April 16, 2012

Hello family! First full week and i am alive and kickin! Taiwan is the greatest. It is probably really nice having Dad working so close now. Tell Blake i am proud of him! He must be the best soccer player i know. I can not wait to see the Gilbert temple! Send me a picture! Tell Rachelle and Natalie thanks for taking care of my momma! Love them! Let Kalvin know there is a letter on the way for him, and surprisingly enough there is hardly ever a time when you see someone riding a scooter without a helmet here, i think it might be a law or something. Dustin got a new motorcycle? Tell him to send me a picture! This week i saw quite a few miracles! This truly is the work of the Lord.

 

Last monday night we were riding our bikes, it was getting a little late and there was a man walking across the street in front of us so we stopped and to talked to him. Turns out he was baptized about a year ago but is too embarrased to come to church because he has been smoking lately. The first thing he did when we started talking to him was ask if we had a Book of Mormon on us that he could have, and of course we did! He wanted to buy us dinner but we told him we had already eaten. He told us he has been sleeping at the internet cafe nearby because he doesn't have a home right now. Despite his circumstances he continued to ask if he could buy us dinner! I was very humbled by his willingness to help where ever he can.

 

On wednesday we had english class which is so great! I got to teach the advanced class so i talked in english pretty much the whole time it was weird to speak so much english to taiwanese people! 

 

The next day we had a lesson with brother Deng who i think i talked about last week a little bit. We talked more about the restoration, and as i was quoting the first vision i got to the part "I saw two personages", and he suddenly interrupted me and says no you got it wrong he just saw one person! My companion and I looked at eachother slightly perplexed and brother Deng continued oh yeah and he was in his bedroom not in a grove of trees. Finally we realized he was talking about Moroni, and we explained to him that those were two different experiences. He had read in the intro to the Book of Mormon about Moroni, it was a funny experiences. We then talked about baptism, what it means and how to do it. He seemed to just understand, and we set a baptismal date for may 12th! I am excied to watch him as he changes his life to follow the Lord. Our lesson was at Seven eleven again and he bought us sodas again, what an awesome guy!

 

Friday the thirteenth was a fantastic day, despite it having the reputation of being unlucky! We met with brother Chen, who had met with the missionaries about two months ago and has not met with them since because he has been busy. We called him up to see how he was doing and set up an appointment! We went into the lesson thinking we would review the first lesson, the restoration, since it had been awhile since he had met with the missioanries. We started talking about how God is our loving heavenly father, and we said that because he loves us he provided a way to return to live with him again. After that brother Chen asks us well how do we do it then? And we told him the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then he asks well what is that? Our lesson totally switched tracks and we started talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. The whole time we were teaching he was furiously taking notes. When we got to the gift of the holy ghost part he says so...when can i get baptized! My companion and I were startled! He proceeded to pretty much set up his own baptismal time and everything on may 12th! The Lord really is preparing people all over the place to accept his gospel, we just need to find them!

 

Well i am about out of time. Hope all is well at home! I love you all and miss you much! Mom if the family, bishop, or stake president has an address change please tell me. Kind of random i know but president Bishop needs to know if that happens. Next package you send me throw a picture of the whole family in there please! Nothing urgent, just next time you send a letter or something. I am so grateful for all of you! Jesus Christ lives! His church is growing everyday and there is so much work to be done but the laborers are few! We need your help! Love you all so much. Talk to you next week.