Well, honestly, not a lot to talk about. Because we had temple day (and preparation day) on Wednesday last week, this email is only covering about four days--one of which was interviews with President Jergensen and the rest of which were spent finding. We didn't meet with a lot of investigators last week because.... (drum roll).... Guo Nian 過年. It starts this coming Friday. For those unfamiliar with Guo Nian, I'll give a quick background.
The story starts with an ancient Chinese tradition about a huge monster that would come every year around the same time and eat a bunch of people. To ward off the monster, the people would light off firecrackers, hang red paper on the sides of their doors (the monster hates red [remember the passover?]), and just in general make lots of noise. Because you didn't know how long you would live through the week, everyone would get together to eat tons of food (don't know what meal will be your last) and say "Congratulations" on the street (you made it thus far, will you survive the rest of the week?). In short, it means we have about 20 members feeding us food in the next two weeks and transportation systems are slammed with people.
You know those buzzers at restaurants that light up and tell you your food is ready? I forget how to say it in English, but now I know it in Chinese. 統一編號. "Connect into one serial number". Well, I think it means that buzzer thing...........
This last week, I have tried to follow the advice of Elder Uchtdorf from last conference and "ponder the gravity of eternity". As I did so, I came across some awesome insights. One of them goes something like this: Imagine the food you absolutely love and haven't eaten in over a year and a half. Now imagine going up to the Crispy Creme counter, and the lady says if you pay $5 she will give you one a day for the rest of your life. Would you do it? Oh ya!! Now, instead of $5 she asks you to change someones flat tire in the parking lot and then she will give you a donut each day for the rest of your life. See where I'm going with this? Now instead of a high-school dropout donut lady, our Heavenly Father is standing behind the counter. He says that He will give you the happiness of eating a donut multiplied by infinity every day for an eternity. "All that he requires of you is to keep his commandments" (Mosiah 2:22) during this short time we have on the earth. Wow. But He throws in a special offer--if we keep His commandments, we will prosper in the land, we will have freedom from sin and guilt, and we will be happy every day. If only it was that easy to tell our investigators... Oh well! Have a great week!
Elder Barton goes home in about 18 days, and despite his best efforts he still falls asleep during daily planning every now and then and his companion is too shy to wake him up. His companion is Elder Olsen from Viewmont!!! Have I told you about him? Very interesting Elder. He is shy to the point of not being able to order food at a restaurant in Junior High and never talks above a loud whisper and guess what his interest is?? Learning languages. He has dabbled in 20 something languages and knows probably twice as many Chinese characters as I do--only three transfers into his mission. Crazy!!
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