Temples and Technology

Hello everyone! 

First off, sorry that im coming in on a Thursday! I forgot that we had a temple trip coming up this week! 

However I am excited to go to the house of the Lord. We only have the opportunity to go every 6 months! 

This week and a half has been quite entertaining! We have seen many miracles and are excited to continue to work hard! 

One miracle I would like to talk about would be Pius and Arthur:

Pius and Arthur are two investigators we have taught for a bit. We have been trying to get them to church and progress. Last lesson we went in and discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We explained the importance of baptism and why we all need this sacred Ordinance. He gladly accepted along with his son, he said "I want to be fully prepared and worthy of this sacred blessing!" He also testified to us why our church was the true church. He said "God knew there would be confusion in these last days, He knew we would have problems and many questions". He then proceeded to grab his Book of Mormon off the table and shook it saying: "But because our Heavenly Father loves us He gave us this book through His Holy Messengers. That is why I know this church is true!" WOWOWOW! To hear that from an investigator was so striking. Pius helped me realize that the Book of Mormon truly does bring true conversion! We are excited for Pius and his ongoing progression! 

Another unexpected thing happening with our mission is we will becoming a technology mission! 

By the start of April we will all be receiving smart phones and social media (Facebook). It is weird to be getting this at this time, but I am excited for the Language materials and Wechat!!

Wechat is a Chinese social media app that they use to do everything! It will help us be able to find/communicate with more Chinese people!

Fun week and I am excited for all the new and exciting things, Peace!

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Service with my homies

Exchanges with Elder Steiner

Ben shared one of his experiences while on exchanges with Elder Steiner. He went to talk to a referral that was given to them and when the door opened he was met with a Chinese man that high, in a man bun and had 2 tampons stuck up his nose. Lol😁 After a few minutes the man explained that he wanted nothing to do with them and their message. As they were leaving they noticed another door open by their car full of Chinese people, so they head over to talk to them. The man Ben was speaking to kept shutting the door on him (not the first time that happens), so Ben starts talking in Chinese to him. He flings the door open in complete surprise and asks him how he knows Chinese and in Ben's words, "Somehow I was "magically" in their house. The weird thing is he was filming me with his I phone and had me on Skype with about 10 other Chinese people all listening to me. Then one of his homies from the back room named Jefferey comes out and starts talking to us. I learn that they are all going to school to become Helicopter Pilots and they are only here for 1 year. I ended up teaching Jeffery a few concepts and we are hoping to meet up again with him this week. It was really weird, all these Asian women kept coming out and asking how I know Chinese in between cooking. Lol."  

On Ben's recording he offers us a more detailed look into his week. He goes day by day and this week on Thursday the 15th he wrote "Kill Myself" in Chinese. Lol He was trying to remember why he would write that and said he only writes that in his journal when he is super sick. Poor kiddo. 😕

On Saturday he went on exchanges with one of the AP'S, Elder Sorenson who is a "farm boy"as he put it. Different than Ben the city boy, but he said he is an AWESOME Missionary! They were able to meet with a great family that had 2 kids. In Ben words, "Kids make or break it. But these kids were AWESOME! The Dad had some struggles with the BOM but the kids LOVED it, which is not normal when you put kids and BOM's together. After the lesson the kids were showing him their favorite verses."

Another lady they are still teaching is, Amy. Ben just loves her! He thinks she is so funny because she comes to church in what Ben describes as "Porn Clothes" and has a picture of herself in a towel as her phone case and her phone screen case is her in lingerie. Haha😀 They are trying to work with her on the whole modest thing, but Ben just adores her. 

On Sunday they were leaving church to teach Jenny and noticed some Chinese people across the street ripping out trees. They thought, "Hey we should go help them", but they are in their suits still. They walk over and see if they can be of service and Ben tells us that the Lord provided a tender mercy and helped keep their suits in good shape. "Funny how that happens when you are willing to serve." he said. A man came out that wasn't aware that they could speak the language and started yelling at everyone in Chinese, "These are the Mormons, you cannot speak to them! They are the  Mormon church! Over and over.  

So they started talking to this man in Chinese and he did a 180. Ben said this happens a lot that people will talk about them in front of their faces NOT realizing they can understand what they are saying, then when they start communicating they really flip out and then are completely interested in the gospel. 

I remember Benjamin told us one time that the reason they seem to come around so quickly and want to hear about God is because they know their language is really tough to learn and they have a hard time learning English. But to have 2 guys or girls be able to learn it in a matter of months, at least enough to communicate, they know there must be something higher helping them out and they want to learn. Ben says:

"They eventually invite us into their house and they want to learn the gospel. They have a daughter named Cindy and  they are trying really hard to hook me up with her. The mother is relentless and starts grilling me with all these questions. How old are you? I answer, 19. Are you in college? (that is super important to them). I explain that we are missionaries and when we get home then I we will start college. She tells me, "Your Chinese is really good and you are a handsome white man! My daughter is 20." I nod my head and she says, "Isn't she beautiful!" I don't even know how to respond at this point, but she keeps nudging with her head towards her daughter like, make the move! Lol 

Chinese woman are obsessed with white men, it's insane. Then if you know Chinese on top of that, it's even more insane. It was hilarious. They spent the whole time trying to hook me up with the daughter. Don't worry, I did not hook up with the daughter! Lol

Ben is officially past 15 months and the Elders are starting to call him old, which he doesn't like. It makes me happy to hear that he LOVES serving the Lord and is starting feel sad that it is coming closer to an end.