This last week I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. The Lord has blessed me a lot on my mission, but this last blessing was such a testimony to me of the mercy and love of the Lord. When I first got on the island, I served here in Shalu. About half way through my time here, I met an investigator by the name of Ke Jun Hong. He was very receptive to the gospel, however, he was already baptized in another christian church, so it was very hard for him to leave his old church. We taught him of the truths of the restoration, including the Book of Mormon and priesthood authority. I was very hopeful that I would be able to attend his baptismal service. But before he was ready to be baptized, I moved to my next area. It was sad, but I accepted the will of the Lord.
Now, I have been blessed to return to Shalu. Upon my return, I learned that Ke Jun Hong had still not been baptized, but he was getting close. My first Sunday back in Shalu, Ke Jun Hong told me he was ready for baptism and that he wanted to get baptized soon. We met with him and he told us he wished to be baptized on his birthday, October 8. We made the plans and on October 8 I was able to baptize him. I know it was a tender mercy of the Lord to be able to attend his baptism and even get to perform his baptism. I gained a testimony that all the efforts we do as missionaries have a positive influence, even if we don't immediately see what that influence is.
It was truly a great week! We also got to watch General Conference. It was such a great conference weekend. I loved it! We are also working with our other investigator, Lin You Ru, who has a goal to get baptized next week. Things are good here!
As part of going home, we are required to share a miracle story with the mission president. We are supposed to write it out and send it to the secretary. I decided to share the story of how I met Huang Pin Yi. I will copy and paste it so you guys can read it too. Here it is:
I remember it as just a pretty normal day of contacting. We had decided to go to the 7-11 to make some calls. I was really focusing on talking to everyone that day, so while we were making calls at the 7, I had the chance to talk to five or six people who were sitting around the 7-11. However, it seemed that no one we were talking to that day had much interest. As the time came that we had to go to our next appointment, I saw a younger man enter the 7. He walked up to the drink section and started picking out something to drink (I think it was black tea :)). I decided I had time, so I went up and talked to him. I will be honest, I don't remember what I said, but I gave him a tract and he gave me his number. It was just a normal contact to me, as I had had at least hundreds of contacts that went like it.
A couple days later, we were planning to go to a ward activity. As we were preparing, we decided we wanted to invite as many people as we could to come. One of the people we invited was the young man we had contacted at the 7-11. However, he rejected our request, but told us he could probably meet with us the following day at about 7 o'clock.
So, the following day we planned on meeting with him. As we sat down and met with him at the church, the lesson started pretty normal. In fact, I remember having a distinctive and pretty negative thought. While we were asking him why he wanted to meet with us, he told us that the main reason to meet with us was because he wanted to hang out with some foreigners and because he didn't have a lot of friends around here (since he was currently living here for an internship). We continued to ask him questions to check his interest and for the most part he seemed to have no real reason to meet with us. The thought I had was basically like this, "Not again. Not another person who just came because he was curious about foreigners and as soon as we try to teach him anything he will immediately shut off and we will never see him again." I remember being really frustrated, because it had been a time in my mission that we had met so many people, but could not find any people who wanted to progress in the gospel. However, I decided to press on anyway. After that I got out the first lesson pamphlet and read to him the first paragraph. It talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. As soon as I began talking about this, the entire atmosphere of the room changed. All of a sudden Brother Huang's demeanor changed and he was listening very intently to our share. We invited him to pray and to meet with us again and he agreed. I left that lesson filled with the Spirit.
As the weeks went on, we continued to teach him and I am still absolutely amazed at how receptive he was to the gospel. Even though when I first met with him he seemed to have no reason for the gospel, as he learned more about it, he wanted more. I realized this was a chosen vessel of the Lord, the kind of person that Preach My Gospel says "doesn't recognize they were looking for the gospel until they have found it."
Eventually, I had the opportunity to baptize him (about 4 or 5 weeks after we met him). That day was filled with the Spirit. I was touched as he cried during our musical number and as he cried as he embraced us after. He told us it was one of the happiest days of his life and surely it was one of the happiest days of my life. This person I had contacted in the 7 had become one of my greatest friends.
The week after he got baptized, we informed the bishop that he would be a great candidate for any calling. The bishop told us he would counsel with the Lord and think about an appropriate calling for him. The next day during sacrament meeting, I was shocked when the bishop called him to be the new male young single adults representative. I knew that calling came from the Lord.
I often think about this experience and I learn much from it. One of the lessons I learned was how important it is for us to work hard and invite everyone. I could have easily left the 7-11 that first day. I didn't have to talk to him. Especially since I had already been rejected so much that day. It would have been easy to say that my efforts were useless and nobody had any real interest. But, that one contact changed his life forever and it also changed my life forever.
Another lesson I learned was to never judge a person's potential. When I first saw him I saw him as a person with no chance. I assumed he was just going to disappear, like some of the other investigators we had met. However, the Lord saw his potential. When I looked at him that first day and saw a man who was just meeting with us to find friends, the Lord saw the future young single adults representative of my ward. It was a testimony to me of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly, the gospel of Jesus Christ is able to awaken a dormant soul to the spiritual. The gospel of Jesus Christ is able to make saints out of the ordinary. That experience was a miracle to me, just as miraculous as parting a sea or healing the sick.
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