The Spirit, A Missionary's Best Pal

(Sent August 25 | Pics on Facebook)

I got my hair cut today! Unfortunately, my mission president didn't allow me to fly out to New York to get my hair cut by my favorite hairdresser. Let down, I know, but it really took all my might to allow the hair school student to touch my hair. It's free for missionaries, though, so that was nice of them.

Anyway, on a more missionary-related note, we taught J this week and it was amazing, as usual. He shared a personal experience he had the week before when he was on his trip to New Orleans with his buddies. He realized how easy it was to neglect his routine of studying the scriptures, and he expressed how guilty he felt for not doing so. He noticed how neglecting that simple routine negatively affected him for that weekend.

And so we shared with him a scripture:

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19, emphases added).

We explained to him that it is in our nature to not read our scriptures and pray every day because obeying the commandments of God really does take effort. Anytime we do something that brings us closer to God is, essentially, us acting upon our faith by doing works. Just like James said, faith without works is dead.

Here, J was given an experience last weekend to teach him about what kind of situations he wants to put himself in. It taught him the importance of scripture study. It taught him of the protection that studying the scriptures provides for him. It's these kinds of experiences that help him progress more than anything anyone could ever say. He needed a chance to notice lacking the Spirit in his life for a time in order to realize his need for Him.

We, as missionaries, are instruments in the Lord's Hands. We are placed to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and create an environment where they can feel the Spirit. Then the Spirit takes it from there.

I love missionary work. I really do! What a fantastic blessing it is!

Love,
Sister Wen

We are our own prophets.

(Sent August 11)

Met with J! And even though he hasn't been able to come to church, he's still progressing. He's still studying the scriptures and he's even meeting up with the Ms, his former LDS neighbors who introduced him to the gospel, down in Texas! And, just like I said last week, we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We explained how much more he would get out of studying the scriptures if he just had the gift of the Holy Ghost. And he says he wants it! He really has that desire to have His Spirit by his side! Just not right now. He's still adamant in finishing the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price before baptism. So at least we know the Newlin Meadows ward will always have at least one solid investigator! #thebrightsideofthings

On the other side (of Heaven #classic) of bringing someone closer to Christ is G, who I began talking about last week. When we met with him a couple Saturdays ago, we taught him about the gospel in every dispensation. We taught about how God sends his prophets, or men called by God to act in the name of Christ, to end periods of time where people rejected the gospel (aka. apostasies). Basically a little history lesson of how Adam, Noah, Moses, and Abraham, and all those guys were prophets of God.

Last Wednesday, he said, "You girls missed something big last time."

Uhm. What?

"I have a testimony now."

UHM. WHUT.

Sweeping the Nation

(Sent May 5 | New pictures up on Facebook)

My first week here in Newlin Meadows has been pretty amazing. God has blessed us so much and I am continually grateful for Him for helping us find people to teach!

So, since we are essentially starting fresh in this area, we decided to contact a bunch of people who previously investigated the church. We contacted a couple and set up appointments with both of them! So this past week, we met with D who was a former investigator. He said he didn't want the missionaries coming over previously because he had a drug addiction and didn't want to be high when missionaries were over. But now he's more than 2 months sober! (WOOHOO!) Hearing that made me so happy! Even though I'd just met him, I knew that he was already beginning to make right choices! #bestfeelingever

He said he worked on his addiction mostly because of his daughters. He didn't want them to grow up in a family with a father trapped by an addiction. He's so awesome. That's one of the best reasons to begin investigating the church because God would only give us a church that focuses so much on the family and how to strengthen the family.

We also volunteer at a life care center where we help distribute food to the residents. We have the opportunity to help them out and to talk with them as well! There's one man named J who was sitting by himself. I noticed that no one had helped him yet so I went over to talk with him. Most of the residents don't like to talk to strangers, but J was willing! After talking for a bit, he thanked me for talking with him but, frankly, I thanked him for talking with me because, as a missionary, not many people enjoy talking with us....It's hard to believe, I know. Just look at me!

It's A Small World

Email home #9, sent March 24; new photos on Facebook

We found 2 new investigators this week! *cue shouts of rejoice* and not only that, but one of our investigators came to church AND a less active member did too! *cue roars of exclamation*

If it's one thing I've learned since being in Denver, it's that it's basically only the people from outside the country that are accepting of our message. Of all the investigators we have, TWO of them are from the states. For instance, we have a family from India, a woman from Soviet Russia, a man from Africa, a couple from Nigeria and Jamaica...etc. Even though I'm not serving a foreign mission, I'm getting all the countries here all at once!

With that in mind, we came by a house that was clearly Asian. We're talking pictures of cartoon Asian girls in traditional red clothing stuck on the door with the Chinese character for "luck" sticking upside down. Not to mention the shoes lined outside the door. So we knocked on their door just hoping their hearts would be softened to see another Asian. Lo, and behold, they were softened! They're Vietnamese BUT they know a little bit of CANTONESE! Woohoo! So she told me to return later that night when her daughter who knows English is home.

We returned that night and offered a prayer for the daughter, C, and her family. We asked her to invite her family to join but I heard the TV on in the background. It was the Hong Kong channel! I guess their Cantonese is pretty good!

But after we said a prayer with C, we asked her how she felt. She said, "Relaxed." That's probably the most amazing thing about prayers. No matter how horribly un-eloquent I am, the prayer always invite the Holy Spirit in and provides us all comfort and calmness. There's actually something we recite every morning called The Standard of Truth. The beginning says, "The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing." And that is so true. And also so very relieving because even if I don't explain everything clearly, the Holy Ghost will always come to testify to the individuals that what we are saying is true.

That night we visited a members' home. They'd just gotten their piano tuned so they let me play it and sight-read some songs. It made my heart melt because I didn't realize how much I missed playing the piano. So advice to those piano players who want to serve a mission: bring some pieces to play on P-day!