Sunday, February 22, 2015

GUO NIAN KUAI LE


This week was Chinese New Years and was a week of gratitude. We had so many friends, including members and investigators, that had us over for dinner. They are so kind here and I was surprised at the amount of generosity that was shown to me and the other missionaries in my ward. We didn't pay for one meal the whole week! We only ate breakfast inside our house and the rest were at members houses. It was crazy! We ate KFC for the first time in months! It is better here.



We were able to bring our baptismal date investigator, Yang DX, to our bishops house for dinner and then afterwards we had planned to give a different investigator a chapel tour but I felt prompted to invite Yang DX too. When we arrived at the chapel we called the investigator and he told us he could not come. But we still had Yang DX! So, we took him through our chapel and were able to help him better understand our Church and the meetings we have within. It was awesome!


We also found a new LA(less active) this week who has a few problems with Church and reading but is really kind. Finding her kind of restored some faith in LA finding. It was awesome actually being let in! We brought our friend Daniel who is serving in the military right now, but is on break because of Guonian, and his family actually already knew the LA and I felt we were able to help her remember  the feeling she had once felt at church. 

We ate a lot of weird food, met a lot of cool people, and had a wonderful week here in Luodong, Taiwan. Thank you all for your support and prayers! I along with the other missionaries really need it! Sorry for the short email! 
That leaf thing is raw pigs skin that a member gave us 
Love, 
Elder Henry David Christensen

Monday, February 16, 2015

fun times in babylon

Slippery, Be Caution

This week was really hard but we also saw some pretty cool miracles. We went to a Miao (Chinese temple) last P-day and I had a really strong impression. I have been to a lot of Miaos but as I walked through this one I felt especially dark. It was really kinda scary and I just didn't feel good. Though it was fun to see the building and the cool dragon themed statues, watching people worship money was kind of a hard thing to witness. 

There is a large spinning pyramid with tons of names in little triangle boxes that cost about 100 american dollars and they are supposed to bless your family with more money. So, it's probably not much different than the lottery, but at least the lottery isn’t done in the name of deity. In sum, I don't like going to their temples because they seem like misguided worship.
Our investigator, Lin Jun Feng, was really offended by our beliefs regarding the traditional religion (meaning how we believe Buddha was just a person) and because of it he said we can continue to visit him but he will not accept our message. He was our most progressing investigator so it was sad to see him drop off so quickly but we found other people who are ready and we just have to work harder and teach with the spirit. 
One of our recent converts, Huang Shi Neng, had a tragic event happen in his life. His older brother died suddenly and because of it Huang relapsed and is drinking a lot of alcohol as well as smoking to try to wash away his sorrow and we just can't get through to him. He is such a wonderful man and it has been very difficult watching him fall down so far and even our bishop, who I regard as very wise, says that he doesn't quite know how to help him until he stops drinking. I have seen first hand the effects of alcohol and how deteriorating it can be. He is unresponsive and hardly seems himself. We have already thrown his alcohol out twice but still the problem is a difficult one that he will need some real faith to get over. Please pray for him. 


On a more positive note, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Marchant (my zone leader)! He is an awesome missionary and a great zone leader. It made me realize even more that zone leaders are pretty busy people. But he taught me a lot and because I was with him I got to go to an awesome service project near Shilin. 


It was a great project and it was a beautiful day to set up some tables for homeless people. I was also happy to see so many wonderful volunteers and other missionaries. It was awesome and this week we also found some new investigators and friends. I am doing great and know if we just work hard we will find success! 
Elder Henry David Christensen 


p.s. We just ate pig ears, pig intestines, and pig head skin for lunch.

Dad, This new opportunity is a really big part of your life I hope you know I am with you as yo spirit brotha. I love you douglas. I sincerely hope that you can know if this job is right for you. You have worked too hard on a good cause to not be happy.
WE WILL HIKE AGAIN.
Be ready. I am training every day. haha
I am a very flawed person ma. I love you to death. I am working as hard as I can and I am excited to pull you up a mountain next year.
Love your only and very best boy

Monday, February 9, 2015

LIN JUN FENG

Me with Ruby, Ryan and the little one is Xiao Rou who may have a little crush on me hahaha
This was an awesome week! We found a man named Lin Jun Feng. He had actually flagged down Elder Love a while before but we just never met with him until this last Tuesday. He is 63 years old and has a full head of white hair. He is retired and has a very open schedule. He is willing to meet whenever and has wonderful questions about what we teach. Because he is a older we feared he was crazy because it seemed to good to be true (plus older people here often are a little off the rocker,) but he is really smart. 
He has pretty low self esteem when he doesn't get what we are saying. But at Church and throughout the week we had him meet some members that could translate for us because he speaks in Taiyu half the time. So, now he has friends and people that can help build him up and encourage him. He is already moving forward quickly with the Book of Mormon and his prayers are very sweet. 
these are from her birthday party she is right next to me. We ate cake with their class haha

All around he is a very lovable guy and I am excited for him to progress in the gospel. Really awesome experience finding someone who is ready to hear our message. 
Last Wednesday we had four new students come to English class that live in our area and are willing to listen as well. We have seen a lot of blessings as far as finding people to teach it is awesome. They are all girls about seventeen-ish and they are super cool. They ask really good questions and also love English class so we will see them a lot which is good. Athena, one of them, plays the cello and then Joyce is learning guitar so it is really cool to talk about music. They are all reading and praying it is so cool! 
We also got to go to a little girl named Xiao Rou's birthday party at her kindergarten. Every time she seems me she yells out KE GAHNGLAO. Haha she sort of has a speech impediment and says it wrong. She is so cute and when we have to leave she says that I can't. It is really funny. Her family however has recently stated that they cannot be baptized but will still listen to what we have to say. That was really hard and sad but the lord will always provide if we work hard. Their hearts will be opened sooner or later. I am doing wonderfully and am enjoying life!  
 Elder Henry David Christensen 


p.s. Blake Bailey is going on a mission!?! This is the first I heard so I am surprised. That is soo COOL! I hadn't heard of any of these that is awesome. Where is Blake going though? 
I miss Lillie too. She is so great. Tell her to keep going and that God will always be there to hold her hand. When others are sad and down you can always count on Lillie to be the one to brighten each and every day. She is too hard on herself.
I love Elder Holland. What an awesome man. That is pretty cool you got to see an Apostle of Christ in person! I have seen the Prophet 2 times in person I think. 
Thank you mom!!!!! You are the best. I bet you didn't think I would be giving you so much homework! 
I love you mommy. Never forget it. I read an article from a past Liahona by Shayne M. Bowen about the fight going on inside each of us and liked it. It talks about wolves you should try to find it! 

Monday, February 2, 2015

HIGHLIGHTS


We are working hard and really have seen a lot of miracles. We have a family that we met about 2 weeks ago. At first they were only interested in English class. The mother is really concerned about her kids and what they do in life so she is really stressing them learning English. She even asked us if she could pay us for extra classes (which of course we declined, explaining our rules for that type of thing.) She was, however, willing to let us share our message even though it she thinks she will never convert. But this week there was a lot of change and up to this point they have met with us several times, all have a personal copy of the Book of Mormon(except for the father) and the 13 year old is already in Alma! He loves reading it! They even came to Church this week! What a miracle! 

We also were able to see Lin Cheng Rong, the ten year old who was baptized last week, confirmed and it went awesome! He is young and it is hard for him to recognize the spirit so we will work hard until he can gain that testimony. In the special training this week I learned a lot. I realized that endure to the end is sort of broad. In the special training we were given a more in depth meaning which was "endure with deepening life-long conversion." I hope we can both experience this kind of conversion. 
We met with our friend Adnaan, who is from India but speaks fluent English, Chinese and his native tongue. He is a really deep thinker and shares his views often with us. I always leave feeling enlightened and that I have learned something new. His background is incredible! He has seen the worst horrors in the world when it comes to racism, war, and death. He was raised in it, yet he still acts like a goof ball. He does not like how religion separated people like it severally does in India. Yet, he likes when the missionaries come :) We often go to his restaurant to clean and mop his floor and then talk to him about his life. He gives us all sorts of cool cookies and biscuits. So good! He calls us his angels because he always feels happier and something good always happens when we come. It is really cool. He shared this story with me the other day: 

"There once was a God that loved his people so he would serve them. But they kept asking for money and other worldly things and it became too much, so he fled to the mountains to escape but they found him and wouldn't stop begging for wealth so he fled to the middle of the ocean but they got boats and found him there too. He eventually could think of no place on the earth to go to escape their greed so he fled into each persons heart. And there he stayed because no one ever looks into their own heart." 


He said that he feels God is in our hearts because he would see all of his past neighbors ring their loud bells and chant to get blessings from their Gods and he figured the Gods couldn't get away because they were so annoyed so they hid in the human heart because no one searches there. Pretty deep haha. He is not sure who God is but he does pray because he believes in a power at least. He said when he prays with us he feels different. This is so cool!! When he prays, he talks about how God keeps answering his prayers for work and whenever they are answered we usually show up a few minutes later. He struggles in finding time to read, and come to church but he has already felt that this message is true and we are in the midst of teaching him the Plan of Salvation. It is hard to get him to read. We have known him for a while, too. Please pray for him, because he is probably the most open hearted man I have ever known and he feels different when we teach him. I love that man! 
Thursday was miraculous because after a suuuper long training in Taipei (which was fun) we were heading back on the bus late that night and were worried we would not make our appointment with our less active friend, Shi Hong Yu and his family so we called them to say we had to cancel. To my surprise our bus grew two pairs of rocket jets so we made it back quickly. We called Brother Shi but his dad said not to worry about it and that we can meet later. He did not sound interested in meeting. Ohhhh man I felt so bad. But a few minutes later Brother Shi called back and said he had convinced his dad and they were on their way to meet us at the train station. We ate with them, reviewed Brother Shi's feelings when he was baptized. Then testified about how this gospel will help Brother Shi so we asked the parents to support him in coming to church. They are pretty familiar with the church. Like very familiar with the church! So they happily agreed. They support him so much. 
That Saturday we played basketball with them and then Sunday after church we got a call from his dad asking if we could pray for his son because he was about to test into college and was too nervous. Ohhhh yeah!! We prayed with him over the phone and talked about how God will be on his side taking the test with him. He then got pumped for the test and it went smoothly. His dad called back and thanked us a lot. Then invited us to come over to eat and we sure did. We enjoyed their company Brother Shi brought an old translation of the Book of Mormon he got from his sister thirty years ago. Haha he was so dang proud of that book. We were looking at it and he kept pointing to the book and saying "30 years.....30 years......30 years.,.....30 years" like ten times haha. So guess what we did? We asked if he had read it and then recommitted him to read it with his son! We will hopefully be meeting with them each week to review. They are a wonderful family.
Love, 
Elder Henry David Christensen 

p.s. I think Joseph Smith is so awesome. Nowadays the trials are very different, but the message still stands that no matter what God will not leave us. He will hold our hands and comfort us. One of our investigators is worried that she won't be able to find someone in the Church to marry so we are trying to teach her that God provides a way for all things. 

I love you and miss hanging on your neck while you try to type stuff. 

I took this picture to show off my haircut. The lady took a razor all the way up the side of my head and said "is that good?" so needless to say my hair is short again :( 
BEAR TESTIMONY EVERYDAY TO ONE PERSON!!

Thank you for your prayers I can feel them. I am so grateful for you! Thank you!