Ok, so fun story about this week: Since I'm in the YSA, we have many unorthodox methods of teaching that occur both in sunday school, and during third hour. FOR EXAMPLE. During Elders quorum this week, the teacher (from England) turned on a movie. Brian Reagan. Somehow tying it into his lesson. I was grateful that all of our investigators were girls and they were in relief society where they were sharing stories of how the book of mormon helped them get along better with their families. (that's what they told us at least... I never know what happens there.... actually I'll tell you another story about that) anyway. SO for elders quorum, we watched brian reagan. I think there was a tie-in into Dallin H. Oaks' talk about sacrifice and changing the focus from "me" to "others". It was a wonderful talk, yet a very difficult talk to give a lesson on. I remember reading through that talk and feeling really happy and bubbly inside because it just told how good the members were at sacrificing. :) there was a little speil on missionaries :D
Ok, so the story about Relief Society. Since we are missionaries, the ward really likes to use us in ver strange ways. FOR example. During Relief Society, they wanted a bunch of insights on missionaries to be told. They called on... drumroll.... Elder hadfield and I (it sounds like ELder hadfield and I are companions, but we're not... the ward doesn't really know who our companions are sadly... :() Anyway, we went in and taught the relief society. It was really awkward because they were gigggling the WHOLE time and we felt really bad and Elder hadfield was blushing the whole time, and I was too dark to blush, but my face was really hot because it was really weird for us. I have never been in relief society before. never again. Anyway. Our investigators didn't understand why we were so emberassed there. It was pretty fun. BUT now we're getting more dinners from the relief society! YEH! RELIEF! Last night, we had to go to Two dinners O.o. One of the members knew about the dragon boat festival and so she fed us and yeah... it was great.
Ok... this is Elder malohifo'ou. Sleeping. We were concerned about him. It looks like he got murdered and fell down on the floor, but it's ok. He just sleeps like that sometimes. The reason he had to go to the other room was because he doesn't like people who snore, and Elder lam SNORES! it's really bad. It sounds like somebody is sawing logs in the room. hahaha. Elder Li snores too, and it's really bad, but I can't tell which one is which because it combines and I'm always too tired to figure out which one is which. Asian FOBS are REALLY loud sleepers.
STORY about FOBS. hahaha. So both Elder lam and Elder Li are really Fob chinese boys. Elder Lam is from Hong Kong (I've now served with a FOB Chinese, Hong Konger, and Taiwanese person... I must be lucky) It's so funny, because he always looks confused. When we're going out and someone says something to him, he'll look really confused for a few minutes, look at me, I'll have to encourage him and clarify what was said to him, and then he'll look like he just had an epiphany, and then reply. It's SO funny. Especially when we GQ seperatly to cover more people. After I contact someone, I'll look to make sure I can see him, and notice that he's looking into the sky thinking about something ahhahaah. and then it'll be a few seconds before he looks at the person again. Elder Lam is famous for saying: "errrrrrrrrrrrrr" whenever you ask him something.
Elder Li is such a fob as well. Even though he lived in Canada for most of his life, his english is so funny. The other day, when playing touch, Elder Jenkins made an interception and touched down because of it. When he came back, we congratulated him and Elder Li said: "Nice Intersection" hahahahahahahaha. We mess around with him and make fun of it, but he still doesn't understand why we laugh. Another funny moment was when he was sharing a spiritual thought at a members home. He was talking about prophecy and when he read: We prophecy of christ, he read it SO funny. the member had to cover his mouth with his hand, but we still heard the snort and he had to turn his head. It was funny. We all bust out laughing, and ELder Li was so confused, we tried to explain it to him, but I don't think he got it. Also, There's a girl in our ward, and her name is Andrea. Said how it's spelled. Well, when thanking her for the food, he said Andre, like the man name. She looked really offended for a bit, so we explained to her that His english isn't that good hahahahaha.
So I'm still called Mama Chen, and it's so funny when our investigators find out. They always ask me to cook for them and stuff, but then i tell them that I can't ook very well.
Ok, so I heard a quote that was really good and made me think a lot about missionary work and stuff: "In order to enjoy physical life, you must lose your spiritual life. In order to enjoy spiritual life, you must physically die." it was an interesting quote shared during church, and I don't really agree with it all that much. I've enjoyed my physical life so far. Even on my mission. I think that if we enjoy our spiritual life, we can also enjoy our physical life with family and friends around us. It all depends on our attitude! On my mission so far, I've worked hard and felt tired every day, yet, I am still happy and having the funnest time of my life. I'm still enjoying physical life. Those were my initial thoughts. After a while, I realized that that quote wasn't made in reference to the general Idea. It was teaching us the importance of sacrifice. We must sacrifice some things in our lives in order to be happy! AND THEN I realized that's why I'm so happy out here! I've been able to sacrifice so much for the Lord! I feel like I made a really good trade. Two years of my life, and the Lord gives me SOOO much just because He loves us and wants the best for us! He doesn't HAVE to give us all the blessings we'ver recieved. He WANTS to! and that is the epiphany I reached.
We always learn that Heavenly Father is our father in Heaven, but I'm now understanding more and more that it's SO literal that he's our father. He LOVES us. I don't know how else to emphasize it. Love is one of the greatest attributes! Joseph Fielding Smith said that Love is what makes Heavenly Father God. It is something we must practice in this life in order to recieve the greatest gift of God. Without it, we cannot be successful. Because he loves us so much, we need to turn around and help others feel of His love, as wel as our love for them. I can't remember who said this but: "I don't like that man; I must get to know him better" I've never thought of it like that, but the reason we don't "like" people, is because we don't understand them wholly. If we understood them at all, we would understand and Feel God's love for them. This is something that I need to learn out here. There are many situations where i would gladly dislike an individual, but as a representative of Jesus Christ, we must learn to control that, get to know the person, and we'll find what God sees in them. A potential father/mother, and a potential God. Let us not forget the divine potential of every individual in our lives!
How lucky we are to be able to be a part of this great work! the gospel standard says it all. Even though people may fight against the work of the Lord, no unhallowed hand can stop the bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, until the master of the vineyard says the work is done. :) It feels like the work is never done. We have a long ways to go before the end, but how great will be our joy, when we can say, at the end of the day: I've done my best, I've fought a good fight. I want to be able to say that EVERY day.
I love you all! you're all the best family in the world. Thank you for everything you have done for us!
Love,
Elder Chen
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