Happy New Year! Chinese style! It is not today it is tomorrow but still! It is a huge holiday in china town! I have found the best way of contacting people has been asking what they will do to for Chinese New Year! They are so funny! Our stake is having a Chinese new years party mainly put on by the Chinese missionaries! We even hired people to do a lion dance! A lion dance is the thing with the big dragon! And all of the Chinese missionaries are putting on a little plaything to reenact, why they celebrate Chinese new years! It is going to be so funny! Elder Near and me are going to do all of the voices for the whole thing, and all of the actors are lip saying everything! It is pretty dang funny I really wish that you all could see it! I also might be the monster at the end but we still don't know!
I should probably tell you the story of why they celebrate Wow rude of me! So what happened was, long ago in china, a monster would attack a town every year and meet all of the people. The people decided that they would start leaving the town every year, on the day that the monster attacks! One day when all of the people are leaving an elderly man approaches the city, and starts setting up his things to stay the night he tells the town that he will get rid of the monster so that the people will never have to worry about it again! The next day the old man hangs red signs over every door, and sets up many explosives. He thinks that the red will hurt the monsters eyes, and the sounds will scare it away! The monster comes and fortunately he is terrified and never returns to the town again!
This is why Chinese people love the color red! Even their flag is red for this reason! They also hang a bunch of red signs over their doors every year so that the monster will not come and eat them! I have to say I really enjoy this story!
Anyways, now that the brief history of china is over I will start my email! I really had another great week. As far as numbers go it was not like the previous weeks that we have had, but I really learned allot! And why we are still on the bad news note... we lost Peter i was very sad! I think I told you all about the challenge I gave him last week. He was saying he did not want to meet with us and I gave him the plan of salvation pamphlet, and told him to read it, and we would meet the following week and discuss. I told him if he really didn't like it then I would not keep asking him to meet with us. Any ways so we had our meeting. We taught him the plan of salvation and he understood every thing. The spirit was so strong in that room. The love that heavenly father has for him was so easy to feel. At the end of the lesson I asked him if he wanted to continue meeting with us based on what he had leaned. He looked up at me, and you could see that there was a change in his eyes. It was like he just realized something. He said quietly no... I was extremely surprised! I knew that he had felt the spirit! I really wanted to know his reason for not wanting to meet with us! I asked him how he felt and he said happy, in a quiet voice! I testified of the spirit. I told him that we should kneel down right that second, and he could ask heavenly father what he thinks that he should do. He said a great prayer but did not ask heavenly father the question; it was like he was scared to receive an answer!
I don't think I have ever had such an overwhelming desire before to help someone, and have him or her not accept. It was really hard on me! I prayed so hard for him to continue to meet with us. He still comes to English class and is still one of my great friends! Yesterday he ordered a pizza to the church for us. He is really a great guy. I need to trust that heavenly father has other plans for him! And maybe it is just not the right time!
On the plus side we still have some great investigators! And a lot of them still seem to be progressing great! Popeye wants to take Elder Near and I to a parade! I love all of the great people I am meeting so much! I really hope that I can continue to see them progress!
I read two great talks this week! The first one is called the forth missionary! It is about types of missionaries that people will end up being! The first type of missionary comes out unworthy and does things that he wants to do, goes home early. Second, unworthy does what he wants to do but finishes his mission. The good that he could have done goes undone. The third in my opinion is the most common. The missionary that is worthy and works hard. He still does so much great good! He works with his might and strength, but not his heart or mind. His mind is focused on other things. Such as home, sports, or self-pride. He measures his growth from comparison. The fourth missionary is the one that we all need to be! He leaves his personal thoughts, and concerns at home. He gives himself completely to the lord, not holding anything back. He measures his success from the feeling that he gets from with in; when he asks heavenly father " have I done all I can?"
This is the missionary that I want desperately to become! The best way to describe in my opinion is a servant! Not only a servant of the lord but of his fellow man! It was really an amazing talk!
The next talk that I read was about a forty day fast! Not a forty-day fast from food but from our personal concerns and worries. This missionary once asked a general authority how he could have the spirit with us more powerfully. The general authority began to ask him a bunch of questions. What time did you wake up this morning 6 31 6 35? Do you love your companion? Do you avoid all distractions from your calling? He told the missionary to go forty days being as perfect as he can be, and getting rid of distractions! And he said the first day he needs to start with a fast to know what the distractions might be! As the missionary fasted, he could not stop thinking about golf, something he would do every p day. I told him self it was not a distraction, but he had the biggest urge to play golf as he fasted! He got rid of it! He did not play on p day any more! I have decided to start doing this same thing, and started on Monday! I thought that this talk and the one about the fourth missionary went hand in hand really well.
I have developed a big testimony of perfect obedience! That is really where the blessings come from! Well sorry I just preached a small sermon! But that was really what I learned this week! I am so exited to start improving! Giving every bit of my self to the lord! The best missionary's are the ones that let go!
Well I sure do love all of you! I hope everything is going great! I am loving my mission, when you come out on a mission, you can really see our prophet wants us to go so bad. Not only because more people because our church needs more members, but because of what it does for a missionary.
Love,
Bao Zhang Lao
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