Visits, Bugs, Air-Cons, and Baptisms

Where to begin? Monday we went with Elders C and B to visit with Brother Merang's family. He has five daughters and a son. He is out of town during the week so the missionaries need another adult male to accompany them when they visit. This family should be baptized this Saturday. One of the daughters wants to be baptized, but questions her testimony. During our visit, I could sense something was wrong. On the way home I asked Elder C if he had asked her if she'd like a blessing. They hadn't thought about that. The next night the Elders went with a father and son from the branch. It came up that this daughter was really worried about an upcoming test at school. She also receive a blessing from from the father and son that accompanied the Elders that night. When Elder C told me that this morning I wanted should Hallelujah! It just felt so right. We're going out to their place again tonight. Sister Bodell is giving some of the girls piano lessons. So I'll report on that a little later on.

Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning. Elder C did a great job conducting an teaching. There were two important things that came about from this meeting. The first is that we're going to update the branch directories of each branch. This is a good thing, but difficult. Branch 1 has about 400 members with an average attendance of about 40. Hopefully through this process we can help identify and find the less-active members. We can then help teach these people and hopefully bring them back into activity.

The other thing that was of importance was the decision to have a district fast this week, starting this evening (Wednesday), for two reason. Those reasons are to increase in charity, not just love but the pure love of Christ, towards these wonderful people. The other reason was to fast to ask our Heavenly Father to bless and strengthen a specific group of investigators. The fast will be broken tomorrow night as we gather together again as a district.

After our district meeting, Sister Bodell and I accompanied the Chinese Elders on a visit to a young Chinese mother with two children. Cute kids! The Elders asked us to share a scripture with her. I picked Alma 7:11-12. It's about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, how he didn't just suffer for our sins, but also our pains and sicknesses so the He knows how to succor us in our infirmities.

I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that he suffered for me individually. I am grateful for His love and patience with me.

I am working a project for this mother. Right now she doesn't have a way to get to church, but she has a very strong testimony. I'm going to download General Conference in Chinese and burn a DVD for her to watch. It may not seem much, but I think it's something she will appreciate.

Two other big events this week so far! We had our house sprayed for bugs and had the air-con units serviced. I had sprayed the outside of the house Monday morning; however, the bug man was servicing the chapel while we were at district meeting so Sister Bodell got hold of him and scheduled an appointment for that afternoon. Bug Free!

This morning we were finally able to make contact with the air-con guy. We had an appointment scheduled for this afternoon, but we got a call about 11:30 asking where we were. We had to stop our shopping and drive home quickly. The good news is that the units have been serviced and are now functioning. The church pays for servicing, but not repairs. We do have one unit that has a bad compressor. The landlord will have to pay for that repair. Nice, fresh, clean air. It makes a difference. We're supposed to have the units serviced several times a year.

Here it is Saturday night, and I have yet to finish this post. The most important thing is that the district fast paid dividends. This evening we witnessed the baptism of Merang and his family, including the daughter that wasn't sure. His wife, however, wasn't feeling well so she will be baptized next Saturday. There was a good crowd there tonight to support this family. They are a wonderful family.

Merang and his family, and Brother Kong who baptized them

They are a stalwart family and will be a great asset to the branch. They have strong testimonies. They started out as Evangelicals, then tried the Roman Catholic church. They have found what they have been looking for in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Elders here have been greatly blessed. There are five more baptisms next week, and several more on date for the next two months. It's been a great experience for us to accompany them to lessons. We don't understand everything that is said, but we do understand the Spirit.

The missionaries sometimes get a little crazy. The ZLs kept bugging us to be of service. We finally relented and let them wash the car (their idea). They did a pretty good job. Too bad it rained that night and we were out in the jungle again.

White shirts, ties, and rolled up pants Great picture!

Tomorrow starts another week and more new adventures. I am teaching the first lesson in the Temple Prep class tomorrow after church in Branch 1. I'm grateful the missionaries will be there to translate for me. More on this subject in the next post.