Ping pong gift of the spirit

Hey everybody, this week is transfers, tomorrow Elder Song will be taking off with a different companion (my old companion Elder Yi), and I'll be training Elder Chang. Now we're going to have 6 missionaries in the Ryde area. The president feels there is more and more work to do here which is really encouraging. Elder Chang is an awesome missionary already and he's so helpful with teaching me Chinese. The goal is that by the end of my mission I'll be able to call someone in the phone in Chinese and they won't know I'm white. Shoot for the stars right?

It's been a good week and we had a lot of opportunities to share the gospel and especially LEARN and GROW. Man I used to be such an unteachable person, I thought I knew everything (Sorry Mom), but being out here and relying on the Lord really shows me how much room I have to grow. I am trying to be humble and remember that God has a way bigger plan than I do. That's when you always find the miracles. I always pray for ways to be a more effective missionary and this week I learned some new things that will really help. I think the only real failure is not learning from your mistakes. 

Our first lesson with our new friend Jessica went well. Even though it was in a MacDonald's, the Spirit was really strong. She is so prepared to learn the gospel, which makes teaching feel very rewarding. When we helped her understand God's love for her, she was so grateful and very excited to begin praying. She kept telling us 'I know that all of this is true'. It's hard for me to express how good it makes me feel when I see someone truly turn to Jesus Christ and then see the change in them and how much light and joy they receive. I know that the Lord is leading us to those people who are ready and that we are truly instruments in God's hands to change the lives of His children. 

We had a member call us and invite us over for dinner, she really wanted us to help her husband who has been losing his faith in God. We prepared a lot for the lesson and really went in with the goal of helping him feel the Spirit. When we got there, it was instant connections when it turned out that he did the same thing for a living that I am studying in college, and we right into a good conversation. The whole time the mom was just going back and forth with the kids and you could tell she was so happy to see her husband talking with missionaries. I could feel how much she loved him and wanted the best for him, that's why she wanted him to come to Christ. We turned the conversation to the dad's conversion story and how he joined the church, and the Spirit came in as he reflected on how he knew it was true and it has truly blessed his life. We shared from the Book of Mormon and then he just sat there and was like 'yeah I need to get back on this'. After we left we were so hyped. It's awesome how as missionaries, we treat a lesson going well the same way a die-hard BYU fan treats their team beating the U in football. Jumping up and down, fist bumping and generally rejoicing in the Spirit. I seriously get so excited and happy when I really get to see the gospel work in someone's life. Also the mom gave us cough drops for dessert which I guess is Chinese culture for you. Can't lie those things are pretty good.

Our Zone Leader Elder Greenig came to our area to do a trade-off with Elder Chang and I. Elder Greenig is from Idaho and this is the last week of his mission. He is a stud and still working super hard. It was a huge blessing to get to work with him and just have a great day. I didn't realize how much I had missed just being able to joke around with a fellow American. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese people and I love having Chinese companions. But there's some things that are just American that Chinese people don't understand. It's the same way with my two companions. I'm sure there's a ton of Chinese culture things that they're like 'this American guy, he really doesn't get it'. Anyway, it was so much fun to just talk about college and tell stories and learn from each other all day while we worked. All day we went out to find people to teach and it was a huge miracle since we found 6 new people that day. And all the while it was a blast. I was just laughing the whole day and the time flew by. I hope when I finish my mission I will have learned as much as Elder Greenig. And ladies watch out this guy is coming to BYU-I in January.

Elder Chang has a great attitude and it's been fun to train him. Even though he doesn't feel adequately prepared for everything, he tries his best. We ran into a funny situation when I had him take the lead on a certain door we knocked. The plan was for him to say that we were missionaries and we wanted to share a Christmas message. We practiced it in English so that he would be prepared. But as soon as the door opened, Elder Chang seemed to forget the plan completely and went totally off the rails. I know the feeling since I've done the same thing in Chinese so many times. Anyway, he said something like "Hello do you need help? Jesus and Christmas is special. Missionary". Then he smiled and waited expectantly for the person to ask to be baptized. The person looked a little confused and Elder Chang decided to bail, but not before complimenting the cooking he could smell coming from inside the house. "Thank you! I smell good!!" 

I'm glad to be training him because it helps me understand how I must seem to all the Chinese people. They're all really good at pretending that I'm not saying all this weird stuff even though I definitely am. All in a good day's work.

I'm always thinking of new ways to begin conversations or find ways to teach people. One day I asked someone to take a picture of me with my companions. I also started fishing with a couple fishermen, asked somebody where the library was (even though it was right in front of me), complimented a crazy-looking electric scooter, and got into a passionate discussion about a band I've never heard of with a heavy-metal fanatic. All of these led to a conversation about the gospel and we got to set an appointment with each one of those people. There really are so many ways to find people to teach and I've learned that it's really about forming a connection with them first. The Spirit can really come in and touch their hearts once they realize that I'm just a normal guy who really loves God and wants them to see why I'm so happy about Him. Also doing the same thing all day is way too boring and I think missionary work is supposed to be a good time. I've gotten into some weird situations but it's all part of the fun.

We finally got to go back to Lily's house and see her family. It's so amazing to me that we have known this family for months now and when I first met them, their little baby couldn't walk, but now he's walking and starting to talk. I love feeling like a part of this little family. I go in and practice the piano with their 5 year old named Elsa. I'm sitting there reassuring her in Chinese that she's progressing really fast. I have a really special love for her, she reminds me of my little sisters. The coolest part of the visit was when Lily took us into the backyard and showed us this little plant, probably about a foot high and unimpressive compared to the other plants growing around it. Then she told me that it was the apple seed I had given her over a month ago when I taught her about faith. She had truly planted the seed and watered it and watched it grow and now she has this strong little plant growing in her backyard. That meant a lot to me and it showed that the message we had shared had really made an impact on her. I can officially say I've planted a seed here in Australia. I'm excited to see how the seed of her faith continues to develop.

A tender mercy: every morning we go to this big soccer field to exercise. But I had been really wanting to do something other than just run. Anyway, we get there and 5 minutes into our run this worker comes up and says we can't use the field since it's private property. At first I was thinking 'bro we've been coming here for 2 months and you never said anything' but we just left and then ran on the street around the city instead. Within a couple minutes we found this awesome little park with a basketball court and a bunch of exercise equipment. I just looked up at God and was like "wow thank you this is a miracle". God is so awesome since He has a way of turning something that seems bad into something that's even better than you expected.

I tried chicken feet for the first time. It looked nasty so I just went for it and stuck the whole thing in my mouth. The taste wasn't bad but when the little toenails started coming apart I couldn't handle it, that was nasty. It was a unique experience and I'm glad I tried it but it's a chicken foot what do you expect. 

We had an insanely spiritual lesson with our friend Jenny. She's this single mom who has been coming to church for a while and has super deep questions about stuff and has a lot of trouble recognizing the Spirit and discerning whether it's her own feeling or from God. We were discussing it and I shared with her from my heart how the gift of the Holy Ghost has truly touched my life. I felt the Spirit come in like a wave and told Jenny "you can feel the Spirit right now". She whispered back "right now?" And I nodded and then we were quiet and let her feel it. Before the lesson when I was planning with my companions, I had felt strongly that we needed to study about asking questions. One thing that stuck out was 'don't be afraid of silence' and just let the person think and feel. We had all remembered this and sat quietly while Jenny truly felt the Spirit. The seconds crept into minutes and then even longer. We sat in a circle for almost 30 minutes without saying a word, just basking in the quiet peace of the Spirit. It didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable, just like we were relaxing on a beach listening to waves. True peace distilled in our hearts. After a long time, I began thinking about the story in the Book of Mormon where Ammon sits and waits for an hour for the king to talk, since I felt like I was in a similar situation. Thinking of the story, I grabbed my Book of Mormon. It fell open to the exact page of the story I had just been thinking of. To me, this was God was telling me that I needed to do what came next in the story, which was Ammon asking the king a question. I turned to Jenny and quietly asked what she was feeling. The silence broken, she shared about the feeling she had and it led into an amazing conversation. My companions both shared great insights and in the end we helped Jenny realize that she really needed to ask of God and develop a relationship with Him. We all left feeling spiritually uplifted and I was just so grateful for the powerful and healing Spirit that we had felt together.

I got some great news this week: one of our recent converts named Jessie is preparing to serve a mission. She said that my enthusiasm for missionary work and my testimony helped her develop her own desire to go and change the lives of others and do the Lord's work. I was touched to know that I got to play a part in helping this girl (who just got baptized two months ago) choose go out and touch lives. It's powerful to me to think about how much of an effect even a simple action can have. The Lord works in small and simple ways. I know He has a plan for all of us. 

Every week at sports night we play ping pong. There's this one lady named Ting who comes, a member who I've become friends with. She's insanely good, as a kid she had an opportunity to play for the China Provincial Team. Last time I played her I got beat 11-0 and barely even got to hit the ball. She is so far above everyone else it's not even fair. But this week God decided to bless me with elevated ping pong skills to earn the Chinese people's respect. We started hitting around and warming up and then she smashed one way out of my reach. I was like "I thought we were warming up" and she smirked and said "this is warming up". That's when things got interesting. "Okay if it's gonna be this way it's gonna be this way" I thought.

The next hit she gave me, I returned with a ferocious backhand that left her looking at me in disbelief. She chalked it up to luck on my end and served to me again, only to be sent wheeling by my lightning fast return across the table. I felt like I had a superpower. For those who know me, I've played ping pong before for fun but I'm nothing above average and honestly probably below average. But now we seriously had the Olympics going. She resolved to beat me and started trying everything she could. We had some of those rallies that you see the Chinese people do where they're 10 feet behind the table and just smashing the ball back and forth. Soon the other Chinese people noticed that I was actually contending with Ting and they gathered around. They all knew her reputation and were amazed to see a white boy playing in the big leagues. Now that we had an audience the pressure was on, but I kept going. I didn't even feel in control of my own body, some divine energy had taken over and turned me into a ping pong legend. I was just as surprised as everyone else. The game went on and on, increasingly intense as the score was close. In the end, Ting beat me. I bowed to her in respect. It was a close match and one for the books. I now have a testimony that God can make us good at sports. 

PS I know this was a miracle because the next day I played her, I got beat 11-0 again. 

It's been good out here. Sometimes, there's a sense of pressure and discouragement that comes from pushing yourself to your limits to do your best for God. But it also brings the most rewarding feelings. Knowing that I had an impact on someone's life for the better is the best feeling. That's what I really seek to do every day. 

If you have already have a testimony of Jesus Christ, share it. Use it. Grow it. Never stop improving and using the blessings you've been given to bless others. 

If you don't yet know about our Savior or feel close to Him, you should learn about Him. I know it'll make you feel more peace and direction than you now feel. The Lord has a special way of taking each individual where they're at now and raising them higher. 

With much love from Australia,

我感谢你们读完了我的中文信息

Elder Halverson 

--I included a picture of this house we found which had super depressing Christmas decorations, Santa's over there laid out on the grass and the reindeer totally passed out 

Also the seed I gave Lily that she planted and it grew a lot