Feed My Sheep

HOU YEH! Life is so good. Fuhkwuhtjit Faailohk! (Kind of late, but better late than never.) Hope y'all had a great Easter!

Cool quick thought: Fuhkwuht means resurrection in Cantonese, so Easter is "Resurrection Holiday."  

So I don't know if I've ever really talked about turnover lessons, but we do a lot. They're when you have a new investigator that doesn't live in your area so you do a lesson with the missionaries in their area together and "turn them over." Make mh make sense? So it's now a mission joke how many turnovers we do. But it's all good, because it's all the same work! :)

SO. Thursday was the day of "The Turnover Lesson Where Everything Went Absolutely Wrong, But It All Worked Out For the Best In the End."

You could say that's kind of more or less been the theme of my mission. I just have these weaknesses and it's just great to wake up in the morning and wonder how the Lord is going to use them to make something great happen that day.

Wednesday while finding we ran into a man who had been to the Wan Chai chapel and heard a little about our church and had lots of questions about Joseph Smith. To be honest he was probably a little drunk and maybe not all the way there, but he didn't really seem dangerous and he wanted to meet again. I've always wanted to meet someone like this and then have the gospel just totally turn their life around. So we scheduled to turn him over the the TST Elders the next day.

Those Elder just happen to be our Zone Leaders as well, if that makes the story any better...

So. When we called the next day to confirm with the man - Oh. And the man's name is Tattoo.. Because that makes the story so much better -  the number he had given us was disconnected. So we head out to the turnover with faith that he would show up and the Elders would teach an amazing lesson and help this man turn his life around.

I had gotten all mixed up when planning and Thursday rolls around and we ended up being late. I felt super awful because being on time is something I've really tried to be exact on. It didn't really help that the Ho Man Tin chapel is basically impossible to find... So the Elders were going to meet us a Faa Yuhn Gai.

So my complete divine intervention we make it to Mong Kok only a few minutes late, but the Elders told us to go to the wrong exit. So after running around and not being able to find the street we were supposed to meet them at, we figured out the problem and they said that they would just meet us back at the exit. 

At this point we're really late and I'm a little frustrated at myself for not being perfect and getting us there on time and getting lost and yadiyadadyada...  So we get back to the exit and I remember something a friend had written me before my mission. He said that the Lord never sends his servants on His errand without a purpose, so if you're even in a situation that doesn't make much sense, look around and try to see why the Lord sent you there at that time. 

So I looked up and said leih hou to the first person that walk past and they stopped. Bam. Miracle number one. We had a short conversation and we were able to reschedule this person to do another turnover lesson next week!

The Elders finally showed up and we took a mini bus up to the chapel. We get off the bus and a woman gets off with us that had been sitting by Elder Williams. At this point I've dropped the phone twice while trying to get off the bus and I'm feeling like a complete loser and all I can really think about is how I'm totally being "that sister missionary" that no one wants to be. But in my wallowing of self pity we start talking to this lady and MIRACLE #2  turns out she lives in Tsuen Wan and we were able to exchange numbers and she wants to come to church. 

We finally get to the chapel and this man is no where to be found and we have no way to contact him, so we go to hop on the bus back to the MTR station. I was standing there and thinking about how blessed we were to see those two miracles and how patient the Elders were with us and, even if though Tattoo didn't show up, when I realized a kind of gruff looking man walk up next to us. Kind of like a Chinese Pirate/Sumo Wrestler. Well we came this far and we were still alive so we said hi and MIRACLE #3 it turns out that he's a less active that has been living in Finland for the last 20 years and just moved back to Kwun Tong, so we were able to get his number and give it to the Kwun Tong Elders to get him back to church. 

Basically the Lord just takes our weaknesses and shortcomings and makes it work. Always. We just have to give him our best. I learned for the 847,395th time this week that this is HIS work, and as imperfect as we are, when we try to do it His way, receive His help and it always works out.

In light of Easter I've spent a lot of time reading about the Easter Story. I've been particularly touched this time around by the story of Peter. 

Here is this man who is Jesus Christ's right man and the Bible Dictionary even says that he "was one of the greatest of men." But the Bible tells us about all kind of weaknesses and shortcomings he has.

He can't even stay awake while the Savior is in the Garden performing the atonement... He denies the Savior three times before the crock crows... 

After the Savior's death he heads back to his previous life and goes back to his nets. This is certainly "the gospel according to Sister Robinson" but I think he may have felt a little discouraged and inadequate at that point, and that's why he headed back to what he was comfortable doing - fishing.

But the Savior comes and asks three times, "...lovest thou me?" (John 21)

To which Peter responds three times, "Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee..."

To which the Savior answers three times, "Feed my sheep."

So now Easter is over. He has risen and He lives. 

What does he ask of us?

Feed His sheep.

It doesn't matter what our inadequacies or limitations are. When we seek to do His work - to feed His sheep - and do it His way, He is there with us every step of the way and always makes it happen.

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt 28:19-20)

I know that He is with us always. He loves us.

I love you all! Ga yauh!

Love,

SisMoRob