Hey all!It's been another wonderful week here in St.Catharines. I swear they keep getting faster and faster. It's hard to believe that I'll be starting my third transfer in just two weeks. Yikes! I'm getting old! We joke here in the mission field that when you leave the mission you "die" and that whoever is your last companion "kills" you. My current companion will "die" next transfer, and we're now wondering if I'll be the one to "kill" her or not. She jokes that, although I've only just started my mission, I'm almost dead. With the speed things are going, I can't help but feel that sadly, she's right.
It's things like Gilbert's baptism and confirmation this week that make me so sad that things are moving so fast! It was so amazing to have seen him progress so much over the past weeks, to grow and to change, and then to see his son and his daughter-in-law and their children come out all the way from British Columbia for his baptism. There was such a feeling of love as his son carried him into the water and, with no little effort, baptized his dad.
Some other miracles of the week! My companion and I have been working extensively to help the ward here in St.Cats find some "lost" and inactive members. We went to an address we had for one such member and discovered that it was inside an apartment building we had tried to get into to tract several times, but never had been able to. When we got there, we were let in with no problem and went to the ladies apartment. It turned out that she had moved several years ago, but before we left, we saw some Chinese character stickers on the door across from her's. We then heard Chinese voices coming from inside, and in true missionary fashion, decided to knock on the door. A young guy, opened the door and when I introduced us as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he immediately invited us in. Turns out that this guy, Liu Xin Zhou, was a student at Brock University. He is already Christian, as are his parents and grandparents. He's been really busy with school and has been sick recently because of it. He said that just that week he had been thinking that maybe this was because he hadn't been to church much since he started college and how he had been wanting to start coming back to church. We taught him twice last week and he came to church on Sunday. He is SOLID and has a baptismal date set for August 18th. He even wore a suit to church, which very few of our Chinese investigators do. I'm very excited for him.
We also started teaching another Chinese investigator, Steven. He doesn't have any religious background, but believes in God and is planning to come to church next Sunday. He's also set to be baptized on the 18th of August. One really cool fact? He's from Nanjing, and when he found out I had lived there he told me the street and I knew exactly where he was talking about. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.
Take care all! Miracles are real!Sister Makena Bauss包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei
It's things like Gilbert's baptism and confirmation this week that make me so sad that things are moving so fast! It was so amazing to have seen him progress so much over the past weeks, to grow and to change, and then to see his son and his daughter-in-law and their children come out all the way from British Columbia for his baptism. There was such a feeling of love as his son carried him into the water and, with no little effort, baptized his dad.
Some other miracles of the week! My companion and I have been working extensively to help the ward here in St.Cats find some "lost" and inactive members. We went to an address we had for one such member and discovered that it was inside an apartment building we had tried to get into to tract several times, but never had been able to. When we got there, we were let in with no problem and went to the ladies apartment. It turned out that she had moved several years ago, but before we left, we saw some Chinese character stickers on the door across from her's. We then heard Chinese voices coming from inside, and in true missionary fashion, decided to knock on the door. A young guy, opened the door and when I introduced us as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he immediately invited us in. Turns out that this guy, Liu Xin Zhou, was a student at Brock University. He is already Christian, as are his parents and grandparents. He's been really busy with school and has been sick recently because of it. He said that just that week he had been thinking that maybe this was because he hadn't been to church much since he started college and how he had been wanting to start coming back to church. We taught him twice last week and he came to church on Sunday. He is SOLID and has a baptismal date set for August 18th. He even wore a suit to church, which very few of our Chinese investigators do. I'm very excited for him.
We also started teaching another Chinese investigator, Steven. He doesn't have any religious background, but believes in God and is planning to come to church next Sunday. He's also set to be baptized on the 18th of August. One really cool fact? He's from Nanjing, and when he found out I had lived there he told me the street and I knew exactly where he was talking about. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.
Take care all! Miracles are real!Sister Makena Bauss包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei