Happy 4th of July--Chinese Edition

Well, much like the title of this email, this week was rather strange.

Everyone decided to be out of town this week which made it difficult to find people home or set up visits with them. However, it was a great week just the same. 

We met our new Mission President, President Cox, on Tuesday. He's a super cool guy and he's really funny. It's exciting to have him here and to get to know him. He'll be a great Mission President.

Also, for those of you who didn't know, the fourth of July was this past week, which was rather interesting as a missionary, because we weren't allowed to knock on doors or stop by people unannounced, and we had to be in by 7:30 in the evening probably for safety. 

The good news was that we had planned for this. And we, along with the 18 other missionaries who constitute our "Zone" had been signed up to help out all day at a Fourth of July event. But it wasn't just any Fourth of July event, it was a Chinese one, which is very similar to a regular one except for there were 700 Chinese people there. And it was wild. From 10:00 to about noon, there were activities like ping pong and some other activities, all around the Church. Then we had lunch which was hamburgers, hot dogs, and chow mein. Then there was a big program of all sorts of songs and dances, most of which were related to the fourth of July. Some examples are, the Chinese choir who sang America the Beautiful, the Chinese orchestra who played the Star Spangled Banner, and a personal favorite, the Baritone solo rendition of God Bless America. 

The best part of the show however, was the closing act, when the 20 of us missionaries got up and sang two songs in Chinese. We sang a hymn in both Cantonese and Mandarin, and then we sang a random Chinese song. We were a hit, the crowd loved us. It was so much fun. 

We gave out a ton of Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon too which was cool. It was a good day. 

So another highlight of the week, was Friday. 

We had such a nice evening planned. We were going to stop by a lady and try to teach her, and we did! It was cool, we said hi and all of a sudden she was pulling out chairs outside for us to sit on before we even asked if we could meet. So then we taught her right there. It was cool.

Then we had planned to go by another guy and pretty much try the same thing. For this part of the story though, I need to paint you a picture. We were on a side street. North of us a ways was a street called McDowell. South of us a ways was a street called Roosevelt. Both of those streets run east and west. And we needed to go east to get to the next person we were going to visit. So we had the choice of going north to McDowell to then head East, or going south to Roosevelt to then head East. And as we came to the intersection at which we needed to make the decision, I for some reason turned right to head down to Roosevelt. And as soon as I did that, I realized how silly I was. Because I remembered that McDowell was closer and made more sense. So all the way down the street, and even as we began heading East on Roosevelt, I just kept thinking to myself "why would I do that? that's so dumb of me" 

And then all of a sudden an old lady flagged us down from the sidewalk and was like "are you missionaries?"

And we were, so we told the truth and said "yes." Then she went on about how she's Christian and how her life has changed because of Jesus Christ, and how grateful she is to see us and how it isn't a coincidence that we crossed paths. She was like "I've always wanted to see missionaries come down this street, but I never have!" Then she talked to us for 45 minutes and told us her whole life story of all the horrible things she experienced early in her life but how things are so much better now because of her faith.

It was cool. She wasn't interested in meeting with us or anything, and she was a little crazy. 

Every once and a while she would pause her story to comment on how she likes motorcycles (If a motorcycle passed by) or to comment on how handsome Elder Salter is. That happened a couple of times. She was like, "You're just so handsome, you stand so confidently."

Then she'd turn to me and say, "And you! You're awesome. You're just like a wise little monk."

So I'm taking that as a compliment.  

Anyway though, she was kinda crazy, but I do believe it was not a coincidence we biked down that street. Because even though she wasn't interested, that interaction meant a lot to her, it was what she needed, and that was one way we were able to bless someone's life. Once again, it is amazing how many different ways there are for the Lord to use us to bless others lives. And it's such a blessing to be able to be made an instrument in His hands, and to be placed in those situations where we can help other people. It's so awesome. 

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it's true. I know the Book of Mormon teaches and testifies of Jesus Christ and His Doctrine. 

I hope everyone has another great week!

Til next time,

~Elder Oswald