12 August 2024
大家好！Hey Everyone!
This whole
mission thing is really one of the strangest things ever. Each week
feels quicker than the last, and each week I also feel more exhausted
than the last.
Here's a
funny/not-so-funny story about a pattern we've noticed. There's a
retired couple couple occasionally invites us and the friends we're
teaching over for dinner. We always have to leave early for another
appointment, and then the friends stick around after dinner. . . And we
never see them again… aka they often avoid contact with us…. isn't that
spooky!
This happened to our friend Fred back in
February, and it happened again this week to a guy the other Elders were
teaching who got so mad about the idea of paying tithes that he told
the missionaries he didn't want to talk to them again (yikes). It almost
happened to our friend Sam!! He came to dinner with us, and then after
we left the dinner, he didn't respond with much to our texts! We were SOOO
worried about him! And then yesterday we saw a HUGE tender mercy!
Sam
answered our call, and we had a short conversation about his week, and
then he sent us a voice memo saying he was concerned about his son who
came to Canada and won't get off his phone! He asked if there were
church activities that could help! We're so relieved he still has some
interest in church! We have to take him off date for baptism for a bit,
because he's not ready to make big commitments yet, so we're going to
keep prepping him for sometime later to be determined. Prayers for Sam
and his son! I'm pretty confident he's going to pull through soon!
The
rest of this week was weird. Elder McAffee kicked the bucket and left
for his home in Ohio, so Elder Pace got to hang out with us for a couple
days before he got kicked out of Mandarin [district] to be a Zone Leader! Wild. It
was a good week of humble tomfoolery and what not.
….okay, I really don't know what else to tell you besides some thought I wrote down in my study notes this week:
“I am the light of the world.”
One
of the great discoveries of the 20th century was the dual nature of
light over several finds by Einstein and others. It has been determined
that light is both a particle and a wave—a paradox in a way, two
different states that somehow coexist. Christ then is the same. He is
the “Son of God” and the “Son of Man,” He is the “Father and the Son,”
the “Alpha and Omega” the one being without sin and the one being who
endured every sin. To each individual he brings Justice and he grants
Mercy. Christ is dual in nature, that is why he is the light of the
world. That may why he can, through his atonement, change us from one
state to another if we are willing, from carnal to saintly.
This
week I'd invite you to find some trait or some thing about yourself
that you really want to improve, and then talk to God through prayer and
ask him to help you change it. I'm gonna pray for God to help change my
nature more towards tidying up my dishes (oops). If we are willing, God
will change our hearts and our natures for greater capacity for joy!
Take care everyone! Stay Cool! Love you all! 爱你们！
-熊长老
Elder Bang leaving the area
Elder McAffee and us at Denny's
Some Devious Burgers we cooked up today
Didn't expect this here
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