“Can I get baptised... Tomorrow?”

Quote of the week explanation

This is going to end up being half of the letter anyway, so might as well just dive into the actual thing...

‘Allo.

I'm going to be honest, this week was one for the books. Crazy.

Let us go back to a lukewarm evening in a Californian November. Elder Kendrick and I were making our rounds, knocking on doors to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. We weren't seeing much success, at first. A long line of folks not wanting to deal with us. Not entirely abnormal, as those of you who have had much experience tracting can undoubtedly relate to.

Then, it all changed. Oh, boy, did it change.

We reach a certain door. This house has a fence with a locked gate surrounding it, but fortunately they also have a doorbell on the gate. We ring that, and a few moments later a Chinese man walks out of the house. "No English" he says. Now, this is the kind of moment that we Mandarin missionaries live for; when an Asian-looking person tells us they don't speak English. We try again, this time in Chinese, and the fellow's face lights up like a Christmas tree. He tells us to wait a moment while he goes into the house to get his friend. So we wait.

A minute later, he comes out again; this time accompanied by another man. Man 2 asks us if we speak Mandarin, to which we reply by saying something to the effect of: "A little bit". That was good enough for him. He unlocked the gate, despite the protests of their tiny dog, and allowed us to come into the yard. He directed us over to some patio furniture and told us to sit.

And then…

Can you guess what happened?

He just started bashing with us.

Just kidding.

That's not even close to what happened.

We sit down and he introduces himself as “Jing.” We talk for a moment and reintroduce the fact that we are missionaries, to which he responds: “Well that's great! How does one join your church?”

Somewhat shocked by this development, we briefly and simply explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

(This conversation was all in Chinese, by the way)

He pauses for a moment after our explanation, before saying: “OK, well, tomorrow is my birthday. Can I get baptized... Tomorrow?”

Now we're confused. People don't just... Ask you to get baptized, not even here in the pits of Oakland.

We explain to him the importance of the Baptismal Covenant, and how it's something that we need to prepare for. We told him that if he is really committed and wants to make that covenant, he can be baptized in three weeks. An invitation which he gladly accepted. We talked for a few minutes longer, set up an appointment for the next day, and left, still a little light headed.

After a minute of mindlessly walking down the street in a state of shock, I turned to Elder Kendrick and asked: “Did we just put someone on date?”

The answer, folks, is yes.

We met him at the visitors center the next day, and the Chinese sisters helped us teach him the restoration. He understood it very well and reaffirmed his desire to be baptized... On that day. 

The sisters talked to him for a little bit after the lesson (seeing how they are literally from China/Taiwan, they actually know how to speak the language...) Jing said that he felt like he was coming home. He asked us what we do as missionaries, and after we responded he told us that he wanted to do it to. We taught him again two days later and he had basically the same reaction to the plan of salvation, which really seemed to move him emotionally. He even came to church yesterday, and told us that it was “very good”. It's insane.

We'll meet with him again tomorrow. He is super excited to be baptized. The one last major hurdle is... Commandments. We will have to teach him the Word of Wisdom soon, just because he’s Chinese and tea is to them what air is to us. We are hoping that he doesn't have any... Major issues with anything.

So... In comparison to that the rest of the week seems pretty boring.

We kept puttering along in all of our other categories; Joan is still being killed by her workload. Iris finally got back in town, and she seems excited to continue working with us. Mae is still very stressed out about her house, but at the same time one of the most open people I've ever met. Other people continue to float around (When I say that I picture a water bottle filled with... well, water, with brine srimp swimming around with a backwashed sandwich), but nothing super solid, yet.

The one other noteworthy thing is that we did forest service in the hills, helping them de limb a massive tree that had fallen, thus creating a fire hazard.

And that was our week. Like I said, one for the books.

-Bennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneb

P.S. The new church Christmas video is actually pretty good.

P.P.S. We went on exchanges this week, and it happened to fall on a day we were teaching Jing. I stayed and led the area. As we walked out of the lesson, the other Elder turned to me and said “I have never spent so long listening to another language”

P.P.P.S. I actually really need to go to the bathroom, so I'm gonna end it right here.