Elder Ryan Woolley in Hong Kong!: Giving thanks

DAI JIA HAO!

We had a really great week this week, very busy and very rewarding. It is great to be back in Mandarin work and be with Elder Sy! We both know how each others does the work, and have similar ways of working so the work has been going great! We have been working hard with our investigators and we are seeing some great progression. It is really good as well that we both have had good relationships with these investigators and members, so everything is going smoothly. It felt good this week to get everything passed off to the Sham Shui Po sisters and Kowloon West Elders, so I feel that we can really focus on our area and keep moving forward. We have also been trying our best to do the invitations as well, and the results are definitely there for us! I am so excited seeing the mission really stepping up and moving forward with boldness and faith, it is amazing to see everyone inviting others to come unto Christ and actually be baptized.

We have been able to extend a baptismal date every week so far which has been quite successful. I feel the Lord is more willing to send prepared people to missionaries who are more trusting in the Lord and his promises, who will have the faith to bring the people through the gate of baptism and set them on the path to return home to Him. There have been some investigators that have changed in ways that I never expected. Our investigator with the most solid date Chen Guo Wu is doing great! We were working on helping him quite drinking alcohol which was his last big obstacle before baptism, and this week he told us that he got some tooth ache and hasn't been able to drink for two weeks, and after those two weeks he no longer has any desire to drink at all! And whenever he even smells the smoke of cigarettes he is repulsed. It is pretty amazing how he has been blessed and given the strength to overcome these challenges in his conversion process. He has great faith, I don't think I have ever met such a trusting investigator, he really really knows that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, he trusts everything we say, and believes in all the blessings we promise him. He is starting to see the blessings in his own life. I felt the Spirit so strongly as he told us that he was finally done with alcohol, his last problem. I remember I had been working with him on these problems almost 6 months ago, and to see him now, it is amazing the change, not only in these behaviors, but in his very countenance. He smiles, laughs, feels the Spirit, and there is just so much more light to him than before. It is amazing, and is true repentance. The change is just night and day.

Our other investigators are all coming along well, we had a fantastic lesson on church in Sunday about temples, it was a powerful reminder to me of the power of those holy places. There was a member there with his none member wife and she was really touched by the lesson, especially by the members sharing their own testimonies of the eternal nature of families and the power of a temple sealing.

I was reminded of a talk from general conference by Sister Oscarson, who tells the story of a woman who's son was being helicoptered to the critical care unit in Utah, "from the air, she looked out across the valley and could also see the Jordan River Temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and even the Salt Lake Temple in the distance. The thought came into her mind: “Do you believe it or not?” - I had learned about the blessings of the temple and [that] ‘families are forever’ in Primary and in Young Women. I shared the message on families to the good people of Mexico on my mission. I was sealed to my eternal companion for time and all eternity in the temple. I taught lessons about families as a Young Women leader, and I shared stories about forever families with my children in family home evening. I KNEW it, but did I BELIEVE it? My answer came as quickly as the question popped into my head: the Spirit confirmed to my heart and mind the answer I already knew—I DID believe it! At that moment I poured out my heart in prayer to my Heavenly Father, thanking Him for the knowledge and belief I had that families truly are forever. I thanked Him for His Son, Jesus Christ, who made it all possible. I thanked Him for my son, and I let my Heavenly Father know if He needed to bring my little Ethan to His heavenly home, it was OK. I trusted in my Heavenly Father completely, and I knew I would see Ethan again. I was so grateful that in a crisis moment, I had the knowledge AND the belief that the gospel was true. I had peace.”

I am grateful to have had such a strong reminder in that lesson of any own testimony of temples, the power of sealing, and that families truly are eternal. Listening to members share their own stories of being sealed, of loved ones passing away, of tragedy and struggle, but overall hearing the sure and tested knowledge and belief that the gospel is true, and that temples are the house of God strengthened my testimony so much. I really pondered again about those family members who I love who have passed on, and again received the wonderful spiritual enlightenment and confirmation that yes, I will see them again. We are sealed for eternity, the reality of this principle is amazing, and lifts the burden of grief off of millions of members and has lifted my perspective time and time again. I am very grateful for the Plan of Salvation and all it blesses us with.

I love this thanksgiving time, it always gets me thinking a little about what I am grateful for and a little bit less about myself which is always a good thing. I am really grateful that I learned a lot about the importance of the principle of having an attitude of gratitude. Having an attitude of gratitude has really shaped my missionary mindset, especially during the harder times. Trying to always being grateful has helped me recognize more blessings from the Lord and really brought me closer to Him when I really thought there was nothing to be grateful for in a day. That type of thought has changed my attitude on so many occasions, and has enabled me to learn much from the experiences I have been blessed with. I am so grateful for the mission, it has blessed my life so much, I can't begin to say how much the mission has helped me gain real testimony, and filled me. I am grateful for the Savior and his example, and all that he has done for me. Again it is hard to fully express my gratitude for him, for Joseph Smith, for the Plan of Salvation. I am grateful for my family and parents, they are the best examples I was given in my life. I am grateful for President and Sister Lam, they have really helped me learn, repent, and grow, and given me so many opportunities and ways to serve the Lord in Hong Kong, I am very grateful! I am excited for the rest of this transfer with the mission and in our own area, I sense many miracles to come! I hope we can all be a little more grateful this time of year.

Thank you and Love you all!

Elder Woolley