This week was great, and we saw success as we met with two new investigators (kind of a miracle for both of them since the way we found their number was through old contacts on our phone labeled as potential investigators and they hadn't been contacted for over a year). We also saw success as we started, essentially for the first time in my whole mission, tracting (for those who don't know: that is contacting people by knocking on door after door). We were overjoyed by the success and some of the miracles we saw there. We will continue to do this activity, as well as try to implement some other new ideas as Elder Gould and I both figure out what activities are the most effective in this area.
In other news, as you may have heard if you read emails from other missionaries in Asia areas, or areas influenced by Asian culture, this week was Chinese New Year! Although I did not see the fireworks Friday night, I certainly heard them and they went on for a long while. Also, if you have ever wondered why they make fireworks that are illegal if people can't even buy them, I am pretty sure the reason they are made is because all of the illegal fireworks get sent over to Asia :). The climate is a lot more wet though, so I guess they have less to worry about.
Elder Gould and I both had the idea that it might be more fruitful to contact people during Chinese New Year because a lot of people are at home (as stated by mission rules in the white handbook). Many people who work in big cities return to their home town for Chinese New Year, and since our area is a small area, we saw an influx of people. As we contacted people at their homes, we got a lot more mandarin oranges from people than we did phone numbers, but that is ok. We did have some success though and I like how contacting at homes gets us to a set of people who we might not otherwise find. Cultural fact: people love to give out little red envelopes to people that have a little money in it, even to complete strangers. Only those who are unmarried get red envelopes, and the expectation is that when you get married, you start to hand them out to others. We checked with mission leaders and it is ok for us to take them because it might be impolite not too.
Also, you probably didn't hear, but maybe you did, the worldwide missionary schedule is being changed fairly drastically. Really simply put, it gives missionaries a lot more flexibility for when they want to do things, and gives missionaries a bit more time to do missionary work. We are excited for these changes because the quietest time of the day for us is not the morning, but rather the afternoon.
Finally, before I forget, I need to officially announce that I have tried Durian. It happened at an investigators house so it was high pressure, but everything went ok. Durian is a dangerous, spiky looking fruit that smells bad and tastes kind of gross. The people over here love it though. I ate it without gagging, and although I would not eat it out of enjoyment, it is not too bad.
Actually, I forgot something: I was asked to give a talk on Saturday night for the next Sunday. It was all in Chinese and I was able to fill up 15 minutes without too much trouble... so that was a good experience.
My spiritual thought comes from the book of Enos. Enos reflected on the words of his father about Eternal life, and his soul hungered for an answer. Then, he prayed to God in all supplication, and after a long time, he received an answer to his prayer. This can be the same for all of us, so long as we ask in faith, are patient with God's timing and do our best to prepare ourselves to accept the answer, we will get answers to our prayers.
Pics: eating awesome food with awesome members.
blurry pic, but a ton of motorcycles that I thought was interesting.
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