On the road (again)

Is 31C (about 87F) hot enough? Absolutely it is.

The weather is warming up here and Elder Skinner and I are finding. Oh, and it rained like I have never seen it rain before. Absolute downpour and Shaftesbury Blvd was under at least 6" of water--sorry, don't know that in cm. The road was like a river. The rain, coupled with the thunder and lightning was really neat. I love rain. I also like thunder if there is no wind. But...finding. This past week we also had ZLC (Zone Leader Conference), which went well. Elder Skinner and I gave a portion on being bold in missionary work and we practiced extending a baptismal date on Pres. Paulson. The practice was on being bold by establishing our purpose (why we were there and why we were extending BD), being direct in our statements, looking people in the eye (which normal people do not do, fyi...very interesting) We then had the Zone Leaders practice on President. It was productive.

I appreciate the email you sent with the quotes and everything. I was just curious where you found all those quotes. Must have taken you a little while to type that out!

I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but during our phone call last week I remember you mentioning a few random things like Mitt Romney and other things, I am remember thinking, "Don't you want to hear about how the mission is doing? Do you want to know Key Indicator trends? Do you want to hear more stories?" Looking back after that, I remember thinking that I definitely am thinking like a missionary now. Ha.

I have been learning more Chinese phrases. I now know how to say "I know the Book of Mormon is true" in Mandarin. I know words for Book of Mormon, Bible, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, faith and a few more. I can't write it at all, but can sure try to say it. A few Chinese people say that I am pretty good. I taught a Chinese family on the weekend that were really exciting! Sam, 19, and Terrance, 14, let us come in last Saturday. We taught them the basics of how to come to know if God is there and gave them copies of the Book of Mormon. We invited them to read daily, and to pray often. Their mom who was in the background, would smile and then  say that she has her own church. Fast forward to this previous Saturday. Sam and Terrance both read and prayed most days, but not all. Their mom was again in the background making breakfast and she would go off about something in Chinese and then the boys would translate occasionally. When we asked the boys how their reading went, she said (through Sam who translated) that she had read every day and felt very peaceful, and brave as she read it! Ya! She then came over and pinched a clump of pages together that were something like an 1/8 of an inch together and said she had read that much and that the vision of the Tree of Life was her favorite. I had the biggest smile! While Elder Skinner and I are gone, this family will go on a church tour with a member and another missionary companionship. They were excited to go and will be going on Thursday. After the lesson the family invited Elder Deeble and I (we were on exchanges and Elder Deeble and his companion will take the family on the church tour) to eat dumplings with them. They gave us chopsticks. Oh...I still struggle with those things. We laughed about how inept I was and they gave me a fork. Ha. I didn't use it though, I "manned" it out and used the chopsticks to the end. Terrance laughed and said that he struggles using a fork. A fork seems so easy...

I wanted to share a quick scripture with you that stuck out to me this week. I am in Alma in my Book of Mormon reading and recently read Alma 37, and verse 43 stuck out to me. Alma is teaching his son Helaman to rely upon the Lord in all things and uses the example of the Liahona (a compass for those not familiar) that guided Nephi and his family as they were faithful. This Liahona did not guide the family when they were disobedient. In verse 43: "And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even it is with things which are spiritual." I would also like to add in verse 45: "And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following  its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." Verse 43 sets the stage for verse 45 and how the words of Christ will lead us back to Him and God the Father. In verse 43 what pressed upon my mind was the connection between temporal obedience and spiritual obedience. When we outwardly do what is right it makes it so much easier to be spiritually healthy, but when we are not obeying temporally we cannot be healthy spiritually. A simple principle, but the scriptures reconfirmed it to me.

Anyway, I sure love you all. I need to run. Have fun, be safe, and keep the commandments!

Elder Galbraith