Gosh, I don't even know where to begin! This was one of the best weeks on my mission. It's hard for me to even think what the highlight is! But I guess I'll say: smuggling Books of Mormon into China.
Okay, that sounds more skullduggerous than it actually was. But it was a really cool experience! Here's what happened:
We were giving a temple tour, and half of the group was Chinese. They were all nonmembers who were there for a wedding, and were having a tour because they had time to kill during the sealing, since they couldn't go in. We had no idea the party would be half Chinese, but luckily one of the Chinese men spoke English, so he translated for the rest. Usually when we do temple tours for a wedding party, we try not to push religion too hard, because they're already tetchy that they're not inside the temple for their son's wedding (or best friend's, or sister's, or whatever). We just explain the temple, show them a short film, and then wait with them in the annex until the sealing is over, answering questions if they have any. This time, though, we left the group with our joint teach, Sister Vollath (a really nice old lady in our ward), while we ran some quick errands.
Sister Vollath told the Chinese man (the one translating) about the Book of Mormon. By the time we came back, he was very excited and said he wanted to read a copy. We had a couple of English and Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon back at our apartment, and we offered to run back and get them, but the sealing was almost over, and then they had to leave to get to the reception. And the man lives in mainland China, so we couldn't very well have missionaries visit and drop one off once he got home.
We ran as fast as we could back to our apartment and loaded up our bags with everything we could find in Chinese, which wasn't a lot, and then ran back to the temple, praying the whole way that he would still be there. It normally takes us 40 minutes to get to church and back, walking briskly, but I think angels must have been pushing us or something because we made the trip in 10 minutes. And you know me, I'm not exactly an athlete.
When we got back, the wedding party was still there, taking photos. We must have looked crazy, all windblown and sweaty, but we found the Chinese man, and gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and English (plus a couple of brochures in Chinese). He was very touched. He kept saying, 'Such a gift for me, such a gift.' He read the intro page, right then and there, and then said, 'I can learn a lot from this book.' Then he said, 'I want to bring my wife here someday.' Sister Thaden said, 'To Germany?' and he said, 'No, to the temple, so we can be sealed.'
I can't even tell you what that experience meant to me. I doubt I'll ever know what happens to him. All I know about him is that his last name is Chong, but I bet there are about 10,000 Chongs in China. But I am at least glad to know that we were able to touch his life and give him a Book of Mormon. Brigham Young was converted because he got a Book of Mormon from a friend, who got it from a relative, who got it from another relative, who got it from a missionary. So who knows.
Oh man, and that was only ONE cool thing that happened this week! I don't even know how to summarize the rest, and this email is already pretty long. Here are some of the other highlights:
- Our district did a temple session together, and it was France week (France doesn't have a temple yet so some of them come to Frankfurt) so the session was in French, haha. It sounded beautiful!
- I gave a talk in church yesterday. I was super nervous, and I'm sure I made a ton of German mistakes, but it was cool because our investigator was there.
- We gave two other temple tours, apart from the wedding one, and they were both HUGE groups! One group was from an Evangelisch church. It was the pastor and 25 of his congregation. I think he was trying to show his congregation how ridiculous we Mormons were, but I think it backfired, because a bunch of people from the tour have been calling the temple because they want to learn more. Temple tours are so wonderful. They really invite the spirit and I think people can feel the love and peace on the grounds.
- Sister Thaden and I tried on Dirndls last p-day after emails. (Dirndls are like Lederhosen for girls. Traditional German attire). I've decided if at all possible, I'd like one for a souvenir.
- Sister Thaden goes home in two weeks! I am going to miss her so bad. We have had such a good time together. I hope my next companion is cool, too.
Okay! Love you all!
Sister Jensen
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, lately. I lost the cord for my camera somewhere in the MTC when I moved. But I just found out the Internet cafe has a card reader! So I am attaching two photos:
1. The Chinese family from the temple tour (note the Book of Mormon he's holding!)
2. Me, in a dirndl.
Love you!
-K
Sorry, I don't know how to rotate the first one so it's not sideways... :( -Jess
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