March 11, 2009

I just realized I didn't put anything up last week, so I guess I'll do that now. So, here's the news as of March 11th.

Vincent came to church on Sunday, and is ready for his baptism on Friday. Zibo again didn't make it to church, and Eric is wondering how serious he is. They took one of their recent converts, John, with them to teach Zibo this week, and it went really well. Eric is amazed at what a good teacher of the gospel John has become in only a few weeks since they met him. It is once again exciting to see the changes that can take place in a person's life when they accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One interesting experience this week is that Eric and Elder Liu met an Englishman named David who is interested in the gospel and came with them to church on Sunday. With all of the Chinese people they have been teaching, it is unusual for them to have the chance to teach in English, but Eric seems to welcome it.

After several months with all 4 of the same missionaries in Eric's flat, he is now the only one remaining of the original 4. He continues to enjoy his companion, Elder Liu. Elder Combs replaced Elder Salgado and now Elder Keables has replaced Elder Strong. Eric had spent a week with Elder Keables in Leeds before coming to Sheffield, and has enjoyed getting to know him better. Elder Combs and Elder Keables are excellent missionaries who lead the zone with enthusiasm.

Eric reported a little on his responsibilities as district leader. He is responsible for two companionships of missionaries. Each night he talks to each team and also to the zone leaders. Once each week, except the week of zone conference, they hold a district meeting where the district leader instructs the members of his district. The district leader also goes on exchanges with each member of the district at least once every transfer (usually 6 weeks). In addition, the district leader would help his missionaries plan and carry out baptisms, and would also conduct baptismal interviews. I'm sure there are other responsibilities as well, but he didn't mention them.

We've been telling Eric he needs to smile and have fun more, so I guess he decided to report on an experience this week which indicates he's doing that. Apparently they had an encounter with a local chav (he made us google it to see what that is, but I'll tell you it's a derogatory term used to describe young white men in the UK who stereotypically are agressive petty criminals who wear jewelry and sports branded clothing, you get the picture). The chav was too busy rapping to want to hear about the gospel, so Eric got into a rap battle with him. According to Eric, "I totally dominated him...all with clean language of course." While Eric was throwing it down, Elder Liu was busy getting it all on video. I'd love to see that sometime. Could be pretty funny. I'm not too sure how to feel about all of this, but at least it does show that he hasn't totally lost his sense of humor or ability to have a good time.

Finally, Eric reported to us on his Chinese name. When he first got to the missionary training center, they gave him a temporary Chinese name, but told him they would give him a permanent one before he left. He had never reported to us on it until now. His Chinese name is Han Jun Kai. Han is a surname given to him because it is similar to his English surname. According to Eric, Jun Kai means "athletic, handsome and victorious or overcoming all obstacles." Sounds like a pretty cool name to have someone give you. He likes the way it makes him feel.