Letter #94

Hello Hello!

So we have some big changes in china town! Because president smith is leaving this thursday, we got transfer calls on sunday and had transfers/p-day today! It feels very strange. I got transferred again into the other china town companionship! This really is just the common pattern of my whole mission and I love it! Each time that you go into a new area, it is a great opportunity to see many miracles. Heavenly father will help his missionaries if they want him to. I am back in my greenie area with my man Elder Foley! Elder Foley is a great guy! He has been on his mission only for a few months but is catching on to everything so fast! He is from Missouri, comes from a big mormon family, and his very stylish. As you can probably tell, we were destined to be friends. I am excited to start working with him! I will be finishing where I started! We also had another new missionary come in! He is a giant! I am concerned that the people of china town will be scared to death of him. He is 6'5", which is the china town record. ( We keep track in our apartment. We started a tradition where each new missionary marks his height. I hope that is not weird.) My dear son, Elder Mok, ventured out into the english program. (son just means that I was his trainer) It was hard for me to see him go but I know that he will tear it up. The next time that I will see him will be in Hawaii for school! Pretty crazy!
My last week in my old area went so well. We committed a few of our investigators to baptism! They will do so great. They were all so prepared! Brother Wang was still having a problem with smoking as of last week. We invited Brother Ye to sit in on one of our lessons. Brother Ye is one my recent converts that previously had a smoking problem. He just got a calling to serve as a branch missionary! WHAT A STUD! Brother Ye bore such a strong testimony and assured Brother Wang that if he read the book of mormon and prayed everytime that he wanted to smoke, he would be able to do it. It was very believable considering the fact that Brother Ye went from smoking a pack a day to nothing with in a very short amount of time. We were also able to give him a blessing, which was a really cool experience. After the blessing, he felt very comforted and was filled with determination to quit smoking. It was SO cool to see Brother Ye help us teach. It seems like just yesterday that Brother Ye was In a similar situation.
We have been meeting with a lady named annie for the last few weeks. She randomly called our number one day and told us that she want to come to church. We meet with her usually once a week. She has been suffering from depression recently due to health problems, and loved ones passing away. We have been trying so hard to help her! We gave her a blessing and have even gone as far to sing songs to her each time that she comes in. Recently she has made some improvement, but not much. This last week, at our branch temple activity Elder Mok and Elder Foley saw her doing baptisms for the dead with the flushing branch! We met with her yesterday and when we talked with her about it she was very embarrassed. She told us that she was worried if we thought she was a member we would not be willing to meet with her. The whole thing was very strange but I feel I learned alot from this. First of all, we as missionaries need to make sure that we are not making anyone feel unwelcomed to come and talk to us. And second of all, as members we need to make sure that we are living up to our baptismal covenant to " mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comforting." (Mosiah 18) Missionaries are very fortunate to not have anything distracting us from helping those around us. But, living a life as a "normal" member of the church, we have many things to distract us. I think there are so many people in and outside of the church that simply just need somebody to talk to. The missionaries have no way of finding them all by ourselves.
I have recently realized how big a roll planting seeds has played in my mission. If we dont stop and look, sometimes we will not even see the many small miracles. The other day me and Elder Huang ran into a lady on the street that came with us to the church, listened to the first lesson, grabbed a book of mormon, and was on her way. She lives in flushing so I will call the office and give the flushing Mandarin speaking elders her phone number. This is a very common practice in china town in which the grandeur is often forgotten. This last time, it really hit me how blessed I am to be doing this. That one small seed could change this woman's path forever. Missionary work is really something!
Well I sure do love all of you guys! Thank you so much for everything! I am sorry that emails are always so short and lame! It is so hard to write all of the amazing things that happen in a week, in just one hour! In order for me write everything it would take a whole day, and a bunch of icy hot to help my carpel tunnel go away! I hope that you have a great week!
Elder Barton!