More Flowers, More Faith

He Says Its a $50 Suit

Hello on another beautiful day! I pray that all is well with you and the world after another week. Blooming flowers and blossoming testimonies have made this quite a beautiful week indeed.

 

It has been a rewarding week, with several investigators progressing to accepting commitments amid much joy. The district is doing well, and all are working hard. With an emphasis on the focus and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses our lives, I feel that we have been able to share more effectively the blessings that come from living the Gospel and accordingly offer commitments that lead to this joy.

 

We were blessed to be able to see some incredible miracles this week. The first involves Zack, with whom we met thrice this week, including his coming to General Conference (which we got to watch in Chinese for that session, to Elder Jones' {his Korean and English speaking companion} great chagrin). Last Monday, however, we taught him the Restoration, which he accepted very, very well, and really believed it to be true. We then taught the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, in preparation for him to be baptized, and were slightly worried considering a lingering smell of smoke and a girlfriend, but it went perfectly. He accepted it matter-of-factly and gratefully, and although he smoked a little, I guess just starting when he came to Korea, he said that he wasn't addicted, and immediately gave up his cigarettes and lighter to Sister Deng on her request. Everything really was just a miracle in every sense of the word. We also asked him if he had had a chance to read from The Book of Mormon, which we had given him about five days earlier, and he opened to Second Nephi 19, about a hundred pages in, and had some very insightful comments and favorite parts thus far.

Spring Panorama

Last night I was thinking about how we are seeming to teach a good number of Chinese people, and I was curious concerning numbers. For last week's scheduled lessons, about 53 percent were Chinese, and in the past three weeks, we had the same amount of Chinese lessons scheduled as Korean and all others combined. President has given us permission to take extra time every day to study Chinese, but frankly, there just is not time, meaning language study is often Chinese, which means Korean... anyway, it's interesting to see how things have worked out, and I just want to serve however I can wherever I am. Yesterday we were waiting for a Chinese appointment to show up with the sisters, and after about ten minutes, some other people walked by speaking Chinese, so we went to talk with them. I talked with one guy for a bit, and he's really cool, but then I spoke to his friend. I asked him if he was from China too, and he said that he was from France. I thought he was just messing with me at first, so I incredulously dropped my jaw. When I recovered ("Ff...france?") ((Ff...Fa Guo?)), he confirmed with his perfect Chinese, and switched to perfect French. It blew my mind. My mind, no less my tongue, was tangled with the sudden change. We're meeting them this week.

Jackie was another special experience this week. He is very, very busy, and often works fourteen hour days, but we were able to meet with him this past week. He just has desire. He wants to be baptized and become a faithful, committed member of the church, but he gets off of work at 6 on Sundays, and has signed a contract for that to be the case. His day off now is Wednesday, and he in his humility and faithfulness said that he will discuss with his boss to try to get this changed to Sunday. He also passed his test on the step to becoming a firefighter, though, and he hopes to procure that job soon, which would allow for church attendance.

Beautiful Kyung Hee University

General Conference was amazing. Many incredible talks. I loved the ideas of rock-solid integrity and personal courage in the face of opposition, which courage is no less if "no drums beat for you." As we give our whole heart to this work, He will magnify us. Really great talks. I want to let it change me. Study has been a blessing as well. I just felt this week more strongly the assurance of God's love, and although we always lack faith, He in His mercy wants to make Himself known unto us. I was reading this week in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 33: "Open your mouths and they shall be filled... Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you. Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled." I am so grateful for this opportunity to share, and we will continue to do so, to as many of God's children as we can. It's a good life.

All of my love,

南慕明 长老