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.) 

Transfer 11 - Week 3

Hey everyone sorry I forgot to say last week that I would be having Temple Day! So this morning we went to Taipei to go to the temple and had to wake up at 5:30AM 

to get there on time... Daxi is a little farther away. This last week was really good! We were contacting the other night in some back streets and ran into a really cool college kid! We started talking to him about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and our doctrine because he's actually Presbyterian and was curious as to what our church does differently, etc. We got talking more and he asked what our churches stance was on homosexuality somewhat out of the blue and that got me a little suspicious of his... sexual tendencies. A little further on in the conversation we were chatting about music and he told us how much he loves Mariah Carey. That pretty much confirmed it for me that he's gay but he's a really cool guy and he's definitely going to "stick". We also ran into some random white guys (very rare in Daxi) and they were genuinely interested in what we were doing so we started talking to them through their car window about our church and they were flabbergasted, particularly towards the don't drink coffee, tea and not have sexual relationships before marriage parts but they said we were pretty cool as well as crazy for following it and coming out to Taiwan to be a missionary. We happened to have an English Book of Mormon on us to we gave it to them and they were actually excitedly joking around that they would read a few chapters as a bedtime story. They actually live in Taoyuan but it was pretty cool to finally teach someone in English! I don't have much time to email because our English class literally starts in thirty minutes! 

Love you all! Happy Easter! 

One of my old investigators, Dess! She finally went back to the Philippines after 3 years of working in Taiwan! She's going back and getting baptized! 

Transfer 11 - Week 2

This week we were able to watch General Conference and it was great! For Saturday's conference, we spent the whole day in Taoyuan at the stake center watching it so the bus ride back we had about an hour or so. I talked to the guy I was sitting next to and after getting to know him a bit, turns out he's Christian! I chatted with him about church and slowly got to the Book of Mormon. By that time, an hour had already passed and I didn't even realize so right when I had given him the Book of Mormon we had arrived at our stop. I told him it could change his life and sped walk off the bus so the bus driver didn't keep going! I got his number and information and he actually asked for my Facebook so it was definitely a miracle! He says he lives up in the mountains of Daxi so he's our first investigator that lives there! 

Daxi has 4 parts. The main, small city (a few streets), a whole bunch of farmland with small houses here and there (a very big area) which surrounds the city, mountains on one side of the city that is very hard to bike up and is pretty far from the city (where he lives) and then another area super far away called Fuxing, which by bike, is practically inaccessible, requiring 2-3 hours of biking from what people have said. So we're pretty excited about this guy, Wu Bo En, or his English name is Samuel. Never been up in the mountains before so hopefully it will lead us to not only him but maybe a whole bunch of new people! 

Woke up this morning and Elder Gao's kidney stones were acting up again so hopefully it's just a temporary thing... Looking forward to the week! 

Love you all! 

First picture a little blurry but I'm sending it because it captured my shoes. Look at those beautiful bad boys! 

Elder Gao and I after Conference!