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| At the mountain top Temple |
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| Enjoying some Taiwan Cuisine |
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| Hey, It's Elder Smith! |
Hello everybody!
To start off this letter, I'd first like to congratulate my wonderful brother Elder Anthony Smith on being such a wonderful missionary. He has been such an awesome example to me and I'm proud of his service to the Lord. Thank you for all of your letters, especially Uncle Mike. I've had some of those similar experiences, but the best way to handle those situations is to work through the spirit, and not with contention. Well, another rough week has gone by so lets get on with it.
Last Monday was probably the worst p-days ever. It began by biking to a different area to check out some buddhist temples. The bike ride to one temple wasn't bad, but the actual hike up to it was the worst. Super super steep. After checking out that temple we decided to bike up the rest of the mountain. Wasn't too bad until we hit a point where it was honestly a 45 degree angle, maybe even more than that. Through multiple muscle cramps and several stops, we made it to the top of the mountain in a little over 1 1/2 hours. That is why it was the worst p-day ever. However, the 10 minute bike ride down made up for it. (Mom I want you to think about how fast I was going. A lot faster than all the cars and motorcycles going down :) ) Then we spent the rest of the night meeting and sitting down with our less-active members.
Tuesday, our companionship got a third member. He is a temporary missionary until he goes to the Phillapines MTC before he serves in Taibei. Basically what this means is that I am Assistant Trainer :) Our day started off by going to District Training Meeting where we learned how we can better work with "pei ke's", which are members that come help teach with our investigators. Then we sat down with a family who were golden clear back in August. The dad of the family is very frustrating to work with because he won't pray. Without pray it is impossible to build that relationship with God and to know of the truthfulness of this church.
Wednesday we sat down with such an awesome family. Interesting story though. We ran into this guy and he wouldn't give us his info, but said he would call us when he wanted to meet. Well he called and we sat down with him and he told us his family situation. This guy, his son, and his daughter-in-law all want to be Christian. However, their mom wants them all the be Buddhist and "bai bai" (worship) so there has been this huge conflict between the family. Well the dad of this family has read and heard a little bit about our church and wants to know more about us, but he doesn't want his wife to know. Since she doesn't speak English and the rest of them do, he wanted us to teach in English (which by the way is like impossible for me right now). We taught them about how we can be with our families together forever, and it all starts with basic things, all the info about the Restoration. He truly loved the idea about prayer and how we can talk with God. He also loved how if he reads the Book of Mormon and prays, he can receive an answer from God. Absolutely loved it!
Thursday we sat down with one of our investigators who was given a baptismal goal for the 26th, but since he didn't come to church this past week his goal drops. However, he is still willing to do the things he needs to in order to be baptized: read, pray, and come to church.
Not much else happened this past week besides visiting some less-actives, and strengthening our recent converts.
I truly hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, which I know you will cause Anthony will be there. I'm grateful for all of your prayers and I absolutely love Taiwan and the Taiwanese people. I love you all! Be safe, especially through this upcoming winter.
Love, Elder Smith
p.s. Take lots of pictures when Anthony comes off the plane, when he gets released, Thanksgiving day, his first Sunday in America, etc... Take LOTS OF PICTURES :) Thanks!
p.s.s. my companion got hit by a scooter as we was cruising through an intersection. hit the scooter and did a full front flip over their scooter. landed on his back with no damage done to him, only his bike.. so yeah :)
