An Inspirational Thought

September 29, 2024

An Inspirational Thought

Dear Elder Yu,

How are you doing? I hope you are getting along well with your new companion in the new area. Is your newly assigned area nearer to the urban area, closer to the commercials or shops? Could you get your groceries and daily necessities easily?

You have already learned how to overcome frustration and discouragement, or at least part of how to do that. And, to be honest, you have learned things that most parents only dream of their son learning as an 18-year-old. Where else can this kind of growth happen?

I love where you are and what you are doing! You have already learned how to lean on the Lord for help and I promise you, Heavenly Father knows exactly where you are and what worries and excites you! I promise that is true. And, I am grateful and happy that you know it too!

I have been busy with my work, study, and calling lately, and of course with Annabelle (ha-ha), so please do not worry about me. I am taking things easy at a time. I am getting hands-on in my calling as the primary teacher for the younger children. It has been a while since we stopped teaching to focus and prepare for Primary Presentation. Thus, the lesson continues back. Children are so pure and innocent, and their responses and reactions are so natural and from their hearts! It feels so much fun and relaxing teaching children compared to the adult members. And that is the reason I love to serve as a primary teacher!

As you know, I took Math 221 Social Science Statistics this semester. My instructor will share a spiritual thought with us each week. He was sharing something related to the Holy Ghost last week. We have been taught and emphasized by the prophets and apostles on the need to teach by the Spirit when we teach gospel topics.

It reminds him of an experience that learning by the Spirit does not always take a conventional path. Years ago, while he served as a missionary in Argentina, he was in a small town; the missionaries had only arrived a few months earlier, which meant it was a new area. Three wonderful families that they taught in the church that day—none of them knew of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 9 months ago.

There was a man who was teaching, and he was reading from the Gospel Principles lesson manual. The lesson had a quote from Harold B. Lee from the book "Stand Ye in Holy Places." This good man was unfamiliar with the concept of a citation of a quote, so he just read the quote as it was and included the name of the book at the end, as if it were part of the quote.

Then he looked at the missionaries seriously and asked, "Why did they suddenly say 'Stand Ye in Holy Places' at the end of this quote? And what does it mean to stand in a holy place?"

You guess what? My instructor shared that what followed was a glorious 10-minute-long conversation about being in a holy place. He felt glad that his companion and he did not interrupt the conversation for the whole time.

One of the families said that the Holy Place meant that “we should be at church,” Another from a different family said, “We need to make their homes holy places.” Another said, “This meant we should all prepare to go to the temple since that is the holiest of places we can stand.” The conversations became a meaningful gospel-teaching moment for them.

Since then, my instructor shared that he has always found it useful in gospel conversations to go off track if the Spirit dictates. Because you may wind up somewhere wonderful, which the Lord wants you to be.

Lastly, I passed the food parcel to Brother Roger. His flight to Japan was on 28th September 2024 (Saturday). According to him, he will stay a night in Japan and then catch another flight on the next day, 29^th September 2024 (Sunday). I had a tele-conversation with Sister Amy as she too, has something to pass to her daughter, Gigi Lim, through Brother Roger. I am thinking of not bothering Brother Roger so much, Gigi will take the package and drop it off at your Utah Ogden Mission office once she is available to pick it up from Brother Roger. I will keep you updated on this yeah.

One thing I am not sure about is how many of the items I packed inside the box, would Brother Roger managed to take it over. It might be less than I intended due to his luggage weight limitation. I just assured Brother Roger that I am OK. In the event, he could not bring too much over to the States for you because I do not want to burden him as well.

Oops! One more thing, I just noticed last night that the Japanese curry cubes must have been expired since 2023. I did not realize it after I took out the rest of the flavors to plan for posting to you next time. If you get the parcel, you try to cook for one and see, if that is still can be consumed yeah. If you taste the flavor is spoilt, then you can just throw it away. So sorry for that! I did not check the expiry date, as I forgot how long it has been bought!

I hope this can help to ease your stomach for a while. Let's pray that all these food packages can be received in your hands in the next couple weeks.

There might be boring moments in the missionary field and slow times, but you are out there, in the middle of the Lord’s work! Remember that you have a family that loves you, thinks about you all the time, misses you, and prays for you multiple times daily. You have a companion who loves you. You have a mission president who loves you. You have friends who love you. You have people from both sides of the veil who will help you, whisper to you, and encourage you through the Spirit (2 Nephi 32:2).

You are a son of God blessed with talents and gifts more than most. Use them and develop them to bring forth the work of the Lord.

I love both Annabelle and you in my life. Love you all so much—to the moon and Back—hmm... I think all time and eternity are the words!

Love,
Mommy