This week has definitely been a good week! Working with a summer missionary has been awesome! Definitely had some challenges but through working through them together we have a really good relationship and have been able to continue to learn and grow. I made sure to set up expectations first, especially about obedience. Being exactly obedient is most important. He has also been able to help me with my Chinese quite a bit. He is really good at it because he is quite patient and will be a stickler if I ask him to. This week we have definitely seen some cool miracles happen. Among one was on a hot day. He was very tired and wanted to take a little rest. He asked if we could and I told him that if we found someone, taught them, and rescheduled them, then we could take a short rest. Within a couple minutes a lady came walking towards us and asked us if she could come to church! Definitely a big miracle! We've taught her twice now and she was going to come to church yesterday but something came up. However she is rescheduled for Tuesday. That experience was not only a great learning opportunity but another opportunity to see the Lord's hand in His work. David seems to have rekindled some fire. Since meeting some people at EFY he has seem more interested in continuing to prepare for baptism. He has a baptismal date in October. We are helping him to develop pure faith in Christ. Faith that will endure through challenges. He also has a friend that is now meeting with the Tai Wai Elders and sometimes he'll also go to those lessons with his friend so now he is getting double power! Zone Exchanges were awesome! I went with Elder Dorman. I love being able to go on exchanges with missionaries that have been out for a while! It is a great time to learn from them and their experience. Elder Dorman is definitely an experienced missionary with a passion for the work. I really liked how much he used the Book of Mormon while finding.     Before Zone exchanges we had Zone Meeting. Because my summer missionary doesn't speak English I translated for him the entire time. I think it helped me learn the stuff even more because then instead of the information going through the brain once I had to then change it into Cantonese and speak it as well. I just absolutely adore our ward members! Every time we visit ward members my love for them just grows soo much! They really are amazing people! That is just one of the blessings the Lord has given me. I've never felt homesick because the people I'm with are my family. I know that if I have any worries there are lots of people that are willing to help and that care about me and how I’m doing. This church is true! Anyone can travel to any part of the world and the members there will, with a warming smile, welcome them. Everyone really is a big family, and I want every Hong Kong person to be able to have that same powerful sense of comfort, peace, and love in their life!  As my year mark is coming up I have been thinking a lot about how my desires have changed over the past year. Obviously my original desires were still good but overtime, through experience, they have changed. I have been trying to make sure to maintain "pointing outwards" as David A. Bednar would put it. Truly thinking about how the ward and missionaries can work together. But also how we can help each individual ward member develop more faith to not only come unto Christ, but to share that message with their friends. It truly is a miraculous thing to be able to witness someone else's testimony being strengthened. That's just one among many things that I am grateful for.   Til Next Week! Love, Elder Cederlof

 

This past week we had some more ward activities, namely EFY and a bread-making night. Through these activities I have come to love our ward so much more! I just love Sha Tin. Our members are awesome and they brought a lot of friends to the activities. Most of them live in Tai Wai or other areas but it is awesome that they are so willing to bring some friends. We are continuing to do the member visits and goals which are really good! It gives everyone a specific name to prepare for instead of just the overall idea of needing to do missionary work.  I think that when people have just a specific name it looks a lot more possible and less overwhelming than the thought of I need to do missionary work cause then they have a goal in mind. 

Winnie is continuing to be awesome! She has the desire to read the whole Book of Mormon and she thought she had to read the whole thing to know if it was true and we explained that as long as she is diligent in reading she can know before reading the whole thing. I love seeing the strong desire in people to know if the gospel is true. 

We visited Angus this week (less-active) He is doing well but his leg is broken so he can't come to church until it heals but he said that once it heals he then can come so we are excited for him and are continuing to help him prepare to come back and also participate in missionary work through inviting friends to meet with us.

Cheung jimuih (less-active) also is doing really well. She came to church 3 times in a row and came even when her husband was home. She normally doesn't come to church because she wants to accompany her husband but I guess that day she decided she needed to go. She really does have a good heart and so we are hoping to be able to help her continue to have that desire to come to church no matter her circumstances and help her husband as well.

Exchanges were very good as well! Me and Elder Carrasquillo were on exchanges Thursday night to Friday night. I think it was a very good opportunity to learn and practice teaching together. We planned for EFY and also a part family member visit and were also able to get in contact with someone that hadn't been in contact with the missionaries for a while. 

We visited two families this week and set goals with them and shared about the work of salvation. We visited the Lam family and Bishop Tse's family. Both are very strong families and now with goals, missionaries help, and God's help, they will also be able to experience miracles.

I've been studying Jesus the Christ a lot recently. The more I read that book the stronger my conviction of Jesus Christ grows. That book is amazing! I've never been able to understand so much about Christ's ministry. The book explains Christ's parables and situations so clearly. The more in depth I learn about Christ's life, the stronger desire I have to be better. It is truly amazing to read about Peter and the other apostles as well.

One thing I learned about this week is about patience. Patience is an attribute that needs to be continually worked on. If not, you'll slowly lose it or won't have as much patience as you need. Also when I remember how patient God is with me, it helps me be more patient with others. I'm not even close to perfect and God puts up with me and my weaknesses.  Why should I get frustrated or annoyed at some else's?  It reminds me of the Mormon message about the man with the owl, it's a good one.  I'm grateful to be able to have the opportunity to continue to grow through challenges, setbacks, and obstacles. And I’ve learned that smiling all the way through and trusting in God makes it that much better of an experience!

 Til next week!
 Love, Elder Cederlof

Monkeys!

We had EEFY this week. It was a good opportunity for the Youth in our ward to invite more friends to come. However, our ward and the Tai Wai ward decided to split the EEFY and do two separate ones. I definitely would encourage next year combining them in order to be more efficient and have more people there which would make it even more fun for the youth and more effective for the missionaries.    At District Meeting we had a good sharing. The biggest thing I got from it was the importance of looking for things in our everyday life as "parables" like Christ did. I think that through those (object lessons/analogies) we can take something maybe a little bit complicated and make it so that everyone could not not understand. We also visited some Ward families this week to share about the cards and help them set goals. Among one family we visited was Liuh Gatihng. They are awesome! As we were about to leave the house I had the prompting to take one of my English Book of Mormons. At first I thought it was a rather peculiar thought because the family we were visiting only spoke Chinese. Nevertheless I brought the Book of Mormon. When we arrived we found out that their two nieces from Australia were visiting. As we shared about the cards and how we could help others come to the gospel I realized why we brought the English Book of Mormon. The two nieces (already members) couldn't really use the Chinese cards because they couldn't read them, but they could definitely give the Book of Mormon to someone! We invited them to do that and told them about the spiritual experience I had had before coming over. The spirit works in marvelous ways and when we trust it, we know everything will be okay. Literally everything. God knows His plan from the beginning. Another miracle. On the street that day we stopped a lady and shared about the Book of Mormon. After sharing she showed a great amount of interest and so we rescheduled her later that week. While at the church we saw three people walking towards the church. I was a bit confused at first but I then recognized the lady we had bumped into. She called us to tell that she was here and had brought two friends with her! We gave them a tour of the church and shared the message of the restoration. The gospel is truly amazing! It leads all those who partake of it to want to share it, even if they've just heard a little bit about the church. Exchanges was a good experience for me. Elder Brown and I were together that day. I loved having the opportunity to be with a more experienced missionary and to learn from him. I learned several things that day. It really helped show me how important being unified is. As well as how much more power that brings. We also had the opportunity to talk about things and different methods and such.   This week has been another great opportunity to learn from experiences and challenges. Every week my testimony of the Plan of Salvation grows so much because I not only see how that knowledge affects investigators, who have maybe never heard of such a thing. But how much it affects me, even though I’ve been learning about it for a very long time. I'm grateful to serve here in Sha Tin and I know that where I am right now is exactly where I am supposed to be. ‘Til Next Week,  Elder Cederlof

 

This past week we definitely had some great blessings. We had some great lessons with ward members helping them set goals on how, when, and who they will share the gospel with. I love visiting the members! Their faith definitely strengthens my own and it helps us feel more like a family. Our ward is doing the "40 day fast" along with the praying cards so we are helping all of us work together in achieving that goal and strengthening our ward. I really believe it is helping our ward unity and helping all of us think even more about missionary work.

Tom is doing good, however, he won't commit to coming to church yet. He is still a little bit nervous about coming to our church because his parents go to another church. Since meeting with us he has already experienced some blessings such as getting more job interviews and offers. The Lord has so much in store for him. We just need to help him see that and be willing to push for it.

We met with Winnie this week! She is awesome! She is soo prepared. She doesn't have any religious background but she really wants to know if all of the things we talk about are true. She has been praying and reading. She said she doesn't understand all of it but she will keep on reading and call us if she has questions. It is awesome that her friend (Allie-church member) invited her to meet with us and get to know the gospel. It really shows how important member missionary work is. When Winnie has questions or concerns she can also ask Allie to explain it and she already has friends in the church to help her make that transition.

The 65th Anniversary was definitely a group time to spend with members all over Hong Kong, including members from previous served in wards. Where I was sitting I couldn't see the screen but we could hear it. The messages shared were simple, but had powerful truths. I especially enjoyed the testimonies in the beginning.

This week in Personal Study I have been learning a lot about Jesus Christ's ministry and doctrine. The more I read about his ministry the more my testimony grows. People can try to attack the Gospel of Jesus Christ from any direction, but it doesn't weaken it one bit. The gospel will help anyone that is willing to partake of it. I've also been thinking a lot about patience recently. How can one develop 'true' patience? Is true patience just holding in all of the frustration? Of course not. True Patience is looking at things from God's perspective. No matter our challenges or our weaknesses, God will help us overcome them all. Spiritual growth through challenges is something that we should seek, not shun or shy away from. That is what is so great about the gospel. Without the gospel, one definitely would not, possibly could not enjoy or at least understand the purpose in challenges. However, one with the understanding the gospel brings, isn't overcome by their challenges.  That leads into another interesting thing I've been thinking about this week. What kind of a perspective on life does the Gospel bring? If we are true and worthy it definitely brings about a change in not only the way we look at things, but who we are. Having the opportunity to everyday meet with people and discuss topics such as these has definitely opened my eyes. A lot of people think that as long as you do good, it doesn't matter what you believe in. On the surface this may seem like a fairly good thing. However, the scriptures teach that if we give a gift unwillingly, it is the same as if we would have withheld it. Our reason for doing the good deed is everything. That is why our gospel is centered around Christ. If Christ is our focus, then we, through the restored gospel, have the perfect reason behind our deeds.

 

Elder Zach Cederlof

"Come and See"

Last Tuesday we had a ward youth activity in which the ward leaders had each of the girls try to invite at least one friend. The youth in our ward were awesome!! They brought in total, 9 non-member friends. Not all of them have interest in the gospel, yet. But as they slowly continue to be around members they will want what they are missing, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, some of them do have interest in the gospel and we will be meeting with them this week. Among one of them is Winnie, Allie's friend. On Sunday, Allie bore her testimony about that activity and what happened after the activity! Definitely a miracle. After the activity (later that week) Winnie asked Allie how to be baptized, and asked about what we believe and stuff. She then even said that she wants to be a missionary and asked how old do you have to be to be a missionary! Allie (member) in her testimony said that she never would have thought an about to be investigator would already have hopes of serving a mission. That opportunity is such a confirmation to my testimony that the Lord truly has prepared our friends to hear the gospel. Some people truly are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. There were also other youth that had great missionary opportunities as well, but I just wanted to share that one.

Temple day. I love going to the temple every transfer! It truly is a blessing. My brother and cousins that are also serving missions say that they rarely, if at all, get to go to the temple. So I truly am thankful. The new video is a very good one! I really like the more emotion. It helps me more understand the choices and how "deep" and important those choices were. I'm very grateful to have the understanding that The Fall was actually part of God's Plan, not a fault in God's Plan. God's Plan is perfect, that part just helps confirm the truth to me even more.

Zone Training provided some interesting insights and ideas that have lead to more pondering moments. One thing I felt that was very important that they pointed out was the fact that if we accomplish our goal, but don't change, it meant nothing. 65 in July is meant to give us something to push ourselves, consecrate ourselves, and lose ourselves in. I feel like because of this goal everyone's efforts have gotten even stronger. Along with the 65 in July, our ward has been doing a 40 day fast along with Cheng WuihJeung's card idea. Not only has that strengthened our relationship with the ward, improved ward unity, but has brought our ward closer to Christ and will continue to do so. Only through consistently focusing on our purpose (including understanding of) can we, our ward, and God truly be united.

The Blood Drive was a good opportunity to show the world that not only do we share the gospel, but we honestly try to help people. It was an interesting experience to go out on the streets and invite people to the blood drive. That experience has also given me some good things to think about and learn from. 

One thing I learned this week was from Jesus the Christ (the book). An interesting point it brings up is that the invitation so often from Jesus himself and from his disciples was "come and see." In the Book of Mormon when Jesus visited the American civilization he not only said look at the wounds in my hands and in my feet, but come and feel them. As missionaries our invitation is the same "Come and See. or in other words, "come and see the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." The invitation is simple, but vital. It leads the hearer to have to make the choice for themselves. Come and see. Read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourself if it is true. Listen to the prophet's words and see for yourselves. Come and see what church is like. Come and see is a repeated theme throughout the Gospel. If we only open our eyes, listen with our ears, and feel with our hearts, we all can come to know these things are true. The Prophets bore testimony of it, the Book of Mormon bears testimony of it, and Jesus Christ bears testimony of it. The Gospel is true.
 
Til, next week!
Love, Elder Cederlof

Statue at Big Buddha

A lizard at "10,000 Buddha's"



Picture taken at the women's market by a man in Hong Kong on Business. 
He sent it to my phone and made my day!

"True Desires"

We met a man named Tom this week. Tom right now is looking for a job, he is very smart and has a lot of experience but he has still been having a hard time finding a job. He is already Christian and was baptized in '09. He has a strong faith in Christ and he says that through these past rough times he is really trying to focus on Christ. It definitely was no surprise that at this time in his life God would lead us to him. We met him on the street and shared a brief message and rescheduled him for last Saturday at the church. When we met him for the second time  we gave him a tour of the church and shared the message of the Restoration. He has a good connection with Joseph Smith. He said he has the same question as to which of all the churches are true. When we bore testimony of the first vision and the evidence of that Restoration I could definitely see things starting to click. He very quickly accepted the invitation to read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon and its contents. We then invited him to be baptized and set a date as a goal for him to be ready, he accepted. He is very prepared for the Gospel and now is the time in his life where he has the great opportunity to accept it.

We met with Dorothea on Sunday afternoon. We met her outside the McDonald's and then walked over to a nearby park. While we were waiting for the fellow shipper, Dorothea said that she had made her decision. Her decision was to stay Catholic. She said that several things that had happened in the past two weeks had lead up to that decision. It literally was just like "The District." I knew that if we just tried to teach her what we already had planned for her and not really listen, we would lose her. We dropped our original lesson plan and decided to just listen and through the spirit's guidance, ask questions. We established what she believed, what she understood, and what she had doubts on. Her faith in Christ is sound. She believes the Book of Mormon. She believes the first vision as well as our church. However... she also believes that there is more than one prophet on the earth today.   At the start of our lesson, it sounded like she had made the decision to be catholic and wasn't much more interested in our church. However, by the end, through the spirit, she had grown a strong desire to learn more about the prophet, Thomas S. Monson and Joseph Smith, as well as the true meaning of the word "Prophet."  She has committed to keep learning, as well as to ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon Introduction's last paragraph. Specifically if this is the one and only true church on the face of the earth.

I've really been pondering about "true desires." What are the Savior's true desires, my true desires, and the world's true desires?  From several scriptures we learn to lay up our treasure in heaven. (3 Nephi 13) We need not spend money for that which is of no worth. (2 Nephi 9:51) What are things that are included in that scripture? Some things we may be able to actually purchase with money, but others might be more figurative things. Things like the clothes, cars, phones are obvious. However, the reason behind learning the language can also be considered a stumbling block. That leads us back to true desires. We can be doing the right thing, keep the commandments, and doing a lot of good. However, if our heart isn't in it then it will be as if we never did the good deeds in the first place. If you give a gift unwillingly, it is as if you never gave it at all.  Having truly righteous desires is definitely a journey in itself. Because our situation is constantly changing, we might run into things that cause our desires to change our motive behind doing the righteous things. For example, the scriptures mention not just praying out in public and making sure everyone sees, in order for them to think they are righteous. When we have truly true desires, we are focused on what God thinks of us instead of what everyone else thinks of us. It is then and only then that we truly fear God more than man. But like I said, it is a journey. Reaching that point cannot be achieved in an hour, or even a year. It is a lifetime of work. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be serving the Lord full time right now in order to help me on this journey. There's nothing better in the world than knowing I'm doing what Heavenly Father would have me do.

 

Love, Elder Zach Cederlof