Transfer 9 - Week 2

This week was wonderful! We found a bunch of new investigators and a bunch of less actives came back to church! The other night we had been contacting for I think about 2 hours with no success and were on our way back home when we saw a lady sitting on her scooter on the side of the road so we biked over to her and started chatting with her. 

She was waiting for her Mom and her Mom then came and all of us started talking. They were very excited to meet us and hardly before we had even introduced ourselves they said they wanted to have dinner with us and meet with us! We were so excited after hours of contacting to finally talk to someone willing but, however, we found out that they live in another area so we won't be able to teach them... but they are still willing to meet with missionaries so I think it's pretty cool. 

The other investigators we found are all pretty awesome though and set baptismal dates and are willing to try it out! A lot of less actives came back to church too! It seems our work is starting to pay off! It was a very good week and we're excited for the next. 

Also, happy birthday to Kael! 

On Saturday we went to the Dentist for my companion and while we were waiting we thought we'd head out to the balcony for a bro pic. Bruce, our investigator, is the man. 

Transfer 9 - Week 1

It was a great week! Three less active members came back to church! We also found an awesome new investigator up in Daxi! (The city where you have to bike up a hill to get there...) He's great! After we found him, we set up another appointment in a park because we wanted to walk with him around the park while teaching instead of meeting in the church like usual. Figured, if it worked for Steve Jobs in his meetings with business partners, it should work for us too. At the beginning of the stroll we just chatted but church inevitably came into the conversation and he then told us that he had been baptized already in another church. 

We taught him the Restoration and he said, "I feel different. What you said and how I feel is different than the other churches I've been to." He's great! He's also a potter so he's that much better! In District Meeting, an Elder slapped another Elder with a Book of Mormon, a few nights ago we knocked into a house with a bunch of girls and they were so excited to see foreigners that they must have taken about 30 photos with us, yesterday
Yesterday, I ate some ramen and then threw it up and while cleaning a member's extremely dirty house, I almost stabbed myself with an old syringe that was lying under some of his old things. An eventful week! Very excited, as always, for the upcoming one! 

This guy is the MAN! 

Transfer 8 - Week 6

Last week of the transfer! Fastest transfer I've ever had for sure. Last night we had a pretty cool experience. We were in a another part of our area, another city that no one goes to because it takes forever to bike there, and we didn't have a map so we decided to just pick a random road off our less active list and hope that we run into it. Surely enough, after about 5 minutes of biking randomly through the city, we ran into the street we picked. While the less active people living there had moved away, the other houses knocked yielded 2 new investigators! 

Gonna meet them this week! Normally, we would have just bought a map from a nearby store but it was Sunday so luckily we were guided anyway! We've recently been working with the Xu Family, a less active family. We've been trying to get the Dad to come to church and get active, pay tithing, etc, in order to allow him to baptize his son who just turned 8. He works on Sunday most of the time so it has been hard to get him coming to church consistently. My companion and I are very excited for this coming transfer and have made commitments to more fully dedicate ourselves to the work. 

We feel going to the other city, Daxi, will bring the results we've been looking for. After all, God rewards the diligent worker! (Takes 25 minutes to bike to Daxi and 45 minutes back up the hill) Hope you all had a great new year! 

For some reason I look like a fat giant... Our awesome investigator Bruce

 One of the members here is quite the eccentric type and had us take like 10 photos with his calligraphy pieces. Brother Fu. He's great

A crazy caterpillar thing. 

Our beloved Brother Fu. 

Transfer 8 - Week 5

I can't believe the last week of the transfer is starting! This transfer I think is the fastest one I've ever had. Christmas was great! We spent most of the day at the church eating pizza, playing ping pong and watching church movies. At night we went over to see a baptism! On Thursday (Wednesday in the U.S.) I was able to call home and say hello to my family! They're wonderful as always. Last week we were able to meet with one of our investigators,Dess, who is actually from the Philippines and has been living in Taiwan for about 3 and a half years. 

During her time here, she has not had a single day off and spends all her time with an old Taiwanese grandma who doesn't speak any Chinese, but Taiwanese, the native language of Taiwan, making it impossible for Dess to really communicate with her! She stays inside all day and says she goes outside only on rare occasions. Despite all of this, Dess is awesome! She's always in a good mood and is very receptive to the Gospel! Turns out her brother over in the Philippines has coincidentally just been contacted by missionaries as well and is learning from them over there. Dess has a goal to get baptized in the Philippines, maybe even with her brother, when she returns in April. It's awesome to teach her! The last time we went to teach her we were talking about gratitude and she said,"It is such a blessing in my life for you to come here." Needless to say I got all teared up but managed to hide it pretty well. 

Transfer meeting this week so Elder Nasman might split up but we think we'll stay another transfer together. Guess we'll see! Hope you all had a great Christmas! Happy New Year! 

Transfer 8 - Week 4

This email is going to be short. Merry Christmas! 

This year of Christmas, what shall we give? A few days ago we went caroling with some members of the ward and it was great! In the middle of one of our songs, a girl in the choir threw up all over the floor and the rest of us in the choir were a bit confused as to if we should continue to sing or not. We kept singing. My companion and I had a good laugh about it afterwards returning home. 

Luckily the lady who threw up is one of those loud, rambunctious types so she wasn't embarrassed or anything. All the missionaries went to Taipei yesterday for a big conference where we got some training, had a wonderful Christmas lunch and then had a talent show! It's been a memorable Christmas. Today my companion and I are probably just staying home and might go watch 17 Miracles at the church. It's going to be wonderful. Well I love you all. 

Merry Christmas :)

Monster grasshopper!!! That's my foot and my gorgeous rain pants that I wear. 

Part of our area in another city called Da Xi. A new rule in the mission is we have to wear those reflective band things while riding... They're lovely.