"Praise people for what they have become.."

1st photo -Elder Phillips, Sister Chan, Pang and Elder Shipp

2nd photo - Elder Phillips and Nick 

Dear Friends and Family,

It was a great week. Yuen had a baptism yesterday which was really cool, and we have awesome people that we're teaching. The ward is doing well!  We had stake conference this past weekend and one thing really stuck with me.  The Stake President said we should praise people for what they have become.  I know for sure that being a missionary has changed my life.  I feel that God is proud of me, and that is a feeling I've wished for for a long time.  

Last week we had a talk with a young man who comes to English class, but has never been interested in meeting with us.  We bumped into him on the street and he opened up a bit.  We had a long discussion about God.  He wondered why there is evil in this world.  Why is there disease and war?  If there is a God, why doesn't he get rid of those things?  We told him that through the Atonement of Christ, all things are made right.  Furthermore we explained that God has given people the ability to choose for themselves what they will do in this world.  Because of that, inevitably some people will choose evil and will harm others.  But we asked him a simple question. What method could God use to get rid of all these things?  He could make us all slaves and give us no power to harm others, or he could teach us the right way and push for all of us to follow him and as a result there would be no wars among us.  He said the second option sounded better.  Then he asked: So why doesn't he come down to the Earth and teach us then? 
I said: He did.  

Love you all,

Found these guys hanging out at church