Blessing Families

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope that all is going well back at home! Things are alive and kicking here in good ol' Long Tan. The past week we have been able to have some pretty cool experiences!

About two weeks ago we ran into a man named Mr. Xie. He said he had met missionaries about 10 years ago and gone to church a few times with them, but hadn't since. He said he was really glad to see us and that he would bring his family to church the next Sunday. We were stoked! The sad thing is... That Sunday we had our Stake Conference in another city called Tao Yuan. We had tried to call him the night before to let him know, but he never answered. The next day at the meeting he called us and said, "Hey, I'm at the church, where are you guys?" Our hearts dropped. He showed up and no one was there!

BUT, the experience gets better. My companion and I this past week were biking towards the small lake in our town, and my companion got the impression that we should go visit this man. We stopped by his house, knocked...lo and behold he answers and welcomes us in! We were able to sit down with him and he started to tell us about how his life wasn't going too well lately. We taught him about Heavenly Father and prayer. He said he hadn't prayed in years, but that he was willing to try again. We were able to say one with him and afterwards he explained that his heart felt so warm and peaceful! At the end of the short lesson he said a closing prayer and it was beautiful and humble. We could all really feel the spirit. Afterwards another man came downstairs and I looked back... it just so happened to be another guy that I had contacted a few days before! They were brothers! It was a very cool experience to see the Lord working through us to help out this family. This past Sunday Mr. Xie's family came to church and I think they had a great experience! We hope to be able to meet with all of them again soon. He has such a great desire to help his family.

Last night I also had another cool experience. We went on splits with our local ward leaders to go and visit less-active members. I ended up going with the Bishop. As we were getting in the car to leave he told me how we would be going to visit and give a blessing to a man who was recently hospitalized with the possibility of having cancer. His mother is a member of another ward in our stake and asked if we could go visit him since he was in our area. Then he said, I want you to give the blessing. I was a little shocked at first, I have only given one other blessing since I've been on the mission and it was on my second transfer. I was glad to have the opportuninty to use my priesthood to bless the lives of others. We were able to visit the man; he is currently working in the military and is very nice. I was able to give him a blessing, a spirit of calmness entered into the room. It was a neat experience. I hope that everything turns out well for this man as I may never see him again.

The Lord is always blessing us with experiences to learn, grow, and help others. I'm so grateful to be serving a mission at this time!

I hope that everyone has a great week back at home. I've got to get going now.

Love you all!

Elder Bastian