Half Chinese

Hello, World!

I don't have a lot of time to email right now, so I'll make it quick.

This last week, I went on an exchange with Elder Tesch, my district leader, in his area. We harvest blessed for the entire day, because all of the appointments fell through. I didn't get to sit in on a Spanish lesson, but it was still good. We found some cool people. The second to last blessing we had was a person who cried after we said the prayer. That has never happened to me before. I was reminded again that we really can't do anything if the spirit is not there. The people have to feel the spirit, or else they won't ever change, and they won't ever repent. She agreed to be baptized on the 12th. I don't know what happened to her after that. Too bad we had to pass her.

Elder Winslow and I also had a great experience with harvesting this last Saturday. It wasn't an individual blessing, it was the experience as a whole. It was as if we couldn't walk ten steps without someone coming up to us and wanting to talk to us. For example, we gave out a card to someone who passed us because we were already talking to someone else; he walked a few steps, looking at the card, and then he stopped and waited for us to finish. He asked us about the DVD on the back of the card. We promised we would get him one. We ran back to our car to retrieve it, ran back, and gave it to him. We invited him to watch it and to come to church. On our way back to the car, we gave out another card to another man; he asked us to give another one to his son, and pointed out his house. We went over there and harvest blessed them. It was another blessing that was really spiritually powerful. I know that those experiences came because God prepared the people there and we did our best to follow the spirit to know where to go.

I am currently reading in the chapters in 3 Nephi where Christ talks to the people in America. One thing I learned just recently from reading them is in relation to lower/higher laws. The law of Moses was a lower law, given to the people because they were not ready to receive the higher law; and also because Christ had not yet come to atone for us. After he came, he established a higher law. It's not that the law of Moses was a bad thing; it was just a lower law. One thing I realized while reading these chapters is that this could be a symbol as well for the laws of Justice and Mercy. It's not that justice is a bad thing - on the contrary. It's just that there's a higher law.

Someone I met yesterday tried to tell me that I look like a mix between Chinese and white. He said I look Chinese because of my eyes. I told him that I didn't know what race I was, my ancestors are so diverse, but that that was the first time someone's tried to tell me that I'm half Chinese.

I can't believe how different each person is. I meet so many new people each day, and I try to get to know them in order to show my love for them. There are so many types of people. All of them are crazy.

The ward split just barely. Yesterday was the first day that the ward and the branch met separately. I had six hours of church. It was exhausting.

I'm just about out of time again, unfortunately.

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

So blessed!

Hey family!

We have had a very blessed week this week! I couldn't decide what to fast for yesterday since we had already had so many tender mercies this week, so Sister Glancy and I settled for a "gratitude fast." :)

We found 3 new investigators this week!!! One of them is James, the guy who showed up to church out of nowhere two weeks ago. We had our first lesson with him, and it went really well. He said the closing prayers and if you can picture his way southern accent said "Thank ya for sendin me the good book of the mormons. And thank ya for the missionaries knockin on ma door. I took it as ma callin to come back. " Unfortunately James didn't come to church yesterday even though he said that he was going to, and he hasn't replied to our text, so we're hoping everything is alright there. Keep him in your prayers!

Another new investigator is Cornell. Cornell is a way chill African American guy who just got back from deployment. We all sat in a circle on his living room floor since he doesn't have any furniture yet, and it was a powerful restoration lesson! He seems very agreeable and open to everything so now we just have to see if he is willing to keep commitments!

We also contacted a former from our area book named Gabriel. Gabe is a little bit of a punk. At least he acts that way, but he definitely doesn't fool me, he's got a soft interior  Gabe just passed his GED and is joining the Navy, so he is moving to Texas in a few weeks. We're hoping that our lessons before then will be filled with the spirit so that he will want to continue his investigation when he moves there.

Miracle time! On Saturday we had planned to spent most of the afternoon and evening in Everett, which is where Ram lives. I'm not sure if you remember Ram, but he's an Indian investigator that the elders passed off to us when we first got here. We've struggled to keep frequent contact with Ram in recent weeks, and we've struggled to feel like we're really reaching him, especially since we're not sure just how much of a language barrier is there. Last week we were going to stop by one more time and Sister Glancy and I were debating about weather or not we should move him to formers if he wasn't there. Ram's parents answered the door and invited us in immediately.The mom, Avathar, told us over and over again that she needed us to help Ram, as he has had some Word of Wisdom issues that have been causing grief for their family. We took that as our answer that we shouldn't give up hope on Ram just yet. Well anyways, on Saturday we got a call out of the blue from Ram saying "My mom wants me to tell you that I am home for you to come see me." We really believe that Avathar was moved by the spirit to contact us, because we went to talk to Ram and for the first time Ram really opened up to us. Avathar sat us down and said in her thick Indian accent, "He is your younger brother. You are his elder sisters. Please, help him." We were so stunned (and the Elders too when they found out) to learn that Ram actually is not YSA. He left a wife and 8 month old baby in India when he and his family came here, and he's not sure when he will see them again. He's suffered a lot of depression recently, which is why he has felt lonely and turned to smoking and marijuana to try to find happiness. He showed us pictures of his family, and the minute i saw the picture of his beautiful wife and little girl, the spirit filled me instantly. it was like Heavenly Father was allowing me to be in Ram's shoes, and I could feel just how much love ram has for his family. We shared our love and our testimonies of our Heavenly Father's love with Ram and Avathar, and it was one of the most powerful moments I have experienced since coming to this area.

For my study the last few weeks I have started the Book of Mormon over, but I have started with a blank copy of the Book of Mormon and I have been marking all of the promises find. I just finished 1 Nephi today. Some of these promises are conditional. For example, 1 Nephi 16:28- through faith and diligence (and also action- Nephi is a great example of ACTING, rather than being acted upon) we will receive personal revelation and guidance. Other promises I have found are not conditional, they are simply given to us because we have a Heavenly Father and Savior who love us. (1 Nephi 21:16- I think about how often we use our hands. Jesus Christ has a constant reminder of His love for us on his hands. How often does He look at His hands, and think about you and about me?)

Love ya!

Sister Slade

P.S. Sister Anderson just sent me an email- apparently Sandra showed up to church yesterday in Oak Harbor!!!! They have an appointment with her on Thursday. I sent her a long letter about 2 weeks ago. Please keep her in your prayers!!!

Jwaye Nwel! (Joyous Christmas!)

I had a great time talking to my family. It was great to see them again, after 3.25 months (Dec. 25 - Sep. 17 ~= 3.25 months). My mission is going by so fast. We've already had one mission conference; I'm about halfway through my second transfer in-field; there are only two days left in my first year on my mission!

This week in my study of the Book of Mormon, I've been nearing 3 Nephi 11. The suspense is killing me, but I've still got a few days to go before I'm there. One thing that I learned is that secret combinations are bad. I've said it before, but this time I'm actually applying it to myself. The point of secret combinations is to hide your own evil works and to get out of punishment for them. With that definition, it's not just knives in the dark that count as secret combinations, it's any time you undertake to cover your own sins. Secret combinations always detract from your own agency, and infringe on the agency of others. And "when we undertake to cover our sins, [...] in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the spirit of the Lord is grieved, and when it is withdrawn, Amen to [our] priesthood or authority".

On Christmas Eve, we were harvesting in the morning, and we had a miracle. We found someone who was hesitant to be baptized; she had already been baptized, and she didn't feel like she needed to again. But she decided to come to church. When we told her it was called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," she opened up and told us a story of how a couple days ago, she had been invited to the same church by Cash Monestine (an RM - returned 2 weeks ago, leaving for college this week) and she said she thought it was a funny coincidence. We testified that it was not a coincidence, and that it really is Christ's church, and God was giving her a second opportunity to accept the invitation. It was an great experience.

Last Saturday, we were having a terrible day. We were driving down extremely far south for the day, because we had an investigator to see and a potential investigator to follow up with. We drove down with our member; it turned out that the potential investigator gave us a fake address; we decided to harvest until our appointment with the investigator. Then the member said that he had to be home before the appointment could start. We tried to call and reschedule with our investigator, but she said she couldn't get there earlier; so we drove back north again to drop off our member. We proceeded to look for another member to take out with us for half an hour, last minute, but nobody could come. So we drove back south to get a non-member-present lesson with her, and it turns out she had to cancel on us because she was being held up. So just like that, we wasted 5 hours and 50 miles without anything to show for it. We still hadn't eaten or harvested for an hour. We only had time to do one or the other before we had more appointments, so we chose to sacrifice in order to be exactly obedient. That's when the day started turning around, and we started seeing miracles. We had three very amazing harvest blessings, and for the rest of the night we had three amazing member present lessons, and three new investigators. What's funny is that none of the three lessons we had were with the people we had scheduled to see. I firmly believe that none of this would have happened if we had not chosen to be exactly obedient. It was a very humbling experience, and it may have been the best two hours I've had on my mission so far.

We're going to be doing an exchange some time this week, but we don't know when or any of the details.

Thanks for everything!

Eldè Slade

Some Christmas lights both of my companion and I.

 I'm practicing my Haitian pose. I need to work on my frown a bit, it's too much like a smile. (Part of their culture is that they don't smile in photos. At least, the Haitians that aren't too Americanized.)

Miracle of the Week!

It was so nice to talk to you guys on Christmas! I feel like it was just a teaser- there is so much more we could have talked about and the time went so fast! Oh well. Next time we talk it will be mothers day, then after that we'll be talking in person after I finish my mission!

I've been sick the last few days so that has been absolutely horrible. We've still been able to go out and work, but we haven't slept well and both Sister Glancy and I feel totally wiped out. Hopefully we can get some good sleep later today if we have time. Dave and Marg sent me some money and a Christmas card, and I think we're going to use it to go get pedicures later today!

A less active named Alexandra came to church on Sunday! We've decided to have our less actives begin fellowshipping our less actives, so we took her to our lesson with Juan and had sort of a joint teaching appointment, and what do you know, she was at church! So that was exciting.

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with James, but hopefully this coming Tuesday. Our return appointment with Keith fell through as well, so hopefully we will be able to contact him again. Member missionary work really is the way to go. We found out about transfer calls today and both Elder Combe and Elder Caruso are staying, so we are really excited about some training we are going to be doing with the ward in the next few weeks! The format that Elder Caruso came up with is a "Mini MTC" with break-out sessions and a ward pizza party at the end. I will be teaching the break-out session on "setting goals and making plans" and we are using the rest of our ward activities budget to buy copies of "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" to give to each person in the ward. (If you have not read that book then you need to get a copy!!!!) The stake president and President Bonham will be attending, so we're hoping to make this a successful event!

Miracle of the week! We were in the apartment complex that Alvaro lives in (One of the less actives/ recent converts we've been working with) and we decided to stop by even though we were pretty sure he would be working, in hopes that one of his older brothers would answer the door (Missionaries are sneaky that way :)) Well Alvaro's brother Chudokan answered! We had sort of a mini restoration lesson there on the doorstep, but Chudokan was hesitant to set up a time to meet and talk some more, even to join one of our lessons with Alvaro, so we weren't sure how interested he was. The next day we met Alvaro for a lesson at McD's and apparently Chudokan told Alvaro we had stopped by and was asking him questions, including if he could read "that book that you have." We role played with Alvaro and he is going to invite his brother to meet with us!!!

Fun fact for ya- we learned from a high councilman that we ran into this week that apparently 90% of the people baptized in many of the Seattle Mission YSA wards are from China. There are a few in our ward that were recently baptized, so the Elders have organized a mandarin sunday school class with one of the RM's that served his mission in Taiwan, while Sister Glancy and I attend the Gospel Principles class.

Love y'all! Don't forget to keep me updated on all of your amazing missionary experiences are going!

Sister Slade

Christmas!

Dear Family

This week while I was studying the Book of Mormon, I started making a list of ways that faith is strengthened - my own, and my investigators. The list is still in progress so I'm not going to share it. Also, in reading the scriptures, I've tried to apply them to myself so that I can know how to become a better missionary. Some of the things I've noticed are that we need to teach with meekness; and in D&C there's a scripture that asks something along the lines of "why will you continue to be blind guides" that I found by accident. I have scripture references that were meaningful written down, but they are not with me at the moment.

Yesterday, during companionship study we were studying chapter 11 and we both had a very revelatory experience. We both realized that PMG says pretty clearly that we should leave almost no conversations with anybody without inviting them to do something to come unto Christ. So we have committed ourselves for this week to do that with everybody we talk to, with the exception of other missionaries. We feel like this commitment was inspired of God and that he was guiding our studies through the spirit. It was a very meaningful study all in all. My relationship with my companion is getting much better. (Not that it was ever bad, it was just not as good.) I feel that that is the main reason the study was so great.

Thanks for the 12 days of Christmas gifts! We were able to guess all of them so far except for the pictures of Nathan and Mom and Dad, the hot chocolate, the jam/jelly, and the nativity set.

We used bikes a ton today. It was fun, I'm getting much more used to it, but it was also very physically exhausting. But we got back on track with our miles, so that means this week we'll be able to use our car more.

I don't have much time to email today so that's where I'll end.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Christmas!

Hey family! I LOVE YOU!!!!

We had a mission Christmas program this morning and it was amazing! The spirit was so strong!

We have seen so many miracles this week! It seems that the Lord likes to test us- He leads us right to the end of where we think we are about to reach our limit, just to see if we will still give Him our all. Then right when we're not sure how much longer we can do it, He showers us with blessings!

The first miracle of the week is that we made contact with Samantha! Samantha is a former that the Elders taught. She's been through the discussions twice, has a testimony, and has been on date for baptism twice, but the adversary works hard, and both times she fell off date because she got so busy and I think the commitment started to scare her. We've been trying to contact her since getting here, and we finally found her at home! We sat down with her and had a great time getting to know her and talking about how she has come to know that this is the direction that she wants to pursue! Now that she is not as busy she is going to talk with her aunt who is a member about the best date to be baptized. When we meet with her again on Wednesday we're going to take Elder Combe's advice to "Just baptize her already." haha :)

So many fun things this week! Friday night we had ward Karaoke, and it was a BLAST! I seriously have not have that much fun in a long time! It was like I was a totally normal person or something... :) Everyone has been telling me that once you go YSA as a missionary you never want to go back, and I think I agree! We also had a huge turnout to volleyball, and F.H.E, both of which had a few not-yet members attend! Oh! And we invited Mark, one of our potentials to Karaoke, and he texted us later saying he couldn't come, but when he gets back into town in the new year he would like to sit down with us and learn more! :) Saturday we went caroling as a district and it was the greatest! Some of the Elders weren't too fond of the idea, but I think they secretly had fun.

HUGE miracle from yesterday- we were in the foyer talking with people right before sacrament meeting and this guy walks in with his pants soaking wet because he rode his motorcycle to church. (Why would you own a motorcycle in Washington!?) It took us a few moments to recognize him, but he pulled out one of our cards and showed us the address we had written on the back of it- turns out we knocked on this guys door last week and invited him to church! Don't you love it when random people you invited to church show up out of nowhere!? We were able to talk with James right before he left, and we set up an appointment for later this week, and he is also going to be coming to Christmas Eve dinner at Bishops with us and the zone leaders. In the words of Bishop Knoblaugh, "That's how you net them... oops, I mean... reach out to them." :)

We had a stroke of inspiration from the spirit and took an inactive individual we've been working with as our fellowshipper to a lesson with Jose this week. The spirit was strong and she did a wonderful job! Afterwards she said that she wanted to come to church!!! Unfortunately she got really sick so she wasn't able to make it, but next weeks the wek!

Oh! So crazy thing that happened- we went to visit this less active guy named Juan, and when get there he starts talking about the "Elder Burgi" that baptized him when he was in California. Sister Glancy was like, "Hold up, hold up!" Turns out, Elder Burgi is Sister Glancy's best friend that got back from his mission a few months before she left. Juan called Andrew Burgi right there, and put him on speaker phone and said, "Hey Elder Burgi, you'll never guess who's sitting in my living room!" We didn't talk to him of course, but it was crazy! Juan ended up having a really great conversation with "his missionary" afterwards, and I think that that connection meant a lot to him. The best part is... Juan showed up to church yesterday!!!! The Lord works in mysterious ways, let me tell you.

So many more things to talk about... I guess I;ll just have to save them until Wednesday. :) Love ya!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

love, love, love, Sister Slade

 Sister Glancy and I (above) and it snowed - my little snowman (below).

God sees you us as we can become, but loves us as we are!

Hello family,

This week has been a test of my faith. Sister Glancy and I have been working really hard. I don't think I've been more exhausted my entire mission, but I also have never had fewer people to teach. Nevertheless, the Lord ALWAYS keeps His promises, and even when he decides that He wants to test my patience and diligence, I always know that if I hold out until the end, He will bless me. Sister Glancy and I have had some WONDERFUL tender mercies this week. Here are a few of them:

Last Tuesday Sister Glancy and I focused a lot on less active work and were blessed to teach 5 lessons to less active individuals- 2 of which were unplanned! Some of these individuals have agreed to be taught the missionary lessons, which we are really excited about, especially since I have seen this help a lot with reactivations in the past. A few of these individuals even showed up at our ward Christmas party on Saturday, so that was really exciting!

Towards the end of the week we were starting to lose steam. We had 5 or 6 lessons with potential investigators scheduled, and all of them had fallen through. Very few times on my mission have I had a week where we did not find at least one new investigator when I could honestly say that we had worked as hard as we possibly could. Saturday came around, and we were SO grateful to hear back from a guy named Yassine that we were still good to come over later that day! Yassine is 27 and he going to school here although he is actually from Morocco. We found out that he is a nonpracticing Muslim, but he stayed with a Christian host family a few years ago here, and he said that he went to church with them a few times. He said that he would get emotional whenever he was in church, and there was one time that he saw somebody be baptized and he felt really warm and like he was going to cry. Ever since then he has been experiencing a growing curiosity about Christianity. We focused our lesson around recognizing the holy ghost and his purpose in testifying of truth. It was touching to me to hear how Yassine has had these experiences that have helped to prepare him to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ!

One thing that we are going to have to work out this next week is that we found out that we need special permission from President Bonham to teach a Muslim. Hopefully Yassine isn't too intimidated to allow President Bonham to join us for our lesson on Tuesday. Not only that but if someone who is Muslim decides that they want to be baptized, a member of the seventy has to come to interview, and the candidate for baptism essentially has to promise that they will never go back to the middle east again because of the potential violence that could happen to them there. I've been going over different scenarios in my head, and over the last few days I've asked myself a few times- Do I have enough faith in this message that we share that I could invite someone to be baptized, knowing full well that the implications of that may be complete loss of family, friends, and culture? Another question I've been contemplating that I've actually wondered a lot on my mission, is why is it that I was born into a family that has the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught me about it from a young age?

I had an amazing experience during my personal study one day this week where I felt like everything that I needed to study was being given to me. It was like the spirit was enlightening my mind; a continual flow of thoughts and questions and scriptures and it was the coolest experience that has happened to me a few times on my mission so far! The topic that I felt was given to me to study this week was sacrifice. Why are we required to sacrifice, and what examples of sacrifice have we had in the past? I don't have nearly enough time to express everything that I learned, but here are a few quotes I thought about during my study that I will leave for you to think about too. The first is a quote by Elder Holland in a talk called "Missionary Work and the Atonement"- I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary. Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price." The other quote I loved is from an individual who was in the Martin Handcart Company: "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

Sister Glancy's family sent her some Christmas decorations, so we decorated a little tree earlier this week. I'm loving opening my 12 days of Christmas, by the way! Sister Glancy and I did find some ugly Christmas sweater vests from the local Goodwill, in case you are wondering. And yes, we do make ugly sweaters look good. Maybe if we proselyte in them enough we'll find more investigators. Or perhaps we should just proselyte in Seahawks jerseys- i don't know if anyone else is aware of how the football season is going, but based off of hearsay at people's doors I've been predicting a Seahawks-Broncos faceoff in the Superbowl for a few weeks now!

I love you all and can't wait to talk to you next week!

Love, Sister Slade