Struggles with the work. The Lord requires all of our efforts

 So we had a bad week for teaching too, no investigator lessons. It sounds really depressing while I am reading back over this but I am sure that Satan just attacks us relentlessly when we need to do something good. So I just need to make sure I do what the Lord wants me to do... I just wish I knew what that was right this minute. 

So I have been studying repentance, this is my 3rd time reading the Book of Mormon since coming out and it is going awesome. I love the Book of Mormon. I don't think that there is a limit on Gods mercifulness towards us, the children of me. There isn't at all. Its amazing to read of the Lords covenants that he has made with his people and how he is willing to repare them even when we break them if we are willing to repent. That is the key though, we have to choose repentance, and repentance hurts. Not as much as eternal separation from our family hurts though. God loves us, and so he chastises us, to bring us closer in line with what is right. Its amazing. 

That's what I have learned lately. I love you Mum, You are the best, and so is Dad, he is a great example. I miss you all so much. 

Love Elder Tang

Photo: If you mix Elder Allreds jumper and mine, you get Jordans (Jordan is in the middle). And on the left is Mark Veal, I love that man, he is on the stake presidency, great man, great family. 

Ups and downs

The other Elders baptism still kept and Elder Allred and I were both in the program so we got to go and be a part of it which was great. We worked really hard trying to find new investigators through tracting and getting referrals and it hasn't been such a bad week. We didn't get to teach many lessons but we made some progress still. 

We are working hard, and being diligent always, that is most of the battle, the rest is in the Lords hands. 

Love you. 

Elder Tang

ps. It snowed like crazy this week. There was a rock wall in one of the members hallways. Made for an awesome pday. 

I have a couple of photos for you. This was Daniel, the other Elders Taught him. He was baptized this week. 

Baptismal commitments

This week has been good and bad as most missionary weeks are. We had new years eve off and we got to go and spend some time with a lot of families from the wards including the Keoghs, the Williams, the Veals, and even one family called the Campbells who are not members but come to a lot of things (we are working on getting them taught the gospel, its looking good, but its also looking slow) Brother Veal is possibly my favourite member I have met on my mission so far, he is on the Stake Presidency and is just a great man. And he is young at heart which is good too, well I guess he is pretty young in body too, he is only 39. But he is a really great help to us in always supporting us in the work, so is Bishop Keogh. The Europe area Presidency has just launched a big new program to tackle the lack of missionary work being done. More and more we are seeing the Brethren really push to try and help the members understand just how much the Lord is hastening his work. I really think that not many people get it. 

On Monday we taught Cheryl again and committed her to be baptized on the 18th of January. So it looks like we are getting a Baptism! Its weird because I feel like it just fell into our hands. She has a real bad throat infection at the moment though so even though she made church last week she missed it yesterday. And she had to cancel a teaching appointment, so I hope she gets better soon and will keep her date. But other than the little hiccup its looking great here. And the other Elders are baptizing someone on that same day, his name is Daniel and I don't know if anyone has ever been so ready to be baptized, except jack. Jack will never be surpassed. 

Other than that I just had an exchange this week with Elder Hewitson in my district who has been out like 20 months and is having some real struggles, so I was working with him on fixing them and his response has been great. I also went out with his companion Elder Oldham to help him because he has been aspiring to be more than a Junior companion really bad and its really not good for anyone involved, so I had to have a big chat with him about it and I think he is on a better course right now too. Just gotta keep an eye on them both. You have to think so much more as a district leader its crazy. 

That's been about it for this week. I love you all. I have been studying repentance a lot and it has really been helping me to understand more and more why we do missionary work. Its kinda weird though because I feel like the things I am learning Im not yet able to put into words. Ill ponder some more and see if I can explain it any better another time. 

Miss you heaps. Love Ya

Christmas in Dundee

This week was a good one. Even though we were all sick and had 2 days off for Christmas and boxing day, somehow we still managed to get a good amount of stuff done. We taught the most lessons that I have taught since I got to Dundee. We had 2 investigators at church, and we had a good overall week. It was a well needed success after a long and very difficult transfer. We taught a lady named Cheryl twice, she was a referral from a recent convert in the other ward and she is stellar. She is really receptive to the gospel and just the spirit in general. She came to church and really enjoyed it. So we will teach her again today and extend a Baptismal date for the 17th of January. And the other Elders have an investigator who was being taught online who they have taught heaps who is being prepared for the 17th as well. So things are finally looking up. Hopefully we can increase the teaching pool and be teaching a few people here. That would be awesome. 

Christmas was great and it was really good to get a couple of days to relax and hang out. We watched so many family movies, it was awesome. Absolutely loved it. It was so good getting to Skype you all as well. That was a great blessing. It was just great to see everyones faces. It is sad that it was such a short time, but a short time is better than no time. We will get new years day off this week so we have got one more day. And then back to work everyday. Pretty full on time over the Christmas period, you would think as a missionary it would just stay the same still but it gets way busier with all the ward activities and stuff. Its been Chocka block full. 

Well. Love you heaps. Here are some pictures from the last little while. Much love. 

Elder Tang

photo: me as rugged up as I can possibly get. It didn't snow, everything on the ground just froze because it was like -3

Christmas Day Skype 

Wet feet in a country that always rains not good

PRETTY DANG IMPORTANT! The boots you got me were faulty I think. Well the right one. Because the left one is fine, but the right one got a big crack in the sole and water is soaking through the bottom when its really wet. Im not sure what you want to do, but my right foot isn't waterproof anymore. Elder Mulville has these Ecco shoes that are pretty good. The are called Ecco Gore-tec, pretty dang durable and waterproof as anything. Or just more Rockports, because they are really good aside from the crack in the right shoe. 

Moves call was this week. Elder Mulville is off to Ireland. Im gonna miss him, he is such a good companion. And my new companion is going to be Elder Allred, I know him a little bit, he is cool. And Im getting "promoted" I guess to be a District Leader. So Im staying in the same area but my job has changed, Elder Merrill who was the District leader is moving to Glasgow and Im taking his job I guess. So that should be fun. It will be weird having to give instruction and stuff like that. 

So moves call is probably the biggest thing this week. We also were in a Christmas show at the church that was pretty fun, all the missionaries in the area sang in the choir, it was all about remembering the true meaning of Christmas, it was really fun. Ill send some pictures. I also found a guy named Aiden who looks a lot like me, he is an American exchange student in the Bingham ward here in Dundee. Pretty cool. 

New comp..

. This week was really tough for teaching too. We have been praying really hard to meet someone who is receptive, because we are really just feeling like nobody cares right now. There are so many people so caught up in so many unimportant things that demand their attention constantly that sometimes, we just cant even get people to stop for a minute to talk to us. That's a hard part of the work. 

One thing we did that was really fun this week was we sang in a choir that was part of a big Christmas show. It was a play about remembering the birth of Christ for Christmas. Really awesome. Ill send some pictures because it was heaps of fun. 

We have had quite a few chances to give service to ward members in small ways, I am really grateful for those opportunities, I love helping people, and as a missionary sometimes you can feel like nobody wants to be helped, but when you help someone who wants and needs it, rather than needs it but doesn't want it, the feeling is just stellar. 

Here are some pics from my last week or two.

Dad forgot to post this one

I must admit, I am not a great writer either. But hey, the atonement is real, I will repent. 

We haven't taught a lesson yet since Ive gotten to Dundee, there were no investigators or less actives being worked with when I got here. So Elder Mulville and I are basically starting from ground zero. We are getting along really well, I love this kid, he is a cool as a cucumber and he is a great missionary. We are working hard with the members trying to serve them so that they can trust us. The reputation of the missionaries over the last year has not been great, so we are really struggling to get the ball rolling. I love the Ward though, they are fantastic, and I love Dundee. Last week we were just out finding people all day everyday. Its really exhausting business, Im so tired every day haha, I fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow. 

The boots are great, dry feet are a tender mercy. It rains so much in this place haha. Im looking forward to getting back to sunny Brisbane one day in the far away future. 

I just finished the Book of Mormon again today, this one took me a while, about 3 months. I was studying about humility, all of Christ like Character depend on humility, you cant have any of Jesus' attributes without having some degree of humility. Not teaching has been a humbling experience. Its really hard to get things moving when nothing is happening. I cant even imagine how hard it is for the Lord to get his work moving, I guess he is all knowing so he is more efficient, but Im sure its still a struggle. 

Elder Tang

Falling out my third Story window

Sounds like it was a really great trip! I love the photos! Dads beard is killing me! That thing is flippin awesome! Im so jealous. Thou shalt not covet thy fathers beard... At least I think that's what the scripture says. 

This week was pretty rough. Coming off a week where we had pretty successful finding I had a hard time when this week no one really was listening to us. We were just talking to brick walls all week, lots of rude people and heaps of really closed minded people too. By Friday and Saturday its safe to say I was more than frustrated. I hate it when people will not even listen enough for us to tell them about the restored gospel, it really grinds my gears when they just keep walking when we try to speak to them or they just shout NO NO NO NO to everything we say. They don't even know what we are telling them, and its the most important message they will ever hear. Its really hard to preach to people who are so hard hearted. We had a man this week whos door we knocked on who said "for me to believe in God he would have to come down, stand in front of me, and say 'Im God, what can I do for you?'" He told us that he didn't believe in God basically because his neice died and he said that if God was there his life needed to be better. He was so arrogant and blasphemous, we then testified about how opposition is a part of Gods plan and that he would never learn anything if God was just his butler, to which he responded "YOU WONT PREACH TO ME!" 

That was just one of many people that just grinded my gears this week. Its so humbly to have to just not say anything to these people who are so prideful and contentious. Suffice it to say I did not have the best week. 

In order to combat a bad week this week we are starting fresh and we have to have a good week. Im trying to avoid thinking about the pressure. 

The Church has launched a HUGE Christmas initiative online and across the world, its a great opportunity to try and help people realize what they are actually celebrating, especially because I think that every year the real spirit of Christmas is getting pushed more and more aside. You have probably already gotten the whole run down from the sisters, if you haven't though, ask them about it because its a lot bigger in the states than it is here. Hop on facebook and share the video that's on Christmas.mormon.org its awesome. 

Well that's about all the news for me this week. Pretty boring. Sorry I don't have anything too outrageously exciting. We did have a great thanksgiving dinner at the Bishops house, that's was good. 

Love you. 

Miss you. 

Elder Tang