This was a great week. Monday, as usual, was spent in the office. We picked up a big book of mormon that we had made for our investigator. This investigator is a Brother Ye. He has a hard time seeing, so we had a book of mormon printed large-size so he could read it.
Tuesday I exchanged over to Donghai where we had a fun day contacting and were able to sit down with a few members.
On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder X, an Elder from my MTC district. We are good friends and we had a fun day preaching the gospel together. He is just a really happy missionary, and I was grateful for his example. He loves this work. While I was with him we went and visited someone I helped get baptized in my second area (Taizhong Beitun). Her name is Sister Zhuang. She had cancer and is currently in the hospital. Her condition is really bad, and she is probably in the hospital for the extent. She was happy to see us and cried. It was a special moment to see them again (her and her husband). I was impressed by her positive attitude. She was still joking around with us, just as she always has. Her high spirits lifted me in our brief visit.
Thursday was Specialized training. (A training meeting for Trainers and Trainees at the end of their first movecall.) First we held it in the north and then went to the south. My companion and I got in some pretty slow traffic and were late to the meeting in the south. But the overall feeling of the meetings was good, and President Bishop masterfully taught us how to teach with discernment.
Friday was a fun day because I got to go back and visit my beloved land of douliu. While we were there we had weekly planning session. I went through old records and made them a list of all the former investigators who I thought had potential and made a list for them. The list was one page (front and back), I sure hope they can set up with some of those people and see them get baptized, especially Chen Baba. I called Chen baba while we were down there and he said that his dad is sick and dying. It is a sad thing, but I think this experience will soften Brother Chen's heart and prepare him to hear the gospel.
Saturday, we took a preparation day of sorts. We wanted to bike up Taiping mountains for our exercise. We called President Bishop for permission, and he said, where are you right now? can I go with you? So all three of us went up taiping mountains. It was a long, beautiful trail and for part of the time, it down-poured. At noon we went to my "leaving the office" lunch. I chose Subway. In the evening we had a baptism for the English branch. It wasn't a convert baptism, but we helped get the clothes and we helped fill up the font. There was something wrong with the water pressure in the church and so it took extra long to fill up the font...too long. We had to wait about 1/2 hour to start the service. In the end the water pressure returned to normal and we got the font filled. It was pretty miraculous. We resorted to using hoses and buckets. The water was really cold, but the kids were baptized anyway. It was a neat experience for the families involved.
Today we attended church. I helped translate for two stake high councilors who came to visit our branch. It was a fun experience, but there were a few times where I had to use my own words or just give the general idea of what they said. Our friend Verhilio has passed his baptismal interview and is scheduled to be baptized in the coming weeks.
I love each of you! Elder Spencer Harris
