Transfer 8 - Week 1

Hello! This last week was my first full week in Bade, my new area with my new companion, Elder Nasman. It was wonderful! We visited many members and many were gracious enough to feed us! We even got fed on Thanksgiving! Though at the time I didn't realize it was Thanksgiving, the dumplings were just as good! 

Currently, we have only 1 progressing investigator so we have some work to do. We have many members willing to help us, but the main problem is not having any investigators to be helped out with. We want to go down to another city called YingGe, which is about a 20 minute bike ride east of our area and this city is actually famous for pottery so there are many tourists. We went there last night to contact and familiarize ourselves with the area and it's actually a beautiful little town. The road with all of the pottery shops lined on it is very charming, I'll have to get some pictures for you all next week. We want to focus on YingGe because no one ever goes there, because it's kind of out of the way and riding back is uphill. Also our area has 2 sets of Elders so one of us can unofficially be "YingGe Elders" and the other set can stick with Bade. But we figure we're kind of building up our area right now so why not go there and see what hidden treasures lie in wait! The weather has gotten surprisingly cold lately and biking at night will become a memorable experience. 

Thinking of investing in a thicker jacket, but also not wanting to take away from the memorability of my future memories. I'll probably go with the thicker jacket. Things are going well and I'm quite content with everything right now. Excited to get things going around here. Met someone in a park a few days ago playing basketball. Asked him if I made a 3 pointer, he would listen to us. I then shot and airballed big time. Or as my dad would say "Air Monster". Realized my basketball skills have become rather offensive. Asked if he would listen anyway and he said yes. Taught him about the Book of Mormon and he said he would check it out. We'll see if we can't get in touch with him. 

Thank you for all of the prayers! Have a wonderful Christmas season! 

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Me and a couple of my other investigators before I left! Lyndon on the left and a new investigator, Brother Lu on the right. (New investigator, second time meeting him. Gospel hasn't quite changed him yet thus the no smile haha) 

Cleaning our apartment and Elder Lackey found an old rain jacket's hood. I was wearing a cowboy hat while taking this picture. 

Went to the temple Saturday for a tour with an investigator and JJ came with us! She's an RC and she's awesome. Super hipster. 

Transfer 7 - Week 6

Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!! I MOVED!! I am now in Bade, Taoyuan. It's a few cities south of my last area Xinzhuang so it's still pretty close though this area is a little more countryside and I really like it. The air is cleaner and there's some rice fields :) My new companion is Elder Nasman, from Finland and he just got finished being trained so it'll be fun to work with him. We already get along really well and it's going to be a super great transfer. We also have two other Elders in our same apartment so it's pretty fun stuff. One of the other new Elders was actually in my last District, Elder Weng, so it's nice that we could come together. It's going to be super fun! Actually two days ago one of their investigators got baptized, my 2nd day in the area and it turned out they hadn't really set up much of it so that was a little hectic as I was trying to figure out who to call, where the chapel is and how to start the water heater in the chapel for the baptismal water, etc. It's already been an adventure for sure haha. Super excited to be here in Bade. 

We were able to find a couple new investigators since I've been here so that's been awesome. They both seem really good. We definitely have a lot of building up to do investigators wise. Time to hit the streets! 

Love you all and hope Thanksgiving is wonderful! I'm so thankful for all of your support and love!  

One of my long time investigators in Xinzhuang. Miss this guy! 

The Xinzhuang chapel! And some cats in the bottom left that are always hanging out by the church.

Me and a couple of my other investigators before I left! Lyndon on the left and a new investigator, Brother Lu on the right. (New investigator, second time meeting him. Gospel hasn't quite changed him yet thus the no smile haha) 

Transfer 7 - Week 5

A few things that happened this week. First is we met some crazy lady that Elder Leo is convinced is some sort of witch haha. She ran into one of our members on the street saying she's looking for a church, but doesn't speak any Chinese so he called us and we met up with her the next day. So we meet her and she's Asian, she looks the same as everyone else, so when she came up to us asking if we're the missionaries in slightly broken, Southern accent English, I was completely caught off guard! I asked her what her mother tongue and when she said English I was again surprised because her English wasn't very good... Anyways we meet her and she starts rambling on about some pretty random crazy stuff, such as something she calls "Spiritual Socialism" saying we are all one soul and there is no male or female or something. I was completely fascinated by this lady and still trying to figure out what she's all about. I understood every word she said but failed to get any meaning out of it. We taught her about the Restoration and the lesson wasn't too bad. Luckily, because she's an English speaker, she'll go as a referral to the English ward over in Taipei. Why Elder Leo thought she was a witch, I don't know. But she was definitely an interesting person. 

Second is one of our good friends, a less active church member, Maxwell took us out to a super nice restaurant because we told him one of us will be moving this coming Friday. Oh right this is the last week of the transfer and so Elder Leo and I will be getting new companions Friday! But Maxwell took us to a 5 course meal!! He's a boss. Currently with our investigators, everyone's baptismal date is on Christmas. We want to have a white Christmas!!!!!! So we'll see what happens there, pretty excited. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Henry last P-Day! That's a mini little art exhibit in Danshui, north Taiwan, behind us.

dinner! Caprese!! My favorite!! 

Us and Maxwell at the restaurant! Super good!!! Man my eyes! Guess I'm turning Asian! 

Transfer 7 - Week 4

Hit my 1 year mark last week! Crazy. Some other crazy things that happened are we found a new investigator who went to Oxford and his wife is a member from Tonga and they have 4 kids! They live up on the mountain in Linkou so we biked up there (death every time) and met with them a few days ago. We discussed with him about God, touched upon the subjects of evolution, the big bang theory and even Christ in general and Richard Dawkin's view on the subject. We talked about a lot of things and the whole thing was actually pretty nice to switch up from the normal lesson of teaching someone how to pray (most people here don't know how to pray because they all have Buddhist background) though teaching someone how to pray is good too. So we had a rather intellectual stimulating discussion about it all and at the end we simply said our message is spiritual and so the only way to really find out is a spiritual one so that starts with prayer. He was a little hesitant but we feel in time he'll be willing to try it out. 

Things are going well in Xinzhuang and Elder Leo and I only have about a week and a half left together. So sad! Excited for this coming week and hope all of you have a great week too! Love you all.

Elder Hagedorn

Transfer 7 - Week 3

Hello good people! Don't know if any of you heard but there was an earthquake in Taiwan a few days ago! It was actually pretty awesome! And then it was scary as it got bigger but then it stopped so it was awesome again haha. At the time we were teaching someone at their house on the fifth floor so when the earthquake came, the whole building was swaying a little bit and it was just like in the movie, where all the little things on the shelves are shaking around you know? The first second it was just a tiny little shake, hardly noticeable, but then after a couple seconds it got to be pretty powerful and then for a second in my head, I was like,"See ya Elder Leo I'm outta here!" Haha but luckily it only lasted a few seconds.

The other night we were out contacting on the street and we ran into some guy at a stoplight so we get him to pullover on his scooter and start talking to him and he says he's interested about religion and why we're different from other Christians and stuff so we tell him we don't have much time right now because we have an appointment, but come to church on Sunday and you can learn more. So he says ok and then yesterday he came! A miracle! He said he really liked church and whenever I looked over at him he'd be attentively paying attention and he also said he wants to come back next week too! It was very cool to follow the promptings of the Spirit while we were contacting and talk to him by getting him to pullover. 

We have another investigator, Lin Jian Hong, or Henry, who really wants to get baptized, but because he is going to dangbing(Taiwanese army, Every young man has to serve for a certain period of time) he won't get weekends off until a few weeks go by so his baptism will most likely be postponed until he can come to church regularly. I hit my year mark this week and it's pretty crazy! Also my nephew is getting surgery so pray for him! Love you Sammy! 

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Transfer 7 - Week 2

This week was good! The weather is cooling down and in the mornings it's actually almost cold! At least to the Taiwanese people haha. Most people now are wearing jackets, but my companion and I, being the audacious and rambunctious young missionaries we are, are still rocking the short sleeves. 

Two days ago, Brother Lin got baptized! It was a good service and afterwards we all headed to the kitchen to eat some grub. It was nice for him to be able to meet and converse with more of the ward members in a relaxed setting. The food wasn't bad either haha. Don't know if any of you remember Linkou, but we finally went up there for the first time in a while! It was Elder Leo's first time biking up the hill so you know he had a good time. Takes about 30 minutes to bike up the hill if you don't stop so it's a pretty good climb. Upon getting to the top, we were able to meet with a former investigator in his home and he's a cool guy! We hope to continue to meet with him and hopefully get him to come to church this coming week!

I really apologize that my weekly updates are rather bland but I simply can't think of much to say. I'm doing well and hope everything is going well for you all too! Love you!

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Where we went last P-Day! 

Brother Lin's baptism! 

Some of the people who attended his baptism! 

Transfer 7 - Week 3

Hello good people! 

Don't know if any of you heard but there was an earthquake in Taiwan a few days ago! It was actually pretty awesome! And then it was scary as it got bigger but then it stopped so it was awesome again haha. At the time we were teaching someone at their house on the fifth floor so when the earthquake came, the whole building was swaying a little bit and it was just like in the movie, where all the little things on the shelves are shaking around you know? The first second it was just a tiny little shake, hardly noticeable, but then after a couple seconds it got to be pretty powerful and then for a second in my head, I was like,"See ya Elder Leo I'm outta here!" Haha but luckily it only lasted a few seconds.

The other night we were out contacting on the street and we ran into some guy at a stoplight so we get him to pullover on his scooter and start talking to him and he says he's interested about religion and why we're different from other Christians and stuff so we tell him we don't have much time right now because we have an appointment, but come to church on Sunday and you can learn more. So he says ok and then yesterday he came! A miracle! He said he really liked church and whenever I looked over at him he'd be attentively paying attention and he also said he wants to come back next week too! It was very cool to follow the promptings of the Spirit while we were contacting and talk to him by getting him to pullover. 

We have another investigator, Lin Jian Hong, or Henry, who really wants to get baptized, but because he is going to dangbing(Taiwanese army, Every young man has to serve for a certain period of time) he won't get weekends off until a few weeks go by so his baptism will most likely be postponed until he can come to church regularly. I hit my year mark this week and it's pretty crazy! Also my nephew is getting surgery so pray for him! 

Love you Sammy! 

Love,

Elder Hagedorn

Found this wee little guy last P-Day at Shifen! I really liked him. Hehe

Made a little lantern thing last P-Day! Like in Tangled! Man using a brush to write characters is hard!!