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
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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
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