our district.  He's being transfered
today.  We don't know who our new friend will be, but I'm still with
Elder Monsen. :) we're doing really well.  He's a really good
missionary that really cares about the people he serves.  We joke
around a lot about our investigators, but in the end we really love
and care for them.  :)  He's the man.

Jeff is always doing so good! I can't believe it.  I need to step it
up!!!!!!  The work out here is super difficult, but as long as we
learn to trust in the Lord, we can always make our way through it.
Congratulations on your date in the sealing temple :).  10:00 December
21st I'll hold a little party for you over here in Australia :).

Vicky is really doing well in Taiwan.  I can tell everybody must trust
her so much for her to be having so much success.  She's definitely
such a good role model for me.

Verina is the best as always.  Everybody here in the mission teases me
about her now.  Elder Tutai, our AP was over at our flat for lunch one
day and said: "When I get home, I'm going to marry a little asian
girl.  And she'll have to be good at the piano."  They all know you're
the best... sorry bout that :P hahahaha

Jonjon is the man!!! Keep up the good work! you got mostly A's!!!
You're the man! next semester you're going to get straight A's! Just
work super hard! As long as you do that, nothing can stop you. :)

I keep hearing about Dad's Soy milk machine and I'm really jealous :P
two years from now, I"ll be able to try it.  But only in Two years.
DOn't worry, I'm focused! :)

Ooh!!! Somebody can bring mail? hmmm... pictures!!! :D I LOVE
PICTURES!!!!!!! Every missionary loves PICTURES SO MUCH!!!!!!!  Plus I
love showing off my family to our investigators.  It works.  They
always say that you all look so happy.   And they still think that mom
is my sister.  At least they don't think she's my wife :P hahaha.  I
love the temple.  But other than that, I can't really think of
anything.  I have tons of clothes... tons of food.  the best mission.
I could last another two years out here.  :) YOu're all the best for
helping me out and supporting me so much. so yep. Pictures and
whatever you feel like :). except for more clothes.  I have so many
clothes.  SO MANY CLOTHES!!!!! GAH! and I'm not even buying anything.
Posterity items are killing me.  I now have 5 bags, and SO MANY
CLOTHES. hahahaha.  I'm the one elder in the field with four trainers.
:D YAY!

Ok, so fun stories for the week.  This week, we had a cockroach
infestation in which we killed 26 cockroaches. O.o GAH NO!!! and they
were all SOOOOO big.  I don't like cockroaches at all.  anyway.  So we
did that for a while.  Killed a few... got some cockroach killing
stuff and now I think we've got most of them.  We picked up an elder
from the airport and he had to go to the bathroom.  As soon as he got
in, he yelled: "Are you keeping this as your pet or can I kill it?"
hahaha.  Turns out it was a massive cockroach.  He stepped on it, and
then it ran away, then Elder Tsai stepped on it, and it was still
alive, and so we had to stomp on it two more times to kill it.
Resilient little things. :)

Another fun story: One of the missionaries here(Elder Hadfield) had a
drunk guy run and scream at him trying to scare him, but Elder
Hadfield isn't really easy to scare, so he just shouldered the drunk
guy.  I thought that was pretty funny.  hahaha.  Ok, maybe it wasn't
that funny, but at the time it made me really happy.  Drunk people are
the best. :)

We were teaching one of our investigators (Kevin) at 3 and we had an
appointment right after with Victoria.  Victoria actually came a
little bit early, so we closed up with Kevin, but as kevin was leaving
he said to victoria: "You should get baptized.  It'll be good for
you." hahahaha.  Funny thing is that Victoria is supposed to be
baptized on the 21st while Kevin still refuses to set a baptismal
date.  :)  We'll hopefully change that soon.  Kevin is the best.  We
met with him one day and he threw down his lectures and told ust hat
he was studying htem till 4 in the morning O.o.  I took a look at it
and understood a lot of it!!! crazy huh? well, I explained it to him
and he started opening up to us a little more.  I know that God
definitely helped me understand that to gain his trust.  Business law
is actually quite interesting when the spirit is explaining it to you
:P hahahaha.

Well, I actually can't remember too much from the rest of this week,
except that we had one of the coolest experiences ever.  We were going
to teach a lesson in the city to an investigator from china.  We
usually call out a chinese speaking member to help us, or brandy and
stephanie (because they help us all the time. :) They are the BEST).
Anyway, this time, we decided to call out a sister named sister lim.
Turns out they live in the same building (Casino Towers)!!!! She
invited us all for dinner and invited him to institute and everything.
 We don't know what would have happened if we had called someone else
out, but she helped us so much.  I can imagine mom was an amazing
fellowship as well! I love members like that!

We have a few go-to members that help us all the time! and they are
the best.  I can tell that God really loves and blesses them.  They
are born here, where there's a tendency to go away from religion and
away from church, but they still stand strong!  They are the epitome
of letting their lights shine and standing firm on the foundation of
Christ.  Everybody here complains of how low the retention is because
of the members, but I have seen how good the members here are!!!!!
Sister Munro is the strongest fellowship and member I have ever met!
It's so wonderful to see such missionaries that have extended their
calling past their two year mission.

Today, I had an epiphany! :) It was a really good one.  In the
morning, I was contemplating eating another bowl of cereal :P hahaha.
But the epiphany came.  The spirit is SUPER clear!  strange story huh?
Ok, well I'll let you know where this all comes from.  WHen I wanted
to eat the cereal, I knew that I probably shouldn't and that I should
be more healthy, but I really wanted to eat that bowl of cereal.
Well... life and the spirit is just like that.  I shouldn't pause when
I feel the promptings of the spirit.  That moment of hesitation is a
moment where I am accountable for my actions.  when the spirit
whispers to you. just DO IT!!!!  NEVER BE TOO BUSY FOR THE SPIRIT!!!!
Oh how important that is! There is always a moment when the spirit
tells you to do something and you have a moment to act.  What you do
in that moment will prove your obedience.  I heard a wonderful quote
that I really want to find. "The difference between us and the rest of
the Christian world is that we do not draw a line in the sand where we
stop following God".

I know that this work is the work and the glory of God.  We are
helping people be worthy of obtaining the kingdom of God, and God WILL
send the spirit to be with us, to guide us, and to protect us.  We are
required to listen to that spirit.  To find the elect, and to rescue
the one!  I love this work.  I love being out here. I love the people
I serve, and I love and cherish this gospel.  Without it, where would
we be?

I hope we can all more sincerely listen to and follow the promptings
of the spirit because he IS THERE! he is speaking to us.  It's our
choice to follow it or not.  That is the way we can live with no
regrets.  :)

I love you all, and hope you all the best :)  The spirit will guide.
No regrets!  I think as of now, that's my mission motto :) No regrets.

Cheers,

Elder Chen

ps.  here are a few pictures from our adventures on P-day.  Isn't
Australia amazing?! I've fallen in love with Islands, sand, the beach,
etc.  The great thing about that island is that there were no immodest
people on it!!! :) I was really excited.  A few crazy people, but it's
an island so that should be normal.








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