We just received these from the mission office:
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Sunday, December 10, 2017
I loved my time serving in Taiwan
Okay, wow... What a week.
On Tuesday we went to the temple. The day started at 4:00 AM. Me and my comp got up early and we biked in the freezing early morning weather down to the train station. Then we took the train up to JiaYi. Then took another train to Taizhong. The whole train ride was around 2 hours. It took a long time. Then we got there and my companion was banished to Taizhong for the day with another companion. Then I was with a group of Elders and Sisters that were all going home soon. It was so fun to see everybody. Elder Hatch was there and Elder Hongvilai. Elder Hongvilai was really scared to talk to me because he thought I didn't like him, but I talked to him and made him feel better. Then we all loaded on the bus and off we went on another 2ish bus ride up to Taibei. The trip was really fun and I spent the majority of the trip talking to Elder Hongvilai. When we got up to Taibei it was very different than Taizhong and any area I have ever served in. Taibei is way more modern and city. I love it up there. Then we went to a place where we could eat some food across from the temple. It was like a buffet style place, but we only had about 5 minutes to eat because we had to go in for our endowment session. It was really crazy and rushed. Then we got into the temple and had to change in like 10 seconds, and then I was into the temple for an endowment session. I did English. I don't know why. Hahaha! The temple session was really good and I felt really happy to be sitting in the celestial room in the Taibei temple one last time. It was a very nice moment.
And then when we left the temple we went to the Memorial Hall in Taibei and we got to walk around for a minute. They have guards there and they were getting ready to change the guards. It's kind of like the tomb of the unknown soldier in America. The guards are to stand still for an hour and then they are switched out. It was really cool to see them do all of their military stuff and drills and then switch the guard.
Then after that we loaded on the bus and drove all the way back. I was really tired. Then the next day I had exchanges in JiaYi with the Zone Leaders. It was really good and we laughed our heads off a lot.
Then I had to host a DTM with the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders there. I had to give my closing testimony at the end and I had to hold back a lot of tears, but I successfully didn't cry.
Then from there on it was just a normal week. We had some more baptismal interviews. And then both passed, but we had to reschedule one of them because he had some sins to take care off first. So this week on Friday and Saturday we should be having a baptism! They both look really good and are all ready to go.
On Sunday we had Stake Conference. I don't have much to say about that. It was whatever.
Everyone this week got smartphones, but I didn't get one since I'm going home next week, so it's kind of like watching everyone freak out and then I'm just sitting there just kind of like whatever.
I guess since this is the last email I'll write back home to everyone as a missionary, I would like to say my mission was one of the best things I have done with my life and I have loved my time serving in Taiwan. I really have grown a love for the Taiwanese people and the culture and I'm grateful for their examples of faith. I have learned a lot here in Taiwan and I can't really describe what it was like to serve in Taiwan, but I know that it was an amazing experience. The Taiwanese people have left a very permanent mark on my life and I will always remember them. I'm very sad to leave. I know that the gospel is true and has changed my life. I know that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.
Here's a picture of me and a Christmas tree.
On Tuesday we went to the temple. The day started at 4:00 AM. Me and my comp got up early and we biked in the freezing early morning weather down to the train station. Then we took the train up to JiaYi. Then took another train to Taizhong. The whole train ride was around 2 hours. It took a long time. Then we got there and my companion was banished to Taizhong for the day with another companion. Then I was with a group of Elders and Sisters that were all going home soon. It was so fun to see everybody. Elder Hatch was there and Elder Hongvilai. Elder Hongvilai was really scared to talk to me because he thought I didn't like him, but I talked to him and made him feel better. Then we all loaded on the bus and off we went on another 2ish bus ride up to Taibei. The trip was really fun and I spent the majority of the trip talking to Elder Hongvilai. When we got up to Taibei it was very different than Taizhong and any area I have ever served in. Taibei is way more modern and city. I love it up there. Then we went to a place where we could eat some food across from the temple. It was like a buffet style place, but we only had about 5 minutes to eat because we had to go in for our endowment session. It was really crazy and rushed. Then we got into the temple and had to change in like 10 seconds, and then I was into the temple for an endowment session. I did English. I don't know why. Hahaha! The temple session was really good and I felt really happy to be sitting in the celestial room in the Taibei temple one last time. It was a very nice moment.
And then when we left the temple we went to the Memorial Hall in Taibei and we got to walk around for a minute. They have guards there and they were getting ready to change the guards. It's kind of like the tomb of the unknown soldier in America. The guards are to stand still for an hour and then they are switched out. It was really cool to see them do all of their military stuff and drills and then switch the guard.
Then after that we loaded on the bus and drove all the way back. I was really tired. Then the next day I had exchanges in JiaYi with the Zone Leaders. It was really good and we laughed our heads off a lot.
Then I had to host a DTM with the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders there. I had to give my closing testimony at the end and I had to hold back a lot of tears, but I successfully didn't cry.
Then from there on it was just a normal week. We had some more baptismal interviews. And then both passed, but we had to reschedule one of them because he had some sins to take care off first. So this week on Friday and Saturday we should be having a baptism! They both look really good and are all ready to go.
On Sunday we had Stake Conference. I don't have much to say about that. It was whatever.
Everyone this week got smartphones, but I didn't get one since I'm going home next week, so it's kind of like watching everyone freak out and then I'm just sitting there just kind of like whatever.
I guess since this is the last email I'll write back home to everyone as a missionary, I would like to say my mission was one of the best things I have done with my life and I have loved my time serving in Taiwan. I really have grown a love for the Taiwanese people and the culture and I'm grateful for their examples of faith. I have learned a lot here in Taiwan and I can't really describe what it was like to serve in Taiwan, but I know that it was an amazing experience. The Taiwanese people have left a very permanent mark on my life and I will always remember them. I'm very sad to leave. I know that the gospel is true and has changed my life. I know that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.
Here's a picture of me and a Christmas tree.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Tomorrow I'm going to the Taipei Temple
Oh goodness....It's really coming up here. I'll be home in a 2 weeks now.. That's super weird.. Yeah I'm just getting ready to start my last everything.
Some good news this week is tomorrow I will be going to the Taipei Temple for an endowment session. Looks like, someone must have complained and so now we get a little temple trip. It'll be super cool to go to Taipei. That last time I went was when I was first on Island in training. So I remember it but not too well. I can't wait it should be pretty fun but we have to get up pretty early and stuff. We have to get up around 5:00 AM and then take a train all the way to Taizhong. Then my companion will serve in Taizhong for the day and I will get on a bus and up to Taipei for the day. Should be pretty good.
But to answer your question, yes things are getting pretty weird. I just get more and more trunky. I still am working and we still do missionary things. But, I just find myself less and less focused.
This week was alright! It was pretty good. We had a mission tour and we had Elder Meurs come and talk for like 17 hours. It was a long meeting, but I was able to see my trainee Elder Brenchley and Elder Sano and Elder Chang from my old area. It was a nice little reunion. I really miss those guys they were pretty fun.
This week I think we might be getting the smartphones this week or next week. I think rumor has it now that I will not get one because I'm going home a week later once we get them. So I'm thinking I won't get one. That's whatever haha! It's probably better for me if I don't get one.
Nothing really happened this week. But this week should be full of stuff. We're also going on exchanges with the zone leaders and I have to do a DTM with the STL's and the ZL's. So, if I already wasn't tired enough it's about to get a lot worse.
I'm doing really good and I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
I love you all so very much!
Some good news this week is tomorrow I will be going to the Taipei Temple for an endowment session. Looks like, someone must have complained and so now we get a little temple trip. It'll be super cool to go to Taipei. That last time I went was when I was first on Island in training. So I remember it but not too well. I can't wait it should be pretty fun but we have to get up pretty early and stuff. We have to get up around 5:00 AM and then take a train all the way to Taizhong. Then my companion will serve in Taizhong for the day and I will get on a bus and up to Taipei for the day. Should be pretty good.
But to answer your question, yes things are getting pretty weird. I just get more and more trunky. I still am working and we still do missionary things. But, I just find myself less and less focused.
This week was alright! It was pretty good. We had a mission tour and we had Elder Meurs come and talk for like 17 hours. It was a long meeting, but I was able to see my trainee Elder Brenchley and Elder Sano and Elder Chang from my old area. It was a nice little reunion. I really miss those guys they were pretty fun.
This week I think we might be getting the smartphones this week or next week. I think rumor has it now that I will not get one because I'm going home a week later once we get them. So I'm thinking I won't get one. That's whatever haha! It's probably better for me if I don't get one.
Nothing really happened this week. But this week should be full of stuff. We're also going on exchanges with the zone leaders and I have to do a DTM with the STL's and the ZL's. So, if I already wasn't tired enough it's about to get a lot worse.
I'm doing really good and I'm looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
I love you all so very much!
Sunday, November 26, 2017
I'm starting to get a little nervous to come home
Hello! 大家好！
We had a great Thanksgiving here in XinYing actually! Me and Elder Zeyer decided that we need to celebrate Thanksgiving, so we went to the nearby store and bought a bunch of stuff and then cooked it all up for dinner. It was really good. We had a chicken and some American soup. There's an import section in the store, so we went over there and just started grabbing stuff. We had a great time and cooked it all up at the church. I was surprised that I knew how to carve a chicken. It was pretty tough.
On Monday, to celebrate my birthday, we went to the beach and had a lot of fun. Then, the week was just kind of regular. Most of our investigators have baptismal dates for the last Saturday that I'm here, so if things work out we should be baptizing 3 times on one day. That's the goal, but we will see what happens. Our investigators right now are pretty solid, but we have a few worries.
This week has also been kind of cold, but fortunately, right as things got cold, I got your package, and I was overjoyed to find that there was indeed a coat in the package. So, I'm very grateful for the jacket. It's been in use almost everyday. It always surprises me how cold Taiwan gets. I'm also a baby about the cold now. I find 85 Degree's comfortable. I find 70 degrees really cold. So I'll be sure to pass away quick when I get to Utah.
Other than that nothing really happened this week. It was just kind of an average week. I have 3 weeks though... So there's that... We're having a mission tour this week, so that's going to be fun. I'll be able to see Elder Brenchley and the old crew in YuanLin. I miss the guys a lot! They were super fun. I might ask them to bring some Curry Rice from one of my favorite places up there.
I'm doing really good myself though. I'm starting to get a little nervous to come home, and I'm trying to think of all things that I'm going to miss about Taiwan.
I love you all so very much!
We had a great Thanksgiving here in XinYing actually! Me and Elder Zeyer decided that we need to celebrate Thanksgiving, so we went to the nearby store and bought a bunch of stuff and then cooked it all up for dinner. It was really good. We had a chicken and some American soup. There's an import section in the store, so we went over there and just started grabbing stuff. We had a great time and cooked it all up at the church. I was surprised that I knew how to carve a chicken. It was pretty tough.
On Monday, to celebrate my birthday, we went to the beach and had a lot of fun. Then, the week was just kind of regular. Most of our investigators have baptismal dates for the last Saturday that I'm here, so if things work out we should be baptizing 3 times on one day. That's the goal, but we will see what happens. Our investigators right now are pretty solid, but we have a few worries.
This week has also been kind of cold, but fortunately, right as things got cold, I got your package, and I was overjoyed to find that there was indeed a coat in the package. So, I'm very grateful for the jacket. It's been in use almost everyday. It always surprises me how cold Taiwan gets. I'm also a baby about the cold now. I find 85 Degree's comfortable. I find 70 degrees really cold. So I'll be sure to pass away quick when I get to Utah.
Other than that nothing really happened this week. It was just kind of an average week. I have 3 weeks though... So there's that... We're having a mission tour this week, so that's going to be fun. I'll be able to see Elder Brenchley and the old crew in YuanLin. I miss the guys a lot! They were super fun. I might ask them to bring some Curry Rice from one of my favorite places up there.
I'm doing really good myself though. I'm starting to get a little nervous to come home, and I'm trying to think of all things that I'm going to miss about Taiwan.
I love you all so very much!
Sunday, November 19, 2017
We're really seeing a lot of progression with our investigators
Sorry to hear the drain got clogged. That's pretty crazy that it was clogged 20 ft down the drain. How does that even happen?
Don't worry about the military emails. I love them. I read them over and over. I actually save them and read them. So don't worry about it. Keep them coming.
This week was a really good week for us in XinYing. I don't know what's going on here, but we're really seeing a lot of progression with our investigators. We have 3 people that are on track to be baptized. So we "should" be having a baptism every week until I go home. As for finding, we suck. Of course, I don't know why my finding skills suck. That's really a killer. I just suck at finding. Never have been good at it on my mission.
This week our investigator passed her baptismal interview. So she should be getting baptized not this week but next week. Then after that we should be baptizing some other people before I go home. We're trying to set up all of our goals for the last Saturday I'm on Island. Some people have accepted. As for the actual baptismal interview, that night was kind of crazy. Mostly because I had to do an interview for the sisters' investigator, and then an hour later our investigator was going to be interviewed by the zone leaders. So, I interviewed the sisters' investigator and she didn't quite make it. She had some past issues, so she had to talk with President Teh. So she did.... immediately right after. We skyped in. Then I had to translate the interview for President. It was pretty good.. She ended up being okay and then she'll get baptized this week. But it was very crazy.
Last night, we came across a couple in a park. We started talking to them and they were using some Taiwan English to talk to us. We laughed a lot and they were very curious about our lives as missionaries. Then he randomly said, come to my house for some tea time. We said okay. Then we went over and explained how we couldn't drink tea and that water was fine. Then they just bombarded us with questions about being missionaries. It was really good we laughed a lot and they told us about their 3 kids that were studying abroad and moved out. Then we shared about how we have to sacrifice to come out to be missionaries. They were very moved. Then we had a prayer and I said the prayer. I prayed for the safety and welfare of their kids. When we concluded the prayer I looked up and he was in tears. His wife was also really close to crying to. They said how they were grateful for our prayer. We then said, would you have time that we could share more? Then they said no...........Thus began a very disappointing bike ride home, but it was good.
That's about it for the week! I'm doing really good and I'm getting trunky! I'm not ashamed!
Don't worry about the military emails. I love them. I read them over and over. I actually save them and read them. So don't worry about it. Keep them coming.
This week was a really good week for us in XinYing. I don't know what's going on here, but we're really seeing a lot of progression with our investigators. We have 3 people that are on track to be baptized. So we "should" be having a baptism every week until I go home. As for finding, we suck. Of course, I don't know why my finding skills suck. That's really a killer. I just suck at finding. Never have been good at it on my mission.
This week our investigator passed her baptismal interview. So she should be getting baptized not this week but next week. Then after that we should be baptizing some other people before I go home. We're trying to set up all of our goals for the last Saturday I'm on Island. Some people have accepted. As for the actual baptismal interview, that night was kind of crazy. Mostly because I had to do an interview for the sisters' investigator, and then an hour later our investigator was going to be interviewed by the zone leaders. So, I interviewed the sisters' investigator and she didn't quite make it. She had some past issues, so she had to talk with President Teh. So she did.... immediately right after. We skyped in. Then I had to translate the interview for President. It was pretty good.. She ended up being okay and then she'll get baptized this week. But it was very crazy.
Last night, we came across a couple in a park. We started talking to them and they were using some Taiwan English to talk to us. We laughed a lot and they were very curious about our lives as missionaries. Then he randomly said, come to my house for some tea time. We said okay. Then we went over and explained how we couldn't drink tea and that water was fine. Then they just bombarded us with questions about being missionaries. It was really good we laughed a lot and they told us about their 3 kids that were studying abroad and moved out. Then we shared about how we have to sacrifice to come out to be missionaries. They were very moved. Then we had a prayer and I said the prayer. I prayed for the safety and welfare of their kids. When we concluded the prayer I looked up and he was in tears. His wife was also really close to crying to. They said how they were grateful for our prayer. We then said, would you have time that we could share more? Then they said no...........Thus began a very disappointing bike ride home, but it was good.
That's about it for the week! I'm doing really good and I'm getting trunky! I'm not ashamed!
Sunday, November 12, 2017
I'm pretty sure I burglarized 50 homes and went into a house that was a little explosive
Oh boy....5 more weeks and I'll be back.. That's super weird. It's kind of hitting me that I don't have a whole lot of time left on my mission. Last night I had some trouble sleeping. But I'm okay!
My first week in XinYing was pretty interesting.. There's a lot of stuff that happened. At first glances XinYing seems like a decently city place. It's got long roads that stretch on. It's got some decently nice clothing stores. It's got a lot of cool stuff here. But, I quickly found that finding people in XinYing is pretty hard. It seems that most people in XinYing are around the age of 92. But it's been pretty fun. Me and Elder Zeyer are having a lot of fun. He's really cool and we laugh a ton. He's also pretty good at keeping me busy by talking to me about whatever. We've come up with a few plans to help me stay on my toes and moving so that I don't just curl up into a ball and die from the trunkiness.
There's lots of opportunities for service here though. My first few couple of days we were invited to help this old man carry some bags up to his apartment. He's a member. We thought that these bags were going to weigh a ton but they ended up weighing nothing. They were super light and I wondered why we were there. Then we went into his house dropped off the bags and then throughout the entire apartment complex we wandered around opening up random people's doors and walking and grabbing boxes. I'm pretty sure I burglarized 50 homes. Some people even asked us, "What are you doing in my house?" It was honestly the weirdest thing ever. We had to carry some water filters down a bunch of stairs and put them in his car. Then he drove us over to his new house which was still being built and walked in. It's missing some walls and stuff for reference and there's all of these pipes on the ground. Then he goes, "Careful, everything in here is a little explosive." I literally said in English, "What. Why are we here then?" My companion just started dying laughing and we walked (carefully) around his new house and took some pictures with him. He's a weird member.
But the mornings really make the day for me. Me and Elder Zeyer have kept my running tradition going. Every morning we get up and run to the nearby stadium and then we do laps and other workouts. I love it so much. It just feels good to run. It's also nice to have a track vs. a lumpy Taiwanese road. We're having a lot of fun out here. Oh! And one of Elder Zeyer's recent converts is a police officer. So Saturday morning he came over to the track and went for a run. It was super fun to run with him. I love talking to him about police work.
Then yesterday we had to run an hour long fireside and I had to talk in church. It went well. I find it weird that I can understand what everyone is saying and I was just talking to them like I would talk to someone in English. It was good. I also got a package from a member. I randomly had a girl give me a package and said it was from a friend from YuanLin. Then I saw it was one of my good buddies. He sent me a bunch of cookies.
Yesterday we also made tons of pancakes and fried rice. It was pretty good. I don't usually cook.
As for the work here, we have 2 people that are pretty awesome. We might be having a baptism soon. There's some 15 year old girl that is pretty much going to get baptized. I didn't really teach her anything so I don't know.
I really love it here though it's really fun and I'm excited to see all of you pretty soon here.
My first week in XinYing was pretty interesting.. There's a lot of stuff that happened. At first glances XinYing seems like a decently city place. It's got long roads that stretch on. It's got some decently nice clothing stores. It's got a lot of cool stuff here. But, I quickly found that finding people in XinYing is pretty hard. It seems that most people in XinYing are around the age of 92. But it's been pretty fun. Me and Elder Zeyer are having a lot of fun. He's really cool and we laugh a ton. He's also pretty good at keeping me busy by talking to me about whatever. We've come up with a few plans to help me stay on my toes and moving so that I don't just curl up into a ball and die from the trunkiness.
There's lots of opportunities for service here though. My first few couple of days we were invited to help this old man carry some bags up to his apartment. He's a member. We thought that these bags were going to weigh a ton but they ended up weighing nothing. They were super light and I wondered why we were there. Then we went into his house dropped off the bags and then throughout the entire apartment complex we wandered around opening up random people's doors and walking and grabbing boxes. I'm pretty sure I burglarized 50 homes. Some people even asked us, "What are you doing in my house?" It was honestly the weirdest thing ever. We had to carry some water filters down a bunch of stairs and put them in his car. Then he drove us over to his new house which was still being built and walked in. It's missing some walls and stuff for reference and there's all of these pipes on the ground. Then he goes, "Careful, everything in here is a little explosive." I literally said in English, "What. Why are we here then?" My companion just started dying laughing and we walked (carefully) around his new house and took some pictures with him. He's a weird member.
But the mornings really make the day for me. Me and Elder Zeyer have kept my running tradition going. Every morning we get up and run to the nearby stadium and then we do laps and other workouts. I love it so much. It just feels good to run. It's also nice to have a track vs. a lumpy Taiwanese road. We're having a lot of fun out here. Oh! And one of Elder Zeyer's recent converts is a police officer. So Saturday morning he came over to the track and went for a run. It was super fun to run with him. I love talking to him about police work.
Then yesterday we had to run an hour long fireside and I had to talk in church. It went well. I find it weird that I can understand what everyone is saying and I was just talking to them like I would talk to someone in English. It was good. I also got a package from a member. I randomly had a girl give me a package and said it was from a friend from YuanLin. Then I saw it was one of my good buddies. He sent me a bunch of cookies.
Yesterday we also made tons of pancakes and fried rice. It was pretty good. I don't usually cook.
As for the work here, we have 2 people that are pretty awesome. We might be having a baptism soon. There's some 15 year old girl that is pretty much going to get baptized. I didn't really teach her anything so I don't know.
I really love it here though it's really fun and I'm excited to see all of you pretty soon here.
Monday, November 6, 2017
Transferred to XinYing with Elder Zeyer
Wow, super weird to think that this is my last transfer.
6 more weeks and I'll be telling you about my mission in person.
This week flew by super fast. Me and Brenchley were doing super good and we found some cool people actually. But, yesterday I got the call and it turns out I'm moving away! Yep, I'm moving on my last transfer. So here I am in XinYing. It's super weird and it's even weirder that I'll be here for 6 weeks and then it'll be all over. I'm really liking the area though. It's pretty different than my previous areas. My new companion is Elder Zeyer from Provo, UT. He's been out just for a little while. He's pretty alright. The real depressing thing is, I'm district leader. So, I have some DTM's to do. I hate being the district leader. It freaking sucks, but I don't really have to worry all that much. I only have some sisters to look after, and they seem pretty alright. I don't know folks, I'm pretty ready to get out of here. I'm getting anxious to go home. The area is pretty good though. They just recently baptized two people, and while I was waiting at the train station in XinYing I bumped into one of them. He's a cop, and we talked about his police work for a little while. It was pretty fun and he seems pretty cool. Our apartment is pretty nice. They just barely moved in last week so we don't really have any furniture. The security guard at the apartment is super strict though, and was like writing down my name when I first walked in. He's kind of weird. I'm kind of glad to move though.. YuanLin was kind of getting a little boring. I was having fun with the other elders, but the area itself was kind of getting old. So, maybe it's a good thing I moved.
So, apparently our mission is getting smartphones. I think Dec 8th. I'll get a smartphone and use it for a whole whopping 3 weeks. Should be pretty fun. We're supposed to buy it, but since I'm going home they're just going to give me a spare one basically, and then I just return it when I go home. Of course our mission get's smartphones right when I go home. Oh well.
Anyway, the coming weeks should be pretty fun, and I'm excited to be in XinYing despite what most people think.
I love you all so very much!
6 more weeks and I'll be telling you about my mission in person.
This week flew by super fast. Me and Brenchley were doing super good and we found some cool people actually. But, yesterday I got the call and it turns out I'm moving away! Yep, I'm moving on my last transfer. So here I am in XinYing. It's super weird and it's even weirder that I'll be here for 6 weeks and then it'll be all over. I'm really liking the area though. It's pretty different than my previous areas. My new companion is Elder Zeyer from Provo, UT. He's been out just for a little while. He's pretty alright. The real depressing thing is, I'm district leader. So, I have some DTM's to do. I hate being the district leader. It freaking sucks, but I don't really have to worry all that much. I only have some sisters to look after, and they seem pretty alright. I don't know folks, I'm pretty ready to get out of here. I'm getting anxious to go home. The area is pretty good though. They just recently baptized two people, and while I was waiting at the train station in XinYing I bumped into one of them. He's a cop, and we talked about his police work for a little while. It was pretty fun and he seems pretty cool. Our apartment is pretty nice. They just barely moved in last week so we don't really have any furniture. The security guard at the apartment is super strict though, and was like writing down my name when I first walked in. He's kind of weird. I'm kind of glad to move though.. YuanLin was kind of getting a little boring. I was having fun with the other elders, but the area itself was kind of getting old. So, maybe it's a good thing I moved.
So, apparently our mission is getting smartphones. I think Dec 8th. I'll get a smartphone and use it for a whole whopping 3 weeks. Should be pretty fun. We're supposed to buy it, but since I'm going home they're just going to give me a spare one basically, and then I just return it when I go home. Of course our mission get's smartphones right when I go home. Oh well.
Anyway, the coming weeks should be pretty fun, and I'm excited to be in XinYing despite what most people think.
I love you all so very much!
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Trip to Ninja Village
Wow, that's pretty fun that Kayleigh is going to go to college with me. Now we can suffer together. Yay.
This week was pretty much a normal week. For P-Day we took a train to Taizhong and went to the mall. It was pretty fun.. I just love being in Taizhong now. It's very nostalgic for me. All I think about is the good times I had with Elder Hatch. We went to a mall in Xitun and it was really fun. We looked at some crazy expensive stuff and then we.....looked at some more stuff... We also ate some noodles to celebrate Elder Sano's birthday. Me and him were just talking about military stuff (of course) the entire time. He makes me military trunky.
Everything was normal I guess up until Wednesday. We got to the church early for DTM and the Sisters from a different area were there, too. They ended up hiding our stuff, but we didn't really care when we walked in.. Oh yeah, and for the record, these sisters hate me and my companion, like literally hate us, especially my companion..So, they hid our stuff and we started DTM, but I didn't care. So then about halfway through my companion says, in the middle of DTM, "Hey Sister (Blank) Where is my companion's stuff?" Then she said, "I don't know. Is it right there?" And then she pointed to a bookshelf in the room, and all of our stuff was in the bookshelf. To be honest, my companion just started wrecking her and telling her that she's being stupid. Everyone in the district was just kind of looking at them like..."what are you doing?" It was pretty funny actually... Then my district leader was asking me all these questions, and he was pretty mad that they were being like this... They just really have an issue with me and my companion, and I have no idea what we have done......... 太帥
We've been tracting a lot this week, and we actually had a decent amount of success. It was really good, and I think we'll be doing a lot more tracting. We also learned that we hate small dogs. Small dogs are the worst and are so annoying and loud. We have a lesson tonight that we hope will go through with a family.
Then we came across the guy from Europe that we ran into a little while ago. He was having a hard time with his wife.. She cheated on him and stuff. He filled us in on a lot of stuff, and then said he was going to get revenge on the guy by sending some papers to a company and getting him fired and all of this stuff. Then me and comp upon hearing this jumped into missionary mode, and were like, "(Name) I don't think this is a good idea... You should just forgive him." We went off about Jesus Christ and forgiveness, but he wasn't having it, so off he went.
Our investigators are doing alright. We were able to set a goal with one of them for 11/18, but he's pretty....eh.. about it. We don't know if he's willing to get baptized yet.
On the bright side, Brother Chen (my RC) is doing really good. He passed the sacrament yesterday and he did a great job. He's on his way to ascending to apostle.
Yesterday night we also ate with the other elders on the roof of our apartment. That was pretty fun but they all were just trying to get me trunky. They were asking me questions like, "What's the first thing you are going to do when you get home?" .........It worked. I progressively just get trunkier and trunkier.
As for funny stories this week, we decided to go to a small village in the mountains for some contacting. So, we had to ride our bikes up an old Chinese mountain. So, we get up there and feel pretty tired, and there's a decent amount of people walking around and stuff. Then we spot this guy chilling outside a shop. He's like 900 years old and we're like, why not.. So, we bike up to him and he tells us that he's Catholic and he's busy. So, we continue to talk to him and he kind of figures out that we're missionaries, and he starts giving us the usual talk. Then he randomly goes,
This week was pretty much a normal week. For P-Day we took a train to Taizhong and went to the mall. It was pretty fun.. I just love being in Taizhong now. It's very nostalgic for me. All I think about is the good times I had with Elder Hatch. We went to a mall in Xitun and it was really fun. We looked at some crazy expensive stuff and then we.....looked at some more stuff... We also ate some noodles to celebrate Elder Sano's birthday. Me and him were just talking about military stuff (of course) the entire time. He makes me military trunky.
Everything was normal I guess up until Wednesday. We got to the church early for DTM and the Sisters from a different area were there, too. They ended up hiding our stuff, but we didn't really care when we walked in.. Oh yeah, and for the record, these sisters hate me and my companion, like literally hate us, especially my companion..So, they hid our stuff and we started DTM, but I didn't care. So then about halfway through my companion says, in the middle of DTM, "Hey Sister (Blank) Where is my companion's stuff?" Then she said, "I don't know. Is it right there?" And then she pointed to a bookshelf in the room, and all of our stuff was in the bookshelf. To be honest, my companion just started wrecking her and telling her that she's being stupid. Everyone in the district was just kind of looking at them like..."what are you doing?" It was pretty funny actually... Then my district leader was asking me all these questions, and he was pretty mad that they were being like this... They just really have an issue with me and my companion, and I have no idea what we have done......... 太帥
We've been tracting a lot this week, and we actually had a decent amount of success. It was really good, and I think we'll be doing a lot more tracting. We also learned that we hate small dogs. Small dogs are the worst and are so annoying and loud. We have a lesson tonight that we hope will go through with a family.
Then we came across the guy from Europe that we ran into a little while ago. He was having a hard time with his wife.. She cheated on him and stuff. He filled us in on a lot of stuff, and then said he was going to get revenge on the guy by sending some papers to a company and getting him fired and all of this stuff. Then me and comp upon hearing this jumped into missionary mode, and were like, "(Name) I don't think this is a good idea... You should just forgive him." We went off about Jesus Christ and forgiveness, but he wasn't having it, so off he went.
Our investigators are doing alright. We were able to set a goal with one of them for 11/18, but he's pretty....eh.. about it. We don't know if he's willing to get baptized yet.
On the bright side, Brother Chen (my RC) is doing really good. He passed the sacrament yesterday and he did a great job. He's on his way to ascending to apostle.
Yesterday night we also ate with the other elders on the roof of our apartment. That was pretty fun but they all were just trying to get me trunky. They were asking me questions like, "What's the first thing you are going to do when you get home?" .........It worked. I progressively just get trunkier and trunkier.
As for funny stories this week, we decided to go to a small village in the mountains for some contacting. So, we had to ride our bikes up an old Chinese mountain. So, we get up there and feel pretty tired, and there's a decent amount of people walking around and stuff. Then we spot this guy chilling outside a shop. He's like 900 years old and we're like, why not.. So, we bike up to him and he tells us that he's Catholic and he's busy. So, we continue to talk to him and he kind of figures out that we're missionaries, and he starts giving us the usual talk. Then he randomly goes,
Him:"How old do I look?"
Me:"Uh, probably like 25 right?"
Him:"NO! I'm 67."
Then like every other missionary, I reached for his muscles and said, "Oh wow, you're a strong guy." And then he began to tell me his workouts. So I listened....intently. Then he starts doing push ups in front of me and telling me that he can lift me up. So, of course like every good elder should do, I told him, "Alright, lift me up." So he does. He wraps his hands around me... no not horizontal, but vertically if that makes sense... (yes I was in pain.) and then he lifted me up while my companion took millions of pictures. Then he's all excited, so he starts saying how he's traveled the world and has participated in many martial arts torments. So what does he do? He starts beating me up. He starts telling me to go to punch him, so I do, and then he slaps my arms away and then slaps my face. The man just kept slapping my face. I literally got beat up by this 900 year old guy. Then to top everything off, we are like okay, I'm pretty dizzy so we're going to go. Then he goes, "Watch this!" He rips off his belt and then starts swinging it around, so I back up up and I'm like, "Alright this man is out of control." So I'm like, "Alright! Alright! We have to go." So I patted him on the back, shook his hand, and off we went. We started biking down this road. It was pretty dark by now, and then this other guy starts honking at us from behind (which is normal in Taiwan.), and he just leans on his horn, so we pull over and he begins to tell my companion that he's a ninja, and that he's been training for many years. We just said, "Oh okay.. Okay.....Alright." Then we biked away laughing. We nicknamed that village, "Ninja Village." We don't want to go back.
That's about it. I'm glad you all are still alive for now. I love you all and miss you very much!
Sunday, October 22, 2017
XiZhou Adventure
Hello!
I don't know where to begin for this week....
To be honest, on Monday P-day was very boring. For the most part we just sat around and watched pretty much every Mormon message that was every created, but today should be pretty fun. Today we are going to Taizhong to go celebrate one of the other Elder's birthdays. Happy Birthday Elder Sano. It should be pretty fun and nostalgic. It's always weird for me to go back to Taizhong and to be there.. I served there for such a long time so it all just feels like I'm back in the middle of my mission with Elder Hatch.
This week it was really hard for us to find people to teach. Everyone that set up with us re-scheduled like 50 times and then some of them never set up again. But, we were able to have lots of time on the streets contacting... I don't know what it is, it's probably my increasing trunkiness, but it's been harder and harder for me to have motivation and get fired up to ride up to people on my bike and contact.
There were many fun parts of the week though. This Thursday, I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Sano from Farmington, Utah. It was super fun! I loved being on exchanges with him. Mostly, because we have very very similar interests. For example, we both love the military. So of course on exchanges we were just riding around contacting people and literally in between contacting we would just be talking about military stuff. We're both huge military geeks. He's a Navy man. Actually, in the mornings I think I've already mentioned this we run every morning. It's really fun and I love it. But yeah we talked about everything from Top Gun to Braveheart. Hahaha! Super fun. So now when we eat dinner together we just talk about military stuff. I think the other Elder's are probably sick of it.
After exchanges I was pretty tired. Mostly because I stayed up for most of the night talking about military stuff with Elder Sano. Then Friday was pretty usual...
Saturday on the other hand was not normal. We were scheduled to go out and find some less-active brothers and stuff. But! We were in an area called 溪洲 XiZhou. XiZhou is a really really really country place. There's nothing out there and it's pretty far away from our main area. It's literally the bottom of our area. So it's kind of a long ways a way. But this member told us that he would be willing to come get us from the chapel and drive us all the way down there. So Saturday we're waiting for him outside the chapel. All of the sudden this crappy van pulls up. Like the most 3rd world van. And he gets out, he's about 55 years old and he's like alright Elders hop in the back. He slides open the van door and in the back of the car is just tools and construction materials and then two little plastic stools for us to sit on. Then he told us to climb in. It was a tight little fit and we were hunched over. But it was so funny. Then he told us, "Sorry, you're going to have to be a little 辛苦 (tough, hard, that sucks)." So we start going and it's a stick shift van so we're flying around back there and he's honking his horn at every little thing and me and Elder Brenchley are just laughing our heads off. We drive for 45 minutes and then he stops and says, "We need to eat lunch." So we walk into this place and it's like a Chuck-a-Rama times 1000. So we ate for like 2 hours and then drove the rest of the way to XiZhou. Then we started visiting members and it was just all rice fields. There is nothing out there. We went to a couple houses and no one was there. Then this one time we pulled up to a family complex. Which is like a small court yard and then there's houses around it. We pull up and the member driving us wants to park so we start backing up. All of the sudden we hear a loud metal sound and then a bunch of Taiwanese being shouted at us we look back and our member has run someones motorcycle over. Then he was like, "Pai-Sai! Pai-Sai!" (Taiwanese for I'm sorry! I'm Sorry!) Then we just kind of.....drove off and we are all just dying laughing in the car. None of the people we visted were home so that kind of sucks. But it was really fun and he ended up buying a ton of food for us...
So yeah that was my fun week. It was really fun to see a different part of the area and stay up for all night talking about military stuff.
I love you all and I will sent pictures when I get them!
I don't know where to begin for this week....
To be honest, on Monday P-day was very boring. For the most part we just sat around and watched pretty much every Mormon message that was every created, but today should be pretty fun. Today we are going to Taizhong to go celebrate one of the other Elder's birthdays. Happy Birthday Elder Sano. It should be pretty fun and nostalgic. It's always weird for me to go back to Taizhong and to be there.. I served there for such a long time so it all just feels like I'm back in the middle of my mission with Elder Hatch.
This week it was really hard for us to find people to teach. Everyone that set up with us re-scheduled like 50 times and then some of them never set up again. But, we were able to have lots of time on the streets contacting... I don't know what it is, it's probably my increasing trunkiness, but it's been harder and harder for me to have motivation and get fired up to ride up to people on my bike and contact.
There were many fun parts of the week though. This Thursday, I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Sano from Farmington, Utah. It was super fun! I loved being on exchanges with him. Mostly, because we have very very similar interests. For example, we both love the military. So of course on exchanges we were just riding around contacting people and literally in between contacting we would just be talking about military stuff. We're both huge military geeks. He's a Navy man. Actually, in the mornings I think I've already mentioned this we run every morning. It's really fun and I love it. But yeah we talked about everything from Top Gun to Braveheart. Hahaha! Super fun. So now when we eat dinner together we just talk about military stuff. I think the other Elder's are probably sick of it.
After exchanges I was pretty tired. Mostly because I stayed up for most of the night talking about military stuff with Elder Sano. Then Friday was pretty usual...
Saturday on the other hand was not normal. We were scheduled to go out and find some less-active brothers and stuff. But! We were in an area called 溪洲 XiZhou. XiZhou is a really really really country place. There's nothing out there and it's pretty far away from our main area. It's literally the bottom of our area. So it's kind of a long ways a way. But this member told us that he would be willing to come get us from the chapel and drive us all the way down there. So Saturday we're waiting for him outside the chapel. All of the sudden this crappy van pulls up. Like the most 3rd world van. And he gets out, he's about 55 years old and he's like alright Elders hop in the back. He slides open the van door and in the back of the car is just tools and construction materials and then two little plastic stools for us to sit on. Then he told us to climb in. It was a tight little fit and we were hunched over. But it was so funny. Then he told us, "Sorry, you're going to have to be a little 辛苦 (tough, hard, that sucks)." So we start going and it's a stick shift van so we're flying around back there and he's honking his horn at every little thing and me and Elder Brenchley are just laughing our heads off. We drive for 45 minutes and then he stops and says, "We need to eat lunch." So we walk into this place and it's like a Chuck-a-Rama times 1000. So we ate for like 2 hours and then drove the rest of the way to XiZhou. Then we started visiting members and it was just all rice fields. There is nothing out there. We went to a couple houses and no one was there. Then this one time we pulled up to a family complex. Which is like a small court yard and then there's houses around it. We pull up and the member driving us wants to park so we start backing up. All of the sudden we hear a loud metal sound and then a bunch of Taiwanese being shouted at us we look back and our member has run someones motorcycle over. Then he was like, "Pai-Sai! Pai-Sai!" (Taiwanese for I'm sorry! I'm Sorry!) Then we just kind of.....drove off and we are all just dying laughing in the car. None of the people we visted were home so that kind of sucks. But it was really fun and he ended up buying a ton of food for us...
So yeah that was my fun week. It was really fun to see a different part of the area and stay up for all night talking about military stuff.
I love you all and I will sent pictures when I get them!
Sunday, October 15, 2017
The work here in YuanLin has kind of slowed down a little bit
Hello, hello!
Sorry to hear you're all sick... again.. It seems like you guys get sick almost every week hahaha... Wow, a couple more week and I'll be getting sick with you.
On Monday, Scott came down with Elder Fuller and we went for a hike. Afterwards we went and ate hot pot at Shabu Shabu. We eat at Shabu Shabu almost every P-Day. It's so good, but it's killing us. We had a great time with Scott. We are able to go for a little hike and talk and catch up. Elder Fuller was there, too, and it was a good time of course.. He only openly peed in public once this time. haha
The work here in YuanLin has kind of slowed down a little bit and I don't really have a whole lot to write about his week. Most of our investigators are getting pretty flaky, which includes Mr. Liu. Lately, Mr. Liu has met with us, and we had our bishop help us teach. During the lesson, it seemed like everything went really well, and we helped him resolve some concerns about tithing and attending church. He told us he would change his breakfast shop's hours, so that he could come and attend church on Sunday. He was super willing and said he would do everything he could to get to church. After the lesson, we told him we would call him often and follow up with him. He was happy and smiley, and then he left and was on his way home... Then, this entire rest of the week he has not answered his phone, and we haven't been able to get into contact with him... He's such a strange investigator that I cannot figure out. I'm really worried that he feels like he can't do it, so he doesn't know how to tell us no, so his way of telling us no is not answering his phone.
This week since we've been having trouble finding investigators,we decided to go to one of our secondary areas. So we decided to go a different way, which is to take the train and then take our bikes on the train to our secondary area. Well, everything was okay, and we boarded the train with our bikes, and we waited to leave the train station in YuanLin.. Then we waited......and waited......and waited..... and waited.... And then 30 minutes had gone by, and it would have been faster to ride our bikes to the secondary area... So, we took the 10 minute train ride, and by the time we got there we basically had to go home. So, we just made the really long bike ride home, since we didn't want to risk sitting on the train for no reason for 30 minutes again. On the way home, we got some delicious tea, and then we were pretty tired when we got back...
Lately on the streets people have not been too friendly....
But, we came across a white man one night walking on the streets. Normally when I see white people in Taiwan I do not talk to them. Mostly because they are either really weird or really terrible to talk to, and ask you how many wives you have. But, my companion wanted to talk to him, so we did. He was actually from Canada, and he was a really nice guy - fun to talk to. But, he told us that his wife had recently cheated on him, and he was just complaining that he was super skinny, and told us he eats one meal a day, because of the ulcers in his stomach. We talked with him about a bunch of stuff and then told him about how much God loves him. I didn't really say a whole lot to him. It was mostly my companion. Then, we invited him to hear the message, and he told us that he has come across missionaries in Taiwan, but hasn't really had time. Then he told us that he would be willing to meet with us, and he would give us a call. He never did.. Oh well.
The ward has asked us to dedicate two hours every day trying to visit every single member in the ward. I guess we'll see if that helps.
That's about it for the week.
I'm doing really well and I love you all so very much!
Sorry to hear you're all sick... again.. It seems like you guys get sick almost every week hahaha... Wow, a couple more week and I'll be getting sick with you.
On Monday, Scott came down with Elder Fuller and we went for a hike. Afterwards we went and ate hot pot at Shabu Shabu. We eat at Shabu Shabu almost every P-Day. It's so good, but it's killing us. We had a great time with Scott. We are able to go for a little hike and talk and catch up. Elder Fuller was there, too, and it was a good time of course.. He only openly peed in public once this time. haha
The work here in YuanLin has kind of slowed down a little bit and I don't really have a whole lot to write about his week. Most of our investigators are getting pretty flaky, which includes Mr. Liu. Lately, Mr. Liu has met with us, and we had our bishop help us teach. During the lesson, it seemed like everything went really well, and we helped him resolve some concerns about tithing and attending church. He told us he would change his breakfast shop's hours, so that he could come and attend church on Sunday. He was super willing and said he would do everything he could to get to church. After the lesson, we told him we would call him often and follow up with him. He was happy and smiley, and then he left and was on his way home... Then, this entire rest of the week he has not answered his phone, and we haven't been able to get into contact with him... He's such a strange investigator that I cannot figure out. I'm really worried that he feels like he can't do it, so he doesn't know how to tell us no, so his way of telling us no is not answering his phone.
This week since we've been having trouble finding investigators,we decided to go to one of our secondary areas. So we decided to go a different way, which is to take the train and then take our bikes on the train to our secondary area. Well, everything was okay, and we boarded the train with our bikes, and we waited to leave the train station in YuanLin.. Then we waited......and waited......and waited..... and waited.... And then 30 minutes had gone by, and it would have been faster to ride our bikes to the secondary area... So, we took the 10 minute train ride, and by the time we got there we basically had to go home. So, we just made the really long bike ride home, since we didn't want to risk sitting on the train for no reason for 30 minutes again. On the way home, we got some delicious tea, and then we were pretty tired when we got back...
Lately on the streets people have not been too friendly....
But, we came across a white man one night walking on the streets. Normally when I see white people in Taiwan I do not talk to them. Mostly because they are either really weird or really terrible to talk to, and ask you how many wives you have. But, my companion wanted to talk to him, so we did. He was actually from Canada, and he was a really nice guy - fun to talk to. But, he told us that his wife had recently cheated on him, and he was just complaining that he was super skinny, and told us he eats one meal a day, because of the ulcers in his stomach. We talked with him about a bunch of stuff and then told him about how much God loves him. I didn't really say a whole lot to him. It was mostly my companion. Then, we invited him to hear the message, and he told us that he has come across missionaries in Taiwan, but hasn't really had time. Then he told us that he would be willing to meet with us, and he would give us a call. He never did.. Oh well.
The ward has asked us to dedicate two hours every day trying to visit every single member in the ward. I guess we'll see if that helps.
That's about it for the week.
I'm doing really well and I love you all so very much!
Sunday, October 8, 2017
This week was Mid-Autumn Festival
Hello!
This week started out with the usual ChiDaoBao of course. So, we didn't really know what to do last P-Day. Stumped, we all sat around with the other elders and then we just shrugged our shoulders and off we went to a ChiDaoBao. Hahaha It was pretty good. I was talking with the new elder in the district and he wants to join the Navy, so we just talked about military stuff the whole time. It was really fun and got me excited to join the military. I love military stuff. This week for P-Day we are going on a hike with Scott and Elder Fuller. They're going to drive all the way down to YuanLin in about an hour. Then we're going to go for a hike. The whole weird thing about this is last night I got a call from Scott and he told me that Elder Fuller was in the ER. Apparently, he had eaten some bad Mexican food and he got really sick.. Like REALLY sick. He told me yesterday he had diarrhea 14 times. He said that his body is drained, but, I still think he might show up to the hike. He was enthusiastic about hiking with me and said he would try his best to make it. So we will see....
Tuesday was pretty weird because this week was Mid-Autumn Festival. There's tons of parties and parades and stuff, so there's not a whole lot of proselyting to do... It's hard to find people that would even be willing to say hi to you, that is if you can yell it loud enough over the never ending drums and Justin Bieber music. But, it was pretty fun, because our bishop took us to hot pot and that was good... We eat so much here...
Wednesday was great. We got invited over to one of our secondary areas to go eat barbecue with some members. The barbecue was delicious, but the bike ride over there, on the other hand, was not fun. It took forever and I always forget how long it takes to get out there, but it was pretty fun. Then we looked at our watches and realized that English class was starting in 30 minutes, so we jumped up and got on our bikes and started biking super fast on the way to start our English class. It was a very fast pace and I felt bad because in the mists of the darkness I looked back to see a small little bike light waaaaay behind which was my trainee Elder Brenchley. We made it back 5 minutes late. We walked in covered in sweat and our faces were red, but English class was pretty good.
Then we were able to meet with our leading investigator right now, Mr. Liu. He's great. He owns a breakfast shop in our secondary area and we went one time and it was... alright! He's a really nice guy and we've been meeting with him for quite some time. His biggest problem is that he can't come to church because he needs to manage his shop, so we're trying to work it out. So is he. He has a strong desire to be baptized, but he has some things that are in the way like his extremely "Buddhist" wife. Another thing that's hard is he's sometimes really strange in lessons. He'll ignore our questions and then just pull the Book of Mormon in front of his face and pretend to be reading it.... It's the strangest thing, but he's really cool though.
Then we had zone conference and were able to eat some Mexican food (No I didn't get sick.). It was really good, but I forgot my scriptures, specifically I forgot my Bible. So, the entire zone conference was based out of the Bible, and the scriptures were all Bible scriptures.. So I got wrecked. So, I kind of was like, "whatever" about it, but the next night I got a call from President Teh telling me that he was worried about me and how he felt impressed to call me, because he felt like something was off. I told him that I was okay. Then he questioned why I didn't have my scriptures out and I just basically told him, "because I'm an idiot and forgot my Bible." It was a very strange call and very random... For the record, I'm doing great.
Last night we were invited to a member's house in a even further area than Wednesday, an Area I had never been to. We got a ride there and we had a delicious dinner. I was eating so much HongDou, which is red bean. It's so freaking good. We dedicated this sister's house and then we came back.. It was really fun and really good.
This week started out with the usual ChiDaoBao of course. So, we didn't really know what to do last P-Day. Stumped, we all sat around with the other elders and then we just shrugged our shoulders and off we went to a ChiDaoBao. Hahaha It was pretty good. I was talking with the new elder in the district and he wants to join the Navy, so we just talked about military stuff the whole time. It was really fun and got me excited to join the military. I love military stuff. This week for P-Day we are going on a hike with Scott and Elder Fuller. They're going to drive all the way down to YuanLin in about an hour. Then we're going to go for a hike. The whole weird thing about this is last night I got a call from Scott and he told me that Elder Fuller was in the ER. Apparently, he had eaten some bad Mexican food and he got really sick.. Like REALLY sick. He told me yesterday he had diarrhea 14 times. He said that his body is drained, but, I still think he might show up to the hike. He was enthusiastic about hiking with me and said he would try his best to make it. So we will see....
Tuesday was pretty weird because this week was Mid-Autumn Festival. There's tons of parties and parades and stuff, so there's not a whole lot of proselyting to do... It's hard to find people that would even be willing to say hi to you, that is if you can yell it loud enough over the never ending drums and Justin Bieber music. But, it was pretty fun, because our bishop took us to hot pot and that was good... We eat so much here...
Wednesday was great. We got invited over to one of our secondary areas to go eat barbecue with some members. The barbecue was delicious, but the bike ride over there, on the other hand, was not fun. It took forever and I always forget how long it takes to get out there, but it was pretty fun. Then we looked at our watches and realized that English class was starting in 30 minutes, so we jumped up and got on our bikes and started biking super fast on the way to start our English class. It was a very fast pace and I felt bad because in the mists of the darkness I looked back to see a small little bike light waaaaay behind which was my trainee Elder Brenchley. We made it back 5 minutes late. We walked in covered in sweat and our faces were red, but English class was pretty good.
Then we were able to meet with our leading investigator right now, Mr. Liu. He's great. He owns a breakfast shop in our secondary area and we went one time and it was... alright! He's a really nice guy and we've been meeting with him for quite some time. His biggest problem is that he can't come to church because he needs to manage his shop, so we're trying to work it out. So is he. He has a strong desire to be baptized, but he has some things that are in the way like his extremely "Buddhist" wife. Another thing that's hard is he's sometimes really strange in lessons. He'll ignore our questions and then just pull the Book of Mormon in front of his face and pretend to be reading it.... It's the strangest thing, but he's really cool though.
Then we had zone conference and were able to eat some Mexican food (No I didn't get sick.). It was really good, but I forgot my scriptures, specifically I forgot my Bible. So, the entire zone conference was based out of the Bible, and the scriptures were all Bible scriptures.. So I got wrecked. So, I kind of was like, "whatever" about it, but the next night I got a call from President Teh telling me that he was worried about me and how he felt impressed to call me, because he felt like something was off. I told him that I was okay. Then he questioned why I didn't have my scriptures out and I just basically told him, "because I'm an idiot and forgot my Bible." It was a very strange call and very random... For the record, I'm doing great.
Last night we were invited to a member's house in a even further area than Wednesday, an Area I had never been to. We got a ride there and we had a delicious dinner. I was eating so much HongDou, which is red bean. It's so freaking good. We dedicated this sister's house and then we came back.. It was really fun and really good.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Brother Chen got baptized by our Tai Chi Master!!!!
Wow!
I'm really excited to watch General Conference this week. I love General Conference, I don't have to be out in the sun getting sunburned. I can stay inside, listen to English, and eat junk food with the other elders. That should be really fun, but the way our ward scheduled it up, we are watching general conference from 2:00-6:00 PM, 7:00-9:00 PM, and then 8:30-12:30 PM .... I don't know why that is the schedule, but it seems like we're not really going to have a break for anything, which I don't think a ton of people are happy about. There was much complaining in church, but nonetheless I'm excited to watch General Conference.
On Monday, we spent the day moving elders around. When we were at the train station saying goodbye to Elder Rust, he had gone through the ticket gate, and was getting ready to get on a train. We watched from the lobby as he was waiting for the elevator. We waved to him, and then he did something. He blew a kiss to us, but there was a girl working the ticket station standing between us and Elder Rust, so it looked like he blew the kiss to her. She started to freak out and look around. Then she looked back right as Elder Brenchley pretended to catch the kiss in his hand, and put it to his heart. We all made eye contact with her, and then we all just started laughing so hard. She was really confused and really creeped out. Then, Elder Rust boarded the elevator, and away he was. What a great last memory of Elder Rust. We had Elder Chang, his companion with us for a couple of days while we waited to go get his trainee on Thursday.
From there on out the week was just kind of normal. We were a little bit bummed out that we wouldn't be able to baptize Brother Chen that week. He told us that he forgot and all he remembers is setting up Tuesday. We met with him a told him that because he wasn't able to have his interview last week, we weren't really sure if he could get baptized this week, and that we might have to change it. A little disappointed, we had Elder Chang give him a baptismal interview that night and we told him we would let him know when we could baptize him.
We got new sisters in our district. They're white wash training, too, so everyone in our district is pretty much training.
On Thursday, we were able to go up to Taizhong for a little bit to drop off Elder Chang. When I got up there it was pretty nostalgic. I remembered all the good times I had with Elder Hatch and my other companions. I was remembering all the fun times and all the fun things we did. To be honest, it kind of made me a little sad, because I knew that in not too long I'll be on a plane home and all of those fun things will just kind of be good memories. But, upon walking into my old chapel I came across Elder Miller my former companion. Turns out, he's white wash training in Gaoxiong. I was really happy to see him. Then me and Elder Brenchley boarded the next train back to YuanLin. When we got back a couple hours later, we had Brother Zhang come to visit us. He got back from America a couple weeks ago and brought back some American candy for me, so I was able to have a nice visit with him and catch up a little bit and talk about good old Daliao. Then, I was able to enjoy delicious American candy. I'm really grateful for Brother Zhang!
Then, we called our zone leaders and asked if Brother Chen could get baptized on Saturday. They told us that would be fine, so after arranging some stuff, we set up the baptismal time. It wasn't announced in church, so we were kind of worried that there wasn't going to be a ton of people there, so we had the baptism scheduled for 7:00 PM. Everything was working out and he showed up at 6:30, got dressed, and we practiced and waited. Then, 7:00 comes around and no one is there, so I start thinking okay, well I guess I run the show then. Then people started showing up, so we waited a little longer and sung 40 hymns. Then by 7:30 the whole room was packed with people. Then everything was normal, Tai Chi Master (Brother Jang) baptized him and it was great. Brother Chen gave a really powerful testimony where he talked about the love he felt from Tai Chi Master and us (the missionaries.) He talked about how he wondered what kind of church would have this type of people in it and wanted to know more about it. Then he said everything we taught just kind of made sense. He was literally one of the easiest baptisms I have ever had.
The following Sunday, he was confirmed ordained a priest. Shortly after ordained another priest, and then left with a ton of church textbooks to go study up. I think he's going to be made a Gospel Principals teacher or something. He's so freaking smart about the Bible and stuff.
Then that leads me today. Today we're just hanging out in YuanLin. I think we're going to go eat tons of mango ice. Yeah, pretty much it was a good week!
I'm glad mom is feeling better and everyone is doing pretty good for the most part.
I love you all.
I'm really excited to watch General Conference this week. I love General Conference, I don't have to be out in the sun getting sunburned. I can stay inside, listen to English, and eat junk food with the other elders. That should be really fun, but the way our ward scheduled it up, we are watching general conference from 2:00-6:00 PM, 7:00-9:00 PM, and then 8:30-12:30 PM .... I don't know why that is the schedule, but it seems like we're not really going to have a break for anything, which I don't think a ton of people are happy about. There was much complaining in church, but nonetheless I'm excited to watch General Conference.
On Monday, we spent the day moving elders around. When we were at the train station saying goodbye to Elder Rust, he had gone through the ticket gate, and was getting ready to get on a train. We watched from the lobby as he was waiting for the elevator. We waved to him, and then he did something. He blew a kiss to us, but there was a girl working the ticket station standing between us and Elder Rust, so it looked like he blew the kiss to her. She started to freak out and look around. Then she looked back right as Elder Brenchley pretended to catch the kiss in his hand, and put it to his heart. We all made eye contact with her, and then we all just started laughing so hard. She was really confused and really creeped out. Then, Elder Rust boarded the elevator, and away he was. What a great last memory of Elder Rust. We had Elder Chang, his companion with us for a couple of days while we waited to go get his trainee on Thursday.
From there on out the week was just kind of normal. We were a little bit bummed out that we wouldn't be able to baptize Brother Chen that week. He told us that he forgot and all he remembers is setting up Tuesday. We met with him a told him that because he wasn't able to have his interview last week, we weren't really sure if he could get baptized this week, and that we might have to change it. A little disappointed, we had Elder Chang give him a baptismal interview that night and we told him we would let him know when we could baptize him.
We got new sisters in our district. They're white wash training, too, so everyone in our district is pretty much training.
On Thursday, we were able to go up to Taizhong for a little bit to drop off Elder Chang. When I got up there it was pretty nostalgic. I remembered all the good times I had with Elder Hatch and my other companions. I was remembering all the fun times and all the fun things we did. To be honest, it kind of made me a little sad, because I knew that in not too long I'll be on a plane home and all of those fun things will just kind of be good memories. But, upon walking into my old chapel I came across Elder Miller my former companion. Turns out, he's white wash training in Gaoxiong. I was really happy to see him. Then me and Elder Brenchley boarded the next train back to YuanLin. When we got back a couple hours later, we had Brother Zhang come to visit us. He got back from America a couple weeks ago and brought back some American candy for me, so I was able to have a nice visit with him and catch up a little bit and talk about good old Daliao. Then, I was able to enjoy delicious American candy. I'm really grateful for Brother Zhang!
Then, we called our zone leaders and asked if Brother Chen could get baptized on Saturday. They told us that would be fine, so after arranging some stuff, we set up the baptismal time. It wasn't announced in church, so we were kind of worried that there wasn't going to be a ton of people there, so we had the baptism scheduled for 7:00 PM. Everything was working out and he showed up at 6:30, got dressed, and we practiced and waited. Then, 7:00 comes around and no one is there, so I start thinking okay, well I guess I run the show then. Then people started showing up, so we waited a little longer and sung 40 hymns. Then by 7:30 the whole room was packed with people. Then everything was normal, Tai Chi Master (Brother Jang) baptized him and it was great. Brother Chen gave a really powerful testimony where he talked about the love he felt from Tai Chi Master and us (the missionaries.) He talked about how he wondered what kind of church would have this type of people in it and wanted to know more about it. Then he said everything we taught just kind of made sense. He was literally one of the easiest baptisms I have ever had.
The following Sunday, he was confirmed ordained a priest. Shortly after ordained another priest, and then left with a ton of church textbooks to go study up. I think he's going to be made a Gospel Principals teacher or something. He's so freaking smart about the Bible and stuff.
Then that leads me today. Today we're just hanging out in YuanLin. I think we're going to go eat tons of mango ice. Yeah, pretty much it was a good week!
I'm glad mom is feeling better and everyone is doing pretty good for the most part.
I love you all.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
This week was kind of a weird week!
Hello!
This week was kind of a weird week!
To start off on Monday of last week we just cleaned up a little bit and hung around YuanLin. We didn't really do anything fun honestly, so that was kind of a let down. It just kind of seems like there's not much to do besides go to 吃到飽 ChiDaoBao's and get fat. So... I guess I'll have to up my workouts that I'm not doing................
Then one night I was brushing my teeth getting ready to go to bed. I started to feel a little bit dizzy and then I realized that we were having an earthquake. Then as soon as I realized we were having an earthquake I hear Elder Brenchley freaking out upstairs. I just continued to brush my teeth. Then he kept calling, "ELDER BURGE. Elder BURGE." It was a pretty decent earthquake. Maybe one of the more crazier ones. I think they're pretty fun and entertaining. It's a weird feeling.
On Wednesday we were on our way to English class and we were really tired from contacting early that day. We got to English and we have two English classes. One class the sisters teach and then the other class we teach. Pretty much the sisters get all of the students that come in, but usually there's a couple that will come to our class. But, that night, we waited.......and waited..... and.....waited. No students showed up to our English class they all went to the sister's class. That hurt our feelings so we just left and went out contacting... We don't really like English class anymore. It's fun when we have students and they are participating, but some of the students just want to go in there and then just get lectured in English and with the new program it's not really set up that way. It's all dependent on participation.
For DTM on Thursday we had a great time. The zone leaders came to our DTM and me and Elder Brenchley were picked to do an example of a BAD baptismal invite. It was really fun and we had great time making everyone laugh. Elder Brenchley's Chinese is coming along really well. This week he was able to pass of all of Phase 1 and move on to better things. His Chinese is really good and I'm amazed at how much he can understand and speak. When I got to Taiwan I didn't understand anything for like a year. Sometimes I still don't understand. I'm sure by the end of Elder Brenchley's two years his Chinese will be REALLY good.
We were able to meet with Brother 陳 Chen this week and it was really good. We are able to share the last couple of lessons and things with him to help him prepare for his upcoming baptism. He talked about a story where his wife had a miscarriage and he was very sad that he wasn't able to raise one of his children, and he talked about how much he wanted a daughter. We shared with him about family history and reviewed a little bit of the Plan of Salvation. We told him that he would be able to see his family again after he died. He was very happy and had a unfading smile the entire lesson. We set up a time to have a baptismal interview and then he was on his way.
When the night came around for Brother 陳's Chen's baptismal interview we were all anxiously waiting inside the chapel. Then 8:00PM hit, and he was nowhere to be found. Not really worrying about it we waited longer, until 8:45. We had called him twice and texted him once but there was no reply. We were really down that he didn't show up and began to worry a lot. We probably figured he forgot. He's 70 years old so...
The next couple of days dragged on a little bit and we were pretty heartbroken that he wasn't answering and didn't have his interview. Then one personal study we got a phone call from a random number. I answered and it was a man who introduced himself as Mr. 張. He asked us if it would be alright to have a chapel tour and then he had found a flyer of ours on the ground and called the number. So of course, we set him up for that same day at 5:00 PM and told him to meet us at the church. When we got there, he showed up on a scooter and he was really cool, roughly about the age of a college student. We laughed a lot and began the chapel tour. There was a lot of members inside the church, because there was a baptismal service for the sisters that night. So we talked to a couple of members and I noticed that every time we introduce Mr 張 to our members they all gave us weird looks and kind of smiled, but I didn't think anything of it. We continued the tour, showed him the sacrament room where we talked about the things that go on in church meetings like singing. I showed him the hymn book and he said, "Hey, why don't you sing a hymn for me." I told him I couldn't really sing, and he kept insisting, and then I told him, "How about you go for it." Then he said no. He really kept insisting and I thought it was kind of weird. Then we sat down and were talking about prayer and I was giving him an example, talking about prayer being like a phone and how our Father in Heaven wants to communicate with us. Then he randomly went, "So we have to use a phone to communicate with God?" I looked at him and I was thinking about all of the weird stuff he had said the entire time we were with him. I was thinking, "Does this guy have a brain problem?" Then we concluded the lesson and invited him to church. When we got out of the lesson, we had members swarm us. They kept saying, "You know he's a member right?" The guy was a member from another nearby area and totally just messed with us for an hour and wasted our time, so we called him up and I said, "Hey, we know you're a member." Then I argued with him for like 2 minutes of just straight, "We know you're a member. What are you doing?" Then he finally confessed and said he was. Frustrated, I said, "Alright, well next time, don't waste our time. Our time is very important." Nobody was happy. The members were mad. I was mad. My companion was mad. It was not good.
Sunday comes around and Brother Chen shows up! Happy, we sat next to him. Then I look in the crowd and I see Mr 張. After sacrament he comes up to us and gives me and my companion a hug and tells us that he's the ward mission leader from another area, and that he just wanted to meet us and gave us candy and stuff. Turns out the members told us that he was in a serious car accident a couple of months ago, and they did surgery on his brain. I guess after the surgery he wasn't really the same, and has had some behavior issues and stuff, so he does really strange things from time to time. So, I guess it all worked out.. but we were still kind of weirded out about the whole thing. Then, while this whole thing was going on, I guess 陳 Chen slipped by and went home, so we had no chance to talk with him. So, we're going to have to postpone his baptism probably...
And that leads me to today. Today is move day, so we have to help some elders move. We're also getting new sisters that are white washing in. We're also in a trio with Elder Chang while he waits for his trainee. Should be an interesting week.
I miss you all so very much. I can't wait to see you in 12 weeks!
This week was kind of a weird week!
To start off on Monday of last week we just cleaned up a little bit and hung around YuanLin. We didn't really do anything fun honestly, so that was kind of a let down. It just kind of seems like there's not much to do besides go to 吃到飽 ChiDaoBao's and get fat. So... I guess I'll have to up my workouts that I'm not doing................
Then one night I was brushing my teeth getting ready to go to bed. I started to feel a little bit dizzy and then I realized that we were having an earthquake. Then as soon as I realized we were having an earthquake I hear Elder Brenchley freaking out upstairs. I just continued to brush my teeth. Then he kept calling, "ELDER BURGE. Elder BURGE." It was a pretty decent earthquake. Maybe one of the more crazier ones. I think they're pretty fun and entertaining. It's a weird feeling.
On Wednesday we were on our way to English class and we were really tired from contacting early that day. We got to English and we have two English classes. One class the sisters teach and then the other class we teach. Pretty much the sisters get all of the students that come in, but usually there's a couple that will come to our class. But, that night, we waited.......and waited..... and.....waited. No students showed up to our English class they all went to the sister's class. That hurt our feelings so we just left and went out contacting... We don't really like English class anymore. It's fun when we have students and they are participating, but some of the students just want to go in there and then just get lectured in English and with the new program it's not really set up that way. It's all dependent on participation.
For DTM on Thursday we had a great time. The zone leaders came to our DTM and me and Elder Brenchley were picked to do an example of a BAD baptismal invite. It was really fun and we had great time making everyone laugh. Elder Brenchley's Chinese is coming along really well. This week he was able to pass of all of Phase 1 and move on to better things. His Chinese is really good and I'm amazed at how much he can understand and speak. When I got to Taiwan I didn't understand anything for like a year. Sometimes I still don't understand. I'm sure by the end of Elder Brenchley's two years his Chinese will be REALLY good.
We were able to meet with Brother 陳 Chen this week and it was really good. We are able to share the last couple of lessons and things with him to help him prepare for his upcoming baptism. He talked about a story where his wife had a miscarriage and he was very sad that he wasn't able to raise one of his children, and he talked about how much he wanted a daughter. We shared with him about family history and reviewed a little bit of the Plan of Salvation. We told him that he would be able to see his family again after he died. He was very happy and had a unfading smile the entire lesson. We set up a time to have a baptismal interview and then he was on his way.
When the night came around for Brother 陳's Chen's baptismal interview we were all anxiously waiting inside the chapel. Then 8:00PM hit, and he was nowhere to be found. Not really worrying about it we waited longer, until 8:45. We had called him twice and texted him once but there was no reply. We were really down that he didn't show up and began to worry a lot. We probably figured he forgot. He's 70 years old so...
The next couple of days dragged on a little bit and we were pretty heartbroken that he wasn't answering and didn't have his interview. Then one personal study we got a phone call from a random number. I answered and it was a man who introduced himself as Mr. 張. He asked us if it would be alright to have a chapel tour and then he had found a flyer of ours on the ground and called the number. So of course, we set him up for that same day at 5:00 PM and told him to meet us at the church. When we got there, he showed up on a scooter and he was really cool, roughly about the age of a college student. We laughed a lot and began the chapel tour. There was a lot of members inside the church, because there was a baptismal service for the sisters that night. So we talked to a couple of members and I noticed that every time we introduce Mr 張 to our members they all gave us weird looks and kind of smiled, but I didn't think anything of it. We continued the tour, showed him the sacrament room where we talked about the things that go on in church meetings like singing. I showed him the hymn book and he said, "Hey, why don't you sing a hymn for me." I told him I couldn't really sing, and he kept insisting, and then I told him, "How about you go for it." Then he said no. He really kept insisting and I thought it was kind of weird. Then we sat down and were talking about prayer and I was giving him an example, talking about prayer being like a phone and how our Father in Heaven wants to communicate with us. Then he randomly went, "So we have to use a phone to communicate with God?" I looked at him and I was thinking about all of the weird stuff he had said the entire time we were with him. I was thinking, "Does this guy have a brain problem?" Then we concluded the lesson and invited him to church. When we got out of the lesson, we had members swarm us. They kept saying, "You know he's a member right?" The guy was a member from another nearby area and totally just messed with us for an hour and wasted our time, so we called him up and I said, "Hey, we know you're a member." Then I argued with him for like 2 minutes of just straight, "We know you're a member. What are you doing?" Then he finally confessed and said he was. Frustrated, I said, "Alright, well next time, don't waste our time. Our time is very important." Nobody was happy. The members were mad. I was mad. My companion was mad. It was not good.
Sunday comes around and Brother Chen shows up! Happy, we sat next to him. Then I look in the crowd and I see Mr 張. After sacrament he comes up to us and gives me and my companion a hug and tells us that he's the ward mission leader from another area, and that he just wanted to meet us and gave us candy and stuff. Turns out the members told us that he was in a serious car accident a couple of months ago, and they did surgery on his brain. I guess after the surgery he wasn't really the same, and has had some behavior issues and stuff, so he does really strange things from time to time. So, I guess it all worked out.. but we were still kind of weirded out about the whole thing. Then, while this whole thing was going on, I guess 陳 Chen slipped by and went home, so we had no chance to talk with him. So, we're going to have to postpone his baptism probably...
And that leads me to today. Today is move day, so we have to help some elders move. We're also getting new sisters that are white washing in. We're also in a trio with Elder Chang while he waits for his trainee. Should be an interesting week.
I miss you all so very much. I can't wait to see you in 12 weeks!
Monday, September 18, 2017
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