Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Back to Chinese

September 12, 2006
Dear Family,

Well, I'm back down in San Diego now. Elder Gould went home Thursday morning, and I got the call right afterwards to pack and get ready to leave that night. So I spent Thursday saying goodbye to people in Foothill Ranch and that night, the APs picked me up and brought me down to Mira Mesa. I'm with Elder Jensen again.

I had lost a lot of the Chinese. But, the Lord helps me a lot, and it is coming back very fast. I still have about the same listening comprehension as I had just before I left. Speaking is a bit harder, but I can still say what I need to, generally, and I've got Elder Jensen to fill in the gaps. We don't have an English ward right now; we're exclusively Chinese work. We have a car 4 days a week.
We have an investigator named Sister Yue who has a baptism date in 2 weeks and is pretty faithful. We've joined with the Korean Branch in teaching English Class, and now there are LOTS of students, mostly Korean. The Chinese branch hasn't had any baptisms since I left, but a former Hong Kong mission president moved into the ward. Emily's husband moved back and now lives with them here, looking for a job full-time. They come to church every week, but still haven't accepted a challenge to baptism. We have a new Ward Mission Leader named Brother Lau, a very sharp businessman who is extremely on top of everything. Ronald was inactive for a few months, and is now active again. And that's how the branch has changed since I've been there.

As far as things happening while I've been here so far... Ronald and Calvin's dog died on Sunday right before we came over to visit. So we helped them dig a grave in the back yard and we had a memorial service. It was actually a really good experience.

On Sunday morning, we went to MCRD, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. There is an LDS branch there that baptizes very regularly. The APs are in charge of the missionary work there. I taught 5 nonmembers at once right after sacrament meeting. 11 other nonmembers were taught by other missionaries. The 5 all committed to read from the Book of Mormon and pray, and to be baptized if they felt that our message was true. There is some promise with some of them.

We taught Jimmy and went to dinner with him yesterday. He is doing really well, and is very faithful. He's had a couple small miraculous healings lately, and he's hoping to be able to walk soon. Jimmy's been in a wheel chair for 20 years, but he can feel something in his legs and he's starting to be able to move his toes. When we gave him a blessing in the hospital last December, a brother from Mesa Arizona was there at the hospital and we had him give the blessing. He blessed Jimmy that he would be blessed with increased mobility and that he'd be able to use that as a testimony of the Gospel. He didn't even know Jimmy was paralized from the waist down. Jimmy is expecting a miracle, but not because he's seeking a sign. He's just that full of faith.

I'm glad Dad is starting to get better. I'm glad we've been blessed with stability. That's great that you were able to do the bike tour and raise so much money.

That's about all that's going on. It's still taking some adjustment, but it's good, and I'm happy here. I love you all, and I hope that all the recoveries go well.

Love,
Elder Myers