I Hit My One Year Mark!

We did exchanges this week. A missionary named Elder Scott came to our area. We taught a couple lessons together. They were partly English and partly Chinese.

It is weird being in an English zone. This is a big island, and Elder Xiao and I are the only Chinese missionaries here. It makes me feel like I have a big responsibility.

So during exchanges, one of the people we taught, Sally, said she is willing to be baptized in two weeks. It was one of the easiest baptismal dates I have ever extended. She said “ok, what time?”. Her only concern is that, even though she has been investigating and coming to church for over 6 months, she still think she doesn't know enough. But she does. She has said she would get baptized before, and then cancelled, but we both think now is the time for her.  I may get to experience 2 baptisms in one transfer. That would be super cool.

Also, when we were on exchanges, Elder Scott brought me a new mattress. The old one was so bad and gross that I have been sleeping on a box spring for the past several weeks. So I am super happy and have slept well the past couple of days.

Oh yea, and it is basically my 1 year mark. Don’t know if I will burn a shirt or anything (missionary tradition), but we will see.

Today we have to end our p-day early to drive to a far away place for zone conference tomorrow. So the president will come and talk to all of the missionaries in Tasmania. These meetings are always kind of a pain because it usually means sleeping on the ground, and spending hours inside our small car with 5 people, but I am excited to see the president and his wife. 

A Great Week! Still No Sightings of A Tasmanian Devil.

Hello everyone!

This was a great week.

Tons of lessons, and tons of walking. Most houses around here are crowded around the outlet of a river, and it looks like a huge bay. So the houses are built on steep land around the water, which is a bit of a pain, but it allows most of the houses to have an ocean view which is nice. Our flat has a really nice ocean view. When we are walking, we can often see the ocean, and the Tazman Bridge, and the houses on the other side of the ‘delta’.

Today a member is taking us to mount Wellington; a mountain that overlooks Hobart. I will take some pictures. There is a little bit of snow up there, and we will probably hike a little. Super excited.

I love this area. My companion is great. We both have a similar style of doing missionary work, and we both care about learning the new language. So outside of the flat (apartment) we speak Chinese, and inside of the flat we speak English. Our flat is super nice and has an ocean view. It is the first flat that I have been in without a major thing being broken. Maybe because it used to be a sister’s flat. Hah.

We do not have a car, so we usually take the bus or walk, which is a little bit of a pain because of how steep the land is. It takes about 25 minutes to walk from our house to University of Tasmania, and we make that walk every day; sometimes several times.

Before I came to Tassie I thought it would be super remote. There are remote parts, but Hobart is just like a normal city. There are tall buildings, and grocery stores etc.

There are a lot of rabbits and wallabies here. Wallabies are like mini kangaroos. They are often in the road, but they hop away when cars come. We have not seen a Tasmanian devil yet. They are hard to find. I believe they became endangered due to some virus.

People here have a little bit of an accent. The biggest thing is that sometimes they respond to things by saying “true” and it sounds a little like “trup”.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a way to upload photos yet, but I will get them sent as soon as possible.

Our 2 recent converts, and an investigator came to church today! The teacher for the class didn't come though, so we had to teach a lesson on the spot’. It became more of a discussion on the gifts of the spirit. The spirit can give so many gifts, and it seems like I have yet to receive a lot of them. Here are some of the gifts;

9 For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;

 10 And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

 11 And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

 12 And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;

 13 And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;

 14 And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;

 15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;

 16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.

 17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.

 18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.

-Moroni 10:8–18

We also had the chance to do some service this week. We helped a member named “grandma” move some firewood. She is super friendly to missionaries, and knows almost all of them. She used to travel a ton and always talks about her travels.

Now I will answer some questions from my family;

Where did you store your other stuff?

Because I had to fly here, I had to leave a couple of suitcases at the mission office on the mainland.

How long do you think you will be there?

People who come here usually stay for 2 or 3+ transfers, because we have to fly.

Tell us overall what you are thinking about your mission half way in.  Was it what you expected?

I cannot answer this question very well because I did not really know what to expect. Perhaps I have gotten along with and had more fun with companions than I expected. Luckily I have not had a really bad companion yet.

What are your biggest surprises, challenges, obstacles, blessings?  What is your greatest accomplishment, area of growth, most important learning, faith building experience? 

There are plenty of challenges. Some of the greatest challenges are getting people to keep commitments, and finding people, and the language. I know that the Lord has helped me with all of these though, and through Him, and working hard, all of these challenges can be overcome.  One thing that has grown my faith a lot is seeing people progress in the gospel and seeing how much it changes and blesses them. I have also seen it in myself. I have also learned how universal the Gospel is. No matter how different people are, the Gospel can help them.

What have you learned about teaching, influencing people?

Not enough. People respond to incentives, and I have learned that it is hard for people to do something if there is not an immediate result. It takes a special person to do something several times, and have the patience to get the desired result. But it is these types of people who have success.  One example could be church attendance.  Sometimes if people don’t have the strongest faith, they will sometimes come to church for social reasons, but when these social reasons go away, they stop coming. Once again it takes a patient person to keep coming to church and trust that their faith will be built and they will be slowly changed.  

I am in Tasmania!

Tasmania!!!

So a few days before transfers I got a phone call saying I have to pack super light. Everyone knows what that means. I was getting transferred to Tasmania, an island south of Australia.  What happened after that phone call all went by super fast. Everyone was saying goodbye to me at church. People who get transferred to Tasmania usually stay for 4+ months. I said goodbye to everyone, and had dinner with some friends.  Then we went to transfer meeting which was super sad because a few missionaries that I was close to went home including Elder Wang, one of the missionaries who trained me.

I stayed the night at the Assistant to the Presidents’ house. It is a pretty big flat. The next morning we woke up at 4:30 and went to the mission office, ate breakfast, and then got on a bus to the airport. All of the missionaries returning home were also on that bus, so we got to talk.  We said our last goodbyes, and then we went to our terminal. There were a few other missionaries going to Tasmania with me, but I did not know any of them. The plane ride was an hour.

I met my new companion at the airport, and we drove home and got settled in.  Our apartment is super nice (because it used to belong to the sisters). It has a nice view of the ocean. I will send a picture.

So most of the work we do is at University of Tasmania. There are a fair amount of Chinese students. We have some good investigators.  My first week we had a baptism. His name is Duke. So setting up the baptism was a little stressful, but it all went well. Elder Xiao and I sang because I have been given much in Chinese. Duke is cool. He is a student from Guangdong. He is kind of quiet and likes star trek.

I do not have much time left to write. Today we will try to go to the city for our p-day, or just look at the ocean. This morning we helped one of our investigators enroll their daughter in school. My Chinese is still not good enough to be an interpreter, but we were able to get her enrolled. There is a ton of tourism here, but we are still not sure what we want to do for the rest of our p-day. 

Until next week.

I'm Off to Tasmania!

In a couple of days I will be on an airplane . . .to Tasmania.

We got transfer news a couple of days ago and they told me to pack light. I never thought I would get to go to Tasmania. There is only one pair of Chinese Elders there. Super excited.  This transfer is going to be huge. Our zone leader and a few other missionaries are going home. 

Because of all that is going on, I am having a hard time remembering what happened the rest of the week. I taught a couple of unplanned missionary lessons on the street. We visited my convert and mowed her lawn with a string trimmer. 

Last p-day we went to the library and there were all of these free museums. One was about Ned Kelly. He was a famous criminal. He made his own bulletproof Armour and we got to see that. 

I will try to type more next week.

A Great Week, Upcoming Transfer and Religious Debates.......

So This week was great. We had another lesson with the keen guy named Jack. It went OK. When we got to baptism, He said a bunch of concerns, but neither of us understood what he was saying because our Chinese is bad, and he has a thick northern accent. For some reason it is hard for me to understand older Chinese people. They speak a little bit differently.

That lesson made me boost my diligence in studying Chinese. Every chance I get, whether it be on the train, waiting for people to show up . . .I try to pull out some materials and study.

This next transfer is going to be a huge one. Quite a few people are going home, some are coming in. They may open up a new area. One of our zone leaders is going home. Sometimes this makes me think of what I will feel like when I will go home. But I still won't have to worry about that for another year.

Recently we have had less lessons and more finding. And the weather has been bad. When we have less lessons, and the weather is bad, we usually do finding in train stations. So recently we have spent a lot of time inside Flinder's Street Station. It is the biggest train station in Melbourne, and kind of a historical site.

Since we are Chinese missionaries, we usually don't get in many religious arguments, but yesterday, while I was in this train station, two Born Again Christians tried to argue with me, and told me I have to get a King James version of the Bible. Well that is actually the exact one I have, and read from. They also told me I have to fast for 7 days, and that there is no church. I asked them if they have ever read Acts or some of the Epistles. They said that "you can't just focus on one part of the Bible". Well Acts is a whole book in the Bible. They made no sense.

I heard there are wildfires in California again. Are they close to our house?

Until next week.