Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.
Dear Family and Friends,
I finished The
Book of Mormon the other day. That was only the second time I have
finished the Book of Mormon on my mission. I have spent the past year
plus studying The Book of Mormon to better understand Christ. I
highlighted every reference to him, every attribute, all of his words,
and references to the doctrine of Christ. I am amazed at how much my
understanding of Christ and my belief in Him has grown. Prayerfully
studying The Book of Mormon has done more for my testimony than anything
else. I love reading it so much. I am reading my study of Christ Book
of Mormon these next 3 weeks. I plan on finishing it before I get home
and then I will start reading a new Book of Mormon with a new
perspective. Anyone who does not believe in The Book of Mormon has not
studied it well. There is no other possible way for there to be a God
and to have a plan to return to live with him other than the God and
plan that is presented in The Book of Mormon. Other options might please
the ears, but they are impossible.
The other
day we found a super awesome prepared brother. We were on the bus going
to visit a less active. When we got on the bus I had a thought come to
my head that someone on the bus was prepared but it was not someone who
spoke Chinese. After we got on the bus a man who is paralyzed from the
waste down was trying to wheel himself on. The bus was pretty packed so
he was struggling to get his wheelchair in the handicapped section. Us
Elders helped him get situated and he was very grateful. He started
asking us who we were and why we are in Singapore. Elder Boud, who has
no fear showed him and another lady on the bus a Book of Mormon and said
"This is why we're here". He taught and bore a powerful testimony of
The Book of Mormon. The lady was not interested but the man in the
wheelchair was. He got off at the same stop at us and told us not to go
because he wanted to talk to us. He explained how he felt confused by
all the different Christian teachings and doctrines. He told us that he
had heard things on the internet and south park but he still wanted to
learn because he felt like this was what he was looking for. We taught
him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. We are passing him to
the Zone Leader's and we are excited to see where things go from there.
Sister
J** and Sister S** are doing great they just won't commit to a
baptismal date. I think we are just going to focus on reading the Book
of Mormon with them. They don't want us to talk about baptism for a
while.
We had an awesome finding miracle on
Saturday. After Saturday conference the ward ordered pizza which I can't
eat so we went to get some Malaxiangguo.The food court in China Town
was packed so there were almost no seats. The only open seats were at a
table with these two 20 year old girls from China who are studying
nursing. Of course we talked to them and they were way nice and wanted
to learn the gospel. We were able to teach them yesterday with some of
the YSA members. It is always interesting to teach people from China
because they have no thoughts about God at all. It is way different than
teaching Christians.
Also A*** (an
investigator I had started teaching with Elder Spurrier before we
passed him to the Chinese Elders) is back and came to conference. That
was sweet!
The members in our ward are always
helpful. We didn't have to buy food during conference because members
would always pack lunches for us. They would even bring salad for me :)
We have also been trying to use members to help us learn the language
because Malaysia corrupted Elder Shirley and I's Chinese. Not terribly,
but it has caused us to pick up some bad habits. A lot of members have
also told me that a lot of grammar and words will not make sense until I
understand Characters. The new books from Taiwan that the mission will
be getting soon will be a big help for the missionaries, I think that
will help them get a solid foundation and help them sound more
educated.
Love,
Elder Avery
