July 23, 2012

First 2 things I need to tell you, I hear that Romney is running for president and for some reason the church is encouraging missionaries to vote so I would love a mail-in ballot, if you can send me one. Also Mom I ran into a man named Rice Banks who ended his mission in 81 and said they have a Facebook page you could join called "Powelson Taibei" if you want to join. I don't know if he was your mission president or not.

I am so happy to be here. Li Zheng Ru passed his baptismal interview so Saturday we will be having his baptismal service. I am so excited; he is such a great guy. This week went well. We got a lot of new investigators, and almost all set a baptismal date which is exactly what this area needed, I was so happy help find and teach them. I am a little tired now so sorry if my email doesn't make sense. Well this week’s miracles were good. On Saturday it was weird we saw some great miracles along with some disappointments. The disappointments were that Huang Jiemei said she didn't want to keep studying because something happened at home. I think her boyfriend and she got in a fight probably. I was devastated. Also that day 3 people I set up and who confirmed the day before about appointments today, stood us up. I was very frustrated. But that day Li Zheng Ru passed his baptismal interview and we went to a planned area that was not a really effective place to knock doors and ran into a new Investigator from last week who hadn't answered the phone since our first meeting and it turned out he thought our phone was someone else’s who he didn't want to talk to. So he set up and has answered his phone. This miracle is a literal miracle. Our area has so many people so we went to a and had been to in the past, and lo and behold we run into someone we had been trying to contact. That is a miracle because we planned by the spirit. Then that night when tracking we found someone who let us in and became a new investigator. Always a miracle. That day was up and down but I know that all things were done in the wisdom of god and that he gave us such great miracles so we could better deal with our disappointments.

  Anyways random report, this week I ate  a crazy cake made our of flour but felt like cheese on the outside but inside was extremely dry, and of course the middle had red beans. I also drank purple yam juice. Both very interesting, and overall good.

  Spiritual thought: This week I read Lehi’s vission and noticed a parallel to the Brother of Jared. In the vision at the start Lehi does as the Angle commands him and finds himself in Darkness/lost. Like the Brother of Jared who follows all the commands and finds that his ships have no light to cross the great waters. They both do the same thing to get out of this darkness...Pray. Prayer is so important and when we pray like Joseph Smith in the first vision, we can be delivered from darkness. Obviously in all three of these examples they meant what they said when they pleaded for the light. Prayer is so important. I don't know if this is doctrine but it seems that even if we do all god commands and don't pray we will still find ourselves in darkness. If we pray we will be partakers of the love of god, the light of Christ and come to know God personally. 

  Some about my companion. He is a convert to the church, his Mother is still not a member, he hopes to baptize her when he goes home. He is funny and loves to talk. He is a fun companion who never complains and is very humble.  My new mission president is much more relaxed. He Gwants to be more involved with us than President Grimly did. He seems like a nice loving man who sues other attorneys for mal-practice. He is different then President Grimley and I love them both.

 Here is my letter to president:

Hey President,
I am so glad to inform you Li Zheng Ru passed his baptismal interview! Saturday we will be having his baptismal service. Life is so great. He is so great and I feel certain he is prepared for baptism. God has prepared him.
 This week went well we found a lot of new investigators and a lot set baptismal dates so that was nice and just what our area needed. I am glad you want us to call you when we have someone commit to a date. Sorry we forgot sometimes to call.
  I had a good week full of miracles.
Love Elder Sabey