6/27/2016 P-Day #88

6/27/2016

大家好！

Hope everyone had an awesomely amazing week! I know we did over here in SoCal! Where the average temperature is now about 100 degrees!

The first week without Elder Merriman has been a little strange! It took a while to adjust to having three people together all the time, and now we have to adjust back to only having two of us! Nothing too crazy happened this week, but we have definitely seen many miracles!

One miracle happened when we had to park our car on the opposite end of the apartment complex because they are repaving the roads inside! We were pretty annoyed because we had to walk all the way back to our apartment that night! But on our way home, we ran into a lady from China who has been looking for a Christian church in the area! She was so excited to meet us and was so excited to come to church with us! She actually lives just a few buildings down from us on the same street! Unfortunately she had to work on Sunday, but we're going by this week to visit with her!

This Saturday our Chinese group had a baptism! The Teng family has twins that just turned eight. It's funny how much more things we need to do than missionaries who are serving in an already established ward!! We were in charge of printing and making copies of the programs, getting the key to the baptism font, and then I was the chorister! But it was a lot of fun, and there were a lot of people that come to support them!

Then Saturday night we went to Eastvale's "Picnic in the Park"! Which was a big fair for the whole city! Saturday night was packed full of people, so we went to go see if we could hand out our English class cards to anyone! We ran into a bunch of members and investigators, so that was a lot of fun! The had fireworks that started at 9:00, but unfortunately we had to leave at 9 in order to be home on time. But we did get to see a few on our way out! 

Sunday was our Chinese sacrament meeting again! We had 58 people there, which I think is a record high! There were maybe two empty seats in the Relief Society room, and it was incredibly quiet too! Usually the kids and all the whispering is extra loud because the room is so small, but this time it was unusually reverent! Our stake president came to visit the Chinese group, and he picked the perfect day to come! It was an amazing experience! It's so great to see the progress our group is making! Hopefully after this next stake conference, we'll meet the requirements for a branch!

This week I want to share the word for "gospel" in Chinese, which is 福音。

福 means happiness, blessing, or good fortune.

音 means sound, news or tidings.

I remember hearing the word "gospel" and not entirely understanding what it meant, because in Hebrew (and Chinese!) it means good news. We don't quite get that meaning in English word! But that's exactly what it is! Good news! It's through the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are able to find lasting happiness and peace in this life, and eternal joy in the life to come. I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that has provided a way for us to go. He hasn't left us on our own! He's in each and every one of our lives.

I love and miss all of you! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老

6/20/2016 P-Day #87

6/20/2016

大家好！

Thanks Auntie Myra (and Leatherman clan) for the package! The cookies were delicious!

The weather here has been incredibly hot! It got up to 113 degrees yesterday! Yikes! Unfortunately I was not in an air-conditioned car this week! One of the elders went home in the Jurupa ward on Wednesday, so I got put with Elder Olsen for the remainder of the week on bike!! It was sooo hot! I got a nice tan, though! I drank lots of water so don't worry! They had been struggling the past few transfers, so when I got there they only had one investigator they were working with. So we spent the whole week walking on the streets and talking to people. Just trying to build up the area as much as we could before I got moved back to Eastvale! This week was another testimony builder that there are always people prepared to receive the gospel! We received so many blessings this past week. A member met a lady who moved into their neighborhood this past week, invited her to come to church, and the elders are going back this upcoming week to visit her! It's amazing to see how the Lord blesses us as we are faithful and obedient!

As we were spending a lot of time walking around in the heat, I saw so many tender mercies that I can't even count them! For example, since it was so hot, I was incredibly thirsty! I'd go through a water bottle in a minute or two. Every time that I ran out of water, the next person we talked to would offer us some more! 

Elder Merriman is going home tomorrow! We're dropping him off at the Miao's around 3:00 and they are going to take him down to the mission home. I missed out on the goodbye party last night because I was in Jurupa, but I'll get to spend today with him, so that will be fun! It's sad to see him go, but exciting for him as well! We're going to miss being in a trio, but it will be fun to spend time with Elder Dyer again! After this transfer, we will have spent six months as companions!

We're not entirely sure when Q is getting baptized now. He went to Utah for scout camp and then the member he's living with called Elders Dyer and Merriman and had some concerns.. So we'll be going by tonight to figure out what's going on. I'll keep you posted!

Besides all the heat, and all the people we talked to, I can't think of much else that happened this week!

I love and miss all of you! Go out and end each day with no regrets!

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老

6/13/2016 P-Day #86

6/13/2016

大家好！

I hope all of you had an awesome week! I know that we did here in Eastvale!

We had our zone meeting this week, which is fun as always! 

This Thursday was a pretty crazy day! There's a member (Aaron) in another ward in our stake who just submitted his mission papers and wanted to spend a whole day with the missionaries to get a taste of what it's like. He spent the morning with the elders in his ward, then we picked him up around 12:00, took him to a few appointments, dropped him off at home for dinner, and then picked him up again at 7:00! That night we had three appointments all at the same time, so thankfully we had three of us so we could go to all of them! I went with Brother Miao to our Stake Missionary Coordination Meeting, Elder Merriman took Aaron to go see Q out in Riverside, and Elder Dyer went to go teach an investigator at a members home. It was pretty crazy!

Also on Thursday, we met with Harry to make sure he could come to church this Sunday to get confirmed, because he wasn't able to come last week after his baptism. We sat down and start talking to him, and when we remind him about church on Sunday, he said that he leaves to go to San Francisco on Friday and then goes to China after that! We were a little shocked, but President Mullen said that we could confirm him outside of sacrament meeting with the bishop. Thankfully we were having dinner with the bishop that same night! We brought Harry with us and he was confirmed in Bishop's living room! Haha it was definitely a crazy day!

Friday was Q's baptism interview! Since he doesn't speak any English, we had to go pick up Elder Zeng from Lake Elsinore to come out and do the interview at 10:30! Harry texted us during the interview asking if we could meet at the institute building at11:00 before he leaves for San Francisco. After the interview, we took Elder Zeng to go with us and see Harry real quick. He gave me and Elder Merriman a lion statue thing from China that's really cool! I'll have to send a picture of it next week. He said he didn't bring one for Elder Dyer or Elder Zeng because they were both from China and probably have a bunch of stuff like it back home! By that time we were all ready for lunch, so we went to this really good Chinese restaurant in Riverside! I felt like we had literally stepped into China! Everybody in there was speaking Chinese, and kept giving us weird looks because we were speaking in Chinese, too! It was really funny!

Wednesday morning we had to run to Target to buy something (I don't remember what it was..) and we hear someone shout "Elders!". So we turn around and talk to this lady who tells us she's in town from Missouri to visit her parents who are going through the temple this weekend. After we talk to her for a little bit, we figured out that her parents are the Ostlers! I was so excited to hear that they were going through the temple! I called another missionary who had taught them to let him know, and then he called the Ostlers to see if we could go to the temple with them. They invited us to their sealing on Saturday, and it was an amazing experience! They were sealed together, and then sealed to their two children. Afterwards, Brother Ostler was sealed to his parents. It was such a spiritual experience that I was so glad to have been a part of! I was thinking if we hadn't been in that one specific aisle at that very moment, I would have never found out about the Ostlers, and then wouldn't have seen their sealing! The Lord works in strange ways sometimes!

On Saturday, after I got back from the temple, we went to teach one of our newer investigators, Gloria. Her mom was a very strong Christian, but Gloria never really believed in it. When her mom passed away, she decided to study what her mom believed and was baptized into a church in China. We met her at the party our Chinese group had a week or so ago and she told us she really wants to learn more about our church. As we were teaching her, we invited her to be baptized. She paused for a second and said she knows that baptism is for all of God's children and that it's a good thing, but hadn't she already been baptized? We explained about how the priesthood authority has been restored to the earth and with it the authority to baptize, which made a lot of sense to her. Later on in the lesson, we asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on July 17th. I was a little worried, because she was already baptized, and I wasn't sure what she was going to say. Her answer was quite surprising! She said: "Of course I'll prepare to be baptized then." Then when we explained that how she can prepare by reading the Book of Mormon, praying every day, and coming to church every week, she said: "That's it?" In the prayer she gave at the end of the lesson, she asked for Heavenly Father to help her prepare for her "actual" baptism. It's amazing to see how the Lord is preparing people a long time before they meet with missionaries to receive the gospel! 

This week, I wanted to share the word for mercy in Chinese, which is 慈悲. (cí bēi)

慈 means kind, loving, gentle, compassionate

悲 means sadness, sorrow, anguish

At first, it doesn't seem like the two words go together at all. Love and anguish? They seem like opposites, but as I thought more about what allows us to have mercy, the Atonement, it made much more sense to me. Because Christ has felt our sorrows, has carried our pains and our griefs, He can feel love and compassion for us. He understands our individual circumstances and knows how to help us. When we sin we feel sorrow and anguish, but through His mercy we can feel love. He can take away our pains and burdens if we allow Him to. If we open our hearts and yield our will to His. Then our grief, sadness and anger can be replaces with peace, hope and joy. I'm so incredibly grateful for the Atonement and ability that we have to repent. I pray that we all will remember our Savior as we go about our daily lives, and do all within our power to follow Him!

I love you all and miss you lots! 

Love,

Elder Wu

吴长老

6/6/2016 P-Day #85

6/6/2016

大家好!

I hope you all had an amazingly awesome week!

Thanks Alison for the letter this past week!

Another crazy week for us Chinese missionaries serving in Eastvale!

We had MLC this week and President Mullen gave a really great training on "finding those the Lord has prepared". There are so many scriptures that talk about how the Lord is preparing people right now to receive His gospel. It's just up to us to prepare, plan, and be obedient so He can put us in their path, or place them in our's. That's the big focus for the mission right now. Working to find the elect and not to spend so much time with the people who aren't ready yet. The field is white and ready to harvest!

This Saturday our Chinese group had a barbecue to celebrate 端午节, or the Dragon Boat Festival. There was probably close to 70-80 people there! It was a lot of fun! We invited a few investigators, but the members in the group reached out and invited a ton of friends to come as well! We have some amazing members here! 

Saturday was also Harry's baptism! We weren't sure if he was going to get baptized, because earlier this week he texted us asking if we could meet before Saturday to ask us a few questions. We met on Thursday afternoon and he told us that a few days before he felt so ready and excited to be baptized, but now he wasn't too sure. He asked us why we chose to believe in God and Jesus Christ, why we believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, and how we know the Book of Mormon is true. I thought they were all incredibly good questions. So we talked with him and bore our testimonies to help him realize how he has already felt the spirit testify to him about these things. We knelt down during the lesson to let him pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was God's word. The spirit was so strong! At the end, he decided that he needed to be baptized

On Sunday, we had ward council for the Chinese group. Bishop Louden really talked about how he wants us to have our own branch soon, and he's been really impressed with the progress he's seen within the group recently. I've seen it too. Since I got here in November, there have been tremendous changes within our group and the individual members! So Brother Miao invited all of the members over into his home on Sunday night to discuss what everyone needs to do, how we can all step up to improve. There seems to be a real push for them to have an individual Chinese branch now! I'm excited to see how they continue to grow! It's so much more fun than serving in an already established ward!!

On Sunday, Thomas Spencer Li had his baby blessing! It was so cute! Brother Li has to wait until the next stake conference before he can receive the Melchezidek priesthood, so Brother Miao did it for him. But Brother Li was able to stand outside the circle and hold the microphone for the blessing! It was such an amazing experience! Tommy was wearing a little tie with suspenders!

Today we had a Crossfit activity with the north half of the mission and it was so much fun! It was a really good workout! I learned the reason why we have all these Crossfit activites! When President Mullen first started as the mission president, the assistants made a comment about how their investigators was really old. President Mullen asked them how "old" this person was, and they said 65! (President Mullen was 64 at the time). So in response to that, President Mullen challenged the whole mission to a Crossfit-off! I think it makes him feel pretty good when the "old" 65 year old is passing the 18-20 year olds up in the cultural hall! It's a lot of fun! Today we had 10 rounds, and each on consisted of an amount of burpees, squat jumps, situps, and then we ran 3 laps around the gym. We started at 10 reps of each, then went down to 9, 8, 7, etc. I thought it would be easier than adding on rep each round, but it was killer! It was running that was the hardest part because it stayed the same each round.

So today's Chinese lesson is on enduring to the end! Or 持守到底 (chí shǒu dào dǐ)! 

持 means to hold, or to grasp

守 means to keep, observe, defend, guard, or serve

到 means until

底 means end

Enduring to the end, in my mind, is probably the hardest part of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It includes continually exercising faith, repenting, and renewing our covenants. It's not just a one-time act. What helps me to continue to endure is grasping on to the gospel. Holding on with everything I have to what I know to be true. When times are hard and good! If we defend what we believe, hold on to the Atonement, we can make it to the end! 

Well that's all I have time to email today! I love and miss you all! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Wu

5/30/2016 P-Day #84

5/30/2016

Hello family, friends, and anyone who may be reading this!

Happy Memorial Day! Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Thanks Danielle for the package this week!

We got our car back this week! Woohoo! No more walking around for us! We were all so relieved when we got a call from the AP's saying they were on their way to drop off a car for us! We were very surprised when they showed up with one of the newest cars in the mission! So we drove a 2016 Nissan Rogue for a few days until our car was all fixed, ,and then we swapped back.

We had interview with President Mullen this week, which I always enjoy. He asked us to find a scripture that will help us to go out and "seek with faith" to find those that have been prepared to receive the gospel. I was studying through some scriptures and came across Alma 13:24 which talks about how right now there are angels preparing people to come unto Christ. Then I remembered a story a little bit earlier in the book of Alma about a person who was prepared by an angel to come unto the gospel (Amulek)! Alma was a very great missionary and had just seen a lot of success in the city he was visiting. Then he moves on and travels to another city where the people are wicked and not willing to listen to what he has to say! But the scriptures say that he worked diligently, prayed for the people, and was obedient to the Lord's commandments. Then he was led to Amulek, who was told by an angel previously that someone would be coming that was sent by God. I love the example Alma set for us! As we are obedient, pray and rely on the Lord, and then work with all diligence, we will see success in whatever endeavor we are undertaking. 

We went and visited our investigator Harry this week! He was an investigator at the college campus that we started teaching when they combined our area with Elder Merriman's. He is on date for baptism on June 4th, and goes back to China on June 11th. So we visited with him on Wednesday and he said that he still wasn't 100% sure if he was ready to be baptized yet. Then we went to a free lunch at the institute building on Thursday with him and set up his baptism interview for Friday! If everything continues to go well, he'll be baptized this Saturday!

Today's Chinese lesson is on the word: 信心(xìn xīn) which means "faith".

The first character 信 (xìn) means to believe, to trust, or true. The second character 心 (xīn) means heart, center/core, feeling, or thinking. The scriptures teach us that faith is a hope for true things that we cannot see, specifically in our Savior. The word for faith in Chinese helps me understand a little more about the principle of faith. First, we need to trust our Savior. We have to trust in His Atonement, and then use it within our lives. Secondly, the concept that it must be rooted in our hearts. If we just merely believe in something, then that's not going to do enough for us. Faith requires sincerity and action! We have to follow through on these beliefs and then we see the blessings and miracles in our lives.

I love and miss all of you! Remember that God loves you and wants you to be happy! Go out and make the best of today! 

Love,

Elder Warren

吴长老