First things first, I thought I would tell you my visa news as of right now. We asked today, and the travel office told us we will likely be reassigned.. I am a little disappointed, because my Mandarin may go bad, and I won't be able to go with my district to Taiwan. But it's okay, because I know it's the Lord's choice, and whatever happens is His will. However, that doesn't mean you can't all still pray that everything still works out, because I know I will be praying as hard as I can.
Besides the news I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this last week was really good! Last Monday we Skyped people in Taiwan for the first time. It was really fun, and the guy we skyped was really awesome. He joined the church last year, even though his parents weren't members. He would sneak to church every Sunday, and finally his mom (who had known all along.. I think.. remember he said most of this is Mandarin) asked him where he went every Sunday. He said he was going to church, and that he really believed it was true. She wasn't mad, and told him it was alright. He really wants to go on a mission, and he might after he is done with school. He was so cool, and asked for our emails so he could email us.
Then on Tuesday Elder Oaks came and talked to us! It was really amazing to get to listen to an apostle, he was so good. And then on Thanksgiving we had another apostle come! Elder Bednar came in the morning and talked to us. But he didn't even give a talk; rather, he sent out about 50 or so cell phones into the audience, and asked each of us to text a certain number any questions we had for him. The rest of the meeting was just questions and answer, and it was so great!
After Elder Bednar we had lunch, which wasn't so bad.. not as bad as it could be. I got to eat pie and stuffing and turkey, so that was good. After that we got to go to a humanitarian program, and learn about all the things we do in the church for others. Then we did a service project, where we filled baggies with food, I don't know how much we made, but I think we made hundreds of thousands of little food baggies. Following the service project we ate dinner as a district in our class room, they were just sack dinners but it's okay because we all brought food from our residence and had a lot of food.
We then got to watch a special missionary Thanksgiving program, where missionaries performed and we did a little Thanksgiving program, it was really fun, but after that we got to watch Meet the Mormons! We were all so excited, and I thought it was so good! I hope it helps with bringing people to the gospel. And as a finale to our whole day the MTC presidency put up the Christmas lights in the MTC! It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever!!!
Finally on Sunday we had vocal come for our devotional. I almost liked it more than any other devotional, because the spirit they brought with the music was amazing, and I really miss music.
A special experience I had this week that I wanted to share- In our Mandarin class once a week someone will pick a chapter of the Book of Mormon we can read and discuss as a class. I went this week and chose 1 Nephi 21. It talks all about the atonement and missionary work. We discussed why we do missionary work, and it's because the Lord has made a promise that He will reach out to everyone, and we, as missionaries, are the tools he uses to do that. People are looking for Christ, and Christ wants to show them that He does remember them. However, a lot of times He needs us to reach out for Him. He needs us to extend the hand that He so wishes He could extend Himself. When we say we are representatives of the Savior, we really mean it. We are representing the Savior in reaching out to the lost sheep. I also shared a quote I had in my scriptures-
I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair.14 From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.”15 The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.”16 Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.Brothers and sisters, whatever your distress, please don’t give up and please don’t yield to fear. (That's from Elder Hollands 2006 talk Broken things to Mend)
Things are going really well here. I only have 2 weeks left! Even if I get reassigned I will be okay. Thank you all for your emails and packages, I love all of you. PRAY FOR MY VISA. Thank you
Love,
Elder Quist
No comments:
Post a Comment