Elder Wesley Holt: Week 24: Arella's Baptism!‏

Yesterday was Arella's baptism! It was the best baptism I have ever been a part of. Leading up to it was a little stressful. That Sunday morning, everything seemed to be going wrong. But the Lord made it work out, and in the end it turned out to be a beautiful, Spirit-filled experience. After giving the talk during the baptismal service in my broken Chinese with a little English mixed in there, Elder Womack baptized her. But the best part was Arella's testimony. Since the baptism was right after stake conference, there were many people present at the baptism to hear her sweet, powerful testimony as she talked about her conversion story, how God sent missionaries to her, and how the gospel has changed her life. She said at first, she never thought she would be a Christian, let alone a Mormon. But she saw God play a role in her life, especially in her deep struggles and hardships But Everyone was touched by it, and everyone absolutely loved her afterwards! It couldn't have been better.

Arella's baptism pictures!!!

Other than Arella's baptism, this week was a bit of a struggle, especially with finding new people to teach. But one of our investigators who said she didn't want to meet with us came to Stake Conference! And we are having dinner with her and a member family this week, so there was a small miracle!

The scripture I shared at Arella's baptism: Moroni 8:25-26

25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;
26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, whichComforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

The mission is fun! I love the friendships I develop with people here, whether its investigators like Arella, members like Qin Xiao Yu or Swing, companions like Elder Womack, or other missionaries like the sisters who serve in our ward. This part is fun. I am getting used to living in a higher populated area. I sometimes have to drive when Elder Womack goes on exchanges. And there are tons of people to talk to! I am still overcoming my weakness of talking to strangers... but I have made so much improvement. Before, if I didn't talk to people on the streets, it was because I was scared. But now, it's not really scary at all. I never really thought I'd get to this point, but sometimes, when you get into it, contacting people is kinda fun! During companionship inventory at the beginning of the transfer, Elder Cheng told me I was an awkward contacter, and then proceeded to spout off a long list of things I needed to change, haha. I was a little discouraged at how much and how direct it was, but I'm thankful he did that. Contacting in English, no problem. Contacting in Chinese is what I still need to work on.

Exchanges with Elder Johnson. Good times.

The language, I still feel like I am struggling. A lot of the lessons we teach are a mix of english and Chinese. for example, Swing and Arella both know English very well, so it is about 80% English 20%Chinese most of the time. But other investigators who don't know English hardly at all we have to teach in Chinese. It is those lessons that I don't feel like I am contributing or helping as much. In the mission there are so many language missionaries, so I get lots of advice from them. I am not expecting to be completely fluent after 2 years, that is near impossible. But I am almost 1/4 done with my mission (that is a weird thought!) and I was expecting to be able to speak better than I do now. So that part is a little frustrating. But I do enjoy studying Chinese! It is super cool language to learn.

My comps are awesome. I have lucked out with them. Elder Womack and I have become pretty good friends I feel like. I think we would have been friends if we knew each other before. Elder Cheng is hilarious. He always lightens the mood with his comments. We have become friends over the past few weeks. He is one of the more direct people I know. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that I will be leaving them next transfer, but we'll see!

Elder Holt

Hóng Zhǎnglǎo
洪長老

We went to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) last P-day.