Taiwan

Dear Everyone,   Another week comes and goes. But it felt like this week was super long because it rained almost every single day! I am really grateful that I'm serving down south though. We have a guy in our ward that is super cool and he's going to serve a mission in Taipei this coming week. He has to pack a ton of rain gear because it rains pretty much every single day up there!! I'm very thankful that it only rained 4 or 5 days this last week.    This week we went on exchanges with the Elders in Fengshan, Elder Ludwig (trainer) and Elder Hatch (trainee). Elder Hatch just got on island the week that I moved here to Ping Dong so he is still getting used to Taiwan and everything here. It was super fun to go on exchanges with him and remember what it was like when I first came to Taiwan; still adjusting to the food, struggling with the language, and doubting my ability to do just about anything. The Lord has helped and blessed me a lot during my time here and I h...

Dear Everyone,   It's been another fantastic week down in Ping Dong!! (Sorry, I really need to think of better ways to start these emails...) Things are starting to pick up! We've been finding a lot of new people to meet with and it's making things a lot more fun! Most of the people we've found are older than 70 so that's pretty fun. I've always known this, but recently I have been reminded many times that old Taiwanese guys love to talk with young foreigners!! They just talk about anything, mostly the history of Taiwan and the invasions from China and Japan.    We met a man that was a captain of a trade boat who had been to 80 or more countries throughout his life. We talked to him on the street a few days before and I just gave him a flyer about our English Class (his English was pretty good), and then he just randomly showed up at the church as we were starting a lesson with our friend X... He had brought his maps that he used as a captain and just w...

Dear Everyone,   This past week was pretty good! It feels like our area is on the rise! We spent the majority of last week trying to get in contact with a lot of people who had met with missionaries before in the past. Last night I called a guy named Diego who is from Columbia and he was super cool. His English and Chinese are both pretty good and several months ago he had met with missionaries, but suddenly had to go back to Columbia to take care of his father and lost contact with the missionaries. When I called him up, he said he had just gotten back about 2 weeks ago, and kept saying over and over that he was so happy that I called him because he has lots of questions to ask us. So we are meeting with him Wednesday so I'm excited.   We've also been meeting with an elderly man named X... He used to be in the Navy, but many years ago was hit by a teenager who was drinking and driving, and he's been crippled ever since. Because he usually doesn't have ...

Dear All,   This last week was a great week! On Thursday we had our Zone Conference, up at my old stake center in Gaoxiong. When I used to serve in Nanzi, Gaoxiong, we would take the MRT (subway) to the stake center just about every week for meetings and such. So going back there this week was fun because I got to see some of the old sites.   The conference and training was really good. We talked about the importance of teaching very clearly each of the three members of the Godhead. Because many people here do not have a clear concept of the true nature of God, it is very important that we help them understand the basics; that God is our Father in Heaven. He is literally our Father, and we are created in the image of Him. And because He loves us, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to come down to the Earth to atone for our sins. And in order to help us learn and recognize these truths, we can feel the Holy Ghost in our minds and hearts. If people here can't unders...