大家好！
I hope everything is doing well at home, and you all are staying warm as the weather gets chilly! 加油 to anyone going through midterm season :)
Elder Blankenbiller and I hit 4 months this week, and it is serious so crazy how time flies in retrospect. That's a sixth of our mission!
This week was General Conference, where we come to listen to talks and be inspired by the leaders of our church. It actually happened last week in the states, but because of the time change, it occurred on our Sunday night past midnight.
As no one is awake during that time, we wait until this week before broadcasting it (translated into Cantonese) to the members here. Although it isn't the same audio, it is really neat how the translators make an effort to convey the emotion of the speakers during translation. To make it best for us missionaries who's native language is generally English, our district also watched it in English from Friday to Saturday! The setup was awesome; we had four couches in a room for each companionship, with a big ol TV against the wall.
One of my favorite talks was Elder Kevin G. Brown's talk on testimonies. It is so true how important it is to find for ourselves. The phrase "I KNOW" has just so much power and can change our lives.
Along with Conference, this week has also not slowed down at all. One of the biggest things has been contacting. We have spent so much time scheduling and rescheduling friends with changing schedules, and my total screen time this week on WhatsApp alone has been near 12 hours :'). It has just been so tricky to consistently meet with friends. For reference, one of our friends rescheduled twice from Wednesday, and then waited until the day of to cancel, which requires moving our schedule and then our members' who was helping. In addition, our friend Mark had his baptism postponed, and can't have it until a month later because he is so busy. The hustle mentality is pretty intense here.
Due to this, I have had some thoughts on this hustle mentality, and in doing so my own life.
//
We work so hard every day, study, go to work, get a career, and maybe even start a family one day. But what is the reason behind it all? What is our life purpose?
In complete honesty, I don't fully know yet. But I have found one thing to be consistent in every goal; and that was joy. And it is through Christ that I have found that joy, which therein lies why I am here sharing it. This is why I work.
Nephi 2:25 states that
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
Even more boldly in Alma 36:34 it reads,
"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
I know that one of the reasons we are here is to recieve joy through coming unto our Father in heaven and His Son. Even though we each have our busy schedules, we must try to see if there is something more to why we are here; to see if these things are true for ourselves!
I myself know there is, even though I am still learning. So try it out if you haven't yet! :)
//
Apart from this, we've done some fun things this week. For Mid Autumn Festival, Elder Chen and I were treated to hotpot with our members 馬兄弟 and 馬姊妹! I also tried basketball finding for the first time, and met a friend who was willing to learn more about Christ! Our apartment also went and played more basketball first thing in the morning, which forced us to get ready really fast haha. We also played some ping pong with an investigator, a less active, and some older members, and it was an awesome chance to get to know them.
That's all for this week! I hope you all have an awesome week and make sure to reach out if you have time!
Mission album! https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7
記住神愛你
See you next weeekk
趙長老
Read More About This Post
I hope everything is doing well at home, and you all are staying warm as the weather gets chilly! 加油 to anyone going through midterm season :)
Elder Blankenbiller and I hit 4 months this week, and it is serious so crazy how time flies in retrospect. That's a sixth of our mission!
This week was General Conference, where we come to listen to talks and be inspired by the leaders of our church. It actually happened last week in the states, but because of the time change, it occurred on our Sunday night past midnight.
As no one is awake during that time, we wait until this week before broadcasting it (translated into Cantonese) to the members here. Although it isn't the same audio, it is really neat how the translators make an effort to convey the emotion of the speakers during translation. To make it best for us missionaries who's native language is generally English, our district also watched it in English from Friday to Saturday! The setup was awesome; we had four couches in a room for each companionship, with a big ol TV against the wall.
One of my favorite talks was Elder Kevin G. Brown's talk on testimonies. It is so true how important it is to find for ourselves. The phrase "I KNOW" has just so much power and can change our lives.
Along with Conference, this week has also not slowed down at all. One of the biggest things has been contacting. We have spent so much time scheduling and rescheduling friends with changing schedules, and my total screen time this week on WhatsApp alone has been near 12 hours :'). It has just been so tricky to consistently meet with friends. For reference, one of our friends rescheduled twice from Wednesday, and then waited until the day of to cancel, which requires moving our schedule and then our members' who was helping. In addition, our friend Mark had his baptism postponed, and can't have it until a month later because he is so busy. The hustle mentality is pretty intense here.
Due to this, I have had some thoughts on this hustle mentality, and in doing so my own life.
//
We work so hard every day, study, go to work, get a career, and maybe even start a family one day. But what is the reason behind it all? What is our life purpose?
In complete honesty, I don't fully know yet. But I have found one thing to be consistent in every goal; and that was joy. And it is through Christ that I have found that joy, which therein lies why I am here sharing it. This is why I work.
Nephi 2:25 states that
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
Even more boldly in Alma 36:34 it reads,
"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
I know that one of the reasons we are here is to recieve joy through coming unto our Father in heaven and His Son. Even though we each have our busy schedules, we must try to see if there is something more to why we are here; to see if these things are true for ourselves!
I myself know there is, even though I am still learning. So try it out if you haven't yet! :)
//
Apart from this, we've done some fun things this week. For Mid Autumn Festival, Elder Chen and I were treated to hotpot with our members 馬兄弟 and 馬姊妹! I also tried basketball finding for the first time, and met a friend who was willing to learn more about Christ! Our apartment also went and played more basketball first thing in the morning, which forced us to get ready really fast haha. We also played some ping pong with an investigator, a less active, and some older members, and it was an awesome chance to get to know them.
That's all for this week! I hope you all have an awesome week and make sure to reach out if you have time!
Mission album! https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7
記住神愛你
See you next weeekk
趙長老
BYU MyMAP haha
Elder McClellan (back left) and Elder Freeman (front right)'s first hot pot 😋
晚餐同馬兄弟和馬姊妹！✌️✌️
Lesson with Henry 😌
Elder Chen's 瘡 medicine 💀
Morning basketball 😁
Ping pong!!
姚兄弟和姚姊妹請咗我哋食飯 🫶
clapped 💔
District General Conference!!
Tamjai!
General Conference!!
