Dear Family and All of You,
This week seemed to be just one long-drawn-out, exhausting
event. I can only remember the good parts, so let me tell you all about
them:
Last Sunday we visited a member who hadn't been to church in
probably 15 years. We found out about her through another member we
visited the previous week. She set up an appointment and brought us and
the branch president to her friend's house. We had a nice visit and they
all talked in Foochow, which I still don't understand, but she decided to come
to church yesterday! Not only that, she found that she had old friends in
the branch, and they sat in the chapel after sacrament meeting, catching up on
a lot of things they've missed over the years. She even said she'll be
coming to church every week now! Yaayy for member missionary work!!
Wendy is still learning with us about 4-5 times in a
week. She's Malay-educated, so she's still learning to read
Chinese. It's slow going as we read the Book of Mormon together, but I love
it! She has such a willing heart and is so good at sharing her questions
and concerns with us. It's just a joy to work with her! I'll let
you know what happens as things develop. Or, you could just read 1 Nephi
3 if you want to know what we're learning next. Don't spoil it for me,
though! :)
Happy Birthday to Elder Durrant! His Birthday was
Friday of this week. We celebrated by going on companion exchanges.
I thought I wouldn't see him all day, but we met up at our lesson with Wendy,
so that she could give him a birthday present. We celebrated our reunion
on Saturday with ice cream and cake, and I broke out the napkins that you sent
me. Hilaarious!
Thank you for the package! It is always great to get little
pieces of home. I absolutely LOVE the jellybeans, and I think the napkins
are just the greatest. I'll have to enlist the help of Elder and Sister
Beus in order to make the brownies. Our apartment doesn't have a large
oven anymore. We've got a small toaster oven, which is great for garlic
bread, but makes for unique cakes. You can see from the pictures I'll
send how Elder Durrant's cake turned out:beautifully blackened on top, and
with molten chocolate batter running out of cracks in the bottom. When he put
in on a plate, we both laughed hard because it jiggled like jello, but managed
to keep it's shape. ("I have some loose birthday cake,
okay." wobble wobble.) It was deliciously unhealthy!
Back to Friday's exchanges, I went out with Elder Sutherland
(not to be confused with Elder Sutherland the Chinese Elder) to a far-away area
for some faith finding. In case you haven't done a lot of faith finding,
it means that in companionship prayer you tell Heavenly Father exactly where
you'll be and what you're trying to accomplish, then ask for His help to find
someone who will become a new investigator. We parked our bikes at the
end of a long row of terrace houses [is that what they're called?] (one really
big, long building with partitions and separate gates for different residents)
and then I offered a prayer. I said that we really needed new
investigators and that we would be knocking down this row, trying to find
someone who needed the gospel. I asked that Heavenly Father would help us
to find someone to teach. The street was deserted, it was the afternoon
time when no one's home from work, it was pouring rain, and the houses were so
new that not all of them had residents. These were small matters for the
Lord, however. We knocked on the very first gate, and out walked a girl
about our age. I explained (in probably the most boring way possible,
sheesh) that we were missionaries and our purpose in coming was to share a
message that blesses families. I asked if we could share our message with
her. I was completely caught off-guard when she said, "right
now?" and, "Is this important?" I stuttered,
"Yes, this is very important." She told us her parents weren't
home but that we should come back on Sunday.
Well, Elder Sutherland and Elder Christensen went back on
Sunday (because she spoke better Malay than Chinese), and said that it was the
most Preach My Gospel perfect missionary lesson ever taught. They had a
branch member who became this family's friend right away, they followed many of
the recommendations in Preach My Gospel about how to begin and what to teach,
and they taught about the Restoration of the Gospel. They said the family
all soaked it up and were basically the perfect new investigators.
Wow!! My testimony that the Lord is preparing people to receive the
gospel was strengthened immensely from that experience, and I feel so grateful
to see a miraculous answer to my prayers come so immediately. It was so
unexpected that I just laughed when the Elders told me about their meeting on
Sunday night.
On a day when even my rubber shoes were starting to complain
about being so drenched, and my planner was destroyed and my name cards turned
to soggy lumps of pocket goo, I was skeptical that anything would be
accomplished, but I was willing to try, and wiling to involve the Lord in our
plans. I know that He knows my situation and is willing to help me if I
will just accept His help. I know the same is true for everyone, and I'm
so glad that I have a chance to share this message with people here!
Thank you for all the support you are to me, through your
constant prayers, your yummy and funny gifts, your encouraging letters, and
your outstanding examples!! I love you all SO MUCH!!
Love,
Brennan
Oh yeah . . . One interesting thing I discovered as I read the scriptures this week: In Jacob 7:27, the English is: "Brethren, Adieu." The Chinese reads, "Brothers, I would that God be with all of you."
Cool!
No comments:
Post a Comment