New Year Same Bus Stop

First things first, I do not recommend Pig's Feet. We went over to Jesse's house for dinner because her parents wanted to cook for us before they left to go back to China. Everything was delicious! Real Chinese cuisine! We had dumpling, spicy vegetables, noodles with an amazing peanut butter sauce (who knew soy sauce and peanut butter would go so well together?), and awesome pork in amazing sauce. Then there was the pig's feet. I just couldn't handle all the fat that was on them, but I have tried them and can honestly say "no thank you" if I am ever offered them again.

This past week was amazing as we swam through the 42 degree Celsius record breaking heat and very humid air. Most of our investigators have gone back to China and Taiwan for Chinese New Year and so that meant we were GQ'ing all day everyday. Normally we have around 14 hours a week of GQ'ing, but this week we had 24 hours!

Saturday was the worst. It got up to 45 degrees Celsius and we had 7 hours scheduled for GQ'ing. To say I was a little pessimistic at the start of the day might be an understatement; but after lunch I got down on my knees and asked my Heavenly Father for the strength to get through the day with a positive attitude. I could feel the Holy Ghost feel my heart with courage as I stood up and prepared my things.

It was so hot! I felt like one of Dad's sizzling steaks on the grill. When we got to the bus stop the Elders were there as well. Usually this is a bad sign because too many missionaries at one bus stop leads to idle time, but I knew if I was going to maintain the feeling of the Holy Ghost with me all day I needed to be busy all day long. So I went over to the side of the bus stop by the bridge walkway and I stood there and said, "Hi how are you today?" to every person that walked by with my biggest smile and optimism floating on the words exiting my mouth.

As I asked this simple question to everyone, many people just nodded and kept walking; but much to my surprise and great pleasure many stopped long enough for me to ask my second question, "Where are you from?" Most said Taiwan or China and then I would start talking to them in Chinese, asking them about how they were handling the heat and if they'd ever seen missionaries before. As I began to talk to the people that paused for those couple of seconds, we began to have 4-7 minute conversations in which I could testify of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I invited everyone to come to church and English Class. I was only able to get a couple of phone numbers and one potential; but that didn't matter because the feelings of the Holy Ghost were no longer within my heart but pulsating throughout my body, giving me more and more energy to just keep going all 7 hours! By the end of the night I was tired, but I felt like I could've kept going if I needed to.

That night as I was writing in my journal I flipped to the pages of Isiah and read Isiah 26:3-4 "3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." I thought of how blessed I was to have had the strength of my Savior throughout the day and throughout my life. He understands all the pains and afflictions of Heavenly Father's children and want us to know we can always call on our Heavenly Father for help and strength. I invite all everywhere to pray to their Father in Heaven and ask for His help. I know that He will give it to you if you simply ask. I love you all and hope you strive to come closer to Heavenly Father and Christ throughout the year 2014! Happy New Year!