Samuel Watson
Monday October 22, 2018
Faith Without Works is Dead!
Hello everyone!
This has been another good week. Lots of stuff going on!
unfortunately, we did have a few roadblocks, such as a lot of our investigators
being unable to meet. Some were out of town. Others just couldn't go out in the
rain... That is a very common excuse in Vietnam... Everyone fears the rain...
But we had success with those we met, and got several new investigators! That
is where I have a miracle story to relate. So this was on Thursday. Pretty
typical day for the most part, but we had a lot of coincidences that occurred,
and you know what, I don't happen to believe in just coincidence... So some
background. That morning, I was trying to study on how we can find better. I
mean, we have been doing alright, but there is always a way to do better. So, I
found a verse in Alma 38:12 that says to be "bold but not
overbearing..." and I was trying to figure out what that meant. Here in
Vietnam, people are very ngại or shy to talk about religion. Sometimes it is
hard to find a balance of how to talk to them about the church. Even the word
church will instantly turn some people off. You talk to them, and they are like
"oh, a foreigner who speaks Vietnamese!" and then you say "we
are volunteers!" to which they respond "what do you do/ who do you
work for? That is so cool you do volunteer work!" and when you say
"oh, we work for a church" the smile often vanishes and they say
"oh, I need to go now..." or, one of my "favorite"
responses "anh xin đi trước" literally "please, let me go
first..." So it is really hard to find a balance of how to talk to others.
And while talking about our free English activity is good, and quite successful,
I like to mix it up a bit, and I have seen in many cases that by asking the
right questions as the Spirit directs, people can actually open up to the
gospel offhand! The English is good to to get them comfortable coming to church
activities, but if they are ready offhand, why not find out? So I wanted to be
more bold, but not overbearing. Also, as many of you know, we contact about
families a lot and have seen success there as well. Well, I wanted to be a bit
more direct on the gospel side, but still not overbearing. So I went to a cross-reference
in Alma 18:24 which says, "And Ammon began to speak unto him with
boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?" Well,
let me tell you, that is a very bold question indeed. Most missionaries here
would probably tell you it was a little too bold. But coming across it, I
wanted to try it out. I also shared it with my companion. Well, later in the
same day we are out contacting. We decided to be bold. We came across one lady
running on a track in the park and talked to her. Usual surprise we speak
Vietnamese. She asked what we do. We said we help people learn how to have
better lives. She asked how we do that. We told her we share about our
relationship with God and our purpose in life. She asked how old we were. We
said 19. She said "you probably aren't old enough to know, but what is the
purpose of life?" We then went into talking about the Plan of Salvation,
and she was quite impressed. She said she is Buddhist, but wants to hear more
of what we have to share. We met her two days later, and she brought a friend
with similar questions! It was great, and we will keep meeting them! By the
way, she is named Chi Lien, and her friend is Chi Quan. So that definitely
showed our boldness leading to helping others. Then came the next person. So it
started raining, and we got caught under a cover. We tried talking to some
people, but they weren't interested. Actually, I don't know why, but one guy
just disliked us and wouldn't even say anything to us. Stared the other way the
whole time we sat next to him. I did get him to say goodbye before I left
though... I made it a goal he would say something to us before we left. Elder
Trung talked two other ladies and the man overheard him say we do volunteer
work. And I tried to talk to him. I just kept saying random phrases out loud
obviously directed towards him. I would say things like "Wow, it rains
rather suddenly in Vietnam..." or "how much longer is it going to
rain?" When we left, I wished him a good evening, and he finally turned
towards us and said something like, "yeah, you too." Little tangent
there. Also, a little awkward, but I think I made the guys day better. So, with
not much luck there, we decided to go back to the bikes despite the rain and
visit an investigator who hadn't been answering our calls. On the way, Elder
Trung pointed at another cover and said "I think we should talk to the
lady in there". So we did. Her name was Nhi. Initially she was not very
open, but we made conversation. Brought up we worked for a church, but she did
not react. Probably would have walked away, but it was still raining. We talked
a bit more. And then, Elder Trung just flat out asked "Do you believe in
God" based on the conversation we had about that verse earlier. She really
opened up! She said she was not sure. We discussed what it would mean if God
were real, how it would make life more meaningful, and give us more purpose! We
have not met her since, but she was really curious. She said if she ever had
time, she would come to Sacrament meeting. Hopefully we can meet her at some
point, but if not, a seed has been planted, and it was really cool to see how
God directs us! We don't even always notice, but he provides a way. And the
scriptures truly are a great source of revelation if you diligently study them.
I thought it was so cool, that we not only applied being more diligent, but we
actually got the opportunity to literally apply what we had read! Word for
word! Also, Ammon is a great example of missionary work. You should read the
whole story if you want more ideas on not just finding, but teaching as well!
Oh, and one final miracle to finish that day, we went to visit the member I
mentioned had not been answering our phone. Right as we were about to get in
the elevator, his wife comes out and told us what a coincidence it was to see
us, and that her husband had an emergency work trip to China. We thought he had
been ignoring us or something for the last two weeks, but it is good to know
otherwise. The other miracle, if we had not been there right at that moment,
had gotten there even one minute later, we would not have run into his wife,
and would not have known what had happened! God does put us in the RIGHT PLACE
at the RIGHT TIME! So yeah, way too many "coincidences" in on day to
not be directed by divine design...
Now, these are not the only miracles of the week, but if I
were to put in every single miracle, well I wouldn't ever finish emailing on P
Day, and you would never have enough time to read it all either! Suffice it to
say, I have seen the Lord's hand help me and others in so many ways on my
mission. This really is His work. He directs it. We are merely tools that He
uses to get it done. If we have faith in Him, and work to the best of our
extent, then He will make up the difference and accomplish great things through
us. This is His work.
Well, quick recap on new investigators. We got six this
week. The two mentioned above included, plus one English class student named
Chi Dinh, a contact we met named Anh Duy (who agreed to meet us again the same
day we contacted him and had a great discussion of the gospel!), Chi Sang who
we randomly called in our phone and who agreed to meet, and Chu Lan who used to
be an investigator. We don't know why he stopped, but we called him and he was
excited to meet again offhand! Hasn't learned in about a year!
Well, I think that is it for the week. Lots of exciting stuff going on! Also, our Sacrament attendance is greatly increasing. We usually have somewhere in the 40s showing up, but this week it was 60! And we will keep going up from there! One side note, not necessarily fun, our apartment is infested with ants! So maybe not infested infested, but we have a lot. So we bought some JumboVape spray to kill them. I found a nest of them in the kitchen wall... I sprayed one open whole, and they started pouring out like mad from another! Then I sprayed them there too, and they just kept coming out, dying, and falling off the wall into a mass ant pile! Kind of gross! There is a photo attached...
Well, that does it for the week! Hopefully we can actually
meet all of our investigators this week and start getting out baptismal dates!
We have a lot of people with very high potential. Wish us luck with that! Have
a great week! And don't forget to be bold in what you do, whatever that may be!
Elder Watson/ Nghiêm
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