WEEK 68

Some exciting things happened this past week. On Wednesday, all the sister missionaries at the VC and in the Oakland & San Leandro area did a "Sisters' Exchanges" where we swapped companions for a day and worked in each others' areas. So starting Tuesday night at 9 till Wednesday night at 9, I got to be companions with Sister Nai (from Australia -English called) and Sister Lambert (from Utah -Spanish called). We were a super-duper threesome because they put a Chinese spaeker, English/Samoan speaker and a Spanish speaker in one companionship! =) It was super fun and we worked in my area this time. In the morning, we served at the VC and did Companionship study and Language study there. For Language study, I taught them a few Mandarin sentances like "Hi!" "How are you?" "Free English class," "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," "Wait just a minute," "I don't speak Chinese" etc. In the evening we went to China town to street contact and they got to use their Chinese for an hour =) At night, we got to teach English class in China town and Sister Nai had fun helping the students pronounce words in a rich Australian/British accent =) They got confused for an evening, I am sure..hehehe..

This was the 4th time I got a chance to do sisters' exchanges and it is always filled with fun, miracles, and we learn SO much from each other!

This past Saturday I also got to see Joyce, Patrick (Joyce's brother) and Sharn at the VC. One of the treats of serving at the VC is that you get to meet all kinds of people there..including familiar faces! Just a few weeks ago I had met Paulo Bangerter and his family, and just before that, Christopher and Isaac magically appeared on our temple grounds ;-) By the way, thanks for sending those fun pictures, Chris & Fei, and by the way Chris, I didn't ever get that e-mail that you sent me...
Last night my companions and I were discussing about the Second Coming of Christ and about the Millenium. Our Sunday school lesson at Gospel Principles class that morning was about signs of the Second Coming. After dinner, I picked up a copy of the Gospel Principles manual and started reading the few chapters on this topic. I had never really studied from this book before, so I learned some details about the Second Coming and Millenium that I never really knew before...learn something new everyday...
I am grateful to be able to preach the gospel at this time of the world's history. We are really preparing the hearts of men to receive our Savior when He comes again. We are also preparing the way so that all of God's children, from the past, present and future, will have the opportunity to receive the blessings of exaltaion through sacred ordinances done on earth especially in the Holy Temples of the Lord.
Well, our VC director had a saying that really hit home to me. He said: "begin with the end in mind"
I thought to myself, I wish I knew that saying at the beginning of the mission so that I would have a clearer vision of this work, and I would have studied harder, worked harder, and done things with a greater vision of where we were headed. Well, it's been a great year, so no regrets, but I am grateful to start a new beginning everyday and think: "begin with the end in mind" and work towards greater goals set each day and each week to help me better focus and achieve what the Lord would have me do before the end is come!

Have a great week!

Love you much