Transfers

Well, its the week of Transfers again.  Yesterday morning Elder Wu and I got a call.  We were informed that Elder Wu would be moving to the Millwoods stake, and I would be staying to serve with Elder Decker!  For those of you keeping track at home, this is my third repeat companion, Elder Decker was also my third companion in the North.  I am super excited to serve with him.

This week was also Christmas!  It was great.  It was a time we were able to see support of members and friends as we prepared, pondered, and shared the message of Christ's birth.  I am so grateful for the gift that God has given us, the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  He is truly our Savior and Redeemer.  

Also coming up this week is New Years!  I am also grateful at this time of reflection on the Savior to have a prompting to reflect on the self, what we can do to improve.  By combining the two, making an active effort with the help of Christ to improve, we can become an unstoppable force for good.

I love you all and Hope You Have a Great Day!

Pulled out the paper Christmas tree for the 2nd time around

Elder Ethington and his zone. He is a district leader for the sisters here and the elder who is carried by Elder Wu and the elder who is standing next to T.J.  on the right. 

The sisters in T.J.'s district with the pillow pets he gave them for Christmas

Our family skype picture on Christmas day

Elder Ethington is Santa

The Christmas tie that Elder Ethington bought at a thrift store and embroidered with his emergency sewing kit for Elder Wu

Merry Christmas!!!!

HO HO HO 圣诞节快乐！

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season.  This season has been great.  As the second on my mission, I am learning more and more how to make Christmas into a day to serve, a day for others.  That's something I've struggled with for a long time.  But serving the Lord

24/7 really does wonders to help a guy learn to get over himself!

This week has been great.  We had our Christmas party, a karaoke night, and it went great.  So far, I have only gathered one picture from it, but I will send more as ey come.  Also this week I found a few pictures people took of me when I played the role of Santa Claus for a Chinese school we often volunteer at.  It was great to see how happy it made kids to see Santa.  We didn't have any Will Ferrels making a scene (great movie, really missing it this season) but it was a great time none the less.

On Thursday we had our mission Christmas Conference.  It was a great experience to meet with President and Sister Manion again and to be

able to feel their love and their Spirit.   In the conference, I was

also able to participate by singing "Come Thou Fount" with my district, and by helping to give a short explanation about Christmas customs in China.  It was a great time!

Other than that, this week has been fairly normal.  Love you all!

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

  Bye!

Countdown to Christmas

Hello all!  This has been a great week!  This week we have had the chance to participate in a few Christmas parties.  It really is the season!  But as busy as times are getting, work here in the Riverbend stake have still been awesome.  I super enjoy serving here, especially with Elder Wu.  There is great promise in the Land of Riverbend.

Last week, I also didn't write, but I was at the local Science Museum.  It was a blast!  They had an exhibit on Rubik's Cubes, and we got to go there and have a great time.

This week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Collins, a fairly young missionary.  He is a great guy.  The best part is that he is from Arizona too!  So we had a great time discussing the lack of heat and the other woes we face being so far away from home.  Just kidding.  But really.  I miss the heat.

Next week is looking like its going to be great too!  We have Christmas conference coming up, which I am super excited for.  I love the chance to gather and to hear from President during the Christmas season.  It really is a blessing.

This Christmas, I am learning more about the traditions.  Why do we give gifts?  Why do we have some of the traditions that we do?  And I am always surprised by how strongly they point back to Christ.  Even though we may not think about it all the time, almost everything around this time of year points back to Christ.  We just have to work to keep him in mind.  I know that I feel a better peace as I do work to keep Christ in the center of Christmas.

Have a great week!  Love you!

I Have the Power!

Hello all!  Its been a great week!  Elder Liu and I have seen great success this week.  We have had two new investigators who came to us through the efforts of other missionaries we work closely with.  I am so grateful for the support and friendship I have seen in this work from those other missionaries that are here in the service of the Lord, as well as the efforts of the members here.  That has been my favorite part of this week, is seeing more members at our lessons, and how much of a strength they can be to the investigators.  I am so grateful to know that we are not alone in this work, and we aren't even just left to the strength of us mere mortals, but we are led by Christ as we seek to spread his message of joy and to share it with the rest of the world.

This week was also Stake Conference for our area, and the stake presidency led a session about working with the missionaries.  His invitation to have the missionaries over, to role play and practice with them to learn how to better help share the Gospel is one that I can extend to all of you.  I truly know of the power of this invitation and of the Spirit in this work.  The Spirit does lead, guide, and direct those who are called to positions in the church.  I know this is true, and I know it is because the church is Christs, that he continues to lead and guide us in his work today.

Elder Ethington

Me and Elder Chamberlain, a missionary from Chandler, he went to high school with my sisters!

I Know Kung Fu

Same story about the subject line this week, it comes from my zone leader.  And it isn't quite accurate, but I am working on it.  So its a work in progress. Maybe by the time I go home next year.

This week has been great.  Elder Liu and are doing great.  This week has been fairly normal and regular.  We spent a fair bit of time in the beginning of the week preparing for our Friday English Class, which was turned into a Halloween party.  It was a great blast and we had a great time.  We included some members who told a scary story, and it was such a great experience to see how awesome members can be and how much they can help in the work.

Also this week, I had exchanges with our Zone Leaders.  And working with English speaking people is different from working with Chinese people.  Its crazy, but awesome to see the difference in work, and it makes me appreciate some of the things I have taken for granted in my calling.

After Halloween this week we had a "funeral" for a missionary who is leaving soon.  She has almost finished her mission, and we took the opportunity to have a Halloween funeral, complete with masks and other Halloween staples.  Pictures to follow!

Love you all so much!  Have a great day!

Cuttlefish

So I just turned to my zone leader and asked him for a Subject line for this email.  He told me "Cuttlefish"  So now you have it.

This week has been awesome!  Thursday I gave a training to my District on the importance of the Book of Mormon in the work that we do as missionaries.  Later that day, after so many lessons cancelled on us, we finally had one that worked, and we taught Alyssa.  Part of the lesson was reading in the Book of Mormon and asking her to read from it daily. She agreed and then came Saturday with questions that she had from what she had read. It was great to see how she took the invitation and ran with it.  She is doing so awesome.  I love working with the Chinese people here in Edmonton.  They are so great, and there are truly those who are prepared to hear the Gospel.  We spend our time trying to find those and to help them, and I am grateful for the chance I have to serve among them.

The rest of the week was good as well, although we had lots of lessons cancel on us because of midterms.  It was less good, but we still have great plans for this week.

I love you all!  Hope you are doing well!

Thanksgiving and a Baptism!

This week has been so awesome!  There have been three awesome things that happened this week.

I'll start off with the non-spiritual, Canadian Thanksgiving, although we still somehow find a way to make it spiritual.  Elder Liu and I had a great Thanksgiving, we spent the day baking a turkey.  That is the first time either Elder Liu or I have ever attempted anything on that scale.  And despite a lack of resources, time, and expertise in the matter, the turkey turned out not half bad.  And we still have a ton of it left over.  So we will be eating and sharing turkey for days to come.

Now, onto a more Spiritual note, today we had the opportunity once again to attend the temple!  I am so thankful to have a temple so close by.  The blessings of the temple are amazing, and I always learn something new, every time I go.  This time was super awesome because Elder Liu and I stayed a little longer to complete the Initiatory work for a few of a sister missionary's ancestors.  It was great to participate in that ordinance, it has been almost a year since I have had the opportunity, and I loved every minute.

Finally, my favorite thing from this week spans two days.  On Saturday, we got to witness the baptism of one of our investigators, Hanson!  He was so excited to be baptized and I was so glad to see him taking this step to follow Christ.  I am so glad to be sharing this message with the Mandarin speakers of Edmonton, and the opportunity I have to help those I meet come unto Christ.  But that's not all!  On Sunday, I had the special privilege of confirming Hanson a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and giving him the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  It was such a special experience, and a bit of a nerve wracking one, as I was asked to do so in Mandarin!  Part of the ordinance includes a blessing as directed by the Spirit, and I have very little experience in English let alone Chinese!  It was such a great experience though, and I really felt the Spirit working through me as I spoke to Hanson for his Father in Heaven.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I am having here, I am so grateful for all the blessings that God has poured out  upon me and my family.  I love you all!

P.S. I will send pictures when I can get them off of the camera.  Bye!