3/12/12

Hi!!!!!! We got a really big rice-cooker.  and it's the best.  we were all really excited when we got it 8 cups of rice!!!! YUUUUMMMMMMEEEHH!! hahaha, I love rice so much. and we have 40 pounds of rice in our flat right now... hahah.  yep.  food. Our zone just started a weight-loss challenge tos ee who could lose the most weight out of all of the elders + sisters.  (the sisters are so funny)  when we were trying to set the reward for the winner of the weight loss challenge, one of the Islanders said: Can the winner get a mega bucket at KFC? hahahahahahaha.  anyway. it was pretty funny in the moment and we all laughed for a while.  Elder Latu is one of the funniest elders in the world.  I love him. I apologize for the absolutely terrible grammar and punctuation in this letter, the keyboard I am using currently has a very strange setup.  the shift key is as big as the letter keys and the enger button is all the way over there.... I'm pointing at it cuz I can't reach it from over here.  So every time there is an *enter* think that I had to stand up and walk over to the button in order to press it.... rather inconvenient, but it's working :) I can read Korean now!!!! hahahaha.  not very quickly, or not very well, but I can read it.  We have so many korean investigators, I had to pick some up.  :) anyway.  I'm still studying chinese.  don't worry.  I only study korean in my spare time during meals.  which is why it is progressing so slowly. the strange thing is that it is progressing at all.  The Lord is definitely helping me learn this language.  It was so funny.  the other day, I was talking to this girl at King George Square, and she was from japan, so I talked to her in japanese for a while.  After a bit, her friend came... from Korea, and then I talked to her in Korean and they were like: Where are you from?! Wah tashiwah ni hon kara kimashta.  Hanguk oh etso watso yo! :) hahahahaha.  they were like: WHAT IN THE WORLD?! I laughed at them because they were so shocked.  Then I left and went to go talk to a guy from taiwan. and then a black guy.  Unfortunately I can only say Amandla! Awertu Kinako! in African, and it's not even the universal language for Africans.  we'll see.  French people are always hard because I have no idea where to start with them.  and they can rarely speak english. Which brings us to a very strange fact.  There's a place called botanical gardens near the city, and we have to go through it to go between the city and our flat.  for some reason, french people love to get lost there....  I've talked to three french people who were lost in there.  one of which was looking for another french guy who was also lost in there.  we never found him..... dun dun dun.... they're always looking for a place called southbank, or their lost french friends.... french people... :P hahaha.  Just kidding.  they're really nice.  I like them :) I still can't speak french though... but some of them can speak german so that turns out pretty good. Last P-day (after I emailed) we got to go to a museum and it was realllllly weird.  but really cool at the same time.  the artist is this japanese lady(that's the picture) and it was really scary.  she sang a really creepy song for us (movie) about a suicide addict or something and we all were really creeped out.  but here's a picture of her and one line.  she sang in Japanese and I understood parts of it!!!! :) progress. they also had a dot room. here's elder fika, elder sheppick, and i in the dot room. :) sadly elder monsen was taking the picture so he's not in it.  but yep.  we looked really intelligent there.  it was a lot of fun because originally, everything in the room was white, but then they got a bunch of stickers and then the goal is to cover up all the white with people that come through.  they gave us each ten stickers and we had to put them all over the room (and on ourselves) it was a lot of fun. \well this week was the CRAZIEST week.  we were really sad because none of our investigators wanted to come to church (our most golden one was getting confirmed) and we thought we'd have no investigators, so Elder Monsen and I were really sad.  We kept praying during church that someone would change their mind and come to church, and then four of them walked in! at the same time!!!! WOAH!!!! hahahaha.  it was a miracle.  we taught them after church, and they were like: yeah, we just wanted to come today.  One of them told me that he really liked it and that it was the first time he had ever been to a christian church.  the others had been there before but they all loved it.  it was amazing.  God really knew that we'd be sad and then helped us have people there! :) the best.  I love AUSTRALIA! don't worry, we don't just have four investigators, we have a few more, but they were all busy this week.  Elder Monsen and I felt really bad for Elder Hadfield and Elder Tsai because they aren't doing to well, so we give all the referrals to them to contact :).  last week, they were supposed to have 10 lessons, but half of them fell through.  We're praying for them. One of the most amazing finding experiences I've ever had was with one of my favorite investigators.  One day, we were finding at our usual bus stop, and every time we talked to somebody, the University of Queensland would come up.  we had wanted to go to the UQ bus stop for a long time, but had never had the chance, so we talked about it and decided to go there. as soon as we got there, we started talking to as many people as we could because we didn't have much time (it takes 30 minutes to get there! O.o)  in just a few minutes, we had four potentials and it was so strange because usually, I have to look at people to figure out if I should talk to them, but that time, I knew who I needed to talk to!  the first guy had given his number to missionaries before and wanted them to contact him, but they never had. the next girl had been taught by missionaries.  she asked me if I was mormon and told me to find Elder Heissman in Kenmore, because she changed numbers and lost contact with him.  the next one had come straight from china and had heard about our church and had seen the book of mormon!!!!! MIRACLE after MIRACLE!!!! anyway. that paragraph problably made no sense, so I think The whole purpose of that one was to tell you that miracles happen every day over here.  Brisbane Australia is the best mission in the world.  We may not baptize as much as other places but it is the best mission in the world :) This week was a slow week because of the temple p-day on wednesday. it was also very short, but it was a lot of fun.  The Zone Leaders wanted us to come up  and help them in some of their lessons and so we went up and helped them :) when we got there, we did splits to teach two lessons at once, and the investigator I got to meet was AWESOME! She was a referral from a guy who is preparing to go on his mission soon. as we were talking, he joked about not going on his mission and then she told him not to joke about it and that he should definitely go on his mission.  She was so prepared even before we got there! it reminded me of the scripture that tells us that there are angels everywhere in the land preaching to the people.  At first I thought it was talking about missionaries, but then two verses later it clarifies that we get to go out and find them! I'll have to find it for you.  It might ahve been around Alma 26.  I can't remember really well though. it's ok :) yep. hahaha. I also started thinking about some of the baptisms that have happened recently.  I know that I was one of the missionaries meeting with them and talking to them and stuff, but I realized that I had nothing to do with their conversion.  It felt so weird.  It was a thought that I had.  I didn't know if they were ready for baptizm because I felt like I hadn't taught them anything, but when we asked them questions, they have the strongest testimonies ever!  Those are the conversions that will last!!!!! It wasn't me commiting them to come to church.  They felt the spirit and realized that they were making a committment with God to go out and read the scriptures and say prayers and come to church.  What a wonderful work! The work is being done, but I'm not doing it :P  it's wonderful :)  I feel kinda bad taking the credit for the work the Holy Ghost does... :) well, My time is up on the computer, but I love you all! I know this church is true! I know that God is doing this work.  I know that there is no way that a bunch of 19 year old missionaries would be able to produce this much success without aid of divine origin.  This church is a blessing in our lives and will bless the lives of millions more as we continue to further it diligently! thank you so much for supporting me in everything.  I definitely can feel your love and your support.  I know I'm doing the right thing right now. Love you all, cheers, Elder Chen ps.  I love the city! i know that a lot of people don't really like city areas... this is the best area EVER!!!!!!!