Week 24

Happy Easter! And Also Happy Er Tong Jie!

This week was exciting and also exhausting! It was really hot and I got my first sunburn of the year.

Last Tuesday we went with a member back to the buffet where you can cook any meat in your hotpot. This time was a lot better because I could actually use my chopsticks and I liked the food more. I basically just ran out of time, but there was so much good food I could have kept going! 

Then on Thursday we went on exchanges with one of the assistants. He really helped us to get pumped up about missionary work, and he was a great example about talking with everyone. While contacting, I personally contacted a guy named Phillip, and I gave him a "Because He Lives" card and asked him to watch the video (the Because He Lives thing is pretty big out here, and everyone should watch it and share it with others). 

Then later that night we were on our way to WuQi, one of our areas which is about 15 or 20 minutes by bike and Elder Fox's bike got a flat tire. So we had to walk the rest of the way to WuQi. While in WuQi, though, we met a bunch of Filipinos who live in one giant apartment. They were all really willing to listen to us, and they all spoke English. Hopefully we can teach a lot of them, but there are about 50 so we will see how it goes.

Then on Friday we got to go on exchanges again, but this time I went with the zone leader. His name was Elder Ensign, and he asked if I was willing to lead the area. So for exchanges, Elder Fox went to the zone leaders' area and I had the chance to lead my area. I was a little nervous, but in the end it all worked out well! We had a really good day.  We even tracted into a house and had a great lesson with a lady and her son. 

Then that night while we were about to go home, Elder Ensign got a call telling him that in the morning we would have the chance to go Sao Mu, because this weekend was Er Tong Jie for the Taiwanese people. They don't celebrate Easter, but they had a celebration (Er Tong Jie) that is similar to Memorial Day in America. Part of it is going to the cemetery and cleaning the graves of your ancestors, that is called Sao Mu. So on Saturday morning, we woke up at 6 and rode a bus to Daya (the zone leaders' area). Then we biked from there to the place we were going to Sao Mu. However, since we rode a bus we didn't have enough bikes, so we had to take turns jogging next to the bikes! It was pretty exhausting.

Later that day we met with the investigator I met on the street on Thursday, Phillip! He was really nice and said he was willing to pray about God. We invited him to church on Sunday. However, he wasn't at church when we got there. And we waited till 9:30 and he still wasn't there. Then I went outside and called him, and when he answered it was really hard for me to hear him. One reason because he was speaking Chinese, but another reason was because all I could hear was a bunch of "Hallelujahs!" and we realized he was at the wrong Christian church! So we went and met him at a street corner and lead him to the church. It was so cool to see the person I contacted at church! We also taught him about the Restoration and scheduled to meet with him next week. 

Then we rode our bikes 40 minutes to meet with 3 kids who live in LongJing. They come to English class and said they would also come to church, Alex, Peggy and Borrus. We taught them about prayer and invited them to pray everyday together.

A pretty hot and exhausting week, but also a really good one! 

Love you all,

Elder Quist