Exchanges and Virtue

    Not too much exciting this last week. Two exchanges.... Ya!! The last exchanges of my mission. It was fun learning from those two missionaries. A good exchange is great, because you can just have really good conversations about what you are becoming on your mission, what challenges you are facing, and what you hope to become. Granted, neither of the exchanges last week had those kind of conversations, but I still learned a lot I'm ready to go and apply. Only three weeks left in this transfer, and Elder Puzey and I are working really hard to get one more baptism. Huang Bo Chao, Bob Xie, and Lu Zhong Heng are all potentials, but all three still have some pretty big obstacles to overcome. Huang Bo Chao still doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and has been in China for a few weeks, Bob Xie promised his parents he wouldn't get baptized until he is 21 (he is 15), and Lu Zhong Heng has only had the first lesson.

    Continuing with my weekly study of a different Christlike attribute, this last week I thought a lot about Virtue. It continues to amaze me at how much you can still learn about even the most basic principles of the Gospel. Take faith for example, or the atonement of Jesus Christ. No matter how many hours you spend studying it, you can always draw out incredible insights and applications. So it is with Virtue. I used to think that Virtue was a pretty basic principle--don't let inappropriate thoughts in your mind. Now I realize that the definition of 'inappropriate' can be expanded to mean any number of things: thoughts of discouragement, thoughts of unkindness and anger, thoughts of impatience and pride. Obviously we don't know, but I would imagine if we could examine Christ's thoughts we would see exactly what we did through his actions: love, patience, kindness, humility... virtue.

     After much thought and reflection, I came up with this definition of virtue instead: a pattern of purity in our innermost thoughts and desires. I can't fully take credit for that definition (since most of it came out of Preach My Gospel), but I thought that was interesting. You can use this analogy: our mind is a garden. In it, we plant beautiful flowers (righteous and positive thoughts) and grow trees (desires of our hearts). Flowers need to be watered, trees need to be pruned. Weeds need to be pulled, fruitless trees need to be felled. We should often reflect on the desires of our hearts, prune back unhealthy branches of distraction, and harvest the wonderful fruit of those righteous desires. We should be active in our garden: planting new thoughts that will lift us, pulling out negative thoughts and temptations that will burden us, and watering those positive patterns of thinking that have led to positive actions and feelings. How comfortable would the Holy Ghost feel in the garden of your mind? This last week as I have been diligently working in my garden and meticulously pruning my trees, I have been able to more appreciate the blessings of a virtuous mind. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Few quick things: could you find the piano sheet music for the song "the only moment we were alone" by explosions in the sky? It is the background music for the church video "the hope of God's light". If you can't find it that is totally alright. Also "your hand in mine" by the same artist. They are super awesome songs and I would love to take a crack at them some preparation day! Also, I'm trying to figure out what to do with shoes and my shoulder bag. Is there an incoming missionary that would like to buy them off me? The shoulder bag and then the sandal dress shoes are still in great condition, practically new. The only reason I offer is because I could just leave them somewhere in the office until he gets here or something. 

Check out this Buddhist worship stuff! They have these burnable shoes and shirts and even cigarettes to burn to their ancestors so their ancestors have tons of stuff in the Buddhist spirit world.

I love this elementary school's name. Long Pu. Like, pronounced 'long poo'. 
How unfortunate.

Went to a place called YeLiu last week. Super big tourist spot. Super cool! I loved it. There were tons of little hoodoos.

The famous queens head rock. She is about to get decapitated.

Went down a secret path to get to a beach where there weren't any tourists, 

just fishermen....

    There were a lot of really cool experiences I had and lots of incredible lessons I learned this last week. Hearing Elder Cook's testimony of Jesus Christ was one of my favorite parts of the week. It was so powerful. The next day during sacrament meeting, I also had this wonderful feeling. As I just sat and pondered on Christ and his sacrifice for all of us, I felt something that can only be described as the pins of a lock rotating in my heart. I could literally just feel my heart being changed. It wasn't a big or even obvious sort of feeling, but I could just feel myself becoming more like Christ--inch by inch. My mission has taught me so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember this one day, I flipped through my journal to find one of my favorite experiences. I remember praying to God and asking if he loved me, and then feeling a overwhelming warmth and joy as the knowledge entered my mind that I was a Son of God, and that He loved me. As I flipped back in my journal though, I realized something I had never realized. That prayer was in response to me going through the repentance process. Then, this last week, I heard that Joseph Smith's experience was very similar. When he had the First Vision, he had been seeking forgiveness. All this time, I thought he had just been curious. I thought he just wanted a question answered. I never knew that the First Vision was in response to Joseph Smith seeking to draw closer to our Father in Heaven through repentance. Now I understand that curiosity in and of itself is nowhere near powerful enough to merit an answer from God. Rather, we must have faith and a burning desire to draw closer to Him. In other words, a sincere heart with real intent. What a powerful lesson, and one that has blessed me in many ways.

Then... HUGE thunderheads rolled in right as we were about to turn around because of time. HUGE! It started raining buckets of freezing cold water--the exact opposite of what it had been just half an hour previous. Everything we had got soaked to the bone and then to the marrow. We had to stop in the pouring rain and eat guava as fast as we could so we could stuff all electronics in the Tupperware container to avoid the rain. Elder Puzey's planner didn't make it.....

Preparation day after skyping, such an epic day. The first part was extremely hot, and we saw all these cool animals and then there were trees all over the mountains that were blossoming. Then...

This little kid I took a picture with is hilarious. His name is Ray, and him and his brother are soooooo hyper. While we ate dinner they were in their room playing, and after they came out just covered in sweat. He speaks a little bit of Chinese in a super scratchy voice, and it is just the funniest thing ever. Hearing him say prayers is hilarious.

My ward mission leader from my first area got married in the temple!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that??? I had no idea, and then we went to Taipei for a mission conference and he was outside taking pictures!!! So awesome.

Say hello to the fattest cat I have ever seen in my life. I told the owners that the cat was bigger than their one and a half year old daughter, but they didn't believe me. I could you not, that cat is two or three times as big as their baby.

The things other weird missionaries do..... Fa Lun Da Fa

Also, cool lighting effect with this Captain America lego thingy.