Well, today is a very exciting day for me. Even as I type my new companion is sitting next to me. I am still in Chaozhou, but Sister Lin has gone to a different area (Fengshan), and Sister Stratford has come to join me. Sister Stratford is reputed to be awesome. I met her at zone conference a few weeks ago, and my impression was also awesomeness. She trained two of my friends from the MTC, so hopefully she knows how to handle green, clueless missionaries (I still include myself in that category). It was sad to see Sister Lin go, but I know our mission president, along with his wife and assistants, prays and ponders deeply over how to rearrange missionaries. I know that Sister Stratford (Xia Jie Mei--her Chinese name) will be a great blessing to me. I've done my best to prepare for her to come, writing down names and numbers, studying a map, setting up appointments, etc. I know I'll forget where a lot of stuff is, but I'm sure the Lord won't let my human memory get in the way of his work too much.
Sister Lin and I had dinner with one of our investigators on Saturday night. There's some kind of Moon Day next week, and this dinner had something to do with that. We didn't end up having as much time to eat as Zhaojun probably hoped we could (our rules say that for meal appointments we should only stay for an hour), but it was great while we could be there. Zhaojun has a two-year-old daughter who loves to get into absolutely everything. She wants everything she can't have, which is especially fun when there are things like raw meat and hot grills sitting within reachable distance. Zhaojun's husband made some really amazing soup for us. The broth was made by cooking vegetables together, and maybe adding some spices. There was cabbage, corn, fish in several forms, and all cooked to happy perfection. *happy sigh* It's great to eat with a family, because I think everyone kicks back a little and you get to know them in a different way.
Sister Lin gave me a very sage-sounding piece of advice before she left. It probably came out sounding that way in large part because of her flawed English. Regardless (irregardless?) of the fact that I don't exactly know what she meant when she said it, it made me stop and think. She said: "Keep your searching spirit." Now, she may have meant, "Keep searching for the Spirit," but I'm going with the interpretation that I should keep my spirit searching for good things (which include the Holy Ghost). I guess I feel like I've found the source of the answers to my most basic and important questions in my faith, but that doesn't mean I've found out what all those answers are yet. I think there are so many things to learn, from the general (How can I fill my heart with love?) to the very specific (How can I help Mr. and Mrs. Sun get over their alcohol problem?). I suppose one could get worn out looking for answers all the time, but I think it would be a mistake to give in to that. I guess I believe that anyone who earnestly searches for truth long enough, willing to act on it, will ultimately find it.
