I miss US food. The food here is AMAZING!! :D but I still
miss US food sometimes. :)
We've (Elder Ward and I) got two
more weeks together, then he goes home! :o I'll stay here probably one more
transfer and have a new companion. After that, I'll probably move, but I'm not
sure where. Haha he's only the second companion I've killed. :) It's super
strange, I'm a pretty old missionary at this point--I only have about 3 or 4
more transfers left, but I seem so young still because Elder Ward is going home
soon! :o Anyway, two more weeks until the transfer, and no, I'm not a grandpa
yet. :/ Hopefully soon, though! :D
Eternal hardships are the most
difficult! :o "I can do hard things!" haha! :) It has been kind of
hard this week. :/ It's super strange because when you think about the work
itself it seems so simple: ride around on a bike and invite people to learn
about the Gospel. Teach people and help them come unto Christ. Help them
repent. There's no quota, there's no being fired for not working hard enough.
It's service. But the internal struggle is immense. It amazes me the opposition
we face--and that most of it is internal. Our attitude, our resolve to go and
talk to a person on the corner can seem impossible sometimes. It is another
testimony that what we are doing is the Lord's work. Why else would the devil
be fighting so hard against us and telling us we can't do things. I read a talk
called the "circle of fire" this week. I loved it. I don't know if
you can look it up, but if it's available, everyone should read it! :) It talks
about how the most worthwhile and most valuable prizes are almost always if not
always protected by the most difficult challenges. These challenges and
opposition are intended to stretch us and make us better. The Lord puts us in
the crucible to let us sweat a little. We sweat out the dross and become more
pure, more refined, and more resilient. It's awesome! :D
So anyway, I don't know why I
typed that up, it just came out. :) It's been a good week, we saw lots of
miracles, and there have been some inner challenges that I've had that are
hopefully shaping me into a better person. :)
Sorry not much time this week. :/
Monday was great! Pday! We played
basketball with a bunch of the youth here, so that was super fun! Night time,
we had time to talk with a bunch of people on the streets, met a cool guy and
had a sit-down lesson with him, then met someone else we scheduled to meet with
who was super awesome! He's got a Christian background, and is about 60. It's
really different teaching someone with a Christian background. :o It went super
well though and he came to the baptism on Saturday! :D
Tuesday was good. contacted in the
morning (contacting=talking to people on the street) also there are a ton of
people on the street here, which is pretty awesome! You can talk to sooo many
people that way! Then we, well we contacted all afternoon, then ate dinner with
a less active youth who said he's coming to church on Sunday, yay! :D Then we
contacted some more at night.
Wednesday went well. We got to do
interviews with our new mission president, President Teh! It was awesome! Then
we came back, met with another less active youth right before English, and then
had English class. That was pretty sweet.
Thursday was also pretty awesome.
More of the same. Lessons and contacting. :)
Friday was pretty amazing. We were
eating dinner outside a 7-11 (they just call them 7's here), and this guy was
looking at us. As he was walking out we said hello. He chatted with us for a
while. I guess he got in a car accident and just didn't seem like he'd been
doing well lately at all. He said he wanted to learn a little more about Christ
and how He could help us. He also set up a time to meet with us--two hours
later--himself! That was super cool to see this man who was humbled and wanting
to learn more about the Lord. We met with him and it went well. :)
Saturday went great! We met with
our Christian-background investigator, brother Zhang. We talked about the Book
of Mormon and where it comes from and its role. He then attended the baptism
and read the Book of Mormon while he was there! :D It was great!
Sunday, we had a new investigator
family come to church as well as one of our other investigators. :) It was
really good! That's about it!
Well, time's about up. I love you
all and I pray for you every day. I hope you had a great week! Love you!
--
Elder Fleming
Oh yeah, I forgot. We went to a small island for pday and saw some sand castles and stuff, not basketball. :) Sand castles, beach, MASSIVE church! :o
On the ferry boat and a beautiful sunset the other day!
