Rope Lashings, And Clean Teeth...

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 a lot of visitors, he loves to talk and it's hard to say much. But after one of his long rants about China and Japan, he suddenly stopped and said, I really want to read the scriptures! So we read a little with him, and he said that the Book of Mormon was very well written and that he wanted to continue to read it. We were obviously excited to hear that so we're going to continue going over and read with him!

  Every week for an hour or two we usually go to help provide service for a single lady in our ward. She is really nice, and needs help with her vegetable garden. We've been helping her to construct a bamboo shelter that she can use. Last week she tried to use little zip-ties to lash the bamboo poles together, but it didn't work at all. Luckily I still remembered how to tie some knots from my boy scout days, so I helped her to lash all the poles together to make the shelter. I was impressed that I still remembered, and the lady and my companion were completely shocked that I knew how to do something like that haha. I guess Boy Scouts paid off after all. 

  During the last big Zone Conference that we had a few weeks ago, they mentioned that going to see the dentist here was super cheap, like $200 Taiwanese ($6 American). I was really shocked to hear that, because I thought that they didn't want us to use our Health Insurance cards for stuff that wasn't an emergency. But they actually recommended that we go and take advantage of it. So last pday that's exactly what I did! I went to the dentist and they did a full check up and cleaning. I thought that after almost two years of not going to the dentist that my teeth would have tons of cavities, but to my surprise, I only had one and he just took care of it right then and there!! So don't worry mom, you can still schedule a dentist appointment, but hopefully my teeth will all be good anyways!

  Oh also, the leaders in our ward here are super awesome. So last week, the Sister Missionaries in our ward met a man at a homeless shelter who said he loved Christianity and wanted to come to church. He had no way to come because he has no car and has a crippled leg, so the Bishop drove over and brought him to church. The man's name is C... and he is a very humble guy who seems to sincerely want to pick up his life. He also really likes to sing haha. After church, the Bishop talked with me and said that they were going to look for employment opportunities for him and try to do all they could to help him get back on his feet. I was really touched at how fast the Bishop was to help out even though he is probably so busy. We're meeting with Brother C... tonight.

  Well that's about it. Today for pday, we just have to buy a bunch of bedding and food to give to the Elders who come to our apartment when we do exchanges...fun! Afterwards we will probably just go to the apartment and sleep...I'm super tired haha.

  I hope you guys all have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Stevens

We Love Zone Conference