You may argue with us, but truly, we have the best mission there could possibly be. Our Institute students are amazing and more are coming all the time. Even Ark, who was baptized Saturday, is strong, knowledgeable, and anxious to share the Gospel. The opportunity to teach the doctrine of Christ, to explain the creation, fall and atonement, let alone the words of Isaiah is a daunting challenge yet it stretches us and somehow the Book of Mormon comes alive for all of us. We see the hand of the Lord every day.
It was such a privilege to be with Elders Gerber and Wang when they went to teach Peter. We talked about eternal families, a very tender subject for Peter. As his wife recently died, he wanted to know about temple work and had many questions. He is full of faith and gains strength from his steady, quiet reliance on the Savior.
Elder Wang, who is from mainland China, is a "miracle conversion". His best friend introduced him to the gospel, then his friend's mother flew with him to Hong Kong where he met with the missionaries and was taught all the lessons in one day and was baptized the next. Obviously he was truly converted as he is now serving a mission. His is not an isolated case. A few years ago there were a few hundred native Chinese in mainland China who were members, now there are thousands, many of whom are "miracle conversions" taught in one day.
One of our Institute students, Lisa Morgan, who lives in our mission, was just called as a missionary to serve in our mission, the England Birmingham Mission. This is the first time I have ever heard of that happening. She was surprised, but is anxious to serve. 
We inspected flats in the Coventry Zone today. It was fun to see the missionaries we knew from when they were in Wales, it was great to see how clean some of the flats were, and it was really fun in Banbury to see Banbury Cross. They are celebrating it's 150th birthday this coming Sunday. Apparently there was an older cross in Banbury, but this one replaced it 150 years ago. And as an added bonus, we also saw the beautiful statue commemorating: "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross to see a fine lady upon a white horse. Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes." And indeed, she did have rings on her fingers and bells on her toes.
3 comments:
I love seeing how happy you look and sound serving out there. It's so fun to hear about it all -- thanks for the blogging!
How neat to hear about the Chinese converts...that just gives me the chills, and I love hearing how quickly the gospel is spreading all over the earth.
Mason has a nursery rhyme book with the Banbury Cross nursery rhyme in it, except it has a CAT riding the horse who has rings on her fingers and bells on her toes. He always says the cat is Mitzi. haha ;)
Loved the update!
I love the picture of the bells on her toes! I love cool stuff like that when you're traveling.
Losing a loved one has a strange way of turning your thoughts towards temple work and the Plan of Salvation. I was talking with a family member about it this week. My brother, Steven's wife lost her younger brother (he was 24) this week. He fell off his skateboard and hit his head. He was such a cute boy, someone we saw every once in awhile. They were able to do so much good with his organs. It sure makes me think of the Plan though.
Hope Cherie is doing well.
Post a Comment