I just want to develop those kinds of eyes so bad!!! I want to be able to look at each person and see the worth that they have to my God and thus to me. It is something I am working on and getting better and better at with sincere prayer and study! I just want nothing more to be THE MOST EFFECTIVE instrument in my Father's hands, I want to be a carrier of that power and that spirit!
OKAY BUDDY!!! YOU KNOW ITS THAT TIME!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are finally a big boy!!!!!!!!!!! :) You better be playin it safe man! I know that al' dem' ladies are gonna try to be all over you but you just gotta say... hey...many are called and few are chosen baby ;) hahahahaha keep safe my main man!!! You are my best friend buddy I love you so much!
Can you believe that the one year mark for me is done!?!?!? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!?!? Where did the time go!? Gosh Dang I gotta, get my game on!! I haven't helped NEARLY enough people!! Oh THANK YOU FOR THE AMAZING PACKAGE MY AMAZING FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS SO WONDERFUL AND THOSE SHIRTS ARE OFF THE HOOOOOKK!!!! Just in case anyone else want's to know...As a missionary in Taiwan...I do love getting letters and packages and if you just happen to have a desire to send one...I guess I would be willing to receive it :) haha.
So my wonderful family...can I tell you that all this week I was thinking about how much I would love right now to be in Florida on a vayy-kayyy-sheeeoon!!!! :)...DEL FUEGO! :) ( I hope you said it atleast in your head when you read that!) :)
So just today and yesterday I had two HILARIOUS moments with Elder Roberts...I was almost crying...hahaha So today's was we went to get some food to eat and something that people out here do a TON is just crack an egg into ramen and let it cook in the soup. It is a little funny looking I guess but really it is just an egg. When Elder Roberts saw it he had no clue what it was and had that face like..."uh oh....oh gosh..." hahaha. So realizing my chance for some good comedy I took a small bite of mine and put on a kinda funny face that made it look like I was struggling to get it down. Then he looked at me and said "what is this??" I said, "it is really good man just eat it." He was so scared and kept saying "no way no way, you eat it." Then I said, no man it is just an egg you eat it. It was funny cause I was telling the truth but he DID NOT believe me haha. Then when he finally put it in his mouth I was like "OHHHH YOU ACTUALLY ATE IT!?!?!?" haha he had a tiny freak out moment and said, "EW IT TASTES LIKE A WEIRD FISH!!!" I just started DYING laughing. After about 5 seconds he realized it was really just an egg...hahha oh gosh...that will be a good memory. But I think the Other will be one I tell forever haha. It is one of those...chinese jokes haha. So we met with this Less active and we were teaching the First Lesson about the Restoration. In the Middle of it I handed it all over to Elder Roberts to completely take over! He is really a GREAT teacher. It was just super funny because we were using a pamphlet and Elder Roberts wanted to ask our friend to read a part from it and so he wanted to say "你可以幫我唸嗎 (Ni keyi bang wo nian ma?){Can you help me read this part?}" But he accidentally said "你可以幫我尿嗎？(Ni keyi bang wo niao ma?){Can you help me go pee?}" hahahhaha Oh my gosh I almost started crying from laughing so hard! The Less active sure thought it was pretty funny too haha.
So Long story short, I LOVE TRAINING!!! :) hahaha.
So one thing that has been stuck in my head this week is I remember an experience I had with my awesome cousin Chris Gish a long time ago. He used to take me to Krav Maga classes with him. One day when we were down there he told me about how the radio in his car (EXPENSIVE RADIO) had been stolen. I thought I was some tough kid so I was all about, OH MAN AREN'T YOU SO TICKED!? You shoulda' found that kid! And then Chris Looked at me and said "If he needed it so bad that he was willing to break in and steal it, then he could have asked and I would have given it to him, so it's really okay." That really blew me away. I hope I can develop that kind of Christ-like charity and love for all those around me, even the ones that hurt me.
Okay, now this is for all those amazing missionaries and people out there that feel that they are working hard not not seeing the results that they want or had hoped for! I was thinking about how hard I work out here and how often I am disappointed in the amount of success I see sometimes. Then I got into that dumb..."man I work so hard for nothing" kind of attitude. Then I thought about how much I ACTUALLY work. I started thinking...do I really give my ALL ALL the time? Do I talk to some one at every light? Do I talk to the people on the sides of the road? Do I earnestly and sincerely call all the people that gave me their numbers? So one thing that I want to ask everyone who might be going through one of those moments...are you REALLY giving it your all? I want to be able to tell the lord that I REALLY will give my all to him and that I did ALL I COULD. So make the decision now and go do it!!
I need to call together the prayers of all of you so that I can make a HUGE SPIRIT BOMB and totally dominate satan here (that is right...lowercase S). We have a man named Brother Liu. He needs the prayers of everyone here so that he can quit smoking, get baptized and in a year be sealed with his family! He tried before and gave up...now we are not going to give up on him but we need your help!
We have found TONS of new investigators and so going through all of them would take awhile...I am so lucky that I have an AMAZING companion like Elder Roberts to stick up with my weaknesses (which I have found out recently are a TON), and to work so hard with me! We are killing our selves out here! I feel bad for him working so flippin hard! We hardly ever get home at 9:00 because we just don't stop working! His Chinese is also getting really good. I expect that he will be one of the best if he keeps pushing himself like this!! :)
Ready for theeeee INVITE OF THE WEEK!?!?!? WOOOO!!!! Okay boy's and girl's, ladies and gentleman!! This week I want to invite everyone to pick a special person and pray for them in EVERY prayer that you say this week :) Pray that they will feel the saviors love.
I want to take a moment to share my love and compassion with the Nadeau Family. I wish I knew what I possibly say that would bring consolation or relief of any kind. [Shannon here: A very dear family to us lost their son, Nick Nadeau, this past week in a car accident. Our hearts our broken over it.] The thing is that I know that I can't...but I know someone that Can. And that is the Savior Jesus Christ. He will bear our grief and our pains. Nick is an AMAZING man. I loved him and looked up to him. Ever since coming off his mission I loved being with him, joking together in Young Adults or playing Ping Pong together at Robs. He is such an example to me of humility and charity. I really look up to him and I am SO grateful for the knowledge that I have that the Plan or Happiness is true! I know that my good friend, your Son or Brother is in a place where he can "rest from all [his] troubles and sorrows." I know that this may not bring the mortal and physical consolation that many of us long for, but it can bring an eternal and spiritual peace to our souls. Because of the Savior, he still lives and is working hard on the other side. I love you all so much and as a full time servant for the Lord you are all in my prayers, so is Nick. I love you all and I hope I can hear from you. If there is ANYTHING I can do, feel free to call upon me for anything at all.
I love you all and this work!!!
Shine bright and just jump in!!
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Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao
葛勝龍長老
