HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

September 18, 2016

Family,

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

Good busy week.

Li JM is incredible. She is still progressing for a Baptismal Date on the 18th of October.

We are not sure what to do with Zheng DX. He is constantly back and forth it seems like. He is coming to an FHE with us at a members home tonight. Recently, he has consistently been coming to church and is starting to keep commitments. 

Tang JM is doing well. (Wang Le's wife). We did a FHE at their home last night. It was good. We made dumplings together and watched The Testaments. The Spirit was very strong. 

We also were running quite late and had to do a good amount of sprinting to get home on time. Whip us back in shape a little bit. To give you a visual, we were pretending to be a running back on a break away heading for the end zone. We made a few good side steps, and we blasted through the defense into the open green ahead. We were so far ahead of the defense, we even fit in a few dances as we were crossing the goal line. 

Had Zone Training this past week on Teaching in the Savior's Way, specifically Teaching People, Not Lessons. Also a big portion on Follow Up. So important. 

Also had Stake Conference this past week. It probably was good, I don't speak Cantonese, but the investigators who came could. So that's good.

A few days ago I was reading in 1 Nephi 15 and noticed some cool stuff I have not noticed before. To explain the background in 2 Nephi 14. "Heavenly Father created all things...both things to act and things to be acted upon." Then he explains in v16, "The Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself." 

Nephi has just barely seen a vision in which his people were destroyed. He understandably, was overcome. It is interesting to me that after a short interchange he asks his brothers, 'How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord?' At first I wondered why he jumped to that all of a sudden. Maybe it was because their murmuring was over such a trivial matter, especially compared to what he just say? Then I realized. v6 Nephi is acting. v7 Laman and Lemuel are being acted upon. v8 Nephi is acting. v9 Laman and Lemuel are being acted upon. I think this is why we have Nephi's stern rebuke in v19. It is because he sees that Satan has hold of Laman and Lemuel. He sees that they are not being agents who act like they were created to be. They instead were falling prey to Satan's temptation to be acted upon. Yesterday I was reading in 1 Nephi 16 and it is the same problem. They have no food and no weapons and they start murmuring. Nephi on the other hand instead of being an object acted upon, is an agent who acts. He goes and makes a bow so he can obtain food. Anyway, just a thought.

No time.

Have a good week.

Elder Josh Stratford