Yet another week has flown by here in Liverpool. Good news: My companion Elder Eggers passed his driving test, so now he has a licence as well and can share the driving load. We switch every other day. Their are thousands of Chinese people here and they are very receptive. Better compared to last time, or maybe our skills at finding them are much better. It is actually probably that. ;) There is no bad news to report.
This week has been fantastic yet again. I don't know what we are doing to deserve all the blessings that we have been recieving in the past two weeks. All I know is we now need to capatalize on them. Yesterday we were able to have 6 investigators come to church. All of them Chinese!!! Like I said last week, the Chinese work is going well and now that they are our focus we have seen even greater miracles. Something I have seen through my whole mission is the increase in my desire to find people to teach, but specifically Chinese people. The past 3 transfers I have really enjoyed going out, working hard, and having fun finding Chinese, "Chinese Hunting." Essentially I have found out how to truly love all aspects of the work.
A topic that has been a focus of my personal study is Desires. So often we meet God's Children who either have no desire to know him, or their desire is in the wrong direction. What I have been studying is why Desires are so important and how to help redirect the desires of those we teach to truly follow the example of Jesus Christ. The best way to do this is of course to teach pure Doctrine in order to help them understand the Why of the Gospel. Then we teach them correct principles that explain the What of the Gospel, and finally we leave them with commitments (the Pathway) that help them understand the How. The hardest part is helping them have a desire to have a desire. For each person it is different in helping them have a desire to follow God, but it all stems from them understanding who they are.
The past few days Elder Eggers and I have been teaching many "tough Cookies". I don't know what it is, but all those that we have been teaching are very willing to meet with us but are quite stubborn when it comes to actually accepting what we teach. The latest comments have been "prove it," "I don't really want to know," "Anyone with an understanding of the bible could have written the Book of Mormon," "You have to convince me that these things are true." Just a few of the many problems and concerns our investigators have been having. And guess what? All of the answers they are looking for can be answered through reading the Book of Mormon and then praying and asking God for themselves. It amazes me how simple it is!!! All they need to do is truly have a DESIRE, then they will find out! Once again, it seems like it comes down to a sincere desire.
One other principle I learned in church yesterday through a bad example was Teaching People, Not Lessons. We were in Sunday School when one of the investigators asked a very important and valid question that was only slightly off topic, but the teacher was not going to have it. He told him that that particular subject would be taught 5 weeks from now and that they need to get on with the lesson. I could just see how put off the investigator was. Here he was at church, trying to learn and find out answers to his questions and we were to busy trying to get through a lesson? I was disappointed and felt bad for the investigator. Fortunately from this experience I was taught a very important lesson. Teach People, Not Lessons
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