My Last Day as a Teenager - 32nd email from Hong Kong

Dear all,

Well, that's that. I'm done with being a teenager. Now on to bigger and better things.

It was indeed lovely to speak with you on Sunday; what a treat. Everyone seemed really happy and Tim's voice sounded so deep I wasn't sure if it was him at first! He must have grown a lot! I have not, though, of course - nor have I put on any weight. But my diet is now a little more balanced than noodles for every meal; why, there are all kinds of things Missionaries can make that are cheap and easy, like canned soup, or rice, or sandwiches! Yesterday my lunch was tuna fish rice - mostly because it was the day before Preparation Day and the only food I had left was a can of tuna fish, some rice and Marmite. It was still okay though.

I'm not too bothered about picking up my birthday package tomorrow - next week is Mission Conference, so I'll pick it up then. Right now we haven't got permission to go to the Temple, and we're currently in shorts and T-shirts after having played football this morning again, so we're not really in the right atire to wander into the Mission Home, pick up a package and wander out again.

Good to know that Julian is back home - if not safe, at least sound. He's been writing me pretty solidly so far, which is really nice. A lot of people who said they'd write never seem to get around to it, but I guess I'm out of sight, out of mind. Never mind - Julian's letters always make me smile, and stories like his conversion help me to remember that people are out there who haven't heard of the Gospel yet, but really are ready for it.

One investigator we've been meeting with for about two weeks now, K, is really good - we met him on the street, and he seemed excited to meet with us and learn some English, so we invited him to English class. Beforehand, though, Elder Sharp and a ward member, Brother T, taught him the Restoration (we were on exchanges with the ward because we had too many people to teach!) and he seemed excited to come to church.

He came, and beforehand we sat him down and taught him a little about prayer. Out of the blue, he said something really unexpected; "I don't know if I believe in God, but I have a really good feeling when I meet with you." I was so happy that the Spirit was working with him, and explained that this was the feelings of the Spirit. In church, to my great surprise, he sang all of the hymns as if he'd heard them all his life; it turns out that he's a real fan of music, particularly classical music, and because he plays the classical guitar, he can sight sing. His favourite contemporary artist is none other than James Blunt!

After church, he asked a wonderful question; "When can I see you again?" We set up a time on Tuesday and asked him to read a booklet on the Plan of Salvation - he seemed particularly interested to learn about the purpose of life.

When we met with him, he said he'd read and prayed. I was thrilled. We went through the lesson with him, and he understood the Three Kingdoms and really seemed to understand the Plan.

That night, I determined to be prepared in case of a sad phenomenon that occurs with rapidly progressing investigators that I like to call Burn Out - where someone learns and keeps commitments very quickly and then as suddenly as they started learning, stop progressing and eventually stop answering their phone. I got him to write down his address (so that if he stops answering his phone, we can drop by his house) and asked about one of the big concerns a lot of younger investigators have - their families. He said that his family is Buddhist, but he's discussed the things he's learnt with them, and they have no problem. This was a great relief to me; a negative or anti-Christian family can kill investigators quicker than just about anything else. But he seems to have a really good, close relationship with his family (he and his mother went out on a "date" on Mother's day) and they seem not to mind about him meeting with us and learning these things.

Last night I phoned him, and was thrilled when he said he'd read, prayed, and had a good feeling; even if it was a little small. But he was going to pray again that night. I gave him Alma 32, a chapter on growing in faith, to read.

He really is amazing; I'm excited by him more than I am by our Mainland investigator. Of course J H D will get baptised; but K's something else; he's really developing testimony right in front of our eyes!

J H D, meanwhile, went through some pretty nasty withdrawals from tea this past week, but is now over the worst of them. On Tuesday, we set a baptismal date of May 30th or there abouts, and showed him the baptismal font. I gave him a demonstration, by having us walk down into the font, showing how I would hold him when he got baptised, confirming that this had to be done by the right authority (I've already shown him my line of authority, so he understands that) and saying the Baptismal prayer, then explaining that I would lower him into the water and he would come out again, clean and pure. I think it really solidified in his mind the process that he'll go through as he is baptised into the true church.

The major courses I'm trying to decide between at University would be something in, of course, Mandarin, or Journalism, or Teaching - and we can throw English Literature in there too. Any of those are most appealing to me at the moment; I think the order of interest right now would go Mandarin, Teaching, English Lit, Journalism. See what you can find - anything that looks like it's along these basic ideas.

Lots of love, everyone. I hope you all have a fun week, and that such things as SATs, Ofsted visits, job interviews, essays, babies and school will not be too stressful. You're all in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Matthew Loffhagen

羅 長 老