Monday, May 28, 2012

Week 49

Dear President! Wha! District Leader is tough stuff. It definitely keeps you on your toes. But I know that from it I'm growing and learning what the Lord would have me learn. I hope that I'm doing an adaquate job to help my district members continue to learn and improve. I haven't gone on exchanges yet, but I'll be planning on going with YuLi this week with Elder Xu. I'm really glad that they saw some good success this week. YuLi hasn't had a baptism for over a year. But they seem to be progressing a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to take part of some of that success in that area. Elder You is a great companion. He is definitely different than Elder Bowler, but he has many strengths as a missionary and I know that I will learn a lot from him. So far I feel that he's not always as into the work as he should be. So hopefully I can excite him for missionary work by example and help him do his best. I feel the district has done really well this week. So far I don't think there are any companionship problems. They had good reactions from the invite this week. Even though it was really simple, I think it helped remind them the importance of it. Overall they had better relationships with their investigators and they were able to evaluate and improve their ways of contacting their investigators. Sister Rosander was sick this week, so we gave her a blessing. She seems to be doing fine. I don't think her work was effected. She just had a rough voice and was wearing the hospital mask. I know the blessing helped her a lot. Elder Peterson is doing great! And better yet, he's a tenor! That means we have SATB in our district. We're going to have a lot of fun down here. But besides that, I know Elder Peterson's doing a great job as a senior companion. He and Elder Lin seem to get along great. So with investigators, we've been finding a lot of haihao ones. They'll get to setup, but then end up having some excuse not to come. I noticed in PMG it says it is essential that investigators keep a continual influence of the Spirit that they felt when they first met with missionaries, and I definitely see that in our investigators now. But there was a really good one this week. He came from Tai4Ma2Li3 太麻里. Which, for him, is a half hour walk to an hour bus ride. And he came just for us! I don't really understand why he has interest at this point. But I know there's some. He said he really liked church this week. They talked about Patience. He said each member who spoke really touched him. Which was good. Our church meeting really helped me as well. I feel I need to have more patience with myself and with those around me. Zhou Surfer is also making steady progress. We're giving him a lot of ways to strengthen his faith and overcome temptation. He's doing really well. He hasn't touched tea in 2 weeks, and he's a lot stronger than he was before. He also came to all three hours in GaoXiong's ward! He's on track for his 6/16 date of being baptized. Thank you for everyone's support and packages and fun stuff. Love you all! Have an awesome day! -Elder Liu

Monday, May 21, 2012

Week 48

I'm excited to stay another 6 weeks in TaiDong! Especially as a district leader! I know that I have many, many weaknesses. But I also have a firm belief that Christ will lift me higher. Elder Bowler is moving just next door in the same district -- YuLi. My new companion will be a Taiwanese, named Elder You2. So no, our baptisms didn't go through. But they're still okay and they're still progressing even further on the path. It's been a little hard recently. Not too many new investigators, but I feel that we are handling well our old ones. A lot of them stopped meeting with us or are very hard to get a hold of, so it's hard to balance the time right. With Elder You2 we'll probably get a lot of finding done, and see even more miracles. I feel that I've learned a lot with Elder Bowler. I feel our investigators are finally getting the importance of our commitments. They're also understanding more our love for them, and how because we love them, we want to fulfill our purpose through them -- by doing everything we can to invite others to come unto Christ. I know it's because of focusing on these things the past few weeks that we've seen a lot of miracles and a lot better success. It feels like the numbers don't portray how much work we've done, but I feel like I've grown a lot, so it's all worth it. I know that I've helped those I need to, and I've done my best. Hopefully in the next transfer we'll get at least these last two (Chen Wei Hong and Zhou Surfer) baptized and confirmed. Sorry, a shorter email this week. We need to get more things sorted out for the new transfer! Love, -Elder Liu

Monday, May 14, 2012

Week 47

Hello, everybody! Happy Mother's Day -^^- Everything is going wonderfully. I really loved the specialized training we had this week about invites and following up, and I'm already seeing so much more success and love as I use the "ABC" way to invite and followup (Because ABC's are the best :P). A stands for Ai4. Yes, Love. B is Bold. C is confident. I think I personally benefitted most from C. Although before I knew that these invitations would give them blessings, I think I needed more confidence that these invitations are the number one best things they can be doing in their life to help them and their families. No exceptions. And of course show an added measure of love as you boldly give invites. I think our investigators are finally understanding how important these invitations are in their lives through a clearer way of inviting. I sure hope that I don't move, but of course, it's the Lord that will decide that! We're still getting one baptism this week, Zhou Surfer. He really has been amazing. He needs to get up earlier for church, but other than that, he's exercised his faith a lot in the past month or so. Elder Bowler's doing just great. I feel he is learning a lot, and it is showing in his finding, teaching, and Chinese speaking. He's really doing a great job. I'm grateful to have him as my companion. This week we had Elder Lin with us in a 3-in-1. Although the work was a little more busy with two area's work, it was still really good and fulfilling. We were able to visit with their investigators and visit their area (and eat their food! all the good food is in their area...) But it was a really good experience, especially to learn from a new companion. Elder Lin is doing good as well. He's in his second transfer. He seems to be frustrated with his own abilities as a missionary, but he really is doing great and is doing great things. This week has also been a little hard because this week was Mother's Day. A lot of our investigators went home for the weekend, so we had quite a peaceful church with no investigators :( It's been a constant struggle to get people over to our church. Elder Bowler and I will talk about more we can do about it. I hope every mother feels how special they really are, and how much the Lord loves you for your sacrifices! Love, -Elder Liu

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Week 46

Hello, everyone! TaiDong is doing spectacular! This week was a little rough because we had a lot of unexpected things pop up, like going to Hualian for exchanges and having Elder Lin be in a threesome with us (since Elder Lusubudan is dang1 bing1-ing for a week.) It's been great, and we've been working hard, but it's been hard on the numbers. I know the Lord will bless us in unexpected ways as well. So far we have 2 baptisms planned for next week. So we're having 2 interviews this week. We're working a lot closer with our MMLeader, Jerry, to help these go as smoothly as possible. The two people are: Zhou Surfer. He's doing amazing! He's done with all the lessons - took tithing like candy, and has been studying and pondering the baptismal interview questions. He's really been an amazing example of faith. I asked if he's had any family opposition, and he said of course he has, but he feels that this will be better for him anyway. He went to church in Gaoxiong this week, and he'll be in Gaoxiong again next week for Mother's Day. I think his biggest problem with enduring to the end is to come to all 3 hours of church. He has yet to do that. But he will always make the sacrifice to go to at least Sacrament Meeting. He has the faith to do everything he needs to, but he needs a push to do it sometimes, but then he's great. I've been grateful to have Zhou Surfer as an investigator. In his prayers he mentioned how he was grateful us Elders could help him make these changes in his life to be more fitting for God. It helped me see the impact that we have in other's lives. That's really refreshing sometimes for a missionary. The other one is Chen Wei Hong -- He's been a really long time now. He's had 2 interviews, but none of them are effective now. We've decided to wait until he's 20 next week so he can just get baptized without parent permission, and so hopefully everything will go smooth next saturday. Have an awesome day, everyone, and a magical Mother's day! I love you, -Elder Liu