Finally transferred....to Gaoxiong DaLiao!!!!

Hello!!

Hey I got transferred today. I moved to GAOXIONG, DALIAO. It's freaking sweet down here... and really hot already. Our apartment is super cool and has these cool views and a Buddhist temple next door. It's right next to Fooyin University 輔英科技大學. My new companion is Elder Miller. He's awesome. He did some time in the Air Force Academy in CO. He's super dope and I love him already. I was...."sad"...to leave Beitun after SIX long months... I was sad to say goodbye to some missionaries there and some friends. But I'm grateful that I can finally be down south. It's SUPER different. I've only been here for an hour, but it's very different. So yeah, this morning I got up and packed up all my stuff and boarded the train for Gaoxiong. The train ride was really pretty. I got to see a lot of the countryside of Taiwan. Taiwan is a really pretty place. I took some pictures on the train. It was fun because I got to ride half of the way with Elder Hatch, AKA the Hatchet. We got to talk for like 1 1/2 hours. It was really fun to catch up. I love that guy. He wants me to visit his family's farm in AR. We almost missed the train. We got on right as the door closed. Then Elder Hatch got off too late on his stop and I got off to early when I got into Gaoxiong. So I found myself in downtown Gaoxiong... So, I had to get back on a train and got to the FengShan station... Oh well. I got to see Elder Storey when I was there. That's pretty much my day. I'll get pictures next week. All of my stuff is still packed up and what not.. There's been some talk of going to KenDing in HengChun. One of the most beautiful places in Taiwan... We have a lot of cool people ready to go in Daliao. Daliao is a really super awesome area. All I've heard is good things.

Tell President Gibbons I say hello! I would love to send him an email.

I love you all so very much!!

We got one lesson and a new investigator!!!

Hello!

Here in Taiwan it was another uneventful week. On the bright side we got one lesson and a new investigator. His name is David. He's pretty cool. He served in the Army for over 30 years. His English is not bad either. He's really nice and he loves missionaries. We're set up to meet with him tomorrow. So, should be fun. But yeah, most of the week was just contacting and stuff. But, surprisingly I had a good time. It was fun just to ride around and talk to people. Me and Elder Meanea spent most the time laughing and talking about movies while we worked. I'm pretty used to things now I guess. I don't know. The weather was also really good. It was nice and sunny.

We actually had a lot of potentials and investigators drop us. This week we had an investigator who we had already dropped drive up to us and tell us that he didn't want to meet with us anymore, because he's not really looking for religion right now. I was nice to him and stuff, but he was just incredibly butt hurt about it and awkward... I didn't even really care too much, but he thought I was going to be really mad and upset... I just smiled and told him that if he ever changes his mind he knows our number and knows where the church is. I think he'll get baptized one day. Oh well.

On top of that, our sisters put together a restoration fireside. It was pretty good, but the turnout was pretty awful. 95% of the audience was all members, which was kind of awkward, because the fireside was aimed at non-members. So, we're up there inviting members to read the Book of Mormon to know it's true. It was really weird to get in front of everyone and speak in Chinese to the masses of people..Afterwards there were these really weird rice cookie things. It was fun to joke around with the members and stuff.

The other day while doing some studies, I got a surprise call from some members in 清水 QingShui. It was really funny to talk to them again. It was really weird though, because I could actually understand them and stuff. It was fun to laugh with them! They're super awesome, and I miss them a lot! They asked me when I was coming back to 清水 QingShui.

On Saturday night, we went and ate dinner with our zone leaders, Elder Wilkinson and Elder Hsu. We went to 一中街 which is like a night market. It has really good food and every time we go we get 冬梅茶 and 雞排. The JiPai is really unhealthy but it's so freaking good. Definitely has MSG on it.

For P-day today, we're going to Sun Moon Lake. We have a member named Daniel that's taking us. He's really cool, and he'll be going to BYU this spring.

Anyway, that's all I got this week! I love you all so very much!

Thanks for all the love and support

Hello family.

Yeah, on Monday we went to Fairy Lake. It was really fun and really pretty. I love hiking in Taiwan, it' s really fun to be in the jungle. There's also these huge monster spiders in the Jungle so it's kind of sketchy. Scott was really cool and was willing to take us hiking! I love Scott so much! It was also his birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Scott!! I also have pictures.

Things are going slightly better, I guess my last email really scared everyone. Sorry. I got many calls from a lot of concerned people. So for the record, I'm okay. I'm not going home or going to die. I had my regular interview with President Teh and we talked for a very long time about things. He's really awesome and made me feel a lot better about things in my area. I even got a care package from a member in my first area. Thanks for all the love and support.

As for Chinese New Year, it's basically over but now the Lantern Festival is coming up (google pictures) I hear it's really cool so, we'll see... I finally got my debit card to work and was able to order a new bike.  My new bike still has two weeks to be shipped here.. So probably right around when I'll move (hopefully)....

Good to hear Ale passed the Learner's Permit test. That's really cool. That's cool they got another Ferret.

Sam has told me a lot about his job. It sounds like he has a role in House of Cards or something. He's been telling me all of his senator stories and such.

I love you all.

After six months in Beitun..I feel like everybody hates me..it's depressing

Hello!

Thanks for getting the bank stuff figured out..

As for my area, no one has mentioned anything to me about how long I've been here. I've just been marooned in a city. It's not that bad, but the area is definitely one of the harder areas in the mission. It actually has broken every single one of my companions. It's getting to the point with me where I literally feel like everybody hates me. My companion, the ward, other missionaries, the zone leaders, my district, people on the streets... It's really weird. Like in someways, I know that's not necessarily true but I feel that way. On top of all of this our new Zone Leader is crazy. He's previously served in the office. He had to be emergency transferred out of Taizhong because he couldn't get along with his companion. He ended up slapping his companion across the face. Yeah.. He's super crazy. Now he's my Zone Leader........

Honestly, nothing happened this week. My area is falling apart as usual. We don't have any progressing investigators or baptismal goals. We can't find anyone on the streets to talk to us. It's depressing.

This week one of our RC's in the ward met with us and told us that he's hearing voices and that they're telling him to do bad stuff. So he posted on Facebook, "Jesus wants me to kill myself." So the entire ward went crazy. What makes this worse is we've been meeting with him 1-2 times a week and he takes photos of us together every time. Well it doesn't look very good for missionaries when there's photos of us and quoting scriptures and then a couple days later, "Jesus wants me to kill myself." So now the ward probably thinks that I'm a Satanist. :)

On the bright side we got red envelopes, a Taiwanese tradition during Chinese New Year. These envelopes are a sign of great respect and love. We got a few from some members... But the thing is that we're not supposed to keep them. We have to turn them into the Equalized Missionary Fund. But, I'm not doing that, because I'm a selfish jerk...jk.

I don't know.. That's basically it... That was my week.

It's Chinese New Year...there's no one outside and nothing going on

Hello Family!

新年快樂! 新年快樂!!

This week was really interesting. It's Chinese New Year. So that being said, there's no one outside and nothing going on. Everyone is inside with their families. So what that does to missionary work is it absolutely wrecks it so we don't really do anything. We just kind of walk around on empty streets hoping someone will be willing to even talk to us. Which is the usual in BeiTun but now it's just put into extreme form of literally no one. But it's been pretty fun. We just eat with a lot of members. It's kind of crazy though because they force you to eat a lot. It's kind of disrespectful if you don't eat a ton. So it's been kind of crazy. I have pictures. So other than that we have done literally nothing this week. No one will set up or be willing to meet... So... Whatever. Hahaha.

I'm not sure what else to write about. We're not really doing anything this P-Day.

Oh did you hear, they completely changed the schedule for missionaries around the world.  Now we don't have set personal study, companion study and language study. It's all up to us to plan so we can better fit our days and stuff. It's kind of weird. But I like it.

I love you all!! I have pictures of our feasts!

We got a sweet referral from the Wuchuan zone leaders

Hello! Happy Year Mark on my misson!!

This week was really good. We got transfer calls and I learned...........I'm not moving.. I'm with Elder Meanea again for another transfer in Beitun. I will probably be here for 6 months....Heh....

Yeah we've been seeing a lot of stuff on the news about Donald Trump. Especially with the stuff about "He's sick of China raping our country." Me and Elder Meanea were laughing pretty hard hahaha! Sounds like things are still really crazy.

Mom's hair looks really good! Freak, Kayleigh is so talented at cutting hair.

I heard Hunter's sister is coming to the mission in the summer. Scott was very excited. It'll be cool to see her. We were in the same Chinese class in high school so it'd be super weird to see her.

Well I hope that everything gets worked out and things go well!!

This week was really good. On Monday we went to the DaKeng mountains with the elders. It was really cool. The trail is basically ladders and stuff. It's actually really dangerous and we had elders almost slipping to their deaths at multiple times. Hiking in Asia is kind of sketchy. Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys but we got these really cool photos and stuff. It's really pretty up there. But of course I forgot my camera.. Sorry. Scott was a trooper because he took us and was still a little sick. Thanks Scott!!

Yeah this week was pretty boring. The streets just start to have less and less people. It's already hard to contact in Beitun but now there's not going to be anybody in a couple days. Chinese New Year is a BIG deal in Taiwan. So there's going to be lots of eating and then more eating and fireworks. Basically no one will set up with you or want to do anything church related. Everyone is out of town and stuff. It's tough...

On the bright side we saw a miracle this week. We got a sweet referral from the Wuchuan zone leaders. They found a 18 year old guy that was an exchange student in UT. He went to high school at Summit in SLC. He's super cool and his English is really. good. He said Utah was the best place in the world. He wants to go back and live there. He says that he wanted to know more about the LDS church since everyone he met was basically LDS. He's really cool and has a baptismal goal for 2/25. So we could probably get a baptism this transfer. He also is really into MMA. His name is Rollins or his Chinese name is pronounced John. We call him Rollins.

That's pretty much it for this week. Nothing else interesting happened. It was just kind of the same old same old....

I think.... I think.. I'm Asian now

Hello Family!

I haven't taken the money out... I've haven't had time to do that, and I keep forgetting. The bike I'm currently riding is pretty alright. So it's okay.

Things are going alright I guess. We met with Johnny this week and showed him a Mormon Message about a Scientist Astronomer guy that believes in God and his reasons why and stuff. I actually think Johnny really liked it. Surprisingly, I think he's starting to come around and starting to leave his weird alien ways behind. He told us that he's also scared of becoming a Christian.. We're not sure why. He didn't really answer us. But, he's improving! So we're going to keep working with him. We also figured out that he does a TON of magic tricks. Some of them are pretty good. He also has been opening up and actually speaking to us like a normal person, too. I talked to him about Finland.

Jenny has still been in Taibei.. I think I just might refer her to Taibei to be honest.

We've been focusing on trying to find new people as usual.... It's just been super eh.

That's exciting to hear about Sam! Sam will be the next Stephen Colbert. So what does his internship actually entail?

Sorry to hear about Kayleigh. How long as she had this?

What's up with all the mice hahaha! I remember the good old days of listening to the mouse under the stove. I see huge rats here all the time. It's super nasty.

Today for P-Day we're finally going hiking in Dakeng. It should be really pretty if it doesn't rain cold Taiwanese rain.  We hope to see some monkeys.

This week I've learned that I'm slowly becoming Taiwanese. One day we ate at McDonalds and I was just like... "eh... It's McDonalds. It's just alright." Then we ate at a fried rice place and it was sooooo much better. Then I told my companion, "I think.... I think.. I'm Asian now."

I also went on exchanges this week with my old companion Elder Wilkinson. That was pretty fun. We just laughed a lot and talked about the good old times of Beitun and how awful it is. Hahahah!

I've also turned into quite the PT master. I can do a total of 45ish pushups! *smug grin*

Hey Dad, or whoever is in charge. Will somebody get on my FB and accept some friend requests?

My companion told me a story that when he left the MTC and was on the train to the airport, he came across a National Guard Army guy on the train that talked to all of the Mandarin speakers. He himself was a Mandarin speaker and was telling everybody how much the Army would love to have them. He also talked about how missionaries have CRAZY good speaking and listening skills. He also said they are looking for good readers, because that's where they are weak.

Yeah we ate Japanese hot pot last night with the Ohms family. It was super good.

This week was pretty good. I hope you enjoy your long week! I love you all so very much!