Happy Fourth of July! This past week was pretty interesting. Today is a temple p-day which is why I am writing late.
First: We have a new mission president!! His name is President Henderson, and he is from St. George Utah. However... I haven't actually had the chance to see him, much less talk to him yet. But he is here! Somewhere! :) On Monday our Zone leaders went on splits with him, they told us a little bit about it yesterday at our zone meeting.
This means our old President, President Langeland, is gone. He will be missed.
Last month we didn't have 100 baptisms like our goal was. I'm not sure if we even came close :P But it was a very good month nonetheless. Unfortunately my companion and my baptism fell through; more on that in a second.
Last P-day we had lunch with an investigator (and a lesson!). And then.... we lost our phone. For real, this time. We lost it on the bus going to the chapel for P-day activities with the Zone. That kind of put a damper on our day.
That evening (we used other missionaries' phones to confirm plans) we started the 15 step program with our investigator. We held it outside a grocery store, and bought the necessary materials right there (Vitamin C, mouthwash, grapefruit juice, healthy snacks, etc).
Tuesday after English class, she was still going strong. We began teaching her other commandments, starting with the 10 commandments, the Sabbath day, and the Law of Chastity.
Things were going well until Thursday. She sent us a text in the morning to let us know she was still doing well and was excited about everything, etc. But then, we couldn't get into contact with her until the afternoon on Firday. She had unfortunately smoked Thursday evening.
Saturday, I went on trade-offs with my District Leader (my first ever genuine trade-off). For lunch an investigator invited us to a Barbeque at the park with her friends. It was an interesting experience, because the investigator and her friends were from China (specifically the Shanghai area), while our District leader is from Japan... anyone familiar with history knows that relations aren't the best between the two. It was fine until one of them asked my district leader, "so what do you think about Chinese people?" It was a little bit awkward for him to answer, haha. I was fine, being an American :) And the food was delicious.
In the afternoon we had the opportunity to attend a baptism of someone the other Chinese speaking elders taught. He is a great guy, he was so excited and happy that afterwards he went with them and a few others to a restaurant called Nandos (which is delicious by the way) and paid for everyone.
That evening we met with our investigator yet to recommit her to stop smoking. Discussing when we should set her date for this time, I suggested in two weeks' time (to give her a little bit more time to quite smoking), but she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so she set her date for next sunday! We gave her a priesthood blessing this time around to help her overcome her addiction.
I haven't heard from her since Sunday, however, she hasn't answered calls or replied to texts. I believe she moved in with members last evening, which should help tremendously. We'll see!
One other story to tell: Sunday morning with met with an investigator from Colombia. We had a member give us a ride and fellowship, who served in Argentina and speaks Spanish. It was funy to listen to them speak to one another in Spanish and realize I could understand the majority of their conversation because of the similarity of Spanish and English as well as my own minimal familiarity with the language from the past. We would joke in the MTC, we could understand what the Spanish-speaking elders were teaching more than we could understand our own language, Chinese. But it was completely true :P (at least at that time, my Chinese is much better now).
That's all for the week I guess. I hope every one is doing alright! If not, I hope you will be better soon!
保重
Elder J. Colton Ladd
First: We have a new mission president!! His name is President Henderson, and he is from St. George Utah. However... I haven't actually had the chance to see him, much less talk to him yet. But he is here! Somewhere! :) On Monday our Zone leaders went on splits with him, they told us a little bit about it yesterday at our zone meeting.
This means our old President, President Langeland, is gone. He will be missed.
Last month we didn't have 100 baptisms like our goal was. I'm not sure if we even came close :P But it was a very good month nonetheless. Unfortunately my companion and my baptism fell through; more on that in a second.
Last P-day we had lunch with an investigator (and a lesson!). And then.... we lost our phone. For real, this time. We lost it on the bus going to the chapel for P-day activities with the Zone. That kind of put a damper on our day.
That evening (we used other missionaries' phones to confirm plans) we started the 15 step program with our investigator. We held it outside a grocery store, and bought the necessary materials right there (Vitamin C, mouthwash, grapefruit juice, healthy snacks, etc).
Tuesday after English class, she was still going strong. We began teaching her other commandments, starting with the 10 commandments, the Sabbath day, and the Law of Chastity.
Things were going well until Thursday. She sent us a text in the morning to let us know she was still doing well and was excited about everything, etc. But then, we couldn't get into contact with her until the afternoon on Firday. She had unfortunately smoked Thursday evening.
Saturday, I went on trade-offs with my District Leader (my first ever genuine trade-off). For lunch an investigator invited us to a Barbeque at the park with her friends. It was an interesting experience, because the investigator and her friends were from China (specifically the Shanghai area), while our District leader is from Japan... anyone familiar with history knows that relations aren't the best between the two. It was fine until one of them asked my district leader, "so what do you think about Chinese people?" It was a little bit awkward for him to answer, haha. I was fine, being an American :) And the food was delicious.
In the afternoon we had the opportunity to attend a baptism of someone the other Chinese speaking elders taught. He is a great guy, he was so excited and happy that afterwards he went with them and a few others to a restaurant called Nandos (which is delicious by the way) and paid for everyone.
That evening we met with our investigator yet to recommit her to stop smoking. Discussing when we should set her date for this time, I suggested in two weeks' time (to give her a little bit more time to quite smoking), but she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so she set her date for next sunday! We gave her a priesthood blessing this time around to help her overcome her addiction.
I haven't heard from her since Sunday, however, she hasn't answered calls or replied to texts. I believe she moved in with members last evening, which should help tremendously. We'll see!
One other story to tell: Sunday morning with met with an investigator from Colombia. We had a member give us a ride and fellowship, who served in Argentina and speaks Spanish. It was funy to listen to them speak to one another in Spanish and realize I could understand the majority of their conversation because of the similarity of Spanish and English as well as my own minimal familiarity with the language from the past. We would joke in the MTC, we could understand what the Spanish-speaking elders were teaching more than we could understand our own language, Chinese. But it was completely true :P (at least at that time, my Chinese is much better now).
That's all for the week I guess. I hope every one is doing alright! If not, I hope you will be better soon!
保重
Elder J. Colton Ladd
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