Humbled

This week was really good!! Transfers were yesterday, I keep on dodging bullets, I'm still in the city with Elder J and Elder O. So I'll have been in the city 7 1/2 months after this one so I'm pretty sure this is my last transfer here so I'm gonna try to work hard as. And something I thought was pretty cool, in the 6 months I've been in the city I counted all the lessons I've had with different nationalities.... And these statistics alone will prove to you that I got sent to Asia... not Australia hahaha. Chinese:114/ Thai:105/ Korean:49/ Aussie:38/ Vietnamese:18/ Russian:6/ Taiwanese:4/ English:4/ French:4/ Peruvian:4/ Indonesian:4/ Italian:3/ Brazilian:3/ Japanese:3/ Filipino:3/ Canadian:1/ Hong Kongese:1/ Norwegian:1/ Kiwi:1..... With a total number of lessons to 366. So only 38/366 lessons have been with Aussies.... so if Ashley or anyone is expecting me to have a "hot Aussie accent"... expect more like broken English when I come back hahaha.

So we have this investigator named J from Korea... And he was supposed to be baptized 2 or 3 weeks ago but got scared and backed out.... We set another date for January 12th and have been preparing him.... until he said AGAIN he was scared and didn't want to.... So we had a lesson with him and we spent the WHOLE lesson... like 45 minutes just trying to resolve his concern... and I don't exactly remember what was said... but I know the Lord put in our mouths what we needed to share with him... And mind you we have done this a few times before.... and I shared with him again Alma 7:15... (that scripture smashed him) He said he knew God was speaking to him and the spirit testified to him that he needed to be baptized and he was ready.... And finally he accepted!!!! And it was so funny, one of our recent converts L.... he yelled out "FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!" And in between our conversations with him L was smashing him!!! He was so funny, he was so frustrated just yelling at him "OH MY GOODNESS! YOU'RE NOT GOD! YOU'RE HUMAN BEING, YOU AREN'T PERFECT!!! JUST GET BAPTIZED, GOODNESS!!" hahahah, and he even added in this which came out of nowhere..... "COME ON!!! DO YOU WATCH MODERN FAMILY?! THE COLOMBIAN MOM? SHE'S HOT GIRL!" And I was just like.... WHAT?!?!?! hahahahaha.... and even though it may sound funny and not really spiritual.... everything together just mixed together so well.... like the whole lesson wasn't just serious and us being stern.... And that testifies the quote by Richard G Scott "A sense of humor is an escape valve to the pressures of life and will invite revelation" And so even with the laughing... it invited a spirit of peace... not contention... we never contended with him... we just showed our love to him and our desire for his salvation.....  and finally he was humble enough to act on the answer that he received.... That is what 'Real Intent' is! When you act on the answer you receive! And so it was such a good lesson! And so now this weekend Saturday! J will FINALLY be baptized!! :)

But this week was actually a really good week in regards to finding people who NEED the gospel.... We found 2 people in particular.... I'll start with C... she's an older Korean lady.. around her 40 or 50's.... and she's actually getting abused by her partner we reckon... she hasn't told us specifically but she strongly implied it... So she's turning to God at this time because she needs comfort and so we've taught her twice and she's so good and so sincere! And another is this 16 year old Aussie named J... When we approached them on the street... he was with this older guy in his 30's that was drinking and smoking and J was just sitting there... So we talked to him and turned out that guy was his uncle... But we talked to J and he was a genuinely nice kid... he just had SUPER BAD influences obviously... and he had the best questions... because his Granny died and he had been wondering where she is... why do bad things happen to good people and which church was true! And we read with him some answers out of the Book of Mormon right there on the street! And he opened up to us how he needed this because he had been depressed and showed us his wrists and he had been cutting himself trying to feel happiness he said... And so we'll meet with him later this week hopefully.. But it really humbled me that there are TONS of people out there in need... and I have the opportunity to go and help them with the gospel of Jesus Christ which after all brings true happiness.... But I shallst keep you updated on them as we continue to teach them.