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!
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