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| Check out these flip flops (ha ha) |
Dear family and friends,
How is everything going for you all? Life is going pretty well here for me and my companion. The weather is beautiful, the sky is blue, its literally 'forever spring' here, and life as a missionary couldn't get any better. April is almost completed which is unreal to me. In the words of one of my previous companions, "Time flies by on wings of lightning" --高長老. Well, not much else so lets go on with this past week.
First of all,辛苦我們! To be honest, English does not have a good translation for that. To put it basic terms, this week was rough. Thursday was an awesome day to have Zone Conference. We of course had to take the super comfortable bus ride up to GaoXiong to enjoy this wonderful day together as a Zone. This month we are focused on Prophets, and I learned so much about the role of the prophets. President Thomas S. Monson has been called of God to lead, guide, and direct this church. He is also the only individual who has the authority to receive revelation from God for the world. We as missionaries and brethren in the priesthood hold same exact priesthood he has, but he holds all the keys and is the only authorized to exercise them all. I am glad to know that he is not just a wise man of intelligence, who knows how use his words to 'trick' men. He is a man called of God to receive inspiration and revelation for us in this day and age.
Saturday was another great day to go preach the gospel to the aborigines. Took a wonderful bike ride on up to their village high on the mountain top. We first visited my best friend in the entire world, Brother Hua, to see how he has been lately. He got moved places for his work because fires have been going off here due to the lack of rain, so he has been stationed there on weekends unable to leave to come to church. He is still super amazing and told his work that he was done at the end of May so he can come to church. Love this man! Turns out all the people we ran into last week either weren't home, or they wouldn't pick up except for one man. We were able to visit with him and talked about who God is and how we can establish a relationship with Him. This man was willing to pray with us and let us teach, but he has a lot of ways of thinking that will take quite a while to change. That's ok though cause the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for everyone! No matter the situation!
Sunday was busy busy busy. First of all, church was incredible. It all began as I saw a tall, white man walk into our church. He was a missionary 7-8 years ago and served in this same area. I forgot his english name just because all the ward members called him by his chinese name. Turns out he lives in Centerville, my hometown. (Yes mom, we did take a picture together and I gave him our home info and he said he would call/stop by to say hello). From there it was just a busy busy day full of visiting less active members along with recent converts. The reason why church was incredible was due to the fact that one of the talks given in sacrament meeting on how every members can be missionaries. I feel like that pumped the ward members up to start doing missionary work, which will obviously help fulfill our purpose as missionaries which is to find, teach, and baptize. I look forward to seeing some success with the ward members in the coming weeks.
As I said a bit early, things have been a bit rough down here in the south of Taiwan. However, I absolutely love the words of my amazing trainer, Elder Johnson, which say, "Tough times go away, tough people don't." We as missionaries only have so much time to serve the Lord. Times are rough, but yes they will go away. I have found that although it is rough, it has been worth every single second. I love this time serving here in Taiwan! I love you all! Til next week...
Love the One and Only,
司馬長老
p.s. (ANSWERS TO MOM"S QUESTIONS)--I am in a pretty large apartment, but there is only the two of us, which means we have lots of open space. Plans on calling home for Mothers Day--I'm not sure exactly which date, but I'm planning on skyping again. (please prepare questions for me unlike last time:) ) Extra money--i'm good. Clothes--they'll survive for another year. Shoes are still in great condition. Pictures of paradise will come next week!
