Extra long week to report in, since this week is Temple P-day. The main news is: we had a baptism last saturday!
The Investigator: It was the single mother of the family we teach. You know, when I first met her 4 months or so ago I didn't expect that she would be baptized as well, as soon after her children as she has. Originally, my companion tells me, she was mostly interested in missionaries teaching her children, not herself. I don't know exactly when she had a change of heart -- perhaps it was when Brisbane ward members truly started becoming involved (beginning with the bishop and his wife). Perhaps it was when she watched general conference. The first time I remember her recognizing the spirit was when she watched Elder Richard G. Scott's general conference talk, "For Peace at Home" I think she chose. We told her how to find the talks on her own in chinese, and when we visited her house the next week she told us that she had watched two of them, including that talk. She mentioned that after watching it, she had a peaceful feeling in her heart unlike anything she's ever felt before. We helped her understand what that was and where it came from.
The story of how she was originally found is interesting. Last year, the elders in the area met a chinese man and from him received a referral. This referral, it turns out, lived in a room rented from the mother and her family. Still, nothing much came of it until one day last october, when my companion ran into her at the bus stop, recognized her, and started talking to her. Now, you have to understand, my companion is half taiwanese, half american, and his Taiwanese mother is from a city north of Taibei, called Jilong. When my companion related this to the mother, she was extremely surprised -- she is also half taiwanese, half american, and her mother also comes from Jilong! She thought she was the only person like her self living in Australia. She later invited my companion and the missionary before me to come and teach her kids. Long story short, she and her family are now baptized. :)
The Baptism: There were more people in attendance than there have been in the past, which was good. We even had (gasp!) refreshments afterwards. :) My companion performed the baptism, the bishop spoke the confirmation the next day.
We have no other baptismal dates at the moment, unfortunately. Our two best investigators *both* go back to Taiwan this coming weekend, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday morning. I will keep in touch with both of them, my hope is that both of them will be baptized in Taiwan in the not-to-distant future. I'll try and make a note of that in my future emails when they occur, but I'll go ahead and tell you a little about them.
The first is from Taibei. She arrived in Australia a year ago on working holiday visa. At one of her jobs, she knew a member, and one of her coworkers joined the church. Later she met the missionary preceding me. My first transfer here in the city, we contacted all of that missionary's potential investigators, including her. She was the only one that we ended up meeting with. Originally it was just for english, but as she grew to like and trust us, one week we gave a tour of the chapel, and not long after, one week we learned she wasn't working on sunday and she accepted the invitation to come. Wah-la!
The second is from Gaoxiong, sounthern Taiwan. His story begins with me one Tuesday before english class, we were waiting for investigators to meet us in King George square, but they were late. I saw a girl and GQed her as the investigator continued to take ages to arrive. That girl was also from Taiwan, so later that week we met with her and her friends to teach english. However, that weekend she was going to moving out of brisbane to work on a farm. Walking down queen street that saturday, we saw her and her friends sitting down with their luggage, waiting for others to show up before going and taking the train out of Brisbane. I talked to them and met some of the new ones. They had arrived that morning! They asked for help getting to the house they were going to live in -- it was a street away from the chapel on kangaroo point! Then, one of them (there were two) asked, after learning we were missionaries, about church. They showed up the next day. His background is that when he was younger his parents divorced, and two or three years ago one day he showed up to a christian church (Presbyterian). He later became a Christian. PS, he told me that just down his street a new Mormon Church was finished not long ago!
I'm sorry to see them go -- along with my companion, who finishes his mission next week. Since it will be transfers, my next email will come on a Tuesday. Until then, take it easy everyone! stay safe! Say no to drugs! (Our investigator was successful in quiting smoking by the way! She feels like she doesn't even want to smoke any more!)
Elder J. Colton Ladd
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