Brand New Year!

Dear Family,

  Wow a brand new year! I hope everyone had a good New Years! All the pictures from Nepal that you sent me look so pretty. I'm really jealous! I'm glad that you all had a good time and you made it back safely.

  Recently I've noticed tons of miracles happening around us! This week especially. L... DX, an investigator for the past several months who has been really stubborn about putting forth any effort, gave himself a baptismal goal for the 31st of January! His wife has been a member for several months but L... Dx hasn't wanted anything to do with it up until now. I'm not sure what his thoughts are and why he changed his mind, but yesterday at church he came up to us and told us the good news!
 
  Later that day, we went and visited the L... J... (family). L... said that he had been reading the Book of Mormon with his older brother and family and he's even prayed a couple times. He's really showing a lot more interest. Yesterday he agreed to set a date to be baptized on the 7th of February! He's such a cool guy and I'm so excited for him. His older brother was so happy when he agreed to set a date! I know he has a problem with drinking and smoking so I hope that he can continue to have support and develop his faith so that he can overcome those addictions.
 
  We taught D..., and she is still going strong for her date on the 31st. P... wasn't there though cuz he was visiting his family up in Taipei. We had another huge Filipino meal, but this time they had included a little surprise at the end...Baloot! It's an egg that already has the developed bird inside of it, and people actually enjoy eating it!  Our other Filipino investigator wants to treat us to it again!  Luckily I handled eating it a little better than Elder Smith. He already doesn't like eating eggs, so when he ate it, he almost threw up! He was so close to throwing up all over me. Thank goodness he managed to keep it down somehow. Just some words of wisdom; try your best to avoid eating Baloot.
 
  Last pday, we all went down to the beach near Tainan. It wasn't actually the best looking beach, but it was still pretty cool. Elder Rock had brought a kite so we flew it there for a while. Actually we flew it until Elder Rock dropped the string and the kite flew off into the ocean. The cool thing is, the handle floated perfectly on the water and just let the kite fly farther and farther over the ocean. We could still see it flying when we left the beach a good 20 minutes later haha.
 
  I got Dad and Moms package in the mail a few days ago, and I got grandma Kaldahl's Christmas letter this morning in the mail. The fudge and cookies still tasted great! Thanks for them, the tie (it's a pretty sweet tie) and for Dad's journal pages. I enjoy reading them. Could you send some more whenever you decide to send another package over here? Well, that's about all I have this week. Love you lots!
Love,
Andrew
 
 
Statue Of Lin Mo Niang Overlooks Anping Harbor

 
Walking At The Beach



 
Sunset Over Taiwanese Staits
 

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