WEEK 34 RICHMOND: Who Knew Throw Throw the Burritto Could be so Dangerous

Insane week.

Lowkey remember none of it, but hey, that's why we journal.

Also, Rip Elder Tai, you will be missed. Hope you make a speedy recovery

=

Wednesday we had the actual final DC. They lowkey sneaked one upon us, so it was, but mega revelatory. So I'll take it. Had an amazing member meal with our new convert Li姐妹. I was enjoying some mighty fine Chinese food, while Elder Barnes was sitting next to me with a lil bowl of porridge. Rip. Had another absolute banger lesson with Li. Chat, different Li. (All Chinese people are named the same.) Bro accepted tithing and was like, so this is how I can bless people, and we were like yessir! So he's just amazing, and am super grateful we've got to teach him. 

Wednesday was T'eve, or Transfer Eve. And since I live in Richmond, right next to mission home and office, we are in charge of pickups and housing for missionaries. So we ended up with 12 missionaries in this lil apartment. And lemme tell ya, it was epic. First time staying up as late as I did. But relations were built. Fun was had. 感谢主!

So ya, Thursday.

Do I regret it.

Maybe a lil.

But nothing an energy drink can't solve .

Transfer day was normal for us, so we just did the usual. Had a lesson with Aloysious. So good. Bro said the most fire prayer. So epic. Had English class. Always great. Then had a lesson with David...

Do I find joy in bashing?

Maybe a little.

But come on. When bro is bashing me with Chat GPT, I'll throw down the hammer. So that's what we did. Bro's throwing up not true stuff. So we threw doctrine. In the end, we left him speechless . He was cool, just doesn't know. Hopefully one day though.

Spent 4 hours at the urgent care. Free health care be like... Rip Ban Ban. The Chinese food and 拉肚子 got the best of him. Prayers up. Finished up the day with English class. Played the game of life IRL. So basically we just lived.

*He's chilling now, so shoutout to the power of prayer.

We now rooming with Elder Meyer (previous comp) and Elder Wegnert (MTC district pal). So it's been some fun holy hours. It'll be an epic transfer

Had Li's bap interview, he passed, but unfortunately he can't get baptized right now because of some legal stuff. So please do me a biggie and throw up some prayers for my friend. Had a lesson with Han弟兄 which went good. Then had a lesson with Anne. It was fire. And probably the most fire object lesson.

No worries, it was completely safe, there was absolutely no possible way of someone getting hurt... Or stepping on a knife.... 

Saturday we had a lesson with James and a new friend Robbie. Gotta love it. Had karaoke night. Shoutout 周杰伦.

Sunday was blessed, as always. And we actually went to church, so that's always a big plus. That night we had hot pot with some members, and two previous missionaries that came back to visit. So it was awesome sauce.

*New Game Unlocked: I had my doubts, but house ping pong's gotta be new top 10 missionary activities.

Monday morning we balled out with some spikeball and basketball. Supa dupa fun. Did way too much planning. Taught math class, this time my student was an angel which was very refreshing. Met a new friend Tian. Very right time right place ahh moment. Had a member lunch which was also quite bombdasticly delicious.

Today had another zone p-day. It was fun. But not the same as a Chinese zone p-day. . But played lots of pickleball and Mahjong. Played jeopardy in English class. Ohh, and talked with the fam. Shoutout gonna be a future uncle soon.

Epic week, excited for another

and another

and another

and another.

And too many it's not even worth it to count. Cus like, missionary life is epic! 

But seriously, life is good.

But back to the bash

Like I said, I like bashing. I even used to watch anti anti videos so that I can get my ball knowledge. There's two reasons I enjoy. Because 1, I like proving that our church is true purely through logic. Because every time I talk to a Christian who doesn't know what they're talking about, they've always got so many holes. And they don't even read the bible. Our church has none of that. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just makes sense. There are no holes. God's plan is perfect, His gospel is perfect and simple. And The BOM and Bible don't contradict. They actually go hand in hand quite well.

(Side note: I don't actually go around seeking to bash people. Doesn't work. I don't find the true joy in the bashing. Even though it is a little fun. But what I truly do enjoy is the opportunity to testify. I love everyone and don't wish to bring the spirit of contention).

Ok. Now that we got that cleared up...

One thing that stood out the most to me, and something that has always happened when I've gotten bashed, is the spirit. It was actually such a cool experience. During the whole 'lesson?' the spirit was so strong. Which sounds weird, but the entire time, especially when he would be ranting at us, I felt super super peaceful. Which is just so cool. Because the biggest thing I get out of bashing experiences is a stronger testimony. And I'm super grateful for it. Because every time he spoke, his words were empty. But the moment I or my companion opened our mouths, we taught. And we taught with power. All thanks to the Holy Ghost. It may not've affected him. But it affected me.

That's why the Holy Ghost is the most important aspect of missionary work, and just lives in general. It's how we stay safe. It's how we find truth. And for us, it's how we do His work. It's how we teach His word.

This is the true church of Jesus Christ.

It's all true, what else matters?

Canada has made me appreciate spring a lot more

Object lesson at its peak

WEEK 33 RICHMOND: ☢️💣💥

Well...

The era has come to an end...

Rip Chinese Zone 

It was a wild ride. It was good while it lasted. But the best things don't last forever ehh. Well, unless it's eternal salvation and exaltation. But that's besides the point.

So, if you wanna hear the tragic tale, (but also a pretty amazing and blessed and miracle filled week!) Pov, it's like that one episode in Ninjago where Zane sacrifices his life for the greater good, and 7-year-old me is caught with a tear sliding down his cheek, type episode.

It is Wednesday my dudes. Today was so cool, during DC we were doing an object lesson in the gym, when one of the office missionaries pulls up with these two Chinese ladies behind her. Apparently they saw one of our English class flyers and just pulled up to the church. We started talking to them, and they just ended up lore dropping and told us everything. They've both come from insanely difficult backgrounds, and have got to be two of the most humble people I've ever met. It was such a cool miracle.

On a side note, it's kind of cool to see the power and authority of a missionary calling. Because people automatically trust us when they first meet us. And it might be like this for some of ya'll, but for me, people will just open up. Like it's the first time meeting this random person (a child of God, thank you) and just tell us their whole life story. I sometimes feel like a therapist. But it's just really cool, because we can always relate it back to Jesus Christ.

Alright, back to the fun. After DC, we had a lesson with Li, and it was just so goated as always. I love this man. His baptism is set for the 26th of April, so I'm praying that everything goes great the next few days in order to get him in the water. Bros change is so tangible and it's so epic. Finished the night with 范弟兄, and taught him priesthood and temple. So we finna get both those things soon. Litty!

Thursday was a day of just 好巧啊! But I just call it miracles. Alyoisious is back!!!! Let's gooooo! He's a guy we met with first day of transfer, but then he had to leave for a few weeks, but he's back and ready to receive the gospel. He's super old, so it's a little slow, but we had an amazing lesson with him. Had an amazing lesson with Judy, and she really wants the gospel and to be baptized, so it's pretty amazing. Then, some unplanned things happened, which led us to getting on a bus in the afternoon, to go to the mall. And on the bus, Huang Qing Fa pulls up! Like bro, why aren't you on the island. It was sooo cool though. He's here for the next week, and instantly invited us to lunch. Later that day we ran into one of our friends, David, who is super hard to meet with cus he's always working. But God put us in the right place to see him. Also randomly bumped into a couple other friends. Super 巧

Friday, we ran up the pickleball finding method. And ohh it's been too long. But we cooked up and met a lot of cool people. Went to lunch with Huang Qing Fa which was super insanely delicious. But luckily only 10% the price of the last meal. He's literally an angel. My King Fr! Then one of our members took us out to dinner because one of the sisters goes home next week. Blessed Up!

Quick little side quest though. We leave the restaurant around 8:40. Cus the bus was supposed to arrive at 8:50. Reminder that curfew is 9, extra late curfew is 9:30. The bus was late. Ohh shoot. Then it comes we get on, five minutes later my companion looks at me and goes, we need to get off. I'm like op, ok. So we do. And bro books it to McDonalds. Full on sprints. Bro was about to pee his pants. We get out of McDonalds, and realize the next bus wouldn't come until super late. So to keep it short, we walk home, and end up getting home super late  so fun :)

Saturday stared with an early morning lesson with James. Pretty epic. Went to lunch with a member and Huang Qing Fa for round two. This time the member made dumplings and they were sooooo goatedly delicious. Had another amazing lesson with Li. Then had an amazing lesson with Anne. Then had pickleball game night. It was fun, but holy, kids are insane sometimes.

Sunday. Rip Elder Barnes. Woke up. Took the sacrament to Chen 妈妈. Then bro goes, alright we need to go home. Apparently bro was super 病. So 可惜. So we missed church, and most of the day. I got to catch up on studies though which was nice. Got out for a little bit in the evening.

Then it happened

After our mission wide Sunday Zoom meetings, we get a message from President on our Chinese Zone group chat. "Please get on the Call again"

My heart sinks.

We hop on, Pres hits us with a whole shpeel. And drops the bomb... No more Chinese zone.

Devastation.

How tragic.

Monday morning, transfer boards drop. And the nightmare is made manifest. No zone. But it's chilly though, cus I'm staying in Richmond and killing Elder Barnes! So blessed up transfer for real. Ban Ban was still super pooped so we spent the morning indoors. Made it to the church for some planning. Helped a member jump a car. Shoutout to my goated father who taught me all the useful stuff of life. And had a member meal. So lit, so fun, so blessed.

Then today. The final Hurrah! last Chinese zone p-day. It was super fun. Played pickleball, secret hitler, and lots of games. My goats, my day ones. The end was pretty bitter sweet. But no fear, here am I! I'm called here to rebuild this thing. To pull the family back together.

Super good week though, I'm hyped for this transfer. Will be an epic one!

Quick lil drop though

I listened to two talks. "Be ye therefore perfect-eventually" and "Perfection Pending"

In these talks they talk about possibly the hardest commandment given from Jesus Christ. Be ye therefore Perfect. Well flip, I think we all fail that one.

But let's read something

Mathew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.

Cool cool

Now let's read this

3 Nephi 12:48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect.

Notice a difference?

When Jesus was still on this earth with a mortal body, He commands us the be perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

But, once He had a perfect resurrected body, and went and visited the Nephites, He says, be perfect, even as 'I', and your Father in Heaven who is perfect.

That's interesting that Jesus wasn't "perfect" while during His mortal ministry. 

So, why does this commandment seem so hard?

Because people take it as the literal meaning Perfect, meaning living a sinless life. But that's not the case.

When I read it in Chinese, the word is 完全 instead of perfect. The word 完全 means "complete".

The commandment isn't to live a perfect, flawless, and sinless life. It was never meant to be. He commands us to be complete. Which means doing our best here on earth, and being complete through Christ and Heavenly Father. And that doesn't come until after death.

I just thought it was pretty cool. This is a life of progression. To learn, grow, and be "perfected" in and through Christ because He is risen and provided the atonement. 

And I'm pretty grateful for it.

Ahh, so blessed 

Run it back

R I P 

English Class be like

完美

WEEK 32 RICHMOND: Holiness To The Lord, The House Of The Lord

Got to go to the temple twice in one week???

I'd say that's quite blessed!

This week all around was pretty flippin' amazing!

Wednesday we hit up exchanges. I went to Burnaby with Elder Meyer. Colin (he's a YSA member from Van that always hung out with us) visited us and got us each Cadbury Eggs! Shoutout my King! Found a deaf guy. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately I had completely forgotten everything I learned in my one year of ASL. Except Banana. But phones are pretty epic, so it's chill.

Thursday was the big day! After exchanges, we went to a friend's house. They are some people Elder Barnes used to teach, but they made us super good dumpling and wantons. Then it was time. After 3 hours of filling up the font and sitting at church, the moment arrived... 范弟兄 got baptized!!! It was so amazing. It's moments like this that just make this work so worth it. This message truly is a message of joy. Sang happy birthday to Him and it was complete. My boy is a new man. A new brotha in Christ. Shoutout another King! 

Finished the night off with some friendly Bible Bashing

Had interviews with Pres. on Friday. Hit up lunch with some other elders. Gotta love it. Had a lesson with Anne and Han弟兄, both are great, and it's great teaching them.

Saturday morning was temple sesh #1. We went with Brother Chen and Vivi. They were both receiving their own endowments, and it was so amazing. The temple is great. Covenants are great. It's all just so great. Had a lesson with Li, and our member brought up W.O.W and bore fire testimony about it. Then had a recent convert lesson with our boi Victor.

Then Sunday. It's kinda crazy how many blessed days you can have in a week. But Visited Chen 妈妈, she's super amazing and still alive! Lets gooooo! Had church, and got a bunch of friends to it. They all loving it! Then the sisters had a bap right after church, so that was amazing. After it, I talked to Li, and he said he wants to be baptized!!! It's set for next Tuesday, but we gonna need to push it back a lil, so we can make sure we can get everything taught. But it's so amazing, since it was fast Sunday and we talked about it the day before, bro said ya, I'm fasting, and am gonna try and stop drinking some stuff. So amazing and a huge miracle! God is working double time on him, and he's changed so much. Then had an epic member meal with a family!

I may use this word a lot...

But it's True...

Blessed!

Monday was a great day. Minus the start...saw a car crash. But everyone was chill. I can add that to the list now. Seen a real life car crash... but uhh.. the rest of the day was just lots of planning. Did math with Annie and Caroline, thank goodness they weren't lil demons. And had a lesson with Wong Guo Ming!!!!!! He's the goat. We finna go to the temple with him here soon.

Tuesday! Temple rd. 2! Lesss Gooooo! It was epic. Also played Ticket to Ride. So no complaining here. Pros hour consisted of lesson, crazy member lore drama drop. and English class.

So

I guess you could say:

It was a pretty flippin' awesome sauce week!

General Conference was fire!

So let me drop a lil.

This comes from Sister Porters talk.

5 loaves and 2 fishes

It's a story that everyone knows pretty well.

And it's a story that applies to every single person here.

Let's pretend everyone has 5 loaves, and 2 fishes. Now theres a couple thing you can do with said loaves and fishes. Eat them, or try your best to feed a couple out of the 5000+. It's good, you tried your best to help out.

But what did this boy do. He didn't bury his talents. He didn't take it for himself, he didn't even share it with others at the start. Instead, he saw a man. A man he believed in. A man he had faith in. The kid probably had heard the stories, maybe even see it with his own eyes, but he knew this man was a Miracle Worker. So what did he do, he took his 5 loaves and 2 fishes and took them to the miracle worker. He brought them to Jesus. 

In the eyes of the the boy, it's nothing compared to the 5000+ hungry people. It's a spec of dust on the ground.

But it's what he had, it's what he'd been given.

So he took it to the Miracle Worker.

And in the eyes of the Miracle Worker. In the eyes of Jesus. It was everything. It's exactly what He needed. It's what He needed to work a miracle.

So now there's a third option. One that surpasses the other 2. With a little faith and belief, we can take our 5 loaves and 2 fishes to the Miracle Worker...and feed the multitude!

God has given us each individual talents and gifts. To us, it may look like a meager offering; heck, it might seem like half a loaf and a 2 week old rotten potato. But in the eyes of the Miracle Worker, it's everything.

Give yourself to the Lord, and because of your faith, because of your effort in trying to help those around you and bless the lives of others, the 5000+ will be fed. (With leftovers included) And you can be a miracle worker to those in need.

Ok Fine 晚安.

 he's turned from 先生 to 弟兄

Holiness to the Lord The House of the Lord

So blessed

WEEK 31 RICHMOND: 🎵It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Easter🎵

Take a look at the empty tomb

Well you can't get much better than Easer and General Conference!

So much Jesus and it's awesome sauce!

I keep saying this every week, but yes, it was another amazing week. Kinda funny how that works. It's almost like we are blessed and find joy when we serve the Lord.

Pretty neat I'd say.

After de-thawing from my trip in the frozen river..... we had an amazing lesson with 范先生 Wednesday morning. We taught commandments and laws. Went super good, bro was good with all of them, and was like, ya, I'll stop drinking tea. Had DC. Hit up T&T with the district. Chinese food *chef kiss', then had a lesson with Li. Then hung out with one of our members at McDonalds. Les go!

On Thursday, we had a surprise lesson with our new friend Judy. She's super cool and is super interested in learning. So humble and willing. God truly does prepare.

And God provides, lemme tell ya.

Some of you may remember a sweet old man named Huang Qi Fa. I've been taken out by him a couple times my mission. He's so cool. He had a stroke when he was like 40 and completely lost speaking capabilities, and some motor function. But he's improved a lot, and ever since he found the church, he's just the happiest guy in the world. Him and Elder Barnes are like best friends. So he treated us nice. Bro took us out to one of the nicest restaurants ever. I'm not even joking, like bro, the bill was over $1000. He let us invite 3 people, so we picked this one member and her two kids who are just the coolest people ever. So it was just so amazing. And the food was divine. Eternally grateful for that man and the Lord. Like incredibly BLESSED! He just always be smiling and laughing.

That evening we had a super spirit-led trip to the mall, where our friend David showed up and was like what's up, and we got to talk to him. Played mafia in the evening for English class.

Friday, we literally became doctors. We were at the church from 2-9. It was insane. At two we had a lesson with Li, he had such a cool experience, we invited him to go pray in the chapel by himself, and like 30 minutes later he came back and was like, "I heard God talking to me and telling me the everything is going to be fine." At the start of the lesson, he was super anxious and all over the place. When he came back, his demeanor was completely different, super peaceful. I just love being a missionary. That  lesson was like 2 hours. Then we had a  lesson at 4 online with some Colorado missionaries who needed help translating. Then our friend Han 弟兄 pulled up, had a pretty crazy lesson, but at the end bro was like, ohhh I finally get it. That lesson went over, and we have our next friend in the "waiting room", Han left, next person in. Had a great lesson with Anne. Then she went a lil over. Opened the door, she left, next friend came in. 范先生, did mock bap interview with him. Then finally we were finished and got invited to the English ward barbecue. So blessed.

Insane day, I love it.

Then general conference!!!! So good!!! Li and Han came in the morning. Both loved it. Cleaned the church in between sessions. Anne came to the second session. Went to the library for 'language study', but ran into a Burnaby member, so just talked to her the whole time. She served in Taiwan the same time as me brother. Then got Thai food, shoutout Mom (love you)! Goated tradition!

Finally, no more mold! That night we grinded out that bathroom. Wahooo!

Happy Easter Ya'll

Sunday was so amazing. The morning session was miracle loaded. We had so many friends pull up. They just kept coming in. And they all loved it. Li even brought a notebook and took notes. So lit. David came to which was actually a huge miracle. 范pulled up for both. The prophet is goated. The good word of God is being spread. 感谢主! In between sessions the Vincents had us over for lunch and said bring your friends, so Wesley and LI came with us. So good.

Monday was also amazing. Sunday, 范先生 actually told us he couldn't be baptized because of family issues that came up, and he was leaving Vancouver for 3 weeks. We woke up to a text saying 我的旅游取消了. It got canceled. It was such a miracle. So set your calendar everyone. April 9th! The rest of the day was weekly planning. And a quick math session for one of our members two little girls. They are insanely crazy, but it's so much fun.

Today was chill. Went to big Buddhist temple, and played pickleball. Had 范's baptismal interview. Les go! Then had English class. 

All in all...

Epicness

Thanks for reading.

On Christmas day we started a challenge. The BOM challenge. It was to finish the Book of Mormon from Christmas to Easter day. And we marked blue every name of Christ in it, and highlighted things we liked in red.

Did I fall behind?

Yes.

But we have the atonement.

So it's chilly.

But I just want to say how truly amazing this book we have is. It is the Word of God meant for each and every one of us today. This book has power, and blessings in store for those that read it. So I'd like ya'll to do the same. Read this book. It will change your life. If you've already read it, read it again. And it will continue to change your life and bring you closer to your Savior. 

(Also drop some fav parts from conference if you'd like to share)

He is Risen 

All my kings in one place

#frozenelderalert

Home decor at its finest

This is why we can't have nice things