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!

President Teh sent a zone conference photo

This week for us was a fantastic week!

Hahahaha!

I'm laughing so hard at the Sibuna thing! I forgot all about that.

Well it sounds like your week was really good expect for being sick.. That doesn't sound too fun.

This week for us was a fantastic week! To start off the week with Monday, went to a 吃到飽 chi dao bao! Which is what we do here I guess for P-Day because there's nothing else to do. Hahaha! It was pretty fun and we ate so much food as usual. We went to a place called Shabu Shabu. Basically you pay 350NT and then you can just eat whatever for 2 hours. It was really fun and delicious, but I always feel absolutely terrible for the rest of the day. In fact, we usually eat so much that we don't eat breakfast and dinner just because we're so full. That was all we did for P-Day though.

Then we were able to go on exchanges this week. I was able to go with Elder Chang from Draper, UT. He was really cool and we had a good time. His Chinese was incredibly good. He was a very smart guy and I was impressed with him as a missionary. We had a good time and were laughing a lot. One of the days we were on exchanges, we ate lunch with the other elders. We were walking out of the store when all of the sudden a white guy on a scooter rolls up to us and he starts saying, "Elders you need to smile more! Elders! You are in the land of beautiful women and delicious food! SMILE!" A little weirded out we started talking to him. He was a guy that was teaching English in Taiwan. He also served his mission here in 2001 and he married a Taiwanese girl then divorced her then married a Japanese girl. He was very bitter about everything and was very racist about Asians. It honestly was not a pleasant  conversation. I was just laughing at him, but he was offending all of the other elders pretty bad, like telling my trainee that his Chinese sucks and then mocking my trainee, then telling Elder Chang that he shouldn't pretend to be Asian (his parents are Asian/Hawaiian.) Basically he was just ripping on everyone. Then he turned to me and my trainee says jockingly, "You should talk to my trainer he's attracted to all Asians" Then he just proceeded to try to relate to me by telling me that all Asians are hot and he feels my pain and that I should never marry a Taiwanese girl and that I should marry anyone else. Then after getting offended Elder Chang said, "Alright we're done and then biked off"...... It was not a good conversation.

But the week ended up getting better when we were able to set two baptismal goals. The first is named Chen 陳 He's really cool and WILL be baptized on 9/30. He was found by a member who hosts a free Taiqi class every night at the church. It's open to whoever and they can just walk into the church parking lot. I guess Mr. 陳 ended up walking into the class and had been learning Taiqi. The member talked with him about the Book Of Mormon and he had a lot of interest.Then he started meeting with the other Elders, but he didn't live in their area, so we started teaching him. He's great. He literally has 0 problems and wants to be baptized. He loves coming to church and is just really nice.

That's basically my week. Nothing else interesting really happened... Me and Elder Brenchley are doing really good though! I'll try to steal his pictures too. I know of a place to get a camera cord, but I haven't had time.

I've been sick, attacked by a snake, given blessings, and built a table

Hello!

Sorry to hear that Mom is really sick! Actually, this week I was pretty sick too. I don't know what's been going on with my body, but I've been very sore and I get headaches all the time. On top of that I haven't been sleeping that well. I felt pretty awful this week in general. Just kind of felt like I got beat up or something. It's been kind of a strange week, but really interesting and full of fun stories, so I guess it was a pretty good week. This week started off with a hike. On Monday we went for a hike in ErShui 二水. We went in hopes of seeing some wild monkeys. The hike goes through a small valley and then you have to ascend up some stairs. At the top of the hike there's a small village and a Buddhist temple. On the way up it was scorching hot. For some reason the other elders wanted to go in the middle of the afternoon. On the way up in the scorching Taiwanese heat,  I was walking and heard a strange noise. Then I heard one of the elders say, "Watch out!" I looked down and saw a snake slither away. Apparently, I almost got bit by the snake.  It jumped at me and everything. It was pretty sketchy. When we got to the top I thought it was very pretty, so it was worth the hike. On the way back down we saw some monkey's which was really cool. The other elders were freaking out trying to get a good picture. Seeing monkeys in the wild is pretty cool.

Then this week we went on exchanges. I went with and elder from Grantsville, Elder Rust. I believe his dad was or is a bishop in Grantsville. He's a hilarious guy and we a good time talking about the good old Tooele County. It was really weird because he actually knows some of the same people I know and played on the same team as Squire a little while ago. On exchanges we saw a really cool miracle. After getting rejected at a red light I was biking away and then out of nowhere this girl pulls me over and tells me, "I want to go to church." I told her where the church was and everything.  She was really cool and gave me her number, but on Sunday she didn't show up.

Then this week we got called to give a priesthood blessing, so we had to rush over to a girl's house. When she got there the house was relativity peaceful, some kids roaming around, and she even fed us......something.... But then she said, "Alright, I need you to give my son a priesthood blessing." And then she went upstairs awoke her son and then the house fell into chaos. Kids start screaming and then I can hear from the upstairs what sounds like the summoning of a demon from the unknown world. She brings him down and he is just sweating. (He's like 5 or 6 years old.) He looks like he needs to be taken to the hospital pretty much. He's screaming and telling his mom that he doesn't want a priesthood blessing and then they sit down in a chair and he's sitting on her lap. Then he just starts puking everywhere. Literally everywhere. Everyone backs up and I just stood there. He puked 3 or 4 times and puked all over his mom. And then I just gave him a priesthood blessing right after. After the blessing he was very calm and stopped crying. So that was good. Then I gave the mom a priesthood blessing. It was a really crazy time though.

This week for our apartment we got a new kitchen table and it was really fun to put together. It was from IKEA. We put it together with a senior couple. As we putting together some wooden chairs one of the senior missionaries completely ate it. What happened was he was bending down and putting together a chair and then pressed to hard on the chair and the chair parts all fell apart and then he just tumbled over a little.. It was not that scary... I'm a terrible person so I had to hold back some laughter. He was okay for the record.

Other than that that was basically our week in a nutshell. Today for p-day we're going go a 吃到飽 chidaobao an all you can place.

We ate 45 steaks and were on the verge of throwing up...

Hello,

It's been another week in YuanLin 圓林 and me and Elder Brenchely are still working hard trying to find those people to teach. It's been a really interesting week with lots of things that happened.

For starters, On Monday after emailing we went to a 吃到飽 eat until your full place... and it was so good. It was my first time going to that 吃到飽. It was really fun because they have a grill in front of you and then they bring out the meat and you have to grill the meat and cook it yourself. So naturally like any elders would do, we ordered 45 steaks. It was so good but by the time we were done we were all on the verge of throwing up. So we went home and laid around the house and just kind of hung out for a little bit. Then we went out and bought some groceries. That was pretty much it for P-Day. Today our plans are really similar, except we're going to attempt to go for a hike and then eat food at a 吃到飽. There's not really much to do in this town so it's kind of boring.

On Tuesday we got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders...........Yay............It was actually not that bad. I got to go with an elder from Kentucky. He was pretty cool and we had a good time. Not much to say about that...

On Wednesday we had English class. I'm becoming less and less of  a fan of teaching English. It's just not that fun anymore. Especially since the new program came out... Not really my cup of tea. Now we just teach one basic class with wall charts.  Its not as fun as the old way.

Thursday was just a normal day of contacting.. So lately we've been able to find people on the streets and set them up for a time, but then they end up not showing up to their appointments. This week on the street we found 10 people with interest and were willing to meet and set up a time. Out of the 10 people 10 of them didn't show up. I didn't particularly care, because in that sense I feel like I've done all I can. But, my companion on the other hand still kind of struggles and get's a little mad that they don't show up. Which is totally understandable but.... I don't know...

On the other hand, we were able to meet with some of our investigators. One was a 17 year old boy. He was really cool and had been meeting with the elders for a little while. We asked him what the problem was and then he told us, "Well, my parents think that all the elders and sisters are lesbian and gay and all have AIDS." I sat there for a moment and pondered his words. Then I burst out laughing with my companion, so one of these days we are going to go over to his house and meet his parents.

Other than that me and Elder Brenchely are hanging in there. I still don't have pictures to show you... I'm really sorry. Still trying to figure out the camera situation.

I love you all so very much!