Memorial Day

Hello! This week has honestly been the least fruitful so far, but it was still a pretty good week. We found two new people over Facebook, but one is not in our area, so we'll have to pass him off, and we're not certain about the other one. But, both of them loved the message of the Restoration and have had a lot of really good questions. I got to speak in church this week, and I definitely went overtime. The speaker after me also went overtime, so the branch president who just got released didn't start his talk until church was supposed to be over, and he only spoke for 5 minutes instead of the 20 he was capable of doing. I think they didn't plan it very well because the new branch president and his wife, Bro. & Sis. Bradford, both shared their testimonies, then they had me speak, then one of the most dedicated natives, then the former branch president, it was guaranteed to go overtime. I am feeling much better health-wise this week. When I start to have issues, we just stop eating, and drink bottled water only, and you get better in like 2 days. Plus, you save money. We get paid twice a month, but usually have 4 P-days a month where we buy food, but this month will be 5. It's not too much of an issue though because here we don't spend much on P-day, we pay for every meal individually and P-day shopping is just for breakfast and Sunday. Also, we got a random boost in money this month, so I'm hoping we keep it, especially because our waterbill is kinda expensive, and we have to pay it with our mission funds and wait to be reimbursed which takes some time. Also, I think I go to Singapore on the 8th, so I'll look for my package, but I definitely can't take too much back with me, I'm crazy excited about those snacks though! :) I actually talked to a couple of guys in the Army today. They told me to go Army, but also mentioned that both of them originally wanted to be in the Air Force, but didn't have the academics for the academy/rotc in the airforce, but they did for Army. They also mentioned being really prayerful in my career/education decisions and the need for strong church members in the military, and the Spirit hit me pretty powerfully. Hopefully, I can strengthen the church and others in the military when I return home. I do have some pictures of the baptism, but all of them get sent to Elder Zaleski because he has the sim card, and it just took a little bit for him to send them to me. I don't think we really have anyone close for baptism at the moment, but we're gonna find some more solid people this week. We do a little bit of facebook here, it's honestly pretty fruitful, but you just do it throughout the day in your downtime, like if you're on a train alone or with only muslims and you just message throughout the day. They don't block it out like they did in Fresno. I did call the guy from Beijing again, but he kinda went off about China and dumb covid rules. A lot of people here talk about some crazy and horrible things happening in China, but I'm not sure how much I trust all the info, I'm glad I'm from the U.S., though (some people are kinda crazy, but you have a lot of freedom, people that speak out in China disappear). The branch presidency changed yesterday. The new branch president is American, super awesome, and missionary oriented. The day he got in, he texted the ward council and told everyone to pray about families to focus on for reactivation. He is also doing a Murph with us for memorial day in a few hours. We did drop Kesava, Angelina we're still teaching for the time being. Chee Wei is awesome, but is so new to the gospel. It was so funny because we followed up on his prayers, and he said, "Oh, I actually forgot last night, haha, but it's okay, I don't think I need to pray anymore because I don't have any questions or problems in my life" 😅🤣 I've heard people say things like, "We don't just pray when we need help, right?" But, I never thought some people actually do that. We had him reading 2 Nephi 31, but he didn't understand it super well, so he read it a couple times. He read it in both Chinese and in English, it was kind of impressive. He is still unsure if God is real, but he's been keeping committments really well, so I hope he recognizes his answer soon. Miracle: We set up a bible study with someone on facebook, but when we called to read with her, she goes, 'you're mormon, right?' We're like, 'um, yeah', then she tells us she's Roman Catholic but wants to learn about our church, so she told us to start from the beginning and just teach her everything, and send her stuff she can share with her family, it was kinda crazy. We were just planning on reading a few Bible verses with her. Challenge: Member lessons are hard because many live far away, and there aren't tons of members in the first place.

Good News:

New and super driven branch president Love ya, Elder Jaxon Wardle