Year Mark

Hey there from the Kong!

We're pretty pressed for time today, as I spent most of my email time reading the 28 emails that were sent. Sorry this weeks email was so late, Mom -- President Hawks has changed the rule about attending the temple. We can only go once every quarter, and the day that we decide to go becomes our P-day that week. So we had a few days extra work to do before we could email home!

On what is normally P-day, Elder Farnsworth and I went street contacting in the after-school hours in a nearby area we had only just discovered a few days earlier. We were fasting that day as well because we wanted to make sure the couple that had been passed over to us last month were ready to be baptized this coming Sunday, so needless to say we were a bit tired and a little at a loss for what to do. Elder Farnsworth seemed to have a lot on his mind and a bit troubled, so I suggested that we go sit on a nearby public table to pray. We both engaged in our own personal prayers. For some reason, I felt my prayer needed to be short, and as soon as I lifted my head up I had a prompting to face the road. So I turned around and saw a 16 year old student walking home from school. As he came near, I waved at him and got up to greet him. Before long, Elder Farnsworth had finished praying and we taught the boy a lesson about the Restoration at the table. Just as we had finished the closing prayer, I noticed a young boy on a bicycle riding back and forth looking at us and hovering near the spot that we were sitting. As the student continued asking questions to Elder Farnsworth, the boy on the bike locked eyes with me and made a face that said, "Who are you and what are you doing?" I decided to get up and go answer his question. Just as I began inviting him to attend our English Class, his parents walked up. They were very interested in the English Class, and the wife, after reading my nametag, casually mentioned she didn't know much about Jesus. They were willing to give me both their number and their address, and indicated that coming to their home would not be a problem. A couple hours later, Elder Farnsworth told me I should call them immediately and schedule them for the following day, and it proved to be successful. The next day we visited them in their home, told them that our main purpose was to teach about Jesus Christ, and taught them the Restoration. Two parents and a 13 year old son.
The M. family will be coming to English Class this week, and are also interested in attending church. However, it turns out that the father has cancer -- his condition seemed more severe when we were in the home than when I had first talked to him on the street.  He can walk on his own still. He is a native of Hong Kong, but the wife is from Mainland, and her native language is Mandarin, however she speaks adequate Cantonese without too thick of an accent. Her son is perfect in both languages.  So, we've been blessed this week to find a family to teach, and we are still praying faithfully for many more families to teach. After all, that's what the gospel is all about, isn't it?

Tomorrow, I will have been on my mission for one year exactly. It's a surreal feeling to know that although last week felt ten years long, I feel today as though I entered the MTC just yesterday. If you had asked me a year ago what faith meant, I may have given you the textbook answer and wondered later if I really knew. Brian sent me an email this week that really touched me about giving a priesthood blessing to his pure, faith-filled child, and in my current experience, faith is exactly that: being as pure and as believing as a child.

Well, I'm getting kicked off the computer, so I have to go. I know this work is true.

Love,

Elder Hazen