Members helping Missionaries

Elder Coletti's Letter 02/28/16 Week 32

This week was so good. After Wang Yi Kai's baptism last week, Elder Crawford and I learned a valuable lesson about how to help prepare our investigators for baptism. We had MAJOR developments in some of our other investigators this week.

 

You might remember the four generation family  living in one house that Elder Crawford and I found a couple weeks ago, the Fang Jia Ting family. They honestly weren't progressing as well as we would have like for them to. We were having a really hard time meeting with them because: 1) They are all females and only have two boys in the house who are both children.  In order for us to meet with them, we need to find a peike (a "peike" is chinese for a lesson with a member present.  I think peike is so much easier and convenient to say;)).  The problem with having to have a peike present is that the Fang Jia Ting family can only meet at 6 o'clock, which is a really hard time for a peike to be available to help us teach because of work, dinner, family time, deng deng (deng deng is Chinese for etc.). Therefore, we would have an appointment set up with the Fang Jia Ting family, but not be able to meet with them because we couldn't find a peike. 2) Whenever we do find a peike, the Fang Jia Ting family would live up to their name and "fang" us (Fang means to stand someone up and not show up to a lesson).  Anyway, this week we were able to finally meet with them, and it was an amazing lesson! We taught the second lesson, and we talked about their baptism date. Our peike started testifying to the mom of the Fang Jia Ting children on how her getting baptized would motivate her mom (the children's grandmother) to become a better person. The Fang Jia Ting mama was almost in tears!  It really touched her because the Fang Jia Tang's mama's mom (the children's grandmother) is an alcoholic and most of the time is in the hospital recovering from drinking too much. This testimony from our peike really motivated the Fang Jia Ting mama SO MUCH!

 

We then inviting her two kids to come to the stake activity this week, which was a BLAST! They had so much fun and they really bonded with us.  I feel super bad for those two kids.  They are 12 and 10.  Jake is the older brother and Kevin is the younger brother.  Imagine these circumstances: your dad has abandoned the family and you don't have any relationship or contact with the man.  Your mom has to work from 11 in the morning until 6 every day.  Your mom's mom (your grandmother) is ALWAYS drunk and hospitalized.  Your mom's mom's mom (your great grandmother) is 80 years old and can hardly care for herself anymore.  That is the type of life these two boys are living.  I asked them if they were all right and they just told me, "hen hao wan, jiu haole" (which translates as being happy is good enough).  These two boys have such a hard life, and yet they are still happy.  They still find the positive and keep on living with a smile on their faces.  They are both very mature and inspiring little boys.  I'm excited for the coming weeks with this family.

 

Also, we had a really cool miracle. One of our members referred us his brother who was in the hospital because he had artery clogged. He was about to go into surgery, a very risky one at that! The doctors said that there was a small chance that he could possibly die during the surgery. So Elder Crawford, the member, and I all gave him a priesthood blessing. And this whole time, the member's brother was in his bed, dopped up on pain killers, and just completely out of it. 3 days later, Elder Crawford and I return and this man is walking! Almost as if nothing was wrong! The surgery went swimmingly and he was on the fast track to recovery. He had started reading the Book of Mormon before the surgery, but he showed no intrest in our message or our church. He is showing a lot of interest now! He is what I would call a "miracle conversion";)

 

The Lord has provided so many miracles for Elder Crawford and myself this week. I know that the Lord has provided just as many miracles to each and every one of you.  You just have to be ready to receive them and acknowledge them! Jake and Kevin have motivated me so much this week.  They have motivated me to help others, and help them receive this gospel that can change their lives and give them hope.  I want to invite others to look at these two boys examples.  Regardless of what we are going through in life, God will provide the miracles. I love you all and wish you all the best of miracles!:)

Elder Coletti