Hellooo! 大家好！
This week flew by. We had a lot of big tasks to do in the office and also had a lot of chances to teach. Since Easter, we have had a lot of chances to keep in contact with friends and teach them. Teaching with members participating was a bit harder though, especially with some of the weird times we had scheduled the lessons. Because of it though, I got to meet our church members a lot more.
About some of our friends we taught, we were able to schedule a dude named Tiger, who had come to church a couple of times in the past. He has been able to understand gospel principles so quickly, so fast that he puts parts together before we even teach him! He is also a father, and it was really special to share my own testimony of family, as well as have our member who's had all his children serve missions testify of the transformative and blessed effects of the gospel.
In addition to Tiger we taught Quidde, who came to church in the past but got injured and couldnt make it for a while. It was actually my first time teaching him, and we introduced the Plan of Salvation lesson, which we will be sharing more because of his questions he had been so excited to ask about prior to understanding church! Here's also a link to the same pamphlet that we invited him to read if you are curious on the material we share. (The Plan of Salvation
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-plan-of-salvation/the-plan-of-salvation?lang=eng)
There are a couple of other people that we taught, who I am excited to continue to this week on. It's been hectic trying to balance these lessons in the area while also doing all of the office work, which has also been exciting.
This week we found out that one of our apartments that hadn't been paid in months. Somehow the landlord thought we had completely stopped living there, which was the reason he never reached out.
Thursday was probably the craziest day in all of the office work so far. We got a call first thing in the morning that the sisters apartment door had broken, and if they tried leaving they would not be able to reenter, thus we wanted to solve the situation as soon as possible. However, this issue hasn't happened in years, and so we had to get to the mission home to find a solution online and call the landlord to inform them. By the time we figured out everything we needed to do, we had a lesson. We had to give the information to the sisters over phone to try to figure it out themselves while we taught the lesson, and then rushed back to the office where we continued contact with the Landlord. By the time we scheduled the Landlord to go in person, we had another lesson, and the finally rushed out to the apartment where we payed the fee to replace the door handle. All this time President was having interviews, and we made a mistake with the legal accountability so all of the payment fell onto the mission. It was wild, but the beautiful thing is that everything kind of just worked out.
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This week we had the chance to watch General Conference as a district. If you didn't know, General Conference is just a conference where our church leaders and what we know as modern day prophets speak to us and inspire us on how to come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is always held in Utah, so because of the time difference we don't have the chance to watch it live in Hong Kong.
As we listened to conference, there was a really cool theme that I noticed was mentioned repeatedly throughout the talks, which was the transformative power of Christ and His Gospel. I think as missionaries it is easy to believe that 100% of your results are based on your efforts. To whatever degree our diligence may have a part in helping others come unto Christ, it is ultimately the restored Gospel and it's principles which will draw people unto the Lord; the want to change, or the questions that we have.
One of my favorite quotes was from Elder Clark G. Gilbert's talk, "Come Home." He said, "Feeling we don’t belong, struggling with doubts, or being limited by traditions are just a few of the reasons we don’t immediately answer the call to come home. But even as societal pressures pull people away from their faith, life’s deeper questions do not go away. As President Nelson taught, 'The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it!'"
The transformative power in the Gospel does not come from the convincing capability of the person bringing it, but rather the true nature of the truths it contains. I encourage you to continue or even begin to find a deeper understanding of it, of which I know will help you find meaning to your life.
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7
I am grateful for this opportunity to serve, especially in such a unique area in such a special place in the world. I hope you all have the same opportunities as you are in your own homes, schools, and jobs.
Have an amazing week!
趙長老！
