Loops and Hoops (or I am doing happy)

This week was quite interesting. It feels like not much happened because we didn't really see a lot of success, but we did a lot of stuff and had some great experiences. I will start from the front and go to the back because that makes it more exciting. 

Last night we had about an hour to go finding at the train station. We got there and immediately started talking to people. The first person I talked to was a boy about my age who just really didn't have any belief or conception of God at all. 

At first I kind of felt weird talking to him but as it turned spiritual, it seemed like it was going well. That was until I mentioned that through prayer we can communicate with God and receive answers to the questions we asked. He kind of looked at me like I was crazy and then made an excuse and ran away which was kind of funny but also a little disheartening. Nevertheless we continued on. 

After slowly inching away from a crazy lady with no teeth we started talking to a kid who was like first, but he did believe in God... he believed that there were many Gods. We introduced Heavenly Father as a God he may not have met just yet. We shared a beautiful message of prayer and how he loves each of us. He admitted at one point after praying that he had felt the Holy Ghost. He said it was hard to explain but that it was a peaceful and a wonderful feeling. However, as we closed, we asked if we could find another time to meet with him or even just to exchange a method of contact. He refused... 

I learned a lot from that. I have encountered it many times, where a person feels the Holy Ghost and still refuses, and I can't complain because I know we are planting seeds.

Earlier in the day, my recent convert from Luodong (my second area) and her mother came all the way to see me and they even brought curry with rice! It is always good to see old friends. 

We also saw a pretty cool miracle with Church. On Friday, we were at the college here in Miao Li talking to people and we met a guy named Crimson who had super long hair and looked like a designer (which he was). After a little while of talking, his brother ran past and said hi, which we didn't really take into account, but then yesterday one of the recent converts in our ward, Annie, brought her boyfriend into sacrament meeting. It was the older brother that had ran past!! We were pretty stoked about that and it was pretty neat. We talked for a while and found out his birthday is one day before mine so we are the same age. He is super cool and his name in Chinese is Qian which means money. We will be meeting with him this week which we are excited about. 

Elder Stevenson, yes the new apostle, came and spoke to us. He said to save some "finding" energy for after the mission and encouraged us all with a "you can get married!" So we were pretty excited for the news.

We got interviewed by a group of teenagers at a library who were very fascinated with us and what we were doing (which was nice and pretty rare). 

Our ward bought a giant turkey and we had a very delicious Chinese dinner after which I had to tell the Thanksgiving story in Chinese hahaha. 

 So it was a busy week. I am doing happy. 

Love,

Elder Henry David Christensen 

Baptism!?

    This week was a challenging week to say the least. Definitely one of the most challenging one I've had out here in the mission field. Here is why: Missionaries have been working with this investigator, Maggie, since April and all the way back in August she personally set her own baptismal date for this past Saturday the 21st. Since then missionaries here have been working hard with her to help her overcome her mom's "fandui" or protest about joining the church. So all the way up to last Monday she had been working hard to overcome it and then we got the permission from her mom to get baptized so we rushed to get her a baptismal interview for 2 days later so she could make her baptismal goal of this past Saturday.

    She passed her baptismal interview with flying colors and then we got permission for Elder Wayment to come back to baptize her since he had been working with her since May. So we're all excited and then we get a call from a ward member (one of her friends) on Friday night at about 9:30pm saying that she might not be getting baptized because she was telling people at work that she was getting baptized the next day and a christian from a different denomination absolutely railed on our church twisting our doctrine to sound like we're a cult and stuff like that.

    Later a couple of members went and talked with her till about midnight and she said she pray about it and make a decision the next morning (that part we didn't know since we had to go to bed). So we get a call from the member at 11 the next morning that she decided to get baptized so we went forward with it and get everything ready. And then 90 minutes before the baptism we get a call from the member and the investigator. She cancelled the baptism. Apparently after she made the decision she went to go talk with her boyfriend (another one of our investigators) and in the words of Elder Anderson "HE FLIPPING PERSUADED HER NOT TO....." (we later found out the boyfriend has absolutely no interest in the Church or God in general and only kinda started taking the lessons to make her happy).

     We had to hurry and call everyone and tell them that the baptism was off. She luckily had already called Elder Wayment to tell him to hop off the train because she cancelled the baptism. My companion and I were absolutely heart broken because she is so well prepared for baptism. I was downcast to say the least, but then, I assume with permission, Elder Facer, my son, reached me to tell me that Chen Jia Wen, who I had taught from the beginning was baptized just last week. I missed it by a week and didn't even know it was happening for sure till after the matter but I was mostly just happy that it happened. It made me happy and was sort of this weeks saving grace.  

Another fun thing was last night. While we were contacting people at the train station this crazy guy came up to us and tried to give us these bike accessories for free. We looked inside them and they both had wallets in them. And then he tried to sell us a bike for $100NT (about $3USD) that was the same brand and model as my companions bike (just 2 frame sizes smaller) which is very very expensive. We didn't buy it from him but we got his contact info so we'll see if he shows up to English Class this week. 

Love,

Elder Henry David Christensen 

Exchanges X3

This computer cafe is the pit of despair so I am not able to send pictures this week! sorry! I want to, but these computers are horrible!

On Thursday my companion and I boarded the early morning bus to Toufen. After arriving, I went with Elder Pack and left my companion in Toufen, as we headed to Taibei. Once in Taibei, we had our English leader meeting and then I left with Elder Hammond during Elder Pack's district leader meeting. Elder Pack is my district leader and Elder Hammond is a missionary in Tiabei that is also getting broken (trained). 

Once in Elder Hammond's area, we went finding for about an hour, found a solid new investigator and had a lesson with him, then headed back to the headquarters switched back and then headed back to Toufen, ate dinner, and went back to my area. Then the next morning we switched with our zone leaders. I was with Elder Marks who is super cool. He is from Utah but his mom is Vietnamese and his dad is Canadian so he has some cool stories about them. We had a lot of fun and success together. 

Anyways, needless-to-say, I am tired. This last week was super good but really hard too as we were finding the whole entire time.

I really was able to learn a lot from those exchanges. It was fun, tiring and well needed. I have been with missionaries that haven't been on island for a very long time so switching with Elder Marks, who is very experienced, for even a day was a nice burden lifted. I do end up talking a lot. Haha.

Love you all!

Elder Henry David Christensen

MIAO LI

Well, I got moved!! 

I finished training my son, Elder Facer, with glorious pride, and was moved out of the lands, leaving my posterity to him. I am not worried, although I am sad because Chen Jia Wen is getting baptized next week and I will miss it by just a week.. Super sad, but I will see her again hopefully. She is a good friend.

The transfer meeting was fun at first but as more and more calls were made, it just felt wrong. It was a really strong and odd feeling that just made me feel there was something wrong. I think something is going down at the headquarters...Nevertheless, I cannot complain. I like my companion a lot and I also think we will see a lot of miracles together. 

My companion is Elder Anderson. He is big and from New York! He also just finished getting trained so I am his second companion and breaking him which is funny because he, just like Elder Hansen who I broke, is a ginger! This is only significant because I think it means I will train again right after this transfer hahahah. 

The area is good too. Close to the Taizhong (Taichung) mission boarder, so we are a little farther away from headquarters and actually really close to my last area. So close that if I wanted to I could hang out with Elder Facer every P-day haha. In fact, we will be going to the beach with them today! Anyways, back to my area, it is a little smaller city. Less people and farther distances to get anywhere but that is OK. I like biking and it is getting colder anyways, so we will stay warm hopefully. 

I am loving life and the mission. Get convicted! 

Elder Henry David Christensen