Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
No, I'm not crazy. I'm Canadian.
So Canadian Thanksgiving was yesterday, which is why P-day is today. It was really fun. Especially spending Thanksgiving with Asians who don't really care or know how to make Turkey! It's so much fun here
Last Monday we went to Stanley Park which is a big Island right next to down town Vancouver. I have pictures down below. Monday night we were finding and saw a kid named Fei. Fei used to be an investigator but his Aunt made him stop meeting with the missionaries about a month ago. Then we saw him Monday night and he said he doesn't care what she says, he wants to get baptised. So that was sweet!
Tuesday was kind of a waste from a missionaries stand-point. The are some English Sister Missionaries in Langley who are teaching some Chinese investigators, and we were going to drive all the way out to the BC Temple (about 45 mins) to go teach them and see if they understand the English Sisters or need us to teach them. But they all cancelled so that was 2 hours of our day wasted. Then, since my companion is a Zone Leader, we had to take another companionship to the doctor and so it was just more time we could have spent talking to people. But we had an awesome lesson with an investigator named Simon who really wants to be baptised. He is an awesome kid.
Wednesday we had District Meeting and I felt like I could understand a lot.
This past week I've actually realized that I can understand about 80% of what the Chinese people are saying. I just still have a hard time talking back. But I can hear and understand a ton. We taught Fei Wednesday night and I asked him to be baptised at the end of this month and he said yes! The other missionaries asked him to quit smoking last month and he has been doing it which is super awesome! We ate dinner at this amazing place in Richmond. It's called the Richmond Public Market and it's just this huge ghetto parking garage and you go through these doors and in the middle is this GIGANTIC Chinese market. With tons of food stands and shops. It's super cool. No English anywhere, and ordering food in Chinese is the best!
Thursday while we were at the church doing weekly planning a Chinese family just walked into the church and said they want to learn more. My companion and I just looked at each other and said: "Yeah, we can help with that". It was a nice miracle and it was great that we were there because none of the people who work in the mission home speak Chinese. We are teaching the son and the Dad right now (Zhong Zhu and Ma Xian Sheng) and it seems to be going well. On Friday I asked Zhong Zhu to be baptised and he said yes. We taught a lesson with a girl named Vicky that we met on Wednesday. It went pretty well, but I'll talk more about her later. It doesn't have a happy ending. Also I forgot to mention that last Saturday I asked a new investigator name Yang to be baptised and he said he really wants to. We taught him again Thursday and when I was teaching him the Joseph Smith story he kept saying: "and then what happened? And then what?" He seems really solid.
Friday we taught a kid named Sammy his first lesson and he also said he would be baptised when I asked him. Then we went to this semi-active members house and watched the Joseph Smith video. Their kids are the most adorable things I have ever seen in my entire life. Asian little kids are 100x cuter than White kids, no question.
Saturday we taught Simon again. He is one hundred percent willing to give up coffee and tea and try and live the Word of Wisdom. He is probably my favourite investigator I am teaching right now. Saturday night we had Leo's baptism. He was taught by Elder Hay for like 3 months and then he passed him off to the other Elders when they opened their area so they had people to teach. We see Leo a lot and he is an awesome member. When he was baptised he just said "wow, I'm clean. This is the best" It was a good baptism service and Vicky and Fei both came. Fei said he really felt the Spirit and knows he needs to get baptised.
Sunday was hard. Vicky came to us with all of these false things she read on the internet about our church and was accusing us of all these things she "knows" is true, just because she read them on the internet. It was sad, especially because she wouldn't listen to us when we said those things were just downright lies but she said she is done meeting with us. It was sad to see her go because she really liked us and she really had potential. Simon and Fei came to church and both really loved it. Simon even was participating and making comments in the classes. Sunday night we went to a members house for Thanksgiving dinner. They had a ton of Chinese food, not really a normal Thanksgiving meal. They did have a Turkey, but it wasn't really that great. The other Chinese stuff was awesome though!
Monday was Thanksgiving. It was cold and pouring all day, and being from Arizona, it was the best Thanksgiving weather I could have asked for! There is a member who we call Chen Popo which means Grandma Chen in Chinese. She LOVES the missionaries, especially Elder Hay. She had her 85th Birthday yesterday and so she took Elder Hay and I and Simon out to lunch at a cool Chinese restaurant called Dim Sum. LOTS of strange Chinese food, and all of it was awesome! It was especially cool because she was able to help us teach Simon more. He is really progressing and it makes me so happy. We went to teach a couple who wanted to meet with us but they were really weird. They were trying to convince us that Christ has already come back and he is living in China, but not teaching or performing miracles, just moving around and serving. It was really weird. They said tons of other stuff that made no sense. It was basically a waste of time because they were not willing to listen to reason. Thursday night we went to a members house for another Thanksgiving dinner. She made Turkey, and it was actually pretty good, but it was definitely made by a Chinese person so it was not what Americans would think of when they think of Turkey. And we got to teach a good lesson with her non-member son. Monday night we taught Zhong Zhu and Ma Xian Shen again which was good.
All in all, it was a really awesome week. Our investigators are really solid and my Chinese is slowing improving. I'm loving my area and loving being a missionary so much. I've been really bad about including a spiritual thought, but now is better than never to start!
I really like what Elder Durrant said about "ponderizing" in General Conference so I'll include the scripture I'm "Ponderizing" this week:
"Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and the obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days." D&C 64:34
It's important to remember that God requires us to be willing and to give our heart and mind to him or else he can't bless or guide us
Love you all, have an awesome week!
王長老
Elder Wallace
The view from Stanley Park:
Leo's Baptism:
Leo's Baptism Program
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