Week 71: November 16, 2020 感觉好像圣诞节来了

Christmas really has shot around the corner- lights are up, stores are decked out, Silent Night by Justin Bieber is bopping on my portable speaker, and I bought a sweater and a winter coat in preparation for the cold days to come (I didnt have any warm clothing packed for my mission at all, its still 70 outside though). It feels weird because last year, it was 100 degrees, there was 1 in 100 houses in Australia with even Christmas lights, and I haven't seen snowfall in a good 2 years, which could possibly be 3 if I'm lucky. It is very common during this time of year to forget about the main reason of Christmas- to remember the Savior. There is an amazing TV series that a group not affiliated with the church made called The Chosen. It is a well put together series about Jesus Christ's ministry, and in my opinion it perfectly portrays the character of our Savior. I invite you all to find some time to look it up and watch it! Not only is it entertaining to watch, but also is educating and can really invite the true Christmas spirit into your home.

This week I wanted to focus on the restoration- I recently finished listening to the Joseph Smith podcasts again-they came out before last general conference and gave a deeper background on events leading up to the first vision account, along with other cool facts about it. I also found a chinese version of the first vision video which I was able to watch. For some reason, anything that has to do with the restoration of the gospel really makes me emotional. I sometimes have tendencies to doubt my testimony of the gospel, but everytime I read or hear about the restoration something inside me just clicks. We had a video lesson with the chinese person we found this last week who lives 2 hours away from us on Friday, and when I shared the first vision account with her I couldn't stop myself from tearing up. It really is a unique message, and it is so personal to me. For me, there is nothing in my life that shows God loves me more, than by restoring his gospel on the earth once more.

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

 

Week 70: November 9, 2020 they had us in the first half, not gonna lie

 If I could summarize the past 2 weeks in one extraordinary sports moment, I would say a 61 yard hail mary from Rodgers to Rodgers in a final play down 21-23 to the dreaded Lions in a spectacular 2nd half comeback from down 0 to 20 would really cap it off. Sometimes we go through experiences where we are down 0 to 20 in life's "football" game. Sometimes we can think all is lost, but if you are anything like Aaron Rodgers and have some faith, you're gonna make it through. And he did! It may not be by a long shot, it may be really slim. It may be by a last second chance after satan "grabs your facemask" and Heavenly Father decides to gives you another chance. The great part about real life is that Heavenly Father will always give you another chance. Sometimes he allows you to go down 0 to 20 only to come back. Why? Maybe you needed a little humbling. Maybe it was just meant to be. But in the end, the only thing that matters is Heavenly Father is always going to win this football game. So it's up to you to choose which team you're going to play on. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15). 

This week was incredible. Last week on Monday night we were contacted by some elders down in the boonies, 2 hours south of us. They were teaching a couple, but the wife was from hong kong and didnt know much English. We eventually set up a lesson and had a member from the chinese group join, and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've had on my mission. She is going through some of the most humbling experiences, and through it all she decided that learning about christianity would be the way to happiness. So she referred herself and her husband, and now we are teaching her. I really am thankful that God puts us through trials to give us opportunities to become humble and turn to the only thing that can bring us lasting happiness- the gospel. We were also able to get back in contact with some people we have had to drop, a complete turn-around from the previous week. God is good!

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

•Pickleball squad (also peep Elder Van Leeuwen, a logan boy)

•Rameses and I 🦶

•good southern eatin'

Week 69: November 2, 2020 谦卑锤子

I would definitely call this week the most humbling of my mission. I have had occasions in Australia, and here where it feels like nothing is going right for you. This week was one of them. We have had some solid people we were teaching just lose interest and never contact us back. The person we have on baptismal date has cancelled our past several meetings with her and seems like shes losing faith. Its been hard because just 2 weeks ago we were staying extremely busy. Along with this, lots of other events have transpired that have been pretty hard on me. It can be really easy to get down on yourselves in these moments, but I've learned on the mission that all these things happen for a reason! It was in no way anything Elder Bennion I did that was wrong, but more of a matter of what the Lord needs us to learn during this time. 

As I've been on my mission, trying to become closer to the Savior has been a focus of my studies and behavior. 2 Nephi 22:2 has been on all of my weekly emails for I'm pretty sure the whole time I've been in North Carolina, and that is for a reason. I know when we put our trust in the Lord, the outcome may not be what we want, but the foundation in him will not crumble and he will help us through these trials in our lives.

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

•We renovated the heck out of this house. If you all have ever seen those TV shows about making dumpy houses into super beautiful ones, that's what we did haha.

•guenther bought me a bojangles visor- we stay matching 🥰

•a silly video 

 

Week 68: October 26, 2020 教堂山回忆

 Another fire week! To start it off, I got to go see some elders back from the old Chapel Hill district! It was so nice to catch up with them for a while. We also got to go up to Chapel Hill to teach some more tennis lessons to that little 8 year old kid, and took some sweet pics while we were up there. I'll drop some down below.

I was also able to play the most competitive tennis match of my whole mission ha. So basically there is someone we are teaching who's boyfriend's dad is really good at tennis (hes a member). He was like top 10 in NC back in the day, I was pretty intimidated, plus I had played only pickleball the past month so when i walked on the court I couldn't even hit the ball haah it was so embarrassing. I got my groove back though and came back from down 2-5 and 0-40 to beat him haha it was a grind. I had to ice bath after that though, good stuff. 

 In terms of teaching people, this week was a little slower but we stayed pretty busy with service opportunities and just grinding the finding. We even had a free car wash at our chapel on saturday . We've been having a good time and Elder Bennion is a great trainee, always willing to put himself out there. Another fun fact is his Grandpa was my dad's bishop back in the day in Wisconsin (oh also happy birthday to my dad this last week!) so there are lots of pretty cool connections here! God does work in mysterious ways!

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

•Elder Guenther and I stay matching...

•The iconic pic in front of the NCRM trailer

•Some of the OG Chapel Hill boys

•Chapel Hill pics

•Ice Bath 🥶

Week 67: October 19, 2020 训练者!

 What a week! A crazy good one to start out my trainees first week in the field- probably one of the busiest of quarantine. I have felt the guidance and prompting of the spirit so much in this past week! Training is so much harder than I thought it was going to be, but it is really fun! I've been learning a lot and it has especially forced a lot of growth. My new comp is Elder Bennion from Bountiful Utah! Hes supposed to go to 台北 but is chilling here until he can get a visa. Hes really fun and is doing really good at trying his best to improve as a missionary. I've definitely felt myself grow and be forced to trust in the Lord a lot more, the last time I felt I had to put this much trust in Heavenly Father was either when I was being sent home from Australia, or when I was first in the field. It has definitely been a learning process for both of us but I am loving the time here.

I also taught some tennis lessons to an 8 year old chinese boy! He was so funny, his mom attended our ESL class but isn't really interested in the gospel. He nailed me hard right where it counts when he was standing at the service line and I was at the net. It's been a while since that happened haha. She wants me to teach him every week cuz she thinks I'm a pro, and keeps trying to offer me money . 

Aside from that, the grind has been real! Hope everyone has been well!

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

Elder Semadeni and I (Logan boy, he just went home 🥺)

Elder Watkins and I (he was comps with the famous Elder Dixon Johnson in Cancun)

The new comp Elder Bennion and I with President and sister Maurer

Elder Guenther and I love UNC and love Bo Jangles even more 🤧🤧

Shopping this morning  it's so cold now

Week 66: October 12, 2020 新的搬家期

 Really crazy week- heres a few highlights:

Took my first Pickleball L in the state of NC to a chinese man named Ming. Apparently he used to be a pro tennis player in France haha. I got down 9-1 on him but lost 11-9, couldn't quite finish off the comeback. Until we meet again Ming 

Got the news I will be training someone fresh out of the home MTC starting tomorrow! All I know is he is supposed to go to Taiwan. Should be a fun time!

We set our good chinese friend Celine on date! THE most stressful, draining lesson I've ever been a part of. The 2 members that came and helped teach came in clutch hardcore. Her date is for November 21st, so please pray for her ha. As of now it's a definite maybe, but we hope that can turn into a firm yes.

To end on a spiritual note, in personal study the other day I was reading in 1 Nephi 17, one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. Something that has lately been on my mind and the focus of my studies is the conditionality of God's love. In these verses, Nephi gives lots of examples to Laman and Lemuel of how God's love is conditional. Basically, the way these go is that the people obeyed God's commandments and prospered in the land. The people who could have, but didn't follow his commandments were punished and suffered. Something that really stuck out to me in all of these verses is verse 40- "And he loveth those who will have him to be their God." I know that when we keep the commandments, we will be blessed. However when we don't, the answer is found in D&C 82:10. I love how perfect God's love is, and how it emphasizes the principle of repenting and trying to improve every day. I invite you all to live in a way that you will be able to feel more and more of God's divine love each day. Don't be content with where you are at, there is always more Heavenly Father has to offer.

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

District Council

Culvers baby

Week 65: October 5, 2020 信心的跳跃

 Wow what a week... I taught a chinese lesson by myself on Tuesday (Elder Su was gone for exchanges) we got news Thursday that Elder Su needed to leave Saturday (2 days later) to fly to Salt Lake City, I had my first hotpot in a LONG time on Friday for a farewell lunch with some Chinese members (i love spicy food but it wrecks my stomach lol), sent Elder Su off to the airport (I'm actually going to miss him... I thought he was so weird at first and I didnt really like him but I really warmed up to him a lot and he helped my chinese get like twice as good as before...), and then had a fire General Conference experience! It was extra interesting because 1- I watched half of the sessions in Chinese and understood basically everything, which is funny cuz I remember watching it a year ago in Australia and not understanding anything and thinking I would never understand everything haha, 2- this marked 6 months from getting home from Australia. Literally the day after I got home I was blessed to watch conference, and 3- my old mission president Elder Holland gave a talk so that was fun to see him. His talk was definitely one of my favorites, and that's an unbiased opinion right there haha. 

On a separate note tho, for the time being, there are now only 4 Chinese missionaries- Me, my comp, an elder waiting to go to Taiwan, and a sister waiting to go to New Zealand. And all of them are at about the level I was when I left the MTC. We hadn't gotten to really helping their chinese at all while Elder Su was here (smh) but after elder Su left I started being more proactive and am now basically giving them tutor sessions twice a week to try and help. Future MTC teacher?? Haha I dont know about that but none of them are around the chinese area unfortunately so theres not many chances for them to practice their chinese.... it's also pretty daunting being the only missionary here who is at least kind of fluent. Transfers are in a week so we will see what happens with that, but from what I can see now, is that I probably wont even have a chinese comp next transfer. RIP the chinese but I'm looking forward to this new challenge ! I know Heavenly Father gives us these challenges to help us grow, and he knows everything we are going through! To echo the words of President Oaks in his talk Saturday, "The Lord does not expect us to do more than we can do, but he does expect us to do what we can do... when we can do it." 

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics:

My favorite family in the ward! The dad is our chinese group leader

Last pday bbq with the bois

Last pickleball day with elder Su 

Hot pot baby

愿主同在直到再相会苏宝宝

A member who served in Melbourne gave me bundaberg

Week 64: September 28, 2020 下大雨。。。冰块呢??

 We did exchanges this week, this time with Elder Guenther coming to be with Elder Phelon and I. It was really fun, Elder Guenther is from Brigham City, so we can talk a lot about over there, and he loves literally all the same things I do. Not a tennis player unfortunately (I am teaching him pickleball though hehe) but we got along really well, check some of our pics out down below.

We also had interviews this week with President and Sister Maurer, and I was even more astounded about how much aussie slang I have forgotten... but dont worry ill catch back up to my old ways soon enough. Slang included but was not limited to- Bikky, Maccas, arvo, along with reminiscing over aussie eats like milo, tim tams, and bundaberg gingerbeer haha good times. 

Another funny thing was friday night we had a crazy thunderstorm. Around like 8 it started flashing lightning outside like crazy, and then 10 minutes later it started pouring, and the next thing we knew there were pieces of hail that were the size of ice cubes hitting our apartment. Funny thing is that about a year ago in Australia it also hailed pretty bad (not ice cube sized tho) and I had a really funny biking video from that... too bad I didnt have a bike this time but for reminiscing sakes I'll drop the gif that was made of the experience 

Sorry this is a little long but one last experience! We taught Celine about the Word of Wisdom again last week, and the lesson flat out went terrible, and the member we invited to join completely took over. It was pretty frustrating, and we invited her to keep the word of wisdom and she basically said she might, but she likes drinking tea (haha dang it). Well we met with her yesterday night, and she has actually been doing it! She told us that it's not even a problem for her anymore, and she is willing to keep it! She also expressed she is ready for baptism, but just wants to wait until covid is over to actually be baptized. She's so cool and is one of the nicest and most humble people I've ever met, and her prayers are so sincere too. Really hyped for her! Heavenly Father is in the details everyone! 

高长老 (Elder Ensign)

2 Nephi 22:2

Pics: got heaps this week (also not in order sorry)

Wendy's with the boys

Zone conference pics

First Utah License plate 🤩

Matching UNC hoodies baby

Bike dubs

Ice cubes from the sky 

Man Elder Su stay sleeping... 8 days until I'm the only chinese missionary left 🤧