Week Thirty-Two: 3/31/2014 to 4/6/2014--Untitled

Hey Family and Friends

So I couldn't think of a snazzy title for this week. Sorry. I know you all love those every week:(

This week has gone really well. Elder Ward and I are really making a lot of progress in terms of improving our missionary skills. I'm really grateful for different areas and different companions that allow me to learn and grow. There are always so many experiences that either solidify in my mind that I want to do something a certain way, or that I definitely DON'T want to do things a certain way. They're all so so good. 

Brendan, Elder Ward, Brother Wang and the Branch President at Brother Wang's baptism.

First, we had another baptism. His name is Brother Wang and he's awesome. He's a cripple so it looks like he's always bowing his head. He's super hilarious. I think I talked a little about him last week. He just has a lot of really funny English phrases that he says. It always cracks me up.

Second, this last weekend was Grave-sweeping day. On that day, the Taiwanese people go to the graveyards and clean their ancestors' graves. We were able to go last Friday and clean the graves of some people who were found without names. That was a really good experience and it made me realize how bad I am at cleaning. My companion used to be a construction worker so he's got that go-out-and-get-it-done kind of attitude and I'm, you know, a little more reserved so I hope the members don't think I'm a spoiled city kid who's never had to work in his life.

Brendan, Elder Ward and members of the branch at a branch service project cleaning graves at a local cemetery.

 

Thirdly, Rod passes his baptismal interview(yaaaay). His parents are still against his baptism and we're working on getting an appointment with them so we can discuss his reasons for being baptized. I think they just don't understand very well and as a 15-year-old kid who just met missionaries a month and a half ago, he's not super good at expressing himself yet. It's really awesome because the Branch President here is pretty old(in his 70s) and births babies so if you were born in Magong, it's pretty likely that he birthed you. It's really funny when he talks to people and it turns out he was there when they were born. So we're hoping he can talk to Rod's parents and pull the "I was there when you were born" card. So yeah pray for him!

Other than that, not much happened this week. We met some cool people and helped a less-active teenager come back to church for the first time in months. That was really cool to see because his mom is so awesome and has such a strong testimony, but he's just not super into it. We showed him this video: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/stay-within-the-lines?lang=eng
on a whim of Elder Ward which I believe was inspiration. It gets up in your face a little but hopefully it helped that kid know the importance of living and being converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
  

Love you guys! I appreciate letters and emails and such. They might take a little longer to get here if they're letters since I live on an island outside and island, but they're good nonetheless. Keep on keeping on! 

Enjoy the pictures, and another song. This one is entitled, "Know This That Every Soul is Free".