"Influence for the Church in China"

 

Family,

  That is awesome to hear about Tyler's farewell. I'm so proud of that guy. He's always been a good friend of mine and I'm so glad he matured enough to make the decision to serve. I really think he'll be a great missionary.

   That is so awesome about Noah's choir thing! That is way cool, I wish i had more experiences like that as a kid. Sometimes I really regret never joining any choir class in school. And quitting the violin. And quitting orchestra. BUT things have still worked out. I'm so jealous you guys went and saw Brian Regan! haha. man. I just thought of like 20 jokes and now people are looking at me funny in the library. I better stop.

   This week has been pretty good. Things are still kind of slow, but it's brought a lot of humbling experiences. For some reason lately none of our investigators will stay with us for very long. I always think if it's something that we did wrong or if there was something more we could of done... that always makes me kind of discouraged. But I'm comforted by the fact that I shared what I knew and the Holy Ghost testified of it, and I did everything I can to make them more receptive to that spirit. At that time it is the investigators choice. President always tells us a quote by an apostle, "The problem is not the message, it's the messenger." The message is perfect, there is no flaw. But if we don't do everything we can to relay that message clearly and the best we can, then we are the flaw. We still have one person that is preparing for baptism next month, but as of right now he's struggling with a desire to come to church and follow the Word of Wisdom. I'm kind of glad we're struggling with investigators lately, it has made me think more, prepare better, and be more receptive to the spirit. The Lord is definitely teaching at this point. :) Sun Jingwei and his wife gave talks in sacrament this week, they did so awesome. They spent a lot of time preparing and it really paid off. They have great potential to be leaders in the church. When they were confirmed members of the church, the bishop confirmed them with an incredible blessing, "You and all of your children will have a great influence for the church in China." I'm excited to continue to watch them grow.

  Transfers will be in 2 weeks, and there will be a lot of changes to the chinese work. We'll have 11 elders, which means we need to open a new area and there will be a threesome somewhere, or somebody will go to english work. I'm excited to see what happens. We will see!

I love you guys. Thank you for being great.

Love, Ben.