Because He Lives! - March 30, 2015

Hey Family! 

 

 It's so good to hear that everything is going well! I didn't know that Mary and the girls were coming out to Utah, that should be a lot of fun :) And congrats to Vivi and the Young Women! Way to be! Things are going pretty good for us here. The weather wasn't as nice to us as it was last week but there are still good days. Elders Shaw and Elsholz were able to have a baptismal service on Saturday for Ping and Jaime Zhang and it was the first one that I have seen on my mission. Pretty amazing! The spirit was so strong and it was so inspiring to see someone taking those first steps to following the Saviour. Hopefully good things are in the future and we'll be holding another service soon :)

 I'm so excited for this weekend! I love this time of year and I'm grateful for the opportunity it gives us to reflect on the Atonement and Resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In Mathew 28:6 it says "He is not here: for he is risen." That is our unique message to the world. Not only did he take upon himself the sins of the world and complete the Atonement, but three days later he overcame the bonds of physical death and was resurrected. I don't know if you guys have seen it yet, if not I'm sure you've heard about it, but the church has put out a video called Because He Lives. It is so good! Since Saturday and for the rest of this week that is what we are focusing on. We have been walking around with our portable DVD player showing this video to people and it has brought on many amazing and interesting experiences. One of them was with a lady name Liyang Ma. We were walking around the promenade talking to people when we saw her sitting on a bench. I love it when people are sitting on benches; they can't go anywhere :) But we started to talk to here and found out that she is originally from China but come to Cheltenham often because of work. We talked for a little bit and she began telling us about her family and how that is what makes her the happiest. So we sat down next to her and began teaching her about the Plan of Salvation. We went through the pamphlet with her and then tied it in with the video. We then were able to bear witness to her that because Jesus Christ lives, we have the opportunity to live with our families forever. It was such a powerful moment. She agreed that it would be nice but unfortunately she said that she wasn't ready to accept anything yet. We were able to get her contact information though and commited her to pray that night to know if the what we said was true. Hopefully we'll be able to get in touch with her and teach her again soon. 

highlights/funny moments:

1.     Canadian border patrol. We went to institute this week with a less active and afterwards ended up speaking to the brother of a former investigator. He said that he was from somewhere in Africa, but he sounded EXACTLY like the guy from that video. I was dying! It was pretty great. 

2.     Six fingered man. I went in to the bike shop to get some lights and while we were looking at the selection one of the workers came over to help us out. I didn't see him and first but when I turned around I didn't a serious double take. It was the six fingered man from Princess Bride! Or his doppleganger?(sp?) I don't know but it was pretty weird. 

3.     Dinner at the Narulas. They are a family from America and they are pretty cool. We had pulled pork sandwiches, with Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce, and A&W rootbeer. I was in heaven! And then for dessert we had chocolate cake with mint oreos and reeses peanut butter cups from America. Probably one of my favourite meals I've had so far on my mission :)

 Well that's about it for the week! A lot of investigators are out of town for holiday so we have been doing a lot of finding. Hopefully we'll be able to get in contact with them this week or the next and start teaching them again. 
 Thank you so much for all that you do for me! I'm so grateful for your support and for the prayers that are offered on my behalf. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Sister Wilde