Week Thirty-Eight: 5/12/14 to 5/18/14--A Long Short Week

Hello Everyone,

Yeah missionary time is weird. It's both ages long and seconds short at the same time...in a really good way:) 

This week, we weren't able to meet with ANY new people. We set up with at least 8 but they all "fang'd" our "ge zi's". That literally means they placed our pigeons. It's a Chinese phrase that basically just means they stood us up. Anyways, we didn't meet any new friends so that was kind of discouraging, but we were able to find a lot of joy in meeting with our current investigators and recent converts. 

Rod especially was super awesome this week! We met with him and talked about friends in the for strength of youth pamphlet. He said that when we taught him about prayer a while ago, he started praying for his food at lunch when he went to school. The first time he did it, his friend smacked him upside the head and was like "what are you doing, ya weirdie?" but he kept doing it and now, all his friends pray with him at lunch! He said one time, his friend brought a new kid to the table and the new kid was about to take a bite and Rod's friend smacked the kid upside the head and said "What are you doing? We haven't prayed yet!" All the physical abuse put aside, Rod is a super awesome kid and is having an awesome influence on his friends. 

Killy is doing great keeping all the commandments and he just got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday. Super proud of him:) 

We met with a guy yesterday who has one of those lives where it's just painfully obvious that he needs to accept the gospel and live it. He shared with us all his problems. His girlfriend just broke up with him because he drinks too much. His work pays peanuts, he has a smoking problem, his mother is really old so he has to spend a significant portion of his time taking care of her. I really hope that as we meet him, he'll not only acknowledge the fact that God has the power to help him, but that he'll be willing to do the things he needs to to take advantage of that power.

Love you all! If you ever have any specific questions, always feel free to shoot me an email. 

-Elder Smith

New Original Song--"Mama"

Brendan wrote a song for me as a Mother's Day present and played it for me when we got to Skype.  I may have shared a tear or two.  He introduced it and said, "It might be kind of corny, but I only had limited time to work on it.  But I just wanted to do something for you."

Here is is: "Mama."

Week Thirty-Seven: 5/5/14 to 5/11/14--Killy Got Baptized!!!

Hello everyone,

So, on Saturday, Killy, the exchange student from mainland China was baptized. He's a great guy and his testimony is so strong, you wouldn't have guessed he's only been coming to church for 2 months. Our mission president's Taiwanese counselor came to get everything sorted out with him for when he goes back to mainland China(where he can go for church, etc..). You may be wondering how that happened so fast. Well, let me tell you. So, this last Tuesday, we went to a really good Japanese restaurant with our branch president and his wife and Killy. Afterward, we were talking with him and he said he had a dream. He said in the dream, he spoke with a "holy man", but he forgot what the man said. However, for some reason, it made him feel good about getting baptized. You'd have to know Killy. That is so him! So yeah, we talked a little and called around and due to some scheduling conflicts, it ended up being that the Saturday of that week(5/10) was the best time to do it. And coincidentally, we were also going to have a fireside on member-missionary work that night and a dinner, so Saturday, we had a dinner, then a sweet fireside that pumped everyone up, then a baptism. Beautiful day. I'm so excited to see where he goes!

As far as other things that happened. We shared the word of wisdom with Colin this week. He had just about the same reaction as anyone would have. "WHAT?? No coffee?? NO tea?? Is this real life??" But then we bore powerful testimony, our member shared his experience, and we shared some scriptures and after all that, he decided he could give it a shot. He's super awesome. Pray for him!

Also HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

-Elder Smith

Hymn for 5/4/2014--"Abide With Me"

Here is the Hymn for the week, "Abide With Me."

Lyrics are as follows:

Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings:
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea;
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour:
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.

Week Thirty-Six: 4/28/2014 to 5/4/2014--Great People and Grace

Hello Family and Friends!

Holy Cow! Every week goes faster and faster. It's ridiculous! I'm reminded of a book I studied and analyzed my senior year of high school(I'm sure Daniella, Elder Gee, and others will remember the many Socratic seminars done on this book). It's called "[insert name here. i forgot] At Winter Creek". One of the topics discussed is the dissolution of the present. She compares it to when you're perpendicular to a river that keeps running by and no mater how hard you try, you can't grab the water directly in front of you and get it to stay. You see it for a moment, but it's constantly rushing by. That's kind of how I feel every Monday when I write these letters. All the stuff that happens during the last week seems like it's constantly speeding away down the river and other stuff is taking it's place and I have no time to stop and just absorb it. I don't know. Maybe I need to start looking to the future instead. Or maybe I just need to take time every P Day to meditate and reflect. 

A typical meal.  I get all this for about $2 American.

 Anyway, enough of my psychological woes. This week was really good! A few of our investigators made some good progress. Rod is still the same(parents want him to wait until he's 18) which is good and bad. He has a lot of really awesome questions that I love answering! I could seriously just sit in a room all day and answer his questions and be fine. Killy passed his baptismal interview with flying colors! He's still deciding on a specific date, but he's limited it down to sometime in June. Patience...Colin accepted a baptismal date this week. He's having kind of a rough time because he's studying the Book of Mormon in English, but then he has to talk about stuff in Chinese when he meets with us and at church because the members don't speak English. Other than that, he's doing great! Brother Hong(the guy who is amazed at everything) also accepted a baptismal goal so I'm really excited about that! 

My face on a piece of wood. I bet you were all curious how that would look;) One of my friends got it for me and my companion.

This week I read Brad Wilcox's talk "His Grace is Sufficient". My Sunday School teacher shared with me this talk before my mission and since coming here, I've studied it 2 more times. This time, however, it really just hit me how simple, beautiful, and powerful the Atonement is. He payed the price for our sins, for our weaknesses, for our faults. We can't make that up to him, no matter how many commandments we keep or how many scriptures we read or prayers we say. But he's not looking for repayment. Brother Wilcox uses a really simple and effective example to explain the reason Christ performed the Atonement. He says it like this: 

"Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom    pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the      debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19), “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see His requirements as being way too much to ask (“Gosh! None of the other Christians have to pay tithing! None of the other Christians have to go on missions, serve in callings, and do temple work!”), maybe it is because we do not yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us."

Please remember what Christ sees in us. He made a great investment in us. What he wants us to become cannot be done over-night. His expectations are very high, but his grace is sufficient. 

I love you guys! 

-Elder Smith

Jesus' Atonement is a gift to us that we accept as we open the door and agree to let him into our lives.

   

Hymn for 4/28/2014--Testimony

Here is Brendan and Elder Ward's hymn for the week of 4/28/2014.  It is "Testimony."  The lyrics are as follows:

1. 1. The witness of the Holy Ghost,
   As borne by those who know,
   Has lifted me again to thee,
   O Father of my soul.
2. 2. I know that thou art in the heav'n.
   I know the Savior reigns.
   I know a prophet speaks to us
   For our eternal gain.
3. 3. My eyes are wet; my heart is full.
   The Spirit speaks today.
   O Lord, wilt thou my life renew
   And in my bosom stay.
4. 4. As testimony fills my heart,
   It dulls the pain of days.
   For one brief moment, heaven's view
   Appears before my gaze.

Week Thirty-Five: 4/21/2014 to 4/27/2014--Spiritual Promptings and Hesitant People

Hello Family and Friends!!

So yeah, first of all, good news from Yong Kang. Lai and Andy both got baptized(wooohooo!). That was super exciting for me hear:). So thanks for any prayers that were offered in their behalf!

As for me, I'm doing well. I've learned a lot of really great lessons on recognizing and following spiritual promptings this week. I've recognized a few patterns in those promptings. 

1. They are always inconvenient. There's just no getting around it. If the Spirit is going to give you a prompting, it's going to be something that's out of your way, awkward, or just flat-out embarrassing.

2. They don't always bring the desired effect. The things I'm prompted to do don't always directly result in meeting a golden man on the street or anything close to that. Sometimes, I'm prompted to talk to a guy and I get flat-out rejected. It's sad.

3. I never regret following them. Even if I do get flat-out rejected, I still feel peace knowing that I fulfilled my responsibility as the Lord's representative and that makes up for anything an old guy yells at me in Taiwanese haha. 

So yeah, this week was a good learning experience in that aspect. 

Our investigators are doing great. Killy is deciding on a baptismal date at the moment. It's hard for him because he came from a strictly atheist, Marxist background to the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so he's in a transition period. He said he's thinking sometime in June might be good, but he hasn't gotten an answer yet, so we're still waiting. In the meantime, he's doing great. He actually came out and street-contacted with us last night so that was fun!

Rod's situation with his parents is still the same, but his faith getting stronger and stronger all the time. He also came out and contacted with us last night. He got a guy's number. He was so proud. Killy asked him if he's going to go on a mission when he gets older and he said, "if I have enough faith!". What a kid:)

Most of our other investigators are pretty new. 2 of them are girls. That's new for sure. I don't know how to teach them. Their thought-process is so much more complicated, I feel like, and they need a lot more time for things to sink in and feel comfortable. I don't know. I'm still getting used to it. But they are all really good. Really pure desire and willing to at least make small steps towards finding out for themselves the truth of what we're sharing. It just requires some patience:)

Also, I had my first mango in Taiwan this week. They're legendary here. I'll be honest, when I ate it....it was fantastic. I'm excited for more to come. I also made a really delicious omelet. 

Elder Smith

施柏安長老