The Lord Is my Shepherd

Hong Kong is as great as ever! People are finally starting to come back now that school has started. Sister Park and I have started a new habit of waking up early so that we can actually have meaningful morning personal prayers (instead of half asleep ones....) and also a companionship prayer. The result has been miraculous!!

Our investigators are all doing really well. Here are just some of the highlights: Aphim, a single mother, who had been told by her friend that our church was evil has told us that she believes our church is good. She told us all about how she has changed since she started meeting with us and that she can feel God's love in her life. We had a really great experience with her this week: on Tuesday night we felt like we needed to call Aphim. So, we did. We small talked for a minute and she started crying and told us that she had a terrible day and was actually really glad that we had called. Her and her daughter had gotten into a fight and she was both upset with her daughter and herself. We had her go get her Book of Mormon and together (while on the phone) we read Alma 7:11-13 about Christ's Atonement. We told her that every pain, sorrow, and sin can be overcome through Jesus Christ. We then invited her to have a kneeling, family prayer with her daughter every day starting the next morning. When we met with her a few days later she told us how praying together had really helped both of them.

Ethel, a teenager, shared with us about how she feels sad because she does not have many friends and that the friends she does have make very poor decisions and so we helped her to understand how Heavenly Father is so happy with the decisions she is making and that He will bless her for her courage and example. Daisy, a mother, brought her husband to our meeting with her and we were able to share with them both. Her husband is already a Christian and he liked what we shared about and Daisy has no religious background and is very excited to learn more.

We have two investigators who have a goal for a baptism date: April and Silvia. April was very busy this week and was not able to meet, but she did come to church and even signed up to help bring food to the upcoming branch activity. Her date is for this next week...but we would like to push it back a little bit longer. She is awesome and loves the gospel, but I feel like she might need a bit more time to prepare. Silvia is set to be baptized in October. She told us yesterday about some of her questions about the church. Her questions included things like "How do I know the prophet is actually the prophet?" We could tell her the answer, but I think it will be best for her to find the answer on her own. So, we reread Moroni 10:3-5 with her and invited her to do as Moroni directs. She said that she would very diligently seek to find her answers by following the pattern laid out by Moroni. We are also praying that she will find those answers.

Cute story for the week: We were talking with Sarah and she said something about when she was baptized and she referred to it as her "re-birthday." She says "My re-birthday is in April" :)

The Lord is definitely blessing us as we do His work and I am so grateful to be His servant!!!