Matt's Chinese Experiences...

Wow this week has been one of the most fulfilling yet craziest weeks of my mission yet. I don't even know how to put it into words. The Week of Realizations might do it a little bit of justice.

So it started off last p day. That night there was some huge lunar festival that we went to (thats some of the pics, Courtney how does that one look?). A bunch of missionaries were there so it was a lot of fun and there was a Chinese Opera that we stayed a little bit for. Everybody says the Chinese Opera is hen nan ting (very hard listen) but I didn't think it was that bad. It was pretty cool because it was all in Mandarin so it was fun to try and pick up what they were saying. I was really intrigued I wanted to stay longer but we had to get home. But earlier that day was one of the most spiritual coolest experiences I've had yet. We finally met the Prisoner, Siu Par Zu, out at Shek Pik Prison. So we go out there and it was kind of a miracle how we got in. He had allready had his 4 visitors a month so technically we weren't suppose to see him but one of the guards hooked us up and let us go back. He said if it was going to help his rehab it was all good. So we sit down and start talking with him and I have never been more touched in my life. His story is this. He was born in Hong Kong and at a young age he was baptized into the church. Late teens he went inactive and started doing his own thing. At about 20 he had a kid gets married (he's got an 18 year old daughter now) got divorced and some time he committed a sin. We didn't talk to him about what he did. So He does something in Hong Kong and flees to Taiwan scot free. He's in Taiwan for 5 years meanwhile he meets his fiancee and gets reactivated in the church and as he in his reactivation process he feels he needs to return to Hong Kong to make things right in his own life and to clear things up with God. I don't know how to describe my feelings when talking to him but for some reason it was so spiritual. You could just feel how repentant he was, you could just tell he feared God. It got me thinking alot about myself. Do I fear God that much? Could I do what he did? He talked to us alot about how depressing life in the prison is how life just sucks. We only had 30 minutes with him and we were separated by the glass and stuff but as we were leaving he stood there and waved at us and it was so hard to walk away. It made me feel really grateful for being able to walk outside and live life the way I wanted too. IDK it was just a really cool experience. This guy is in Prison for 7 years he gets out in 2011, I realize he is in prison for a reason you don't get a seven year sentence for doing nothing but eventhough he's a convict he's a hero in my eyes.