Hong Kong: POWERFUL PRIESTHOOD BLESSING

May 22, 2016

Family,

Thanks for the emails and all the pics.

Good week. Not too much change with the investigators. Wangle's wife has been coming to the lessons we have with wang le and knows a lot. She is great. Wang le is doing good and faithfully comes to church every week.

We might go on a search and rescue for Chen DX. We have lost contact, but we know what apartment complex/village he lives in, so are going to find him this week.

Sounds like there is a lot going on back at home. Exciting! That half marathan in the rain and wind sounds brutal. It seems like Sadie has been doing a lot of speaking lately. I can't believe Peyton is back from the mission already. Fast.

We saw some of the other mandarin missionaries last week when we were in kowloon. We were talking to them and my comp asked Elder Johnson, "So, how are things in Tolo?" Elder Johnson (in our same group and good friends with Elder Darrington) says, "Everything is going great!" Then he pauses for a minute to think about how it is going, and then says in a matter-of-fact way trying to be positive, "well, actually it is quite terrible. We have nobody to teach." As we were listining we could help but bust into laughter, with him included, as he answered the question and then changed his mind. It was pretty funny. He says, "ya, the only investigator we are teaching is this guy in a mental hospital. He can't go anywhere." Anyway, It was fun to see some other mandarin missionaries.

We went to visit a old sister member, Zhu Jm last week and she is having some hard trials. We listened to her as she told us of her situation and troubles for about 45 min. She was quite frustrated and discontent. The whole time, I was praying for her and to know what to say or what to do to possibly help her. Nothing really came to mind. Towards the end, the thought popped into my mind to give her a priesthood blessing, so we offered. She said sure. It was a powerful spiritual experience for me. At the moment we laid our hands on her head and said her name, I felt the Lord's love for her so strongly, I couldn't speak or get a word out for a while. I'm sure my comp and Zhu Jm were wondering what was going on, and i'm sure the experience wasn't much for them, but it sure affected me. That is sure one of the blessings of being able to serve. I think we learn and grow a lot more in the process that probably the people we are helping. Anyway, we are praying for Zhu Jm. She is great.

Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Josh Stratford

施长老