Song of the Week: You Can Make the Pathway Bright

Here's this week's song: "You Can Make the Pathway Bright."

Week Forty-Two: 6/9/2014 to 6/15/2014--Back to the Main Island and Sickness :(

Hello everyone!

So first things first. I didn't move back to Taiwan permanently and I wasn't the one who got sick. We went back to Taichung for 2 days to attend Zone Conference. Our weekly meetings(including zone training meeting) are just me and my companion. It's more like a glorified companionship study than a real meeting. However, for Zone Conferences which happen 4 times a year, we get to fly back and attend with everyone else. This week, we left Tuesday morning, got to Taichung around 10:30, then went on splits with the Taichung zone leaders all day. That was a really weird experiences. I haven't been on an exchange since April. I learned a lot from Elder Baker. He's a real good guy with lots of good thoughts and great Chinese. I also got to impromptu sing in the musical number at ZC(photo below).

As for sickness, Elder Washburn wasn't feeling too hot on Monday, but Tuesday-Friday, he was feeling awful. He had a fever, he was dizzy, his ears were clogged and he couldn't hear. It just seemed miserable. I'm really glad I haven't caught it...yet(eep!). Any-who, that slowed down the work quite a bit, but it was a good opportunity for me to organize the apartment a bit and call through some former investigators. One set up with us! We met 2 sophomores in high school this week. They seem pretty good. It seems like everyone is about to leave! We're hoping we'll still have people to teach in a couple weeks. We'll just be praying hard and working hard and hopefully we'll be able to find those who are ready to accept our message. Your added prayers would be greatly appreciated:)

Other than Elder Washburn being sick and going to Taichung, not much happened, to be honest. Sherry passed her test so the humble moment has passed haha. Hopefully she'll still be able to take all of this seriously. She's really funny, but I want her to see the blessings that come from living these principles. Colin had a really awesome experience with prayer, but he slept through church because he stayed up all night watching FIFA with his friends at the military base. Sigh...Hopefully, next week, he'll be able to make church more of a priority. Warren came to church! He also said he wants to keep meeting with missionaries when he gets back home. That's exciting! I'm hoping to hear good news when he gets back there. 

Love you all! 

-Elder Smith

Week Forty-One: 6/2/2014 to 6/8/2014--Bitter-sweet Miracles

Hello Everyone!

So, when I interviewed with president when I first got here, he said "everyone has to have at least one hard area in their mission" referring to Magong and I was like, "What? this place is full of wonderful people! I love this place!" However, as summer is rolling in, I'm starting to see what he meant.

Magong, Penghu's main industry is tourism which means that during the summer months, about 50%+ of the people on the street are not actually from here. The college students and the guys doing military service here are going home. And then, the people from here are all really, REALLY busy managing all of the tourists' needs. So, what that means for missionaries is that it's really hard to find anyone stable to teach because even if they are SUPER interested, odds are they aren't from Penghu, or they really are too busy to meet. What that means for us, is we have a few really awesome investigators that are going home for the summer or for good in the next few weeks and after that we will hardly have anyone to teach. 

But! We can be happy while it lasts. This week, we met with a guy we ran into on the road a few weeks ago. He's doing his military service hear and goes home in a month or so, but when we met him on the street, we had a Book of Mormon which we gave him. We also shared with him Ether 12:27~"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." He loved it! He said he wrote it in one of his notebooks. When we finally met with him on Friday, he had read 17 chapters and unlike most people, he had retained all of what he read. He also brought a friend. They both loved what we taught. They sent us a text later that night that basically said "I'm so grateful that God and you both gave me this opportunity to learn about the Latter-day Saint church. I'm going to start a habit of praying every day, whether or not I'm in Penghu." He also said his friend started reading and praying. I'm so happy for them. Even though we probably won't be able to see them get baptized, I'm excited to hear about what happens with them. 

Me thoughtfully pondering the Chinese Bible.

Sherry also had some big improvements. She knows all about reading, praying, and coming to church. Whenever we ask her, "What do you need to do to know if this is true," she doesn't even think twice before saying "CPR." However, she hadn't really seen its relevance to her until this wee,k when all the stresses in her life came to a head and she just felt too overwhelmed(finals week, social conflicts, etc). She met with us and after talking with her for a little bit about the importance of keeping her commitments, she started crying and told us about her concerns. I could see God's hand in her life. I felt like Ammon with all the servants around him freaking out because they think they're going to die(see Alma 17:27-30https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/17?lang=eng) I knew she needed that challenge in order to push her to come closer to Christ. She committed to start keeping her commitments for real and I'm really hopeful about her progression. She's also going home in a few weeks, however:(. 

Anyway, I'm hoping we can find some new people that will stay a little longer. I love you guys! Even though I felt a little discouraged this week, know that I still love this work more than anything and it brings me a lot of joy.

-Elder Smith

Hymn of the Week: Come, Come Ye Saints

Brendan covered a classic this week, "Come, Come Ye Saints."

Week Forty: 5/26/14 to 5/1/2014--Hello Elder Washburn and FACEBOOK (what?)

Hello everyone,

This week has been pretty different. 

First of all, Elder Washburn came. He's great. We actually know a lot of the same people from lots of different phases of my life so that was really weird, but it's also kind of fun. He's from Lindon, Utah and went to BYU for a year before coming here. He flies planes, he's lactose intolerant(but he totally powers through it when members give him milky stuff), he's pretty tall, and he's a great man. He's been out for a little over a year. It was really funny when he first came here because he was just in the heart of Gaoxiong(I think the old romanization is Kaosiung), which is the 2nd biggest city in Taiwan so coming to Penghu and having the biggest building be our 14-story apartment building is pretty new to him. It kind of reminded me of what I was like when I first came here.

Elder Washburn at his finest.

Second, Rod is still the coolest kid in town to the max. We're teaching him out of the For Strength of Youth pamphlet right now and all his questions/thoughts are always so sweet. He called us the other day to say he was reading 2 Nephi 2 and LOVED the part about Adam and Eve and that he had some questions for the next time we met. We're still trying to set up a time for his parents to meet with us and the Branch President and discuss when he can be baptized. Right now, his dad is really set on 18. Keep praying for him! Or start. Either way, he needs some good vibes sent his way:)

If you haven't seen, I've been promoted! Haha just kidding, but they're having a few missionaries in our mission start using Facebook. Basically, what that means is I'll be on there for about half an hour every day talking with the people I've met here about the gospel and posting something inspiring. Unfortunately, I can't use it as a means of contacting anyone from home, so the same rules still apply. If you'd like to contact me, do it on here, or else send a letter with my name on it to:   

Taiwan Taichung Mission

498-11 Wu Chuan Rd.

Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C

謝謝你們的合作 :) (translated is "Thank you for your cooperation.")

Week Thirty-Nine: 5/19/2014 to 5/25/2014--"Good-Bye Elder Ward"

Hello Everyone!

So yeah, Elder Ward's gone. He's going to Douliu which is in Yunlin which is about 3/4 of the way down the island. Anyways, yesterday was basically one big going away party with some missionary work sprinkled on top. Everyone here loves him. It was ridiculous, but he is a fantastic guy so I can see why:) I won't be expecting anything half as dramatic when I leave haha. We dropped him off at the airport this morning at 10:30 with a parade of recent converts and investigators trailing behind. My new companion is Elder Washburn and he doesn't get here until this afternoon at 3:30 so I have to have a member accompany me until then. I actually know him from my first transfer in Tainan. He's been out longer than me so I'm still junior companion which is great because I'll have more time to hone my Chinese and teaching abilities without the added stress of being the leader for at least a couple more transfers. He's a really funny guy and I guess he's really good friends with the Malyons(yes, Malyons, it's that Elder Washburn!) so he can't be that bad. I'm excited to work with him and see what we can do here on the isle of Pescadores(that's Penghu's Dutch name). 

Elder Ward selfie.

This last week was pretty good. We met some new folks and continued meeting with some old folks. Colin is trying super hard to keep the Word of Wisdom and has been doing pretty well so far. We also taught him the law of chastity and he completely accepted it. I'm excited for him! We're also meeting with a college student named Sherry. She is doing well too. She finally started reading the Book of Mormon and it works!! I'm telling you, the difference in the quality of the lesson we had this week was huge. She was so much more interested. She accepted a baptismal goal, and she had a desire to come to church and discuss that desire with her boss at work so she could schedule time to come. It's not magic, everyone. It's not the fact that I speak Chinese well or have any cool skills that other people don't have. It's the position the investigator puts themselves in when they read the Book of Mormon and pray to feel Heavenly Father testifying to them that the book is true and it was written by His prophets. It's a wonderful concept. 

Other than that, not much happened out of the ordinary. I did notice a lot of my weaknesses this week which is good because it helps me identify areas where I can improve, but it's also discouraging to see how far I still have to go haha. Before we found out I was still junior companion, we thought I was going to become senior companion this transfer so all week I was totally stressing out about all the things that were going to make me an ineffective senior companion. I won't endeavor to lay out all my flaws before you, but suffice it to say there are many. I'm grateful I still have time to "humble [myself] before [the Lord], and have faith in [him]" so that He can "make weak things become strong unto [me]."(Ether 12:27). Blessings in disguise! Anyway, I'll let you all know more about this Elder Washburn fellow next week. For now, here's the last song Elder Ward and I sang together and a selfie he took on my camera. 帥斃了!:

-Elder Smith

And here is the new song (and last with Elder Ward): "Come All Ye Sons of God."