Update

Sunday, September 13, 2009

We are part of the Beijing China International District Branch Robert Lewis is our branch president. They have groups organized where there are enough members and priesthood holders to do so. They also have a virtual branch for those who are isolated. These members dial-in to a conference bridge for their meetings.

Today we had sacrament meeting, except for the actual administering and passing of the sacrament, on the conference bridge. They had a pause in the broadcast service so we could do the sacrament service locally. It was really nice to take the sacrament after three weeks. It reminded us of how much we had been missing our Church meetings. After sacrament meeting we had a Gospel Doctrine lesson. After Church we had the pot-luck lunch in our apartment. There were ten members present. There are usually about 15 members who attend. The lunch was nice, but it took a little work to clean up afterwards.



Below is a description of our China District:

Current member count/breakdown (including members whose records are not moved into the branch because of short duration of stay in China):

170 members in 35 cities in 11 organized groups

11 lone members (only member in city)

6 lone couples/families (only members in city)

16 lone sisters (either lone member sisters or small groups of sisters only, ie no priesthood in city so no access to sacrament)

31 Primary and pre-Primary aged children in 9 cities (Changsha, Chengdu, Dalian, Shenyang, Wuhan, Xiamen, Xiangtan, Yongzhou and Yantai)

2 youth (TJ and Maddie Ethington in Dalian)

69 YSA in 21 cities (mostly with the Int'l Language Program or China Horizons program which bring university-aged men and women to China to teach English for 1 or 2 semesters, but other YSAs are here working in other capacities or studying Chinese or as part of other graduate programs)

22 retired seniors, comprised of both singles and couples, including BYU Kennedy Center China Teachers and ex-KC teachers in Jinan, Shandong Province, but also in the ancient cities of Luoyang, Qufu, Tai'an, Weihai and Zhengzhou


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

In the evening we had a branch-wide audio conference with Elder Oaks at our group leader’s apartment. The branch president conducted from Beijing and Elder Oaks talked from Xi’en. There were about 35 locations that participated. The first speaker talked about enjoying the moment. She referred to Laman and Lemuel who wanted to return to Jerusalem so they could enjoy their possessions rather than taking advantage of the opportunities the Lord had provided for them. Sister Oaks spoke about how we are in many locations, but yet we are bound together by the Holy Ghost. President Perkins, the area president, also spoke.

Elder Oaks told a story about a stake conference he attended in Ogden about 10 years ago. He said that as he sat on the stand he looked over the congregation. His eyes were drawn to a lady in a yellow dress. As he continued to scan the audience he kept coming back to her. He finally realized he was being prompted to call on this sister to speak in the conference. After the congregational hymn, and before he spoke, the stake president called her to come to the stand and bear her testimony.

Elder Oaks said he was responsible for the content of the meeting and so he felt he was taking a chance calling her to speak. As she came to the pulpit, he whispered to her to just speak what was in her heart. She explained that she was a nurse and that she worked in a care center for the elderly. She said one of the patients she worked with was the most ornery, evil, mean person she had ever met. She said he was constantly using the call button. When she would go to his room he would spit on the floor so she would have to clean it up. He did this along with other vile things. He used profane language in talking with her.

One evening his call button sounded and she went to his room. When she got there she could see that he had fallen out of bed, had become disconnected from all of his tubing, and was laying on the floor bleeding and writhing. She could tell by looking that he was near death. When she entered the room, she said she felt the very real force, just like an electrical field surrounding him. She knew that God loved this man and cared for him in spite of all of his bad decisions and evil ways. She went to her knees and held him in her arms until he died. She then closed her talk.

Elder Oaks knew that the reason she was called to speak was because he needed to hear this story. He needed to be reminded that God loves all of us in spite of our bad decisions. He needed to be reminded that the Savior has atoned for all of us if we will call upon him and plead for his mercy. It was a very spiritual message and one I also needed to hear.