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'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!

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.

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!