August 30, 2010

Hello again!

Hey everyone! It's so great to read your letters. I'm glad to hear how much Heavenly Father has been blessing you all. He's certainly blessed us a TON this week.

I'll start out with the Q&A time. The name (name) is three characters. The first one is his surname, so we call him (name),(Brother name). The last two are his given name. For example, my name is Ruan ZhiHao.

Prices are actually a lot cheaper here, but we live on less money, too. Examples: the bingsha goes from about $20-30, which in American money is less than a dollar. Like, 80 cents. But that's pretty expensive for a drink. A cup of wintermelon tea costs $10, or about a quarter. A meal at McDonald's is $100, or about 3 USD. Most meals cost between 60 and 80 kuai (dollars).
Yes, that's Elder Bickmore. We're going to be together for another move call. He's close to his 1.5 mark--he came out a year before I did, end of April. I'm still learning Chinese, yes. We have an hour in the mornings for language study, along with any time left at lunch if you eat fast enough. The mission gave us these books that help us learn vocabulary and phrases useful for learning the five Preach My Gospel Lessons. Reaaaally handy.

Heh...(name) is just funny. He was so excited at that baptism. In answer to Mom's question, that's what we were laughing at. Don't worry, he was reverent for the one that's going on the announcement board in the church. Speaking of which, have I told you our church is inside a high-rise? The first floor sells bedding, the fifth floor is a cram school (bu-xi-ban), and we're sandwiched in between. It's interesting.

Well, this week was a lot of fun. We set a goal to add 56 new investigators this week, which is really really high. Higher than when we had the Assistant to the President with us. We prayed hard, talked to everyone we saw, and the Lord blessed us to find 60 new investigators. That was such a huge testimony builder to me. I know when we focus on a worthy goal, pray for the Lord's help to achieve it, and then do all we possibly can, He will help us achieve it. I want to challenge each of you to think of a goal you want to achieve in the next month or term or whatever, set small goals to help you reach it, and work toward it, relying on the Lord to help you achieve it. I know that as you do so you will find that the Lord is actively involved in your life, and He wants to help you become better through these goals. Are you all willing to do that?
Speaking of commitments, how's scripture study going? Is everyone doing it daily? And the Elder Bednar thing has audio? That's cool--I just thought it was something he wrote for the Ensign. Be sure to tell me how the scripture study and listening to "Things as they Really Are" went when you write me next week. :)

I'm trying to think here...Oh yeah! It's time for weird-stuff-I-ate corner! This week it was octopus. And a shrimp with its head and beady eyeballs still on. I had to pull his head, legs, and shell off. Yeah...weird. But the octopus was surprisingly not that bad. Just a little weird texture. But I don't think I'll order seafood chow mein again anytime soon. Anyway, keep track of these. When I get home we're going to the Asian Buffet and Dad and Dillon are going to keep their vow to try the weird stuff I've eaten. >:)

One minute left. I sure love all of you! It is so much fun to read your letters every week and know you're doing well. Remember your Savior always! Rely on him and don't neglect that daily spiritual nourishment.

Love you all!

Carter