March 14, 2011

Hello, Family!

 

This week was good and my birthday was wonderful!!!  Thank you so much for the presents and the cards.  I loved all of the presents and I'm so excited to have a camera now!  I'll take a lot of pictures so you can see the people I talk about. 

 

Sister St. Clair went above and beyond on my birthday in a lot of ways.  One of them was to ask Bang to make me a Vietnamese treat.  He replied "Hi. Sure. I will make a small party for her."  We got to their apartment for a lesson and they had a table set up with ingredients to make spring rolls.  They were delicious.  Every time I would get half way through one, Do would make me another one. They were very filling. We had a great lesson with them and they shared how they feel the Spirit when they read The Book of Mormon.  Bang said he feels happy and Do feels "vibrations." They don't know a lot of English words, but they know enough to explain the Spirit beautifully.  Their baptism date is next week. 

 

We had a wonderful but heartbreaking lesson with Jeffrey.  He took us out to dinner at an expensive Chinese restaurant and then we had the lesson at his apartment.  We asked him if he would be baptized and he said he can't.  He is an important man in China, dealing with 2 billion dollars every month. Everything he does is watched.  He is here with people from his company and has to tell them that he is just learning English when he meets with us. He said he believes us and he believes God,but if he was baptized China would know and his life would be ruined.  He said another beautiful prayer and included that he will follow God with his heart even though he can't with his behavior, and he knows God will understand.  He kept saying that China needs time but he will bring The Book of Mormon there.  It reminded me very much of the people in the Book of Mormon who had to pray silently because of the persecution they were under.  He is an incredible man.

 

So...WE ARE GOING TO BRANSON TODAY TO WATCH A SHOW!!  We're watching the Hugh's brothers who I've heard aren't very good, but still.  We're excited.  We're going for our Zone Outing.  I'll be sure and tell you how that goes.  I definitely didn't think that would be something I could do on my mission.

 

I love you all dearly.  Thank you so much for making my birthday so special even though you are all far away.  I got so many wonderful letters and the presents I got were perfect.  I love you all so much.

 

Love,

Sister Monson