Well this week was one of those weeks where I felt a lot more like the missionary image potrayed/heard of before my mission.
How so? Well let me see. I always had the image of missionaries running from some dogs... Just yesterday my companion and I were going out to a village to go and try to meet up with this guy that had previously been contacted. It was starting to become evening time. The first set of dogs while we were walking there we got a good view of and as they started to come up to us we walked away.
rWell after we made our attempt to visit the guy, he had some company over, we were headed home and it was dark. As we were walking back, we were walking on the road that ended up being by a construction site (we had picked up rocks before just in case..) As we were walking, a deep big growls and barking came from two dogs. I stopped to squint and see where they were and saw a very large black creature coming at us with another behind. I turn to see my companion running off already (already had an experience.. ha) so I start running with hearing these dogs chasing us. As I look at my companion, I see that he isn't running he is hauling. So I put down my head and start to go to. Those dogs were pretty fast.
Well eventually we were running down a little path and trying to get away. We eventually heard them not pursuing us anymore so we jogged for a second and stopped. That is when we were at a 3 way road in the middle of trees all around us. My companion had no idea of where to go. As we sat there, we decided to say a prayer. There were two ways to go and one where the dogs were. After the prayer a strong feeling came to to go one way. We started down that way and it was feeling good. The only problem was that it could possibly take us back. As we were going though, Heavenly Father wanted to make sure we knew that we were on the right path as we had asked Him to guide us, the out of nowhere a little family comes walking and the boy has got a flashlight. They confirmed we were on the right path and continued on with them. We were so blessed and thankful to Heavenly Father for guiding us through the Holy Ghost.
Here in Hong Kong most locals are Buddhist and do Ancestor Worship and if not they are Christian or attended a Christian school. Not many times are they too educated and they don't really take the time to try to tear you apart. Well I moved to Discovery Bay and I love it. Most of the people we talk to are nice and occasionally chat with us either on the bus or the street. That was my view and I still believe most people are nice. Well we went to zone conference and I was chatting with elder from a England. He told me he was glad he didn't serve in England like his cousin because "Brit's will tear you up. They can be vicious." Well I laughed and told him that most people were fairly nice and enjoy talking. Then we met a man who happened to love to try to tear down Mormon missionaries. It was ironic because it was the same day that he told me that this happened. We were on the bus with this man and he had his time. We took it well and pretty humbly, I feel. I just avoided arguments and would answer questions.
Afterwards though I just felt a lot more like a missionary and like a disciple of Christ. It was a very interesting experience though, I feel that before my mission I would have just looked at the bad in this man and just want to do what he did to us. Return the fire. But this time, as I sat there, I thought a lot about how much Heavenly Father loved His children and even those who were lost. I thought about how the Atonement could really truly help this man. I didn't full understand why I had felt a love for this man. Then I thought of His apostles such as Paul. As Paul teaches about Charity in 1 Corinthians, I thought a lot about his life and how he must have developed and grew to understand that charity he testified about. It was a really neat experience and gave me a larger out look on life. It was good to because I had been studying more on charity again and prayed to learn it in new ways as well. Just barely am I realizing that is how Heavenly Father wanted me to have another view.
We also went knocking on doors! It was great because we went to this one house and rang the bell. The lady invited us to come back and meet with her! That is a first time for me!
It has been really neat this past week to see how the Spirit has been working on people. Really changing their hearts and helping them accept the gospel. We have an investigator who isn't admitting to feeling the Spirit but after church, she had really felt it was true. We tried to get her to recognize what it was, but she wouldn't say it out loud. Joel our investigator is also doing fantastic. He is such a neat guy and really just looking on how to internalize the teachings of Christ. Each time when we meet with him, I walk out of there having learned a lot. One thing I really enjoy about him is that he sees the purpose in everything and sees why the Lord will do things the way He does. Joel is also very quick to observe. He works very hard for what he must do.
Alright, that is all I got.
At zone Conference President Hawks really touched up on the point "Always be where the Lord can find you." It was great. He related this with 1 Samuel. It was great. I have been pondering that much more./
Loves
Elder Townsend
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