Tomb Sweeping Day

SOMEBODY's back from the dead.

Or at least half-way out of the tomb-pit (like I know what to call it, I'm in Asia).

That's funny that I'm talking about death and tomb-pits... tomorrow is tomb-sweeping day in Taiwan/China, and our church knows the truth about the Spirit World.

Anyway...

Have I told you about the worries I've been having lately?

1) I had a dream that I got given/found a new Bible and it had all sorts of weird names in it all brand new and some cool ones that I'll have to write down. Maybe it's some kind of cool prophecy, or maybe it's just cause the white South African man (named Rudi) that we're teaching right now told me they found some new ancient records written on metal plates. I dunno. I guess this doesnt' really count as a worry.

2) Did the Guads fall off the planet? 

Try this:

A 16-year-old. His girlfriend is 23. She's pregnant. To those of this church, you might just start to understand the change and repentance that must come to help these two out. The young man has been rejected by his family, they set him up with the 23-year-old, un-educated young woman, and now he lives with this young woman's family, calls her mom his mom, and watches as the brother rides around town on a fancy scooter with no sleep, high on drugs... etc...He does have a 3000-year-old pet turtle to pass the time...Did you know Asian turtles could live that long?

Anywho.... the week went pretty ok. Wang Sheng Jie was finally confirmed yesterday, so now he is a full-blown member of the church. Zeng Jin Yin is nearly 70 years old, I love him half to death, and he's getting baptized in two weeks. He's expecting to receive an answer about whether or not this church is true at conference, where he'll be attending ALL 5 sessions.

Speaking of Conference (oh, and Brother Zeng plays croquet internationally, he sacrificed that pasttime to come to church), in America, Conference is held in the first weekend in April, and October. It then takes the translators a week to translate, copy DVD's and CD's, update the website...etc. and then we Asian people over here get to see it the next weekend. So this Saturday and Sunday, I get to watch conference!!! The last time that happened was in my 3rd move call, now I'm on #8... wow. Got 8 more!

But we're not talking about that.... (except that I need a job when I get home, and need to IMMEDIATELY get involved in politics, and this job needs to have Chinese as a big part of it, and I better have a chance in the future to come back to Taiwan and China SEVERAL times, and the politics part? Well, when two LDS members are running, one the uncle of a previous companion, I think I just might want to get involved.) I'm not really supposed to talk about politics....

Moving on.

Did you have any other questions? Forget.

I need floss!! Like, REAL floss. That Johnson and Johnson REACH stuff. That's the best kind. Those tooth-pick thingies hurt. I need two journals. The ones you've sent and bought for me before. The same kind. I need two more. And I'll need a few more by about August, September, October.

That's all I can think of.

Victoria helped me send the boxes home. It was a little expensive, but it's alright, they got there. Next time I'll just slow boat 'em again. I was just checkin' out all the options. Too expensive. Don't worry about it. I'm fine.

RAQUELLI!!!!!

If you wanted a name stamp thing-a-ma-jig, it depends on how nice you want it, or how cool (the one I got is just a piece of wood 100Kuai (3 bucks American)), some of them have sweet engravings or cool characters, and some are metal, others are Asian Jade, or Asian Marble, or the tusk of an Elephant, or a really rare Indian wood... you name it. If you want a good one that isn't too expensive, roughly 40 dollars American. Up to you!!!

I KNOW this church is true. Even though, every day, every point of my testimony is tested, I KNOW this church is true. In fact, here's how I think of it. There is a TRUTH in the Universe. There is a way the earth came to be, there is a way we came to be, there is a way of life, there is science, there is space, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints knows the way. No other church, person, scientist, or random psychologist knows the fulness of the WAY. It's not some Spiritual "MAGIC" that this all came to be. There is a GOD, and He knows EVERYTHING. If you want to get down to it, there is a science to the Spirit. But the Spirit still exists. And when you feel guilty? That is the Spirit literally working to help you clean your Spirit. LITERALLY. And our bodies feel uncomfortable and weird when that spirit element cleaning takes place, so we feel bad, and is sparks those thoughts of things we've done wrong, SO THAT we can then change. If we don't want to change because of those feelings, that is the devil. The Science is there behind the TRUTH. But the only thing I want you all to remember is that God loves us. And all these feelings are for our good. Sorry, no time. Love you!

Elder carter