Week #58 - Conference Chaos

 This last week has been wild. Elder Kemp and I have been tracting a lot and doing park finding. We started doing our studies at the park so that it gives us more chances to talk to people. One time we were doing our daily scripture study at the park and there were about 60 Chinese ladies doing tai chi next to us with relaxing Chinese instrumental music. But suddenly the song switched to some country song and they, with straight faces, started to square dance in unison. Really threw me and Elder Kemp for a loop. 

We set up conference at the Church by pushing a TV from the library into the primary room and then connecting one of our phones to it. I wasn't able to see all of the conference but the parts that I did were great! I really liked the talk by Elder Daines about "Spiritual Face Blindness" as well as Elder Uchtdorf's talk about the prodigal son. Elder Daines' talk got me thinking about who am I face blind to? Who has helped me in my life and I am too selfish to recognize it? I also liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk, how he talked about the 2nd son. We sometimes find ourselves in the place of the 1st son, lost and alone, looking for a way back home. But I think it is more common to be in the place of the second son. Tirelessly working day after day with no end in sight. That constant effort and diligence often gets no public recognition or reward, but it means the world to those around us. It reminds me of the Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life". George Bailey is kind of like the 2nd son in that he goes his whole life helping others and working day after day, all whilst putting off his hopes and dreams. He sees all of his friends going out into the world and having all types of experiences, good or bad. But in the end, George is the hero of the story, because his tireless diligent effort was really the glue to the whole town of Bedford Falls. Sometimes we don't see what good our efforts are doing, but I know our Savior does. He is always there to support and help us, even when others seem oblivious to our situation. I know the effort we put forth in this life really does make a difference, whether it be at home, in a ward calling, or on the Job. I know Jesus Christ can magnify our efforts as long as we submit ourselves to him and allow him to yolk himself to us. We do this by faithfully obeying the Fathers commandments and studying more about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. I know as we do this we will be blessed and comforted. President Nelson's talk was also amazing. To me it was really a guide for life. He addressed almost every problem that people run into and how to deal with it. I can't wait to read over and review it. I know that he is a prophet of God.

On a less spiritual note, while we were watching the Sunday afternoon session, a homeless man found his way into our church. I have no Idea how long he was there, but he was there. One thing I have learned out here is that if you leave a church door open for more than like 5 minutes, a homeless person will probably be somewhere in the church. Similar concept as with the back door and my Dog JJ back home. So while we were dealing with that situation we heard some knocking or crashing sounds from the front door of the church. I thought it was a member trying to get in to watch conference with us, and Elder Baptista thought it was someone dribbling a basketball in the hallway. Me and Elder Baptista ran to the front door to see if there was a member there. We ran out the door and saw a car crash in front of the church. The Stoplight was out so it resulted in someone getting t-boned and then rolling 3 times and then coming to a halt in front of the church sign. We ran down to help and we and some bystanders pulled a mom and her daughter out of the front windshield of her crunched car. By some miracle their injuries didn't seem too bad. They just had a couple cuts and hopefully no fractures. So now the front lawn in front of our church building is all torn up and covered in broken glass. 

To add to the madness, an Elder in our apartment has Covid, so I will probably get it soon and have to be quarantined in the apartment for a week. Oh, I also forgot that Friday was the Mid- Autumn Festival, which is a huge holiday in China. We had a huge party at the church and had a ton of people from the community show up. It was really cool and had a lot of good chinese food.

Anyways, that's all for this week

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 3:13

And the Lord God hath sent his holy ^aprophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive ^bremission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even ^cas though he had already come among them.

再见

P.S. We also did endowments at the LA Temple.  It was an amazing experience.