This week flew by. It was super busy, and productive. This
week we have made huge progress with our investigator (mudaoyou). We didn't
know what she believes, or what she thought about what we had taught. So we
asked her a bunch of question this week about what she believes and understands.
She is still having a hard time believing in Christ Atonement and Resurrection
because she had been Buddhist all her life. So our next lesson was on the
Atonement, we sang "I believe in Christ" in Chinese to her. So that
was great. She listened intently to the lesson. I was able to understand most
of what she said. Our next lesson was about Christ Resurrection. We read a
bunch of scriptures about how Christ is alive (Luke 24:1-7, St. John 20:24-end)
we focused on Christ being alive, because most people know that Christ died,
but that is usually all they know. The lesson was awesome. You could feel the
Holy Ghost there, the spirit was powerful. Then I shared Joshua 1:9 with her,
and I told her that Christ and Heavenly Father are always there for her, and
will never leave her alone. We each testified and we all started crying, Lin
Jiemei included. She also bore her testimony to us. We ended the lesson with a
song "I know my Redeemer Lives" It was awesome!!!!
That night we made goals as a district (classroom) and
decided that we would all strive to not be late. That way we can sing a song in
the morning. We'll see how that goes. We worked out and showered and we were
worried that we would not make it back on time and the classroom was dark. So
we thought we beat the elders but we didn't. Sister Faupula opened the door. And
they are sitting in the dark, 3 sitting in chairs, two standing behind the
Elders sitting, and they said in unison "We've been expecting you" It
was awesome, and a little creepy. But it was unexpected. On our way to the
classroom we were trying to decide if we were actually going to go to the
classroom, but we decided to. Our Elders are very funny, and did some very
interesting things sometimes.
Here is a riddle. There is a man he lives at the top of a
building and takes the elevator down and goes to work. He come home and takes
the elevator half way up, and walks the rest of the way. But if it is raining
out, or there is someone in the elevator with him he will take the elevator all
the way up. Why does he not take the elevator up all the way up if he is a
lone?
This week there are 22 new missionaries speaking Mandarin? 8
of which are girls. This Sunday they sat behind us in church so we talked to
them for a little while. This week the missionaries extended an invitation to
find out if Heavenly Father loves you. (Every missionary picked someone they
know who is struggling or is not a member, and they play the role of that
investigator, and someone from the district teaches you. We get taught twice a
week, so the week the missionaries extended the commitment to find out if
Heavenly Father loves you and we are to start reading anywhere in the Book of Mormon).So
I took that question and prayed about it and I had it in my mind. (I’ll call my
investigator Shelby) So I prayed as if I were Shelby and our Branch President,
President Dunn shared an experience. This was when he was 19 or so, he was
feeling home sick and he drove somewhere, and there were beautiful tall trees
around him and he prayed. He felt Heavenly Fathers love and he knew that he was
being watched after. I felt the confirmation that Heavenly Father loved me, and
knew what I needed to hear to know that Heavenly Father is there and that he
loves me. I just felt a rush of love. The other commitment was to start reading
in the Book of Mormon anywhere. So I prayed to know that the Book is true, and
for help to want to read it. I read all of Moroni, and it was amazing. The
letters that Mormon wrote to his son was so full of love, and he knew that his
son would be okay, and they would see each other very soon. It starts out
talking about wars and then it ends with a Moroni's testimony of the gospel and
that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are mindful of us. The words that Moroni
leaves are full of his testimony and his love for the gospel. Then I started
reading from the beginning, the introduction and the testimonies of the
witnesses. I just felt this overwhelming desire to keep reading. To find out
more about this Book of Mormon and to learn what it contained. So I started
reading 1 Nephi and it was like I had never read it before. The testimony that
Nephi has of the things his father saw, and his trust in God and faith that
things will work out even though he doesn't know how.
The thing I learned this week was just a deeper
understanding of the scriptures, and the Book of Mormon. in Alma 11:44 it read
"...but everything shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now,
or in the body, and shall be brought and be arranged before the bar of Christ
the Son, and God of the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is the one Eternal
God, to be judged according to their works..." We will be judge by the one
of the 12 apostles, they will help Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy
Ghost judges us. I never thought about that before. It doesn't matter how many
times you read the Book of Mormon, you will always learn something new.
This week the language has been going much better. We are
working as a companionship to work on our goals and speak more Chinese when we
are together. I have been continually reading out loud from the Book of Mormon
in Chinese, which help with pronunciation. I have been studying hard, and just
working on memorizing words for our lessons and words that our investigators
might say so that I will understand them. We have TRC every Saturday since our
3rd week. It is where we go and teach an investigator. We teach a lesson and
get to know them. This week I was able to understand the majority of what they
were saying. And also when we were teaching Lin Jeimei. During the lesson we
asked her about her friend to see if she would bring her friend sometime, and
she said that her friend is really busy. So the thought came to me to tell her
that she can pray to help her friend feel peace and for help. It was not in our
lesson plans, and it came out so smoothly in Chinese. It was awesome. So
gradually I am getting better.
This week Jian Jeimei had us practice contacting a person. We
only practiced on people in our class. It was really hard, but it was a cool
experience, and it really helps you know what you don't know. Also it helps to
know what I might be like when you get out into the field.
Love Sister Basko
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