We had our Chinese sacrament meeting this past week.
It was amazing to experience. There was a total of 58 people in
attendance, crammed into the relief society room. It's such a blessing to
be able to take part in the building up of this Chinese group throughout the
past while. The members have really taken it upon themselves to actively
build the group through church invitations, investigators taught in their
homes, and supporting the missionary efforts in general. It was awesome
to feel the momentum that they have as we're moving forward trying to push for
a branch. Eastvale is great!
the miao family made authentic taiwanese shaved ice!
The apartment complex we live in has been doing construction
on the roads the past week. One night we had to park really far away
because the road we live on was being re-done. We were obviously bummed
because we like being spoiled and parking in our garage. However, we had
an awesome blessing as we were walking back. It was a little late and we
ran into a Chinese lady on the way to our apartment. We obviously started
conversation with her and she was incredibly excited to hear that we were
Christians and had church around here! She told us that she too, has a
faith in Jesus Christ and wants to attend. Blessings for walking!
The former Elder Murray (now Dexter Murray) came back to the
area to visit for a couple days in between trips to Taiwan. Very fun to
see him, can't believe it's been a YEAR already since he was out here with us.
the former elder murray made an appearance!
While we were passing out our free English class cards at a
park, we got some water at a drinking fountain, and a little baby praying
mantis crawls out from his hiding place! We do the natural thing and
catch it in a plastic water bottle. He was not a very happy camper, tried
to attack us and did not succeed. We made a small terrarium out of a
peanut container and kept him for a night. In the morning we were
wondering where he was and find him shedding his skin! He was about 50%
bigger too! It was a very exciting moment to see him mature but
unfortunately we let him go afterwards. He didn't seem to be going after
the ants or roly poly we provided. I actually forgot to bring my praying
mantis encyclopedia on my mission so I was not equipped to provide for him,
even though he likes to pray too!
he shed his old skin and was suddenly a lot bigger than
before...
observing our praying mantis
HE MOVED!
Shout out to my mission dad, the former Elder Johansen (now
Christian Johansen). He's getting married! Two days after [the
two-year anniversary of when] I entered the MTC! Congratulations, so
excited for you!
congrats to my mission dad, the former elder johansen!
Eastvale had a huge city-wide event, "Picnic at the
Park," during the weekend. In our search to find more Chinese
people, we obviously went to the most crowded place in town. Our guess
proved to be successful as we ran into a ton of Chinese people walking around,
clearly attracted to the crowds and loud noises. We caught a bit of the
firework show as we were leaving. Felt right at home.
selfie walking by a fireworks show!
I took a trip to space and took some pictures of some other
galaxies... pretty cool