7/31/16
We are moving to Fenglin! Just kidding! This week was pretty crazy. In our interviews with President Jergensen this week, both my companion and I talked about the work we were doing in Fenglin with the English Class and the church meeting that we wanted to make into a branch, and President just looked at us and said, "Why wait? When can you Elders move down?", so we started calling a lot of our ward leaders to get their opinions on whether or not to move down to Fenglin. A few days later, we called the Stake President, who told us that our ward didn't even have enough active Melchizedek Priesthood holders to be a ward, let alone a ward and a branch. He basically said that we needed to stay up in Ji'an in order to continue strengthening the ward before we worried at all about Fenglin. So just like that, the momentum switched and now it looks like we may be closing the English Class and reducing the sacrament meetings to once a month instead of once a week. Super big bummer, but at least we sort of set a foundation for either another set of missionaries to move in or for us to move in after we have worked really hard up in Ji'an.
Incredible sunset. As the sun was setting, the sky would just illuminate in a palette of color, fade, and then explode back into another different variety of color. It did this about three times while we biked to an appointment, and we were just in awe. The pictures don't do it justice.
People put dogs on their motor scooters all the time. Weird.
There is a recent convert who is already less active who lives at that crazy place in the middle of nowhere
Can you see the size of these bees? We considered throwing a rock at their nest but thought better....
We are moving to Fenglin! Just kidding! This week was pretty crazy. In our interviews with President Jergensen this week, both my companion and I talked about the work we were doing in Fenglin with the English Class and the church meeting that we wanted to make into a branch, and President just looked at us and said, "Why wait? When can you Elders move down?", so we started calling a lot of our ward leaders to get their opinions on whether or not to move down to Fenglin. A few days later, we called the Stake President, who told us that our ward didn't even have enough active Melchizedek Priesthood holders to be a ward, let alone a ward and a branch. He basically said that we needed to stay up in Ji'an in order to continue strengthening the ward before we worried at all about Fenglin. So just like that, the momentum switched and now it looks like we may be closing the English Class and reducing the sacrament meetings to once a month instead of once a week. Super big bummer, but at least we sort of set a foundation for either another set of missionaries to move in or for us to move in after we have worked really hard up in Ji'an.
Big miracle this week--I stayed awake for 100% of church. I feel so bad about it every week, but I simply cannot keep my eyes open. This week I was determined not only to keep my eyes open, but to actually learn something. I came to church yesterday armed with a full waterbottle and even a few candies to suck on to keep me awake. Thanks to my prepared sacrament meeting snacks, smacking myself in the head a few times, and writing notes down on what the speakers said, I conquered the sleep monster. What do you know, I even learned something. One of the speakers asked a question that sunk in pretty deep: "What is a challenge you have overcome today?" I bet if you think hard at the end of the day, you will always find one. Not only that, but if you approach each day with an attitude of 'what can I overcome or do better on today?' you will find that over a period of time, you have overcome many of your weaknesses and become a much better person. Isn't that really what the Atonement is all about? I love you all and I hope you have a great week this week!!
the mother of all pinecones
'cow mountain' beach (牛山沙灘)
me trying to take a picture with stacked rocks and failing. I got one on Elder Stevenson's camera
Incredible sunset. As the sun was setting, the sky would just illuminate in a palette of color, fade, and then explode back into another different variety of color. It did this about three times while we biked to an appointment, and we were just in awe. The pictures don't do it justice.
People put dogs on their motor scooters all the time. Weird.
Ok. Look at the difference in Cai Ya Zhi (our recent convert) between the two photos. She has always struggled with accepting that she is a girl, and so our other recent convert Xu Yang Kai talked with her for like an hour one day and helped in change in a variety of ways, one of which was dressing and acting more like a girl. I did not recognize her for a few minutes.
There is a recent convert who is already less active who lives at that crazy place in the middle of nowhere
Can you see the size of these bees? We considered throwing a rock at their nest but thought better....
performing service in the middle of tropical paradise and trying to catch chickens while we were at it
huge taoist statue
wonderful Chinese spelling
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