WEEK 55

A week ago, last Monday, Sister Hsiao woke up & discovered that she had completely lost her voice. The following day she was confined by me to whispering as her voice would crack if she tried to speak. It was the most quite 48 hours of my life! haha..especially since I'm a person that doesn't speak much either =D
Sister Hsiao felt bad because everytime there is a sickness going around, she cathes it, and everytime she's my companion (this being the 4th time) she gets sick. ...Well, I told Sister Hsiao that she's just a very trendy person, and that this week, she caught the "cold trend" =)
Well, it got from loosing her voice, to a stuffy nose on the 3rd or 4th day, and eventually a cough...but that didn't stop us from doing the work, just took more time to rest during the week. She's doing okay now, just a couple more days before the trend dies down ;-)

The good news for this week is that Wayne is gettting baptized on March 1st! We are so excited for him and we are going to get as many members possible to be involved with his baptism.

Yesterday at church we had Branch Conference where members of the stake auxilary leaders were present and spoke at our Church services & meetings. Our stake president announced that next week at Stake Conference, we will sustain a new Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese)speaking Patriarch! This is a very memorable time in the history of this bay area. The closest Chinese Patriarch to us is in Salt Lake City. Through the request of the leaders in our bay area, the General Authorities have allowed a Spanish speaking and Chinese speaking Patriarch to be called to serve our Chinese and Spanish members in this corner of the world. This is an exciting event, and I felt tears coming to my eyes as I heard the Stake President announce this at church yesterday. This Oakland Chinese Branch is only 7 years old, and the growth that it has seen is because of the love and effort put forth by leaders, missionaries and members alike. We can see already how some of our recent converts in this branch will grow even more as they prepare themselves as well as receive more & greater spiritual experiences & blessings in their lives. I can't wait for next Sunday-Stake Conference!