Life is so good!

I have a couple awesome experiences to share with you today, but before that I will leave a brief report of our investigators.

William, is struggling with _____, and we are saddened by this. He has a good heart though, and a desire to change, but his faith is weak. He and Jeff both have another problem with their boss at work, a very "unfair man," however the way Jeff deals with it is a lot better than William because of the difference in faith. Like unto that of Nephi and his brothers! He’s got a lot of work to do before he is baptized on the 26th. We invited him to destroy all of his stuff that tempted him and to clean his apartment.

COOL EXPERIENCE yesterday. Sharing with a half listening, half zoning out William, about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I started to bear testimony. The moment the words, "I know that Jesus Christ took upon himself the sins of the world," left my mouth, the ground started to tremble. Seriously, a 3-second earthquake happened! It was incredible!

Peter Zhang, no problems whatsoever. He is now living a completely worthy life and he finally resolved his work situation so he can come to Sacrament meeting on Sundays! He is starting to become more and more relaxed and friendly with us, (such a shy man) but he's very set and excited to be baptized and enter the gate.

Hank-- Ridiculously golden still! Sister members of the ward told me they could tell how excited he was about the gospel by they way that he shook there hands, full of glee I presume, leaving a sore wrist for those who dare shake his hand. When we invited him to keep the law of tithing he was offended that we would even ask! Ha-ha, "I'm sorry, Hank, we have to ask the question."

On exchanges, Elder Yee was able to learn that it’s possible to set up people in the afternoon. We said a prayer and the first door we knocked on allowed us in. It was a 28 year-old man and his 19 year-old partner. It was an AMAZING LESSON and we addressed all of their concerns. They showed interest, and expressed their desire to start living their lives in a gospel manner. They came to church and they brought a friend, and they even set baptismal dates! They have investigated a lot of other churches but they were really moved as we shared our testimonies of the importance of an eternal family.

On Sunday we forgot to take bread to do the Sacrament for Juliana the Filipina. She takes care of old people and can’t get work off on Sunday so we go to her. Her life is hard since she is separated from her husband who has a girlfriend in the Philippines and she is in Taiwan making money for her 2 kids so they can go to school. However, the kids have chosen to drop out and drink beer instead. Her family is in a wreck but Juliana has so much faith. Anyway as the funny story goes, we forgot to bring bread to her house for the Sacrament so we used a cookie instead. This cookie was given to us by her boss who is Buddhist, and it just so turns out that this cookie was part of the food that had been previously put on a table with incense sticks, being an ancient Buddhist ritual. For a long time in Chinese history, people have put food on tables as a method of worshipping their ancestors and their ghosts “come and eat the spirit out of the food” and then the food is distributed amongst the people. So we used a cookie with no spirit for the administering the Sacrament to Juliana. hahahahahaha

Next: We taught a very devout, homeless Buddhist man the other day with a pei ke. (Ward member?) The lesson started off terrible as the pei ke and the man started talking about really, really ancient Chinese doctrines and how they were impractical. The lesson went nowhere until the pei ke finally gave up and let us speak. We used the method in the scriptures, “Do you believe in a great spirit?” “Yes, etc...” The man was touched and committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. The pei ke was astonished and he confessed that he needs how to learn how to teach more simply. We told him to study Preach my Gospel, ha-ha.

Next: the Spirit was Magnificent during Sacrament meeting on Sunday.

Next: I went on exchanges with Elder Broadhead. He is a big kid with a huge heart, ha-ha, a ruddy type missionary, who was also trained by Elder Larson. He is so humble. He and his new companion are trying to work out how they do things because the new comp came from the other mission and they did some things differently. I thanked him for his patience and support. He is a good elder. While on exchanges we had the opportunity to teach Americans and this was their first time meeting with missionaries. That’s a first for my mission. I was a little nervous, but it went SO WELL! I realized I need to work on some basic social skills again though, ha-ha, dangit! Oh well. They were really cool. They are college students and have been studying in Taiwan for a year. Ryan loved the lesson. He was really touched by the Spirit, however his girlfriend was a little unappreciative, and she was "very Catholic." I asked her how she felt about the message and she said, “Well, I think the principle we need to understand is acceptance. Jesus accepts everyone, so we don't have to worry about everybody having different religions and searching different churches.” Ryan didn't like that comment, I could tell ha-ha, and he also didn't like how she made the decision for him to not be baptized. I bet money that they have had a DTR by now! Ha-ha DTR means “determine the relationship.” Anyway, as she said that, it was really hard for me not to slap my forehead with the palm of my hand, but the Spirit decided it's better to respond with love and re-emphasize the importance of repentance and focus on the words Christ himself uses. "Come follow me." Even after a very spiritual reply she was still hatin' ha-ha. It was difficult, but she did go as far as agreeing to come to church with Ryan on Sunday. :) He is excited to pray and read! Teaching that lesson was an experience of a lifetime, and I learned so much on SO MANY different levels! I felt bad because I wished Elder Broadhead would have led the lesson more, being in his area and all, but he preferred me to lead it. He is such a humble kid, only is his 3rd transfer. He said, “I felt the spirit, it’s all good.”

Next: Chinese culture is awesome. I Asked our 50-year-old introverted investigator, “How are you?" and his reply was classic. "I'm good. I thought I had pig swine flu but I went to the doctor and realized it’s just diarrhea and it’s starting to get a lot better.” Oh, thanks, hahahaha. I love it!

Well I have to go now. I love this work. I love you. Elder Daniels GO COUGARS!