Xǐlǐ (Baptism)

This week was a special one for sure! I just ♥love♥ Chinese people.

I'm going to start on Wednesday since I emailed y'all on Tuesday.

Wednesday: 
I went to an English area for the day which is always fun! California+White people always guarantees you something interesting! We had lots of appts. planned that all fell through so we just walked all day in 104° weather- the usual! Right as our day was about to end we contacted this guy who informed me John Smith (Joseph Smith) when he went into the grove of trees was visited by aliens who transported to the west.... I was informed by him that I need to "open my eyes" and that not everything is as you see it! Awwhhhh good o'l white people! 

Thursday: 
Our first interviews with our new President. He is soooo loving. He just makes you want to become a better person! He made it very clear he is going to do his best to help us in our situation since there is only 2 of us! He wants us have the most help he can can give. Great guy all around.

Friday: 
Very fun day! I'm going to just skip to English class. Our English class has grown quite a bit over the months. When I first came into the area we had 2 people coming. Now, as of Friday we had 22+ people there! Very fun to teach all of them. I'll do my best to get a picture next time. We separate the class into simple English and "Harder" English. I teach the harder class and Willes does the simple side. We had so many people there, it can be quite overwhelming LOL.

After class we usually teach some lessons since a lot of our investigators come to English class. Right after class Elder Willes began to teach 2 new people that were interested. While I had planned to teach Jacky, I ran all over the place helping him find a parking spot. Then Michael our other investigator out of nowhere showed up to be taught. So Elder Willes cut his short and taught Jacky while I went and taught Michael! Some how we pulled it off. LOL

Saturday: 
We had a blitz, which is when all of the missionaries in your Zone go to one area and help a specific companionship. It was a cool 103° outside so that was fun! Again, I'm going to skip to the highlight of the day! 

We got to teach one of my favorite people again, Guns. We taught him, his wife Anna, Grace and Sister Bao! We taught the Plan of Salvation and they loved it! After teaching the Atonement part of the lesson, I invited them to be baptized. Grace and Sister Bao huddled as did Guns and his wife. Grace explained that this is very new to her and her mom and that they would like to learn for a bit longer before accepting a date. So we turned to Guns and his wife and they said they would love to! Guns said, "Ever since you guys have been coming you have planted a seed in me and my wife that hasn't stopped growing and we love it!" It was a great lesson. We invited them to church the following day and said they would be there!

Sunday: 
Great day! We had 5 Investigators at church. Guns' whole family came to church! He was in a white shirt and tie and dress slacks. They already looked like members and my heart leaped out of my chest! After Church we had Christine's Baptism. I'm so glad I played apart in teaching that fireball. She is so funny and I'm so excited for her path she is starting! It was a great baptism and many of our investigators came too! 

We are so busy right now and have over 22 investigators. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! 

Wo Ai Nimen! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Christine's Baptism 

I haven't had a recording from Ben in awhile so when he sent one this week, it made my whole ♥ happy to hear his voice!

He started out speaking Chinese to us and I cannot believe how GREAT he sounds! He has come sooo far with the language which makes me feel relieved. It has been one of his biggest worries/struggles because of his desire to be able to convey the lessons and his excitement about the Gospel. So to hear him speaking it so well...YAY!

Ben told us a little more about Shanon (she is the one who has her son on a mission in Boston). She basically ready to be baptized but is struggling with the tea part of the WOW. They seem to run into this problem a lot seeing as how tea is a HUGE part of the Asian culture. Hopefully they will be able to help her through that and we can see those baptism pics soon!

Ben recounted the experience with the guy who swears that "John Smith" (Joseph Smith) was abducted by aliens and flown to the west. Ben told the guy that he thought his version was cool and that I'm sure Joseph Smith would've actually enjoyed an experience like that, but that is not really the way it happened. They ended up talking to this guy a little more and found out he was in the military for about 20 years. He told them, "You don't really know what you believe in until you watch your friend stick his head out of a trench and get his head blown off and you wonder if you have the faith to stick your head out and start shooting back at people. Many of the men next to me are drawing crosses on their chests. In those moments you really start pondering what you believe in." 

He is not Ben's investigator, but he wants to try to keep updated with him, so hopefully more to come on that. 

Ben had his first interview with his new Mission President, Hammon. He asked Ben to bear his testimony in English and he really struggled. He isn't use to doing it in English so they got a kick out of him trying to do it. 

He talked to them about their investigators being the best in the mission right now and for them to keep up the good work. It's not about numbers, it's about the people. 

He asked Ben if he had anything he wanted to talk about with him and Ben asked him about tablets!! LOL

Tablets would make a HUGE difference with the language barrier they have. There are a lot of tools they can use to help their investigators understand what they are trying to teach them. Plus it would help with any teaching records they can share between missions.  

My boy told us that he is 172 right now! He left at 156! He told us not to worry. He is not fat or a cow, and that he still has some of his abs. Hahaha! He is working out a lot so he assures us that he is "stocky" and getting built. LOL 😏

If you remember awhile back Ben and Elder Willes baptized and became really good friends with Hank and Tina. He spoke to them and they told him that they are going to go on Trek! He is so happy for them to be able to experience an adventure like that! I am hoping to get more info on that! 

He talks about having dinner at one of the members houses named Sunny Ling. She was baptized about a year ago and she REFUSES to speak Chinese. They have tried to get her to speak to them, but she won't. Most of the Chinese people that don't want to speak their native language to them eventually give up knowing they can talk to them but not Sunny! Ben feels really bad for her because not knowing English that well and refusing to speak to them in Chinese is really hurting her spiritual progression. She will only attend the English part of church and doesn't understand what they are talking about. They had Elder Gulbranson and Elder Paraz teach her a spiritual message and she wasn't even sure how the Holy Ghost worked. They asked her about reading the scriptures and how she feels when she reads them. She said she always feels really good so they explained that is the Holy Ghost testifying to you that they are true. She started crying and expressed to them that she thought Heavenly Father didn't love her because he never sent His Holy Ghost to  

help her and she thought that she was promised that from her baptism. It broke Ben's heart to hear her not know that He loved her. They are hoping they can help her understand more of what she has been taught. 

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