Back To The Old Stomping Grounds

So this week was quite an eventful one which I will explain below!

A few highlights would have to be first Sara Guo had her baptismal interview and is ready to go for this Sunday! She is super excited as are we. I have been teaching her since last September and we are excited that she is willing to follow her Savior! 

We also taught Mr.Wang and Mrs. Zhang this week. They are doing super good they have been keeping commitments and took a baptismal date for 5/13! They said, "We need unshakable faith and we know by doing this we can obtain that". They have been progressing very quickly and came to church on Sunday. They loved it and always contribute to the lessons! 

We also taught Amy again. We taught her Tithing, Fasting and the 10 Commandments. She is doing great too. We followed up if she was still willing to be baptized on April 29th and she agreed! We will be having her baptismal interview this week! She and Sara will be baptized at the same service WHOOT WHOOT.

For sake of time, the last very surprising thing and why I wrote that in my title is I am leaving Eastvale! I have been here just under a year and have not moved the whole time. It has become my home and I guess it's time to change. I received a call from our Mission President on Saturday. He called me back to UCR campus where I will be training 2 new Chinese missionaries. They are both Visa waiters going to Taiwan. I am very interested to see how it goes, this is my first time training and I will be pretty much doing most of the speaking. I am excited about the new adventure and hope to set an example the Lord expects me to set.

We also said goodbye to some great missionaries who I will miss dearly.

I have to go love all of you! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Had a wonderful opportunity to go with Shannon Yang to the temple for her first time today! Fantastic experience! She is an amazing person and it has been such a blessing to see her grow in such a short time. We truly love her and she is a light in our life. 😊
D&C 18:15-16!

Ben with a dog😁

Ben sent this picture with no caption. I don't know why I think this it is so funny, but I do. Lol It may be the way he is posing, or the look on the dogs face, or maybe just the fact that he has a random picture with a dog on a couch. But without a caption or story from Ben....it is hilarious to me. 😁😁

I have mentioned before that Benjamin made some AMAZING friends in the MTC and formed some bonds that will last a lifetime. I am convinced that all these wonderful Elders/Sisters he served with those first 9 weeks gave him the confidence, positive outlook, and trust in the Lord that he could DO THIS! 

Knowing he was having to learn one of THE hardest languages, while still learning and growing in the Gospel himself seemed at times rather intimidating. Having these companions and friends to go through all the same emotions with, at times was a great comfort.

Ben knows how important that FIRST part of your mission, (the MTC and then right out into the field), is to set the tone for the emotions and trials to come over the next 2 years. He expressed how excited he is to be with Elder Johnson and Elder Maxwell, but worries about shouldering the responsibility of "setting that tone". He wants them to be successful and knows that a mission, at times, can be hard but wants to show how blessed and life-changing it can be. 

What a great example my son is to me that he is not just training these 2 Elders in the logistics of a mission, but that he cares about their well being, not just right now, but for when they have moved on. He wants to instill that same excitement, trust, and love that he felt from all those friends in the MTC and that I'm sure has played a small part in helping him through some of those tough times out in the field.