Power exchanges with the zone leaders are a wonderful thing. The zone leaders try to go around to every area throughout the transfer and do a day-long exchange with the elders. While there, we try to find as many new investigators as possible. I went with Elder Smith and we did some street contacting in the morning and a street board at night. We talked to a few nice people and got their numbers, hopefully they turn out well. I'm a big fan of street boards. Sometimes we just take a pre-made poster out on the street and let people stare. There are posters about prophets, temples, and families, but I like it even better when we take a whiteboard out and write something on it. Lately we've been writing things like, "God speaks to us today. What questions do you have for him?" and "There are many churches, but only one God. How can we know the truth?" I love these because usually when we are just standing there, 95% of the people totally ignore us, but with a board, 95% of them slow down and read it. It's a good conversation starter.
The other day we had a good conversation with a Muslim guy while doing a street board. We both told each other what we believed, and he was very interested. Of course, he wasn't a hardcore muslim, or else he probably wouldn't have even talked with us. It's nice to notice that we have quite a lot in common with Islam, except for the very important fact that Jesus is the son of God. They believe he was a great prophet, and that he did immense amounts of good, but that God is not his father. This is unfortunate, because that fact holds so many implications and consequences that if it were not so, everything would fall apart. All the doctrines and principles of the Gospel would be negated, and we would have no hope. I'm very glad that we have the knowledge that Jesus was not only the Messiah, but also the literal Son of God.
Just today, we had another meeting with the Muslin English course guy, Eri (airy). Eri says he keeps meeting with us and visiting church because he likes us as people, which is fine by me. Today's meeting was in a bar, and that's not unusual at all here. People regularly invite us to go out for a drink, and we happily accept. We sit at a table and the missionaries order a soda or a hot cocoa, then we just talk. It's a good, relaxed setting to teach about things like the word of wisdom and families. Of course, we try when we can to meet at the church, but this is better than nothing. I hope Eri keeps coming to church and feeling good there.
In other news, my companion's eyes are still doing not-the-greatest. The glasses and the eyedrops have not helped the headaches, so we'll keep investigating that. Also, on Friday we went to Shang-Hai for district lunch, one of only two Chinese restaurants in the country. And man, was it good. I got fried rice and sizzling pork, which is pork and veggies brought out to you sizzling hot on a cast-iron plate. It's a rare treat to have actual Chinese food every once in a while.
I hope to be able to report more success next week. Be safe, and remember that you are never alone.
Elder Weaver
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