​Happy Mothers day!!
Glad to see the whole family! Pretty funny to hear about all the things you guys are up to; wish I could see more pictures of it. This week was great, our zone found a lot of new investigators; 6comp/18 new investigators!!! It was mostly through member work!

I have temple day on Wed, I'll write more then! I love you all!

This week has been such a call to repentance; which I'm glad came as I taught others repentance.

Last General Conference I was struck by Elder Nelson's challenge to learn of the priesthood power of Christ, and what it can do. He shared of the Father and Brother of two small girls who came to repent and fulfill the measure of their calling in order to bless their family. 

I read of Peter, and Christ admonishing him repeatedly to turn to him, and commit to take the reins of the Chief Apostle. Feed my Sheep.

I read of Alma, and the great change he had as he heard the word of Abinidai, and taught a great many people, leading them and guiding them to the land of Helem, and helps the people to escape Amulon by the power of God. 

I read of Alma the Younger, and how not only did he turn against his wickedness, but led the fight against the Lamanites, and later takes his place as High Priest and fights many of those against the Church.

Crying in my heart, as I hear the witness of these people, and realize the great number of people I have in my responsibility as an Elder of Israel, to guide and bless, I see the great power that I have to act as the Savior did. 

We were called again to bless one in the hospital; this time a 40 yr old man, less active, and in the ICU for the massive back injury he had falling down on the bus. His friends; one less active and the other non member; knew of the Church through their own time serving missions, and came asking for the same blessings they [would have given] by their own hands, but now were shamed in what they had done. But how great their faith! They had come asking. We blessed this man that what had failed with the surgery before would now be successful.

Not only does God have the Power to Create and protect, He has the power to bless. But by faith and repentance we are to keep the commandments.

Alma 15: 6 And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?
 7 And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught.
 8 And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed.
 9 And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.
 10 And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ.
 11 And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom.
 
The one experience that shook me, that shocked me, was as me and elder Poon were coming home the other day, just getting off the bus, we walked up to an intersection at the corner of our apartment, facing the police station that we live next to. This intersection has had at least 10 times that has been blocked off in caution tape and EMT's; not my favorite corner. I see through the passing traffic a large
African American man lying on the floor, rolling around. "Ughh, more homeless crazies". More glimpses through traffic made me question, his stiff body, the shaking. My heart dropped and eyes wet, I realized I needed to go now, he's having a seizure. Ran over when it was safe, I threw my stuff over, and grabbed his head and jaw and forced it open. Did what I could to help, but his eyes stayed rolled back, and the shaking brought more blood and saliva. 

Recognizing the Spirit, and the calm it brought in my actions; I blessed this man, with his head and jaw in my hands. He loosened a little and breathed in smaller breaths. The cops showed up in those three minutes; ordering us to leave so they could do their work.

Thinking on that moment, and his head literally in my hands, I realized that I know nothing of medical healing, I only knew what to do because of experience. There was nothing I could offer, nothing to make it stop, but I could bless him. And despite what the world thinks, they cannot offer that which the Lord does. And so I know that Christ truly gave that authority and responsibility to men like Joseph Smith and my father, who have in turn given it to me. I know it as I bless and am blessed by my companions and leaders. I invite us all to realize who we are, and what the Lord can do with his ability, his love, and his will. What his will, and how shall we accomplish it. Through faith in Christ. ​

​Got to bless this sweet baby, she fractured her head two days just after the birth, the mother fell asleep when she was breastfeeding her. They asked us to bless sweet Makaria, that was such a blessing to go and bless that baby; it definitely changed me to come and serve others.

​Zone Language study was so fun! A really good idea i brought up in Zone Leadership Council; to help each other to contact and find investigators for each other. We learned Spanish, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Cantonese. We were set in an hour, and we got to eat a little food with each other.

Caught a picture instead of a video of me practicing teaching someone brieflly in 5 minutes... I can't believe how awesome I teach, oh I just want to get baptized again...
I'm kidding, I definitely could be clearer and more powerful, but at least I don't have the "missionary voice".

This week was great; had a ton of fun teaching the Zone to teach briefly, it was bad because all the practices we did actually didn't work. We taught the Plan of Salvation in 8 minutes.

Guess Elder and Sister Merrick didn't like how smooth it was going in our lesson, so they threw in a few "tricky" questions... "So I can't live in the same kingdom as my husband? He's so much better than me, I couldn't be like him" "But I don't want to be separated from him" 

Us: "Well... if we come back and read about our life on Earth again, you can live the Gospel and become better" 
Sister Merrick: "Ohhhhhhh, I see"
They're so cute.

I confirmed little Lealani on Saturday, made me think a lot of my own progression and the responsibility we have to bless one another's lives!

We hit 107/400 this week. A quarter of the way there!!

This is​ such a good email; I look at all your emails and feel my heart drop, I just don't reply many of your letters. I'm sorry; I'm sending some letters to Jasmine and Samuel; Samuel didn't send me any pictures, and I feel like he doesn't really care about my mission. It kind of hurts, but I can't control him. I hope I don't give you the hurt that I may feel at times; I can't believe how much I want to take time out of my week and just talk with you! That sounds so cute, to start sing karaoke; except I hear the old Chinese people right now in the background and it reminds me that I hate karaoke... hahaha; the Chinese elderly remind of pigeons... I can't stop laughing now! I wish I could be by your side and cook with you; I really love cooking now on my mission; (none of these elders know how to cook like you; they're alright, just putting cheese in ramen noodles....) (all my companions want to try your cooking so badly!) 

General Conference brought to my heart a great responsibility to serve others; I watched many LDS giveback videos, that are about humanitarian service, and found myself crying. I can't believe there are so many people suffering, and facing it under so much pressure. I was so humbled, and I literally committed to become something in order to help them. I learned that valuable lessons this week, that when others suffer, it is a blessing to feel something for them, for us to change and love them. I had an Elder In our zone who is struggling big time with commitment and is going home at the same time I am. I kind of ignored his concerns, until I heard this, and then I listened and felt for him. Before, I was just pointing out his problems to myself and not doing anything about it. Now he has a specific goal and way to improve, and it's because of this change to listen and love. Elder Poon has taught me a great lesson of Charity; for the past few weeks I've gotten angry, and I can't excuse it, and so I understand that anger only destroys. But I can grow and fix the hurt. 

We visited and blessed a Sister named Loretta Perry who was going through dialysis; We had a tightly packed week with preparing Zone Leadership council, preparing all the training we received from the President Frandsen, and we were overloaded. We had weekly planning and had no time to spare.  But we came and gave this sister a blessing, and I learned that her son is in LA similarly bed bound in the hospital, and that her family is going though many other medical problems. One of her sons already died, yet she had many adopted sons that she raised righteous in the Gospel. And here she was asking us to bless her. I was quick to overlook my schedule and look at the matter at hand. As I felt for her, and listened, I was amazed by the blessing I was able to give, how much more I felt I was able to speak as the Spirit directed when I felt for her. It was long, but the blessing went well, she was smiling and we came back and found out her dialysis was great and successful. I learned so much from not just being obedient, but trying my best. 

Anyhow, about GC, I tried to listen to the talks in Chinese when they were live, and didn't get any of it; so I've been doing the opposite and listening to them in English. I'm excited for you to teach me more Chinese when I get home!
You're a Temple worker; but you're so busy.  You are simply amazing mom, the Lord will give you a way to fulfill his callings!! Aww, I want to go to the Provo City Center Temple so bad!!! Tell me more; like that's all I would like to hear about!!!

There is not a lot of things that you would pay admission to that would be worth the money; there is some free stuff; I'm pretty sure you'll go to Union Square, which is cool to do a lot of windows shopping. I would be careful in the city, it's not a place for kids, pornography and crudity in a lot of ads and in the people... But still a good place to work.

The City Hall is pretty gorgeous, You could visit there. I wish y'all could go to the Oakland Temple, it's divine. There is this amazing concert in SF on Sunday at 7 http://lambofgodeaster.com/
It is a huge opportunity that you don't want to miss.
Ghiradelli Square is cool, but not really; just to eat ice cream, Pier 49 is just a mall, All are cool but really is just directed to tourists! SO money.... Guess I don't have to Get you guys anything from SF, Samuel can just get it himself... I wish I could send stuff home with you, but oh well;)

This week at our Zone Conference meeting was a great experience, me and Elder Poon did a demonstration, but didn't do it exactly right, so President Frandsen stepped and helped us out! We are really grateful that even though our demonstration was too long and not too smooth, that it helped our Zone members understand. They can teach Restoration, powerfully and clearly in 5 minutes. It's amazing and it pushes us to teach and study so much more simply. Really we got to say a 10th of what we would normally say in a lesson. 
 
I found a great scripture to motivate those who need to wake up in D&C 88:124. Talking about common sense here. It just makes so much sense.

Followhim.mormon.org

Sharing about this Hallelujah initiative this week has made me so happy, people are really considering their lives and wanting what we share! It's simple. It has pushed me forward to consider alot of things, which are alittle scattered, but I want to be able to Follow the Savior, and have that as a core desire, or something the Lord would want as well. I've seen Elder Poon progress so much, he is better at expressing and creating simple ideas, and I feel like he is understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ so well that he can teach clearly. I'm glad he can help me, he has been one of my best companions because of the service we provide for each other. I'm glad we have similar desires; it allows the Lord to bless us with answers to each others prayers.

For one of our investigators, JXXX, we feel like her commitment to church could be more progressive on the Path of the Gospel, and so we are going to help her to pray more and read scriptures; we've realized as we've prayed more about how JXXX can finally feel comfortable going to church, we've felt like we've come to feel we need to change more and more; which is good to see and hear, but hopefully it doesn't change into if I'm just good enough, then they'll get baptized... There's a balance... 

I love all my investigators so much right now!