Here is the weekly update:
We had a great week! There is a stigma throughout the mission that a
certain group of missionaries are really blessed. They have an
amazing branch that really helps out with the missionary work. Well,
we got to taste a little of that this last week because one of the
members of the Chinese branch referred us a friend of hers. We now
have a great new investigator thanks to those missionaries and that
branch.
We taught some amazing lessons this last week, too.
We taught a lesson to one of our new investigators. This lesson
talked about our nature as human beings. We are here to be tested.
The investigator asked, what if it's like a test at school. If you
had a better life, and got A's and B's, then you could only get worse.
The member who was helping us with the lesson talked about how
everyone is getting a D or and F grade. We cannot do better than
that. There are a couple people who get the B grades, but most of us
are below a D. God gives us tutors, like Prophets, to teach us how to
get better grades. And He has one special Student who took the test
and scored a perfect A. It's because of that "A" Grade that we can go
back and revise our answers. We can fix the things that are wrong in
our lives and commit to do better. Throughout this last week I have
had the Atonement on my mind. It is the greatest gift in the world.
Our reception of it comes through our willingness to serve, love,
forgive, and obey. Only the Savior could give us such an opportunity
because he is the only one to have passed the test. He "took the
class" so that he could learn the information and know the answers.
We've got study groups, or families, to learn and grow and to support
each other. We have the opportunity to ask the Teacher for help.
I thought it was a great analogy to show our relationship as Sons and
Daughters of our Heavenly Father. We are students. The Great
Professor wants us to become like him, to know what he knows.
Love you all!
Elder Steele
12/31/12
Hey family. It was great to see all your smiling faces last week.
Sorry I didn't get to talk to all of you as much as I wanted. Please
don't feel offended. The internet connection at the church was pretty
poor. Not to mention there were more than twenty of you. Please know
I love all of you!
Give me a second while I go order food. :)
Some pretty awesome things happened this last week. Only three things
really stick out, but they were pretty great. Number one: while we
were cleaning the church on Saturday with the Branch, an old
Citizenship class student walked up to one of the members who was
cleaning the outside windows and told him how she had been looking for
a church and she wants to join our church. We will meet with her on
Wednesday. It is so uncommon for people here to want to study/change
religion or even make religion a part of their lives and we were very
surprised about this. It is all too common to hear what we heard
yesterday, the phrase "I have Buddha." To the Vietnamese people we
meet: we know you probably "have Buddha" and we speak your language!
When we speak Vietnamese to you, don't respond in broken English that
you don't understand! This happens almost every day. Haha, anyway.
Number two: Church yesterday was great. Just like every week,
sacrament started about ten minutes late, and there were still people
sneaking in the door after the meeting started. A few people came in
that we recognized. A less active and her parents, a returned
missionary-BYU student and her fiancee. But there was one girl that
we had never before seen. After the meeting, the other elders talked
to her and brought her to Sunday School. She came here from Viet Nam
2 months ago and was searching online for a local church that spoke
Vietnamese. Giáo Hội Các Thánh Hữu Ngày Sau của Chúa Giê Su
Ky Tô came up as "recommended". She showed up. We were able to talk
to her a ton. It was great. She was thoroughly welcomed. The
aforementioned couple welcomed her, talked to her about the Church and
the blessings from it in their lives. It was awesome. We will
probably be teaching her some time this week, too! One part of that
was that in combined third hour, the teacher mentioned the Family: A
Proclamation to the World. He pointed to the English one which hung
on the wall. There wasn't a Vietnamese one, so Elder Woolsey and I
ran out to the hallway to grab the one that hung there. We showed it
to the class, and then the teacher asked me to read it. For the whole
class. It was great Viet practice, reading something I'd never read
through all the way in Vietnamese in front of a good 25 Vietnamese
people. Even better than me getting to read, though, was that Chi
Linh (her name is Linh) could hear the Church's (the Lord's intendid)
stand on families. Something so strong about this Church is the
emphasis that is placed on families. They are eternal. Forever.
Never-ending. The greatest joy that we can experience in this life is
with our families. The eternal joy in Heaven comes because of
families. I am so glad I have such a great family! I hope you're
still doing FHE EVERY WEEK. My spiritual foundation was formed in our
family. I still remember lessons about saying "Gosh" instead of using
the Lord's Name in vain. I remember learning about faith, and what a
testimony is. I learned to sing great songs, like "Give, Said the
Little Stream" (we sang it almost every week! haha) and to have
family prayer. I learned to have "family council", where we would
plan out the weekly and daily events. Daily planning (the 30 minutes
to plan for the next day held every night) is easy for me because of
this. I remember Farkle, and Liar's Dice with the Missionaries. We
would make treats for each other. Every year in October we would plan
a night to carve pumpkins. In November or December we would make
Ginger bread houses. Savannah was always the best at carving and
making the ginger bread houses. We would always make goofy faces on
the pumpkins and make our gingerbread houses to hold candy so we could
eat it after school. These simple things prepared me to be where I am
right now. Keep doing them because they are SO important! The Church
has short videos which focus on this, titled "Moments that matter
most", Forgiveness, etc. We are constantly reminded of the simple
truths of this life- We are children of God, and he wants us to be
happy. That happiness which He wants us to have is found in families.
Anyway, it was good for her to hear the Proclamation to the World.
Will you read it this week?
http://www.lds.org/topics/
:)
Number three: real quick! We had a dinner appointment with some
American ward members last night. They had an awesome family and an
awesome home. They exuded great spiritual capacity and were so
willing to give their time and efforts to the Lord. It was awesome.
Just thought I'd let you know! I had a great time and I felt their
love.
Love you all! Have a great week! For those of you reading through
the Book of Mormon with me, I am now in Mosiah 24~. Catching up.
Elder Steele
Oh. I was looking for things to do after planning finished every
night and on P-Day because we always do the same boring things and I
bought some fabric and hand-sewed a shirt. It is not done all the way
yet but I will send you pictures when I am finished.
