I'm loving life on this side of the world. It truly is a lot of fun. The heat is returning, it's time to turn on the fans and air conditioning.
We had two baptisms this past week! Both went well. Brother Li, a special guy we have been teaching and an older man Brother Liu, whose wife is a member (he is older and was worried about bending back in the water. He brought a small stool that he sat on first then slowly went back--all went well).
When people accept the invitation to be baptized, I see them as a bishop, full of the spirit, accompanied by their family--all having the same eternal goal--, Eternal Life. In leadership training President Chen spoke about the importance of envisioning our recent converts as leaders in the church. This made me realize I need to teach more in depth doctrines like fasting, sacrifice, service, pondering, missionary work, and others that usually get left behind.
We have been blessed with a lot of baptisms lately. I think it is a new season in GangShan. Today we bought some simple stationary that we will use to invite our recent converts to record their testimonies.
We have a really neat investigator right now named Brother Wu. He is so prepared. He came to church this week wearing a suit!! He is also comes to church activities and tries to get to know the members. His wife is Christian and she lives in China; she will be coming here next month and plans are set to share the gospel with her. ETERNAL FAMILY here we come!!
My new short-term missionary companion is great! He is humble, and he has a lot of desire. He said he wants to baptize 10 or more people this move call! WOW....we better get moving.
Currently we are focusing on member referrals. These past two move calls a lot of our success came from working with member's family members. As a part of our finding plan we are going to visit less-actives in our ward and try to meet their families. We are striving to ask everyone for referrals. We are hoping that through this method we can find those people who are willing to progress quickly. Hopefully we can find those families whom the Lord is preparing to hear the gospel or are prepared to come back into the fold.
(Written to his mission president) I am happy to serve in whatever capacity the Lord would have me serve in. At the beginning of my mission, I was more desirous of leadership positions, but now I can honestly say that I know God's plan has always been the best plan. When I came to GangShan we had hardly any investigators, and we really struggled for those first few weeks. However, through our experiences I learned that the mere chance to wake up every day and put on a name tag is enough reason to rejoice. So, I am grateful to serve wherever is needed. I’ll fulfill my commission the best I can. I love being a missionary and wearing the name of Christ.
God is great! Love, Elder Spencer Harris
