Week Sixty-Seven: 12//2/2014 to 12/8/2014--Save the Date!

Hello Everyone,

Can I just say how excited I am to tell you the news? So we've been meeting with Brother Su for a while now. It was actually really cool how we found him. I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders a couple months ago and one of the things we did on the exchange was we called former investigators(people the missionaries met with before but stopped meeting with for whatever reason). I called him and he said to call him that night because he was busy at the time. Also, he had moved into the area that my companionship covers since the missionaries had stopped meeting with him, so I brought his record back to our apartment and called him that night. He set up an appointment for the next day and he was super cool. He has really strong faith in Christ and he shared with us at that meeting that he wanted his family to be united in this church. 

Since then, it was hard to meet with him consistently. Either he wouldn't answer his phone or we'd have mix-ups so for a while we would only meet with him every other week or so. These past few weeks, he's come to church twice in a row and he also came to our scripture study class. I've seen his faith growing. It seems like every time I saw him, his face was brighter and brighter. Then, yesterday after church ended, we sat down with him and I asked him how he felt about baptism. He'd expressed concerns before about his wife opposing and commitments at the other church he was attending. He said "Of course, I want to. Actually, I wanted to ask you when the next baptismal service is going to be held." We invited him to be baptized on the 27th of December and he accepted. I barely got the invitation out before he cut me off and said "Yes! Yes! I would love to!" 

That was a miracle. Nothing more. Nothing less. I had been praying fervently for the past two weeks for one of our investigators to accept the invitation to be baptized. Yesterday, I also fasted for it. I feel like all my energy has been focused towards helping the people we're meeting with prepare to be baptized and make that sacred covenant with God. I know that Brother Su's decision to be baptized was a direct result or his own desire to follow Christ as well as the countless prayers by myself and my companion and all of the other people who tell me they pray for me and my investigators. When that many people are working for a worthy goal, God's hand will be there and He will manifest His power. I know that to be true. Please continue to pray for Brother Su as he prepares for baptism on the 27th. And Merry Christmas!

This week's song is "With Wondering Awe".

-Elder Smith

Also, about the pictures: we had a Mission-wide Christmas activity this past week where we went to Fo Guang Shan which means Buddha Light Mountain. I don't know what it's really called in English. To the best of my knowledge, it's the home of the biggest Buddha statue in the world(check me on that stat). That was super fun to see everyone and learn more about Buddhism!