Jan 15, 2012—
Wei Jiemei's baptism
Hey family. It's so great to hear from you.
It's been a
strange week, I am moving to Taoyuan city. I am going to be with an elder
Denise who is Malaysian and English is his 3rd language, Chinese his 4th. He is
a district leader, and I guess a little quirky. I am excited to get to know him
and to be in a bigger area. The only down sides is no more teaching women/
leaving Longtan. But I am happy with my work in Longtan.
So tell me about
the classes people are taking, dance, life, our new car, etc.
Highlights from
the week: Obviously Wei Jeimei’s
baptism. It was Election Day so everyone voted and not many came to the baptism
because everyone was watching the results, but we had enough come. She was such
a miracle. We meet her at her brother’s house. We had been meeting with her
brother for a month and he was not making much progress so we were thinking
about dropping him but we both felt we should keep teaching him. I think the
next week she joined in on our lesson and then came to English class and set up
time for further lessons. Then yesterday her brother set a baptismal date! I am
so glad for her and her example to her older brother. She is a humble woman
probably 35, unmarried and a hard worker. She was so great to us and always
made us amazed by her testimony. We had a single man (who did a duanchuan (one
transfer mission)) her age baptize her. It was bad because we only gave him 1
hour notice, but all worked out in the end.
On Sunday a
couple in our ward had an engagement party and we had committed to go about 2
months ago. It's weird how they have huge parties for engagements. It turned
out to be in a giant restaurant, and because they were getting married in the
temple and wanted their family to feel a part of it, even bigger than normal.
We had told them we could stay for an hour, and it turned out that they had
alcoholic beverages, and a stripper (not all the way) so we were in an awkward
place, on one hand we had promised them we would come and support them (one a
recent convert) and we represented the ward, and on the other we were breaking
the Sabbath, in an area with alcohol and strippers. We ended up leaving as
early as we felt possible. The food was super expensive and crazy. I had my
first lobster and sushi, and so far have had giant shrimp, stinky tofu and
squid- all of which I didn't hate, but none of with I love.
So my companion
is training again, and that means I am a mom. My son’s name is Elder Timothy,
and he seems really nice, but isn't great about his time. It was fun to get to
know him and help him out a bit.
Spiritual thoughts
of the week, when we truly repent we gouge out parts of the natural man, and
then in sacrament we partake of Christ’s blood and body which fill in those
gouges with him. Over time we can become like him. This is a kind of
sanctification.
Also the most welcoming expression I can think of is
embracing open arms, and in a scripture it said I was raised up to draw all men
unto me. I remember that even on the cross his arms were open calling all unto
him. His arms are still open. Let us come unto him. Let us raise him up above
ourselves and not, "trample him under [our] feet."
Love you all,
Elder Matt Sabey
Jan.
28, 2012
Hey everyone, love you all,
Well it was interesting reading mom and dad’s
letters- Moms first sentence was "it was a hard and sad week, and dad's
was, "it was a great week". It's interesting how emphatic mom is, and
how hard things for other people hurt her too. That is Christ like; however
living your life and being optimistic and making the best of circumstances like
dad is also Christ like. You two are so great for each other. I am so glad you
are not separated. Thanks.
Well mom I got some news that might cheer you
up, I asked the patriarch if he remembered you and showed him a picture and he
called over someone else who was so happy to see your picture and said,
"Bai Jiemei?" she called over another and another one who cried,
"Bailisha!" and another said, "She shanged ke with me, my fuyin
jeimei. (She taught me the gospel
lessons) A Xu (I think shufangshang
because he said he was a long investigator) Dixiong. They all were so happy to
see your picture and all remembered you. I hope that in 25 years the people in
the places I serve will remember me. I think Su jeimei will email you and send
you a picture of us soon. She was so glad to see your picture she took a
picture of us and asked for your email. It really was probably the highlight of
the week for me. There are only a few members in our ward that were members
when you were there and they all remember you. Thanks, what a legacy.
I am so glad to be serving a mission, now a
thought hit me this week, I am not counting time but in 4 days I will have been
on my mission for 6 months. I feel like I just got out still but clearly 6
months isn't a greeny any more. It's gone by so fast I almost had a panic
attack. I only have so much time, and then it will be over, just like life
which I am about 1/4 of the way through also, it was shocking to realize.
Missions really are a small life. I was born in Longtan, have no idea where I
will die but just need to make the best of my time here in Taoyuan and rely on
the lord. I was a little shocked and concerned, but then I read the plan of
salvation remembered I still have eternity and it doesn't end in this life, nor
does my mission end in Taiwan or this life. If we rely on the lord and his plan
we need not fear.
So this week I got to go on exchanges with
the AP's and we saw a few miracles like we got to teach a woman who has cancer
and I told her this was gods arrangement to have us meet her and she said,
"yes it was." Then we prayed
and felt (this was one of the first times I really felt so good about one place
that I knew it wasn't just me) we should go off plan and go to a park where I
taught a family and he taught a student. It was amazing. Then later that day
after a few events that lead to a place that we obviously had no idea where god
was leading us, we went tracting and for the first time on my mission I was let
in and was able to shang ke (have a lesson) with them. I learned some things
from that exchange like the people here really are not that different than in
Longtan. If you just befriend them they will trust you. That I applied the next
day and saw more miracles, I got a kid(18) from off the street to tour the
chapel and taught him prayer. He said in his closing prayer, "Thank god
for allowing me to meet these two missionaries and them helping me feel your
existence and love towards me. That's a payday right there. I am excited to
meet with him again. Then later I was riding away from that lesson and saw a
school girl but didn't really want to talk to her, but I knew I was supposed to
talk to everyone so I did probably one of the worst contacts and asked if she
wanted to come to church and she said, "yes," and so I brought her to
the sisters and they taught her and she became a new investigator.
Spiritual thought for the week, in 3 Nephi 18
Christ talks about how the Nephites saw greater miracles than all the house of
Israel, and the only miraculous thing in that chapter was a prayerr that words
could not "utter." One that was understood by the heart not ears.
This was more miraculous then the parting the Red sea and raising the dead or
all the healings. The power of prayer is that powerful. I believe that Christ
prays for us as he did the Nephites. I believe we will someday hear that
miraculous prayer. Mom the only advice I can give you which I wouldn't be
surprise you are already doing is pray for those that have despitefully used
you. Pray for Brook, Dr. Z, or anyone
else. I know you are not a hater, and I often think of and feel your love for
me and others. Thanks again. I love you all,
Elder Matthew Sabey
Feb. 5, 2012
Hey mom to first answer your question about
my companion and mine relationship- it's good, but not great. The hardest thing
is the language barrier, If I speak English and he knows all the words he still
sometimes misses the meanings, and my Chinese still isn't anything great. Also
the cultural differences make our teaching styles different and it hurts the
investigators’ impression of our unity I think, but we definitely enjoy each
other and love working with each other. We had interviews with the president
and he told me that I was privileged to have him as a companion, and that I can
learn many things from him that I can't learn from anyone else on the mission;
he has an absolutely amazing conversion story and life story. Pretty much his
cousin gave him the Book of Mormon because he was searching for a way to help
his broken family, and he read it, searched out the missionaries so he could
get baptized. He did and his family saw the difference. His mom dad and sister
all got baptized later, and their family has healed so much. He then felt he
should go on a mission so worked for less than 5 dollars a day to pay for it
and got a bit of money but not enough, so his mom started a job to support him.
An amazing story. I think he is the first missionary from Malaysia to serve in
Taiwan.
About this last week, we are working our tail
off and have been finding people, but not many miracles were coming through,
like we found a golden 18 year old who family opposes him getting baptized, we
found a family whose mother used to be a member and loved missionaries, but
stopped coming to church because the grandpa was Presbyterian and didn't want
them to go to our church, so they set up but fell through on their appointment.
Or all our best finds were out of our area, so a little disappointing week.
Then yesterday 5 investigators came to church and liked it! It was a huge
miracle. There also was an 11 year old who I had befriended the day before and
had raced because he was on a track team a--he won (I was wearing a 15 pound
bag and Sunday shoes...) But I invited him and he came all by himself.
It was so great, and then we had one investigator who loved it, and had only
met once with us. He came that night with us to the bishop’s home for dinner
and he felt the family feeling and then we watched The Restoration and bore
testimony. He was so excited he was so willing to read daily and pray daily and
come to church, so yeah, miracles happen.
Spiritual thought for the week, I love how 4 Nephi has a
lot of Provo references. The first one was 1-they rebuilt cities where the old
ones had burnt (The tabernacle), they multiplied and given in marriage quickly,
and gathered together oft to hear the word of the lord and pray and fast. I love you all so much.
Elder Matthew Sabey
April 9, 2012
It was so weird no
one did anything for Easter, in fact it wasn’t ‘til President Monson said next
week we will celebrate Easter that I realized it was Easter. It was really
special to have an Easter on a mission, listening to the prophet’s voice. The
words of god. I am excited to read them again. I loved Elder Eyrings, “Give me
this mountain” talk. When he said that,
I pulled out my planner that Dia made for me and showed it to my friend.
It’s a picture of us on Carpenters Peak and say's "give me this
mountain." I realized that now my mission is my mountain and He has given
it to me, I just need to take it, hike it, or more likely bike it. I Loved President
Uchdorf’s talk on not judging, I honestly had to answer yes to some of his
questions, which shows I need to change. But only by listening to the word of
God can you feel reproved but improved, and not hurt. I loved President Monsoon’s talks, and how he
at first seems light hearted and then how he can almost instantly bring power
and truth out and have a prophet like demeanor. I love how he wrote 23
arms/military men monthly. I could relate to the arms men, by getting moms
weekly letter, and every letter from any family member. It is weird how much it
means to me. Today we didn't get to emailing until 4:15 and my whole day felt
anxious. I just wanted to read your letters first.
But maybe the most powerful part was when the Mormon
tabernacle sung, " I see my mother kneeling" I hear the words she
whispers, her plea to the father silences all my fears, and I am thankful love
is spoken here.” I believe now that I
am so far away, I truly feel the power of mom’s prayers. In my mind’s eye I
could see her kneeling, I could hear her words that she is praying for me and
my companion, I know she is praying for healing, and each of her children
daily. I can testify I know this, even though I cannot see it. I also know that
mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power.
Oh the power of a righteous father who has the priesthood, who can give
blessings in time of need, and live worthy to administer. My home in Taiwan is
blessed by that power which you gave me. Thanks. I am so grateful to have been
born of goodly parents.
I am moving, down
the street about 30 minutes to Bade, and my new companion is Elder Ah Puck. He
is from Hawaii and is great. He loves to talk and has great Chinese. I am
staying in the same district, but my area is getting white washed by an old
assistant and his trainee so I will still be able to see my investigators I
love on exchanges and what not. This next transfer is going to be amazing!! I
am so excited.
Here’s my letter
to president
Well this week was crazy with Elder Kemp getting ready to
go home, and then me packing for moving to Bade and preparing Tao 2 for a white
wash. I loved general conference this week. It was so powerful, and gave me
some good ideas on how to improve my missionary work. I loved it. I realized
that whenever any of the 12 apostle was
called to talk, I got really excited, when before it was when my top 3
favorites were called that I felt excited. I believe being on a mission has
helped me be more open and able to receive more. This week as far as missionary
work goes we taught a bit and found a lot. It ws a little weird all week
though. I am so excited for Bade and being with elder Ah Puck. Thanks.
Well I love you all and pray for you too. Thanks for all
the prayers
Elder Sabey
April 15, 2012
Hey my wonderful family,
I am so happy every time I read your letters. They are all great. I
sometimes feel like Mom and Dad did too good of a job raising us, most
teenagers have a falling away from their parents, and look forward to being
away, married, etc. But I feel like the 8 of us are a family and it's weird to
think of marriage where we won't be together for everyone’s birthday,
Christmas, etc. I sometimes feel like life’s going by so fast, especially my
mission, and long for my childhood back. We went contacting in a playground
yesterday and when I entered I could still feel the same magic of the
playground that I did when I was a child, but it was a dulled, smaller feeling.
I had a longing seeing the little kids run around happy faced, and I was able
to make some laugh a little, but was a little saddened, But then I contacted
some prepared people and the magic of sharing the gospel was bigger and I left
happy. I love sharing the gospel. I feel kind of like the missionaries in the
spirit world where everyone I talk to doesn't have the knowledge, and are just
drifting. Only the ones who have ears to hear listen. Here’s a story about one
who had eyes to see. The mission president invited us to clear out our phone
referrals (Kind of like texts from other missionaries with the information of
people they contacted that live in your area.) by the end of March.
Elder Kemp and I are doing well and I think we even like
each other now. He is a good guy, just didn't love his mission and still won’t
open up. But we are learning a lot form each other. I think and I believe we
will be better because of this transfer. It's the last week, we will see what's
in store next week.
This is my letter to president:
First the phone referrals, Elder Kemp took most the
responsibility for calling them daily and we now are up to date but still have
3 in the phone, but they were newer referrals. We also saw a miracle because of
it. One of our new investigators this week was from the phone referrals and he
meet on Saturday, and felt that his life is calm but has no direction or
progression. He had talked to many missionaries before, but never had time, but
now he does. He generally watches TV at home and hasn't worked out for a year,
and was stuck in a comfort zone. He came to church the next day then came to
our ching ke (dinner) Sunday night. He is a really prepared soul. Thanks for
the invite.
About what I did to help my investigators is study more
for them and think about them more. I am starting to pray for them at night
too. We are having a lot of success with those we are finding but we are not
finding as many as I want. Well it has been a great week, I got to go on back
to back exchanges which were nice, and I learned a lot and saw miracles. All in
all it has been a great week.
Cool miracle, I went on back to back exchanges with Elder
Bowcutt and White whom I didn't love on my first exchanges with them. But
because of Elder Kemp, I was able to enjoy them so much and am learning to
focus on their strengths. They both felt the difference. With Elder Bowcutt we
ran into a investigator on the street, and also had a beautiful lesson with a
mom where I was able to use the letter I wrote to my mom about how some of the
rules she gave us I didn't like but now am so grateful for god giving us commandments, and knowing best.
Then we planned a lesson for a gay guy who wasn't sure if he could be baptized
because he didn't think he would give up being gay. He stood us up (slept in),
but then we shared the lesson we planned and he understood and realized that
Christ can change our very nature and he is going to be baptized. The lesson
plan was spirit lead. I love missions, and how much I am changing.
Love Elder Matthew Sabey
ps please answer all the questions from last week!
April 2, 2012
It was so weird no one did anything for Easter, in fact
it wasn’t ‘til President Monson said next week we will celebrate Easter that I
realized it was Easter. It was really special to have an Easter on a mission,
listening to the prophet’s voice. The words of god. I am excited to read them
again. I loved Elder Eyrings, “Give me this mountain” talk. When he said
that, I pulled out my planner that Dia
made for me and showed it to my friend. It’s a picture of us on Carpenters Peak
and say's "give me this mountain." I realized that now my mission is
my mountain and He has given it to me, I just need to take it, hike it, or more
likely bike it. I Loved President Uchdorf’s talk on not judging, I honestly had
to answer yes to some of his questions, which shows I need to change. But only
by listening to the word of God can you feel reproved but improved, and not
hurt. I loved President Monsoon’s talks,
and how he at first seems light hearted and then how he can almost instantly bring
power and truth out and have a prophet like demeanor. I love how he wrote 23
arms/military men monthly. I could relate to the arms men, by getting moms
weekly letter, and every letter from any family member. It is weird how much it
means to me. Today we didn't get to emailing until 4:15 and my whole day felt
anxious. I just wanted to read your letters first.
But maybe the most powerful part was when the Mormon
tabernacle sung, " I see my mother kneeling" I hear the words she
whispers, her plea to the father silences all my fears, and I am thankful love
is spoken here.” I believe now that I
am so far away, I truly feel the power of mom’s prayers. In my mind’s eye I
could see her kneeling, I could hear her words that she is praying for me and
my companion, I know she is praying for healing, and each of her children
daily. I can testify I know this, even though I cannot see it. I also know that
mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power.
Oh the power of a righteous father who has the priesthood, who can give blessings
in time of need, and live worthy to administer. My home in Taiwan is blessed by
that power which you gave me. Thanks. I am so grateful to have been born of
goodly parents.
I am moving, down
the street about 30 minutes to Bade, and my new companion is Elder Ah Puck. He
is from Hawaii and is great. He loves to talk and has great Chinese. I am
staying in the same district, but my area is getting white washed by an old
assistant and his trainee so I will still be able to see my investigators I love
on exchanges and what not. This next transfer is going to be amazing!! I am so
excited.
Here’s my letter
to president
Well this week was crazy with Elder Kemp getting ready to
go home, and then me packing for moving to Bade and preparing Tao 2 for a white
wash. I loved general conference this week. It was so powerful, and gave me
some good ideas on how to improve my missionary work. I loved it. I realized
that whenever any of the 12 apostle was
called to talk, I got really excited, when before it was when my top 3
favorites were called that I felt excited. I believe being on a mission has
helped me be more open and able to receive more. This week as far as missionary
work goes we taught a bit and found a lot. It ws a little weird all week
though. I am so excited for Bade and being with elder Ah Puck. Thanks.
Well I love you all and pray for you too. Thanks for all
the prayers
Elder Sabey
April
9, 2012
It was so weird no one did anything for Easter, in fact
it wasn’t ‘til President Monson said next week we will celebrate Easter that I
realized it was Easter. It was really special to have an Easter on a mission,
listening to the prophet’s voice. The words of god. I am excited to read them
again. I loved Elder Eyrings, “Give me this mountain” talk. When he said
that, I pulled out my planner that Dia
made for me and showed it to my friend. It’s a picture of us on Carpenters Peak
and say's "give me this mountain." I realized that now my mission is
my mountain and He has given it to me, I just need to take it, hike it, or more
likely bike it. I Loved President Uchtdorf’s talk on not judging, I honestly
had to answer yes to some of his questions, which shows I need to change. But
only by listening to the word of God can you feel reproved but improved, and
not hurt. I loved President Monsoon’s
talks, and how he at first seems light hearted and then how he can almost
instantly bring power and truth out and have a prophet like demeanor. I love
how he wrote 23 arms/military men monthly. I could relate to the arms men, by
getting moms weekly letter, and every letter from any family member. It is
weird how much it means to me. Today we didn't get to emailing until 4:15 and
my whole day felt anxious. I just wanted to read your letters first.
But maybe the most powerful part was when the Mormon
tabernacle sung, " I see my mother kneeling" I hear the words she
whispers, her plea to the father silences all my fears, and I am thankful love
is spoken here.” I believe now that I
am so far away, I truly feel the power of mom’s prayers. In my mind’s eye I
could see her kneeling, I could hear her words that she is praying for me and
my companion, I know she is praying for healing, and each of her children
daily. I can testify I know this, even though I cannot see it. I also know that
mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power.
Oh the power of a righteous father who has the priesthood, who can give
blessings in time of need, and live worthy to administer. My home in Taiwan is
blessed by that power which you gave me. Thanks. I am so grateful to have been
born of goodly parents.
I am moving, down
the street about 30 minutes to Bade, and my new companion is Elder Ah Puck. He
is from Hawaii and is great. He loves to talk and has great Chinese. I am
staying in the same district, but my area is getting white washed by an old
assistant and his trainee so I will still be able to see my investigators I
love on exchanges and what not. This next transfer is going to be amazing!! I
am so excited.
Here’s my letter
to president
Well this week was crazy with Elder Kemp getting ready to
go home, and then me packing for moving to Bade and preparing Tao 2 for a white
wash. I loved general conference this week. It was so powerful, and gave me
some good ideas on how to improve my missionary work. I loved it. I realized
that whenever any of the 12 apostle was
called to talk, I got really excited, when before it was when my top 3
favorites were called that I felt excited. I believe being on a mission has
helped me be more open and able to receive more. This week as far as missionary
work goes we taught a bit and found a lot. It ws a little weird all week though.
I am so excited for Bade and being with elder Ah Puck. Thanks.
Well I love you all and pray for you too. Thanks for all
the prayers
Elder Sabey
April
15, 2012
Wow, mom has an I-Pad and Dad has an Android 4G! When I
get back I will be asking them for help with technology! I am glad ou guys are
so gaoji.
Daniel wrote me!!
What does he think he's doing going on dates with those
beautiful senior girls? Who gave him permission to be such a stud, and
ask/answer them so creatively? Oh, and
not to mention Aceing a Calculous test! Also injuring his ankel but taking it
like a man and getting off the feild by himself! Jiayou.
Well here is my
letter to my President,
Hey President,
I am so happy here in Bade, it is so fun to be with 4
missionaries in one appartment. I love my companion, the ward and my
investigators. I am so greatful to be apart of this district. After last
transfer I feel so glad to have someone to talk to and to be with people who
are nice and fun. This week was interesting for me, Elder Ah Puck has a
diffrent style of missionary work then I am used to. For finding time we go and
visit former investigators, LA's, or members who need some encouragement, and
then maybe tract a little around there. We saw many miracles from it. I love
it, in Taoyuan we would go tracting, contacting, etc, and I would talk with
many more people and get many more numbers, but not as many new investigators
and that's what matters most.
I feel like I
should tell you though, my companion recently has been a little depressed,
mostly about working with the other Bade companionship. One day they meet with
a person we had set up becuase she came 2 hours early and they were there and
she lived in their area, and also they didn't know we had set her up. But when
my companion found out he was tiered from a hard days work and really had look
forward sitting down and meeting with her. We went out and he said he needed
sometime and then asked to talk to me and complained about all the unfair
things that have happened wiht the companionships and cried talking how he
felt. He said he didn't feel like doing work and had never before on his
mission flet like that before. We prayed together and went out and worked, but
he is still having a really hard time, i can tell. I also think that my being
so glad to be here because of last transfer might be making him feel bad for
not loving it here. I have talked with Elder Bowcutt about it and he noticed it
to. I hope and believe things will get better. I would also love any
suggestions.
Thanks for all your help, I am looking forward to
interviews.
Elder Sabey
MY companion is a
fun guy who is Hawaiian, and loves to laugh and talk. He comes from a poorer
family and is impossible not to like. Even though he is not very obedient, he
is a good missionary. He feels that as long as we are helping others come unto
Christ who cares about rules. Which I can understand. He won’t break any
commandments, just the small rules. But we saw many miracles this week. One day
we got 5 new investigators. We were visiting a less active who wasn't home so
while my companion wrote a note I knocked doors, and found a lao beibei (old
man), who was willing to listen, maybe mostly because he was lonely, but we
were able to share prayer and a little about the book of moron, and he set up
for the next day at 11, then when leaving that area my companion said hi to a
dad and kid and they nicely said hi back. And he rode on following me, I
noticed we still had 5 minute so told him he could talk to them and he did and
gave them our number. He called that day
(Which never happens, people never call back) saying that he had time that
night. Then one of our appointments with a yu xiansheng, went great considering
he brought 2 other friends who were also interested in hearing our message.
That night we meet with the man and his boy and he is from China and has a huge
accent so much that I wasn't sure he was speaking Chinese. I cannot understand
him 1/2 of the time. It was hard but luckily we had a member there to help. He
at first didn't believe in God but love prayer and committed to church. I think
he now might believe. I love being on the lords errand.
Spiritual thought
for the week, I have always wondered what it meant to "speak with the
tongue of angels," and lo and behold the answer or at least part of it was
in the book of Mormon right after 2 Nephi31 where it talks about it. In 2 Nephi
32:2 It says "angels speak by the power of the holy ghost" and when
you speak by the power of the holy ghost you are speaking the words Christ
would speak. I then took this as a
definition and applied it to myself, and came up with this conclusion, when I
speak by the power of the holy ghost I am literal a heaven sent messenger/angel
to those I am talking to, and I am then a worthy representative of Christ
because I am saying the words he would say. It uplifted me. I remember in
conference when a apostle talked about how Christ will be leading us on our
right and left and with angels round about us to bear us up, I looked to my
right and left and had Elder Kemp and Sister Oler (Both of whom I have never
thought of angels before) and felt that they were called of god to. This new
perspective has really helped me feel less stressed. This work is The Lords
work and it is my privilege to be a part of it.
I also feel that
you all are angels in my life. I truly do feel your love for me and hope you
feel mine for you. Thanks for everything
Elder Matthew Sabey
PS How are you all
doing? When does BYU get out, it must be soon? What are your plans for the
summer/ How are finals looking? Anything you want me to pray for? Anything you
wish I would write more about? My companion likes doing 2 hours of emails
instead of 1 so I will have more time. What's up with the face book?
April
29, 2012
Hey loved ones,
I love being a missionary. It is so crazy how fast time
goes by, I sometimes have that longing to go back in time or make it stop. I
think I told you about this recently, I think that is my spirit longing for
it's true state. Almost proof we are eternal beings.
Some questions:
Can you send me a cookie recipe?
What is John Moore’s address? I wrote him like a month
ago and still haven't sent it because I always forget to ask for the address.
Where did Belize come from? I am excited to hear about
it.
For my Birthday present can I buy an odometer,
speedometer thing for my bike. It's 700 dollars, that is Taibi. (25 USD)
What is new with everyone?
Rachel please email me! (You can count it as your
birthday present to me.)
What's up with my investment with Aunt Sherrie's thing?
Well here is my letter to my president:
Hey President,
Thanks for all you’re doing. This week has been good. I
love how we see miracles daily. My companion is easy to get along with, I think
I get more frustrated with myself then he does with me. Which is nice and I am
learning a lot. I am working my hardest trying to use time effectively and
always finding. I got to go on exchanges with Elder Young and had a great time.
I learned how that by focusing on finding and not as much on baptism, we learn
to not be so number focused and don't get so many people who go less active
that have made covenants with god. I am learning to love finding, as my mom
always says "First things first." Finding is first, after that things
happen in missionary work. Thanks.
This week I have
better studied for investigators while studying, and hope to get good at that.
I have felt recently that my studies are becoming more effective, which is
nice. I am still enjoying my BOM studies and am seeing the doctrine of Christ
in places I have never seen it before. It’s so fun. I feel that because we are
studying teaching skills our teaching has become better. We are now much more
unified and are teaching with unity and the overviews are making our lessons way
better, the time part is helping not only investigators but my companion who
loves to talk. I am going to keep this invite my whole mission now. I am loving
my companion, investigators and area more and more. Thanks.
Elder Sabey
TO answer our
questions
What is your goal that you are trying to finish up before
then?
It's called Phase 2 which is a language study plan, of
three phases and the third is all the characters in the book of Mormon. So
hopefully I will be studying characters soon. :) I am so excited.
How are your
discussions coming in Chinese? The discussions are going just fine. I think now
most my investigators understand what i am saying now and my grammar is getting
better. The Chinese is coming, just slower then I would like.
I hope your companion is feeling a little happier. I
think he is but now he has another problem, he has dreamed about marrying a
Taiwanese girl (On a mission in TaiZhong)(which he has been writing, but not
romantically) multiple times recently and is thinking about it a lot. He is having a hard time focusing, and asked
for my help. Any suggestions?
What's up with
the black family?
They are super fun and nice but this week they were busy
and we didn't get to meet with them.
Well this week was great. You probably want to hear about
some of the miracles. I don't have any quite like Ian Darcey had (So cool) but
I had some good ones. Me and my companions teaching transformed overnight and
our lessons are way more powerful now. We had Elder Gong of the 70 come and
teach us. We learned about being quick to observe and also the importance of
the first vision. It is crazy how that one event was the thing that started the
stone rolling and all doctrine can be traced back to it. Like the cone theory.
Some doctrine: Eternal families -This is my beloved son. Notice how they are
not in a distant relationship. God is
full of light and truth/is the light and life of the world: I saw a pillar of
light above the brightness of the sun. God loves and knows us: Calling me by
name. Revelation, Line upon line "It descended gradually until it fell
upon me."
The spirit was so
strong in that room as we were discussing it my mind was truly enlightened and
my testimony enlarged. Sister Gong talked about how a caterpillar will make a
cocoon and in the cocoon will liquefy and then reshape into a butterfly, and
how God's view for what we can be compared to what we are is even a greater
difference then a caterpillar and butterfly. Some thoughts I had where trials
can be the times when we are liquefied and have the ability to change who we
are. We can stay in the cocoon and be stuck or fight our way out and become
free and a new person. I think I have heard that the butterfly has to eat and
fight its way out of the cocoon, which gives it strength to fly.
I also think the
sacrament can be the liquefying time where we can choose to be made new again
and become a better person or to stay in the cocoon. I read in Mosiah 25 7-8ish
king Mosiah has records read to the people and they don't know what to think,
they are filled with joy because of the deliverance of their brethren and with
sorrow because of the death of many of their brethren. It made me think how
often we assume we can only have one feeling. In elder Cooks talk “I hope you
know we had a hard time" he talks about how "It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times" and we learn from trials. He quotes Neil
A Maxwell who said something like having the stark contrast of the bitter right
next to the sweet is essential in this short time in mortality. It got me
thinking and I think I told you this before but like climbing a mountain, the
view is made better by the climb. I think that the view our family had at the
top of that 14er was very different then the view the people had who took the
train to the top of it. Like swimming where you swim painful miles daily for
the one minute of the race. Without the bitter the sweet really has no
sweetness. The fall was essential and I am grateful to Adam and Eve for it. I
am grateful for goodly parents who taught us to eat bitter so we can taste the
sweet. I am grateful for the gospel and how it is the sweetest most desirable
fruit out there, and through our bitter trials we can come to appreciate it
more. This I know to be true.
I love you and
pray for you all.
Elder Sabey.
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