Happy New Years!!! It is fast approaching and hope that you take a minute to reflect on this past year and the amazing experiences and blessings that have been afforded to all of us. Take some time to reflect on the really happy times, the sad times, the times where you felt like giving up, the times where you felt like you were on top of the world, when you felt alone, when you felt our Savior's love. Take a moment to reflect on the growth that this year has brought, and how you have come closer to our Savior and friend. I invite you to start in last January and write at least one thing or more about every month this year. Really reflect and look for the hand of the Lord in your life. I am personally so grateful for the Lord in my life. I will testify until the day that I die that he lives and love me, he knows me and understands me, and that he is my best friend. After you have written these things I invite you to examine the areas in your life that you would like to do a better job to allow you to see and feel the hand of the Lord in your life daily. As we all have areas that we can improve... I have my fair share haha, but I know that as we strive to seek His hand in our lives He will manifest himself unto us and we will feel of His love. The difference is right now. You can make this decision right now that next year you will do the impossible, that you will dream bigger, that you will love more. The difference is right now. If we don't make the decision right now then it is too late... we will meet these experiences unprepared and undoubtedly we will fail. However, if we make the decision right now to center Christ in our lives and make the necessary changes in our lives that need to be changed, this next year will bring a world full of happiness, through all experiences. This next year will bring a whole new set of experiences, some good and some hard, but they are ALL for our good. I promise that as we seek the Lord's hand daily and decide to act NOW, we will have the opportunity of meeting these experiences with joy and confidence because the Lord is ALWAYS on our side.
This week was a really good week. I was so grateful for the opportunity that I had to hear from the people I love most in this world. You guys are awesome and I pray for you all daily. I apologize on the shortage of time... that kind of stinks, but it is probably for the best... haha or I might have never hung up! ;) I love you guys and hope that you guys have the greatest New Year's ever!
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| Elder Redding with Wang of the Brewers |
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| Elder Redding Warming Up |
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| Elders Redding and Munger with Wang of the Brewers and Double A Pitcher of the Year (plays for the Cubs) |
I never got to tell you this on the phone because there wasn't a ton of time, but last P day, we were looking for a place to play ping pong.. I haven't played once yet!! T Lloyd would kick my behind right now!! haha, but we were looking and we found ourselves at the Local Sports College. (basically just a college for sports). We learned that the ping pong team was in Taipei for a tournament and then we found ourselves at the baseball field where they were practicing... Oh what a Joy that was!!! haha We watched and the players were so excited to have people watching them. They were pretty good... but I noticed down the right field line there were a couple pitchers in the bullpen with the pitching coach. So we went down to take a closer look... haha we got talking to them and I just couldn't help it... I asked if I could try!! haha They let me come in and throw... a little hesitant at first but after I threw they were fine!! The coach invited us to eat with them after practice and called these two guys over to talk to us... Guess who they were!!! It was these two guys who play in America!! The one actually pitches for the Brewers in the Majors! His name is WangWeiZhong and the other guy is in DoubleA for the Cubs and was pitcher of the year last year! Wang came up and was talking to me pitching and showing me how he holds his slider and we were talking! haha I then threw the best curve in my life and I hear him say in chinese! Beautiful!! hahaha it was so awesome!!! We talked to them after for like 30 min about their lives and baseball and their experiences playing... it was super cool. They are so famous here! They were just shootin the breeze with us! haha It was soo cool!! I got a ball signed by both of them! I also have pictures I will send! It was sweet!!
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| Elder Redding Warming Up Before Pitching |
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| Baptism on December 27th |
We had our baptism this Saturday and it was awesome!!! Soooo Awesome!! Her friend who has kind of fallen off came and it really touched her I think. She has an increased desire to get baptized and continue feeling the Savior's love. I think that she really felt it there. Kinda funny... the water I guess was ice cold... haha! So she stepped in and about cancelled the whole baptism! ;) hahaha! it was really neat! I am very prayerful for her friend, and hope that as we continue to teach her that she will feel of the Savior's love.
I love you all so much and want you all to know how grateful I am for you and your emails and letters. I can with surety in my heart tell you that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for all your wonderful examples of love and friendship! Love you all! Happy New Years!!
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| Eating with Investigators |
Love,
Elder Redding
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