Mr. Zhang's Plan

Date: Thursday, April 08, 2010 7:26:06 AM
Subject: You have Mr Zhang's Plan, I have a ladder over the wall.

I still am not sure what that saying means. They used it in Priesthood on Sunday. I think it means something like 'you have a good idea, but I have the means." Or maybe it's more like "you've got the brains and I've got the... brahns?" Brons? Bronze? Anyway, I thought the translation was funny.

So you have all seen conference already. We have to wait until this weekend. The sessions are at eleven, two, and five. We have to go to the Chapel and watch it a week late with only an hour break. I am pretty excited.

What would you say the word glorified means? as in, "God has a glorified, perfected body"? The Chinese people do not understand the translation. Elders usually explain it as (roughly) He exudes light. I'm not sure it's that simple myself, but I'm afraid it's hard to explain glorified if you don't understand the word glory.

Time passes so quickly here. A 'moves' (transfer period? I don't know. We just use bad English) goes by so very quickly. It's hard to get anything done that feels like it's big enough. I feel like I just got here, but people in the ward already assume I'm a "Big Companion" (senior). It's scary, because I really could be. I could go senior in one week. I feel severely unready for that, but thus it is.

Despite past annoyances, I have become quite fond of Elder Fulmizi (the Australian Elder). He makes me laugh quite often, and I will miss him. He goes home this week. He asked me, "Is it a weakness to not think you have any weaknesses?" He's so great.

Elder Taylor (Griffin) wrote in an Email that it is always better to change the behavior rather than the situation. I don't know where that quote came from, but I have tried to use it in my life lately. When someone does something that upsets me, of course it is nice to change whatever they did, but it's better to change myself so that next time I won't get upset. When my investigator won't get baptised because she is afraid of water, the easy (and important) thing is to help her overcome the problem she has with water, but the real problem is a lack of trust in God and commitment to follow his commandments, no matter how hard they are. The baptism problem seems silly to me, but if our church had a mandatory surgery to become a member, I'm afraid I wouldn't join. If we had to eat a strange animal, my sister would not be a member. The important thing for us is to be willing to follow the Lord, no matter how hard it is. Of course, that takes longer. First we overcome the water problem, then we keep Amy active so that over time she can become perfected with the rest of the saints. But it's important to have the long term goals in mind and we help each other.

I love you all. The gospel is the only thing containing the fullness of truth. I don't understand it at all, but I know it's true.

-Noah