Buddhist Meeting

Dear Family,

This week has been a busy one! The work has been taking off and Elder Ward and I are scarcely finding the time to get everything done! We had a lot of lessons this week and some cool experiences! One of which had to do with Buddhists!

There is a part-member family in this ward where the husband is a Buddhist. He is respectful to us and we are too and he comes to church every once in a while to support his wife. He invited us to one of his Buddhist meetings that was on Friday. We got permission from our district leader and we went!

It was definitely a new experience. It was held in someone's house and there were about 5 people there. They started the meeting by chanting some words for about 20 minutes. Elder Ward and I didn't know what to do, so we sat waiting for it all to get done. One thing I noticed is that they could all be great singers!

After the chanting, they pulled out a magazine. It looked like an Ensign, but for their religion. They opened it up. It had a monthly message, things for youth, and discussion topics. Pretty cool. We spent most of the time there discussing and finding common ground between our beliefs. Both sides were respectful and willing to hear each other out.

I learned that Buddhists has a lot of the same values that LDS members do. One main difference is that they don't believe in God, but in reincarnation for eternity. If they do good in this life, they will get a better life next time and vice versa. It was cool to testify to them that God lives and what resurrection is. I hope that our testimonies helped them!

Anyway, it was a cool experience to realize that this church really is the truth. Satan will take truths and he will put a twist on them so they aren't full truths and will deceive as many as he can. Heavenly Father knows what is truth, it is His truth. And He will tell us what that is if we ask Him. I know that this church is true and that there is a God and that He loves us, not just those in this church, but every child of God.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

P.S. Today is my Birthday! Hooray!

It is the gumdrop tree!