So, thinking back to a year ago, I don't think it got even close to how cold it was the end of this last week. Elder McNeil and I were wearing everything possible, and we were still freezing, but it was quite the experience. We were cold, shivering, and it even snowed, but we were still out finding, and there were so many miracles from it too.
So, just to share a little about the second half of the week, when it was really COLD, Elder McNeil and I were literally wearing every peace of clothing that we had that we could to stay warm whiling finding, but it just didn't seem to work. The rain on Saturday and the winds on Sunday really tested our will power, but what it really did was test our fingers. One thing we always try to do is get people's phone numbers so we can call them later, but it was the hardest thing to type someone's phone and name when your thumbs are frozen. At the end of the night though, we all got a kick out of it and we actually were able to contact way more people than we thought we would be able to.
The biggest miracle we had was Sunday after church. All of our appointments cancelled because they said it was too cold, and so it left us to finding. We ran back to our area and started with a fervent prayer that we would be able to stay warm and find those who are prepared and who live in our area. As nice as it would be to say the first person we talked to was prepared, we spent the first half an hour getting rejected right and left. But then the miracle came. The first person who actually stopped to talk to use was that one we had prayed for. And then the next person we talked to as well, and the one after that. We were rejected a by a ton of people, but we were blessed with three new investigators that all lived in our area. We ended the finding with a prayer of thanks and were just so grateful for the mercy of God. Even though it was hard, and the day before we couldn't find anyone in the cold rain, we truly were thankful for God hearing and answer such a simple prayer to help us find the prepared.
Now that I am looking back at the week as well, it really just looks like we had a ton of finding, but it was really cool. We saw that trails bring blessings and that blessings bring happiness, and that was this last week. We were happy. Things didn't always turn out the way that we wanted them to, but we were able to fulfill our purpose as missionaries, of inviting people to come unto Christ.
As for one of my favorite contacts from the week, was actually meeting 尤虹叡 (Brother You) while finding on Tuesday. Something about Tuesday, we were meeting everyone that had perfect English. For example, while English boarding, we saw an eight year old and ran up to him to give him a free English track. He looked at it, looked back at me and said "No thanks, I should be ok." He took me completely by surprise, and he took my companion completely by surprise as well. He then went on to say in their respected languages "I speak Taiwanese, I speak Chinese, I speak English." Elder McNeil and I were just blown away as his accent and everything was absolutely perfect too. But that is another story for another time. But back to 尤虹叡 (Brother You), he had lived in the States for 5 years and has perfect English and just got married a year ago. We shared the blessings of the gospel and how it strengthens families and it just blew him away, which was really cool. We set up a time to meet with him this coming week and he said he would have his wife come as well, which was a huge miracle as well.
Well, that was pretty much my week. Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for all the prayers and emails!
我愛你們,
Love you,
柯長老
Elder Okeson
P.S. Last week, I mentioned that our recent converts should be going to the temple this last week, but because of the weather, they wanted to delay it two weeks, so we will be able to take them to the temple here in two weeks.
P.S.S. Because of technical difficulties, we were not able to see the broadcast last week, but should be watching it tomorrow or the day after, which we are all super excited about.
No comments:
Post a Comment