Taipei Temple, Working Hard, And More...

Hey, how are y'all doing!

 This week was really cool. Last Wednesday we got to go up to Taipei to the Temple! We woke up really early in the morning and biked over to the stake center, about 30 minutes away. It was pretty cool, I got to meet up with my MTC companion Elder Osbourne and another buddy Elder Lauti and rode up with them in the bus up to the Temple. It was cool to get to talk with them again. Unfortunately, it was raining the whole time so we didn't get to take any pictures. Oh well, next time I guess.

  We've been meeting with a lot of the members of the ward to strengthen relationships with them, and there are a lot of wonderful members here. A few nights ago a member took us to a really fancy restaurant and ordered some pig knuckles for us! Considering all the weird foods I've eaten already, I wasn't nervous in the least to try them out. They were actually really good, but there was a lot of fat that you just had to swallow whole because you couldn't really chew it up. The meat however was very tasty.

 

  We also went to the hospital to visit a guy named C...X...J.... He has cancer and it's really bad, to the point where he can only lie in bed and can't move anything except for his head. He's hooked up to oxygen too because he can't breathe well. He's not looking too good. It's really sad. He's in his early 20s and a really cool guy, he mixes music and raps. He really needs some help so your prayers for him would be really appreciated!

 

The rest of the week we just rode around and around looking for people to teach, without much success. I'm not going to lie, it was a little disheartening doing everything we could without any success for the whole week and a half, but as always the Lord blesses us for our sacrifices. At English class last Wednesday, we met a cool girl named N... that came for the first time, and she seemed fairly interested in meeting with us. We invited her to come to church but she wasn't able to come. She said that she would be able to meet at night though, so last night we met with her. She's been all over the world traveling to Canada, Australia, and Japan. While away, one of her close friends died and that was really hard for her. She was in Tokyo for about a year and ran into the LDS missionaries there and went to their English class for a while. She was really impressed with them and was curious about why she felt so happy whenever she went to their class. She heard about our English class a few days ago and was excited to come back and talk with missionaries again. We had a lesson plan to teach her, but we threw it aside when she just opened up and told us about herself. She had always been wondering if she would see her friends and family again, and she always thought that there was something more than what Taoism taught her. I don't even remember all that we said, just that it really touched her heart and she wants to be baptized. I could tell that she was super prepared and was led to find us. During the lesson I felt the Spirit really guiding me in what to say and I didn't struggle at all to say anything I wanted to say in Chinese. It was a big miracle and it makes the rest of the week's work worth it. As long as I just do my part, however small and ineffective my efforts may seem, the Lord will always be there and will guide others to find us. I feel like everything else I do is just me proving to Him that I'm ready and prepared to help those that he puts in my path. It's really neat how it works like that. And also, good work Eric. All the work that you're doing in Japan helping people from Taiwan is paying off! Keep it up!

 

  Well that's about it this week. Hope you all have a great spring break! I'll enjoy my year and a half long vacation in Taiwan! haha

Love,

Andrew

 

 

Our Apartment in Taichung

 

Looking Outside Our Apartment Window