Speaks at Zone Conference in Chinese

Hello, Hello from Keelung City, Taiwan.  This week has been going really good!  Yesterday we had Zone Conference and it was very touching.  Not even kidding.  I think it was my favorite zone conference with the new President.  President changed his method of people giving talks.  In the past, you were usually called on the phone and told you would give one, then there was one person who was surprised every time and asked to give one on the topic they asked us to prepare.  However, Elder Watson came and did a Zone Conference a couple weeks ago, and he picked names from a hat, and he had anyone on a mission longer than 6 months give their talk in their second language.  Well, this zone conference, we all had an assignment to read one of the four gospels studying how Christ taught, what kind of questions he asked, what revelations we recieved reading it, and record it in a study journal.  I had the gospel of Mark.  I had just finished Matthew when the call came telling us the assignment, so it was perfect.  The talks were to be on what we learned in the process, or what we learned because we were studying the Savior.  Well, I wasn't expecting to have to give the talk in Chinese, and in my personal opinion, the old language in the Bible is a little more complicated of vocabulary.  So, I was a little scared of being called.  But, well!  I was!  Haha, actually he said "Elder...well, this says Elder Bruno, but we don't have one!  So we will hear from Sister Bruno!"

So yeah, I changed my talk to less of a focus on the actual study itself, and more of a focus just about my feelings about Christ lately.  I shared how Sister Kunzler and I were watching Finding Faith in Christ with an investigator last transfer, and it just dawned on me...people ask who your hero is all the time, and I never know how to answer, but I realized, Jesus Christ is my hero!  He was really awesome.  In the movie, there's a part where he heals a man with leprosy (sp?)  and I just thought in my mind, that man looks so gross, I wouldn't want to go near him at all, but Jesus Christ just loved him, and healed him according to his faith.  Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the ugliness a person has, like in a mission it's you see a companionship having a hard time, and a lot of missionaries will take one side or the other, and hope they don't get put with the "bad companion" but Jesus Christ wants to heal people.  He suffered for them.  He wants us to forgive them, because he promised he will forgive them.  And so, I want to be more like Alma and the sons of Mosiah.  They were great missionaries and it says they did impart the word without any respect of persons in Alma 16:14.  When I read that, I wanted to be less discriminant in who I contact.  A man came to the church yesterday night, we had just gotten back from Zone Conference and 6 missionaries had lessons at the church, so we were all there.  This man was persistant in pleading us to buy him a ticket back home.  We couldn't of course, and kept saying he didn't want money, just a ticket, and we kept saying we had no way to help him.  He wouldn't listen to us sisters, so Elder Cai4 our zone leader, came out of his lesson and talked to him for a couple minutes.  Thank goodness for Taiwanese missionaries!  He was able to tell him another opinion he could TRY to use, which gave him a tiny bit of hope, that i'd never heard of.  Well, usually I wouldn't think to invite him to church or anything at all, but after Zone Conference and reading that scripture just a couple days ago, I felt impressed we should invite him.  So after the Elders had fully explained there was no way we could buy him a ticket, Sister Kunzler and I told asked if he'd ever been to church.  He said no (there are a lot of people in Taiwan who just find a church when they are in a really hard spot because they think the church will help them, which of course we desire to help them, but usually they just want money, and we have no way of helping them in that way) and so Sister Kunzler and I testified that we had no way of helping his money and financial situation, but we could help his soul if he was willing.  We invited him to go to church when he got back home.  I felt good about that.  I want to be more searching for the good in people, and their opportunity to change.  I know my first companion was really good at that.  When I first got here, I was not very good at a lot of things.  She really had to just see my opportunity for growth to love me, since I was a hard person to love at times.  Good thing I got a companion who already knew how to do that.  I'm just barely figuring that out over the last couple days! 

So yeah, I shared about the movie and the leper, then I just shared a story from that night before, there is a sweet little Taiwanese missionary, Sister Chen Shu Ting who is my roommmate, and my companion and her companion were going to do a musical number at zone conference, so they wanted to wake up earlier than usual to get to Taipei.  Well, I just wanted to split and wake up at 6:30, but Sister Chen wanted everyone to go together.  I told her, Uuuugh, Sister Chen, I'm so tired in the morning!  You don't even understand.  We can just wake up at 6:30 and get there at the normal time.  And sweet little Sister Chen, she thinks about it for a few seconds, and then turns to me and whispers, "Fu jiemei, mei guanxi, Yesu Ji1du, ta liao jie."  "Sister Bruno...that's okay, Jesus Christ understands!" And then she was like, "Geng kuai qidao! Wen Tianfu bang ni qi chuang" "Hurry!! pray!  Ask God to help to wake up in the morning" And in the morning when my alarm clock Sister Phillips had set for 5:55 went off, I prayed really fast, and ran straight to the bathroom to wash my face.  I was the quickest out of bed.  I know it was through help because I usually don't just jump out of bed! I take a minute or 3.  Haha.  So yeah, it was really great for me.

So yeah!  I'm excited I got the chance to share my talk in Zone Conference and talk about how my relationship with Jesus grew this transfer.  It's been a really great transfer.  Zone Conference was just really amazing focused on the Savior and what he did for us. 

It was especially touching, as Elder Daniels, now the traveling assistant, and Elder Gassin bore their testimonies.  They were sobbing.  Elder Daniels bore a beautiful testimony about how he knows his mission will bless his family, and Elder Gassin talked about how if we remembered nothing else about him as an Assistant, to remember that he truely believed this work, the restoration, and the principles we teach daily.  Elder Daniels companion, my old Zone Leader E. Worthen was also crying.  It was just so touching because it's not like they were putting on a show...they just had so many emotions.  So many of us were just really touched during that and the closing song "I Believe in Christ."  Not many dried eyes.  I myself, cried when Sister Chen (Neihu sister Chen) bore her testimony in English.  She always said she would one day, and did her last one.  It was amazing and sweet and I felt the spirit so strong as she bore her testimony in her 2nd language.

30 seconds! Bye!

Transfer 5 Week 3: A Call to Repentance--Conforming to the Gospel Principles

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:28 AM

Hello there, face here.  Okay, maybe I'm not face, but I liked that cartoon way back in the days.  It's just been another week in Jilong.  And a very interesting one at that.  We watched conference...had zone conference...we also need to head out to Taipei tomorrow for President's interviews, so we've gotten quite a lot of trips to Taipei. 

General Conference wasn't actually supposed to be a trip to Taipei for us, but on Saturday morning, they couldn't get the English working in Jilong, just Chinese, so we missed the morning session of conference and caught the next bus to Taipei, just to see the last 10 minutes of that session.  It ended up being alright though, because President's Assistant, Elder Gassin, burned us a copy of that session during the break, then for District meeting Monday we watched Saturday Mornings conference.  So now, we have watched all of conference.  I thought it was unique that such a great emphasis was love and service.  I realized in my own life, the problems that happen especially with family and friendship relationships, are mostly due to selfishness.  I think the average person forgets the importance of repenting daily.  I mean, I feel like a lot of people go on a mission, invite investigators to keep commitments, such as repenting daily, and at that time come to the realization that we also need to do such...but then, I think time passes and it's easy to forget what you taught them.  The habits developed become less of habits, we digress spiritually, become more like the natural man....then as conference is watched and speaker after speaker talk about putting off the natural man, it's easy to have a desire to change...while they speak, the spirit is strong, a fire is kindled within our hearts, but do we ultimately change?  Do we put it into action?  Do our family relationships become stronger?  Do we start to feel the power of the Holy Ghost's influence in our lives daily as we do the things that invite his presense into our lives? Do we become more active in considering how others feel and what we can do for others instead of feeling like we ourselves are wronged?  What do we do because of conference?  How do we take what President Monson said about taking these things and changing, and actually change?  Seriously.  I personally cannot remember a big step I took to change after conference in my life...I remember after conference this time, feeling a big desire to change and become better.  As a missionary this is what my life is about...but then I wondered, how will my family and friends do this.  I, myself, have to take great effort to change, and that is what my life is focused on. And it's hard! Seriously.  My whole life is becoming more converted so that my investigators can be more converted, since their level of conversion can only be as far is mine is...and yet it's a daily struggle.  I focus on it constantly.  So for you guys, how is conference going to change you?  I heard maybe 3 of you guys write me about conference and tell me about what you liked, but I'd much rather know, how are you going to take conference and CONFORM?  Change and become more like Christ?  Being on a mission had made me realize our family is not very good at conforming, but conforming is a gospel principle. I hope you don't take offense at this statement, but I honestly believe it to be true. My growing up experience was unique, and I cherish that in a lot of ways...but as I testify about how the gospel blesses families, I wish to see a change in my own family that really shows how this mission is helping you guys.  Heavenly Father is an unchanging God.  His laws and his principles will never change.  And so, in order to obtain His salvation, we need to put ourselves in line with His laws.  We need to develop His love (charity) and not worry about being unique or different.  Believe me, you are unique.  You don't even have to try to be.  So what I'm wondering, is what are you guys going to change because of conference?  How are you going to be more obedient to God's will?  A big reason I ask is because I personally am struggling with obedience.  I want to be a conformed and obedient missionary, but sometimes some of the stuff I do or say shock people.  I'm working on this through goal setting...and I hope you guys can too. 

So yeah! That's what they talked about at zone conference...they talked about obedience and goal setting.  It was a very fitting zone conference for me, because both are things that I'm not good at, but I'd like to be.  I seriously in the past have hated setting goals, because I'm scared of not measuring up to them, but goals are a way to see progress, so I'll have to get over my fears and be more specific in my goals...it's not very feasible to think you can just change over night...i've heard stories, but never actually just POOF changed...So, little by little.  You can't just go from not understanding how you listen to the Holy Ghost to feeling it constantly in your life.  This isn't how I teach my investigators, and it's not what I expect for myself either.  First you teach them what the Holy Ghost is.  Then you encourage them to do things that will invite the Holy Ghost into their lives, such as baptism, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, prayer to recognize how he feels for you individually, being obedient so he can dwell with you, following his promptings so he stays...etc.  As I more understand righteous principles, I think I'll keep them more.  President shared Alma 32 with us about arousing your faculties..you can't just have faith in something right away.  Not true and everlasting faith.  There are steps to do.  The start is getting the desire, arousing your faculties...hoping...so yeah.  This is what my hope for you guys is....that as I do my best as a missionary to serve God and bless my family, you guys will also put faith into action...have weekly Family Home Evening, pray together, read together, strengthen your relationship, avoid things that draw you apart...change yourself for those around you...learn to love each other, more fully and more completely.  That is my hope...but I can't change anybody's agency...Only you can change, no matter how much others want you to.

In another experience, this week my companion and I had the..unique experience to have lunch with a member of a church that broke off of the LDS church, they read the Book of Mormon, but beliefs are much different than our own.  I know which church it is, but would prefer not to specify, as there are quite a few break off's of the LDS church.  Sufficeth it to say she had us come back with her to their church, one floor in a large building with many floors. 

4 minutes this story needs to be brief...anyways, we went back there, and it's really small since not many believers live in Taiwan, but they had copies of the Book of Mormon.  I picked one up and began to read the introduction.  As I was reading, the Holy Ghost came very strong to my heart that the intention of this book was completely wrong.  I felt sad for this lady, she has SO much truth, she has the Book of Mormon in her life, she has Moroni's promise, and yet, she doesn't have true authority.  The Holy Ghost just testified to me that this wasn't true and what I had in my bag was.  I'm glad for the Holy Ghost and our ability as members of this church to know truth for ourselves.  Her reason for not being with our church was the LDS churches past of polygamy.  It had nothing to do with her own feelings.  So how great that we have personal revelation.  Nobody can be forced to believe truth.  We feel it.  I know this church is true.  I felt it.  And I felt it that day, strongly.  I love that lady a lot, but I'm glad I was born into a church with correct authority.  To her, I would not say her church was wrong, I don't persecute others beliefs, but I stand strong to mine.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I loved Sunday Afternoon's talk.  25 seconds to send this! Bye!