Christmas In the Air, and New Investigators!

Thanks everyone for reading this email! I hope that this next week brings you joy as you celebrate Christmas. This is my last email before Christmas, but for many of my viewers back home, my next email will come on Christmas night. The subject line for this email comes from the the great week that we had over these last seven days: starting in China town (one week ago on our last p-day), finding great people in the middle of the week, and ending with a combined Branch Christmas Party on Saturday. Also, I send personal thanks to my family for sending me a piece of a pine tree in my Christmas package: that was a great idea.

I sent a picture of Pasar Seni (China Town in Kuala Lumpur) but I am afraid that it does not truly capture the essence and environment of that area. I haggled for real for the first time ever and got a backpack (the same one as Elder Rogers just for 10 rm less :). Pasar Seni is full of knock-off products, and I am actually pretty sure that there isn't anything authentic there. It is full of horror stories of unknowing tourists paying $600 Rm ($150 US equivalent) for a fake G-shock watch that a missionary could have bought for $50 Rm. Lots of people call you over and really want you to listen to them, and I felt a certain amount of empathy for them because I know what it is like to offer something to a person who does not want it :).

We had a really solid week in general, but there were a few highlights and things to mention that happened in particular. One of those things was after a really solid session of contacting, Elder Rogers and I, guided by the spirit of course, found 10 potential investigators in one day. A few of those seem really solid, and we have already met with one and we are really excited for her.

 Another miracle we saw came when we met with a potential investigator named Nelson. We actually got his number from a friend who apparently lives at the same apartment complex as us that we found while contacting on the train. This friend was not interested, but Nelson certainly is and is very prepared. When I called him to see if he had interest, he said yes and asked if he could bring a friend :). We taught him a part of the Restoration lesson on Thursday (God, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon) as well as answered some of the questions that he had about the Plan of Salvation. This is what he texted us Friday night (he speaks good Chinese and pretty good English so don't judge his text too hard): "dear Allen and Roger, thanks for helping me remove the fear of die, let me understand Jesus Christ. I feel save, and happy. Thank you so much." Nelson is so prepared. He later told us that for a few days up to our visit, he had become increasingly worried about death and what would happen after we died. It got worse and worse until it got to the point that he wasn't sleeping well. The day it was worst was the day we called him, and when we met with him he slept well and he thinks that it is a sign from God - we certainly think so. We met him again on Saturday, and when we invited him to set a baptismal date for a goal, he said in reply "just tell me when and where." He came to church on Sunday and he is keeping his commitments and reading the things we have asked him to.

Lots of other really great things happened this week, with more great and prepared people- but probably not as prepared as Nelson. We met with another new investigator who also seems really solid. 

The week ended with our branch Christmas Party, and we held it in PJ (I know that means nothing to you. Basically, we went to the next closest chapel - which is about a 30 min bus ride and then a 15 min walk for us). One of the members in our branch - who likes to feed us and help us a lot, provided us with antlers to wear during the party (see the pictures). The picture shown is us with another member of our branch. Her family (the one in the picture) is very solid, and they are the ones who we met with last week as we visited the father who is coming out of inactivity).

Well, that was our week... sort of, there are a lot of things that happen in seven days. I have been studying Charity a lot this week, and I have reflected on the power that love has to help us become better people. I truly believe that it is something that we need to develop if we want to become like Christ. Our love for others brings confidence to us, but it also brings us the confidence to change to help others. When we do things out of love for others, we feel the love of Christ in our lives and it motivates us even more to continue serving others. Check out Elder Christofferson's talk called "Abide in My Love" from this last conference. By far my favorite talk that I have found as I am reading through this last session.

Love,

Elder Allen