Transfer 12 - Week 5

I can't believe this transfer is almost over! They are just getting faster and faster. My companion, Elder Deal goes home this Saturday and I will be getting a new companion on Friday at Transfer Meeting. Pretty insane. This past week was pretty cool because we were able to get two less actives to church! It's always hard to get people to come to church because it's so far away from where they actually live so you know when someone comes to church they actually have some real interest and are willing to meet with us, read the Book of Mormon, etc. Random Weather Update: The weather is actually fairly cool up here in Linkou and I'm so happy that I'm here for the summer! Every once in a while, for meetings and church we go down to Taoyuan and it so hot and crowded down there! I don't know how I ever was able to do that! So yes, all is well in Linkou ;) This week we were able to fun into a few high school students and teach them a bit about God. To be brutally honest, I'm still not sure if they are interested in God or just two cool foreigners who speak some mean Chinese but regardless, we're going to meet with them again and lay down the law! If they're not interested, it's still ok because at least we gave them some good impressions, not to mention their killer instagram photo with foreigners that I noticed one was posting after snapping a photo with us. (happens a lot actually.)

We just got back from lunch with our wonderful Ward Mission Leader who treated us to some delicious hot pot! Brother Lu is a boss. This week I'll be sending off my companion, he officially having bled out by that time. I always wanted to "kill" someone.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad!! So thankful that my Dad has always been there for me and I'm so excited for when I get home so him and I can eat a steak together while watching the game and reminiscing about our Taiwan missions. Love you Dad!

Transfer 12 - Week 4

Overall, it was a good week! We had two investigators come to church! It's been really cool to see people actually coming to church! Because our area is new and on top of a mountain, 30 minutes away from church, not a lot of people have come! I think we're slowly getting this area going and still just trying to find those people that are ready for the Gospel. I've been reading in the Old Testament, in Chronicles area, and it's tough! The other parts of the Old Testament seem a bit more colored and have a lot of meaning behind the text but I'm having a hard time reading this section. 

However, I guess this is just reinforcing the principle of "Add oil" as the Taiwanese here love to say. So I'm plowing through it and very excited to get to Proverbs, Isaiah and those guys. Today we're actually going to an Adventure Time exhibition in Taipei and I'm so excited!! Adventure Time is an awesome, ridiculous cartoon show and yes, I like it a lot. The other day while we were contacting, we could not seem to be able to talk to anyone! (It was raining too) So we stopped for a second and thought. We decided on an ice cream from Mickey D's to get the flames going and what do you know, we ran into a really nice couple! I think it was the ice cream, giving us an innocent, harmless look. Their name is Kang and they were super curious as to what we're doing, how we can speak Chinese, etc. We chatted with them and lightly turned it towards the spiritual (always takes that inevitable turn) and they were actually sincerely interested so we taught a little bit about God and Christ and they set up to meet with us again! We'll see them in a few days and we're pretty excited about them! I myself am doing well and Sean actually emailed me saying that I have less than 6 months now! Pretty insane. 

Time has really flown by and it's just gotten faster and faster the longer I've been out but I think it'll be a good last sprint! Love you all!

Transfer 12 - Week 3

Hello everyone! This past week has gone by pretty well! First, our sink broke, but that isn't really anything new for me anymore so we got that fixed and now all that's left is a strange smell by the sink and that we're still waiting for to dissipate. Second, we don't teach English Class anymore! I guess they decided that we are too far away from the nearest chapel for it to be an effectice use of time and we also have a good amount of missionaries in Taoyuan so there are plenty of missionaries able to teach. Third, we found a cool new investigator! 

His name is Brother Chen and we contacted him the other day on the street. (I still marvel that somehow missionaries can just talk to random people on the street and can teach them and bring them to church. Miracle in itself.) We taught him a basic first and it seemed to really click with him, enough that he set up with us this week anyway! We want to go over the Book of Mormon this next time and really are hoping that something can click again with him and he can start to read and understand its content and importance. Today for P-Day we traveled down to Longtan (translation: Dragon Pool. 

Coolest city name ever.) to see some Dragon Boat Festival stuff going on. We watched a few dragon boat races in the lake in the middle of the city (hence the name of the place) and then ate some little treats and ice cream at stands scattered throughout on the paths by the lake. It was pretty fun! This week should be pretty good though! We'll be meeting with Brother Chen and the awesome G-ma we met the other week too! Those are the notables of the week! Love you all! Happy Dragon Boat Festival! 

Transfer 12 - Week 2

Hello everyone, this last week was really good! As I wrote last week, my companion Elder Deal got pretty sick last Sunday so he was out for a good few days. 

For some reason, I've been getting a lot of sick companions but he's better now so it's all good! We were contacting the other day and we met a really cool old lady, Zeng Ama (Grandma Zeng) and she was probably the coolest old lady I've ever met. She's like 70 but she looks about 50 and she was wearing some groovy pants covered all over with a flower pattern. So we started talking to her and she was really interested in our free English class so we talked to her about that for a minute and then told her we are actually teaching about Jesus Christ too and asked if we could meet with her another time (she was in a hurry) and talk about it to which she said, "Sure, how about tomorrow in my apartment's lobby?" So we met with her the next day and at first, she didn't seem too interested, but we just kept teaching and once we started teaching the "1st lesson" (Joseph Smith and the Restoration) she really liked it, had many questions and said at the end that it made it all clear for her. She didn't accept a baptismal date but she still wants to meet with us this week and we're going to teach her about the Book of Mormon. I'll have to get a picture with her, she's the coolest G-ma ever! 

So ya highlight of the week was talking to this super cool lady. Oh and we're also going to start setting up some service at the hospital over here this week so that'll be cool to start volunteering at the hospital. It'll be a good week! And shout out to my sister Heather! Happy Birthday! Oh I guess I should say Heather, M.D. Congratulations! 

Transfer 12 - Week 1

First week in the new area and it was good! This Saturday we actually went back to Bade so I could baptize my old investigator Sister Chen Hui Jin! Whoo! After 3 years she's finally made it into the water! It was definitely nice to go back there, do the deed and then even grab some pizza with her and some members afterwards! Here in Linkou we've been able to find a few less actives to meet with that were very happy to get our call! So we ate some Subway and talked about the Gospel over sandwiches. Man that sandwich tasted like America. Turns out one of the guys also has a girlfriend whom is also a member so we're hoping we can maybe meet with both of them this week or the next. 

Apparently she also cuts hair and the guy, Brother Wang, said she could hook us up and cut our hair! Cha Ching! We were also able to find a couple investigators and one of them actually went to church! Except we weren't there because my companion and I were in the hospital... His tonsils haven't been in the best shape recently. He has tonsilitis and because his tonsils have been dripping some sort of fluid/phlegm stuff down his throat, he also has bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection (basically the same thing I guess) so Sunday morning we went over to the hospital across the street and spent about 4 hours waiting in lines at the emergency room. A little ironic. He's doing fine now that he has antibiotics so after a little rest he should be up and running! Looking forward to a good week! 

Transfer 11 - Week 6

Well, I moved! I've got a new companion, Elder Deal, he's from Alabama and we get along really well! It's been really nice to be able to speak English, so my English will probably be a bit more bearable. Actually, looking back, that was probably why my emails in Daxi were so short! Anything English was just weird haha. Before I left my last area, however, I was able to say goodbye to Zhang Da Quan, the Mariah Carey loving investigator who was really cool and interested in the Book of Mormon, so hopefully I can stay updated with him! So right now I'm in Linkou!!! 

If you remember, while I was in Xinzhuang, we'd bike up the "Linkou Hill" to come up here and do some missionary work. Well now we just opened a new area here! So this is the second time opening up for me but I'm happy to say that our apartment already has a washer! It's pretty cool to come back because I always thought it would be cool to come and be the "Linkou Elders". It was funny, it was actually my first day in the area last Friday so we went out contacting and walking down the street, I saw someone that looked familiar so I went up and started talking to him saying that I had seen him before. And he was like ya! You talked to me a year ago, you were that one missionary! So that was pretty crazy to run into this guy randomly, though he still wasn't really interested in anything with the Gospel. I told him if I run into him one more time, for the third time, he would have to come to church to which he said he would haha. So this area is actually pretty similar to my last area, Daxi, in that it is on top of a mountain, we have like 1 active member in the area, and it's about half an hour to the nearest church. So it's going to be tough just like Daxi was but it should be good! 

We've already got a few set ups with less actives and some new investigators so it's been a good start! Want to give a shout out to my wonderful mother and for all she does for me! I love you Mom! Call you on Skype soon  :)

My new thing. Making mini Margherita pizzas on toast, delicious!

So my companion has this "eye massager" thingy so we tried it out. The part that rests on your eyes is a bit dirty so we used a shirt to cover our eyes and this was the result. The massage was nothing special. I can't see through that by the way

Transfer 11 - Week 5

Hello good chaps, you remember the homosexual oriented Mariah Carey loving investigator? Well, he's awesome! We met with him a few days ago and about 10 minutes before we're scheduled to meet, he calls us and asks if he can bring two friends to which we say of course! So we met with all three, basically re-teaching the first lesson and it went really well. One of the friends is atheist and the other is a Catholic, though both were very curious to our church and why it's different, etc. So it was a good lesson and by the end of it we gave them some BOM's and invited them to read it to which they said they would. Sunday night we put together a little Book of Mormon "Trailer" performance for our ward's viewing pleasure. Basically what we did is pick out some stories from the Book of Mormon and then acted them out one after another rapidly so it was a sort of "trailer". It was pretty fun! The kids especially liked it. 

This week is transfer meeting so this Wednesday night we'll figure out if anyone is moving so I'll let you know what happens next Monday, if I'm in the same place, if I have a new companion, etc. Also, one of my good missionary buddies in my district Elder Allred is going home this Saturday! Oh and I forgot to mention that my trainer, Elder Kaluhiokalani and my 2nd companion, Elder Beck, went home last transfer! And the Sisters that started their mission the same time as me are going home this Saturday as well. I'm getting a bit older in terms of missionary transfers but it's ok because being a sappy old missionary, I'm told, is a good thing.

Me wearing Elder Gao's polar bear tie on Daxi bridge.

Transfer 11 - Week 4

This week was good! We found our first progressing investigator in a long time! Take that opposition! And yes the homosexual guy and the progressing investigator are one and the same. He, however, is really good! We taught him the first lesson a few days ago and he had many questions about the Book of Mormon, what's in it, what's the doctrine, why different than the Bible, etc. At one point we had answered many questions and realized that we hadn't even shared an actual scripture from the book itself so I shared one of my favorites, Alma 18:32, and told him that this scripture, through one of the book's prophets, Ammon, helps us understand God's relationship with us and answers some of man's fundamental questions. He seemed to catch on to that well and told us he would start reading the book! We're set up to meet with him tomorrow night and I'm excited! It's been so long since I've had a real progressing and interested investigator! Another cool thing is that a member called us the other day and said his Less active uncle wants to treat us to dinner out of the blue! It seems things are starting to slowly pick up here in Daxi. 

My old companion/first-born son, Elder Morgan. This was in Taipei at a super nice buffet after the temple. (I still like buffets. Yep.)