21 October

Wow, can you believe October is almost over? It is definitely cooling down and getting windy--in preparation for winter, in which the weather is cold and rainy all the time. Oh well, I guess anything is better than heat, right? :)

This past week was pretty exciting. Actually, every week is pretty exciting. :) We had regional conference this week, which meant that all of the stakes and districts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and the other countries in South East Asia all watched a broadcast from Salt Lake directed specifically to southeast Asian members, each translated into our own respective languages. Which means that for two weeks in a row, we have attended church in English! It was awesome. Sister Dalton, Elder Oaks, and President Uchtdorf (and Elder Rasband of the area authority presidency) spoke specifically to members of southeast Asia.

Sister Dalton told this awesome story about a couple of years ago when she spoke at YW General Meeting about a marathon she had run. She said that she got an email from a Brother Lai in Singapore who asked if she thought it was ok to run a marathon on Sunday since he was training for one and the only marathons in Singapore were on Sunday. Sister Dalton wrote back and basically told him to ask the Lord and read 1 Samuel 2:30--"He who honors God, God will honor." Well, she never heard from him again until 2 years later when she went to Singapore and was greeted at the airport by several people, among whom was Brother Lai. She asked him if he had run the marathon and he said yes, but "I did it on Saturday and I did it in the traffic."

She then told of how Brother Lai the next year had a business trip to Salt Lake and it was at the same time as the Saturday St. George marathon! He ran it with Sister Dalton and her husband and said that he never dreamed that he would have an opportunity to go to Utah and run a marathon. Sister Dalton then told us that as we are faithful and obedient, choicest blessings will be ours--even if they are not immediate.

And then President Uchtdorf said that since his grandsons were in Taiwan on missions, their mom had asked him to say hello to them. He said that he would instead say hello to all of the missionaries from their mothers and that they loved us. We were at the stake center watching it and Elder Evans, one of his grandsons, was there as well. We all laughed while Elder Evans pretended that he did not know what we were all laughing about. I think it would be pretty weird to have your grandfather say hello to you in a regional conference!

And then--he asked everyone who was listening that if they had not already comitted to go on a mission, to commit right then. He said there were 367 missionaries from this area but 1500 who could serve! He said "if you have not decided to go on a mission, decide now. Commit yourself, and commit yourself to your Heavenly Father." It was really awesome and quite powerful.

Let's see, what else is exciting. I guess I can share a miracle with you so this entire email will just be spiritual. I will try to share something funny next week. :) Sometimes we find ourselves teach crazy people. With serious mental problems. I guess our chapels are an easy target for weird people to wander in and want to meet with the missionaries. BUT, sometimes really golden people just walk in and want to meet with us. The other day we were teaching English class Wednesday night and this woman walked in and asked my companion if she could buy a Bible here. She has been watching Christian tv and they told all the listeners to go and start attending a church close to their homes. Well, she lives about 3 minutes away and so wanted to come to our church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and started meeting with her and she is absolutely awesome. It is so exciting to see the gospel begin to change people's lives! Isn't it so awesome that Heavenly Father allows us to participate in this work?

Love you all. Let me know if anything exciting happens in your lives. :)

Sister White