February 10, 2013

過年到了!! It's the Chinese New Year!! Yay! The Chinese New Year is an awesome time to be a missionary! Everyone is a little more receptive when you greet them with a "Xin Nian kuai le!" and they'll smile and talk to you a little longer! It's also great because the members feed us at every meal!! Since Thursday, I haven't made a thing of food for myself! The members here are so incredible! We've been to a couple really fancy restaurants and some other members have taken us to their house to eat "huo guo" (it's directly translated as "hot pot." Its really similar to fondu but they put absolutely anything in it... anything.) and I've had some pretty funky stuff to eat! I'm not even sure what most of it was! Yesterday we had a TON of seafood, I ate a couple things that had some long, slimy tentacles on it, something that looked like a meatball but DEFINITELY wasn't, and something that I'm pretty sure is still swimming in my stomach... but it was all pretty amazing!! I've got to say, the people here can take some really weird looking food and make it taste incredible!

     This has been another great week! Our investigator who was supposed to get baptized on the 27th has to move his date, because he wasn't able to make it to church this week, but he's still so great. I met with him this last Friday and his testimony is so strong! I was telling him a story, a wrestling story, and all of the sudden he just says "wait, you wrestle?" Apparently he used to do a form of MMA in High School, and he says "we're gonna have to schedule some extra appointments so that we can wrestle a little bit!" hahahaha I thought he was joking... no, he was dead serious! It was pretty funny. I talked to him a while, after the lesson, about wrestling and ground work and all of different styles and stuff. It was really cool to connect with him like that! He speaks really good English too, so I could actually explain wrestling styles! He's doing really good, and he continues to learn and grow in the Gospel. I'm amazed at his testimony of the Atonement and his dedication in keeping commitments. He's better than I am at reading the scriptures, and whenever he has questions, I can tell that they come from deep within his heart. It's such a weird experience to be out here, teaching in a language that is still pretty foreign, but knowing that I'm helping people change. I think to myself sometimes how weird it is that I can understand the bubble-gum language that I've always found so annoying! I think the reason that I found it annoying is because I really just didn't understand! It's beautiful to my ears now! Every once and a while, I'll be talking with someone and then, all of a sudden, I'll think to myself: "I'm actually having a conversation in Chinese!" I remember in Junior High, when I was taking Chinese. I took 2 years and I couldn't have asked: "Where is the Bathroom?" ha but now I'm able to actually teach a 30 minute lesson in Chinese and I've only been studying for 4 months! That's not even possible! It's been such a tender mercy to know that God is mindful of me. To know that He understands that Chinese is hard!! People ask all the time, how we can speak Chinese so well in so short a time. Honestly? The answer is that we're missionaries and we've just got to do it! We've been called to be here, we've been told to learn the Chinese language, and we've been promised help to do so. We've been set apart specifically for this work, and we have some incredibly specific blessings that God has promised us. I know that God has blessed me so much. I know that he's promised me blessings if I will work to receive them. 

     So this week, we've been working hard at continuing to find people. On Saturday, we had an incredible day where we talked to almost 80 people total! That means that we shared a 1-2 minute message and invited them to do something. That's a lot! We had 3 people make appointments with us, and we had 3 other lessons all in a total of about 5 hours! We've really been working hard on better contacting, and it's starting to pay off!

     Yesterday at Church, as I was taking the Sacrament, I looked around at the people sitting next to me. I was sitting with 3 of our recent converts and I was watching a fourth as he passed the Sacrament with another less active who had recently returned to church. I was hit with such a feeling of pride and love as I watched all of these people respectfully bow their heads after partaking of the Sacrament. I did the same and started thinking about what the Sacrament does to people. It changes us. There are two very interesting stories in the New Testament that I've been studying this week in which the Lord refers to the Sacrament (in a way). The first, is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Christ asks for a drink, she talks to him for a while, and He offers her a drink that will let her "never thirst again." He tells her if she drinks of this water, she will receive Eternal Life. The second story takes place the day after Christ feeds the thousands with bread and fish. They come to find him to ask him for more bread! He tells them that if they eat of his body, they will receive Eternal Life. He compares his body to bread as well. Have you ever paid attention to your stomach as you take the Sacrament? On fast Sunday it's especially noticeable! As I take the Sacrament, my stomach really doesn't do much. I don't feel any more stuffed than I did before eating the bread. BUT, I can literally feel something filling my body with warmth and comfort. I can't explain it much better than that! As I took the Sacrament yesterday, I felt it cleansing me and preparing me for the rest of the week. It's like plugging a laptop in to recharge before going on a big car trip. We NEED this recharge EVERY week for the rest of our lives! Not only is it a commandment, but it's one of the most precious blessings we have! We can partake of this small particle of bread, drink a tiny little thing of water, and be filled for the week. This next Sunday, I challenge all of you to write in a notebook, the feelings that you have as you take the sacrament. Not the feelings you have after church is over, not during Sunday School in the next hour, but at the time that you take the Sacrament, write down everything you feel. I promise that when you write it down, it will become clearer to you what you're feeling and you'll have a record of that precious experience!

     I'm so grateful for all of you and the influences you've had on my life! I look up to so many of you more than you probably know! I'm grateful for the love and support many of you have given to my family, and I'm grateful for the examples you continue to set for my younger siblings! I'm doing great here in Taiwan, it's warming up quick! I'm loving the people, the food, the weather and every other aspect of this beautiful Island... but most of all I love being in the service of my Savior. I love that I'm able to be a part of this great and marvelous work, and I'm constantly in awe that I've been blessed to have this opportunity.

Until next week!

 

加油!!!

羅正傑長老