Week Twenty Six: POWER WEEK and Meeting Yao Ming

Hey Family and Friends!

So first off, I didn't actually meet Yao Ming, but I figured the knife fight thing really got everyone excited so I'm probably going to include a bogus, kind of kuazhang (exaggerated/ridiculous in Chinese) thing that happened in the title from now on. And if something super kuazhang really does happen during the week, then you'll have to read and find out which event in the title really happened and which one is total bogus. 

Brendan on his bike on his way to an appointment in Taiwan.

But yeah, this week was POWER WEEK!! Basically, it's a tradition in this mission that every year we have a week where we have shortened study time, no specified meal time and we have a specific mission every day. If we accomplish the mission, we call president and say in our best James Bond/Ethan Hunt voice: "Hello President, this is Elder___and Elder___. Mission Accomplished." Then he starts singing the Mission:Impossible theme song and it's super awesome. This year's was as follows:

Monday: Power Cleaning (really really really deep cleaning of our apartment all day) and then go tracting and get let in to 2 houses. 

Our experience: We had a lesson at 7:00 that fell through so we had a lot of tracting time that night. However, for those who are familiar with tracting(knocking doors), you will know that you don't usually get let in. I think that's the way it is world-wide. Therefore, getting in to 2 houses was a pretty lofty mission. However, we prayed to know where we should go and I had this feeling that we should do it in our apartment. I thought that sounded like a really nice way to get kicked out by our guanli (the guy who sits downstairs and makes sure no hooligans come in), but after we called the AP's and a couple other people in the mission office to make sure we weren't breaking the law, we started from the first floor and started making our way up(we live on the top floor). We tracted for a very long time and finally had one guy let us in. His name was Lu. His wife was Muslim which was pretty interesting. He was pretty rooted in his Buddhist background, but he was willing to talk and gave us coffee. It's still sitting on my desk. I should probably get rid of that. Anyway, after that, it was already past 9 so we headed upstairs. We really wanted to hit the goal, though, so we knocked on the two apartments across the hall from us. The first one wasn't home, but the second one had a really young couple inside. I don't think their married so law of chastity might be an issue if we start teaching them, BUT they were super cool! They reminded me a lot of a young American couple. Just super chill and open to talking to new people. I liked them a lot and I'm hoping we can run into them again. So yeah, Monday...#missionaccomplished 

Tuesday: give out 13 copies of the Book of Mormon. 

Our experience: We met this really cool kid who plays in metal band that day. Also, mission accomplished.

Missionary humor.  If you don't already get the joke, you can read about the mysterious Three Nephites here. :)

Wednesday: Talk to 20 people on the street and set up a time with them for another day. 

Our experience: We met a really cool Japanese guy who couldn't speak Chinese and had been to our church before in Japan, but his Taiwanese wife didn't like it so he'd stopped going. Also his email address had the word "Jedi" in it. Super sweet. Oh yeah, mission accomplished.

Thursday: Invite 5 people on the street or in lessons to be baptized on the 22nd of March. 

Our experience: I met a really cool kid named Steven who had lived in Pennsylvania for 3 years on the street and he said "I'm always interested in learning about religion and stuff." But yeah, he's got a 3/22 baptismal goal. Mission accomplished.

Friday: Confirm 15 people(investigators, recent converts or less-active members) for church on Sunday. 

Our experience:  While I was teaching an investigator with a member, Elder Gish got called out by a young man for wasting his time inside calling people about church when he could be outside finding people. Hopefully our relationship with the ward is still intact. Mission accomplished.

Saturday: Talk with 20 families about how the gospel can bless their lives. 

Our experience:  We met a lot of SUPER cute families. Not many were interested to do more than talk with us and let us give their kids high-fives, but it was pretty awesome anyways. Mission accomplished. Also John was baptized that day which was super sweet! It was funny. I baptized him and I guess he didn't really know what to expect because after I put him under the water and brought him back out again, he thought there was more so he waited there for a sec before I said "Alright, that's it!" and we walked back out of the font. I need to be better about telling people exactly what will happen so our investigators can just focus on their feelings, not the mechanics of it all. 

Sunday: Get 4 investigators to church. 

Our experience: We had 7 there which was kind of hard to manage. I'm thankful our ward is so awesome about coming up and shaking their hands and making them feel welcome. It was a good day. Plus, one of our investigators had made us home-made bread and Elder Gish had received some home-made blackberry jam in a package so we had a pretty delicious lunch that day too.

But yeah, don't want to make this too long, but the work is going great! I'm feeling healthy and happy, even though I'm a bit exhausted from last week. Thanks for the prayers. We're feeling them a lot at the moment:) Keep praying. Also for all you LDS folk, reading Gifford Nielson's talk on "Hastening the Lord's Game Plan." He provides 3 simple ways to help in the missionary work as members of the church. It's super awesome! I love you guys! 

-Elder Smith

Week Twenty-Five: Miracles and Actually a Knife Fight This Time

Hello Everyone!

So sorry if I freaked anyone out last week. Basically, I started writing about a knife fight that I may or may not have witnessed/helped break up last week, but then it sounded really scary so I deleted it. So yeah, I'll tell you all about it this week. 

Last Sunday night, we were coming home from a lesson with one of our recent converts. We were almost home, when we saw some commotion on the side of the road. I just kind of glanced over and thought it was a Dad with his daughter in his arms and she was flailing around a bit. But on second glance, it was this super angry Vietnamese man who I guess had refused to pay for his food at this Pho restaurant(pretty tasty, by the way. we tried it later last week) and in the ensuing debate, grabbed this lady who I assume was the landlord by her throat and started pushing her out into the street, knocking over motorcycles and bikes that were parked on the side of the road in his wake. Elder Gish came screeching to a stop, jumped off his bike and ran over to help. It took a little longer in my mind to register the seriousness of the situation, but once I came to, I got off my bike too. By then, Elder Gish had already pulled the man and the woman away from each other and taken the large vegetable knife out of the man's hand. We told him to walk away, but as he did, the lady started freaking out and yelling at him. A couple other workers were outside with a couple customers trying to calm her down, but he ran back and tried to grab her again. In the ensuing ruckus, another woman got knocked out. Finally, the guy started walking away again, this time for good. Aside from a few bruises and a knocked out woman on the sidewalk, everyone was alright, so no biggie, but it was pretty scary still. Definitely one of my scarier experiences in Taiwan. So yeah, there you all go. The Knife fight. Oooooooooohh!

Brendan and Elder Sumison with Zheng Baba's son, who was baptized last month.

But yeah, aside from that a couple super cool things happened this week. for one thing, we had 5 new investigators set baptismal goals in this last weekend. John is getting baptized next week(woohoo!) which is super cool because we haven't been able to get in much contact with him this week because of his work. He's done now, though, and he's excited to be at church more often. Golden Chen couldn't meet with us this weekend because of work but said he can for sure come to church next week so hopefully we'll be seeing a baptism soon with him. The main challenge will just be making sure he can stay faithful. 

We met this super awesome guy the other day. His last name is Wu(吳). We were having a really rough day. 2 appointments had already fallen through and as we went out to contact, 2 more cancelled with us for later that day. Morale was low, especially for Elder Gish. He was super bummed. As he puts it, "I was so mad I just wanted to go out and talk to EVERYONE!" Not a bad thing to do, I guess. The first guy we met was super atheist and told us even if God appeared to him right then, he still wouldn't believe. Just a testament that miracles don't bring belief. So we pretty much gave up on him. We told him if he ever has any challenges in his life, to try church. It can help him for sure. The next guy we contacted, however, was completely golden. He was like "yeah, I never really had any interest in this stuff before, but I've been having some rough patches recently and now I think church can probably help." I really think God has a sense of irony. It was super awesome! Miracles!    So yeah, we saw a lot of success this week, but please don't think it's because I'm a super awesome missionary or my companion and I are super awesome missionaries. God has blessed us a lot this week. I'm hoping I can stay humble and not let it go to my head. Suggestions for doing so are welcome. I'm going to be trying prayers of gratitude and an increased emphasis on obedience, but if you all think of anything else, please let me know. I love you all and I'm so grateful for your support! Letters/emails are welcome. Even if it's just a couple sentences, it would be good to know how you're all doing.

Love,

Elder Smith

Shi Zhanglao

施長老

Week Twenty-Four: Interviews and a Knife Fight

Dear Family and Friends,

I am alive and well! I don't have a lot of time this week since I got a few more emails than usual this week(thank you, friends! It's great to hear from you) but I've got 2 things to share. 

First, we had interviews this last week with President Blickenstaff. He's so wise it's ridiculous. I asked him what one principle or skill I can focus on to make faster progress towards becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary. He quoted a conference talk by the recently released General Relief Society President. He said the most important we can do is learn how to seek for, recognize, and act on Spiritual promptings. I thought that was so wise so I'm stoked to start working on that. It's definitely not going to be an overnight thing, but hopefully God will see my effort and bless me with that gift. But yeah. Interviews are awesome!

Also, we went to a driving range last week. I'm basically a professional golfer now.

Second, we got in contact with John again and he bought me an Ukulele!! woohoo! I've always wanted one of those. It's plain white so I'm probably going to have a fun time decorating it. We also taught him the word of wisdom and even though he had done basically everything on the don't list, he said the main problems were going to be smoking and tea and that he'd be able to give those up by next week so he can be baptized on the 22nd of February. So cool! I'm so glad we get to teach him. Oh! Also golden Chen got his schedule and he might be able to be baptized on the 1st of March. He said he can definitely go to church for the full time on the 23rd of February. Super good. I'm stoked to see that. Then, after his baptism, he'll probably just have to find sacrament meetings to go to where he goes for business on the weekends. He'll probably only be able to come to our ward like once a month. 

Also, I just realized I've been eating a lot of weir foods lately and not telling you guys about any of them. So here it goes...fatty meat(like 90% fat 10%meat), pig retina, chicken heart, smashed up fish eggs, chicken feet(I actually only ate a toe, but still). That's all I can think up right off the bat, but it was all pretty good except the fish eggs. Those basically just tasted like fish food smells and it was really sticky so it lingered for ages. It was supposedly really expensive, though, so I acted like it was super delicious:). 

But yeah, that's just about it. 

Love you all! 

-Elder Brendan Smith  

*******************

Brendan's Mom here: Brendan put the phrase "knife fight" in the title, then didn't mention it in his letter.  Not exactly reassuring to a mother's heart.  So we exchanged the following messages:

Mom:  What?  You can't just drop a "knife fight" and expect people to not be curious. :)

Brendan:  yeah, well, it wasn't really that big of a deal. I don't have a lot of time, but I might write about it next week.

Mom:  Okay.  I assume all your limbs and digits are still attached? :)

Brendan:  Yeah, I'm fine. Are you really not that worried about it or are you just trying to put on a brave face?

Mom:  I figure if it were really serious, you would find the time to write about it. :)  So I'm not worried--just teasing you and wasting your precious letter-writing time haha.

Brendan:  ok cool. don't worry about wasting my letter-writing time. I use my letter-writing time to you write you and Dad and friends if time. Not the other way around. 

Mom:  Glad you prioritize writing the people who gave you life. :)  Love you, buddy!

Week Twenty-Three: Chinese New Year and The 有辦法 Part

Hello everyone,

It's about that time again. So this week, summed up in one word has been delicious. SO. MUCH. FOOD. We've been asked over to dinner at least once a day since Wednesday. Super good. This is because it's Chinese New Year. It's basically Taiwan's equivalent of Christmas in the sense that kids get a 2 week break from school, families are together, there's good food, and there's lots of festivals happening. I hear China is way more into it, but it's still pretty big here. Some things that are specific to Chinese New Year, however, are firecrackers being lit off at 7:00 AM, people saying they're busy when they're on vacation, and red envelopes(a traditional gift that Chinese people give others with money inside) members give you that you have to awkwardly refuse/donate to the general missionary fund. Super fun stuff. I also don't remember Christmas having this many huge meals. It seems like no one ever stops eating, especially me. So yeah, I'll probably have gained a few kilos by the time this is all said and done. We've still got 3 more days of it. Ahh!

Anyway, about the second half of the title, the 有辦法(yoh bahn fa) part. Our mission has a motto that goes 有信心有辦法(yoh ban fa yoh sheen sheen) which means "when you have faith, there's a way." So, about a year ago, there was this really big culture in the mission where missionaries often put having a way before having faith. These missionaries were called "yoh ban fa" missionaries because they just did everything they could to get people baptized which was really good because a lot of people were able to receive of those blessings, but it also meant that the retention rate(the amount of people who actually stayed active) wasn't super high sometimes. Anyway, apparently, it used to be required that you parted your hair and in the yoh ban fa culture, the quality of your part was directly related to the quality of the missionary you were. Elder Gish's trainer was very much of that opinion so Elder Gish has carried some of that with him. He has very much encouraged me to wear a part in my hair and so I've started, but not because that reflects me being a super awesome missionary. It's because for a long time, I refused to part my hair because I thought it looked dumb and I didn't want to look like a dweeb or whatever, but when I put that part in my hair, I looked in the mirror and thought wow, that is a sharp-looking missionary. I want to talk to him. and I hope that's what people on the street think too.

And, here it is. Part-tastic. Also check out that chub, my friends! That means I'm eating well is what that means.Also is that tan-line from my bike helmet? I don't know, I just noticed it.

As far as investigators go, this has been a real slow week for us. Because of Chinese New Year, everyone is either gone to be with family or has family in town so it's really rough trying to meet with people. We met with a really cool guy named Mr. Ye. He works in the EMT so coming to church will be pretty rough but he's so sweet. He's really nice, and I think the gospel is going to help him so much. Andy is still deeply trenched in his theories so that's going to be a bit longer, but he came to church yesterday which is SWEET. We met with a guy named Eason who's 18 and is either golden or is just willing to do whatever an American tells him to do. We're hoping it's the former, but we're really going to try and make sure he gains his own testimony so he stays active after we leave. Golden Chen is still having work problems and wasn't able to come to church yesterday because he had to take his sister up to Taipei, but we met with him this morning and shared the story of the Brother of Jared(SUPER awesome story with lots of layers of meaning, by the way. Everyone, chow down on that spiritual feast.) He said he will do what the brother of Jared did and think of a solution, do all he can, and then pray that the Lord will help him. We will be fasting for him this week. I can't ask you to fast because that's against the mission rules, but please pray! He's a great guy and definitely would have already been baptized if it weren't for his work situation, so he really needs help with that.

Also, I love you guys! 新年快樂！Happy New Year!

-Elder Brendan Smith

施安彬長老

Week Twenty-Two: Another Week Down--and Ninjas!

Hey Family and Friends,

This week was super great but also super nuts. Staying in the same area and getting a new companion is pretty hard. Luckily, Elder Gish and I get along really well and I know the area, because otherwise, it would have been really tough. For the first few days and sort of still, I felt like the senior companion because I was leading him around and calling our investigators/RCs/LAs. He's adjusted really well, though, and now aside from leading, most of the senior companion responsibilities have been transferred over to him.

Getting a new companion was weird for other reasons too, though. For one thing, I've realized there are a lot of different ways to do the same thing in missionary work and a lot of different attitudes you can have about doing them while still getting basically the same result. Don't get me wrong, Elder Gish is a super great missionary, but his way of being a missionary is very different from Elder Sumsion(my trainer)'s way of being a missionary. It's confusing because I have all these thought processes my trainer instilled in me and then Elder Gish maybe has some new ideas and it's like "What?". But it's also really good for that reason because it makes me think about whether that thought process is one that I really want to have anyway or whether I was just kind of blindly following because I didn't know any better. This is also not to say that Elder Sumsion was a bad missionary, because he was awesome and I respect him like crazy. However, the main point of all this is that it's really helpful(but also confusing) to see 2 different sides of missionary work and I feel myself developing my own thoughts and it's helping me grow so much! 

An all-you-can eat place we went to with ninjas on the roof.  Pretty cool!

As far as investigators go, the main ones that I want to report on are John and the super golden Chen who can never come to church. John is doing great. He came to church again on Sunday for all 3 hours which was super awesome. After church, he said he couldn't meet with us(we wanted to talk to him about the Word of Wisdom), but that his work finished on Tuesday so Wednesday and onward, he has all the time in the world and, in his words, he can "always be at church". That was super great to hear. It's so awesome seeing his desire and seeing how happy church makes him. If all goes according to plan, we'll be having a baptism a week from this Saturday. Chen met with us and brought a friend(can I get a 'referral'?). We basically taught a quick Restoration lesson about Joseph Smith and the priesthood and had Chen bear his testimony. He said he can come to church this coming Sunday which will make 3 times so he can be baptized, but we're meeting with him on Thursday to talk about being able to come to church every week to take the sacrament. Regardless, his baptism will most likely be on the 15th of February so yeah, that's exciting! 

Missionary work is a little slower these days because of Chinese New Year. Students are going home, people from out of town are coming, everyone is "too busy" who actually lives here. It's probably a lot like Christmas break in America so it's a little more tough being able to find people who can meet right now. But the upside is that we basically have a member inviting us over for dinner every single day this next week. woohoo! Don't be surprised if in next week's pictures, I have several extra chins.

Scripture recommendation for this week: Ether 12. First of all, Ether is sweet! Second of all, reading verse 6 and onward with the background of 1-5 gives it so much more meaning. Third of all, faith is pretty much the greatest super power you could possibly have. From now on, if anyone asks me that "if you had any superpower..." get-to-know-you question, I'm definitely saying faith. Or spiritual teleportation(see Helaman 10:16). That wouldn't be too bad either. Alright love you guys!

大家再見！

Elder Smith

施長老