What does that mean?! There are only three ways you would be able to understand what that top sentence means...
ONE, you grew up in Taiwan,
TWO you are a HUGE Nerd,
THREE (I guess this kinda includes number 2...) Your Name is Elder Gish! haha.
So what does it mean?
I'll give you a clue...it starts with kame....and it ends in...HAMEHAMEHA!!!!! :) haha. Now for those of you that STILL don't understand...please...please....go look up Dragon Ball Z and experience life! :) haha. So why do I start with that? Because I found out that my companion, Elder Zhu is also a HUGE Dragon Ball Z fan! We can talk about all that stuff and it is so fun! I have attached pics to help you realize how cool the two of us are....haha oh and as a good side-note...Elder Zhu...he IS the TAIWANESE CARLTON from Fresh Prince of Bel-air! :)
So on to the EVEN BETTER WORK OF THE LORD! :)
I love to be able to see the amazing hand of the Lord in peoples lives! I had my testimony strengthened times a million this week as my best friend GARY called and was telling me a story about his new ward and some stuff like that. I just want to say that it is AMAZING to see how he has grown! I love so much that I know him! I KNOW that I was brought to Taiwan at the time I was to know him! We must have been amazing friends before we came down here! :) I actually heard this story (obviously a story) but it really touched me and I will try to type it out quickly.
There are two friends in the pre-existance. They both get a letter from the Lord, it is their assignment on Earth! They both get super excited and open the letters. The first friend excitedly scans his and with a huge smile jumps and yells "woohoo!, I am going to grow up in a family that already has the gospel and is firm in the faith! I CANT WAIT!" He looks at his friend and see's him crying. He asks what is the matter..the friend looks at him and says, "I am going to a place where no-one at all knows Christ...at all...what am I going to do..." The other friend takes a second to soak in what just happened, puts his arm around his good friend and says, "don't you worry, i'll come find you."
I know that people probably hear lots of stories like this but for some reason this one really hit me...maybe cause I had never heard anything like it in Chinese before. haha....but really I believe that this sort of thing is true! I am so glad I have the chance to come here and to find all of my brothers and sisters and best friends! To really help them to remember their Savior and the truth! THIS IS TRUE AND WE ALL....EVERYONE knows it...they just have to remember. Have you ever seen someone do something good and just felt good, or after you serve you feel incredible? Maybe you pray or read scriptures or even go to church and you feel that peace and that love that is just so familiar and close to your heart? It's cause we have felt it before...before we came here....now we are just trying to do our best to remember! So this week I want to invite everyone to help someone else remember! :) This can be through things you say OR do! Help someone remember their Savior and that all too familiar feeling. :-)
So I want to also emphasize something that I know I have said before and will probably say again and again and again. But I can't ever express how much I have learned out here about the truth and importance behind obedience! It really is key! Don't rationalize
within yourself! Just go do! :) My mission president sent me this today: I love this quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard:
“Some young men …have rationalized their bad choices, saying that "we all make mistakes." But you must understand that there is a big difference between an honest mistake made in a moment of spiritual weakness and a willful decision to disobey persistently the commandments of God. Those who deliberately choose to violate God's commandments or ignore the standards of the Church [or the Missionary Handbook], even when promising themselves and others that someday they will be strong enough to repent, are stepping onto a dangerously slippery slope upon which many have lost their spiritual footing.”
Lets keep our footing and set ourselves on a 'rock' a sure foundation and be obedient! :) 好不好?? :) (Haha...it is so hard to not just start typing Chinese. RAWR!)
Well quick update on 小港 (yes I am still here...where I was trained...no one else thought it was possible either but I guess it is
haha)
SO we saw some crazy cool miracles and some funny things too! I will start with the most recent and go back (since I am running out of time).
We found a few new SWEET investigators who are soooo ready to move forward in this gospel! [Shannon here: Investigators - people who want to know more about Jesus Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.] But the coolest is this brother 黃(huang). He is so nice and humble and ready to learn! He said a great prayer (his first ever) at the end of our first lesson and he asked God to help change his heart so that he could really believe the things we teach and that one of the reasons he wants to believe is because he has seen the example we set and wants to be like 'one of those mormons' (as he put it :)).
But one CRAZY thing that happened after our lesson...we had literally jut finished...about to leave and then I hear it...thump thump thump... I turn my head and what is it? There is this HUGE lady running at me! I hardly have any time to react and she jumps on me and gives me this bear hug and says: "its you! I want to go to church with you!" I was super taken back and it was so awkward...oh gosh...but I guess it must have been pretty funny too. Then she started reaching into my pocket on my shirt to grab the church flyers we have. I was like "whoooooaaaa there missy, slow down." She was frantic asking for a Book of Mormon and for the flyers and when and where church is and when we can see her again and ahhhhh! I taught her a bit about the Book of Mormon and the restoration (within about 30sec to a min) and then got her to set up a time for church and to meet with the SISTER missionaries. After we got that taken care of Elder Zhu and I literally ran away haha.
Oh gosh a mission is so fun!
Here is a crazy miracle! Probably the last I have time for today!
So there is this Lady Sister 謝 (xie)… a long time ago we were tracting and right as we were about to go home I had a feeling to do ONE more door and so we did...then BAM..it was her and her family! (That is how we first met them). After that they told us that they were surprised we came back since most missionaries come once or twice and then never come back because they just give up. But I had a good feeling about them so I kept wanting to go back. The thing is that my seniors never wanted too. [Shannon here: Seniors = Senior Companions] So I finally convinced them that I could bring Elder Stark with me for one last shot at teaching them and My senior agreed.
But than Sister Xie got sent to the hospital and we couldn't go! Now Elder Stark is home (SOOO SAD!) and I was supposed to for sure move out of 小港 (I have been here longer than almost any other missionary in one area for our area in this mission). But then BAM miracle again I stayed here in 小港and became senior companion to an awesome Elder Zhu! I had kinda forgotten about sister Xie until on the road someone taps the back of my shoulder, I turn around and it is her! BIG MIRACLE THREE! (this has a little story too...Elder Zhu and I at that time were feeling a little lost and didn't know what to do...we were biking a little aimlessly...or so we thought...and I got a call from this kid that ALWAYS calls to talk to me. He called me once 46 times in a night to ask for advice...so I usually don't answer his calls but for some reason I felt like I should answer it. So I did and we stopped our bikes so I could talk on the phone. It was the usual…I was so mad I answered... But anyways, right as I hung up is when she tapped my shoulder!!!) SO that’s the cool background!
We got talking and she said that while she was in the hospital she decided that she didn't want her family to bother us anymore and so she wasn't going to call and set up anymore and that if we called she wouldn't answer, BUT if we ran into her she would take it as a sign and set up and all that! Well....to wrap up this huge miracle, SHE brought her son to his after school study class that day. She NEVER does that because the Dad usually does, but today he just 'happened' (miracle) to have to work overtime! So she had to bring him! Do you see how this all happened? Everything was so perfect! And if my senior had stayed they wouldn't set up and she probably wouldn't have gone to tap him on the shoulder. The Lord's hand is in our lives! This all had to happen EXACTLY as it did for this to work out! IT was just incredible to see and it really touched me! MIRACLES!!!
I love the Savior, I love this Gospel and I love all of you! 加油!!!
SHINE BRIGHT!
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Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao
葛勝龍長老
