"The Atonement will carry you..."

親愛的家庭跟朋友！！ (My Beloved family and friends!)

First off I want to say congrats to one of my best friends Harley Yazzie on getting his mission call to Modesto, California!!  You are going to change lives out there! Seeing the process of the Gospel come into his life has been amazing. Love you big guy!

Had a super solid week!! 

Started off last Tuesday, I had the privilege to give my first blessing in Chinese, and what a powerful experience it was.  The lady had just gotten in a car accident and was in quite a bit of pain.  The spirit was very strong, and at times like that, the language barrier seems to disappear, the gift of tongues is a real and amazing thing.

This week i have studied about the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, especially a talk given by D. Todd Christopherson called "The divine gift of repentance."   It is an amazing talk, i invite you to read it.  In it, it talks about repentance being a beautiful thing and highlights 5 points in it:

1.Invitation to repent is an expression of love

2.Repentance means striving to change

3.Repentance means not only abandoning sin but also committing to obedience

4.Repentance requires a seriousness of purpose and a willingness to persevere even through the pain

5.WHATEVER THE COST OF REPENTANCE, IT IS SWALLOWED UP IN THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS.

Repentance is not scary or a thing to be feel fearful about, it is there to heal us, to help us come closer to the Lord, to help us change, to become better, and to help us to return to our Heavenly Father.

Elder Holland put it so clearly: "You have reason to stand tall and be grateful, becuase the living Son of the living God Knows all about Your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to Salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary, the only way to eternal life is through Him. The WAY, The TRUTH, The LIFE."

One of my favorite parts of the gospel is this beautiful doctrine.  No matter what our current situation is or past mistakes are, He can heal us, He can lift us higher that we have ever been. The Atonement is real.  Why? Why do i believe? Because I have put forth faith, I have trusted the Lord and through this i have felt and experienced it's power.  

I love the Lord and Our Father in Heaven.  I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and his infinite sacrifice.  I am humbled to have this opportunity to represent him and help others to feel of the power of this Atonement.

I love you all!!

Elder Henderson

SHHHHEEEEEEEPPPP

We have had another great week here in Fengyuan. Transfers this week but me and Elder Warner are staying together!

This week was filled with a lot of miracles. We set a couple more really solid baptism goals for next month and we are all very excited.  Thursday night we were on a street contacting and were talking with a guy when another man on his scooter came up and parked like 10 feet in front of us, and was just sitting there. At first I didn't think much of it but had the feeling I needed to go talk to him. So I went over and told him who we were and what we were doing. As I started talking to him I realized he was definitely waiting for me to come talk to him. At one point he just says "Can I ask you a question? Why is the world so unfair? Why is there so much heartache and difficulty?" 

At this point I just told him what I believe to be true, that God put each of us in a specific situation and everyone's is different. But one thing is true, GOD LOVES US. He knows what we need more than we know, and he knows what we can handle.  He won't give us a challenge we can't handle. The purpose of these trials is to learn, grow, and become better.  The gospel is a way to receive God's help through these problems. The spirit was very strong and I could tell he felt it. Nothing much came of the contact but it was a testimony builder to me. People in the world have problems such as these, and the Lord has chosen me to spread the message that helps people through the hardships of life.  Missionary service is a very precious and humbling experience. I love this work and the Lord.

This week I finished the Book of Mormon. It has been amazing to read the pages and to sincerely pray about them to affirm my testimony.  This Church is true and am so grateful for the opportunity to share about it!

Love you all!