Elder Ryan Woolley in Hong Kong!: "I will go before thee..."

District temple day - with Elders Grayam and Sy

It's only been a few days since my last email, but it has been really eventful!

Yang Kai got sustained as a branch missionary in church on Sunday! I'm excited for him, I think this calling will really help strengthen his testimony and faith as he helps us out in the work here. Jason also got confirmed on Sunday! It was a great blessing to be a part of. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I'm so proud of these two guys they are such studs! It has been an enormous blessing to my testimony to have been with them and even found Jason, and stay with them throughout this portion of their journey. The changes in them are so clear to me. Jason has become a much more out going and happy person, as well as very affectionate. He will be a valuable addition to the branch. I was asked to speak this Sunday for 15 mins or so, and it was a great opportunity! I was looking out on our little branch, and just felt so much love for them. Of course the branch is not perfect, it has many problems, but I love the members so much, and Elder Grayam and I have put our heart into working to make it a better place. I also saw Yang Kai and Jason sitting in their suits (Yang Kai wearing the same one as me still haha :-)) and I just felt the joys of being a missionary swell in my heart. Sometimes I think I don't deserve to be this happy! Heavenly Father certainly rewards us for our work and faith. That small moment where I could feel a little bit of His love for His children in the Victoria 3rd branch was certainly a reward for me.

As I was saying last week, a lot of our other investigators have dropped us, or been antied by friends or family. It always saddens me when someone we are working with gets antied. I can't imagine why people try so hard sometimes to say terrible things about us to others. But of course, it happens. So we hit the streets, and one day we had a solid block of about 4 hours of street finding, we walked from Tsim Sha Tsui to Heng Hom along the pier back and forth haha. I had mentally and spiritually decided that I would try my very hardest the whole time, and to not get discouraged. We believed and expected that we would find people. I'm so glad we had that mindset because I had a great time! My shoes are getting destroyed by days like that, but they can be huge faith building days if we so choose to let them be. We met lots of people from around the world, all the while with a beautiful view of Hong Kong island behind us. It was really a great day, and we planted lots of seeds, and met some good potentials! Heavenly Father is always bolstering my faith. We have more finding this week, but I am looking forward to getting out there and talking to people!

I was studying the story of the Brother of Jared, about the boat, the window, and the rocks for light. We have all heard this story many times, and about how sometimes we receive answers right away with clear instruction, and how other times, we must have a plan first, do our part of the work, then review it with the Lord and have Him help us carry out our plan. I was pondering those verses when I was struck with a thought from Ether 2:25 "And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" The Lord can prepare us to cross the great deep of this life, and we really need him to prepare us for the winds and swells which inevitably come, there is no other way. He wants to prepare us because he knows exactly what is coming, but he leaves our amount preparation up to us. He won't force any of us to allow him to prepare us, but we have to choose. He says what will ye that I should prepare you to have light? I asked myself what am I willing to do, show, sacrifice, so that I can be fully prepared of the Lord to face the upcoming challenges. The Lord promises "I will go before thee" (Ether 1:42) in all that we do, and he has already gone before us in this Earthly life setting us a perfect example, and he has gone before us all in the Atonement in which he bore all of our pains, weaknesses, sorrows, and sins. But we choose if we follow him who has gone before us in every way. We have to choose how much we accept and allow him,through the body and blood that he sacrificed for us, to prepare us. The brother of Jared offered him faith, and a plan that the Savior accepted and then he prepared Jared for his journey, both physically with light for the boats, and spiritually, with Jared's magnificent vision of Christ. I've thought a lot about what I must do to be prepared by Him. The things I have to give up, the parts of my testimony that I must strengthen, and the faith I must show. I know that through Christ's example and his perfect Atonement, we can be prepared for every trial, I have seen so many great examples of that in my life. I know he wants to help us, and that he asks all of us everyday, what will we do to be prepared of him "that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?"

Hopefully that all made sense and wasn't to rambly. I know this is God's work, I really love Kowloon! Moves calls are next week, so we'll see what happens!

Love,

Elder Woolley