Good Things Going On...

Wow... Sounds like your  week was really crazy!! Yeah, I think that's an annual thing every time this time of year rolls around. Don't worry though! Summer is in sight and then you all can relax! It's weird to think that our family is grown up now.. None of us are in high school anymore... that makes me feel weird.But yeah, Kayleigh's cosmetology thing should keep her pretty busy.

As for things in our area.. It's actually not too bad. We have some good things going on. Last night we met with our investigator Bella. She's doing really good. We hadn't met with her since Elder Miller and I were companions so it's been about a month. She wasn't able to meet with us because of some tests and school. But now she's ready to meet with us. We had a great lesson with her last night and we invited her to get baptized on 6/17. She's super prepared and answers all of the questions perfectly. We really like her a lot and we think she's really cool. I think she'll honestly get baptized on that day. She loves coming to church and learning about the gospel.

This weeks it's been really hard to find people. We've been talking to a lot of people but they're all super busy mostly because it's the Dragon Boat Festival. So many people are going to be out of town or they're super busy making 菜粽. Which is a traditional food usually made on holidays. It's like rice wrapped up in some leaf. It's......Not that good. In fact, I think there's a lot of people in Taiwan that don't really like it. But we've been given quite a few. My companion actually really likes them. He can eat like 5 which is insane.. they fill you up super quick. So...... I just give all of mine to him and then I just eat fried rice like everyday.

It was kind of a rough week for us and it was hard for us to go out and work. It also rained a lot this week so that was a little bit harder. But... My companion has been having some ear problems/nightmares/depression problems and some other....problems... So it's been REALLY hard for him to work. So 2 nights ago I gave him a Priesthood blessing and the next morning he said that he didn't have any nightmares anymore and that he felt a little happier. Unfortunately our faith didn't fix his ear.

I don't really have any pictures this week. It rained a lot and I was inside for a lot the week.... Next week.

Today for P-Day we don't really have any plans. We might go meet up with Elder Fuller in Gaoxiong and hang out.

I miss you all so very much. I appreciate the videos/pictures you all send me. I think you're all super funny. I can't wait to come home and hang out with you all. As of June I will only have 6 months left.

I'm not moving! I'm staying with Elder Hongvilai again!

Wow, that sounds like one of the craziest weeks you ever emailed me about... Hahaha.. I don't have much to say other than 加油. Sounds like your usual May craziness hahaha..

It was really fun to skype you!

So the news is....I'm not moving! I'm staying with Elder Hongvilai again!

This week was a little bit crazy for me too. This week was the last week of the transfer so with that we had the usually craziness. Me and Elder Hongvilai spent most of the week visiting Artie and and trying to find new investigators. So the usual... Hahaha, we got rained on quite a bit which is really hard for missionary work in Taiwan, because people will not go outside if it's raining. They're literally afraid of the rain so.... goodbye to missionary work and any sort of lessons you had. So we spent a lot of time biking around in the rain and calling formers. The cool part of all of this is, we had a former answer. I was surprised because normally people don't answer. I started talking with him and he was really nice and friendly. He set up a time to meet with us and I thought awesome. Then I read his record and figured out who he was. This guy is a Marine sniper. So we met with him and he was outrageously cool. No, I'm not just saying that because he's a sniper, he's actually a nice guy. And hilariously enough, his English name is Kyle...

This week our ward also had a potluck! It was really fun and we were able to get a ton of investigators to go. I don't know what's been going on lately, but we've been getting a lot of referrals. It's really cool. So we get lots of people that are ready to be taught. I guess while I was on exchanges with another elder in a different area they found a guy that was really good a beatboxing. So that's one of our potential investigators hahaha. The ward here is really good about referrals and stuff.

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with an elder from Arkansas. No, not Elder Hatch, but Elder Bradford from Fayetteville, Arkansas. He's really cool and it was a lot of fun. He's going home soon though... So he was pretty trunky the whole time. He ended up listening to Sam Smith when we came home at night.. which led to me being really trunky that night and wanting to download some Sam Smith music. Gosh dang it.

It's been a pretty good week and I love you all so very much. This P-Day I'm going to the beach with Elder Fuller and Elder Hatch. Nothing too crazy hahaha.

There's not really a whole lot of stuff this week that happened... Sorry. I also don't really have pictures this week. Here's a view of Gaoxiong City at night from the YuanShan Elder's roof.

Artie got baptized and we got to Skype with Silas for Mother's Day!!!

This week we got to Skype with Silas for Mothers' Day!!!  They were Skyping at the church.  It will probably be the last time we Skype before he comes home sometime around the end of the year.  He's not sure yet when his return date will be.  His entrance into the MTC at the beginning of his mission was delayed one week, and the church keeps adjusting the transfer schedules.  He said this next transfer period will be extended into the middle of July - longer than the normal six week transfer period.  

We asked him what he thought his post mission plans would be.  He said it was so hard to learn Mandarin that he definitely wants to continue to study the language in college, and hopes to make it a big part of his future career.  He said he doesn't want to lose his language skills when he gets back to the states.  He said he is currently working on his reading and writing skills with both traditional characters and simplified.  Taiwan uses traditional characters, while mainland China uses simplified characters.    

We got to meet his companion, Elder Hongvillai.  His English is really good. He got to Skype with his mother in Thailand the day before.  They celebrate Mothers' Day in both Taiwan and Thailand.  He said his sister is a baker in Moab and that he would like to go visit her someday.  We hope he gets the chance. 

We also got to meet a ward member whose English name is Middle.  They pick such interesting English names.  Silas is doing well and seems to really have hit his stride as a missionary in Taiwan. We got to hear him talk with Middle in Mandarin many times as he was trying to explain our conversation. There was a lot of Mandarin and laughing going on, so we must have been entertaining. We were also trying to figure out how to correctly pronounce Silas' Mandarin name - Bo Zhang Lao.  He kept trying to teach it to us, but we weren't picking up on those subtle tones that are so important in Mandarin.  Well, at least we kept them entertained.  

We also found out that Artie got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!!!  His father is a member and he told Artie that is was up to him if he wanted to come to church and be a member.  It takes a lot of dedication for a young man like Artie to get up and go to church without any promptings by his father.  The church can always use another priesthood holder and we think Artie will be great.  His father and the ward must be so happy to have another priesthood holder.

For P-day, Silas said that they were going to go with brother Middle and get some Thai food (a taste of home for his companion) and check out nearby Tainan City.

At church he leaned over to me and said, "這個地方是地獄"

Hello family..

Yeah, sorry about that hahaha. For the record, I had no idea that he was going to do that. So, it was kind of a surprise when I heard him calling someone on his phone and then hearing your voices... Hahahaha! That was pretty awkward for me. I just don't really know what to do. Do I talk to you? Do I not talk to you and smile and wave? Yeah.. Oh well. Freaking Scott hahaha! He's awesome though. On P-day we had a really good time catching up and hanging out. It was really fun and went to a lot of places. I had a fun time 3rd wheeling (his girlfriend was there) So we took some 3rd wheel photos. I'm glad you still love me.

That's really cool that you got massages. Yeah, I'm down for going to get massages after the mission. I've learned to enjoy massages......... regardless of who they are coming from. I've always wondered how the Millpond Spa is. Did you like it?

This week was another week in Daliao. We kind of just ride circles around our area and get rejected a lot. Well.... I get rejected a lot.  Then we teach our investigators every once in awhile who are struggling to get answers and stuff. On the bright side, Artie our investigator was able to make it church. So now we can baptize him on Saturday. Woohoo. Yeah, it should be pretty fun. The hard part will be getting him to come to church the next day for his confirmation. That's the part I'm worried about. I think it should be okay, even though at church he leaned over to me and said, "這個地方是地獄" (This place is hell.)

I also was able to go on exchanges with Elder Wightman from SF California....again. That was really fun and we work really well together. We saw tons of cool things happen on exchanges and we got lots of numbers and adds. It was really fun to joke about Elder Fuller too. He was formerly Elder Fuller's companion a little while ago. So we just shared Elder Fuller stories the whole time and just laughed. Hahaha. We share a mutual love for Elder Fuller.

Today for P-Day we are going to Harbor. It's a really expensive and fancy buffet place. Apparently it has the best meat in all of Gaoxiong. So I'm pretty excited. We are also going with Elder Fuller too.

That's basically it for my week. I'm sorry to hear you are all very busy with things. It's okay though, summer is almost here right? That's good for you guys at least. I'm going to die. Summer in Taiwan is always really hard, especially at night when you're trying to sleep and the AC is on full blast and you don't get to bed until 3:00 AM every night and you just wake up covered in sweat.  Anyway! I love you all so very much!