还有新年快乐！It's been a great, unusual week here in Lyon :)
We got to watch the Lion King! Yes it's a fun Disney movie, but there are actually a decent number of connections with the relationship between us and God if you pay attention, which is what we were asked to do by President Brown. This week we had an awesome conference with great musical numbers and creating a spirit of unity within the mission. We really need it, seeing as this new year will bring the dedication of the Paris Temple, going to which is a huge goal we are setting with everyone we teach and baptize. At this conference we got to see all the Chinese missionaries together for the first time since Elder Zhu and I arrived in the mission, it was super super fun :D 超级好玩了！
Christmas Eve we spent with our amis and made hot pot with them that night, it was amazing and I ate a whole squid :) It was a small one, but squid nonetheless. After we got home we did a nativity scene with the other Elders, which was really fun. I was the angel :)
CHRISTMAS! We slept in until about 8:30 (yes it was totally allowed and yes it felt amaaaazing), then got up and all opened presents together. Thank you so much to my wonderful family! I loved all your notes and presents, it was a wondrous gesture of love :) That night we were with our amis again at the institute and I got to skype everyone! That was really cool, it was good to see everyone's smiling faces even though the hour went by so quickly. Looking forward to Mother's Day when we can do it again! For dinner we had leftover hot pot with Korean stuff added in, making it more of a spicy seafood soup with mussels, shrimp, crab, and all manner of things. I wouldn't say I've learned to love seafood yet, but I can definitely eat it without a problem now. Sorry it took so long Mom!
Going to backtrack a little bit...
Tuesday: first day of Christmas Conference! The WHOLE MISSION got together, which hasn't happened in a long time since our mission covers half of the country and it's hard to organizedly get 200+ missionaries on trains and then into hotels and then onto more trains. Nevertheless, they did it and it was so much fun to see all my friends from the past few transfers and meet a lot of people I've only ever heard about. We all got to wear normal street clothes because we were going to a park to play games and stuff, which happened to be in our sector! Not only was it in the sector of Confluence, it was at the Confluence itself where the Rhône fleuve and the Saône river come together. During that big reunion we were asked to go at some point to the confluence of the two rivers and ponder the significance of it, which I did along with Elder Keller, also currently serving here in another équipe in Confluence. That evening we went to an auditorium which was in an aquarium. Super awesome, I loooovveee aquariums and zoos and safari parks. Soeur Brown had come up with some "minute to win it" type games which were absolutely hilarious and then Président Brown spoke about the significance of the Confluence. Essentially what it symbolized was the coming together of Heaven and Earth. If you look in the scriptures, you'll notice that spiritually significant events are generally marked by Heaven and Earth coming together, such as when the angels appeared to the shepherds on the night of Christ's birth. Also, remember the prophecy made by Malachi in the very last verse of the Old Testament?
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
Who are the children? We are, here on Earth. Who are the fathers? All our ancestors, currently residing in the Spirit World. This prophecy is now being fulfilled as members of the church go to the temple and perform ordinances for their ancestors so that all of God's children, past, present, and future, can have the blessings that God has promised them. This is it! When we perform these ordinances, we create a bond between us and our ancestors, thus bringing Earth and Heaven together again! We are so fortunate to live in these days, let's take advantage of it!
God is real and this is His church!
We got to watch the Lion King! Yes it's a fun Disney movie, but there are actually a decent number of connections with the relationship between us and God if you pay attention, which is what we were asked to do by President Brown. This week we had an awesome conference with great musical numbers and creating a spirit of unity within the mission. We really need it, seeing as this new year will bring the dedication of the Paris Temple, going to which is a huge goal we are setting with everyone we teach and baptize. At this conference we got to see all the Chinese missionaries together for the first time since Elder Zhu and I arrived in the mission, it was super super fun :D 超级好玩了！
Christmas Eve we spent with our amis and made hot pot with them that night, it was amazing and I ate a whole squid :) It was a small one, but squid nonetheless. After we got home we did a nativity scene with the other Elders, which was really fun. I was the angel :)
CHRISTMAS! We slept in until about 8:30 (yes it was totally allowed and yes it felt amaaaazing), then got up and all opened presents together. Thank you so much to my wonderful family! I loved all your notes and presents, it was a wondrous gesture of love :) That night we were with our amis again at the institute and I got to skype everyone! That was really cool, it was good to see everyone's smiling faces even though the hour went by so quickly. Looking forward to Mother's Day when we can do it again! For dinner we had leftover hot pot with Korean stuff added in, making it more of a spicy seafood soup with mussels, shrimp, crab, and all manner of things. I wouldn't say I've learned to love seafood yet, but I can definitely eat it without a problem now. Sorry it took so long Mom!
Going to backtrack a little bit...
Tuesday: first day of Christmas Conference! The WHOLE MISSION got together, which hasn't happened in a long time since our mission covers half of the country and it's hard to organizedly get 200+ missionaries on trains and then into hotels and then onto more trains. Nevertheless, they did it and it was so much fun to see all my friends from the past few transfers and meet a lot of people I've only ever heard about. We all got to wear normal street clothes because we were going to a park to play games and stuff, which happened to be in our sector! Not only was it in the sector of Confluence, it was at the Confluence itself where the Rhône fleuve and the Saône river come together. During that big reunion we were asked to go at some point to the confluence of the two rivers and ponder the significance of it, which I did along with Elder Keller, also currently serving here in another équipe in Confluence. That evening we went to an auditorium which was in an aquarium. Super awesome, I loooovveee aquariums and zoos and safari parks. Soeur Brown had come up with some "minute to win it" type games which were absolutely hilarious and then Président Brown spoke about the significance of the Confluence. Essentially what it symbolized was the coming together of Heaven and Earth. If you look in the scriptures, you'll notice that spiritually significant events are generally marked by Heaven and Earth coming together, such as when the angels appeared to the shepherds on the night of Christ's birth. Also, remember the prophecy made by Malachi in the very last verse of the Old Testament?
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
Who are the children? We are, here on Earth. Who are the fathers? All our ancestors, currently residing in the Spirit World. This prophecy is now being fulfilled as members of the church go to the temple and perform ordinances for their ancestors so that all of God's children, past, present, and future, can have the blessings that God has promised them. This is it! When we perform these ordinances, we create a bond between us and our ancestors, thus bringing Earth and Heaven together again! We are so fortunate to live in these days, let's take advantage of it!
God is real and this is His church!
江长老
No comments:
Post a Comment