Deep Cleans

It's been another busy week in Chai Wan. We had to participate in the yearly "deep clean" that most Chinese people do around New Years. I spent about 3 hours cleaning the kitchen fan. It feels great to clean stuff up sometimes, I feel like everybody needs a deep clean to freshen themselves up. Physically and spiritually. There was a talk in General Conference recently where they told a story of an engineer who went cleaning in the temple, and as they went to meticulously clean the chandelier in the celestial room, the engineer could not see why they needed to clean it when time could be better spent elsewhere -- the chandelier seemed perfectly clean. As the man he accompanied began to carefully clean every crystal on the chandelier, the engineer asked him if there was somewhere else they could go to clean up, where their help would be more needed. The man repsonded, "We aren't here to clean the temple, we're here to keep it from getting dirty."

I hope that all of us can do the same with ourselves. Spiritually speaking, occaisionally cleaning up after ourselves is never enough for the Lord. He expects us to keep ourselves from getting dirty. I know that the Lord expects us to learn in this life to "abide by the celestial law" of heaven (D&C 88:22), and I hope that we all can ponder on what deep cleans we can and need to participate in for ourselves. All that said, Happy Chinese New Year!

 

Turns out Eddie has two addresses, and would rather be baptized in a different area, because his girlfriend also attends in the other ward. I know it will be good for him to have that support, so we have to turn him over. I'm so grateful for the experience I had with him last week, and just as President Hawks has advised us, I'm as grateful for the assist as the baptism itself, which will be done by other missionaries.

 

The Ward seems to be picking up in enthusiasm for missionary work lately, as they were so helpful in our other investigator Francis to have a good experience at church this Sunday. All I can say today is the work is progressing, and there is a lot to do to ensure that the area is left better than it was found, with an enthusiastic ward and several new investigators. Continue to pray for us to find and teach families! I love you all.

 

Elder Hazen