"Uhhh... Lehi?"

 Quote of the week explanation 

We were teaching a lesson over zoom this week to a person who was referred to us by a member, and the member who referred her was on the call helping us teach. She is our most OP member, but I guess even they can go off the rails a bit at times... Our friend asked a question partway through the lesson and the member went off on a tangent about the Doctrine and Covenants, and then later in the lesson our member answered another question and it got interesting. She started talking about the First Vision in a pretty complicated way (keep in mind the person we're teaching has zero religious background and has never even prayed before - but she has read a little of the Book of Mormon) and the person we were teaching started to get rather confused. The member talked about how two personages appeared to Joseph Smith, and then asked "and who do you think they were?" Of course, our friend has no idea, so our member, in an effort to be helpful, said that one of them was Jesus Christ. "And so, who was the other one?" She asked her friend. The answer, reaching deep down into everything she has learned about the Book of Mormon and the church in the last 20 minutes said: "uhhh... Lehi?"

 

It's been a good week. Unfortunately, the secret may already have leaked out that our buddy Mr. Li was baptized this week. There's a story behind that one, let me tell you.

We were planning on holding his baptismal service in the same building as we had John's a few weeks ago, but the day before the service our mission president announced that since all of the counties in our mission are now on the state watchlist for COVID-19 we are no longer allowed to hold baptisms inside the chapels. Well, that sent us into a frenzy. He did say, though, that just until the chapels open back up again, we are able to do baptisms outdoors, either in private swimming pools owned by members (the preferred option), or, if no such venues are available, the ocean. Well, you can rest assured that none of the Chinese members have swimming pools (heck, I don't know if any of them even has a yard), and since the baptism was nigh at hand we didn't have enough time to ask around every other ward (and let's be real, how many people in San Francisco just casually have backyard pools?) So, plan B became necessary. The ocean.

 

Alright, alright, alright, technically it was the bay, but in the long run that doesn't really matter. It was just about the most epic location for a baptism in the history of the church. Unfortunately, it was pretty foggy, so we couldn't see all the sights; but it was right down the beach from the Golden Gate bridge, with Alcatraz in the background and the wave organ serenading us with beautiful music (just kidding - the wave organ doesn't seem to make any sound anymore; even if you're right on top of it you can't hear anything). Even without that, though, getting baptized underneath the most famous bridge in the world is a pretty neat trick.

 

We gathered there with a few members of the branch on the shores of the sea. One of the members in the branch presidency gave a talk in a cocktail which I like to call "Mantonenglish", meaning he was trying to speak Mandarin but most of what was coming out was Cantonese and occasionally he'd throw in an English phrase too, but it was a really good talk. He talked about how Mr. Li used to smoke a pack and a half a day, and now look at him. He said (and this is a rough translation) "If any of you have a friend or a husband or a relative who smokes and can't seem to stop, tell them this story!" It was a spiritual service. Another elder who doesn't speak a lick of Chinese was watching over zoom and he said it had him in tears. As Mr. Li came up out of the water the sun broke through the clouds for the first time all day. What an experience. 

 

The rest of the week kind of pales in comparison to that, as I'm sure you can imagine, but it was still pretty good. We were able to help someone we're teaching move (don't worry, she still lives in our area) and she now is living with a member, so that will be good. Really, until all's told there will still be things happening out here. Good times, good times.

So bye.

 

P.S. as you can tell, I lost steam at the end there.

 

P.P.S. But hey, at least I'm writing this week.

 

P.P.P.S. Or perhaps you'd prefer if I didn't...