8/28/16 Brother Fung (Ward Mission Leader) Is my Marriage Counselor...

YES! So this week!!! SOOOO SOOO SOO DOPE!!!! RRRAH! T-Rock! Hahaha Anyways, cool, so the subject of this email, begins yesterday. in Gospel Principles class. The Topic: Eternal Marriage The teacher: Brother Fung (The Ward Mission Leader) So in this class, there are only 4 Unmarried people in the class, Me, Elder Petersen, Sister Lee (Ward Member) And Ng Jeun Yin (Ward Member 17 years old) So as we enter the lesson, Brother Fung talks about the ordinance, what it means to be a good and honest spouse etc. etc... Then he asks me... "ELDER CHEN, Youre not married right?" "Right." "What are you doing to prepare yourself for marriage??" A little thrown off by the question, cuz. Marriage... Ew. I say "JOUH CHYUHN DOUH!" (Go On a mission) and then he asks "What are you looking for in a spouse?" Once again, barely gathering my bearings from that first question, start stuttering.... "Uh. Uh... Ngoh, mh Ji dou wo" (I don't know)  "Mei Lam gwo" (I haven't thought about it) And then he goes off. "Elder Chen, I started looking for my wife on my mission, when I was about a year in my mission, I started meeting people and seeing what I liked and what I didn't like! You know why I have such an awesome wife?? BECAUSE I Started looking early" I couldn't help but laugh.... But after a considerable thought... I decided against looking for a wife... Sorry for a terrible start to the email, but its the first story that came to mind... I mean it was funny if you were there...

Anyways! Cool! Powerful week! This week was so so so so cool, because Elder Petersen and I were able to organize a ward finding activity! Where we could get all the youth and whoever else wanted to come and go and street contact, and go Less active finding, a really cool activity actually! We have been preparing for about 2 weeks for it, calling all the people, we even got 25 ish members to sign up to come out, when the time actually came 10 people showed up, a little disappointing, but more than enough to get the work going, so that was a tender mercy already! Anyways, We split the people up into companionships, and some went and visited less actives with Elder Petersen and then some came street finding with me, and man we went hard for it, in 1 hour, we gave away a total of 25 book of Mormon, 13 Restoration pamphlets and more fliers than I can even count, it was awesome, got a lot of cool numbers Elder Petersen and i get to call now to follow up!! It was a blessing and a huge testimony builder that when the ward gets together in the work, the missionary work gets amplified infinitely, it was super cool to see all of the success, and how awesome some of the youth in the ward are at finding.

There is one in particular, that surprised me, A-Bill, one of our recent converts, of about a year, started off being so timid, he's 17 and he likes to play video games... Like a lot. Super quiet, but yeah, after like 15 minutes of street finding, he had no problem sharing his testimony, and he wasn’t afraid, I guess its not that hard to get over when you’re speaking your own language! hahaha but yeah its cool to know that the best missionaries are never wearing name tags, Elder Petersen and i have never seen so much success in finding for one hour. Powerful... Just Powerful hahaha.

Anyways, this week has been quite exciting, in a morning finding session, we were walking around, and some guy calls us over to a bench, he has a bag with a lot of stuff in it, and he's playing a Chinese flute... First thought that goes through my head.... "It’s a crazy... it’s a crazy... we'll stay for a little bit, share a message, and get gone..." hahaha turns out, he's just a master flutist... Taught elder Petersen and I how to play the flute... and in turn we were able to share a little bit about the Book of Mormon, we gave him the book. And in turn he said "I have something for you too" reaches into his big bag of stuff and fear starts to rush back into my head, "He's going to pull out like a dead rabbit or something, or like some weird Chinese herbs... I guess the same thing" Anyways. turns out he gave us two Chinese flutes... turns out I was a terribly judgmental person, he was normal, and so we continued to share a message about the book of Mormon, and yeah.... That was that... Now I play a flute to wake Elder Petersen up, so its a good time.

Ay! So moves calls came this week... Moves calls... Moves Calls... Moves Calls... So Elder Petersen is leaving. to Pok Fu Lam, in the Island zone, he was afraid of the Island because one of the missionaries in the apartment once upon a time said that there is a lot of finding to do on the island, but after telling him of my amazing Experiences in Chai Wan, he got over it... Hahaha But my new companion. for Two months at least... is... ELDER HANSEN!!!!! BLAAAH!!!! CONNIPTION!!!! HAHAHA I am way excited because he is literally my best friend in the mission, way excited but hey! Good things to come. Right? haha emails will be very exciting, filled with more exciting stories.. But hey. Good stuff. 

Anyways, good week! I love you all!! Stay safe!

Love,

Elder Jonathan Chen

Picture 1: Me and a Giant Gift That Man Sin got me, She's the best

Picture 2: On the way to the stake activity #Dope Hahahaha The hat was on just for the picture...it doesn't look like a Pokémon trainer hat, but it is a hat indeed... (TBT... Didn't take any pictures this week, so hey"

8/21/16 Testimony of A Half Way Missionary

Yeah! So this week, good week first off,  I was going to have a violin performance for a stake activity, but then we decided against it and instead I was going to be a Pokemon, and our 14 member district, we decide to recreate the first few scenes of Pokemon, I was the first pokemon that he caught. I wore a green dinosaur costume, who knew that buying a green dinosaur costume would pay off? hahaha it was fun, and All the Primary kids loved it. I almost fell off the stage a few times due to wearing socks instead of shoes.... Fun times. hahaha Anyways so tahts the story of how I am a pokemon... Pretty neat...

Cool. So anyways sorry this email might be a little bit of a shorter one, because I have a lot of stories... but they are like... not good... hahaha but yeah, so this week, the Elder we live with (Elder Aldridge/ Tseng) got Summer missionaries, which is super cool, pretty much Young men, take off two weeks from there summer vacation (ONE MONTH ONLY) And come and be missionaries for 2 weeks, so thats super cool of them, Anyways, one of them is Au Yeung Hing Daih, he's from Tai Po, but I'll call him Andrew (His english Name) So Andrew, is a convert, investigated for 2 years and finally got baptized a year ago, and now here he is haha. Andrew is cool, cuz I got to teach him one of his ABL Lessons when i went on exchange with Elder Hansen in Tai Po! He is super funny his english is super good so we have been teaching him how to talk like a black man. its one of the reasons I have been falling behind in my journal this last week... Anyways I gave up my bed for him to sleep, so I sleep on the couch. (Grateful that our apartment has one) Its so comfy.

Awesome! So, this week actually was awesome! So first off, I want to talk about Man Sin (Pronounced Mun Seen, not Man Sin) So, her mom is less active, and her dad and brother are both not baptized. With that being said, we have been spending a lot of time with her, because I was borrowing her violin, we were able to do some service for her and get one of  the broken strings fixed, we helped her take care of some of her immunizations for going to america for her mission, and we also have been finding her for a lot of lessons, she is willing, so we use her.  Anyways, this week, her Mom invited us to have dinner with her next week, it was a really big blessing, because the ward members have not been able to get in contact with her, so I really am excited for this awesome opportunity. It would be amazing if this wonderful family gets baptized!!

Anyways, this week we met a new investigator. 70 years old, his name is David Wong, and first time I met him, to be 100 percent honest, I thought he was not fully there, I think he may have been a little bit drunk, but who knows, we talked for about 15 minutes and exchanged information, this week later, he accidentally called us, not sure how that happened but he just said he "Accidentally called us" haha, I was able to set a time with him that day (He's retired so he's super free) we met him in a mcdonalds in our area, the environment is not ideal for a first meeting, its loud and harder to feel the spirit, so we got talking, about the location of our church, in Hung Shui Kiuh, about a 15 minute train ride from where we were. I said, "Yeah, if you have interest, you can come over and we can give you a tour" And he said, "When is a good time" Elder Petersen and I both replied "Any time, whenever you like" I half jokingly added "We could even go now if you would like" And his eyes lit up, and he was like "REALLY???" haha so surprised, we got on the Light rail, and took him to the church, we had a good tour, there was a cleaning of the church, so we even got to introduce him to our Bishop, and some youth in the ward, which was really fun. It then brought us to the last part of our tour, which was the Chapel, the doors were locked but luckily the collapsible wall between the gym and the Chapel was not, so we went in through there, when we went in, we let him enjoy the silence as we grabbed two chairs so we could sit with him and teach him our lesson, we were able to teach a full restoration, and leave him with hopefully a good feeling. It was a good thing to notice that he had been an answer to many prayers.

Speaking of an answer to prayers, David Wong is one of the many that I have failed to notice in my life these past few days. As I have prayed for new Investigators, I had always thought of a fly teenage/middle age man, or like someone that I could relate to in some other way, something that could be the means of us getting along, God answered my prayers and taught me a valuable lesson. 1. The Gospel is relatable to everyone, I have nothing in common with this 70 year old man, but when we talked about the gospel with him, it had brought us together. 2. God answers all of your prayers, not in your way, but in his way, that is the way that we must all learn by. This whole one year that i have been a missionary, that Is one lesson I believe that I have learned more than any other Gospel Principle, because I have had first hand experiences with it.  Thank you Everyone for your support, I pray that as you continue through this week, and through these coming trials, that you will remember one thing, that God answers prayers. 

Love,

Elder Chen

Picture 1: Dino Time

Picture 2: Basketball with the Youth (Morning Work-Out)

 

 

8/14/16 Basketball is the way into A Teenage Boys heart.

Its true...I have an amazing experience to share. So. A few weeks ago, Elder Petersen and I decided that we wanted to start attending some  ward activities, to increase the trust between us and the members! So that’s what we did.... So, what had happened, is we had planned to have an investigator treat us out, and when we were done, time would be just right that we would be able to go to English class right after. We go to the Cheng out, and we over shot the time, and we ended up being at the Chapel about half an hour early... Anyways. there was a youth sports night that happens, every Friday night, and a young man, Hiu Yat, a super cool kid (Doesn't like to talk to missionaries, but has an awesome testimony) Was there, Elder Petersen and I found it fitting to go and play basketball with him, so, we loosened our ties, untucked our shirts and we played ball with him for about a half hour. The whole time we were talking to him, he stuffed me, I stole the ball from him. It was fun, anyways. The cool thing is, when Sunday came around, his mom wasn't at church, but he came and sat next to me, it was cool to know that half an hour can make someone like you like that. Anyways that was a fun experience, not sure if it made sense, but you might have to read it more than once.... Whatever.

Cool so this week was super bomb. one cool thing was that I was able to spend another Day in Hung Shui Kiuh, this time with Elder Aldridge, we had a day full of service and fun activities with the ward. We did something Called Crossroads, its pretty much this thing where you go to this like 3 acre lot with a bunch of houses and old office buildings, and you just go in and fix them up, this time we shattered windows and put new ones in, hahaha it was pretty pretty fun! haha anyways, I cut my finger a little bit, but its all healed now hahaha but it was a good time.

Anyways remember the Catholic angel? May Cheung, she is amazing, this week she called us and we were able to meet with her again over an amazing meal at Pizza Hut (Pizza is really expensive here) hahaha So, we were able to talk a little bit more about her life and how she came to be so awesome. She actually has a really interesting story, but if I told it I would need to take 2 or more hours to describe the emotion that came over the dinner table.  She shared a lot about her childhood and her marriage, how life was very unfair to her, however it was when she found the church, (Not our Church) When she established a relationship with Christ, it's when she changed, it's when she realized that she can give her burden to Christ. She isn't LDS, but I believe that she has a stronger testimony of the atonement than I do. We were able to share about the Plan of Salvation and in the end really increase her knowledge of the Atonement as well. I felt the spirit work so strongly through me, because she listened and I felt like she really understood, Unfortunately, she is not willing right now to come to our Church, however I felt in that meeting, there was significant progress made. 

Something that I have been studying and something that I have experienced so far, is that "When there is change that needs to be made, you have to realize that there is always somewhere better that you want to be that is the motivation behind all of the changes that I have made to myself have been because of that realization. Nothing happens unless you do it yourself. And then when you do change, the biggest factor is the Atonement, and that's where I find my joy. We have a Savior, who died for us, who loves us, and that is something to be excited for. I have learned it so strongly now. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Chen

Picture 1: EJ and Carmen (2 soon to be missionaries) EJ is going to Brisbane Austraillia (Shout out to Joseph)  And Carmen is going to California! Should be fun! coolest people ever!! 

Picture 2: Exchange with Elder Aldridge, Tyler is a sick member who helps us with language study all the time! English is amazing Chinese is amazing Cool stuff

8/7/16 Tip Toeing in my Church shoes Tryin to keep them Clean

Ay  Ay Ay Ay! What a week.... I told myself that I would write down things I wanted to send to yall.. and then the week went too fast so here's another Haphazard Email hahahahahaha! Bam! I'm talking about truth!! Like the Gospel! BAM! Anyways, cool so. this week started pretty different. We were supposed to have a Level 8 typhoon... not sure about how serious That is on the scale of Typhoonness... But sounded pretty typhoony to me, cuz they made us stay in the house where we could make calls, update records and do some planning, interesting... Yeah. Cool But then it sprinkled a little bit, and the typhoon signal went away, and we were free to go out.... Kind of disappointing because I was waiting for the Business to go DOWN, like when you hear "Level 8 Typhoon" You expect Dorothy, and Toto to to come flying out of nowhere, cuz "Dorothy THIS AIN'T KANSAS NO MORE! CHING CHING CHONG" Eh... Yeah but it was good cuz we were able to go to a lesson that we had planned right after the signal went down so I guess it was Gods Plan all along :)

Anyways! sorry for that unmissionaryesque beginning of an email, but that’s what you get so! This week was super super super super good tho! a few exciting experiences, people are crazy over here. This Friday, we had a person walk into our English class and he had really good English and he actually asked to hear about our church... He really wanted to to know a lot about the Book of Mormon so, terrible mistake on my part, I assumed that he had a Religious background of some sort, anyways, because he asked about it, I explained the story of the Book of Mormon, about LEHI and his family leaving Jerusalem to go to America, however, when I explained that he established Gods church in the Americas, something wrong clicked and um... This man thought that Lehi replaced Jesus... yeah. So the lesson came to a conclusion, where I asked him to pray (Saying I, because Elder Petersen was helping another child with English and the Man had to go soon, so we had no other way to do this than i teach this man) He began his prayer (In English, he insisted he spoke English) he said "Our dear Lehi, we ask thee, Lehi, to bless us, Thank you wonderful Lehi, for everything, Amen" It startled me, but in the End we were able to clear everything up and we set another visit with him for the Hung Shui Kiuh Elders... Nuts man...

Cool So, remember June, the dancer (mantle) or whatever I have called him in my past emails?? this week, we saw him 3 times... The first time, we talked to him about the book of Mormon, trying to get him to pray, he didn’t pray. The 2nd time, he was dancing, and he wanted me to dance, so I made a kind of silly deal with him, that if next time, he prayed with us and prayed at his home, I would dance for him, hahaha so the 3rd time. I danced for him and he prayed and he was like "Dude, I like praying" (Very Accented English) haha so that was cool, anyways while I was dancing a few people kind of stopped and stared, Elder Petersen said they were all "Surprised that there was a dancing missionary" Anyways after we left, a very kind woman (Australian) and complimented my dancing, and showed really good interest in the message that we had to share, super cool! we were able to exchange numbers, because she actually moved into our area a week prior. It was really cool!

Anyways it’s been an awesome week!! I love you guys and I hope to hear from all aof yalls!! Love you!!!

Love,

Elder Chen

 

Pictures: 1: EJ! Hes a sick kid with a mission call

Picture 2: THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD!!! YOUUUTH!!