Letter #46

Good afternoon everyone!

 So this week has been so awesome I am not going to lie! Every week out here is incredible, but this one was really incredible! I will start off with telling you the story that I am most excited about.

So jing han came back from Hawaii this week, yes that is my Chinese investigator! It was so nice to see her again! She had all of these funny stories to tell me about her experience. I think my favorite one was about two dogs that jumped up on her (her facial expressions were making me laugh so hard)! She looked so disgusted talking about how these two large animals almost ruined her shirt. We talked for a really long time, and it was amazing how much I was finding out about her and her past. This was such a blessing; I had really been praying to know how I could best help her! It was like every question I was praying about was answered in our conversation. I felt so bad for my companion, I looked over at him half way through and he was conked out asleep on the table. He said he had a really bad headache from listening to us talk. Anyways I found out that she was a tai qi instructor in china before she came to America! tai qi is the thing that you will see hundreds of Chinese people doing all together sometimes. it is like a slow dance kind of thing. yes I made sure to ask her for lessons. which was another answer to my prayers! I have always wanted to learn! but I also found out some real ways that the gospel would bless her life. she explained to me that her husband used to treat her and her daughter horribly. so that was her reason for coming to America, when she got here she was remarried to a man that treated her really well. they were married for a few years before he was diagnosed with cancer. she would wake up every day at 3 o clock in the morning just to make him some Chinese medicine. eventually he died. she started to cry as she told me this story and said that it feels so good just to talk to some one about it. because she can’t speak English there is really no one there for her to talk to. she just has her daughter, but she doesn’t want her daughter to see her struggling. after she finished telling me this story I taught her about the atonement of Jesus Christ. the spirit was so strong. I really feel like this was the reason I was pulled out of china town. even if she does not get baptized, I really feel like she just needed some one to talk to. I am so grateful I had this opportunity. after our talk, she made me such a good meal. and taught me how to make this really cool Chinese soup! I have not tried to make it yet but it tasted really good! we have another appointment with her tomorrow and I am so excited!

Something else that happened really cool! I think I mentioned a few weeks ago about the girl Rachel that bore her testimony in sacrament meeting about the book of Mormon and was not even a member? we finally had a chance to talk with her! I guess she was always kind of scared of the missionaries because she thought that we would make her get baptized! it was funny we just had a normal conversation with her, and at the end thanked her for our testimony that was it. then a few days later she called and invited us to come over to her house to eat dinner! we were very excited because the rest of her family is also non-members! the dad and the sister were not interested, but her mom was very interested! we taught them the entire first lesson and they really received it well! the mom requested a copy of the book of Mormon, and wants to have us over again in a few months to eat Italian food! she is Italian. it will be in a few months because they are going on some family vacations. but still… it went really well! Rachel has already looked up were institute will be when she goes to college! wow she is awesome.

we also got a member referral from a guy that is in a different ward! it was a friend he knew from work and had some questions about our church! the member that came over there with us was so good! he was testifying and sharing all of these great stories! it really made the lesson great! please volunteer to help the missionaries teach! it really does make all of the difference if a member is present!

Our ward mission leader is also back in town! he made this awesome plan and thought of some great ideas to get member referrals! it was so nice to finally meet with him! I have not had one correlation since I have been in this area! oh if you guys want to see how awesome my ward is go on bookofmormonproduction.com my ward made this movie!!! I hope it will work, and I gave the right address!

well guys I love ya, hope things are going well! stay fresh....

Elder Barton