Week of June 19, 2012

So, obviously I'm emailing you on a Wednesday instead of Monday why? Well, we were suppose to go to the Temple in Taibei on Wednesday but because of a Typhoon coming to taiwan they ended up canceling it so our P-Day this week was on a Wednesday. But, next week it will be back on Schedule.

       So, last week starting with Tuesday Elder Field and Elder Zheng had to go to Taizhong for some training meetings so me and Elder Jensen (Sun Zhanglao) went on splits for the day. So it was a good day and it's interesting because every missionary has  his own unique style of doing missionary work. Splits are really convenient because we all live in the same apartment. I like living in a four man, It's pretty darn fun because after a long day we can just come home and play some board games and chat.

     Wednesday- Pretty normal day went, it was slightly rainy so went to the church and Zheng zhanglao did my Chinese test. Every once in a while we have to do some Chinese tests. It went fine and later that evening we taught English, because it was raining not a lot of people came. So basically it was me one on one with a student.

     Thursday- Lots and lots of rain, Taiwan is in Monsoon season so it's raining a lot. I've started covering my socks with plastic bags because it stops my shoes and socks from getting so wet. Seriously, nothing is more uncomfortable than walking around in soaking wet shoes all day. We stopped for dinner at this really nice families restaurant. They were super nice and basically waited on us hand and foot. They had mentioned that missionaries used to come and eat at there restaurant frequently but handn't for a long time.

This is what I look like basically all day every day. Usually I'm sweatier.

    Friday- Taught Chen dixiong about fasting and prepped him for his baptism

Satuday- BAPTISM!!!!! Super exiting, Chen dixiong came to the church and we had a few members there. Chen dixiong was a little bit nervous but he did great! We just practiced a little, put on our clothes and had the baptism. I got to perform the baptism which was exiting! I had to memorized the baptismal words in Chinese so I was a little worried I would forget some of them. But, it went well with no mistakes!! I'll email you a picture. He's a really great guy who will contribute a lot to the Xihu ward. He learns extremely quickly and is already being integrated into the ward by the members. It was really neat to have been there from the time he started learning all the way to his baptism. I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

    Sunday- Church, study, and then after that we did some proselyting. Sunday night we had our activity we had planned for a long time which included watching the movie "The Testaments" after that we had a testimony meeting, and a musical number in which I played the violin. One of our current investigators took a movie of it and put it on youtube and I gave him miriam's address so she should have it in her email. But, the activity went smoothly, unfortunately not a lot of potential investigators came.

This is the view from the balcony of our apartment!! That is the street I ride my little bicycle down each and every day armed with the Spirit and several different tracks to hand out to people.

    Tuesday- Rainy day in Xihu, Bing canceled his meeting with us because the Typhoon (Tai-Fong in Chinese) was coming in. So it was a long and rainy day. We ate TONS of food. I swear everyone gave us food that day I ate a lot of weird stuff too. So a list of everything I ate Vietnamese Pho Soup, these rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed, pineapple soup, Chou doufu (smells super yucky but tastes okay) soup, canned sour plums. Some of it made my digestive track feel a little weird but I'm still here so that's good.

So family that was my busy busy busy week and I have a lot of emails to read so that's what happened here in this part of the world! I'll send you a picture soon.

Love, Elder James

Week of June 10, 2012

So....apparently there was an earthquake in Taiwan....?

Hmm...well from what I know it happened in the middle of the night on Saturday Night here. I had no clue anything happened until sunday evening Elder Field mentioned to me that some members at church mentioned that a rather large earthquake had hit last night. From the looks of everything no one else knew anything had happened either so all is well.

          Anyways, this week was just a great great week...

Starting off at the top of the week, last wednesday went on Zone Leader transfers with one of the really cool zone leaders so we caught a Bus to Zhanghua which takes about 35 minutes. Zhanghua's quite a bit larger than Xihu. The zone leader I was with is a really cool, relaxed, fun elder so it was definitely a different experience from my first zone leader transfer. But, boy was it toasty hot hot hot. I spent a good deal of the day sweating profusely. We went had some long contacts with people, taught a few of there less actives. One of the less actives wife is from Guangdong, China  and not a member so I asked her if she knew grandma and grandpa's town and she did. She didn't really want to talk to us at first, but after I mentioned that she warmed right up. I guess, having connections to China does help in some situations hehe. That night when we got home we sat in the cool air conditioned room chatted and ate ice cream (like real american ice cream) and chocolate muffins.

         Thursday was also a good day, we made arrangements to go play with these two Taiwanese members who are both in their early 20's. One studies at BYU and the other one went on his mission to New York so there english was really good. The tennis courts were at a really inconvenient spoke and so we woke up early had to bike/run up a huge mountain. The Tennis courts are at the very top of the mountain so I was dripping in sweat. I seriously sweat non-stop all the time here and my white sures are starting to become off-white shirts. But, it was super fun to play tennis I haven't played in a long time. Coming down the mountain was kind of a scary experience. The zone leaders bike I was using virtually has no breaks. So we were riding down and there are a lot of scooters and cars and I couldn't break very well. Then a guy on a scooter pulls out right in front of me and I have to swerve, I got clipped by his mirror and almost got smashed between him and a Taxi. I had to put might foot on the taxi to avoid smashing into it. Luckily I stayed on my bike, I've got some pretty good guardian angels some where close by. Later that day I came back to Xihu.

       Friday another good day it was hot and toasty. We went over to Chun's food stand and had a lesson in which the bishop came and helped us. The lesson went well and Chun and the bishop chatted for a long time. That day we had lots of sit down lessons and other things. The day went pretty well and I felt good.

       Saturday-Chun passed his baptismal interview!!!! So it's official, he'll be getting baptized this coming saturday! It's been neat to have been one of the one's who started teaching him and have had some part in teaching him the gospel. He's exited for his baptismal date and we are as well. The rest of the day went really well, lots of lessons, contacting, went and visited less active members we haven't seen for a while. That night we were suprised to get a lesson with someone we contacted. He's a 23 year old D-J nicknamed Xi Gua Di (watermelon brother) he was really nice and brought us dong gua cha (wintermelon tea). The lesson went really smoothly and well and me and Elder Field switched off really well.

      Sunday- Good day, church was good, Chun was welcome into the ward and a lot of members were really supportive of his baptism which made him feel good. The day was good, the night was a little rainy but we got to visit some members and then we stopped by a former investigators house (Wu, I wrote about him previously) had a lesson which was good. We set up to meet with him next saturday. Hopefully he'll start progressing again.

Well, family this week was really great. I'm starting to really love taiwan. I feel absolutely awesome, I feel my love for life just growing and I feel like i'm re-discovering my passions for the things I love to do. As a kid I remember just loving all kinds of different things and somewhere in the midst of life and everything I kind of lost some of that. So, it's wonderful to feel that coming back.  It definitely feels like one of the first fruits that I'm seeing from my mission. I'm really starting to love the scriptures and lately I've been reading in the New testament about Paul. It's really awesome because I love history and culture for one and that makes his missions make more sense knowing the context.Oh and can you believe i'm been on my mission for 5 MONTHS?? crazy i'm also 1/4 of the way done with my mission.

All was well this week and I hope you're all doing well in your busy lives

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon

Love, Elder James