Week 7: Zone Reorganization, Learning, Teaching, a Mystery Package and General Conference

Hey family and friends!

This week has gone by faster than you can say zaijian(see you later in Mandarin). I've felt very blessed this week. We had some good experiences with investigators, we got to see General Conference, Vocal Point came and performed, our transition to a new teacher has been smooth and I'm now a Zone Leader!
   

I mean, my companionship being called to be the Zone Leaders isn't saying much because after the two older districts leave tonight and tomorrow, we'll be the only district in our zone until we leave in 2 weeks. So yeah, it's kind of strange. We have a district leader, zone leaders, and sister training leaders all in the same district which is also our zone...I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. It would make sense for us to combine with the other mandarin zone which will have 2 districts after their older generation leaves, but the way it looks at the moment, they aren't making any adjustments so we're going to be pretty small potatoes for the next couple of weeks. Oh well, it'll work out, I'm sure!

But yeah, as far as investigators go, we lost one and got 2 new ones. One of our teachers just got married this last Thursday, so we taught his investigator(que dixiong) for the last time last Tuesday. We then got a new teacher named Bao Laoshi(Brother Boud). He's a cool guy and went to Taichung so hopefully he'll have some good advise. He said he loved the food so I'm super excited about that:). But yeah, along with the new teacher, we got a new investigator named Yang Dixiong. He's married and has 3 children. We have a baptism date for him already. We set it for October 30. Even though that's after we leave, we figured it would be rushing it to set it for October 19. We'll see though. 

A random package from an unknown source in Las Vegas.  Thank you for the mints, nameless Saints.

Embarrassing moment of the week, though. During our first real lesson with him (the first one was just getting to know him and figuring out what would  be good to teach him), I wanted to share with him Jesus Christ's gospel out of the scriptures and I really thought I knew where it was. Basically, I didn't. I said "Qing fandao..." which means "please turn to..." and as I looked through my scriptures, I realized I had no idea where I was trying to get him to turn. It was about 3 or 4 minutes of uncomfortable "umms" and "uuhhhs" and flipping of pages until I finally gave up and turned the time over to my companion. If anyone else gets in that situation, It's 2 Nephi 31. Just letting you know. Anyway, it worked out because my companion talked about something and then I just told him in my own words what Jesus Christ's gospel was and that it was essential for him to follow it if he wanted to live with his family and God forever and he agreed to prepare for baptism so it can't have been awful! It was just the worst though. I felt so embarrassed.

On a happier note with an investigator, Lu Dixiong agreed to live the word of wisdom. We had been working with him for a few lessons, trying to get him to feel that God wanted what was best for him so he wouldn't give men a commandment unless he knew that it would be for their benefit. Anyway, at our lesson, we asked him how he felt about Word of Wisdom. He gave a sheepish laugh which made me a little disappointed, but then he said "you know what, elders? this is going to be hard, but I really feel as though it is important." He then told us a story(with lots of charades and hand gestures so we could understand, of course) about how he was swimming the previous day. He was going to swim a distance that was normally really easy for him but as he finished his first lap, he found that he was getting really out of breath. He said he reached out "Tianfu! Qing bangzhu wo!" which means "Heavenly Father! Please help me!". He finished the distance, but he was wiped out afterward and realized that this whole "no smoking" thing was probably inspired. I'm hoping he can feel that same way about alcohol and tea. We'll see when we teach him later. 

We're also starting to teach each other as investigators so Elder Colvin and I got a new investigator named Gan Dixiong (Who's really Elder Ricks). He has one daughter that he loves and his wife left him about a year ago. We only taught him once so far so I don't know much about him yet. We'll see what happens. But in addition to teaching another Elder as an investigator, I'm also playing an investigator named He Dixiong. I'm playing someone I was acquainted with in high school so I don't want to describe them too much for sake of confidentiality. Suffice it to say, I think he'll be a good fit for the elders teaching me. 

My stash.  Tea, Nutella (given me by a departing missionary), salted dark chocolate almonds, honey, a cool mug, pictures.  What more could a missionary want?

We had a really good devotional this last Tuesday. An Elder Baxter from the seventy came and spoke to us about how though our doctrine does differ from traditional Catholic/Christian doctrine, we are definitely a Christian church. He was just a really smart guy and had a Scottish accent which made it all the more enjoyable and edifying. My favorite quote from the talk wasn't even his quote. I think it was Bruce R. McConkie, but it was "the only empty part of our church is a tomb in Palestine", referring to the fact that we worship and believe in a resurrected Christ and not the crucified one that many of the other Christian churches worship.  

General Conference was great! This is the first year that I've actually sat down, watched, and taken notes at every single session. I'm usually late to rise, groggily coming down the stairs and curling up on the couch in my PJs, hardly paying attention to anyone besides the first presidency, Elder Holland, and Elder Bednar. This conference, however, was a revelation! I've never gotten so much out of it in my life. My personal favorites were Elder Dube, Elder Holland, Elder Bednar, Edler Uchtdorf's and Elder Eyring's priesthood talks, Elder Nelson, and Elder Anderson. I really liked how they addressed current issues and especially how tactful they were with it. I don't think anyone could have been offended unless they were really trying. Their responses reminded me of a talk that someone sent me by Elder Worthlin about concern for the one. About how some people are lost because the church has offended them in some way. He says "...we cannot apologize for the truth. We cannot deny doctrine given to us by the Lord himself. On this principle, we cannot compromise. I understand that sometimes people disagree with doctrine. They even go so far as to call it foolish. But I echo the words of the Apostle Paul, who said that sometimes spiritual things can appear as foolishness to men. Nevertheless, 'the foolishness of God is wiser than men.'" 

So yeah Vocal Point came and sang and talked to us. That was cool! They were all really cool guys and had good testimonies. It was refreshing to see people who were in the spotlight so much, but still seemed so humble and grounded in the gospel. It was an inspiration to me, just thinking about getting back and getting back into music. I was worried I would lose the spirituality I've gained here and I will gain out in the field, but if they can do it, so can I! 

But yep, that's my week. I don't really know what else to say. The temple was good this morning, as always. Yep. See you all next week! Love you! I pray for you all!

--Elder Brendan Smith