Saludos. First of all, it's been ridiculously hot the past few days. Saturday was probably the hottest day on my mission so far, I think they said it got up to 100. Today is hot at cloudy and muggy, which isn't good because we're planning to play baseball today for P-Day. We'll see how it goes. Also, I'm still getting over a cold right now. It started on Thursday night and Friday was the worst day, but I'm still feeling it a little bit today. Couldn't really do much on Friday because of it...I was riding my bike and I couldn't breathe because my chest was so tight. But it's getting better.
There have been a lot of people moving in recently, probably because of the new school year. The University of Colorado dental, pharmaceutical, etc. schools are right here in Aurora, so that provides the needed "younger" demographic. The new move-ins mean opportunities with us to meet with them, have a lesson, and give them a Book of Mormon to eventually give to a friend that they meet. We had two lessons this week with the Sanchez family, who seem really interested. Unfortunately we're realizing that the mom speaks less English than we thought...we saw her talking to a neighbor who brought over some clothes for her kid. The neighbor was saying, "Here are some clothes for your kid" and she said, "Oh, está bien, gracias." She couldn't/(wouldn't?) even say simple phrases in English. So I'm afriad we'll probably end up turning her over to the Spanish ward, but her kids speak better English than Spanish, so we hope we can keep them. We told them we'd try to get them a ride for church yesterday, but then that morning we couldn't get a hold of them (based on what the machine said on the phone, it sounded like they ran out of minutes or something) and we didn't want to make someone go all the way up there if we weren't sure they were actually coming. So we'll follow up with them this week and see what's up. We taught a really awesome Plan of Salvation lesson to them...well, meaning Elder Sosa taught really awesome and I did ok because it was in Spanish, haha. We also saw Leslie and taught watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with him. He said he liked it, but he's still not sure about Christ's divinity (just a small problem haha). He always tells us things like, "Now I'm not saying I'm going to convert! I just want to learn more..." but we're not discouraged, because he also tells us things like who he's going to invite if he did end up being baptized. As for Robert, we finally saw him at church on Sunday and set up an appointment with him for this Wednesday.
Speaking of church, something really awesome happened during Sunday school. There was a lady at church that we had never seen before with someone who said that she was a member of the ward (must be less active). They came to Gospel Principles and...actually, let me tell you about all the people in the class. Half of them are people that I see and work with regularly and are a big part of what I know as the Peoria ward. Bro. Boyer was teaching, the ward mission leader, who's a good guy but honestly not my favorite; Robert, our long-time 50-year old black investigator; Bro. Duran, ward missionary, old and very weird guy who pretends he hates you when he really doesnt. He's the one who is fellowshipping Robert and actually gave me a pretty nice watch last week; Sis. Stone, older (but looks younger) single lady, really really nice, ward missionary; Bro. Deneau, 2nd counselor in the bishopric, was a Catholic priest but converted 4 years ago, comes with us to a lot of lessons; the lady we didn't know; her less-active friend; and this other lady we didn't know, who was a member of another ward. So anyway, this member said she couldn't find the building she was supposed to go to, but she went to the ward at our building a long time ago and decided to come here. She said she didn't know why she was there, but it felt right. Anyway, I forgot what we were talking about, but she started talking about her conversion, involving a life or death situation while she was pregnant. Basically it came down to either the baby would die or she would die. But then she got a blessing from a bishop and they were both healed. Anyway, the non-member lady started crying and felt the Spirit really strong. The person telling the story also talked about she waited a really long time to convert and she said it was not worth it, which made Robert really think, I'm sure. We will now commence teaching the non-member lady, haha.
Even though I love the members of our ward and our correlation meetings every Wednesday night, I went on Wednesday and realized it was my 25th correlation meeting on Wednesday night, which is A LOT! And during the correlation meeting (which I really do love..we get off-topic sometimes, but it's fun), there was just a LITTLE too much talk about different guns and crap that I didn't care about at all. Then we were talking about some place full of crazy people, and one guy said "Oh is that where the liberals are?" and I just kept my mouth shut. It's a good experience though, not something I'm used to in Berkeley, haha. There was a hilarious topic of conversation during one of the dinners as well. The Crowells are amazing, really nice and hard-working older couple, but Sis. Crowell is the one who was talking during dinner many months ago about how she kept making bad comments about liberals at church and it turned out the person she was talking to was liberal. Anyway, they talked about a less-active member who needed help or something, and Bro. Crowell went to go help. They said there was a questionable/vulgar/shocking decoration in her apartment and I was getting ready for them to say it was pornography or something, but then they said it was a Haight-Ashbury street sign. HAHA.
Es todo. Bye,
Elder Bradford
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
DB
Hello everybody, still from the Community College of Aurora. I figured I should share the events of my week (Week 24, but who's counting) instead of writing a general address again.
Well the Lakers winning was a nice way to cap off an awesome week. Big contrast from the week before. I think it's safe to say that this was the best week on my mission so far, starting with last P-Day. We had dinner with Brother and Sister Oveson and their 4-year old daughter Marisa, who is one of the smartest little girls I know. Then we all went off to Juanita B's house, the 87-year old investigator who has come to church 7 times but has never had a missionary lesson. Just to refresh some memory, she runs a non-profit called People Helping People. We've done various service for her, she's come to church many times, and has made a lot of friendships within the ward, but everytime we ask her to have a sit-down with us (even for just 15 minutes!), she says, "Guys, you know I love you, but I'm just sooo busy." Well plan was to capitalize on this service opportunity and cute 4-year old to con her into a lesson, haha. There were some remains of a sign post that needed to be removed according to the city of Aurora, so Bro. Oveson brought his powerful whatever-it's-called electric saw, and after about 45 minutes of cutting down the beast, it looked like it was never there. We then asked Juanita, "Is it OK if we sit down for a few minutes?" Of course she said, "Maybe another time." Then we told her that little Marisa wanted to sing her some Primary songs, and so Juanita couldn't resist. So we all sat down on the steps of her front porch, a block away from Colfax, the ghettoist street in Denver, and sang "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam." It was awesome, haha. Then Elder Sosa and I smoothley segued (sp?) into Lesson 1. We taught it short and sweet. I think she got something out of it, but it was hard to tell when she burst out druing the focal point of the lesson with how worried she was that the back door was unlocked. She thought maybe someone would go in there. Juanita, first of all, no one WANTS to go in there, and second of all, we have a perfect view of your driveway and no one has gone there. But anyway, I think it went well. Whether she'll actually take time to read the Book of Mormon is another story, but first things first. Having Marisa there really helped, especially when she told us that the prophet was "President Monson."
Tuesday, after our previously most-progressing investigator Robynn J. dropped us, her previously uninterested husband asked us to keep in touch after he described to us his desire to pray. It was so weird how they basically switched places, but it was cool. Then that night was the first time that a member, Brother Zuniga, set up an appointment for us and took us there. The husband is an inactive member and his finacee is VERY interested in the church. We taught her the first lesson and it was awesome. It was the first time in a while that I felt the Spirit that strongly. She couldn't wait to get her hands on a Book of Mormon.
On Wednesday, we learned that Kathleen, our investigator with a baptismal date, has successfully avoided cigarettes for a week and a half now! The baptism is still set for this Saturday and it looks like it's going to happen! Then Friday was probably the best day of my mission. Usually we have 2 lessons a day, maybe 3 if we're lucky, but on Friday we had 6! In the morning, a Hispanic family that Elder Sosa baptized in Longmont came down to Aurora and we ate lunch at a nice park. I loved the opportunity to practice my Spanish, which is getting so much better. She made us chile rellenos and I had 6 of them because they were so good. Of course I regretted it a couple hours later, but I won't go into detail about that, haha. Then we biked super fast to our lesson with Cindy, a referral from some dude in a different stake. I can't remember if I talked about her last week, but anyway we had the second lesson with her and she agreed to be baptized too! This woman is golden. She has a deep desire to search for the truth. Then, speaking of Kathleen, we biked over there for an unexpected stop and lesson with them. We then went home and grabbed our jackets. I was marvelling and complaining about the weather when it was cold and snowy, but that was nothing. That's heaven to me compared to this crap. Every morning, it's perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky, crystal clear day. Then EVERY afternoon, rain, thunder, lightning, sometimes hail. Anyway, then we went to go teach Robert Blaylock, a brotha that came to church a few weeks ago with a member. He's now seeing the bishop for some help, but he's also really interested, asking a bunch of questions in Gospel Principles and so on. We taught him the first lesson and it went really well. Then dinner and a lesson with the Doxey family, lesson with the Montoya family, and then home. It was very satisfying. That day, we started doing our nightly planning outside. We have some nice chairs and a table (for Elder Sosa's maté, a South American drink with water, sugar, and some weird leafy stuff. It tastes gross, haha) and we look up at the stars while we're planning the next day.
So anyway, really good week. Usually, we get about 11, 12 lessons a week, but we got 17 this week. Baptism coming up this Saturday, another one for Cindy probably in a few weeks. It's going good. I'm also blessed with a knowledge that none of this is me. This all comes from God. Alma 26:12.
Espero que ustedes están disfrutando su verano. ¡Hasta luego!
-Elder Bradford
Well the Lakers winning was a nice way to cap off an awesome week. Big contrast from the week before. I think it's safe to say that this was the best week on my mission so far, starting with last P-Day. We had dinner with Brother and Sister Oveson and their 4-year old daughter Marisa, who is one of the smartest little girls I know. Then we all went off to Juanita B's house, the 87-year old investigator who has come to church 7 times but has never had a missionary lesson. Just to refresh some memory, she runs a non-profit called People Helping People. We've done various service for her, she's come to church many times, and has made a lot of friendships within the ward, but everytime we ask her to have a sit-down with us (even for just 15 minutes!), she says, "Guys, you know I love you, but I'm just sooo busy." Well plan was to capitalize on this service opportunity and cute 4-year old to con her into a lesson, haha. There were some remains of a sign post that needed to be removed according to the city of Aurora, so Bro. Oveson brought his powerful whatever-it's-called electric saw, and after about 45 minutes of cutting down the beast, it looked like it was never there. We then asked Juanita, "Is it OK if we sit down for a few minutes?" Of course she said, "Maybe another time." Then we told her that little Marisa wanted to sing her some Primary songs, and so Juanita couldn't resist. So we all sat down on the steps of her front porch, a block away from Colfax, the ghettoist street in Denver, and sang "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam." It was awesome, haha. Then Elder Sosa and I smoothley segued (sp?) into Lesson 1. We taught it short and sweet. I think she got something out of it, but it was hard to tell when she burst out druing the focal point of the lesson with how worried she was that the back door was unlocked. She thought maybe someone would go in there. Juanita, first of all, no one WANTS to go in there, and second of all, we have a perfect view of your driveway and no one has gone there. But anyway, I think it went well. Whether she'll actually take time to read the Book of Mormon is another story, but first things first. Having Marisa there really helped, especially when she told us that the prophet was "President Monson."
Tuesday, after our previously most-progressing investigator Robynn J. dropped us, her previously uninterested husband asked us to keep in touch after he described to us his desire to pray. It was so weird how they basically switched places, but it was cool. Then that night was the first time that a member, Brother Zuniga, set up an appointment for us and took us there. The husband is an inactive member and his finacee is VERY interested in the church. We taught her the first lesson and it was awesome. It was the first time in a while that I felt the Spirit that strongly. She couldn't wait to get her hands on a Book of Mormon.
On Wednesday, we learned that Kathleen, our investigator with a baptismal date, has successfully avoided cigarettes for a week and a half now! The baptism is still set for this Saturday and it looks like it's going to happen! Then Friday was probably the best day of my mission. Usually we have 2 lessons a day, maybe 3 if we're lucky, but on Friday we had 6! In the morning, a Hispanic family that Elder Sosa baptized in Longmont came down to Aurora and we ate lunch at a nice park. I loved the opportunity to practice my Spanish, which is getting so much better. She made us chile rellenos and I had 6 of them because they were so good. Of course I regretted it a couple hours later, but I won't go into detail about that, haha. Then we biked super fast to our lesson with Cindy, a referral from some dude in a different stake. I can't remember if I talked about her last week, but anyway we had the second lesson with her and she agreed to be baptized too! This woman is golden. She has a deep desire to search for the truth. Then, speaking of Kathleen, we biked over there for an unexpected stop and lesson with them. We then went home and grabbed our jackets. I was marvelling and complaining about the weather when it was cold and snowy, but that was nothing. That's heaven to me compared to this crap. Every morning, it's perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky, crystal clear day. Then EVERY afternoon, rain, thunder, lightning, sometimes hail. Anyway, then we went to go teach Robert Blaylock, a brotha that came to church a few weeks ago with a member. He's now seeing the bishop for some help, but he's also really interested, asking a bunch of questions in Gospel Principles and so on. We taught him the first lesson and it went really well. Then dinner and a lesson with the Doxey family, lesson with the Montoya family, and then home. It was very satisfying. That day, we started doing our nightly planning outside. We have some nice chairs and a table (for Elder Sosa's maté, a South American drink with water, sugar, and some weird leafy stuff. It tastes gross, haha) and we look up at the stars while we're planning the next day.
So anyway, really good week. Usually, we get about 11, 12 lessons a week, but we got 17 this week. Baptism coming up this Saturday, another one for Cindy probably in a few weeks. It's going good. I'm also blessed with a knowledge that none of this is me. This all comes from God. Alma 26:12.
Espero que ustedes están disfrutando su verano. ¡Hasta luego!
-Elder Bradford
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
5.7 5.14 Elder Cheng
Hey everybody!!!
So what i want to share today is a funny incident that always happens to us missionaries and at times we find annoying. usually what we teach first, is the message of the restoration, explaining from God, to prophets, to Jesus Christ, to Apostasy, to Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. almost everytime we get to Joseph Smith and the first vision, guess what happens?? Can you guess it? their Cell phone rings. it is sooooo weird. really, almoste verytime we teach, their cell phone rings at the moment we share about the first vision or the restoration portion. Satan knows that this church is God's true church and he stops at nothing to prevent His children from hearing the true message of the restoration. it's so weird. i dislike when their cell phone goes off at that moment! Just thinking about this just makes me think more about how this church is God's true church! i dont know if any of you have had this experience, but it is really interesting.
other than that, this week has gone by really fast too. we're getting moves calls on monday and we dont know whats going to happen. i dont know if i already told you all, but they are shrinking the missions down. and the China Hong Kong mission is one of them that will be losing missionaries. we were at 150+ missionaries, and i heard that it will be reduced to about 90 missionaries. 14 missionaries are dying (going home) next week and there's only about 1 or 2 coming in. so on our side, we dont know how many companionships they will be closing. i might be moving again, or i might combine with one elder in the other companionship in the district. who knows. this is big change! we've already heard from rumors... good sourced rumors, that elders in one apartment in our zone will be moving out of that one and into another one, subtracting one apartment from the zone. so. who knows!
work is still going on and stuff. investigators are constantly going up or down. right now, we're stuck in a rut because the kids here about to take their government tests that makes or breaks their future. so what they are all doing right now is tutorial and studying. it's like their SATs but each year they take the SAT's to go up in grade. man that's tough. im so glad we dont go through that in america!
ps, we get to call home this week for mother's day! how exciting!
thats about it for now. until next week!
Elder Cheng
------
Hey all!!!
wow. it is goign to be super crazy here inthe New Territories zone in Hong Kong. so they are shrinking down the mission alot. and just in our zone, they closed down four companionships in our area. one from each of the districts. so what happened with my district is that they closed one companionship and i became comapnions with E Waddoups from Utah. we have double the amoutn of investigators now because both companionships were high on investigators. its going to be hectic but we'll be able to handle it. so i found out that our area, even though it is small, like really small, maybe as big as the UC Berkeley campus, has 500,000 people living in it. so it's not hard to find people. but anyways, also what's different is that the mandarin elders are moving into our apartment. which is cool because i always wanted to learn mandarin and now i can get a jump start at it! so thats so cool. but yeah, there is going to be so much change here in the Chian Hong Kong mission.
actually iwanna share about some miracles that happened this past week. mostly about 24s. (24's is a 24 hour exchange of companions. you go to a new area, or if not, you just get a different companion for a day) there was so much that happened! i was on 24s in another area, and then we contacted a gu really quick in english. we said that we'd be able to help him with english because he's got a test coming up. swtiched numbers and left. that night i went back to my area and itotally forgot about that guy, but the companionship in that area had been seeing him eeyr other day. and i heard thi spast week that he's progressing quickly. he doesnt know 100% that God is there but he's still going to keep trying. when i heard that he was prgoressing, i was so amazed that with a person i contacted really quickly, became a great investigator. 24's is amazing! other stuff happened with 24s as well, but im running out of time. it's just amazing to see so many miracles!
that'll be it for now
until next week
Elder Stanley Cheng
So what i want to share today is a funny incident that always happens to us missionaries and at times we find annoying. usually what we teach first, is the message of the restoration, explaining from God, to prophets, to Jesus Christ, to Apostasy, to Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. almost everytime we get to Joseph Smith and the first vision, guess what happens?? Can you guess it? their Cell phone rings. it is sooooo weird. really, almoste verytime we teach, their cell phone rings at the moment we share about the first vision or the restoration portion. Satan knows that this church is God's true church and he stops at nothing to prevent His children from hearing the true message of the restoration. it's so weird. i dislike when their cell phone goes off at that moment! Just thinking about this just makes me think more about how this church is God's true church! i dont know if any of you have had this experience, but it is really interesting.
other than that, this week has gone by really fast too. we're getting moves calls on monday and we dont know whats going to happen. i dont know if i already told you all, but they are shrinking the missions down. and the China Hong Kong mission is one of them that will be losing missionaries. we were at 150+ missionaries, and i heard that it will be reduced to about 90 missionaries. 14 missionaries are dying (going home) next week and there's only about 1 or 2 coming in. so on our side, we dont know how many companionships they will be closing. i might be moving again, or i might combine with one elder in the other companionship in the district. who knows. this is big change! we've already heard from rumors... good sourced rumors, that elders in one apartment in our zone will be moving out of that one and into another one, subtracting one apartment from the zone. so. who knows!
work is still going on and stuff. investigators are constantly going up or down. right now, we're stuck in a rut because the kids here about to take their government tests that makes or breaks their future. so what they are all doing right now is tutorial and studying. it's like their SATs but each year they take the SAT's to go up in grade. man that's tough. im so glad we dont go through that in america!
ps, we get to call home this week for mother's day! how exciting!
thats about it for now. until next week!
Elder Cheng
------
Hey all!!!
wow. it is goign to be super crazy here inthe New Territories zone in Hong Kong. so they are shrinking down the mission alot. and just in our zone, they closed down four companionships in our area. one from each of the districts. so what happened with my district is that they closed one companionship and i became comapnions with E Waddoups from Utah. we have double the amoutn of investigators now because both companionships were high on investigators. its going to be hectic but we'll be able to handle it. so i found out that our area, even though it is small, like really small, maybe as big as the UC Berkeley campus, has 500,000 people living in it. so it's not hard to find people. but anyways, also what's different is that the mandarin elders are moving into our apartment. which is cool because i always wanted to learn mandarin and now i can get a jump start at it! so thats so cool. but yeah, there is going to be so much change here in the Chian Hong Kong mission.
actually iwanna share about some miracles that happened this past week. mostly about 24s. (24's is a 24 hour exchange of companions. you go to a new area, or if not, you just get a different companion for a day) there was so much that happened! i was on 24s in another area, and then we contacted a gu really quick in english. we said that we'd be able to help him with english because he's got a test coming up. swtiched numbers and left. that night i went back to my area and itotally forgot about that guy, but the companionship in that area had been seeing him eeyr other day. and i heard thi spast week that he's progressing quickly. he doesnt know 100% that God is there but he's still going to keep trying. when i heard that he was prgoressing, i was so amazed that with a person i contacted really quickly, became a great investigator. 24's is amazing! other stuff happened with 24s as well, but im running out of time. it's just amazing to see so many miracles!
that'll be it for now
until next week
Elder Stanley Cheng
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
April 30, 2009 SC
Hello all!
this week is another week just gone by. but one night, we met some interesting people that really needed help! one in particular is a boy that is 19years old. this is his background. when he was younger, his dad left his family and got another wife in mainland. because the dad left, the mom committed suicide. then, his little sister committed suicide only 3 weeks ago because she got pregnant by a gang member. when that gang member found out she was pregnant, he fled to china to escape being a father. she was probbably only 13-15 years old too! so now this boy, who he named himself Zero, is all alone and just goes to work every single day. he stoppped going to school when he was 14, (that's probably when his mom committed suicide) so he he's been working for 5 years as a barber. he doesn't take days off of work because he doesnt have friends or family to hang out with even if he has days off. he'd rather work to make more money... for what? we dont really know. he goes to the arcade all the time because he says its an easier way to pass time. his situation is very sad. we shared about the plan of salvation with him and after the brief overview, he said that he has some hope, now that he sees that this life isn't it. he says he's gotten a little hope, but now too much. hopefully we can keep seeing him top bring more hope into his life. i feel reallys ympathetic towards him because he's only 19 and he's all alone! i really want to help this kid.
another weird thing is that after meeting him, another guy came up to us and wanted to talk. we later realized he was mentally handicappped (but didn't look like it), so we left a pamphlet for him and the only thing we could've done was just talk to him and give him some hope.
this area, Tin Shui Wai, is said to be one the most depressing cities in hong kong and it could very well be after meeting poeple here. this is all the more reason that everybody here needs the gospel! hopefully, we will continue to be able to find the humble ones and help them receive the gospel. i know the gospel can help these people. they just dont know it yet! i will keep continuing to pray for them!
there's a little bit more that happened, but im running out of time so i'll leave it at that!
until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
this week is another week just gone by. but one night, we met some interesting people that really needed help! one in particular is a boy that is 19years old. this is his background. when he was younger, his dad left his family and got another wife in mainland. because the dad left, the mom committed suicide. then, his little sister committed suicide only 3 weeks ago because she got pregnant by a gang member. when that gang member found out she was pregnant, he fled to china to escape being a father. she was probbably only 13-15 years old too! so now this boy, who he named himself Zero, is all alone and just goes to work every single day. he stoppped going to school when he was 14, (that's probably when his mom committed suicide) so he he's been working for 5 years as a barber. he doesn't take days off of work because he doesnt have friends or family to hang out with even if he has days off. he'd rather work to make more money... for what? we dont really know. he goes to the arcade all the time because he says its an easier way to pass time. his situation is very sad. we shared about the plan of salvation with him and after the brief overview, he said that he has some hope, now that he sees that this life isn't it. he says he's gotten a little hope, but now too much. hopefully we can keep seeing him top bring more hope into his life. i feel reallys ympathetic towards him because he's only 19 and he's all alone! i really want to help this kid.
another weird thing is that after meeting him, another guy came up to us and wanted to talk. we later realized he was mentally handicappped (but didn't look like it), so we left a pamphlet for him and the only thing we could've done was just talk to him and give him some hope.
this area, Tin Shui Wai, is said to be one the most depressing cities in hong kong and it could very well be after meeting poeple here. this is all the more reason that everybody here needs the gospel! hopefully, we will continue to be able to find the humble ones and help them receive the gospel. i know the gospel can help these people. they just dont know it yet! i will keep continuing to pray for them!
there's a little bit more that happened, but im running out of time so i'll leave it at that!
until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
5.5 Stanley Cheng
Hellllloo all!!
So this week has been great. One thing that iwas just excited about last week was that our results were great! Numbers we have today are different from the missionary work 6 years previous. We dont call it GQ's anymore. We dont count how many BofM we give out. Our key indicators are pretty different. I was just so happy to finally see our investigators! They are busy with school or work. This time of the year is their big testing time. So it was good to se them. And we were able to get a lot of members to teach with us. Also great help. We have this kid named Eddie, 20. He is cool and has a desire to hear and learn about the gospel. What he needs to do is find time to put gospel in his life. Right now, he's finishing up with hjis last year of school. So he's really busy into school. His english is good, so i think he should be fine getting into a university. He's just waiting for the interviews. He's also in a band as a guitarist and they practice on sundays. So the big thing we need him to do is come to church. He's doing everything else; praying and reading. He just needs to come to church! Great kid though. He turned down our baptismal challenge yesterday. He said he waswnt ready yet and doesnt have neough faith. But it should be fine, he'll feel ready by the next time we see him, or i know he'll be ready if he comes to church at least once, because i know that church will change his thinking.
We had a mission conference yesterday as well. The sad part is that the asia area presidency asked that we dont hold massive conferences so we had to split our conference into two days. Preisndet and sister vandam are sad about that, but they are willing to obey. Our asia area president used to be Preisdent Hallstrom, now he is in the presidency of the 70. pretty cool. There was goodo stuff learned at the mission conference yeterday. We had different workshops and we heard testimonies of the dying missionaries (missionaries that are returning home). It was very spiritual.
So this week has been cool. Nothing super special. I was happy to see our investigators and visit a lot of members. My message otday is just to keep up faith. We shared this topic to amember family the other day and assured them that through our faith, anything can be done. (Ehter 12) talks about many people who have performed amazing miracles because of their faith. Think of ways that you can continue to build faith each day. Some suggestions that ithought of were: pray, read scriptures, bear testimony, carry around a picture of JC so you can always remember him, etc. be creative! Keep strong in your faith and the Lord will lift you through your trials. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
So this week has been great. One thing that iwas just excited about last week was that our results were great! Numbers we have today are different from the missionary work 6 years previous. We dont call it GQ's anymore. We dont count how many BofM we give out. Our key indicators are pretty different. I was just so happy to finally see our investigators! They are busy with school or work. This time of the year is their big testing time. So it was good to se them. And we were able to get a lot of members to teach with us. Also great help. We have this kid named Eddie, 20. He is cool and has a desire to hear and learn about the gospel. What he needs to do is find time to put gospel in his life. Right now, he's finishing up with hjis last year of school. So he's really busy into school. His english is good, so i think he should be fine getting into a university. He's just waiting for the interviews. He's also in a band as a guitarist and they practice on sundays. So the big thing we need him to do is come to church. He's doing everything else; praying and reading. He just needs to come to church! Great kid though. He turned down our baptismal challenge yesterday. He said he waswnt ready yet and doesnt have neough faith. But it should be fine, he'll feel ready by the next time we see him, or i know he'll be ready if he comes to church at least once, because i know that church will change his thinking.
We had a mission conference yesterday as well. The sad part is that the asia area presidency asked that we dont hold massive conferences so we had to split our conference into two days. Preisndet and sister vandam are sad about that, but they are willing to obey. Our asia area president used to be Preisdent Hallstrom, now he is in the presidency of the 70. pretty cool. There was goodo stuff learned at the mission conference yeterday. We had different workshops and we heard testimonies of the dying missionaries (missionaries that are returning home). It was very spiritual.
So this week has been cool. Nothing super special. I was happy to see our investigators and visit a lot of members. My message otday is just to keep up faith. We shared this topic to amember family the other day and assured them that through our faith, anything can be done. (Ehter 12) talks about many people who have performed amazing miracles because of their faith. Think of ways that you can continue to build faith each day. Some suggestions that ithought of were: pray, read scriptures, bear testimony, carry around a picture of JC so you can always remember him, etc. be creative! Keep strong in your faith and the Lord will lift you through your trials. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
Monday, April 27, 2009
DB 4.27
Hello everybody from the Community College of Aurora! There's snow on the ground right now, but there's some blue sky peeking in from the clouds. It was cloudy last night, raining yesterday afternoon, and perfectly sunny yesterday morning, and so goes the weather in the 303. I don't how L.B. dealt with it.
We haven't had much measurable success yet, but my companion (Elder Carrazco, straight from Chihuahua Mexico) and I have done some good things, such as encourage an apprehensive brother to receive the priesthood. We have a lot of potentials on the horizon at the moment, so hopefully we'll be able to capitalize. I've learned so much so far, such as how unbelievably unimportant my life was before this point, and how Heavenly Father can really come to the rescue if you simply have the humility to pray.
The first few weeks here in the Peoria ward (English-speaking) were pretty rough. My trainer and still current companion, Elder Carrazco, is awesome, but we had some troubles. 1) He had only been out 3 months longer than me (I'm actually older than him!). 2) We're serving in English, and he's not very confident with his English, so I had to step out of my comfort zone and do most of the talking, calling, encouraging, etc. 3) Not only was I brand new to our area, but he was just as new as me, so we knew NOTHING about the investigators, members, etc. 4) The two people we DID have set for baptism "ran away from home." 5) The area is huge, but we're one of the few who don't have a car. 6) We had the worst luck with bikes, including FIVE flat tires in one week. 7)Our personalities are different in many ways.
But now, in what little hindsight I have after 2 months in the field, I appreciate every single thing that happened. Every trial was for my good, and every experience had something from which to be learned. My companion and I are getting along amazingly right now, and the area is improving. I'm doing very well at the moment. Despite wanting DESPERATELY to serve in Spanish, I am realizing that I'm where I need to be.....for now. Haha.
-Elder Bradford
We haven't had much measurable success yet, but my companion (Elder Carrazco, straight from Chihuahua Mexico) and I have done some good things, such as encourage an apprehensive brother to receive the priesthood. We have a lot of potentials on the horizon at the moment, so hopefully we'll be able to capitalize. I've learned so much so far, such as how unbelievably unimportant my life was before this point, and how Heavenly Father can really come to the rescue if you simply have the humility to pray.
The first few weeks here in the Peoria ward (English-speaking) were pretty rough. My trainer and still current companion, Elder Carrazco, is awesome, but we had some troubles. 1) He had only been out 3 months longer than me (I'm actually older than him!). 2) We're serving in English, and he's not very confident with his English, so I had to step out of my comfort zone and do most of the talking, calling, encouraging, etc. 3) Not only was I brand new to our area, but he was just as new as me, so we knew NOTHING about the investigators, members, etc. 4) The two people we DID have set for baptism "ran away from home." 5) The area is huge, but we're one of the few who don't have a car. 6) We had the worst luck with bikes, including FIVE flat tires in one week. 7)Our personalities are different in many ways.
But now, in what little hindsight I have after 2 months in the field, I appreciate every single thing that happened. Every trial was for my good, and every experience had something from which to be learned. My companion and I are getting along amazingly right now, and the area is improving. I'm doing very well at the moment. Despite wanting DESPERATELY to serve in Spanish, I am realizing that I'm where I need to be.....for now. Haha.
-Elder Bradford
Monday, April 13, 2009
Die Zeit vergeht 4.13 Elder Ek
Meine Liebe Familie und Lieben Freunde,
This past week has easily been the most "comfortable" week, in that I haven't felt as low as before. Basically, you can take that to mean that I'm used to the langauge difficulties now and am not entirely freaking out every day haha.
Last Monday on Preparation Day Elder Whitsitt and I just chilled at the apartment. He napped while I wrote some letters. Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning, where all the local Elders and Sisters come together for about 90 minutes to just discuss cool experiences this past week, a little about die deutschsprache, a lesson of some sort (typically about our teaching) and then time to give our testimonies at the end. I enjoy it since it's usually helpful and informative. Currently there are 8 elders and 2 sisters in our district, and I'm pretty sure that it's a larger one. Normally districts are smaller.
So we had an appoinment in the church with the Bulgarian man we taught last week, and that didn't go particularly well. He literally wants to talk the whole time. Out of the 90 minutes or so that we were there, I cannot for the life of me remember if we discussed anything of substance. He did read in the Book of Mormon and said he found it "in Ordnung," which means everything's allright. As long as he continues to do that, he'll come to a knowledge of it for himself. All that we want to do is provide people with that opportunity and help them to that end. In essence, I'd rather have no lesson at all and have someone study it themselves than have a great lesson but no follow-up on their part afterwards.
Tuesday night was my first companion exchange, which meant I worked with another missionary for 24 hours. I switched my beloved tranier Elder Whitsitt for Elder Hardy, a lanky 6'4'' redhead who weighs as much as I do (I'm not terribly pudgy either. Yet...) He comes straight out of Spanish Fork Utah, which I heard was just south of Provo. I don't know these things. Anyways, he has been on his mission only one transfer longer=6 weeks more than I have. I saw him in the MTC since all the German missionaries are clustered together but never really knew him then.
As you could imagine, the German was a little bit rough. Between the two of us, we didn't have a lot. So I got to stay in his apartment, somewhere in the 23rd district. It's quite different since only two missionaries live there. I'm quite used to living with three other missionaries. I was quite surprised to find no one else home at night. I am quite sick of quite.
Basically, we had a really cool day planned for Wednesday since we had a couple of appointments in addition to eating with Familie Hierschmann every Wednesday. However, our appointments both fell out. On the plus side, I got to meet a 30 year old Chinese guy studying Physics. He knew Berkeley and said I was smart. He had a ridiculous laugh and only wore a Sumo-like pair of shorts too. Verrückt. I guess he's an investigator in Elder Hardy's area.
Overall, working with Elder Hardy made me realize I'm not as bad as German as I thought. Being with three other Elders all the time who speak pretty well made me question whether I was behind the curve, but it was a good reminder that everything is smooth still. I really miss smooth music.
Thursday we took it to the Streets. It's always difficult to start talking to people, but once you start and climb the proverbial hill it's a lot easier. We'll see how it goes from here with the people we talked too.
Friday, we had an appointment in the morning with a 30 year old guy who is just really interesting to talk to because he asks so many questions. He understands a lot already, but I was frustrated because I felt that if I could only speak English I'd be able to much more effectively answer. My comp and I agreed we needed to have a better plan going into the lesson because the questions got out of hand and didn't particularly lead anywhere, partially due to our inabilites with German I'm sure.
Friday night, we had another appointment with the same Spanish woman. She's super nice, but she really wasn't reading or doing anything after we would talk to her. She can't come to church either since she has a disabled daughter, so if she doesn't take the initiative herself...We had a really good conversation about prophets, but after that we did as we had resolved to do before. We asked her if she'd be baptized if she determined to Book of Mormon to be true, and the answer was an unflinching yes. That much is good, so really we urged her to take up the challenge and pray about it.
Saturday, we had another lesson at the church with the Blugarian man. We had planned to try and give a second lesson, but Elder Whitsitt called an audible and suggested we show the movie The Restoration about Joseph Smith's first vision. It was a good call, and he really liked the movie (although he still kept talking during parts haha).
Church on Sunday was a cool experience overall, and ya I'm actually running out of time.
Today we're heading out by the Donau to play soccer (or so I'm told).
Alright, Love you all
Elder Ek
This past week has easily been the most "comfortable" week, in that I haven't felt as low as before. Basically, you can take that to mean that I'm used to the langauge difficulties now and am not entirely freaking out every day haha.
Last Monday on Preparation Day Elder Whitsitt and I just chilled at the apartment. He napped while I wrote some letters. Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning, where all the local Elders and Sisters come together for about 90 minutes to just discuss cool experiences this past week, a little about die deutschsprache, a lesson of some sort (typically about our teaching) and then time to give our testimonies at the end. I enjoy it since it's usually helpful and informative. Currently there are 8 elders and 2 sisters in our district, and I'm pretty sure that it's a larger one. Normally districts are smaller.
So we had an appoinment in the church with the Bulgarian man we taught last week, and that didn't go particularly well. He literally wants to talk the whole time. Out of the 90 minutes or so that we were there, I cannot for the life of me remember if we discussed anything of substance. He did read in the Book of Mormon and said he found it "in Ordnung," which means everything's allright. As long as he continues to do that, he'll come to a knowledge of it for himself. All that we want to do is provide people with that opportunity and help them to that end. In essence, I'd rather have no lesson at all and have someone study it themselves than have a great lesson but no follow-up on their part afterwards.
Tuesday night was my first companion exchange, which meant I worked with another missionary for 24 hours. I switched my beloved tranier Elder Whitsitt for Elder Hardy, a lanky 6'4'' redhead who weighs as much as I do (I'm not terribly pudgy either. Yet...) He comes straight out of Spanish Fork Utah, which I heard was just south of Provo. I don't know these things. Anyways, he has been on his mission only one transfer longer=6 weeks more than I have. I saw him in the MTC since all the German missionaries are clustered together but never really knew him then.
As you could imagine, the German was a little bit rough. Between the two of us, we didn't have a lot. So I got to stay in his apartment, somewhere in the 23rd district. It's quite different since only two missionaries live there. I'm quite used to living with three other missionaries. I was quite surprised to find no one else home at night. I am quite sick of quite.
Basically, we had a really cool day planned for Wednesday since we had a couple of appointments in addition to eating with Familie Hierschmann every Wednesday. However, our appointments both fell out. On the plus side, I got to meet a 30 year old Chinese guy studying Physics. He knew Berkeley and said I was smart. He had a ridiculous laugh and only wore a Sumo-like pair of shorts too. Verrückt. I guess he's an investigator in Elder Hardy's area.
Overall, working with Elder Hardy made me realize I'm not as bad as German as I thought. Being with three other Elders all the time who speak pretty well made me question whether I was behind the curve, but it was a good reminder that everything is smooth still. I really miss smooth music.
Thursday we took it to the Streets. It's always difficult to start talking to people, but once you start and climb the proverbial hill it's a lot easier. We'll see how it goes from here with the people we talked too.
Friday, we had an appointment in the morning with a 30 year old guy who is just really interesting to talk to because he asks so many questions. He understands a lot already, but I was frustrated because I felt that if I could only speak English I'd be able to much more effectively answer. My comp and I agreed we needed to have a better plan going into the lesson because the questions got out of hand and didn't particularly lead anywhere, partially due to our inabilites with German I'm sure.
Friday night, we had another appointment with the same Spanish woman. She's super nice, but she really wasn't reading or doing anything after we would talk to her. She can't come to church either since she has a disabled daughter, so if she doesn't take the initiative herself...We had a really good conversation about prophets, but after that we did as we had resolved to do before. We asked her if she'd be baptized if she determined to Book of Mormon to be true, and the answer was an unflinching yes. That much is good, so really we urged her to take up the challenge and pray about it.
Saturday, we had another lesson at the church with the Blugarian man. We had planned to try and give a second lesson, but Elder Whitsitt called an audible and suggested we show the movie The Restoration about Joseph Smith's first vision. It was a good call, and he really liked the movie (although he still kept talking during parts haha).
Church on Sunday was a cool experience overall, and ya I'm actually running out of time.
Today we're heading out by the Donau to play soccer (or so I'm told).
Alright, Love you all
Elder Ek
Thursday, April 9, 2009
4. 7 Elder Cheng
Hey all!
This week will have to my short because i ran out of time emailing lots of people. My new area is great. It's small but its miraculous. We havent found anybody super super awesome yet, but the people here are very humble. It's cool to be in a new area. I get to experience new things now! Our aprtment mates are cool. We stay up talking late at nights in our beds. It's kinda bad because we dont get a lot of sleep, but we have more apartment unity!
So we no progressing investigoatrs here. We just hatve a lot of potentials and new people. But itll change. We're gonna go big! But nothing else so interesting this week. Maybe i can write a little bitmore next week!
Until next week!
Elder StanleyCheng
This week will have to my short because i ran out of time emailing lots of people. My new area is great. It's small but its miraculous. We havent found anybody super super awesome yet, but the people here are very humble. It's cool to be in a new area. I get to experience new things now! Our aprtment mates are cool. We stay up talking late at nights in our beds. It's kinda bad because we dont get a lot of sleep, but we have more apartment unity!
So we no progressing investigoatrs here. We just hatve a lot of potentials and new people. But itll change. We're gonna go big! But nothing else so interesting this week. Maybe i can write a little bitmore next week!
Until next week!
Elder StanleyCheng
Monday, April 6, 2009
4.6 Elder Ek
Hallo from a smoky internet cafe in Vienna
I remember thinking at one point this week that I would have so much to write and say. I cannot remember when I thought that or why, because now I have nothing. Given my limited opportunity to write, I will try my best to recall on the fly
So last Monday night we had dinner with the Zickbauers, a young, hip couple with a very modest apartment in the 23rd district. Bro Zickbauer had served a mission in Ogden Utah and played pro soccer for a little while after that. They were totally nice, and we had the opportunity to eat a fajita-like meal without the fajita, a rare and welcomed dash of Mexican food into our lives.
Tuesday was Zone conference, where all the missionaries in and around Wien get together to hear from President Condie and teach each other too. Besides the wonderful Schnitzel and potato salad (which is nothing like the potato salad over in the states), there are a few LDS people in Wien who are legitimate opera singers (I forget if they were on tour or just staying here for a while). So we had a little private opera in the middle of zone conference. Very choice AND I could feel the spirit, so what more can you need?
Wednesday was the first time I taught a first lesson, and we taught two! The first was to a Serbian man who cleans an apartment complex on our same block. We had talked to him the week before for a while, so we knew him pretty well. Anyways, we gave him the first lesson while he was cleaning and while cars were rushing by on the street. Very difficult environment to feel the spirit. Still, Elder Whitsitt, the very same gangster out of Chicago previously refrenced, was able to convey the important parts of the message. I added some at the end too.
Later Wed, we met a man at our local church and taught him the first lesson in one of the rooms. May I simply say that the right enviornment can make all the difference. This time, I felt much more at ease and gave a decent chunk of the lesson (still not around 50%, but it's improvement!). I also believed that he was able to feel something in his heart, because I certainly did.
Thursday was soso, I got to talk to a guy in French and give him a card with our address. Unfortunately, he was leaving soon. He said he'd check it out on the church's website. My French has totally left me...Yikes. The rest of the day didn't go very well, as an appointment with an 18 year old fell out for the 4th time in a row and our efforts on the streets didn't bear much fruit.
Saturday we did some service and then watched General Conference at night. 10 AM session = 6pm here.
It was amazing to hear from the modern day prophets and apostles. This conference was easily to best I've experienced, no doubt due to my willingness to prepare beforehand by thinking about what questions I had.
Wow, it's just crazy to be out here. I just had another moment to think about that. Frankly, before my mission I took a lot of my spiritual growth just as it came, a lot of my testimony regarding truth. Now I am experiencing what it feels like to need it urgently. My life for these two years is this gospel, this church. It's my entire support, and it makes me realize how much conviction we must have if we are to be effective out here, to be good teachers and to simply be happy. I know I've taken it for granted before because I've had an easy life and so much material comfort available. Now that I'm entirely reliant upon the gospel, it's so different. Every day I want to learn and study earnestly. I've never wanted to learn so badly in my life. This desire is insatiable, and I appreciate that greatly. I want to be improve for my own sake and for the sake of everyone with whom I come in contact.
There has been much joy for my part and much grief, even in this past week. It's all a learning experience. All of it. That in itself will always give me hope.
Take care everyone!
Love,
Elder Ek
I remember thinking at one point this week that I would have so much to write and say. I cannot remember when I thought that or why, because now I have nothing. Given my limited opportunity to write, I will try my best to recall on the fly
So last Monday night we had dinner with the Zickbauers, a young, hip couple with a very modest apartment in the 23rd district. Bro Zickbauer had served a mission in Ogden Utah and played pro soccer for a little while after that. They were totally nice, and we had the opportunity to eat a fajita-like meal without the fajita, a rare and welcomed dash of Mexican food into our lives.
Tuesday was Zone conference, where all the missionaries in and around Wien get together to hear from President Condie and teach each other too. Besides the wonderful Schnitzel and potato salad (which is nothing like the potato salad over in the states), there are a few LDS people in Wien who are legitimate opera singers (I forget if they were on tour or just staying here for a while). So we had a little private opera in the middle of zone conference. Very choice AND I could feel the spirit, so what more can you need?
Wednesday was the first time I taught a first lesson, and we taught two! The first was to a Serbian man who cleans an apartment complex on our same block. We had talked to him the week before for a while, so we knew him pretty well. Anyways, we gave him the first lesson while he was cleaning and while cars were rushing by on the street. Very difficult environment to feel the spirit. Still, Elder Whitsitt, the very same gangster out of Chicago previously refrenced, was able to convey the important parts of the message. I added some at the end too.
Later Wed, we met a man at our local church and taught him the first lesson in one of the rooms. May I simply say that the right enviornment can make all the difference. This time, I felt much more at ease and gave a decent chunk of the lesson (still not around 50%, but it's improvement!). I also believed that he was able to feel something in his heart, because I certainly did.
Thursday was soso, I got to talk to a guy in French and give him a card with our address. Unfortunately, he was leaving soon. He said he'd check it out on the church's website. My French has totally left me...Yikes. The rest of the day didn't go very well, as an appointment with an 18 year old fell out for the 4th time in a row and our efforts on the streets didn't bear much fruit.
Saturday we did some service and then watched General Conference at night. 10 AM session = 6pm here.
It was amazing to hear from the modern day prophets and apostles. This conference was easily to best I've experienced, no doubt due to my willingness to prepare beforehand by thinking about what questions I had.
Wow, it's just crazy to be out here. I just had another moment to think about that. Frankly, before my mission I took a lot of my spiritual growth just as it came, a lot of my testimony regarding truth. Now I am experiencing what it feels like to need it urgently. My life for these two years is this gospel, this church. It's my entire support, and it makes me realize how much conviction we must have if we are to be effective out here, to be good teachers and to simply be happy. I know I've taken it for granted before because I've had an easy life and so much material comfort available. Now that I'm entirely reliant upon the gospel, it's so different. Every day I want to learn and study earnestly. I've never wanted to learn so badly in my life. This desire is insatiable, and I appreciate that greatly. I want to be improve for my own sake and for the sake of everyone with whom I come in contact.
There has been much joy for my part and much grief, even in this past week. It's all a learning experience. All of it. That in itself will always give me hope.
Take care everyone!
Love,
Elder Ek
Friday, April 3, 2009
3.19, 3.26, 4.2 Elder Cheng
Hey eeverybody!
So awesome week with two cool things!
1.our progressing investigator, Simon has set another baptismal date and we set some goals for him to stop drinking coffee so that he could get baptized on that day. so. Exciting! But sadly, I probably will move before he gets baptized. I hope not. But then again I wanna move out of my baby area of kwun tong. But he is progressing greatly. He learned a lot at church, giving him confidence to come to church every week. He also was kind of antied from people he's talked to. But because he had arleady started reading the book of mormon, he knows that there's nothing negative or offensive in it. So I think he's getting a testimony of the chruch overall. Its amazing!!!!
2.met a man a couple of weeks ago. And tuesday night he and his wife showed up randomly at the chapel. We taught them a message about families. They lvoed it. They were very peaceful and comforted. We pointed out that it was the spirit revealing truth to them and a response from God. They have a 9 month old son who is just soo cute! They would totally let us up to their house to go visit, but his parents are pretty old and has old traditions that would probably reject us missionaries from coming over. So hopefully we could keep scheduling them to meet us at the chapel. The interesting thing about them is that he is 40 and his wife is 23. he said that his wifes mom is only two years older than he is. Oh man. They are so cool. Hopefully we can keep meeting with them because I feel that they are sooo ready and humble to accept the gospel!!! we'll keep praying for them!
So I wanted to leave a message about patriarchal blessings. I;ve been reminded of my patriarchal blessing this week and I would like to share some insight and reminders for y'all. So at the bottom of each blessing, it says it's according to your obedience and faithfulness! And remember, the patriarchal blessings has a lot of blessings that are for each of us individually. In order to obtain these blessings, we need to continue to be faithful. I encourage you all to take a look at your patriarchal blessing and then evaluate how you are doing on it. Also, observe the blessings that you have already obtained and then pray to thank Heavenly Father for these blessings. We each have patriarchal blessings as a personal compass and guidance. But if we dont utilize it, it'll just go to waste. An elder in my apartment told us a story about a person who knew who had the most amazing blessing, saying that he would have riches upon riches and would have a lot of fame, as well as being married to a woman in the temple. But, sadly, he chose to walk another path and not follow God. He got into drinking and drugs, and eventually, died a lonely man. When I look at my patriarchal blessing, it gives me so much motivation and purpose and life. I know that this is a personal revelation and that in order to be able to have the most happiness here on earth, we have to continue to follow God and keep his commandments. I leave these with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
ps, i just realized how terrrible my english has gotten. hopefully you can look past the grammatical errors and get my message. hahah.
until next week!Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley ChengChina Hong Kong MissionJuly 2008 - July 2010
Hello everybody!!!
well, another week has gone by and i feel its moving faster and faster. i was just calculating it and my MTC sister companion is at her halfway point already. i still have a few more months until i hit a year, but that will soon come as well. it's so crazy how fast things are going. im still in my baby area here in Kwun Tong. but, moves are next thursday and im speculating that i willl be moving because i've been here for 6 months. we're not suppose to speculate but im just being prepared if i have to move, especially if i want to hand out my businesss cards to people in this area.
so anyway, weird thing, the weather started to get colder again. i think it could be because of the rain. yuesterday morning, there was yellow rain. in hong kong there are 3 levels, yellow, amber and black. yellow just sucks so much because it rains like crezy. luckily, we were still in the apartment so we didnt get drenched. amber rain means that kids dont have to go to school. black rain means everybody stays in. i havent been in these type rains contacting yet but i will be pretty upset if i get soaked in pros clothes. rain water stinks too because of all the pollution. i heard that black rain is like you are literally in a pool but you can't see more than 3 feet ahead of you. thats crazy! that'll be fun.
for some reason, by the end of each moves, i see an increase in our rate of finding people and teaching. this past week, we had amazing lessons with people. a lot are new investigators and we're trying to find out how to help them the best. it's cool to see work progress and moreover, the investigators progressing in the gospel. it's exciting.
i want to take a moment to share about one investigator. he is mr. wong. he's early 20s and has just moved to hong kong from mainland a few months ago. he has no friends and he kinda hides from the world. we were very lucky to find him because if it werent for shopping, looking for work, or eating, he would be at home surfing the web. it was a lucky day when we ran into him. we quickly exchanged numbers and after calling him on the phone, found out he is so humble to hear the gospel! although he hasnt had much christian background in mainland, he knows there is some kind of energy [God] that compels everything. we're trying to help him see that it really is God. another thing i find really cool is that he's really open to making friends. he says nobody really talks to him on the phone, and he's really thankful that i keep calling him to talk. we've only seen him once, explained God and watched a dvd called finding happiness, but he seems to be a great guy. he said he has nothing to do on sunday so he'll be at church! although i've been expecting to move areas, ill be upset to leave this suddenly progressing place and miss 1. simon getting baptized, and 2. all the other investigators i've met in my baby area. this place is definitely filled with miracles!!!
on that note, i want to share a scripture that our MTC teacher, Sister Bitton, shared with us in Mormon 9:15-21. This is Moroni speaking to people about why they think God has ceased to perform miracles. To sum the scripture up, it basically tells that everything here is proof of God's miracles, Jesus Christ performed a lot of miracles, and God is unchanging so he will continue to perform miracles. in verse 20 he says that there are no miracles because the people don't believe. verse 21 says if you believe and doubt nothing, everything will be granted and promised. so the message iwant to get at is that God still performs miracles. we need to notice that these miracles are stilll around us! first of all, we need to believe without a doubt and then the miracles will be there. when miracles come, we need to remember them. if we fail to recognize them, we fail to acknowledge that God gave us these miracles. i can testify that i have seen soooo many miracles on the mission. at first, it was hard to see, but once i've been able to distinguish these miracles, more and more keep coming. miracles happen everyday, but if we don't notice it, the harder it will become for God to send more. i challenge you all to look closely at things in the day and point out the miracle that has been sent to you that day. afterwards, write it down in your journal and it will become a testimony that you can always refer back to. i leave this things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
until next weekElder Stanley Cheng
Hello everybody!
So this is an exciting day for me, why? because i left my baby area, Kwun Tong, and went to my second area after 6tmonths! i was very upset to leave my first area because i had met so many people, investigators and members alike. i kinda had the feeling of a missionary who is about to go home. i dont want to leave, but then i am looking forward to and am excited for the next area. so this is definitely a unique experience. i also have a new companion, after being with my prevbious companion for 4.5 months. my new companion is Elder Robinson from Boise, Idaho. he's been out ont the mission for about a year and a half. in hong kong he's been here for about a year and 2 months. it's a little weird getting a new companion after so long, but hopefully i can get used to it. one thing that i am super sad about leaving is that i left the largest apartment in the mission. it was so nice. it even had a piano! but this new area has a gym so i can work out again. its 180$ /month for membership though. maybe i'll only try it out for a few months or just one month because it is so expensive that the missionary funds dont cover that month to month.
so the new area i moved to is called Tin Shui Wai. it is located in the New Territories. it is soooo far from the island (Hong Kong) and we are actually closer to mainland. for that reason, there are a lot of people that come down from mainland to live here. there are a lot of mainland tourists here too. and also for the reason (of being close to mainland) the housing is cheaper, and there are more mainland wives. Tin Shui Wai is said to be the vplace of miracles. i dunno why yet. i have yet to go contacting and exploring the area because i just got here today. because of the mainland wives, however, there are a lot of family problems--mainly financial and communication-wise. possibly for the family problems, a lot of famiolies are more humble to listen to the message. (or this is what i've heard) despite the fact of family problems, i am very excited to be here in a new area continue to serve the Lord! the Lord has called me to these places to find the prepared people. 'To harvest the white field.'
i love being in hong kong for the reason that i have a lot of ties to hong kong. my family is from hong kong and i still have family in hong kong. plus, there is always a flow of friends and family that come into hong kong. im very lucky to be in a place where there is such a flow. everytime somebody comes in, i ask permission and the mission mreisdent allows them to see me. for instance, my sister is in Hong Kong right now and i get to see her on Saturday! more family also comes and goes for holidays--christmas or summer. so, i am very fortunate.
the message iwant to leave today is about faith. do you remember what faith is? it is not to have perfect knowledge, but hope in things that are not seen. we were trying to help this less active RM in my last area and we've tried to focus on faith, because he has lost all faith. the thing that distracted him the most was the worldly things, especially money. he lost sight of trusting and relying on God through faith. nobody in this world is perfect, and nobody has complete knowledge of everything. we can keep continuing to progress. as members of the church, we have the knowledge that God is alive and helps us. We also have the knowledge that we are on this earth to progress and learn. there is no other reason why Heavenly Father puts us on this earth unless there is something that we must learn. faith is the first principle of the gospel and it comes before everything else. it is important that we keep continuing to build our faith through prayer, scripture study, attending church, etc. with faith comes miracles. i promise that you will see many more miracles in your life if you keep putting trust in the Lord to help you through trials. i know these things are true and i leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
hong kong life is great! until next weekElder Stanley Cheng
So awesome week with two cool things!
1.our progressing investigator, Simon has set another baptismal date and we set some goals for him to stop drinking coffee so that he could get baptized on that day. so. Exciting! But sadly, I probably will move before he gets baptized. I hope not. But then again I wanna move out of my baby area of kwun tong. But he is progressing greatly. He learned a lot at church, giving him confidence to come to church every week. He also was kind of antied from people he's talked to. But because he had arleady started reading the book of mormon, he knows that there's nothing negative or offensive in it. So I think he's getting a testimony of the chruch overall. Its amazing!!!!
2.met a man a couple of weeks ago. And tuesday night he and his wife showed up randomly at the chapel. We taught them a message about families. They lvoed it. They were very peaceful and comforted. We pointed out that it was the spirit revealing truth to them and a response from God. They have a 9 month old son who is just soo cute! They would totally let us up to their house to go visit, but his parents are pretty old and has old traditions that would probably reject us missionaries from coming over. So hopefully we could keep scheduling them to meet us at the chapel. The interesting thing about them is that he is 40 and his wife is 23. he said that his wifes mom is only two years older than he is. Oh man. They are so cool. Hopefully we can keep meeting with them because I feel that they are sooo ready and humble to accept the gospel!!! we'll keep praying for them!
So I wanted to leave a message about patriarchal blessings. I;ve been reminded of my patriarchal blessing this week and I would like to share some insight and reminders for y'all. So at the bottom of each blessing, it says it's according to your obedience and faithfulness! And remember, the patriarchal blessings has a lot of blessings that are for each of us individually. In order to obtain these blessings, we need to continue to be faithful. I encourage you all to take a look at your patriarchal blessing and then evaluate how you are doing on it. Also, observe the blessings that you have already obtained and then pray to thank Heavenly Father for these blessings. We each have patriarchal blessings as a personal compass and guidance. But if we dont utilize it, it'll just go to waste. An elder in my apartment told us a story about a person who knew who had the most amazing blessing, saying that he would have riches upon riches and would have a lot of fame, as well as being married to a woman in the temple. But, sadly, he chose to walk another path and not follow God. He got into drinking and drugs, and eventually, died a lonely man. When I look at my patriarchal blessing, it gives me so much motivation and purpose and life. I know that this is a personal revelation and that in order to be able to have the most happiness here on earth, we have to continue to follow God and keep his commandments. I leave these with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
ps, i just realized how terrrible my english has gotten. hopefully you can look past the grammatical errors and get my message. hahah.
until next week!Elder Stanley Cheng
Hello everybody!!!
well, another week has gone by and i feel its moving faster and faster. i was just calculating it and my MTC sister companion is at her halfway point already. i still have a few more months until i hit a year, but that will soon come as well. it's so crazy how fast things are going. im still in my baby area here in Kwun Tong. but, moves are next thursday and im speculating that i willl be moving because i've been here for 6 months. we're not suppose to speculate but im just being prepared if i have to move, especially if i want to hand out my businesss cards to people in this area.
so anyway, weird thing, the weather started to get colder again. i think it could be because of the rain. yuesterday morning, there was yellow rain. in hong kong there are 3 levels, yellow, amber and black. yellow just sucks so much because it rains like crezy. luckily, we were still in the apartment so we didnt get drenched. amber rain means that kids dont have to go to school. black rain means everybody stays in. i havent been in these type rains contacting yet but i will be pretty upset if i get soaked in pros clothes. rain water stinks too because of all the pollution. i heard that black rain is like you are literally in a pool but you can't see more than 3 feet ahead of you. thats crazy! that'll be fun.
for some reason, by the end of each moves, i see an increase in our rate of finding people and teaching. this past week, we had amazing lessons with people. a lot are new investigators and we're trying to find out how to help them the best. it's cool to see work progress and moreover, the investigators progressing in the gospel. it's exciting.
i want to take a moment to share about one investigator. he is mr. wong. he's early 20s and has just moved to hong kong from mainland a few months ago. he has no friends and he kinda hides from the world. we were very lucky to find him because if it werent for shopping, looking for work, or eating, he would be at home surfing the web. it was a lucky day when we ran into him. we quickly exchanged numbers and after calling him on the phone, found out he is so humble to hear the gospel! although he hasnt had much christian background in mainland, he knows there is some kind of energy [God] that compels everything. we're trying to help him see that it really is God. another thing i find really cool is that he's really open to making friends. he says nobody really talks to him on the phone, and he's really thankful that i keep calling him to talk. we've only seen him once, explained God and watched a dvd called finding happiness, but he seems to be a great guy. he said he has nothing to do on sunday so he'll be at church! although i've been expecting to move areas, ill be upset to leave this suddenly progressing place and miss 1. simon getting baptized, and 2. all the other investigators i've met in my baby area. this place is definitely filled with miracles!!!
on that note, i want to share a scripture that our MTC teacher, Sister Bitton, shared with us in Mormon 9:15-21. This is Moroni speaking to people about why they think God has ceased to perform miracles. To sum the scripture up, it basically tells that everything here is proof of God's miracles, Jesus Christ performed a lot of miracles, and God is unchanging so he will continue to perform miracles. in verse 20 he says that there are no miracles because the people don't believe. verse 21 says if you believe and doubt nothing, everything will be granted and promised. so the message iwant to get at is that God still performs miracles. we need to notice that these miracles are stilll around us! first of all, we need to believe without a doubt and then the miracles will be there. when miracles come, we need to remember them. if we fail to recognize them, we fail to acknowledge that God gave us these miracles. i can testify that i have seen soooo many miracles on the mission. at first, it was hard to see, but once i've been able to distinguish these miracles, more and more keep coming. miracles happen everyday, but if we don't notice it, the harder it will become for God to send more. i challenge you all to look closely at things in the day and point out the miracle that has been sent to you that day. afterwards, write it down in your journal and it will become a testimony that you can always refer back to. i leave this things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
until next weekElder Stanley Cheng
Hello everybody!
So this is an exciting day for me, why? because i left my baby area, Kwun Tong, and went to my second area after 6tmonths! i was very upset to leave my first area because i had met so many people, investigators and members alike. i kinda had the feeling of a missionary who is about to go home. i dont want to leave, but then i am looking forward to and am excited for the next area. so this is definitely a unique experience. i also have a new companion, after being with my prevbious companion for 4.5 months. my new companion is Elder Robinson from Boise, Idaho. he's been out ont the mission for about a year and a half. in hong kong he's been here for about a year and 2 months. it's a little weird getting a new companion after so long, but hopefully i can get used to it. one thing that i am super sad about leaving is that i left the largest apartment in the mission. it was so nice. it even had a piano! but this new area has a gym so i can work out again. its 180$ /month for membership though. maybe i'll only try it out for a few months or just one month because it is so expensive that the missionary funds dont cover that month to month.
so the new area i moved to is called Tin Shui Wai. it is located in the New Territories. it is soooo far from the island (Hong Kong) and we are actually closer to mainland. for that reason, there are a lot of people that come down from mainland to live here. there are a lot of mainland tourists here too. and also for the reason (of being close to mainland) the housing is cheaper, and there are more mainland wives. Tin Shui Wai is said to be the vplace of miracles. i dunno why yet. i have yet to go contacting and exploring the area because i just got here today. because of the mainland wives, however, there are a lot of family problems--mainly financial and communication-wise. possibly for the family problems, a lot of famiolies are more humble to listen to the message. (or this is what i've heard) despite the fact of family problems, i am very excited to be here in a new area continue to serve the Lord! the Lord has called me to these places to find the prepared people. 'To harvest the white field.'
i love being in hong kong for the reason that i have a lot of ties to hong kong. my family is from hong kong and i still have family in hong kong. plus, there is always a flow of friends and family that come into hong kong. im very lucky to be in a place where there is such a flow. everytime somebody comes in, i ask permission and the mission mreisdent allows them to see me. for instance, my sister is in Hong Kong right now and i get to see her on Saturday! more family also comes and goes for holidays--christmas or summer. so, i am very fortunate.
the message iwant to leave today is about faith. do you remember what faith is? it is not to have perfect knowledge, but hope in things that are not seen. we were trying to help this less active RM in my last area and we've tried to focus on faith, because he has lost all faith. the thing that distracted him the most was the worldly things, especially money. he lost sight of trusting and relying on God through faith. nobody in this world is perfect, and nobody has complete knowledge of everything. we can keep continuing to progress. as members of the church, we have the knowledge that God is alive and helps us. We also have the knowledge that we are on this earth to progress and learn. there is no other reason why Heavenly Father puts us on this earth unless there is something that we must learn. faith is the first principle of the gospel and it comes before everything else. it is important that we keep continuing to build our faith through prayer, scripture study, attending church, etc. with faith comes miracles. i promise that you will see many more miracles in your life if you keep putting trust in the Lord to help you through trials. i know these things are true and i leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
hong kong life is great! until next weekElder Stanley Cheng
Monday, March 30, 2009
LB 3.30
Hallo meine Familie und Freunde!
Wie geht's?
This past week was fairly similar to the first. Thankfully, all the jet lag has worn off and the accompanying feelings of nausea have dissapated. Let's get right down to it.
Yesterday was certainly a roller coaster, and I imagine many days on the mission will be similar to that. I attended church in the local ward for the first time. I could certainly follow what was going on, but I'm nowhere close to being able to fully understand it. No matter, it will come in due time.
I did have the opportunity to introduce myself and give my testimony for a little while. That was fun and slightly nerve-wracking but overall it was fine. Some members complimented me on it afterwards, saying my German was good for a greenie. That's compliment enough for me. I'll take anything positive I can get out here haha.
Just after we ate lunch and wanted to go back out, it started to rain. It didn't stop until late in the night, so the whole time we were outside, no one was on the streets. The few people that were had no desire to talk about the gospel (understandably so, I probably wouldn't want to either) while soaking wet, so we tried to just make a couple vorbeis out of the afternoon (just drop-ins auf English, I don't think that translates very well). People were home, but the one time a lady let us in she was too engrossed in the German-dubbed Runaway Bride to really talk to us. She made us tea, would sit down for maybe a minute and then say how she loved that part and would watch it with her daughter for a while. We just left after it happened a few times. Never try to pull a woman away from a chick flick is the moral of that story I guess.
The whole afternoon was somewhat gloomy. We came home to have our study time that we had missed earlier in the day and I felt somewhat lost. What had we done with our day???
I just sat and thought about it for a while. I tried using my own logic and rationale to explain it, but that was to no avail. Finally, simply, I turned to the Lord in prayer. I received a definitive feeling of comfort as a result. It wasn't particularly overwhelming or anything, but it just made me realize how we can learn something everyday and see the worth of every experience we have. Our whole time in this life is very short. Our existence here is simply temporary. The point of all this is to learn and to grow, to improve all our weaknesses and refine our ability to love, whether it be our family, our neighbor or our enemy. I'm grateful for the constant reminder that I have of this every day, because it's a challenge. Every day we as missionaries have to climb that hill of being able to talk to people. I look at it as we have to climb to hill of why we decided to come out here. It's been difficult these first 12 days or so to realize that. Throughout I've questioned my decision to come, especially when I struggle to contribute to a lesson with my limited language ability. Nevertheless, every day is a wonderful opportunity to learn. I've come to love the limited time we have to study in the mornings. There is never enough time, and it's crazy how quickly my perspective has changed about that. It's just so much fun to learn and to change how you see things in the world.
We have a few teaching appointments every day it seems which is always a positive. A few people are keeping their commitments to read further in the Book of Mormon. It's always exciting when they have read and we can have a discussion about it. That's what really interests me.
Other random things of note: I just finished my second journal ever! It's addictive. I have eaten more chocolate in the past two weeks than I've probably eaten in the last few years. I haven't bought very much either which is the funny part. It's as amazing as it's hyped up to be.
Also, my companion/trainer Elder Whitsitt was trained by my teacher at the MTC in Utah, Brother Turville. So I knew my "grandpa" before I knew my "father" out here. Fairly strange, rather funny.
Ummm I don't know what else. Internet cafes here all smell of smoke. Actually, a lot of places smell of smoke here. That kind of stinks (pun!)
Okay, that's all I have for this week. I hope you enjoyed my musings.
Aufwiedersehn!
Love
Elder Ek
Wie geht's?
This past week was fairly similar to the first. Thankfully, all the jet lag has worn off and the accompanying feelings of nausea have dissapated. Let's get right down to it.
Yesterday was certainly a roller coaster, and I imagine many days on the mission will be similar to that. I attended church in the local ward for the first time. I could certainly follow what was going on, but I'm nowhere close to being able to fully understand it. No matter, it will come in due time.
I did have the opportunity to introduce myself and give my testimony for a little while. That was fun and slightly nerve-wracking but overall it was fine. Some members complimented me on it afterwards, saying my German was good for a greenie. That's compliment enough for me. I'll take anything positive I can get out here haha.
Just after we ate lunch and wanted to go back out, it started to rain. It didn't stop until late in the night, so the whole time we were outside, no one was on the streets. The few people that were had no desire to talk about the gospel (understandably so, I probably wouldn't want to either) while soaking wet, so we tried to just make a couple vorbeis out of the afternoon (just drop-ins auf English, I don't think that translates very well). People were home, but the one time a lady let us in she was too engrossed in the German-dubbed Runaway Bride to really talk to us. She made us tea, would sit down for maybe a minute and then say how she loved that part and would watch it with her daughter for a while. We just left after it happened a few times. Never try to pull a woman away from a chick flick is the moral of that story I guess.
The whole afternoon was somewhat gloomy. We came home to have our study time that we had missed earlier in the day and I felt somewhat lost. What had we done with our day???
I just sat and thought about it for a while. I tried using my own logic and rationale to explain it, but that was to no avail. Finally, simply, I turned to the Lord in prayer. I received a definitive feeling of comfort as a result. It wasn't particularly overwhelming or anything, but it just made me realize how we can learn something everyday and see the worth of every experience we have. Our whole time in this life is very short. Our existence here is simply temporary. The point of all this is to learn and to grow, to improve all our weaknesses and refine our ability to love, whether it be our family, our neighbor or our enemy. I'm grateful for the constant reminder that I have of this every day, because it's a challenge. Every day we as missionaries have to climb that hill of being able to talk to people. I look at it as we have to climb to hill of why we decided to come out here. It's been difficult these first 12 days or so to realize that. Throughout I've questioned my decision to come, especially when I struggle to contribute to a lesson with my limited language ability. Nevertheless, every day is a wonderful opportunity to learn. I've come to love the limited time we have to study in the mornings. There is never enough time, and it's crazy how quickly my perspective has changed about that. It's just so much fun to learn and to change how you see things in the world.
We have a few teaching appointments every day it seems which is always a positive. A few people are keeping their commitments to read further in the Book of Mormon. It's always exciting when they have read and we can have a discussion about it. That's what really interests me.
Other random things of note: I just finished my second journal ever! It's addictive. I have eaten more chocolate in the past two weeks than I've probably eaten in the last few years. I haven't bought very much either which is the funny part. It's as amazing as it's hyped up to be.
Also, my companion/trainer Elder Whitsitt was trained by my teacher at the MTC in Utah, Brother Turville. So I knew my "grandpa" before I knew my "father" out here. Fairly strange, rather funny.
Ummm I don't know what else. Internet cafes here all smell of smoke. Actually, a lot of places smell of smoke here. That kind of stinks (pun!)
Okay, that's all I have for this week. I hope you enjoyed my musings.
Aufwiedersehn!
Love
Elder Ek
Monday, March 23, 2009
3/23 LB
Guten Tag meine Familie und Freunde!
So much has happened since I last wrote (obviously). I flew into München through Atlanta on Tuesday morning and everything has been crazy ever since. Even this German keyboard is crazy.
So the rest of Tuesday I stayed in München for orientation meetings and such. President Condie and Sister Condie (mission presidents) were very welcoming. The mission office is just a part of a building in this nice residential area, super classy.
Tuesday night we walked over to the mission home (I believe it´s where Pres and Sister Condie live) and had a lovely meal of lasagna. Danach, we found out where our first areas were. It took a long time since there were 14 of us new missionaries. So as many already know, I was called to serve in Wien Drei (the third ward in Vienna). We live in an apartment between the fifth and sixth districts and have two proselyting areas: the tenth district and the 13th and 14th districts. It's somewhat strange that they aren't contiguous but whatever.
I took a train to Wien on Wednesday with some other missionaries who were transferred there. It took about 3 hours, don't remember exactly. At 13:40 it arrived in Wien west main station.
I met my companion there. Er heißt Elder Whitsitt, er kommt aus Chicago. He's a super nice guy and everything. Ummm he went to BYU Idaho for a semester before leaving on his mission. He's 13 months into it I believe, so we actually graduated high school in the same year (very strange to think about). He's about my same height and wears glasses, so we look very similar when I'm not wearing contacs. I would best describe him as poised under presssure, a characteristic that has been apparent given our first few days here (more on that later)
The very first thing we did after putting our bags in the apartment was go across our apartment building to a member's house for lunch. Thank goodness there were a bunch of other missionaries there to talk, because I didn't understand a thing. Wienerisch accents are straight up ridiculous. The old couple there seemed nice enough, but it was hard to tell when I couldn't understand anything, ya
Anyways, we came back to the apartment and I unpacked for a little while. Then we hit the streets. Definitely a harrowing expereience the first time around.
I believe we were in the 13th district when we started to do our street contacting. Natrually Elder Whitsitt took the lead, but after he did five or so I finally mustered up the courage to ask someone if they had heard about the Book of Mormon. Nothing came of it, but it was good to face the fear. We tried talking with other people for a while. Eventually two young men who were eating kabobs I believe stopped and listened to us. After I had spat out a few sentences, I tried listening to what they were saying. No dice, but we did get their numbers. Afterward I inquired as to what had happened and Elder Whitsitt said that they wonder about the purpose of life quite frequently. We still haven't gotten in touch with them yet, but who knows what can happen.
Thursday was a day full of appointments. Our first thing was to go to student housing and knock on doors. No one was home until the very last one: guy had read a little in the book of mormon but didn't have interest to talk about it.
We met with this 60ish year old lady in the hospital named Slaviza. I guess she was super stressed out by her 30 year old daughter at home. Once more, I didn't understand anything much at all. We gave her a blessing of health and shared a spiritual thought.
We met with Björn and his mother in the afternoon. He's like 6'3 or so and was wearing a cast on his right arm. I was taken aback by his appearence and thought he probably could pummel me in two seconds flat. Despite that, he was super nice and had kept his commitment to read in the BOM in Alma 40. We discussed the first half of the plan of salvation. Well I actually didn't talk whatsoever besides a bit of an introduction in the beginning. Björn spoke English to us and his mother spoke in German but I guess understood English too, I don't even know. Elder Whitsitt was teaching in German, it was crazy.
I remember coming back to the apartment after that and being just dead tired and kind of sick all over too. It was some awesome combination of jetlag and nausea from trying so hard to listen to German all the time haha. Ya, not the best. We took our afternoon pause and I gathered myself.
In the evening we watched The Testaments with a woman named Zaimar and her 9 year old daughter. I believe they mover from Cuba a few years ago. Anyways, we watched it in Spanish on her computer (after failing to get both the DVD player and hotpink Playstation to work). I actually spoke after it was done and talked about the nature of faith. Little steps of improvement.
Friday we had Zone Conference. So within the mission boundaries there are four stakes: Salsburg, Vienna, Nurnburg and Munich. Each zone in the mission corresponds to a stake. All the missionaries in Vienna gather together for these things, so that was cool in itself. Better was the presence of Elder Kopieschke of the quorum of the 70. The conference lasted around eight hours, and besides introductions and lunch, Elder Kopieschke taught basically the whole time. It was so excellent. I also had Schnitzel for the first time. Glorious.
Our appointment that night fell through, so not much else happened. Saturday we did some service for a member who was renovating his appartment. We then delved into weekly planning, which is only supposed to take three hours or so. It took much longer, as I became acquainted with the area book that contains records about what we've taught and to whom. We actually had to finish everything on Sunday haha.
Saturday night we taught Brother Tanasee with his family. He's the only one who can speak German. The rest of his family speaks Romanian. He's in a wheelchair and the only member of his family. Moreover, there are 6 people there living in the space of maybe two rooms. I felt really bad for their circumstances, wow. They even fed us a really wonderful meal too. So he's a new convert and we're reteaching the lessons to him. Spaß
Sunday was stake conference, so we got to go to the international UN part of Wien. Totally different look and feel. Everything looks so modern and clean as opposed to where we live (it's still really clean, but it's quite old. It was cool to see all the members in the Vienna stake come. We met in a conference center of some sort, I don't even know.
Also Sunday, we had a lesson with Raby, a 40 year old Egyptian guy who only wears a shirt and a speedo. He's genuinely crazy I believe haha. Nice enough, but has some super strange ideas about drugs when we talked about the Word of Wisdom with him.
So here I am today, typing away in some small internet cafe. Although I have much more time to write emails, I still can't email to friends. Shame. Oh well.
Ummm oh I'll give my address here. The apartment is incredibly nice and is huge. I love it. There are three large rooms plus our kitchen, washer, bathroom and everything. No dishwasher and dryer, but everything else is promising.
Linke Wienzeile 156/14
1060 Wien
Austria
Okay well I miss you all like crazy and love you!!! Hopefully I'll be able to settle into some sort of groove by next week in terms of everything: language, sleep schedule et. all
Love
Elder Ek
So much has happened since I last wrote (obviously). I flew into München through Atlanta on Tuesday morning and everything has been crazy ever since. Even this German keyboard is crazy.
So the rest of Tuesday I stayed in München for orientation meetings and such. President Condie and Sister Condie (mission presidents) were very welcoming. The mission office is just a part of a building in this nice residential area, super classy.
Tuesday night we walked over to the mission home (I believe it´s where Pres and Sister Condie live) and had a lovely meal of lasagna. Danach, we found out where our first areas were. It took a long time since there were 14 of us new missionaries. So as many already know, I was called to serve in Wien Drei (the third ward in Vienna). We live in an apartment between the fifth and sixth districts and have two proselyting areas: the tenth district and the 13th and 14th districts. It's somewhat strange that they aren't contiguous but whatever.
I took a train to Wien on Wednesday with some other missionaries who were transferred there. It took about 3 hours, don't remember exactly. At 13:40 it arrived in Wien west main station.
I met my companion there. Er heißt Elder Whitsitt, er kommt aus Chicago. He's a super nice guy and everything. Ummm he went to BYU Idaho for a semester before leaving on his mission. He's 13 months into it I believe, so we actually graduated high school in the same year (very strange to think about). He's about my same height and wears glasses, so we look very similar when I'm not wearing contacs. I would best describe him as poised under presssure, a characteristic that has been apparent given our first few days here (more on that later)
The very first thing we did after putting our bags in the apartment was go across our apartment building to a member's house for lunch. Thank goodness there were a bunch of other missionaries there to talk, because I didn't understand a thing. Wienerisch accents are straight up ridiculous. The old couple there seemed nice enough, but it was hard to tell when I couldn't understand anything, ya
Anyways, we came back to the apartment and I unpacked for a little while. Then we hit the streets. Definitely a harrowing expereience the first time around.
I believe we were in the 13th district when we started to do our street contacting. Natrually Elder Whitsitt took the lead, but after he did five or so I finally mustered up the courage to ask someone if they had heard about the Book of Mormon. Nothing came of it, but it was good to face the fear. We tried talking with other people for a while. Eventually two young men who were eating kabobs I believe stopped and listened to us. After I had spat out a few sentences, I tried listening to what they were saying. No dice, but we did get their numbers. Afterward I inquired as to what had happened and Elder Whitsitt said that they wonder about the purpose of life quite frequently. We still haven't gotten in touch with them yet, but who knows what can happen.
Thursday was a day full of appointments. Our first thing was to go to student housing and knock on doors. No one was home until the very last one: guy had read a little in the book of mormon but didn't have interest to talk about it.
We met with this 60ish year old lady in the hospital named Slaviza. I guess she was super stressed out by her 30 year old daughter at home. Once more, I didn't understand anything much at all. We gave her a blessing of health and shared a spiritual thought.
We met with Björn and his mother in the afternoon. He's like 6'3 or so and was wearing a cast on his right arm. I was taken aback by his appearence and thought he probably could pummel me in two seconds flat. Despite that, he was super nice and had kept his commitment to read in the BOM in Alma 40. We discussed the first half of the plan of salvation. Well I actually didn't talk whatsoever besides a bit of an introduction in the beginning. Björn spoke English to us and his mother spoke in German but I guess understood English too, I don't even know. Elder Whitsitt was teaching in German, it was crazy.
I remember coming back to the apartment after that and being just dead tired and kind of sick all over too. It was some awesome combination of jetlag and nausea from trying so hard to listen to German all the time haha. Ya, not the best. We took our afternoon pause and I gathered myself.
In the evening we watched The Testaments with a woman named Zaimar and her 9 year old daughter. I believe they mover from Cuba a few years ago. Anyways, we watched it in Spanish on her computer (after failing to get both the DVD player and hotpink Playstation to work). I actually spoke after it was done and talked about the nature of faith. Little steps of improvement.
Friday we had Zone Conference. So within the mission boundaries there are four stakes: Salsburg, Vienna, Nurnburg and Munich. Each zone in the mission corresponds to a stake. All the missionaries in Vienna gather together for these things, so that was cool in itself. Better was the presence of Elder Kopieschke of the quorum of the 70. The conference lasted around eight hours, and besides introductions and lunch, Elder Kopieschke taught basically the whole time. It was so excellent. I also had Schnitzel for the first time. Glorious.
Our appointment that night fell through, so not much else happened. Saturday we did some service for a member who was renovating his appartment. We then delved into weekly planning, which is only supposed to take three hours or so. It took much longer, as I became acquainted with the area book that contains records about what we've taught and to whom. We actually had to finish everything on Sunday haha.
Saturday night we taught Brother Tanasee with his family. He's the only one who can speak German. The rest of his family speaks Romanian. He's in a wheelchair and the only member of his family. Moreover, there are 6 people there living in the space of maybe two rooms. I felt really bad for their circumstances, wow. They even fed us a really wonderful meal too. So he's a new convert and we're reteaching the lessons to him. Spaß
Sunday was stake conference, so we got to go to the international UN part of Wien. Totally different look and feel. Everything looks so modern and clean as opposed to where we live (it's still really clean, but it's quite old. It was cool to see all the members in the Vienna stake come. We met in a conference center of some sort, I don't even know.
Also Sunday, we had a lesson with Raby, a 40 year old Egyptian guy who only wears a shirt and a speedo. He's genuinely crazy I believe haha. Nice enough, but has some super strange ideas about drugs when we talked about the Word of Wisdom with him.
So here I am today, typing away in some small internet cafe. Although I have much more time to write emails, I still can't email to friends. Shame. Oh well.
Ummm oh I'll give my address here. The apartment is incredibly nice and is huge. I love it. There are three large rooms plus our kitchen, washer, bathroom and everything. No dishwasher and dryer, but everything else is promising.
Linke Wienzeile 156/14
1060 Wien
Austria
Okay well I miss you all like crazy and love you!!! Hopefully I'll be able to settle into some sort of groove by next week in terms of everything: language, sleep schedule et. all
Love
Elder Ek
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March 12, 2009 from Elder Cheng
Hello all!!!!
Another week has gone by here in Hong Kong and things have been going smoothly. So a couple of interesting things happened, but I wont write all of it.
Yesterday, we had a mission conference, a conference for all missionaries (150ish missionaries in HK). And a monumental thing ahppened. We finally received our outlimate language help tool, the Missionary Vocabulary and Phrases book, MVP!!!!!! For a years now, they were developing this book to help us with the difficult Cantonese language and the first draft came out yesterday for us missionaries to begin learning correct language principles. Before, what we did was straight up learn from the Cantonese teachers' experience and phrases they used. Wit hthis book, we now have a guide with phrases and vocabulary that we would most likely use as missionaries. It also has the romanized pingyam and the chinese characters next to the english, so this is the ultimate tool for language progression!
another thign that happened was that a member in our ward told us that her husband recently was diagnosed with liver cancer and he only has a few months to a few years to live. after a long while of crying and sorrow, they finally accepted the fact that there is only so much time left before he departs from this world so they've decided to make the best of his remaining years. what we are doing now is teaching him the lessons of the gospel, which bring peace people's souls. the gospel message gives us a clear knowledge of our life on earth and where we will go afterwards. it is the appropriate time because he is only a matter of years before he goes beyond the veil to see the other side and we can share our knowledge about this to him.
the sad part of it is that he doesnt have a lot of time to apply gospel principles to his life to feel the extent of God's love for him. i see that in a lot of people in the world. there are truths that are revealed to us that people still wont accept. if we open our eyes and apply these gospel principles to our lives, we can see how much more our lives can be happier. our message won't only give us relaxation about what will happen in the future, but it will also tell us about our purpose here on earth and what we can do to achieve the best life on earth, including what everybody cherishes the most--happiness.
i want to leave you all with a testimony that has taken me a while to progress to. i know that this gospel is true and that it has blessed me so much throughout my life. for this reason, i am serving a mission for the Lord to help others receive the knowledge that i have received and to help them know that there is a loving Heavenly Father that has a plan of happiness for us and wants us all the return to Him. i also know that in order to return to God, there needs to be ordinances performed with the proper authority and through this church, we have the authority and power to perform these ordinances. each one of us on this earth are brothers and sisters. i would love it if all my brothers and sisters can live eternally happy after this life. i encourage you all to pray and ask Heavenly Father if these things are true, He WILL answer your prayers and tell you what you need to do. i leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
Another week has gone by here in Hong Kong and things have been going smoothly. So a couple of interesting things happened, but I wont write all of it.
Yesterday, we had a mission conference, a conference for all missionaries (150ish missionaries in HK). And a monumental thing ahppened. We finally received our outlimate language help tool, the Missionary Vocabulary and Phrases book, MVP!!!!!! For a years now, they were developing this book to help us with the difficult Cantonese language and the first draft came out yesterday for us missionaries to begin learning correct language principles. Before, what we did was straight up learn from the Cantonese teachers' experience and phrases they used. Wit hthis book, we now have a guide with phrases and vocabulary that we would most likely use as missionaries. It also has the romanized pingyam and the chinese characters next to the english, so this is the ultimate tool for language progression!
another thign that happened was that a member in our ward told us that her husband recently was diagnosed with liver cancer and he only has a few months to a few years to live. after a long while of crying and sorrow, they finally accepted the fact that there is only so much time left before he departs from this world so they've decided to make the best of his remaining years. what we are doing now is teaching him the lessons of the gospel, which bring peace people's souls. the gospel message gives us a clear knowledge of our life on earth and where we will go afterwards. it is the appropriate time because he is only a matter of years before he goes beyond the veil to see the other side and we can share our knowledge about this to him.
the sad part of it is that he doesnt have a lot of time to apply gospel principles to his life to feel the extent of God's love for him. i see that in a lot of people in the world. there are truths that are revealed to us that people still wont accept. if we open our eyes and apply these gospel principles to our lives, we can see how much more our lives can be happier. our message won't only give us relaxation about what will happen in the future, but it will also tell us about our purpose here on earth and what we can do to achieve the best life on earth, including what everybody cherishes the most--happiness.
i want to leave you all with a testimony that has taken me a while to progress to. i know that this gospel is true and that it has blessed me so much throughout my life. for this reason, i am serving a mission for the Lord to help others receive the knowledge that i have received and to help them know that there is a loving Heavenly Father that has a plan of happiness for us and wants us all the return to Him. i also know that in order to return to God, there needs to be ordinances performed with the proper authority and through this church, we have the authority and power to perform these ordinances. each one of us on this earth are brothers and sisters. i would love it if all my brothers and sisters can live eternally happy after this life. i encourage you all to pray and ask Heavenly Father if these things are true, He WILL answer your prayers and tell you what you need to do. i leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
SC March 5, 2009
Hey all!!!
Well, nothing big happened this week. It feels like another pretty normal week. although i am starting to get a good grasp of what missionary work is all about.
our big focus for this moves is working with the members. having members help us missionaries out is the best thing members can do. i never realized how to work with members until now. there are so many things that members can do for ivnestigators than what we can do. I think the example from members rubbing off on investigators is the biggest importance, and because they can have a friend. what president gordon b hinckley said is true. to stay active, recent converts need three things: a friend, a calling and nourished by the good word of god. so sad this week, one of our recent converts started telling us that chruch was restricting and he told us he wanted to go back to his old church. this happened after getting scolded by "the friend" at church that he had to wear a white shirt every sunday. but we knew that our recent convert had financial problems so it didnt matter, afterall, he was already wearing a collared shirt and tie. it made me so angry. i dont understand why the member did that. so right now, we're still trying to work with our RC, no success just yet.
but ishouldnt be telling you about sad thigns! it should be about happy things. after that incident though, heavenly father was trying to lift us up again by preparing people on the street for us to talk to. right after, we bumped into a less active, and him seeing us signified that he had to go the church that week. now i dont know if he did but it made us feel better from that event with our recent convert.
members are important in missionary work as well. one cannot work without the other. if it is just missinaries doing the work, as soon as somebody becomes baptized, we just got ourselves another less active. everybody needs to take part in this marvelous work! anything as small as saying hello to the invesigator at church on sunday or as far as helping the missionaries fellowship. if everybody can work together, the work can be carried out quicker and more effecitvely.
this is all the time i have this week and i will kepp you all updated next week!
-Elder Stanley Cheng
Well, nothing big happened this week. It feels like another pretty normal week. although i am starting to get a good grasp of what missionary work is all about.
our big focus for this moves is working with the members. having members help us missionaries out is the best thing members can do. i never realized how to work with members until now. there are so many things that members can do for ivnestigators than what we can do. I think the example from members rubbing off on investigators is the biggest importance, and because they can have a friend. what president gordon b hinckley said is true. to stay active, recent converts need three things: a friend, a calling and nourished by the good word of god. so sad this week, one of our recent converts started telling us that chruch was restricting and he told us he wanted to go back to his old church. this happened after getting scolded by "the friend" at church that he had to wear a white shirt every sunday. but we knew that our recent convert had financial problems so it didnt matter, afterall, he was already wearing a collared shirt and tie. it made me so angry. i dont understand why the member did that. so right now, we're still trying to work with our RC, no success just yet.
but ishouldnt be telling you about sad thigns! it should be about happy things. after that incident though, heavenly father was trying to lift us up again by preparing people on the street for us to talk to. right after, we bumped into a less active, and him seeing us signified that he had to go the church that week. now i dont know if he did but it made us feel better from that event with our recent convert.
members are important in missionary work as well. one cannot work without the other. if it is just missinaries doing the work, as soon as somebody becomes baptized, we just got ourselves another less active. everybody needs to take part in this marvelous work! anything as small as saying hello to the invesigator at church on sunday or as far as helping the missionaries fellowship. if everybody can work together, the work can be carried out quicker and more effecitvely.
this is all the time i have this week and i will kepp you all updated next week!
-Elder Stanley Cheng
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
DB 3.10
Hello!
So I FINALLY have access to some type of communication. I have so much to say, but not that much time to say it. Because this is the very first week and so much has gone on, I will talk about the most important things and then catch up on the second most important things next week, when there's not as much new things going on.
Most importantly, I am currently serving in Aurora. It's the southern-most part of the mission, directly east of downtown Denver (by the way, we'll never be in downtown Denver because all of it is in the South mission). It's a coincidence that Aurora is to the east of the city, because I would classify it as the East LA of Denver. Very poor and very Hispanic, which is exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately though, for now, I'm serving in an English ward, the Peoria Ward. There are about
6 or 7 wards in the Aurora Stake, one of which is a singles ward and the other is a Spanish ward (not branch, ward!), the Denver 3rd Ward. There are 3 sets of missionaries in the Denver 3rd since they cover all the Spanish speakers in the stake. 2 of the 6 missionaries in Denver 3rd are Elder Robinson and Elder Bolo. I'd say about half of us in the Aurora Zone (about 10 out of 20 or so) are Spanish-speaking, but only 6 of them are in the Spanish ward. Hopefully I'll get a chance to serve there at some point, but I'm still using my Spanish a lot. I'm doing lots of contacting and tracting in Spanish, but all the Spanish lessons are taught by those in Denver 3rd. I feel bad for Elder Shaw though, he got sent to Cheyenne. I wonder how many Hispanics are there, haha. But anyway, I'm not sure how many zones there are, but the ones I know of are Aurora, Denver North, Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Cheyenne, Laramie, Longmont, and Loveland. Some of those might be combined, I can't remember.
My companion is Elder Carrazco from Chihuahua, Mexico. His English is OK, but sometimes he has a hard time communicating. He's a really nice guy and I like him a lot. But now I turn to my frustration, not with him, but with the situation. He's been out 3 months, so he's the youngest trainer in the mission. We are both new to the area (he's been serving in Aurora, but in other areas), so we are both starting from scratch in getting to know the members and investigators. We are English-speaking for the moment and he has trouble expressing himself. We don't have a car even though our area is huge. We just barely got some bikes (we borrowed them from members) so yesterday was our first day using them. And all of this on my first transfer. It seems to me like like we'd be just fine if we just had ONE of these conditions reversed: If it was my second transfer instead of my first, or if he had already known the area, or if he had been out longer, or if we had a car, or if he knew English better, or if we were Spanish speaking. It seems like after describing all this that I'm miserable, but I'm really not. I'm having a good time, but it just gets frustrating sometimes. And again, I'm not blaming Elder Carrazco because it's not his fault, but I thought my trainer would be a crutch I could lean on, but it turns out that's not really the case here. I'm sure it will all improve as we get more accustomed to things here.
Wow, so many things to say, I don't even know what to start with. We've had dinner at a member's home every night, except one when they didn't call us back. But it was more than okay because we went to place called Las Tortugas and I got a concoction called the Super Cubana with EVERY kind of meat possible (and I'm not exaggerating), cheese, avocado, tomatoes...Dad would love it. So far, my breakfast and lunch has been one and the same, cereal and bread (oh and OJ), haha. But we're going to go the store and get some more variety today. The members are VERY humble. I was really noticing that I sat in church yesterday. There are a lot of big families who don't have a lot, but they're very caring and happy. There are some great people. As for the people waiting to be harvested, it is VERY apparent that Hispanics are much more open and willing to listen. They're so much nicer than white people, haha. We went tracting on Saturday (in a more white area than Hispanic) and out of the 70 or so houses, we had 2 houses who were open to another visit and they were the only 2 Hispanic houses that we knocked on.
I am becoming slightly more accustomed to contacting and tracting, but it's still very hard for me. It really is the one thing that's holding me back, and I hope that with time, the fear will die down. My very first lesson was while I was on a split with one of the zone leaders Elder Ferreira, from Paraguay. He's serving in the singles ward (English speaking). The guy we taught has been taking the lessons for like 5 months and he's ready, but he needs to quit smoking. Anyway, I had the easy part and Elder Ferreira had the hard part: I taught the 10 Commandments, he taught the Law of Chastity. It went well though. And then, later on in the week, Elder Carrazco and I went to teach a couple (probably in their 40's) who had got in touch with the bishop. I guess the guy had some experience with the church while living in Utah and he knew that the Mormons were the nicest people around. They just got to Aurora and don't know anybody and are trying to look for work, and in the meantime are staying in a motel. So that was my very first experience teaching the first lesson on the Restoration and I think it went really well. I really felt the Spirit and I think they did too. They were at church yesterday and we have another lesson scheduled (this time with a member) on Thursday. One thing I noticed though was that I was definitely doing most of the talking and it kind of annoyed me, but then Elder Carrazco later told me that he just has trouble with the English. And that's exactly how I would be if it was in Spanish, so I understood completely. He's a really good companion, diligent and obedient.
(In response to my telling him about the Prop. 8 rulings last week...) What else...I didn't hear about any of the Prop 8 stuff, very interesting. We'll have to see what happens. Luckily I'm not in Boulder, haha. But I do want to go there, it'll probably be very familiar. Anytime anyone here describes it, it sounds like they're describing Berkeley, haha.
So I FINALLY have access to some type of communication. I have so much to say, but not that much time to say it. Because this is the very first week and so much has gone on, I will talk about the most important things and then catch up on the second most important things next week, when there's not as much new things going on.
Most importantly, I am currently serving in Aurora. It's the southern-most part of the mission, directly east of downtown Denver (by the way, we'll never be in downtown Denver because all of it is in the South mission). It's a coincidence that Aurora is to the east of the city, because I would classify it as the East LA of Denver. Very poor and very Hispanic, which is exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately though, for now, I'm serving in an English ward, the Peoria Ward. There are about
6 or 7 wards in the Aurora Stake, one of which is a singles ward and the other is a Spanish ward (not branch, ward!), the Denver 3rd Ward. There are 3 sets of missionaries in the Denver 3rd since they cover all the Spanish speakers in the stake. 2 of the 6 missionaries in Denver 3rd are Elder Robinson and Elder Bolo. I'd say about half of us in the Aurora Zone (about 10 out of 20 or so) are Spanish-speaking, but only 6 of them are in the Spanish ward. Hopefully I'll get a chance to serve there at some point, but I'm still using my Spanish a lot. I'm doing lots of contacting and tracting in Spanish, but all the Spanish lessons are taught by those in Denver 3rd. I feel bad for Elder Shaw though, he got sent to Cheyenne. I wonder how many Hispanics are there, haha. But anyway, I'm not sure how many zones there are, but the ones I know of are Aurora, Denver North, Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Cheyenne, Laramie, Longmont, and Loveland. Some of those might be combined, I can't remember.
My companion is Elder Carrazco from Chihuahua, Mexico. His English is OK, but sometimes he has a hard time communicating. He's a really nice guy and I like him a lot. But now I turn to my frustration, not with him, but with the situation. He's been out 3 months, so he's the youngest trainer in the mission. We are both new to the area (he's been serving in Aurora, but in other areas), so we are both starting from scratch in getting to know the members and investigators. We are English-speaking for the moment and he has trouble expressing himself. We don't have a car even though our area is huge. We just barely got some bikes (we borrowed them from members) so yesterday was our first day using them. And all of this on my first transfer. It seems to me like like we'd be just fine if we just had ONE of these conditions reversed: If it was my second transfer instead of my first, or if he had already known the area, or if he had been out longer, or if we had a car, or if he knew English better, or if we were Spanish speaking. It seems like after describing all this that I'm miserable, but I'm really not. I'm having a good time, but it just gets frustrating sometimes. And again, I'm not blaming Elder Carrazco because it's not his fault, but I thought my trainer would be a crutch I could lean on, but it turns out that's not really the case here. I'm sure it will all improve as we get more accustomed to things here.
Wow, so many things to say, I don't even know what to start with. We've had dinner at a member's home every night, except one when they didn't call us back. But it was more than okay because we went to place called Las Tortugas and I got a concoction called the Super Cubana with EVERY kind of meat possible (and I'm not exaggerating), cheese, avocado, tomatoes...Dad would love it. So far, my breakfast and lunch has been one and the same, cereal and bread (oh and OJ), haha. But we're going to go the store and get some more variety today. The members are VERY humble. I was really noticing that I sat in church yesterday. There are a lot of big families who don't have a lot, but they're very caring and happy. There are some great people. As for the people waiting to be harvested, it is VERY apparent that Hispanics are much more open and willing to listen. They're so much nicer than white people, haha. We went tracting on Saturday (in a more white area than Hispanic) and out of the 70 or so houses, we had 2 houses who were open to another visit and they were the only 2 Hispanic houses that we knocked on.
I am becoming slightly more accustomed to contacting and tracting, but it's still very hard for me. It really is the one thing that's holding me back, and I hope that with time, the fear will die down. My very first lesson was while I was on a split with one of the zone leaders Elder Ferreira, from Paraguay. He's serving in the singles ward (English speaking). The guy we taught has been taking the lessons for like 5 months and he's ready, but he needs to quit smoking. Anyway, I had the easy part and Elder Ferreira had the hard part: I taught the 10 Commandments, he taught the Law of Chastity. It went well though. And then, later on in the week, Elder Carrazco and I went to teach a couple (probably in their 40's) who had got in touch with the bishop. I guess the guy had some experience with the church while living in Utah and he knew that the Mormons were the nicest people around. They just got to Aurora and don't know anybody and are trying to look for work, and in the meantime are staying in a motel. So that was my very first experience teaching the first lesson on the Restoration and I think it went really well. I really felt the Spirit and I think they did too. They were at church yesterday and we have another lesson scheduled (this time with a member) on Thursday. One thing I noticed though was that I was definitely doing most of the talking and it kind of annoyed me, but then Elder Carrazco later told me that he just has trouble with the English. And that's exactly how I would be if it was in Spanish, so I understood completely. He's a really good companion, diligent and obedient.
(In response to my telling him about the Prop. 8 rulings last week...) What else...I didn't hear about any of the Prop 8 stuff, very interesting. We'll have to see what happens. Luckily I'm not in Boulder, haha. But I do want to go there, it'll probably be very familiar. Anytime anyone here describes it, it sounds like they're describing Berkeley, haha.
Anyway, I'm doing good and I hope everything is going well. Oh by the way, the weather is CRAZY. It was high 70's and sunny when I got here, for about 3 days, and then the next day it was snowing! Then that same day it was snowing AND sunny at the same time, and then the next day it was high 70's again! Crazy.
Well this is going to be a very hectic P-day, I'll probably be more tired after it than before. Oh well. Some guys are playing basketball at 2 so I'm excited for that. Until next week!
Love,
David
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Elder Ek week 7. 11 days to Germany
Hallo Alle Leute!!!!
Ich bin sehr begeistert bald nach Deutschland zu fliegen! 11 Tage!!
I am very excited to fly to Germany! 11 days!!
Another week has come and gone. More German has been learned, more practice lessons have been taught and more spirit has been felt. Hooray for the passive voice! The only verb tenses and voices left to cover are...none! Well at least here anyways. Subjunctive I is still out there...
All my efforts now are geared toward the gospel in German. I've taken up trying to read the Book of Mormon in German exclusively, which is still rather difficult. Rest assured that progress is being made.
I spent a great deal of the last two days in the doctor's office where my other two companions had appointments. Elder Jorgensen had to get his big toenail ripped off and Elder Zenger had to go outside of the MTC (!!!!) to Spanish Fork for a chiropractor. Very exciting. The only damage I've sustained has been to my suits. I got up from dinner to find some butter on the right side, apparently from a misguided attempt to grab a roll behind a butter tub. This was the first day I had worn that dark blue suit too. Oh well, at least my body is intact!
This upcoming week, our schedule will start to change as we have random meetings to prepare for Germany. It helps to break up the monotony that ocassionally causes me to lose focus. I may be able to read German decently enough, but I doubt I'll understand even 50% of what's spoken to me when I get off the plane. Not the greatest concern.
I'd like to share some thoughts I had this morning while reading Alma 32. The chapter is esteemed for verse 21 when it talks about faith, but I found some other critical points that lie hidden in the whole context of the chapter. Alma likens faith to a seed, which upon being planted will usher in a general sense of goodness. As that seed begins to grow, we see the fruit of our efforts to grow it manifest in many ways. The point I'd like to emphasize is how that faith is not a perfect knowledge or fruit-bearing right away. People may look at the message we share or the gospel in general and not see how it immediately bears fruit for them, how it directly makes their life better. The point is that we have to take that step, have that hope that there might be something to it. Anytime we open our hearts, we will have the opportunity to find truth. The point is developing this faith is not to have the end result immediately. It's to see how it feels as we go gradually along its path.
Whew almost made a blatant grammar error just now. Probably have before. Gotta go time is out love ya bye
Ich bin sehr begeistert bald nach Deutschland zu fliegen! 11 Tage!!
I am very excited to fly to Germany! 11 days!!
Another week has come and gone. More German has been learned, more practice lessons have been taught and more spirit has been felt. Hooray for the passive voice! The only verb tenses and voices left to cover are...none! Well at least here anyways. Subjunctive I is still out there...
All my efforts now are geared toward the gospel in German. I've taken up trying to read the Book of Mormon in German exclusively, which is still rather difficult. Rest assured that progress is being made.
I spent a great deal of the last two days in the doctor's office where my other two companions had appointments. Elder Jorgensen had to get his big toenail ripped off and Elder Zenger had to go outside of the MTC (!!!!) to Spanish Fork for a chiropractor. Very exciting. The only damage I've sustained has been to my suits. I got up from dinner to find some butter on the right side, apparently from a misguided attempt to grab a roll behind a butter tub. This was the first day I had worn that dark blue suit too. Oh well, at least my body is intact!
This upcoming week, our schedule will start to change as we have random meetings to prepare for Germany. It helps to break up the monotony that ocassionally causes me to lose focus. I may be able to read German decently enough, but I doubt I'll understand even 50% of what's spoken to me when I get off the plane. Not the greatest concern.
I'd like to share some thoughts I had this morning while reading Alma 32. The chapter is esteemed for verse 21 when it talks about faith, but I found some other critical points that lie hidden in the whole context of the chapter. Alma likens faith to a seed, which upon being planted will usher in a general sense of goodness. As that seed begins to grow, we see the fruit of our efforts to grow it manifest in many ways. The point I'd like to emphasize is how that faith is not a perfect knowledge or fruit-bearing right away. People may look at the message we share or the gospel in general and not see how it immediately bears fruit for them, how it directly makes their life better. The point is that we have to take that step, have that hope that there might be something to it. Anytime we open our hearts, we will have the opportunity to find truth. The point is developing this faith is not to have the end result immediately. It's to see how it feels as we go gradually along its path.
Whew almost made a blatant grammar error just now. Probably have before. Gotta go time is out love ya bye
Thursday, February 26, 2009
February 26, 2009 from Elder Cheng
Hello All!!!
I dont have much time again today so i want to leave quick miracle story that happened yesterday, so yesterday we were having companionship inventory and we were trying to better our relationship and then this less active showed up at the chruch! We didnt finish our inventory but the less active insisted on singing hymns because it makes him feel better. He also wanted to resist some temptations and thoughts in his mind that satan was giving him. So after singing hymns with him, he felt better, and so did my compnaion and I. It was just hat we neede to solve our problems: keeping our focus on others and not ourselves.
So whenever tyemptation comes your way. Sing hymns and itll cast satan's thoughts away. It worked ywesterday and it will still continue to work. Have faith and pray and sing hymns! Missionary is amazing! We see mircales so often and it reasssures us that HF has a plan for every single one of us. He is always watchign and protecting us.
Until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
I dont have much time again today so i want to leave quick miracle story that happened yesterday, so yesterday we were having companionship inventory and we were trying to better our relationship and then this less active showed up at the chruch! We didnt finish our inventory but the less active insisted on singing hymns because it makes him feel better. He also wanted to resist some temptations and thoughts in his mind that satan was giving him. So after singing hymns with him, he felt better, and so did my compnaion and I. It was just hat we neede to solve our problems: keeping our focus on others and not ourselves.
So whenever tyemptation comes your way. Sing hymns and itll cast satan's thoughts away. It worked ywesterday and it will still continue to work. Have faith and pray and sing hymns! Missionary is amazing! We see mircales so often and it reasssures us that HF has a plan for every single one of us. He is always watchign and protecting us.
Until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
18 Days to Germany! Letter from LB Feb. 26
Hey Everyone,
I can't believe it's already Thursday once more. I know I'm going to wake up one morning after my mission and feel like it's only been a short dream. Ridiculous.
Things have been going well in general. The toughest thing remains trying to focus for every minute every day. The routine has certainly set in and I'm working against it. With March 16 right around the corner, a little anxiety builds daily.
One funny story: my district was looking at a computer screen and I jokingly tried to stretch and block out their view. A couple people started laughing a lot, and then finally someone told me that a seam right next to my *ahem* behind was exposed. Haha. I have no idea still when I could've ripped them. This marks the second pair of pants that I've messed up already, putting me on pace for about one a month for the rest of my mission. I got the first pair back finally this week, and the cuff is patched well enough to not be noticable.
Now for something more thought provoking. I've been contemplating the role of choices and experiences in our life. I must say that getting my mind around the idea that every trial and struggle can be applied to benefit us is difficult. Often we never see the point of how these ebbs and flows strengthen us in the long run. There have been times in my life where I've said, "Well, if this had turned out this way then I wouldn't have this problem or my life would just be better." I now find this manner of thought futile. Really, every rough patch or constant struggle provides us with a new opportunity to learn. It's why we're here. It takes a consitently positive, upbeat attitude to turn these negatives into something better. I know I have to improve my mindset in that regard. Too often do I let the opinion or actions of others weigh me down. In the MTC, I will admit that ocassionally I have the desire to just be by myself and study because the other missionaries are acting childish. As I start to think about how I'd wish they just simmer down, I have realized that I become just as distracted even though I'm not participating in the conversation.
I'm grateful for every experience in my life. It's how I know for myself what true happiness is.
Okay gotta run sorry but love ya!!!
Elder Ek
I can't believe it's already Thursday once more. I know I'm going to wake up one morning after my mission and feel like it's only been a short dream. Ridiculous.
Things have been going well in general. The toughest thing remains trying to focus for every minute every day. The routine has certainly set in and I'm working against it. With March 16 right around the corner, a little anxiety builds daily.
One funny story: my district was looking at a computer screen and I jokingly tried to stretch and block out their view. A couple people started laughing a lot, and then finally someone told me that a seam right next to my *ahem* behind was exposed. Haha. I have no idea still when I could've ripped them. This marks the second pair of pants that I've messed up already, putting me on pace for about one a month for the rest of my mission. I got the first pair back finally this week, and the cuff is patched well enough to not be noticable.
Now for something more thought provoking. I've been contemplating the role of choices and experiences in our life. I must say that getting my mind around the idea that every trial and struggle can be applied to benefit us is difficult. Often we never see the point of how these ebbs and flows strengthen us in the long run. There have been times in my life where I've said, "Well, if this had turned out this way then I wouldn't have this problem or my life would just be better." I now find this manner of thought futile. Really, every rough patch or constant struggle provides us with a new opportunity to learn. It's why we're here. It takes a consitently positive, upbeat attitude to turn these negatives into something better. I know I have to improve my mindset in that regard. Too often do I let the opinion or actions of others weigh me down. In the MTC, I will admit that ocassionally I have the desire to just be by myself and study because the other missionaries are acting childish. As I start to think about how I'd wish they just simmer down, I have realized that I become just as distracted even though I'm not participating in the conversation.
I'm grateful for every experience in my life. It's how I know for myself what true happiness is.
Okay gotta run sorry but love ya!!!
Elder Ek
Monday, January 26, 2009
Elder Stanley Cheng Jan. 26
Hey everybody!
every week i feel im getting less and lesss time to email. but, this week has been totally awesome. my companion and i were tlaking about it yesterday and it is amazing how we see so many miracles here in kwun tong! it is a huge area, and known for it's crazies (crazy people). for instance, there are two peopel we always see and talk about. they are 1. the dancing man (who dances when he sees us msisionaries) and 2. the grabber (who grabs caucasian missionaries for some reason because he's drunk) luckily i was never touched by his dirty hands. he always seems to pick my companion, which i'm ok with just as long as he doesnt grab me. haha.
but anyway, kwun tong is amazing. just last week, we picked up a few new investigators. they arent progressing yet because we've only seen them all and taught them once. but everybody has different concerns so everybody is unique. i just love being a missionary. its so good to do what we're doing.
just yesterday i was thinking about how if people realize what we do from day to day, basically going out and finding, peopel would think we have an easy job. but it isnt at all! if i was still at school and i heard that msisionaries just walked outside, i would think the same too. but one thing i realized since ive been a msisionary is: everyday, we are filled with the spirit and we need to keep that spirit flowing thorughout everybody we meet and this is the most challenging part! even being filled with the spirit is draining and tiring, just liek going to the temple. so in a sense, this is one of the toughest things i've done because every night, we come home and we are definitely drained from every such thing that i said previously. but, this is the missinoary life and it is enjoyable.
i rememebr telling y'all that time was moving by slowly, but now, it is flying by fast! it really is. i realized that i'm almost into 6 months of the mission. 1/4 done with the mission! oh man. now that i think of that, i want to work harder because tiem is really short!
so, because time is short, i'll end with a message about jesus christ's atonement. i was reading the liahona from january of this month and read about the power of the savior's atonemtn in one short story. that made me think about it a little more. i was given this same topic to share about in zone conference and this topic really is important. jesus christ's atonement does so much for us! the two biggetst things is helping us overcome the to obstacles preventing us from returning to God (physical and spiritual death). but the atonement can also help so much more. having knowledge of the atonement means constantly striving to be better people and not let more drops of blood spill from our savior. i encourage you all to think about theatonement more, especially during sacrament meeting when you partake the sacrament. since ive been a mssinoary, my testimony of the chruch has grown so much. ive come to understand the atonement more and i strive to keep continuiing to build up this knowledge and testimony. i say these things in the name of jesus christ, amen.
sorry for all the typos, i was typing fast to get it all out.
until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
every week i feel im getting less and lesss time to email. but, this week has been totally awesome. my companion and i were tlaking about it yesterday and it is amazing how we see so many miracles here in kwun tong! it is a huge area, and known for it's crazies (crazy people). for instance, there are two peopel we always see and talk about. they are 1. the dancing man (who dances when he sees us msisionaries) and 2. the grabber (who grabs caucasian missionaries for some reason because he's drunk) luckily i was never touched by his dirty hands. he always seems to pick my companion, which i'm ok with just as long as he doesnt grab me. haha.
but anyway, kwun tong is amazing. just last week, we picked up a few new investigators. they arent progressing yet because we've only seen them all and taught them once. but everybody has different concerns so everybody is unique. i just love being a missionary. its so good to do what we're doing.
just yesterday i was thinking about how if people realize what we do from day to day, basically going out and finding, peopel would think we have an easy job. but it isnt at all! if i was still at school and i heard that msisionaries just walked outside, i would think the same too. but one thing i realized since ive been a msisionary is: everyday, we are filled with the spirit and we need to keep that spirit flowing thorughout everybody we meet and this is the most challenging part! even being filled with the spirit is draining and tiring, just liek going to the temple. so in a sense, this is one of the toughest things i've done because every night, we come home and we are definitely drained from every such thing that i said previously. but, this is the missinoary life and it is enjoyable.
i rememebr telling y'all that time was moving by slowly, but now, it is flying by fast! it really is. i realized that i'm almost into 6 months of the mission. 1/4 done with the mission! oh man. now that i think of that, i want to work harder because tiem is really short!
so, because time is short, i'll end with a message about jesus christ's atonement. i was reading the liahona from january of this month and read about the power of the savior's atonemtn in one short story. that made me think about it a little more. i was given this same topic to share about in zone conference and this topic really is important. jesus christ's atonement does so much for us! the two biggetst things is helping us overcome the to obstacles preventing us from returning to God (physical and spiritual death). but the atonement can also help so much more. having knowledge of the atonement means constantly striving to be better people and not let more drops of blood spill from our savior. i encourage you all to think about theatonement more, especially during sacrament meeting when you partake the sacrament. since ive been a mssinoary, my testimony of the chruch has grown so much. ive come to understand the atonement more and i strive to keep continuiing to build up this knowledge and testimony. i say these things in the name of jesus christ, amen.
sorry for all the typos, i was typing fast to get it all out.
until next week!
Elder Stanley Cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Elder Bradford Jan. 22
Well, I'm on Day 16 at the MTC. Only 46 more to go, not that I'm counting. But seriously, the MTC is great. A lot of people are having trouble with getting used to it, but I've adapted pretty well. My companion's name is Elder Bolo, from Redding, CA. He just came to the U.S. two years ago from the Philippines, but he is very good at English for being here only two years. Now he'll be trilingual. He's also going to the Colorado Denver North mission, Spanish speaking, along with one other person from our district, Elder Shaw, from Charlotte, North Carolina. We used to have another in our district going to Denver (Elder Robinson), but he was too good at Spanish so he moved up to an intermediate district. There are 10 in all in our district, from such far corners of the earth as Payson Utah, Spanish Fork Utah, Orem Utah, and...get this, Rexburg Idaho! Out of the 10, two are from California, two are from North Carolina (go figure!) and the rest are from Utah and Idaho. Another weird fact about our district, I'm actually the tallest one. I'm not short, but I'm still not above 6 feet, so it feels good to be tall. We had another district come into our zone yesterday and they have some very tall guys. Anyway, I love our district and our zone, we get a long well.
The Spanish is coming along. A lot of people are getting frustrated with it, but people forget that we've only been here for 2 weeks. We're all doing very well considering it's only been 2 weeks. I already know how to pray and testify and get to know someone in Spanish pretty well. Spiritually, it's been great as well. High points include singing "How Firm a Foundation" as a whole congregation, watching the new Joseph Smith movie, and hearing Elder Jeffrey R. Holland address us at last Tuesday's devotional. I'm learning the lessons out of Preach My Gospel pretty well, and Elder Bolo and I are greatly improving at our ability to teach them.
The food is good most of the time and basketball is good all of the time. I've enjoyed the mail I've received. I don't feel too cooped up yet, but I can tell that in 7 weeks, I'll definitely be ready to get out of here and go to work.
I'm thinking of you and I'll keep you updated periodically.
Love,Elder David Bradford
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Elder Stanley Cheng
sorry i dont have much tiem today
ill just leave with a good message
everyday im seeing my testimony grow and grow! i totally want to help these people in hong kong hear about the gospel. i need to keep trying harder and harder. luckily, i still have over a year to keep doing this compared to my companions who have less than 10 months left. if anybody has anymore ideas about different contacting ideas, that would be great! the new year is coming up and it will definitely be exciting in hong kong when everybody will be super spirited beyond comprehension! i have baptism pictures but i cant upload them because itll take too long. maybe ill upload them next week.
until next week!
elder cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
ill just leave with a good message
everyday im seeing my testimony grow and grow! i totally want to help these people in hong kong hear about the gospel. i need to keep trying harder and harder. luckily, i still have over a year to keep doing this compared to my companions who have less than 10 months left. if anybody has anymore ideas about different contacting ideas, that would be great! the new year is coming up and it will definitely be exciting in hong kong when everybody will be super spirited beyond comprehension! i have baptism pictures but i cant upload them because itll take too long. maybe ill upload them next week.
until next week!
elder cheng
Elder Stanley Cheng
China Hong Kong Mission
July 2008 - July 2010
Friday, January 16, 2009
Change of pace...but only Stanley seems to send the group emails
David Bradford
to me
show details 12:05 PM (17 hours ago)
Reply
connie!
saw LB today. looking fresh, almost as fresh as me! haha. anyway, tell your sister congratulations, aunt connie. sounds awesome. a letter will be mailed to you soon, but first, where should I send it? agh! i hope you'll see this today and I'll be able to check later on in the day. i assume probably san francisco? but i don't know.
talk to you later!
tu amigo mejor,
david
haha if you log off, they round up how many minutes you have left. so everytime i log off before a minute is up, i get another minute. but anyway, after my indecipherable email back, don't email me because i can only check on p-day. continue dear elder! peace!
david
to me
show details 12:05 PM (17 hours ago)
Reply
connie!
saw LB today. looking fresh, almost as fresh as me! haha. anyway, tell your sister congratulations, aunt connie. sounds awesome. a letter will be mailed to you soon, but first, where should I send it? agh! i hope you'll see this today and I'll be able to check later on in the day. i assume probably san francisco? but i don't know.
talk to you later!
tu amigo mejor,
david
| show details 3:21 PM (13 hours ago) |
|
agh i got 20 seconds left. they monitor! don't email me! dear elder. i con only check once a week bye!!1
- Show quoted text -
| Reply | Forward |
| show details 3:25 PM (13 hours ago) |
|
david
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Jan 8, 09 Elder Cheng
Hello friends and family!
So this week has been the start of the year 2009!!! I actually don't feel anymore different than before. I wish I did. There was nothing big from the turning point of 08 to 09. And we aren't even writing the dates that often to remind me that we're in a new year. I guess I'm looking forward to Chinese New Years which is actually going to be HUGE here in Hong Kong. From what I've heard, people from all over the place come to Hong Kong and tour the streets. I'm looking forward to seeing the dancing lion act! (Hopefully they have it here and not only in America). If you're a native Hong Kong serving a mission in Hong Kong, yo are allowed to go home and eat dinner for this holiday. I still need to ask the mission President if i could do that because i do have family in hong kong, just not immediate family. But we'll see.
So the baptisms this past Sunday were great. Two were baptized and both had amazing experiences at that testimony meeting. One in particular is going through some big trials. He lost his job a couple of days ago, but then just this morning, he called and told us that they hired him back! We saw him a few days ago and we kept on encouraging him to do his best. Amazingly, he had already told himself to be happy regardless of the worldly things around him. My companion and I were super surprised that even after losing his job, he still told himself he would be happy. We then shared Elder Holland's talk with him about angels being around us, and then he took the angels thing very literally and started thinking that everybody in his life is an angel, which made him even more happier. It was actually kind of funny though. But he is a great guy and he has yet to be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost.
This past Sunday was fast Sunday and the spirit was so strong that i was actually compelled to go up and bear my testimony. Never in my life had I ever volunteered to go up and bear my testimony on fast Sundays. This was an awesome experience. As a missionary, I feel so much more in tune with the spirit and can feel the love that i have for all the people on this world, especially the Hong Kong people.
So this week's message is about setting goals for 2009! One thing that I have learned on this mission is that goal setting is important. We set so many goals as missionaries. We set big goals and small goals to reach those big goals. That can work for your lives as well! set a big goal, say to go on a vacation for summer of 2009, and you set some small goals, say save $X each month to have enough to go, plus how you're going to save money each month. But always remember that when you set goals, you need to continue to remind yourself about the goals. So write them down in a planner and review them often! Goal setting has changed my life, and if i can keep this up after my mission, i have a clear focus as to what i want to do with my life. so set goals, and make a plan to achieve them!
Happy New Year!
Elder Stanley Cheng
So this week has been the start of the year 2009!!! I actually don't feel anymore different than before. I wish I did. There was nothing big from the turning point of 08 to 09. And we aren't even writing the dates that often to remind me that we're in a new year. I guess I'm looking forward to Chinese New Years which is actually going to be HUGE here in Hong Kong. From what I've heard, people from all over the place come to Hong Kong and tour the streets. I'm looking forward to seeing the dancing lion act! (Hopefully they have it here and not only in America). If you're a native Hong Kong serving a mission in Hong Kong, yo are allowed to go home and eat dinner for this holiday. I still need to ask the mission President if i could do that because i do have family in hong kong, just not immediate family. But we'll see.
So the baptisms this past Sunday were great. Two were baptized and both had amazing experiences at that testimony meeting. One in particular is going through some big trials. He lost his job a couple of days ago, but then just this morning, he called and told us that they hired him back! We saw him a few days ago and we kept on encouraging him to do his best. Amazingly, he had already told himself to be happy regardless of the worldly things around him. My companion and I were super surprised that even after losing his job, he still told himself he would be happy. We then shared Elder Holland's talk with him about angels being around us, and then he took the angels thing very literally and started thinking that everybody in his life is an angel, which made him even more happier. It was actually kind of funny though. But he is a great guy and he has yet to be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost.
This past Sunday was fast Sunday and the spirit was so strong that i was actually compelled to go up and bear my testimony. Never in my life had I ever volunteered to go up and bear my testimony on fast Sundays. This was an awesome experience. As a missionary, I feel so much more in tune with the spirit and can feel the love that i have for all the people on this world, especially the Hong Kong people.
So this week's message is about setting goals for 2009! One thing that I have learned on this mission is that goal setting is important. We set so many goals as missionaries. We set big goals and small goals to reach those big goals. That can work for your lives as well! set a big goal, say to go on a vacation for summer of 2009, and you set some small goals, say save $X each month to have enough to go, plus how you're going to save money each month. But always remember that when you set goals, you need to continue to remind yourself about the goals. So write them down in a planner and review them often! Goal setting has changed my life, and if i can keep this up after my mission, i have a clear focus as to what i want to do with my life. so set goals, and make a plan to achieve them!
Happy New Year!
Elder Stanley Cheng
January 2, 2009: Elder Cheng
Hey everyone!
These holidays have been excellent. I'm so excited for our first baptisms for the year of 2009! there will be two baptisms on January 4, 2009. im excited to be seeing the fruits of our labor. it's so amazing.
so these past couple of days i've also been seeing a lot of changes and miracles. we've been meeting a lot of people and getting new investigators. our list is always full of investigators, but nobody has wanted to progress lately. we're still working hard on them though!
the weather here is starting to get pretty cold. everywhere i go now iwear a giant coat, just because i dont have a suit coat that matched my separately-bought slacks.
my time isrunning short so this will also be short. this christmas season has helped me think of Jesus Christ more and what he's done for us. When we're contacting onthe street, i went straight to teaching jesus christ and it's been cool seeing mircales. my testimony has grown so much since i've been here in hong kong and it will only get stronger. we just need to constantly remember that jesus christ is or savior and we renew the covenants we made at baptism by taking the sacrament every sunday! keep on building your testimonies and remember to share that with people! Fast sunday is this upcoming sunday so i encourage you all to go bear your testimony on the stand! i leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
These holidays have been excellent. I'm so excited for our first baptisms for the year of 2009! there will be two baptisms on January 4, 2009. im excited to be seeing the fruits of our labor. it's so amazing.
so these past couple of days i've also been seeing a lot of changes and miracles. we've been meeting a lot of people and getting new investigators. our list is always full of investigators, but nobody has wanted to progress lately. we're still working hard on them though!
the weather here is starting to get pretty cold. everywhere i go now iwear a giant coat, just because i dont have a suit coat that matched my separately-bought slacks.
my time isrunning short so this will also be short. this christmas season has helped me think of Jesus Christ more and what he's done for us. When we're contacting onthe street, i went straight to teaching jesus christ and it's been cool seeing mircales. my testimony has grown so much since i've been here in hong kong and it will only get stronger. we just need to constantly remember that jesus christ is or savior and we renew the covenants we made at baptism by taking the sacrament every sunday! keep on building your testimonies and remember to share that with people! Fast sunday is this upcoming sunday so i encourage you all to go bear your testimony on the stand! i leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)