Go Have An Adventure!: Love Everyone and Happiness through Christ

Elder Coletti's Letter 1/11/16 Week 25

This week was awesome! I want to focus on two people that Elder Crawford and I have been working on. They are so awesome! So first off we have...

Wang Yi Kai

He is a tea shop owner that has absolutely no friends. Elder Crawford and I stumbled upon him and it was a super awkward first lesson. We literally sat waiting for about 45 minutes before Wang Yi Kai even sat down with us! He kept going to the back of his shop and then started making some tea (the kind we can drink) for us! Wang Yi Kai is somewhere in his 40-50s. He is a very timid man who hardly talks. The whole time Elder Crawford and I were debating on if we should just leave and if this was worth our time, but something was telling us that we should stay just a little bit longer. He wasn't showing to much interest in our message. We asked him if he wanted to come to church, and he said, "Will I have to pay?" After we told him of course not, he was hooked! He wasn't interested in talking to us because the whole time he thought he had to pay to go to our church! He came to church later that week, and he brought his Book of Mormon all marked up. He is an ABSOLUTE perfectionist. He puts perfect underlines under every SCRIPTURE, not chapter but SCRIPTURE. He puts a checkmark above every verse after he reads it so that he can remember that he already read it! He has bookmarks for chapters that he has read, and on the bookmark are questions that those chapters answer! Such as, "What is the purpose of life?" and "Does God really answer prayers?" It just made me think, that had Elder Crawford and I left, Wang Yi Kai would not be progressing the way that he is now. He now reads the Book of Mormon completely on his own. He is almost to the point that he comes to church without us even inviting him. He was a very lonely man, that needed a hole filled in his life. This experience testified to me that people have challenges and trials that none of us at first can understand or even see. We have to love everyone and give them a chance. I love Wang Yi Kai so much. Everytime I see him, he will tell me "Very Awesome" because that was an english phrase that I taught him! He will always have a special place in my heart.

Max

Elder Crawford and I were out finding when we found Max. We started talking to him and we noticed that he had 6 dogs circled around him at ALL times. We asked him why he has all of these dogs and he tells us that we should check out his backyard. So we go in his backyard, and I am not kidding, he had 10 more dogs! He has 16 dogs living with him! He told us that these dogs don't have owners and neither does he so they follow him everywhere! Max was born in 1929. He is about 88 years old and it looks like he hasn't showered his entire life. When we shake his hands, it almost feels like we are holding leather! He literally lives in a house of pilled trash. I felt so bad for him! He has no money, no job, nothing (excluding the 16 dogs). He always has the biggest smile I have ever seen on a person. He ended up telling us that he has already been baptized in our church. It turns out that he is a Less Active member at the moment. He is such a humble person. He literally has nothing in his life, but his love for people is really motivating. Everytime we go to his house, he shouts "Is that Elder Tian?!" (Tian is my Chinese name). He really motivates me to enjoy everything I have, especially my Savior Jesus Christ. He was telling us that while he was fighting in World War II, (remember he was born in 1929!) he was having a really hard time. He was around 16 at the time and was scared, but Jesus helped him through it. He helped him overcome his weaknesses and kept helping him push through the turbulance. Max, though he doesn't realize it, has motivated me beyond comprehension. He taught me to enjoy the things I have and to remember that Christ can help me through anything. Something funny that Max does is that everytime he talks about America (which is all that he talks about) he talks about Brigham Young, but he prounounces it "Breeeg Yuuuuung!" Super funny! All that he talks about is Jesus, and America.

This week was spectacular. I want you all to follow the example that Wang Yi Kai and Max have set for us. Wang Yi Kai taught us that we need to love people. At first people may seem strange, but if you are patient enough with them and follow the Spirit, miracles will occur. Max has taught us that we need to remember the role that Christ has played for us. He can help us overcome anything. It doesn't matter what we have in life, if we have Christ then we can be happy.