Week 27- October 29, 2012

Week 27

October 29, 2012

Hey everybody!

This week was a good one to say the least. Yet again, we came in contact with people from all around the world (Singapore, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Honduras, Hong Kong, and Guatemala just to name a few).

The highlight of this week was definitely me and Elder Bowcutt’s journey back to my homeland of Bade. We arrived an hour early to find that the baptismal font (where they perform the baptism) was broken and the whole chapel had no water. So we ended up getting some clean garbage cans and rolling them across the street. We filled them up and then dumped them into the font. We ended up only having one and a half feet of water. That’s it!! So I had to baptize the 16 year old son and I tried 3 times but it was impossible to get him completely under! (When we baptize people, it is by immersion and their whole body has to go all the way under.) So finally he had to lie down to do it. One of us had to hold his legs down while the other baptized him. But on the way down, he hit his head on the step in the font! I will just say, it was a crazy baptism but we got the job done. We baptized the daughter and son. The mom is also ready to be baptized, but wants to wait for the dad before she'll get baptized. The dad has a smoking problem right now, so we'll see how that goes out there. Anyways, it was a great experience to go out there.

Also, this week we had two baptisms of our own. The first was Asutosh. He is from India and is the most Christ like person you'll ever meet. He is here studying. Then a sister from the Philippians, named Roseandres, was also baptized. We had both of their baptisms yesterday after Church and so many people came that not everyone could fit in the room. It was great! The baptism went well!

It is funny. A lot of missionaries over here think that China is going to open up (for missionary work.) Some missionaries have been having dreams about going to China and a few days ago at a meeting our Mission President said that some big changes are going to be made soon that will amazes us. He said that all of us younger missionaries will have to become leaders and senior companions. Not sure what changes he talking about but we'll see what happens. I’m thinking they might reopen up the Gaoshang mission (southern Taiwan) or something. I’ll keep ya'll posted.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to love the Book of Mormon even more! I really love how it answers the questions of our soul, such as what happens after we die, why are we here on earth, etc. The Book of Mormon has the answers to them all. Whoever you are, you need to read the Book of Mormon and ponder it every day! I feel one of Satan’s biggest tricks is to make us forget the eternal perspective. Reading the Book of Mormon helps us keep the eternal perspective!

God is Love,

Jordan Chatman

This is Jordan with some other elders, eating lunch with Rusty, who is a member in the Jin Hua Ward. This is on a pday. Elder Teshima is next to Jordan.