Monday, June 30, 2014

THIS WEEK HAD TO BE THE MOST UP AND DOWN WEEK OF MY MISSION

"Another crazy week halfway across the world on a little island called Taiwan. "


This week had to be the most up and down week of my mission. Elder Marchant and I faced a lot of trials that were hard to face, but we were able to overcome and see some cool miracles.

It is kinda hard with the transition of companions, because he is the senior companion, but I know all the people we work with, and where we go so we have had to rely on the spirit and trust each other to get things done effectively. Elder Marchant and I have great unity. It has been such a blessing to have such great teaching unity with someone I've only been with for a week. We have a ton of fun together and both love this work.
 
Trials this week: Our phone gave out on us. I don't even know why but we were without a phone again for a day. We were able to fix that. Also our toilet didn't flush and so we had to call a plumber to come fix it. Also, for some reason Elder Marchant's bike hasn't gotten here yet so he has had to use the extra bike which has a completely flat tire. Two days ago a member gave us a bike we could borrow so it's been a little better. Also, in English class we had a student who got mad at us because we were playing a game that helped them practice their English, but he didn't think it was effective for learning English. He just walked out of the class. Super bizarre and weird little trials.

Elder Willes and Elder Marchant with the loaner bike and helmet

The big unfortunate circumstance we are in is with Shi2 Di4 Xiong1. We went and met with him and everything seemed good. We told him about his baptismal interview (tomorrow) and he seemed good. But he called a member who he is friends with and told him he was under the impression we thought his dian4 (work place) was dirty and got really offended. So he told our member he doesn't want to meet with missionaries anymore at all... We went and tried to visit him and he usually is super friendly but when we got there the vibe was weird. He told us he didn't have time and just like left. We don't really know what happened because we never said anything about his work place being dirty. It has been really sad. Our member friend is going to visit him today and see what's going on, but as of right now Shi2 Di4 Xiong1 won't talk to us. It has been really hard on me because I've taught him from day 1 since I've been in Taiwan. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for him. We are just trusting God will work a miracle and that we will be able to get him to look at the big picture and remember his faith in Christ. So we will see with that situation!
 
Huang2 Di4 Xiong1... He is awesome. He has almost completely quit smoking. Smoking about 2 cigarettes a day which is a huge improvement. He came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and is such a prepared soul. Other than smoking he is ready for baptism. He left for the army today though so we don't know when he comes back. We are just going to stay in contact with him and hope he can come back every few weeks. I know he will get baptized one day. He has great faith, he might just need some more time to quit smoking. We got him on the quit smoking program [that Mamoo and Boppy recommended] and that has helped.
 
Huang2 Di4 Xiong with Elder Willes and Elder Marchant.  "He is our awesome investigator! He is truly awesome. He loves 3 Nephi Chapter 11 when Christ comes and appears to the Nephites. He says it's marvelous. He also sent us a text in English this week that said: "I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Haha he is such a stud!"

Our other investigators are all about the same. Yan2 and Lin2, the couple we met with, they are good, step by step getting better.  Cherry was busy and we weren't able to meet with her. Chang2 Ding3 we are meeting with tonight which is super exciting! He is one we are excited about.
 
This week we went to our ward mission leader's wedding reception.  Haha it totally reminded me of America. There were musical numbers (a little band playing John Schmidt stuff) and American music. It was cool because we got to talk to a lot of his friends about the gospel and plant some seeds. All the missionaries in our district sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives at the wedding reception and that was cool. There were so many people there at least a few hundred.
 
The bike ride out to the wedding reception in Zhubei.  Super Pretty!

The most exciting thing about this week is a mom and 2 cute kids (ages 11 and 8) we met and then set them up for an appointment. They seem really good! The mom's English name is Kelly and her kids are awesome. We taught them the Plan of Salvation. We are going to meet with them again this week. We feel so excited for them and have a really cool family in the ward with kids the same age who is going to start meeting with us and this family.
 
Our goal this week is to harvest the vineyard. We have 9 investigators with baptismal dates. They all are slowly improving, but we want them to take leaps of faith and put their trust in God. We are excited about them all. (Sui2 Jie3 Mei4 is the same. Still hasn't come to church but has such great faith!)
 
Habib also got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday which was awesome. The ward absolutely loves him.  A member is going shopping with him this week to buy him church clothes. Habib is great. Such a blessing. We woke up one morning to a text from him sending us a scripture that we should go read. 1 Nephi 15:11 Trust God and He WILL bless, help, lift, and strengthen us. This work is awesome. Being a Taiwan, Taipei missionary is such a cool thing to say. Things are hard, but we are thrusting in our sickle with all our might so we can be made effective instruments in the Lord's hands. 

This chicken is soooooo good.

Love you all! Have an amazing week!
 

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