Letter #38

Hello hello!

 

This week was so awesome! I am really starting to enjoy myself up here, starting to get used to the way things work up here! Elder Boekweg and I worked hard and we ran into some great people! We found some great new people that are interested in learning about the church! The first one we found was in a part member family. His wife was a member and he was not. But they came to church and requested to have their baby blessed. My comp and I went over to their house and gave the certificate to them, and also invited Louis to take the discussions and learn about our church. He agreed!! He is from Argentina and his wife is from Mexico! Luckily, their English is really good! We also ran into a guy tracting that wanted to learn about prophets… he told us to come back at a different time and teach him and we set up an appointment and came back! The appointment was great! Because not only was he there but also he had two of his friends over! As we were talking to them trying to get to know them, they were being weird at first. Then, finally we found out they thought we were Jehovah Witness! When they found out we were Mormons, they became so excited! I guess both of the friends were history majors and loved to study about Mormon history! The lesson with them went great! They new a lot of information but as we helped them understand reasons behind the history and the story of Joseph Smith the spirit was so strong! We are going to meet with them again tomorrow, and I am so excited! They are a great group! Another contact that we had was sooooooooooooo exciting! We ran into a Chinese guy tracting!! He had just moved here from main land china and wanted to learn about our church! What a blessing! We have not met with him yet, but I am so excited for this opportunity! I have actually been finding a lot of ways I can use my Chinese! The librarian here is from Taiwan and I have been talking with her quite a bit! We are becoming good friends! It was funny because right away she was very standoffish. I asked her if she was Chinese and she said, “why do you need to know?” But when I started to speak with her in Chinese, she was laughing and having a good time. She requested a pamphlet about our church as well so I am really happy! There is also a Chinese girl in our neighboring ward that was just baptized! She also just moved here from China! BUT!!! Her mom is not a member yet and does not speak English!! dun dun dun! I got permission from my mission president to start teaching her the “after baptism lessons” and try to teach her mom! So I am soooo excited about that! I really hope you can all understand my excitement!

I was so scared to come up here because I thought that I would not have any opportunities to speak Chinese… boy was I wrong! I really wish I were better at just trusting the plans heavenly father has for me! OH and we also have some really good news! Tom Hughes has agreed to be baptized! This was the awesome guy with the mullet! We are not quite sure when (due to some problems that he has) But he was so excited when we mentioned baptism to him! I have never seen someone so accepting of what God wants him to do! He was already baptized as a catholic, but he understood authority so well, he said, " even though I was already baptized as a catholic, can I be baptized by the right authority? I really don’t think my baptism was legitimate in the Catholic Church!" he is so cool! It has nothing to do with Elder Boekweg or I! It is purely him! To be honest, I felt like I was having a bad teaching day, when we were teaching him authority! I kept stuttering, and bouncing around like crazy! It was purely the spirit that has taught him these things. What a great guy! He also invited Elder Boekweg and I to go ice climbing with him next winter and was very discouraged when we told him we could not leave New York! He is so cool. Sorry I am being so repetitive but it is so true!

I am learning so much up here! Elder Boekweg is teaching me a ton! He has this real love for people he teaches and is purely motivated by that! He is also so patient! It is very relevant what heavenly father wants me to learn for him! It has been good so far. I am not sure how much longer he will be here considering he has been here 5 cycles, but I hope I will learn all that I need to.

Well I hope that you have all had a great week! Thank you so much for all of your love and support out here it helps me so much!

Love Bao Zhang Lao

Letter #37

Hello Everyone!!

 

SO i am in a completley different mission now! it is so crazy! i am still suffering from culture shock! everything is so different!!! The members feed us, and are very involved! we have a ward mission leader! I am driving! the nighttimes are not filled with sirens and drunk people yelling! it is quiet! everthing is way spread out! our pad is huge! all of these things are so different compared to what i had in china town!

This week was great! me and elder boekweg worked hard. i really like elder boekweg, he is so fun, and knows how to work hard. we laugh our heads off all day long. we are getting really good at singing the efy songs together. the way that you work up here is so different! we tract! no street contacting.. it is illegal to street contact in the small town of danbury unless you have permission! tracting is so different! i did it from time to time in china town, but it was always hard to get into buildings. here that is all we do to find people! that and look ups...less actives or referrals from the Portuguese missionaries and spanish missionaries! i know this is going to sound so weird but this area is like a little brazil! there are three portuguese missionaries here! this was also the area that elliott dennis served which is so cool! i went over to the Portuguese elders pad today and saw a deer that elder dennis skinned while he was on his mission! haha! i thought that was so cool! the portagese elders are obsessed with elliott! they talk to me about him non stop! one of the elders that he trained, and two others that have never even met him, just heard of him! he is a legend! they all talk about how hard he worked and never stopped. i am not surprised at all!

This area is so beautiful! i feel like i am in the middle of the sacred grove all of the time! i have never been there but from pictures i have seen it gives me the same feeling! i love the people that we are teaching and the members they are so cool! we have a dinner appointment almost every night! there has been one night so far that we didn't go to a members home for dinner. AND on that night we went to dennys. "FROOOOOM DENNYS!"  it brought back that memory for sure! i know what you are all thinking! i am going to be a mammoth when i get out of here... yes i think i will and i have to say i am excited! everynight me and the other missionaries i live with have a "weighing" and take a look at our progress! they have been here longer than i have so, they are making better progress but i am coming up strong and quick! anyways, back to the people! my first day here elder boekweg and I found an awesome investigator that is progressing so fast! And on the plus side his girl friend is a brazillian lady that is a less active! she has really been wanting to get back into the church, so it was so cool that we found them! They are named Tom and Mariza. Tom is probally in his late fiffties but he is still rocking a grey mullet! (buisness in the front and party in the back!) he has such a big interest in the book of mormon! he requested us to bring him one of those huge book of mormons so that he could read it easier! as we explained to him what it was with his girl friends help, he became so excited! he said that makes so much sense! we meet with him twice a week and each time he has read at least five chapters more so far! He is a great guy! and his wife always cooks us awesome brazillian food every time we go over so it is so awesome!

We were so blessed to find him because i guess this area is one of they slowest areas in our mission! we also work a lot with recent converts! our recent converts are so awesome! one of them is named June Fry. she is so interesting! she is always watching the gospel channel and really believes that these priests are healing people, despite the fact she was already baptized! She is way cool though she went through a lot to be baptized!!! i respect that a lot! our other new convert is named brigget! she has an awesome family that were also all baptized! her husband just got out of prison so we are really excited to start teaching him! they are a great family!

Eventhough it is so different up here, the work is still the same! if you work really hard and try your best, heavenly father will provide people to teach! I love being a missionary! you really can understand how the gospel will bless peoples lives! because you see it everyday! i am sorry that i did not get to cover everything but we have to go. i love you all so much, and i hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Barton

Letter #36

Ryan has moved! He left his new address below. 

HELLO! Ok I had the craziest past few days of my whole life!! I mean that I don’t think that I have ever had a crazier time in my whole life! Ok so I think I have explained to you all the china town missionary life in New York before but allow me just to refresh you all.. Ok so usually we will stay in china town for about a year or so then we will leave for a few months and come back! This is the usual process.. I have some huge news for all of you.. I am e-mailing you from Danbury Connecticut!!!!... Can you believe this!!! I was so surprised when I got the call! I was in the middle of teaching English class, when I got a call from our zone leader. I answered because I knew that transfer calls were coming in! He asked me if I was sitting down and I said no, I am teaching English class! Then he said, ok well you are going to Danbury Connecticut.. Just thought I would tell you….bye! hahah! The room started to spin! I dropped the phone on the floor! I then told my English class what was going on!! They all became really sad and said that I couldn't leave! This made things even worse!! I was so confused and sad! I was not ready to leave china town at all! My Chinese was just starting to come along, we had many great new investigators that I really liked being around! Everything was in a bad situation to leave!! I have never had to trust the lord so much in my whole life! I still have no idea why he wanted me to come up here but there is obviously a reason for it! But I am loving my new area! I just got up here like an hour ago but it is really cool! It is a small town but very green and beautiful! I am also driving now!! This is the weirdest part! I have not been in a car for so long!! It has been all subways and walking! The air has to be the biggest change I have seen though so far! When I got out of the car it was like I was holding my breath for a really long time then took a big fresh breath of air!  Elder Boekweg is my companion and he is so awesome! He is really outgoing and seems to have an awesome attitude about everything.. I think that I am really going to learn alot from this guy! But ya!!! that is what is going on as of right now! I am excited to see what happens. I am not going to be here long at all, just a few cycles, but still it is extremely intense way to much for me to handle, but that is when we grow right?

I am happy I left china town on a good note though! Our baptism last Sunday was so special! Fan jie mei was so funny! It is amazing how baptism can really change people! I think it is affecting her in a really good way! It took so much faith on her part to get baptized and she is going to be blessed so much! Chen di xiong called us the last minute on Sunday and said that he was not ready to be baptized. This was very sad, Elder Near and I knew that this was the day heavenly father wanted him to be baptized.. But hey, he has his agency! He will keep meeting with two other elders coming in now, so it is ok! I hope he will be baptized when I come back to china town! We met with him yesterday night and told him we were both leaving (Elder Near is going to a different place too) and he got so sad! It was making me feel so bad! He kept saying that he knew heavenly father really did want him to be baptized last Sunday, so that we could be there to watch! I am sure that was not the only reason, but I am glad he is thinking that way! It was so crazy last night going through all of my phone numbers, and investigators getting things all ready for the new companionship coming in. it really made me realize how much I loved the people I have been serving! I felt so sad! It was like I was leaving my family! 

14b Durant ave bethel Connecticut 06801 is my new address! Write me soon! Sorry this email is so rushed! I have no time! We have an appointment soon! Love you all hope you have a great week!

Elder Barton

Pictures

Letter #35

Hello hello!!

Ok so this week was awesome!! To start off I got to go to time square for the first time ever!! It was so awesome! There was a “Revlon walk for breast cancer” and all of the missionaries serving in Manhattan south and north got to go and volunteer! We had to wake up at 4 30 in the morning but it was so worth it! We helped people sign in at late registration! It was so cool being there that early in the morning! There was no one there! The streets were empty! I got some awesome pictures! Overall though I realized why our mission president doesn’t want us going there! There is no reason for a missionary to be there! They gave us free doughnuts and lunch! That was pretty awesome I am not going to lie! And after we got to count all of the money from the race!! I got to hold so much money in my hands! Great feeling... it was cool they trusted all of the missionaries to do something like that. Ya but that was a fun trip.. I love my mission.

This week was good! Elder Near and I did a lot of finding! We had some 4-hour street contacting days this week.. I love it though! It is so nice just being out side and talking with people! The weather is getting better too so it is easier to stay out side! We met a lot of new people this week! A lot of them we have not met with yet, but I am really looking foreword to when we do! One of them was soooo stable! That is something sooo rare in china town! He was talking on a black berry, lives in up town, and approached me in Chinese to talk about the church! I was in shock! I am excited to see what comes out of him! We also did some more basketball contacting this week. It was really cool because we actually ran into a less active member while we were playing! He didn’t say anything to us at first, until one of the missionaries here recognized him. Kinda sad, but we are hoping that we will be able to reactivate him!

Our b dates are still doing well! They are expected to get baptized this Sunday! Chen is still saying it depends on if he passes his license test! I am excited for him to pass.. We had the funniest lesson with him on the word of wisdom! He was doing fine until we introduced tea.. His eyes got so wide! And he said “wu cha wu sheng!!”… Which means “no tea no life!!” I was laughing so hard! But he eventually said that it would be hard, but he was willing to give it up! He is such a stud!! I really want him to gain a testimony of prayer though! He thinks that heavenly father listens to his prayers sometimes.. He says there are so many people on this earth it would be hard for him to listen every time! We shared scriptures and experiences, but it will just come down to him doing it that he will realize the power that prayer really has!! Fan is still doing well too.. Not quite as good as Chen though.. She is very nervous to get baptized and still thinks that she has not got her answer yet! This was the one I talked about last week, which had all of those amazing blessings happen in her life! We are going to meet with her again this week, and I am so excited! I have been preparing for her like crazy! I ended up finding a really good scripture in the doctrine and covenants that I want to share with her! It is when Oliver Cowdery wants to translate the golden plates, and he asks Joseph smith to ask for him. The lord told him that he already gave him the answer! It is such a powerful scripture! The words really spoke to me! Section 6 is really a powerful part! Ya I hope that will help her!

Oh one of the people I met contacting this week was really cool! Her name was Shao. She attends another church, but wanted to learn about what we believe! I gave her a quick summary, and she had so many questions! She didn’t think that we needed a prophet, baptism, or a spirit world. She thought we would all return to live with god for free! As I explained, she said that she wanted to see proof in the bible of these things! I told her that I would show her, but I did not want to argue with her. She agreed, and met with us on Sunday in the park. I showed her many scriptures and stories in the bible that supported prophets! It left her with a question that she wanted to ask her priest! Then I showed her many scriptures about baptism. It left her very confused! She said that she wanted to talk to her priest but we told her that heavenly father would know so much better! We encouraged her to pray and ask! It was so cool! We were not arguing, the spirit was there, and helped us so much! How I know this is because the whole time she was speaking in Cantonese.. I was called Mandarin speaking. It was a complete miracle that I was even able to talk with her.. This was the biggest testimony of the gift of tongues I have ever had!!

I am really starting to learn how to study!! I am still bad.. But I am getting better! It is so amazing how much the lord is willing to help you if you give yourself to him!! My scripture knowledge is still not good at all, and neither is my Chinese! But the fact that I am trying my best, heavenly father helps me!! This is the best life lesson I could ever learn! And this is the only place I can learn it!

Well I love you all so much I hope you had a great week!!

ELDER Bao

Letter #34

HELLO!

Ok so this week was incredible! I am really sorry that I am running out of positive words to describe each week but they really keep getting better and better! Ok so to start out… I am in the under ground nerd center again... it is scary... I hear a ton of Chinese people screaming about world of war craft.. Very interesting! Ok so because I am running short on time I will just dive straight into things!

So to start off…. today! This was such a fun p day! Earlier this week I met a really cool new friend when I was on a split with elder Duran, the one from chili. He is one of the most well known calligraphists in china that is the really cool Chinese art stuff! They usually write a ton of characters then draw like a tree in the back round or something. Pretty dang cool! So yesterday he said that he wanted me and my comp to come in to hang out with him. I was expecting he would just try to sell us things, but he didn't! He let us each choose one cheng yu! I forget how you say that in English.. I think it is an idiom? They are really common in Chinese! Then he wrote them for us along with a special message! And he did it for free it was so cool! He was such a nice guy! He was from Mainland China! He wanted to take so many pictures with us! He loved the fact that we spoke Chinese! He said that when we get married he would send us all paintings!! He took down our addresses and he gave us his. He really wants us to visit him in china! He says that we would love it there! So then we went to go see a car show! Yes a car show! It was so coool! They had so many cool concept cars! I loved it! But the best part of the whole thing was that we met some one very interested in the church. And this was not just any one! He was a football player.. FROM THE NFL!! He was the coolest guy ever. When we walked in the door he said that he had a really strong feeling to come and talk to us, so he followed us around the whole convention waiting for a good time to talk with us. He left the station that he was working at to come and talk with us! He started to tell us that he believes in Christ but is not the biggest fan of religion.. He said that man has changed it too much since after Jesus died. We got so excited and started to teach him about the restoration!! He was so happy to learn about it! He had to go back to California the next day, but we left him with a Mormon.org card. It was such an amazing experience! The spirit was so strong as we talked to him!

As for our investigators this week, it was incredible!!! chen di xiong came to church even though his boss said that it was a bad idea. He did not care he came! AND after, he said that he understands why it is so important for him to come! WOW.. he is so amazing! He is changing his life so much and I am so proud of him! Fan jie mei also came! AND she brought all three of her boys! I didn’t even know that she had a third one! The third son that I had never met was really interested in our church! He started talking with elder Duran about the Book of Mormon and it went really well! He said that his family has been getting a ton of blessings ever since his mom started coming to our church!! They got this house that they have been wanting for a long time, she had enough money to go to an English class! (keep in mind that this is the one that was waiting for her answer!!) She got her answer!! I am so excited!! we have not met with her yet either because she has been so busy!! But I am really excited to talk with her about that! Both of them are still set for the 8th and as of right now, I think that they are very prepared! I am so blessed that I met them! they are both such good examples for me! I am so happy I have been so lucky to see the miracles taking place in there life!

Sunday was really a cool experience! Easter was so good! I love missions because you can really focus on what the holidays mean! On Sunday I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting! I was really feeling the pressure! Especially because I got the call at the last minute! But it did not go over to bad! I for sure had a lot of help up there though! The gift of tongues is so real! I have noticed that whenever the lord needs me to speak Chinese he grants me the gift and it works! I also had to give a girl the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that was a really cool experience! It was scary in Chinese but I was still awesome! The girl was so nice, I was so grateful to give her that blessing! We also dyed eggs as a branch! That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! I walked in to find all of the adults standing around the table of dye staring at it with no idea what to do! Even the children had no idea! Finally when we explained how to do it they started to get in to it! They were all laughing because they thought it was the weirdest thing! It is really weird if you think about it. We are coloring eggs? haha! Our ward mission leader told me that the shell represents the tomb of Christ. So I guess it kind of has something to do with Easter right! hah!

I have been loving the mission! Contacting people has been especially fun! The weather is getting warmer so people will stop and talk with you sometimes! I like talking with people… it is the best! This week my favorite contact was a man named Pete. I saw him sitting on the ground next to an old rusty wheel chair. As I walked around him, I noticed that he had no legs.. You see things a lot like this in New York and they are mostly people just looking for money, but I felt that this guy was really different. He looked so sad and his eyes looked so full of regret. Elder Duran and I approached him and started to talk with him. He told us he was waiting for some homeless organization to come and give him a new sock thing for his leg bud. He said that it would make it possible for him to get prosthetic legs! We talked with him for a second then left just like that.. I don’t know why I had such a strong feeling to go talk to that man, but I am so glad that I did! Sometimes as missionaries we don’t know what heavenly fathers purpose for us in doing things but it always feels so good when we do!!!

Well I sure do love you all I hope you had a great week! I definitely did! I am so happy that I am a missionary; it is the best decision that I have ever made my whole life! I hope you all had a great Easter! Thank you all so much for all of the love and support that you show to me out here!

Elder Barton