A Week In China

I don't know if many of you heard but I have been called to the Hong Kong China Mission! Or at least that's what it felt like this past week. 

In Norwich there is a massive University and a lot of students come from all over the world to study here. We are meeting people from China, Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan. Their culture is so friendly and they are really open to learning about Christianity. Last week I told you of Cecillia and how she felt she needed to believe in God. Well we taught Cecillia and her friend Karen. They are amazing. Cecillia accepted to be baptized on the 14th of June and she asked us "Can it be sooner?" Her friend wants to as well. We met another Chinese student named River and is loving learning about Jesus Christ. We will be asking him this week if he would like to be baptised as well. While we were in town we met a young woman from Thailand. She has only been here for 3 days and is studying English for 10 weeks here. She explained, "I used to believe in God in High School and I always felt happy. I used to pray and it helped me a lot with school and my family. I went to University and stopped but I want what I felt back. She accepted to be baptised on the 14th of June. All of our friends came to Stake Conference this week and is was so great! 

At Stake Conference one man spoke about leaving a rich inheritance for your future family. Not talking about worldly possessions but what you will  leave them to believe in.

When I was little I was staying home from school because I was sick. After the morning had passed I found myself really bored and turned on Disney Channel and learned the entire dance and sing along version of High School Musical. So embarrassing but it is true.  I was not interested in musicals at that time and if you would have caught me in the act or asked me about it I would have denied it. But I did have some good fun on that sick day home. Years later I found myself doing it publicly and on a stage with no shame. I think that this may be related to my spiritual state as well. I was not always excited about reading scriptures with the family. I was not the best at remembering to pray. And I really was not the best at attending church where I thought I had more important things to do on Sunday. But as I grew from a child, I now find myself doing it all on a stage as well. I have grown and am no longer ashamed and know who I am. I hope my family and friends know who I am now and I hope my future family will know who I am today. I love teaching people about what I truly know to be true. Especially when they have never heard of it before. Performing on a spiritual stage is pretty great. 

Moves calls are next week so I will be writing on Tuesday instead with the news on whether I stay or go. Have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder David

Hard Weeks That End Well

By my subject I can trust that all of you have had similar weeks through out your life. 

Think back to the week where things have not gone as plan. Some of you might laugh and say," Well that sounds just like every single week of my life." This week has been one of those for me in the mission field. We found some amazing people this week. I thought that they were so prepared and they seemed so eager to meet. We set times and places to meet and one after another cancelled or didn't pick up the phone when we call to confirm. Every day it seemed to be the case. These men and woman seemed so great and eager to learn about what we were going to teach them but, in the end, were not. The icing on the crumbling cake of our week came on Saturday. We had 2 appointments we were quite excited about and both the people confirmed to be there. We were feeling quite confident and excited. But as the week had suggested they were not true to their word and didn't show. We had faced this all week and so we didn't mourn too much over this disappointment. We quickly decided to go work. We drove to the University and decide to walk around the campus talking to people. We only had about 25 minutes to do this until our other appointment started. We said a prayer in the car and went to work. Within 5 minutes we met our new Chinese investigator named River. We will be seeing him this coming Wednesday. We were thankful for that blessing and continued on talking to people. We reach the end of the road and decide we have to head back to the car. While walking back we see this girl crossing the street and she ends up walking right next to us. I try speaking the only Chinese I know and she laughs and replies back to my sentence about the weather. We then start talking about God and looks at us with the most excited face and exclaims,"Do you believe in God?! I have been thinking lately that I need to believe in God and follow him so I can be happier. Can you teach me about God?" The smile I was holding was about to  expand wider than my cheeks could handle. We graciously accepted to teach her. She then said,"I also have a friend who feels the same as me. Can you teach both of us?" We will be seeing Cecillia and her friend this coming week. 

It was a miracle. We shouldn't have been where we were at that time if our previous appointment had shown. The Lord is preparing his children and we didn't have the full picture. We were only able to see one face of the diamond while God saw all six. That changed our not so good week into a fantastic week. We had experienced the lows so that we could more fully appreciate meeting Cecillia. I am thankful that the Lords tears us down so we can be built stronger and experience more happiness. I think that's whats going to make Heaven, Heaven. We have experienced the difficulties of mortality and if we endure it well, we will be able to rest in the mansions prepared with our Father.

I will talk with you all this coming week! 

Here are some pictures of Cromer. It is such a beautiful city in our area! Enjoy! 

Love,

Elder David 

Happy Mothers Day!

Yesterday was great being able to Skype home to the family. Everyone is looking nice and healthy. Looks like AJ has gotten just a bit stronger, Miranda a bit sassier, and Dalton more mature!  It is so weird being away and how life still continues. I found myself not really able to talk about things that were not on spiritual level. So I apologize in advance for how weird I will be when I return to the mother ship of Colorado. My companion said, "Man your family has a thick American accent and you sound nothing like them." British accent here I come!! I got to talk with his family as well in the 4 sentences of Portuguese that I know. I guess they invited me to stay with them when (not if) I go to visit. They seem really cool and nice. 

This week has been a pretty good week! Nothing too out of the ordinary to be honest. It seems like my days of getting yelled at and beer poured over me are temporarily postponed. I am now in a civilized English town so not too much of that up here. We taught a few families who want to come to church and to learn more which is great, some University students want to meet with us, and my companion cooked some posh Brazilian food! Exciting huh?!  We went to a member home for dinner and he showed us his home cinema room! He build a giant garage in the back garden and inside you have a 1950's style cinema with around 25-30 theatre seats installed. The projector used is the same that they use when you go out to the cinema. The surround sound is amazing and he makes his own movies and plays them for his family. It was a really interesting hobby! 

I am almost done with the New Testament and I have loved reading through it so far this year. I have started to understand more and more about the gospel and can not believe how much is inside. It just depends on what you are looking for I guess. I have tried my hardest to dig deep and look at "Why that word?" or "Why is this said right at this point in time?" I brings the scriptures to life and makes it not a burden or task but rather a light that can be adjusted brighter and brighter the more I read. The light of the Holy Ghost does not come in its full brilliance at the time of confirmation. As we read in Section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants, “he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” (D&C 50:24)  If you have been baptised then you have recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. I love that this gift is not just given to you and then you can sit down and play with it. But like any gift that God has given you, it must be exercised and stretched until it reaches its full potential. More light and understanding can be in your own life but only on a personal invitation. 

I love you all and will speak with you in a short week! 

 http://www.mormon.org/elaine?cid=HPFR050914120  

Hey look who is a Mormon! The drummer for Neon Trees. Pretty cool!

Don't Run Out of Petrol!

Good Morning Mates!

This week was full of travel! I really like driving at first until you have to go to London a few times and to visit other members in the Zone. It just gets tiring! 

On Thursday we had a Mission Leadership Council held in the Hyde Park Chapel. Elder Teixera was there. He is the President of the Church here in Europe and it was so inspiring to listen to what he had to say. To be at this meeting we had to wake up at around 5 to get ready and start our road trip down. It should have only taken 2.5 hours but instead it took 4! Traffic was so bad and there were a few accidents because of the rainy morning. The meeting lasted from 10 AM-5 PM. Mentally, physically and spiritually drained I then had to start the trek back. After getting supplies and filling out paperwork in the office we left. By this time it was around 6:30. We had an exchange the next day too so one of the Assistants came up to Norwich with me and my companion stayed down in London. On our way our of London there were a few accidents and so it took a long long time to get going. It is coming up on 10 PM and we still have 45 miles to go. We get to the roundabout on the motorway and it says that the road to Norwich is Closed! UGHGHGH! I was not happy haha but it took us on a detour to the middle of no where. By this point the car was running low on petrol. I was feeling a bit nervous and we decided to pray with other 3 missionaries in the car that we would make it home or find a petrol station soon. We continue on our journey and take a right where the detour sign is pointing. We turn right and go for a few minutes and find there was pretty serious accident 3 cars in front of us. We then were instructed by the police officers to turn around and try a different route. Now even less petrol in the tank and feeling like we are not going to make it for very much longer if we don't fill up. We then say another prayer and continue on. We take another right and put in the directions to the next fuel station. It takes us to an old and abandoned rinky dink station that has not been open for a really long time! We try another one and the next station doesn't even exist! We are still in the middle of no where and running on fumes! We say another prayer and continue on ward. And let me mention the car we drive is diesel so we can not let it run out! We try for out last shot and we are driving through this tiny village when all of a sudden a giant, heavenly, yellow shell petrol station peeps over the bushes! We made it at last! We go inside and buy some food and fill up the tank! We then drive the rest of the way home safely and get home at midnight. 

I learned a few nice lessons from this experience. When driving back I had the thought that I should maybe top up to be safe and not let it get too low but I tried justifying in my head why I didn't need to stop. I then later almost had to learn the hard way. NEVER WAIT TO TOP UP! I am sure you can relate that spiritually. We may never know the detours or the fake stations that are ahead but we can take control of the situation before it gets out of control. The power of prayer was very useful during this journey as well. There where things that we could not contol but things only God could. We are to do everything in our power and then ask god for his assistance. I know that we should have run out of fuel. I felt the engine kind of give away but it kept on pushing forward. We are all being looked after by our Father in Heaven. 

Mothers Day is coming up and I am excited to Skype home again! I will talk to you all in a week! 

Love,

Elder David