你好!
Well, to describe this week, it just kind of flew by. The first half of the week was a lot of meetings and then the second were trying to get as many lessons in with people as possible, so this week was kind of split into two parts.
So, to start of with the first half of the week, it was P-day, zone meeting and then zone conference, in that order. Both zone meeting and zone conference were really good. They were all about using the spirit in all that we do. The biggest thing that stuck out to me during zone meeting and conference was probably the testimony meeting for those who would be going home before the next zone meeting or conference. As for the testimony that stuck out to me the most was one of the Elders who talked about the privilege that it is to wear the missionary name tag, because if you think about it, it may be the only time you actually get to wear it. That really got me thinking because since it could be the only time I get to be an official representative for the church (or a least for a good number of years, senior missions), need to make sure I am giving it my all so that I can make sure there are no regrets. That was the other part of his testimony, which was doing everything you can on your mission so that you have no regrets. I don't know how well the summery of his testimony is, but when he said it, it was pretty spiritual. Also, the other part that was different from all the other trainings that we had, President and Sister Day did their farewell testimonies, which was super weird. It is crazy to think that they are going home this month and that at the end of the month, we will have a new mission president. That was also one of the trainings that President Day gave during the Zone Conference, adjusting to a new mission president and also having each of us write down apartment and chapel directions so that the new mission president will be able to find us if necessary.
So, that was pretty much our first part of the week. As for the second part of the week, it was working to make up on lessons and finding time, so that was exactly what we had set up or at least planned.
Just to give you an idea of how things were set up for Thursday to Saturday (3 days), we had 15 set up with investigators, less actives and recent converts. As for the number of the lessons that actually happened, there were nine. That may not look like a huge difference, but when you think about it, that in theory is pretty much 6 hours that turn into finding, and for some reason it was all of our afternoon appointments that stood us up, so we were out side for two of the three afternoons. Thursday afternoon we had WPS (Weekly Planning Session), so we were out of the heat for that. So, to kind of describe the second part of the week, it was trying to meet with as many people as possible and then also do finding. As for the finding it was pretty good. We were able to find a few really nice people that look like they really have some potential, so we will be working this next week to meet with them.
As for a cool story, it actually was partly from two weeks ago, but forgot to share it last week. We have been working with an investigator, and found a really funny connection, which just shows how small the world really is. He is an English major at a college here in 新竹 (Xinzhu), and for the summers, he does an exchange program to the states. We were talking, and he said he was going to Idaho State in Pocatello. As we kept talking, he opened up even more and said that he actually didn't stay at Idaho State University, but in a small town in Idaho. He said he was in Oakley Idaho. That was the really interesting part. He actually knew my roommate (Brett Allred). He remembers seeing him at church on Sundays and some of the other ward activities. So, to say the least, the world is super small.
Also, for something interesting that we have been working on with a less active is the 12 step addiction recovery plan. The addiction he has though, was something that Mom would always tell us, but I guess I never believed. He is addicted to his computer, so we are working to help him overcome his addiction. He has been playing video games on his computer since he was in high school, but it really has gotten bad these last 5 months as he got fired and so all his time is spent playing games on the computer. To give you an idea, he is 33, so he has been playing video games for a pretty long time. So, something I guess I can share, don't get too attached to your technology, it really can be a big problem.
As for the area here, I am getting pretty use to it. Elder Huang has made me learn ALL of the street names and stuff, so I am pretty familiar with all of streets and stuff here, which is pretty nice. The only hard part about the area though is that everyone is college students, and our chapel is not even in our zone, it is about a 25 minute bike ride away, so getting people to come to church is a big problem here. So, that is pry one of the challenges that we are trying to work on here.
Well, my time is pretty much up. Thanks for all the letters and prayers!
我愛妳們,
Love you,
柯長老
Elder Okeson
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