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| Happy Day - Guo Family Visits!!! My Family Away from Home! |
Wow... where in the world did 2015 go!? That went by way too fast!! I can't even believe how quickly time is going. It has got to stop!!!! I really love it here. I love the people here. I don't ever want to leave them! I am grateful for this new year. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to re-evaluate, re-set goals, and take action. I have found that often times it is really easy to do the first two steps... to re-evaluate and to set goals... haha I have found that the action part is always the killer. I have found that regardless of what goals we have the most effective way to take action is with the Savior and through his Atoning grace.
Moroni 10:32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
This week was great. We have been seeing a ton of success. It looks pretty sure that on the 23rd we are going to have a few baptisms. That is always really exciting! Two of them are a 13 and 14 year old kids. The other is a girl that we have been meeting with for a little while. This week she confirmed at church that she was on track to hit that goal. It was a great sunday. Sunday, I also had the great opportunity of blessing the sacrament. It was the first time I have ever done it on my mission. I was surprised when they announced right before that I would be doing it. I did it with one of the members in the ward ChenDX. It was a really neat experience. It all went really smooth. I was really grateful for the sacrament during those few moments.
Lately we have been finding a ton of new investigators. It has been such a huge blessing. One of which is a big family that we found last week. This week we biked back up to 北港 (beigang) which is not too far. It is about an hour bike ride... but the wind is always blowing into us... so that always makes it a bit more difficult. Anyways... when we got there we went to find all of the Less Actives that lived there and ended up going back to "M's" home (the family we found last week). There wasn't anyone home... so we kept going and then saw this lady from the bank show up at their home. We went back to see what was up and not long after "J" showed up at the house and invited us in. He is married and has a little boy. The lady from the bank left and we just were able to talk to him. I knew that he recognized us as servants of the Lord. He didn't want to stop talking. He shared with us some very personal things. We were able to say a prayer with him at the end. When we finished the prayer he looked up and looked right at us and said, "you guys can come by here anytime." It was amazing. I knew that the spirit confirmed to him that what we were doing was good. We look forward to meeting back with them.
This week I went on an exchange with one of my favorite people in the world. I went with Elder Nipper. If I can just explain Elder Nipper for a sec... haha. He is one of those people that when you are with him you just feel like you are a little closer to Heaven. He does all he can always to have the spirit with him. It is amazing! Well right when we started off the exchange he shared a scripture with me. He shared about Samuel the Lamanite. He told me that although Samuel was only up on the wall for a short period of time that the influence that he had was eternal. Because he did what he did while he was on the wall and preached with the spirit... millions of people are still reading about him today and drawing inspiration from his few moments upon the wall. He related to the exchange we were about to have. Sometimes missionaries get lost in going through the motions and exchanges just become a way to go with a friend and relax. That is not their purpose at all. Their purpose is to learn and to grow together in the spirit. Their purpose is to teach and learn. We can find true happiness by doing those things. Elder Nipper and I started off the exchange with such a strong period. Right after we got done doing our exchange start meeting... the first person we talked to was a police officer. He was really busy... but very friendly. He gave us his number and told us that he had met missionaries before and then told us that we could come over to his house and meet with him again. I was so grateful for that. It was a miracle that I know happened because we were treating the things of the Lord the way they were supposed to be treated. If we would have just gone through the motions I know that miracle never would have ever happened.
I love all of you so much. I wish the most happiness and success fall upon you this next year. I pray that every step you take this next year will be guided my our Heavenly Father's angels, directing, guiding, and lifting you up. I know that He loves you. Thank you all for your wonderful lives that have influenced me for good. Although I may not do the best job expressing my gratitude and love for all those around me I want you to know that I have noticed your influence in my life and am eternally grateful for it. Every single step in the right direction is worth it. If we are always heading in the right direction we will all get where we want to go at some point. Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to get there in one big leap! I love you all!
Alma 37：34
Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls.
Love，
Elder Redding 洪長老
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