Mathmatical!

In Alma 10:32 it states in reference to Zeezrom and his pals, "Now the object of these lawyers was to get gain; and they got gain according to their employ." 

Which made me think of employment. We are all employed to do something, whether it be an actual job, the Lord's work, etc. In all cases it is to get gain.

But the gain being for ourselves or for others all depends on our motives to work. If our motive is to get gain in the worldly sense, we will get gain according to our employ, but is that really worth anything?

Later Alma and Amulek contend with Zeezrom..."Now, it was for the sole purpose to get gain, because they received their wages according to their employ, therefore, they did stir up the people to riotings, and all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might get money according to the suits which were brought before them; therefore they did stir up the people against Alma and Amulek.

And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you?

And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being.

Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.”

This week I will ponder the activities I participate in. What is the motive behind it? Why am I doing what I do? In the end we will all receive our payment due to the work we did. So I hope to make my work aligned with God and his love, and I will receive "never-ending happiness.”

I love you.

Elder Henry David Christensen 

Hiphopopotamus

We had our Outdoor Zone Conference this last week which happens this time each year. Because of my visa problems, I wasn't able to be here last year, but I got to do it once so I can't complain. 

We went on a multi-zone hike on Lion Mountain. It was a steep incline with few breaks on the way, and while I am in shape as far as biking goes,it left me a little sore. 

We stopped along the way and received various trainings which were awesome and very spirit-driven. So that was our whole day on Friday! It was a nice break in the schedule we follow. 

On Saturday we had a baptism! 朱弟兄 has been meeting with us for only a few weeks and now is a member of the church. How wonderful is that! We spent most of the week on him and his baptism and it turned out to be an interesting week, but it was really good still. 

One of my favorite parts besides the baptism and outdoor zone conference was dinner last night. A member invited us and Brother Zhu over and we had a great time! 

We ended by sharing "Because of Him" and talking about how because of Christ we can go to the temple and do all of these wonderful things for our ancestors and ourselves. 

I haven't tried it before but I think really focusing on these things from the beginning will set him on a really good pace. For example, after church yesterday we had a lesson on the priesthood, how to get it, and what it is for. So we are really excited for Brother Zhu to keep on progressing and we are also really happy that our members are so willing to help us do so.

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.   

My lyrics are bottomless.

Love,

Elder Henry David Christensen 

Idols of Life

Brother Zhu Zhen Ming passed his baptismal interview!! Ya! We are very excited for him. He is sort of like a small child. He is just simple and peaceable. I love him a lot, and I am grateful to know him. He is pretty great! I will send some pictures next week!

I don't know if you have noticed the brother with the round classes in a lot of my pictures recently, but his name is Joel, and he just left for college. I was really sad about it, he is one of my best friends on this island. So that was a hard part of the week but I am getting used to goodbyes finally after saying so many.

Also this last week I was able to go back to Daxi and visit my very first area. I didn't see many people I recognized, but we visited a few. It was kind of nostalgic and also a little sad. That place was really hard for me. It brought back a lot of those memories. I was grateful to see it again but also grateful I didn't have to stay haha.

Some scriptures we found and have been sharing this week are Mosiah 13:12-14 and Mosiah 2:22-23. 

"And now, ye remember that I said unto you: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of things which are in heaven above, or which are in the earth beneath, or which are in the water under the earth. And again: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me; 

And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and 

keep my commandments."

    "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him."

Our message was that sometimes we allow other things to become our idols in life. Whether it is an actual statue, our work or some other worldly thing, if we do not always put God first we are not keeping his commandments. 

It is this way with everything. It sounds harsh without understanding, but God must even come before the family. Without God what is the family? Like Job, we need to first rely on Him, keep His commandments and then we take action and that is how we can have a happy family. Our motive of course can be family. 

I am now seeing how true it is to me. 

The things I want, whatever it may be, cannot be before God. This work is God's, and I know he will do it for me if I will be obedient and work my hardest. I LOVE IT!

Love,

Elder Henry David Christensen 

孟

On Saturday we were able to take one of our ward's less-active recent converts to the temple. His name is Brother Meng (孟) and he is super handsome. I didn't get any pictures with him yet but you'll see him later I'm sure. 

Anyways, the day was sort of crazy. We hopped on a train at 10:30, did baptisms at about 1:30 and were home by 4:00. Of course, missionaries can't do baptisms for the dead, so instead I was a witness. It was a smooth day and afterward we went and got Douhua with Brother Meng. (Douhua,豆花 is bean curd and is super good.)

don't pay any mind to the mung milk.

Sunday, we said goodbye to Penny, who was one of our investigators. She is moving to Taidong for school and we probably won't see her again in Zhubei for quite some time. Previously she had a baptismal date for the second of this month but she prayed about it and received an answer through the scriptures that her "promised land" was in Taidong and that she would be baptized there by the Elder who taught her very first, Elder Nielsen. It is a miracle to say the least. When I talked to Elder Nielsen, he said that she had not been interested at the time he had tried teaching her. As you can imagine the news was warmly welcomed. The best part is, before she left she gave us a note in which she said that she believes this church is true. It was a very happy moment for me, because I was truly able to see the love of Christ through her. We are very excited for Penny!

Here my apartment. UR welcome.

Brother Zhu Zhen Ming will be getting baptized on the 19th of this month, which is coming pretty soon, so we made some plans with him yesterday to hit his goal. He wanted to be baptized on the 13th, but we haven't taught him all the lessons, so he was a little sad about that, but he is excited to reach this new goal. 

Brother Zhu is a very large man, with very large glasses. He loves children and is like unto a lamb. Very calm, happy and he always brings the spirit with him. Over the last few weeks we have seen a large change in him. He started shaving before church, and he even bought a white shirt and dress pants. He told us next week he is buying a tie and we are going to give him one too. And although he doesn't yet fully understand the Book of Mormon, he believes in it. He also has a huge testimony on prayer and constantly shares it with us. We are also very very excited for him. 

I personally know this is the work of God. I am very grateful for my time here and I am so grateful for the wonderful people of Taiwan.

Love,

Elder Henry David Christensen 

Penny my investigator drew this picture for me

Here is us last P-Day at the beach with a sword. I went with my friend Reicong again. AND today we are visiting DAXI where I started my mission haha yay.