What a roller coaster of a week- Week 29

Helloooo everyone!!

I have had an absolute rollercoaster of a week, I don't even know where to start!

Our recent convert gave a really eloquent talk in church this last sunday, I actually struggled to ting de dong some portions of it, it was very eloquent, but he is so solid, he gave us a shoutout in the end, said we were his best friends. It brought tears to my eyes! It is so true the joy of bringing a soul unto christ! I love seeing him grow in faith and love of the Gospel. He is such a stud, wheres our matching suit to church every week haha.

We had another amazing street contact this last week, and it came at a time where I was in a grumpy mood one day. I don't know why but I just woke up so grumpy, and couldn't seem to shake it off, we were finding and not having any success, so I kinda just stopped trying so hard. Then I turn around and my companion is talking to this random guy, and I went over to talk to him, and the guy seemed super interested. I was still annoyed for some reason, but we invited him to go with us to this park and listen to a little more, which he gladly accepted. My mood began to change a little, and we sat down with him and taught him the Restoration of the gospel. It fell to me to recite the first vision, and I paused, thinking about my terrible attitude, and was just so disappointed in myself for being so selfish that I would deny anyone of hearing this amazing message, and was so proud of my companion for listening to the Spirit and talking to him. Then I forgot about myself, and recited the words of Joseph Smith. The spirit was so powerful and I got to bear real testimony to him that I know Joseph Smith's words are true, he did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, and they did speak to him. He listened quietly and then proceeded to tell us how he was supposed to be in Taiwan today, but because of flight complications he was stuck here, he was alone and was just wandering around, and we were the first people to talk to him. He has a Christian background, and said that he believed it was from God that we ran into him, and I believe it too. He said, maybe it's my time to learn these things. We testified that it was, and he left us with a Book of Mormon in hand and a smile on his face. He lives in Taiwan, I gave his info to Elder Hammond, and I'm excited to see the outcome! I know God guides us, I feel as if I have had too many experiences like this too not just always try my hardest to talk with everyone, but sometimes I let myself or bad attitude get in the way. But I know  that He loves us, wants our happiness, and happiness for others, so my job is to just let myself really become a tool for that. It is the most satisfying work.

Our week went down a bit when our buddy Jason, who was supposed to be baptized this week, texted us saying his father would prefer him not to get baptized right now. He is one of our best friends out here, my heart dropped when I read that text, but I know we have been preparing him to face a little bit of opposition. He has really amazing faith and has accepted everything! He has really felt the peace and happiness of the gospel enter his life. So I know that this moment is definitely not an end to his progression, but will give him some more time till he will be baptized. I think it will be a good time for us to help him truly get a testimony of Christ, and we will baptize someone who has truly repented and come unto Christ. We will be meeting him soon, I feel everything will be good with him! His faith and spiritual experiences are too strong to not overcome this trial. We have a mainland baptism on Sunday after church, and he was going around telling everyone that his was next week, and was so excited! So I know the desire and faith will overcome this speed bump.

The mission is a constant rollercoaster of lessons I feel like. We had an amazing meeting this weekend that really inspired me about our mission and the work we do especially with all of our brothers and sisters in the mainland. When I think of those billion living there, it makes me so sad to think that so few of them really understand the simple truths that bless us every day. I'm grateful to be able to help some of them get to understand the simple, yet comforting truth that we are children of a heavenly father, a God, who loves us. Not an unknown form in the universe, or energy, but a very really Father. Since I was young and at every mainland baptism I have been a part of we always sing I am a Child of God, it's their favorite! I used to think that song was so repetitive, until I pondered the significance of the simple yet wonderful title of the song, I am a Child of God, and our plea in the chorus, Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way, teach me all that I must do, to live with him some day. The truths of eternity are taught in that simple childs song. God will lead us, guide us, our Savior walks beside us, and in the end, we may all live with him again as eternal families. I love my family, and I am so inexpressibly grateful towards our Father in Heaven for creating us this plan, and towards Jesus Christ, a Savior, through whom all these wonderful things are possible. I am grateful I can be with my family forever, grateful that death is not goodbye, is not an end, not some obscure darkness, but a clear, bright, celestial transition to eternity with our Father. I know these things are true, and I am glad that I have learned these things from wonderful parents who once told a bunch of crying woolley children in San Francisco that we would all see Gong gong again, and live with him. Families truly are forever.

Thank you all for everything! Love, miss, and pray for you all!

Elder Woolley

Exchanges - Week 28

DA JIA! This last week really seemed to fly by! I'll summarize it as best I can!

Yang Kai and his friend

Our buddy Yang Kai brought a friend to church this last week! It is so refreshing to see someone so new to the gospel so eager to share it with his friends, it gets me really excited for him! He is really solid, and he even went out last week and bought the same suit as me which he wears sometimes to our lessons and also to church haha so funny. We have a really good time together in the lessons, and his testimony has really been growing!

Yang Kai!!

Our other buddy Jason is so amazing, I really feel like it is such a privilege to teach him, I'll be honest I never thought there were really people as prepared as him out there, maybe I just lacked the faith. But now I know! It's a big testimony strengthener that God prepares his children, and puts them in our path. If we are willing to share with everyone we will find them. We never know who missed out if we don't open our mouths. He is a constant reminder to me of that, which is good! We moved his baptismal date to March 6th! He will definitely be ready for it. It's crazy how fast he is progressing, even shared a Book of Mormon with his family when he went home to mainland for the New Year! So proud of him! 

Elder Grayam and Jason - just a few more weeks before he gets baptized!

I got to go on Zone Leader District Leader exchanges again this week with Elder SY! It was so fun to be with my trainer again, felt a little weird too, and we had a great time finding! We found really well together even though it's been months, and it was cool again to just apply the gospel to anyone's life on the street!

Elder Sy and Elder Woolley together again!

The New Year really has had an affect on our teaching pool, lots of people went home for a really long time, and came back and dropped us, or have been hard to reach again. It's hard to have that pattern, we call it the mainland monster, when investigators go there they get eaten by it haha, but it's pretty true sometimes! We lost some really good investigators, which was pretty heartbreaking. Our friend Lu Tao met us after he got back, he had great potential! But then he told us when he was on the break he didn't think about the gospel at all, and was pretty happy with his family, so he doesn't want to meet anymore, then left for class. It is pretty sad to hear someone give up learning the gospel when I know the blessings it brings! But I have faith that in him there is a seed that has been nurtured, and sometime in the future, whether it be in a few months or even in a few years, something will bring him back to a truth he once knew. It has helped us sort of sift out the investigators that wouldn't be progressing, and kept the strong ones! So we'll be working hard these next few weeks finding more people!

Moves calls are tomorrow! I'm a little nervous, I have moved to a new area every transfer so far and always had a new companion, it is a little tiring, so we will see the outcome of this transfer! I really love this area, and the potential is incredible! I have also loved being a district leader and serving the district and meeting so many baptismal candidates, it has been a huge testimony builder! But it brings to mind something from Preach My Gospel, which says something like that Savior was prepared and willing to atone for mankind. I think there is a powerful principle in those two aspect of serving. Being prepared, and being willing. We never know when we will be asked to do hard things, but we always have to be prepared to do what the Lord calls on us to do. We have to be prepared to bear testimony, and in the moment that we bear it, bear real testimony, to truly know and mean and feel exactly what we are sharing, and not just say 'I know God lives' without conviction. We have to be prepared to follow promptings, switch lesson topics, change plans, serve someone, or heed promptings. And, the most important one I've been learning, is willing. We have to be willing to do hard things. Even when I'm exhausted, discouraged, or it's hot and humid, or raining like crazy, or it seems there  couldn't possibly be any good from a situation, we have to be willing to try! Every time I have grudgingly, unwillingly done something, the outcome is always the same, it matches the expectations I put on it. But when I willingly go out and trust the Lord, giving myself to him and trying to not let myself get in the way, the days are much better. The Savior spent his entire life preparing, serving, teaching, and setting a perfect example so that when it was his time, when he knew he had to go and atone for all, though he didn't want to have to go through the immense pain, he willingly did it in ultimate humility, saying nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done to the Father. Sometimes I look at our day or at a problem or an investigator and I have no idea what to do, or I know its about to be really hard day, and I really don't want to do it, but I know that I'm not out here to do all the things that I want to do, but I came here called of God, to do His work. So I am working to try my best to be always prepared, and willing, when I am asked to do hard things.

Fortunately the mission isn't all hard things! I love it so much, I have a lot of hope for the future of the branch, I love my investigators so much, and I can see real progress and joy in them! I love being a missionary, preaching the gospel, and serving. 

Ping Pong finding

Thank you all for the emails, letters, support etc. I just got a package of letters from my ward from Christmas which was fun to read and see all the kids drawings! Love everyone back home and I'm praying for you!

Love,

Elder Woolley

Master Wu - Week 27

February 15, 2016

It's only been a few short days since I last emailed, but there is still so much to talk about!! 

Our investigator Yang Kai got confirmed in church this last week! He is so enthusiastic, and loves sharing things in class and bearing his testimony. He really likes rabbits, so he has all this playboy brand clothing for the bunny sign its so funny haha he just has on his funny smile with like a play boy jacket on haha, he just searches bunny or rabbit clothes online then buys them. But he is going to be a solid member! I'm so happy for him!

Our buddy Jason who we found on the street a few weeks back is doing really really well, I am just so impressed by him and his desire to learn, it is such a testimony to me that there really are prepared people out there for us, we just have to be willing to open our mouth and talk with everyone, which isn't always very easy! At church this week after seeing all the stuff with Yang Kai, he leaned over to me and said, can I get baptized sooner?? He is really excited, and has huge desire to have a testimony, which makes it such a pleasure to teach him and be friends with him! His current date is April 3rd, but we are hoping to get him baptized sometime in March!

 The work in our branch is really starting to speed up, and the branch it seems is starting to step up to make the work go even better! A few weeks ago the Branch President asked us to make a branch mission plan, so we all spent a lot of time making a very thorough and detailed plan that basically ended up being a Branch everything plan, the Branch President was really impressed, and I think we helped him sort of change his view of missionaries. It's a good step in the right direction! I'm really proud of everyone in the district working together to make something that will help the whole branch and help us have better relationships!

I went on District Leader Zone Leader exchanges last week with Zone Leader Elder Buss in the international work, and had a few really great experiences. We taught one couple who are from Sri Lanka, and don't really speak English, all they have is a copy of the Book of Mormon in their language, so we basically taught them all through scripture. It was so amazing to hear them discussing what they read with one another in their language, and just to see their countenances brighten with the light of understanding  as they were taught by the best teacher, the scriptures, and the Holy Ghost. It reminded me again the power of simplicity, and the scriptures. They are getting baptized next month! 

In our mission we have something called the Ballard Plan, which Elder Ballard set when he was here about a year ago, part of that plan was to have everyone try their best to talk to 10 people outside of finding time, so that means on buses, the MTR, walking to lessons etc, which are always the hardest places to talk to people. My companion and I have had a goal for along time to get those 10, and the Lord has blessed us! A month or more ago, we were on the train, and started talking with this guy Collins, from Africa. We got his information and gave it to the international Elders, and kinda forgot about it. Then, when I was on exchanges, I learned that Collins has been loving the gospel, and will be getting baptized next month! I feel blessed to get to see this seed growing and bearing fruit, because most of the time we don't get to see the good we do. I feel like it was a tender mercy, reminding me we really never know the effects of our actions. But Heavenly Father always blessed us when we strive to do what He asks of us. 

This brings me to something that I really liked that was shared at our Zone training by the couples missionary, Elder James. It is an old Chinese story, and it goes something like this: 

      A long time ago in in China there was an old village. In that village lived Master Wu, he was the only one in the village who had a horse. All the villagers would praise Master Wu, saying Oh Master Wu, you are so lucky to have a horse! One day, his horse broke out of the stall and ran away. All the villagers came to Master Wu and said, Oh Master Wu, you are so unlucky, your horse has run away! We feel so sorry for you! Master Wu said, perhaps. The next day his horse returned, bringing two other horses with it! All the villagers came and said, Oh Master Wu, you are so lucky! Your horse has brought such good fortune to you! Master Wu said, perhaps. The next day, Master Wu's only son was trying to tame one of the new horses, and it bucked him off, breaking his leg. All the villagers came and said Oh Master Wu, you are so unlucky! Now you have no able heir for your land! We feel so sorry for you! Master Wu said, perhaps. The next day the army came through and took every able bodied young man to go fight in a war. Master Wu's son was not taken. All the villagers came to Master Wu and said, Oh Master Wu, you are so lucky! Your son has gotten to stay! And do you know what Master Wu said in response? Perhaps.

I think there is a powerful principle in that story. We always must suspend judgement on our circumstances, on our trials, hardships, and weaknesses, because we simply don't know what the outcome will be. But we can use them to grow. I feel that the mission, and even life, is a lot like Master Wu's experience. Sometimes everything seems to be going great! And then just like that, everything is hard, tiring, and confusing. But we don't know what the next day will bring, when we endure hardships or weaknesses well, relying on our Savior and his perfect love, the next day could bring blessings from the previous days hardships. I know this to be a true principle, especially on my mission. Hard times are here for us to learn, so when current situations are hard, we don't need to complain or feel sorry or feel that we deserve more, instead, we can say perhaps right now is hard, but perhaps tomorrow will be better, and then walk through those times with Christ by our side, and come out with new understanding. I am grateful for a loving Savior who would willingly descend below the very lowest person to ever live on this Earth, so that he could lift all of us. I am grateful for this mission which has taught me so many lessons already, the most important of which is that Jesus Christ the Son of God is the Savior of the world, he atoned for every single person, and though perhaps our circumstances may not be any better tomorrow than they were today, we can be better tomorrow than we were today. I can't comprehend the love that he must have for all of us, as well as how intimately knows each and everyone one of us. I can't comprehend how he must have felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he knelt, bled, bore, and experienced everything, every pain, sadness, cruelty, hopelessness, and tragedy that the world and opposition can inflict. His love is infinite, it allowed him to do that, and allows us to be forgiven, and cleansed. I've probably said this a thousand times on my mission to investigators, members, missionaries, and these letters home, but it's because I know it's true, and because Christ and his atoning sacrifice are the center of my life.

Thank you all for the support, I love hearing from everyone and hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Woolley

Happy New Year!!! - Week 26

Da Jia Gong Xi Fa Cai and Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!  It is now the year of the monkey!  I hope everyone had a great week!  Also, shout out to the Broncos - let's go!  Our prayers go out to the people and my mission friends on Taiwan.  I hope everyone is ok from the earthquake!

We had a very eventful week and a half!  Chinese New Year has been crazy!  All of our investigators, but one, went out of town for a few weeks, and a ton of the members as well, so it has been quite hard on us, but we know that there are stable families that we are meant to find in the mean time!  There were some crazy riots here in Mong Kok, right outside our apartment, too.  We were out for morning exercise when there was suddenly a lot of noise and smoke and people running everywhere, so we quickly headed back to the apartment and waited for it to all settle out, but no worries, everything is ok!

On Tuesday right after the last time I emailed, we ha a mainland visitor schedule last minute the day after, so Elder Grayam and I taught all the lessons, but we also has scheduled our investigator, Yang Kai, a lesson and his baptismal interview, and then another investigator that night, so it was a bit of a marathon day.  We taught our investigator, then Yang Kai, then I went to interview the other visitors while Elder Sy interviewed Yang Kai, then we had our mainland baptismal service, and then our last lesson cancelled, which was almost a relief because I think I was far too tired to teach anymore haha.  But the lessons went great, and we had a powerful meeting with them!  Our buddy came from Sichuan all by himself even though he is still in high school an is the only member of his family!  He was super polite and humble, as they always are.  I'm sure you all know by now, but I absolutely love working with them, and an always uplifted by their humility and courage.  It is a privilege to be a district leader in this area and to interview all of them.  They all teach me so much!

As we found, Elder Grayam and I really prayed hard to find a family here, and had a few great experiences!  We were in a big park for about an hour doing a lap, and everyone was just saying mdahan in cantonese and we just couldn't talk to anyone or find any mandarins.  We were on our way down the stairs to leave when I caught sight of a lady sitting on a bench.  I just kept walking, but for some reason the image of her on the bench wouldn't leave my mind, and I felt like I should go talk to her.  So I stopped and said we should go back  and talk to her.  It was a little uncomfortable because she was sitting with earphones in, but we approached and started talking to her, and it was miraculous!  She was from Hubei, in China, and was really happy to talk to us!  She was talking about how she wanted to find some friends from mainland here in Hong Kong, and how she misses home a lot.  Her family was with her here, but she was definitely homesick.  It was so amazing, I knew the Spirit had prompted me to go talk to her and to give her comfort from her Father in Heaven.  The best moments of the mission are the moments when I have truly felt that I am being an instrument in the Lord's hands to bless his children.  I don't know what her future holds with us, but I am glad that I was able to heed that prompting, and I know that our Father in Heaven answers our prayers.  Something my mission president says is Heavenly Father is just a prayer away.  It is that simple, yet sometimes we let it get so complicated or involve so much more, but in the end, our Father in Heaven is only a simple prayer away, for anyone, and He is ever so willing to hear from the children that He loves.

Our zone conference was really great, and there is so much more that has happened since the last time, but I just don't have anymore time!  So it'll have to wait til Monday.  Until then, take care everyone!  I love you all and you are in my prayers!!

Love,

Elder Woolley

Elder Grayam ready to baptize Yang Kai!

Uncle Sheldon!! - Week 25

Hello all!

Although it has only been a few days since I last emailed, I have definitely had a really amazing few days, some of the best in my mission.

We didn't have too many great lessons this week, basically everyone is going back to mainland for a few weeks to celebrate Chinese New Year, which is huge in mainland, everyone spends days traveling to get back to their home towns. Fortunately our investigator Yang Kai will be in town still! We asked him if he wanted to move his baptismal date one or two weeks back to have friends and ward members in town, but he just said he can't wait! He is so prepared I am so excited for him! It has just been an amazing process seeing his testimony grow. When I moved here all I knew about him was that he had seemed really great until a friend had told him that they wouldn't talk to him anymore if he continued meeting with us, and that was that. When I got here we managed to schedule him, and taught him a powerful message about Christmas just two months ago, and now he has come so far! It is amazing to see the gospel overcome all problems and smooth out wrinkles in life. I hope we have a great week but for now everything seems set for him!

Our buddy Jason continues to impress me with how much he is willing to learn and loves meeting with us!

Elders Woolley and Grayam with Jason

He was especially impressed with the resurrection of Christ, sometimes I forget that these things are completely new to these people sometimes, and the wonder in his eyes when we talked of the resurrection was again a powerful testimony to me of the power in the simple truths of the gospel that so many people just don't believe in todays world. He wants to move up his baptismal date which is great! We'll see how he progresses when he returns from mainland.

At a mandarin YSA activity this last week I got to see Jason Lin, the recent convert I spent a lot of time teaching with Elder Sy in Sha Tin, and it was so great to have us all together! His testimony has just grown so much since those days, and I know that it was a big part of my work in that area, he is preparing himself to go to the temple soon, and is just a great member! 

Elder Grayam baptizing a mainlander

I got to help out twice this last week with mainlanders visiting to be taught and baptized, and the whole process is honestly amazing, families just saving money for months then sending their children or themselves coming on 3 day long train trips to be baptized, they are so humble!

Lunch after the baptism

We had an especially moving session this last thursday, there was a big family from Beijing that was here for there semi annual temple trip and they all attended the baptism of this mother and daughter, the spirit was so powerful, and I was amazed at how strong these members are in the country and rules that they live in. Their stories and examples are ones that I will never forget. The most amazing thing is that the Beijing family that was here was the same family that was visiting when I first arrived here in Hong Kong 6 months ago!

Elder Woolley getting to baptize China's soon to be 2
newest members!

The wonderful family from Beijing welcoming
mainland China's 2 newest members!

We all recognized each other and I just felt so much love for them! They are very faithful saints and a lot goes into their devoted temple attendance. We all had a great reunion and they warmly welcomed mainland China's newest 2 members. The church and the members there are truly amazing!

Goong goong and Popo's old friends and Elders
Woolley and Grayam and their apartment Elders

And lastly I had one of the best days of my mission today. I ran into Sheldon Poon - very old family friend and church leader in Hong Kong's history of the church - in the Wan Chai chapel a week ago, and he got the mission presidents permission to take me out to lunch, along with the temple president Wong, Elder James (an old couples missionary who served here a long time ago) and Elder Ngai (an old couples missionary who knew my grandparents).

Uncle Sheldon and Elder Woolley!

It was such an amazing experience. He took us to eat in the building where my grandparents served there public affairs mission and had meetings representing the church. He then taught me all about the church history here in Hong Kong, and the role that my grandparents had played in it. It was such an amazing moment truly to appreciate their work and the examples they set for me. Temple President Wong told us a story of how my Grandpa had interviewed him to be a counselor to Sheldoon Poon as the branch president when Pres. Wong was only 18, and used some verses from Timothy in the Bible to comfort him. Elder Ngai, Pres Wong, Sheldon, and my Grandpa were the leadership of the first branch in Hong Kong, and Sheldon later went to build a chapel in Yuen Long, Macau, Kowloon City and went about serving. He is a beast, it is so wonderful to learn and here about these stories from a more mature and missionary mind set, I honestly feel so so blessed to be serving here, I have so much family connection here, and I am proud to serve where both my grandparents before me have served and done the work of the Lord. Sheldon gave me a book that my grandfather wrote on the history of the church in Hong Kong, but unfortunately its in characters so I can't really read it yet haha but later in the mission I will. It is a privelege to see the work and how it has grown, and how the gospel blesses families first hand, and it was a huge testimony strengthener to me to see how truly God calls us specifically to our missions. While this specific reason may be more obvious than others, I know with all my heart that this is where I am meant to be now, and this is what I am meant to be doing now. I also know that all the other missionaries in the world callings are just as specific and personal as mine, and were chosen by divine revelation by the leadership of the church. I really love my family, and am so happy to be serving a mission for the Lord among the people of Hong Kong and working with the people of mainland China! I know this is God's work, and I love helping people learn about the gospel and help them have more fulfilling and happy lives. The gospel brings blessings, many of which we may not see for a long time! I love and appreciate my grandparents and their pioneering example here, I couldn't be prouder to serve where they began in the church.

Thank you all for the support, advice, encouragement, and love! I miss, love, and pray for all of you!

Love,

Elder Woolley

Temple Day - Week 24

January 28, 2016

DA JIA 

I know everyone was clamoring for my letter on Monday and that the general public was pretty disappointed when it didn't come, but no worries, I have P'day today because we went to the temple today! 

I had a good experience with the warning of the Spirit last week! My companion and I decided to take this bridge shortcut across a highway that looked really abandoned, no one ever uses the bridge because the walks are more convenient but we wanted to see if it was faster. When we got up however, I felt like something was really wrong. It smelled really bad and I saw all these sketchy shacks. The further we walked, the worse I felt. We got up to these shacks and this women popped up out of the back and scared me so bad, her face was all sunken and her hair was falling out, we saw another man with the same creepy look, and we saw that he was melting these black sticks like heroin or something on tin foil, and he had out this big knife. Super sketchy. My comp is pretty innocent guy so bless him he went up to them to give them a pamphlet, but I just felt prompting like LEAVE NOW so I just grabbed him and we booked it haha it was pretty intense all these crazy drug people just have a little house place on a bridge. But the Spirit always warns! Glad we didn't stop to talk any more.

On to the safer part of the week (don't worry mom :-), this week is full of too many amazing experiences and miracles to be able to recount, but I'll start with our new buddy Jason! We had a little bit of time left for finding one night, so we decided to go out again in Mong Kok. We went out finding and people we're just rejecting us like crazy, I always ask if people can speak mandarin, then if they say no, then I try to start talking a little in Cantonese, but people we're not having it. Then we stopped Jason. He immediately struck up conversation and wanted to go somewhere quieter to talk, so we went over to some tables. He was very interested, and since that day last week we have taught him 3 times, he came to church, and gladly accepted a baptismal date! The Lord truly sends his prepared children our way, we just have to be ready to receive them, and never be afraid to open our mouths! I think about what if at that moment I just decided not to say hi to him because everyone before for the last hour hadn't even stopped, he would've walked right by, and not gotten to hear some of the message of Christ that he was searching for. It was a powerful testimony to me to always be willing to preach the Lord's gospel, it's what I was called here to do. He is such a great guy though, he is also 19, and from Guangdong, so he speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin perfectly. He will be a great asset here in the future, helping the Mandarin mainlander and Hong Kong people relations. There has been a lot of tension in Hong Kong lately about mainland China and Hong Kong. But I can really feel that the Lord is hastening his work here. It's sometimes feels like a lot of pressure, right now the number of mandarin missionaries feels to be a little low, my last companion Elder Ma just finished along with another guy going home, and we have no replacements being sent in the upcoming weeks, so I sometimes feel stretched thin over my area with my companion and I and the responsibilities, but it has enabled me to rely on the Lord far more. It can be overwhelming to handle it all, but I know it's as the Prophet Thomas S. Monson says, "the Lord qualifies those He calls," and if there is anyone that needs qualifying right now, it's definitely me haha. But somehow every day goes by and I feel the Lord's influence in the days when I am most focused and obedient. For that I am most grateful. 

I really love being the district leader in this area because I am closest to Kowloon Tong building, which is where we do mainland baptisms, so I am often called down to do interviews and help conduct the meetings or baptize or confirm. It can be a little stressful too, but it is so amazing to interview all these people, see their testimonies and hear of the sacrifice of them and their families to allow them to get here to be baptized, and to hear what the church is like in mainland. It's just a whole different world over there, and the stories and examples I have seen just amaze and humble me every week. The members in mainland are amazing, and I wish I could tell you all more about it. Needless to say, the Lord is hastening his work in China as well, and always provides his children with a way to find the truth, regardless of the situation. He loves all His children.

We took our strongest investigator Yang Kai to the temple the other day to lok around and teach him a little bit about it. He was so excited and was taking pictures of it and was just so excited about it. He gets baptized on the 7th, and we set a goal for his temple attendance too! He seems like he will be a really strong member in it for the long run, which is so good! There is no point in baptizing someone if they are just going to go la, so we are working our hardest to make sure he is truly ready, and that he will have the support to last, though it is not easy. We are blessed to have a temple in our mission, and a new rule that President Lam has said is that we can go through the temple with the people we baptize! I really hope I have that opportunity sometime in my mission. I love the temple, and have truly learned here on my mission more of the significance of it all, truly it is the Lord's house.

Finally I had a rather touching lesson with a former investigator of about 10 years ago. I went on exchanges within the district last week to evaluate an Elder, and Elder Sy ended up being in my area. He called some formers while here, and set up a lesson with an the old guy Chen. I got to meet Chen with my companion on Sunday and it was a powerful lesson. He smelled quite heavily of smoke and was a little bit of a crust type older guy, and he told us that 10 years ago, Elders with the same names as me and Elder Grayam had taught him, and that one of them promised him that missionaries would never forget him, no matter the outcome of their meetings. He had stopped meeting them, and a divorce, a few poor choices, and lots of hardship later, we got to meet with him. After hearing his story we bore testimony that God never forgets His children. Though we may deny Him, leave Him, or out right reject His very existence, God will never do the same for us. The Lord's hand is always outstretched to us to be pulled back to our Father. As we promised him this the Spirit was so powerful. He said it was time for him to pray again, to read the holy scriptures, and to come to church. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He was so humble and I just felt so much love for him. I know that we are never forgotten no matter where we are in the walk of life. No matter the paths, twists, and turns that we take, we can take comfort in knowing that God never forgets His Children, and in the perfect Atonement of Christ, the Lord our Savior will never forget any second of any pain that we experience because he perfectly suffered through every single second of it for every single one of us. He descended below all of us, that when he rose we all might rise with Him. 

I can feel the support of the Lord in this area, and it's carrying us through and blessing us with success! thank you all for the prayers, letter, packages;) and everything, it is much appreciated! And don't worry fam when I went to the temple today I could still fit size 30 np waist #blessed

Looove,

Elder Woolley