Hong Kong: PORTABLE FAN - BEST PURCHASE EVER.

May 15, 2016

Family,

Thank you for the package. It's great. Came just in time for our hike today. Thank you.

Zou JM is thinking of a date for Aug, we couldn't set one last week. She is busy this week because her oldest daughter is getting married today. She has been in Shenzhen preparing for that.

Jia Jm and her son are doing great. We were able to start teaching her this week, which was amazing. She is already well prepared. Her manners and sincerity are very different from most people here. She has been reading the book of mormon and the liahona. Also, at english class on friday, she was talking to me about the piano and how I learned how to play and how old I was. I don't know how she knows I play. Anyway, she wants to know for her son, so we were talking about that for a little bit. She thinks music is important and wants her son to learn. I offered to help her son learn and she says, Really!? I said ya, I'll do it for free. She was so so happy. She kept thanking me over and over again. So maybe sometime this week I will be playing the piano with A-bu. I'm excited for that.

Wangle is great. He was going to hike the mountain with us today, but had to go to Shenzhen. I don't know if you know, but Shenzhen is bigger than Hong Kong, but I feel like nobody really knows about it, not sure why. Anyway, Wangle is also thinking about a date. He accepted the invitation to be baptized. He also is well prepared and very sincere. Hard to find people like this here in Hong Kong, anywhere really.

Also, we found one of the former investigators we used to teach back in the winter. We found out where he worked, the Yuen Long Cinema, and went over there to see if he was working. He wasn't, but his coworker told us when he was on duty next. We came over at that time and sure enough, there was Liu DX checking everybody's tickets. He's so nice. We originally lost contact because he switched phone numbers, so we got his new number and scheduled him for tomorrow. Excited to meet with him again.

I bought a portable fan and it probably was the best purchase I have made in Hong Kong, maybe ever. It's amazing. Rechargeable and quite powerful. I love it.

One of the tender mercies this week happened at Zone Training. I was unnecessarily mad at myself for my poor teaching after we had just done a role play and I did a crappy job. As I was thinking about this, I started to feel down and feel bad about myself. The spirit then popped into my mind the words from Elder Bednar about the character of Christ. I realized that I was focused in, all my thoughts were focused in, being selfish. Once I recognized this, I began to pray, thanking my Heavenly Father for helping me recognize this situation. Then, following the revelation I had just received, I started to pray for the person speaking and praying to know what I could do at zone training to strengthen someone or express my love and appreciation. As I started praying, immediately the spirit came rushing back and I felt it in full force again. It was very simple, a small prompting, just a tweak in the focus of my thoughts and requesting the help of heaven, but as I heeded the prompting, it had a large impact on my attitude and the spirit I felt.

Quick thought. Preparation is so important, both for the teacher and for the student. One of my favorite scriptures D&C 11:21 teaches this quite clearly. 'Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word. Then shall your tongue be loosed. Then if you desire, ye shall have my spirit and my word. Yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men' (sorry if I didn't get it quite right, don't have scriptures with me). The promise here is that our tongue will be loosed and we will have the spirit with us as we teach if we first seek to obtain my word, if we prepare.

I have sure gained a testimony of this truth as a missionary. Every time I prepare well, every time I show the Lord I want His spirit and His help, the lesson goes well and I can feel the spirit testifying to the person what I am teaching is true.

The same thing applies for the student. Multiple apostles last general conference invited us to conscientiously prepare for the sacrament. Preparing is important and helps us learn from the spirit. I know that is true.

Love,

Elder Josh Stratford (施长老)