Hong Kong: BAPTISM OF WU JM

September 21, 2015

Family,

Mom - there is nothing i really need or want that I can think of at the moment thanks. Going better with opening my mouth. The people are nice. They kind of laugh at me and mostly tell me they have no idea what I am saying. Haven't been able to use the paddles, though we are going to use them right after I send out these emails. I have until about Oct 9 in Macau. Still haven't met with Gao JM, or Tang Yang. He reads the Book of Mormon every day. We meet him 2 weeks ago and he was at Alma 5 and then a week ago he was at Alma 34. We were supposed to meet him Thursday, but we misscommunicated on the time and weren't able to reschedule. Thanks for letting me know what is happening at home.

Dad - Thanks for keeping me updated on sports and work and thoughts. Bummer cougars lost, but sounds like they are pretty fun games. I have a few more weeks in Macau, just under 3 weeks.

One miracle would be last Monday. We were traveling to the chapel in Macau from Taipa (where we live) and the police pulled the bus over just before the bridge. They had everyone who was standing up get off the bus. We all got off and they had us show them our ID cards. This was definitely a miracle because I usually don't carry my ID card around. I only need it for emails, so I bring it along and then put it back in my drawer after. For whatever reason, I left it in my bag after emails. I always have my ID card on me know.

One pretty funny thing would be last Tuesday I think. We were going home teaching with Guan HZ our Branch President and visited a few families. The lessons went longer than expected and we didn't get done till 9:35. We need to be back in our Apartment by 10:00and it usually is around 25 min from the bus stop to our apartment not including traveling to the bus stop. So we got out of the visit and started running to the bus stop a little ways away. We were running through a park and my comp ran inbetween a dog and a man and all of a sudden, the dog jerked and the man turned his head. My comp ran into the dog leash at full speed and kind of lost his balance. I was laughing so hard. The dude with the dog was yelling, "my dog, my dog!" Dog was fine. We did make it back on time though. Literally right at 10. Also, whenever we do comp study at the chapel we always can use the piano's to sing a hymn. So now we always sing one of those upbeat, energetic hymns. I play with a lot of energy and we sing at the top of our lungs. Pretty fun. Give's us some energy going into 2 hrs of comp (2 hrs because of my training the first 12 weeks). Also, the 2 other elders that live with us have rubik cubes. So while they were gone, I popped a piece out and turned it around and popped it back it. This makes it impossible to solve. That night they were getting frustrated because they couldn't solve it and were suprized because they had never run into the problem before. I told them to let me have a try, so I did it for a while and while they turned their head hurried and switched the piece back around so I could solve it. They were pretty shocked and amazed that I could solve it and asked me how I did it. I didn't tell them and waited a few days and kept doing it to them before I told them. It was pretty funny.

Pretty amazing week this week. I was really blessed to be able to participate in the baptism of a mainland visitor. It came as a total suprize. Usually they are supposed to give us at least a week notice and it usually is always done in Hong Kong, not Macau. But we got informed Wednesday that we would be doing a mainland baptism the next day, Thursday. So it was pretty crazy trying to get that all ready. Thursday was an amazing day. We met her at the chapel at 10. Thaught her Lesson 1 till around 11. Let her read and pray about the book of mormon for 30 min, then taught her Lesson 2 from 11:30 till 12:30. Then she had a break to go to lunch from 12:30 to 2. During this time, we traveled back to Taipa for a lesson with Tang yang at 1:30, which we didn't teach because he thought we scheduled him for 4:30, We had a quick lunch and headed back to the chapel. Elder Feng and Elder Griffiths taugth her lesson 3 from 2 to 3 and then we taught her lesson 4 (all of the commandments) from around 3 to 4. We then taught her lesson 5 (laws and ordinances) from 4 to 5 (you now have to teach all 5 lessons before baptism, not just first 4). Then she had her baptismal interview, while we started to get things ready for the baptismal service. We had the service from 6 to 7. It was an amazing baptismal service. the Spirit was very strong. We were singing the opening hymn and Wu Haici (the sister who got baptized) couldn't hold back tears. I had the priveledge of baptizing her, then my comp confirmed her. I don't know what he said, but boy the spirit was so strong the whole prayer. Then she bore her testimony which was amazing. Didn't understand much of it, but could feel it. My comp told me that she said how she had pushed off the prompting for some time, and now was very glad she decided to be baptized. She also expressed suprize at all the people who attended. She is from Zhu Hai which is right across the water from Macau. So a lot of people from her Branch were there and all the missionaries in Macau with investigators. I then was able to play that arrangement of How Great thou Art from Bebee. I finally started to play the piano according to the text again, which all hymns should be played. The text tells you how the piece or hymn sould be played, which parts to put emphasise on and so forth. It was the best I have played it in a long while. Then after that, her Branch President spoke and that was it. I really was so blessed to be able to associate with her for a few hours. She taught me a lot more than i'm sure i could have taught her. She is amazing.

Thank you for all your prayers. I know our Savior lives and I know that God is really in the details of our lives. The more I pay his attention to his tender mercies in my life, the more I realize this. Thank you for your inspiring examples.

Love,

Elder Stratford