Week Forty-Nine: 8/18/2014 to 8/24/3014--Week One Back in the Promised Land

Hello my friends and family members!

   This has been the slowest, most focused, and most stressful week that I've had probably since I was being trained. Elder Washburn told me being a senior companion was about the same as being a junior companion, but either he was trying to comfort me or he had a much different experience than I did when he first became senior companion. Although, I think a big reason I feel like it's different is also because of how different Tainan is from Penghu. In Penghu, it's just us two covering the entire island. It's simple. Either they live in Penghu or they live outside of our area. Now, there are 8 missionaries in my district and we live in a 4-man apartment covering the same area and the same ward. It seems a bit crowded to me. And the ward is HUGE! There's like, 80-100 people that come every week. I was super nervous bearing my testimony to all of them. Anyway, this week was pretty hectic, but it'll only get better from here! I'm so excited for a great movecall with Elder Zhao.

   So yeah, let me just introduce to all of you this spectacle of a missionary. First, here's a picture of him in front of the Secret Sandwich Shop

He's from Michigan(as you can see from his shirt). He's a history fanatic and I have a mild passion for history and English and things like that, so we've had some interesting chats mostly about the history of Theology. He's a convert so he just has this really pure, sincere testimony that Christ is his Savior. He also spent the entire summer before he came on his mission just reading and studying scriptures so he's really, REALLY knowledgeable. I love being his companion. I feel super humbled that President Blickenstaff assigned me to be with him. I'm learning so much from him and despite his already fantastic language and teaching skills, I'm still able to give encouragement and advice from time to time. I'm seeing a fantastic move-call coming!

  It started the night I got here. We were calling through the list of names of the people he and his trainer had contacted. I called this one guy and he answered and said he was really busy lately. We talked for a minute and then, seemingly out of the blue he said "I have time right now. Do you guys have time right now?" Luckily, we did. So we met with him and we had one of the most smooth and inspiring lessons I've had on my entire mission. Elder Zhao's teaching skills are really good and the guy was so prepared. He's set to be baptized October 4th. I'm really excited for him!

   Other than that, we saw Kuha'o perform(this guy). That was a really cool experience. He really can play a song on the piano after only listening to it a couple times. When he played Taiwan's national anthem and when he played "I love to see the temple", those were really emotional moments for me. I loved it so much! I also got to see Elder Colvin(my MTC companion). I'll see him in a couple weeks at Zone Training Meeting as well, so that's fun:) I also saw a lot of the members from Yongkang which was nice. 

   That's about it! If you have any culture questions, let me know. Love you all.

-Elder Smith

Week Forty-Eight: 8/11/2014 to 8/17/2014--Greetings From West Tainan!

Yep, I moved. I'm now in the Tainan 4th ward which is right next door to Yongkang. Tainan's the BEEST! My last week in Magong was really great. Alian got baptized and confirmed! That was super exciting to see. Other than that, we met with Chelsea(a super awesome recent convert)'s brother and sister. That was awesome! They're all Presbyterian so they understood all the words that most Taiwanese people don't get like priesthood and prophet. I'm guessing that's how it must feel in parts of the world where Christianity is the dominant religion. Chelsea's sister said she could read the Book of Mormon in a week so that's pretty cool. I'll have to ask Elder Washburn how it goes. Also, I just have to take a moment and say how awesome it was being his companion. I think it's been one of my favorite companionships. I'm super looking forward to hanging out with him when we get back to BYU. 

me, Alian, Elder Washburn, Brother Zheng(he's the best)

My new companion is a convert of 2 years and he's super awesome! His name is Elder Zhao(like general zhao's chicken). He's from Michigan and his family is from mainland China. I haven't been able to get to know him much, but he seems like he has really great desire to do good things and he has a lot of great skills. AND he has a Beijing accent that's fantastic on the ears. I hope I can pick it up. He just got finished training so he's been in Taiwan for 3 months or so. So yes, I'm a senior companion and it's really weird. It's like I grew up overnight. All of a sudden, I have all the good ideas and I'm the one who kind of sets the tone for everything. It really is pretty different. Our apartment in ginormous. We share it with 2 other missionaries. I haven't talked to them much yet, but they seem really cool. I'm excited to see lots of success here!

Love you all. I hope your weeks are full of greatness.

 

-Elder Smith

on the train down to Tainan. The welcoming rainstorm. yaaaay..-

Week Forty-Seven: 8/4/2014 to 8/10/2014--No Companionship Left Behind...except for us:)

Hello everyone!

First, the title of my email. In the Taiwan Taichung mission we have what are called mission standards. They're basically goals that the mission president sets in order to make you focus and reach for the right things. One of those standards is that you get 3 new investigators (defined as all people who are taught once and agree to a return appointment). This is pretty tough to be honest. Almost everyone in the mission has been struggling, so President did a "No Companionship Left Behind" program this week. In essence, he made sure every companionship got 3 new investigators by having the Zone Leaders do power companion exchanges to inspire them and help them find people. However, we live a bit off the beaten path so we were on our own. We worked hard and got 3 new investigators though! I'm excited to see this trend continue. Pretty soon we'll have too many people to teach and they'll have to send more missionaries. 

Us skyping Andrew's baptism. My pants didn't match my suit jacket(and no one even knew!)

Anyways, the main stuff. Alian is getting baptized next Wednesday! That'll be really great. Her baptismal interview was 50 minutes(to put that in perspective, Killy's was about 10-15 minutes). We almost worried ourselves to death, but she passed with flying colors. She's excited. We met with Dora more. She's still quiet-ish, but she's getting used to everything, I think. She loves coming to church and learning, but her family's really traditional so she's super afraid of telling them about it. Pray for her!! Also, Zhongting(a really cool investigator we've met with a few times) came to church for the first time. He said it felt really good there. Kind of like everyone was a big family. I have high hopes for him:). 

The baptism picture. From left to right: Sister Blickenstaff, me, Elder Washburn(yes we're on the screen), President Blickenstaff, Anrew Lin, Elder Crapse, Sister Lin(Andrew's sister), and Elder Faddis. 

Also, I skyped more this week than I have my entire mission. It's like we just barely tapped into all the possibilities it presents to elders who live on an island by themselves in the middle of the South China sea(so like, us). On Tuesday we skyped in to Zone Training Meeting which was so much more inspiring than just us 2 sitting in a classroom. Then! on Saturday we were able to skype into Andrew's baptism(the super golden guy who had to go back to Taiwan). His testimony was so powerful. I'm super excited to keep in touch with him and see the great things he does.

In other news, a girl in our ward got called to the London, England mission this week. That's exciting. She's--and I quote--"freaking out!" That was fun.

I also realized I have a problem. It's the laoda complex. Laoda means the oldest sibling in a family. And complex is English so...yeah...I just have this mindset where I always just think I have the best idea and I expect other people to kind of submit to my will. It's lame. What better time than a mission to change that! And thank you, Elder Washburn for pointing it out. I really like our companionship. We're just really honest with each other and with ourselves so when we give each other correction, neither of us gets offended. It just makes it way easier and open. If all my companions were like that, I'd be super happy, but I won't hold my breath haha. Love you guys! Next week I might be somewhere else, but oh well. Don't worry too much;)

- Elder Smith!

Week Forty-Six: 7/28/2014 to 8/3/2014--Hello Goodbye

Hello, hello. I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello. 

Sometimes I feel like that when I contact people on the street. But whatever:).

Hello everyone!

This week has been really great. I'm excited to share about it! As far as big major news, Colin sent us a text that started with "Hey guys, I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time..." so you can probably guess what came after that. He's a great guy, but I don't think he's at a point in his life where he can clearly see how the gospel can help him. I think we also might have taught him too fast. Either way, it's been great teaching him and I hope he's able to find joy in whatever lifestyle he pursues--though I know the lifestyle that brings the MOST joy;). 

Also, please enjoy my tan lines. Aya!!

Alian(the Vietnamese lady) is getting baptized! Her husband finally agreed to let her do it! She's still working out a date because her friend has to work most days and it's out on the water so she can't usually get it off. But hopefully it will be before I leave(probably the 18th). I love teaching her. She just has such matter-of-fact, simple outlook on life. It's really inspiring. 

Harvey the Honglong(basically just a smaller watermelon)

Rod introduced us to one of his friends this week. I think I talked about her last week. Her name is Dora. She's pretty cool but she's REALLY quiet so it's pretty hard to determine how much of our message she's really understanding/taking in. Luckily Rod can give us the lowdown on how she felt about it later, but it would be super nice if she would voice her concerns/questions in the lesson. She's definitely got potential:).

On Sunday, it was Rod's birthday so we had a small get-together at the church. I made the mistake of telling him I knew how to make pizza, so he forced me to make pizza for everyone last night. The finished product is below. Because Rod is Taiwanese, he didn't really know what to get. I told him we needed cheese, tomato sauce, and yeast and I could figure out everything else. Tragically, tomato sauce and ketchup have the same word in Taiwanese so he got ketchup. As far as cheese goes, real cheese is pretty hard to find here. They really only have the plastic-y McDonald's style slice-by-slice stuff. So he brought that. So, I made the dough, we put a SUPER thin layer of ketchup over it(I was afraid it would be too strong), and I tore up the cheese plastic and put that over the top. We put it in the oven for 12 minutes at 500 degrees. I was expecting the worst. I looked in there at one point and the cheese had ballooned. I took it out and it looked like it had this really weird consistency. It turned out to be alright. Rod loved it so I guess that's all that matters. I also ate sea urchin and these small uncooked fish this week. That was fun. I actually love the food here! The fruit especially. Mangoes, Dragonfruit, Guava, Lychee, etc.. so good. 

The pizaaaaaah.

Anyways I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all. 

-Elder Smith

Two Hymns: Help Me Teach With Inspiration and More Holiness Give Me

Two hymns in one post. I know I'm his Mom, but I'm amazed at what he's able to put together on the fly like this.  "Help Me Teach With Inspiration" and "More Holiness Give Me." The lyrics for the two hymns are below.

Help Me Teach With Inspiration

1. 1. Help me teach with inspiration;
   Grant this blessing, Lord, I pray.
   Help me lift a soul's ambition
   To a higher, nobler way.
2. 2. Help me reach a friend in darkness;
   Help me guide him thru the night.
   Help me show thy path to glory
   By the Spirit's holy light.
3. 3. Fill my mind with understanding;
   Tune my voice to echo thine.
   Touch my hand with gentle friendship;
   Warm my heart with love divine.
4. 4. Help me find thy lambs who wander;
   Help me bring them to thy keep.
   Teach me, Lord, to be a shepherd;
   Father, help me feed thy sheep.
5. Text and music: Lorin F. Wheelwright, 1909-1987 (c) 1958, 1985 Lorin F. Wheelwright.
   
   
   More Holiness Give Me
   
   
   1. 1. More holiness give me,
      More strivings within,
      More patience in suff'ring,
      More sorrow for sin,
      More faith in my Savior,
      More sense of his care,
      More joy in his service,
      More purpose in prayer.
   2. 2. More gratitude give me,
      More trust in the Lord,
      More pride in his glory,
      More hope in his word,
      More tears for his sorrows,
      More pain at his grief,
      More meekness in trial,
      More praise for relief.
   3. 3. More purity give me,
      More strength to o'ercome,
      More freedom from earth-stains,
      More longing for home.
      More fit for the kingdom,
      More used would I be,
      More blessed and holy--
      More, Savior, like thee.
   4. Text and music: Philip Paul Bliss, 1838-1876

Week Forty-Five: 7/21/2014 to 7/27/2014--Craziness!!

Hello Everyone,

So I don't know if you all heard, but there was an airplane that crashed in Penghu(where I live) during the Typhoon we had this last Wednesday. It was pretty scary. I had a nightmare the night after it happened about being chased by this lightning tornado. It was pretty scary. I was real tired the next day. I'm alright, though(in my dream and in real life). The crash was super far away from where I live, but there were quite a few people who died. Most of them were from Penghu, but there were some soldiers from Taiwan as well as two French people. They're in a better place, but the people they left are struggling. We weren't able to help much(the government has pretty much got it taken care of), but we've been praying and we'll be looking for opportunities to give comfort and service during the next week. We know the senior executive at the government building so you know, we've got connections;) We'll see what we can do.

As far as missionary work goes, Alian(the Vietnamese lady) is doing great. She wants to be baptized real bad, but she also has a family full of people who want her to be Buddhist real bad. So there's some conflict there, but she's determined not to let that get her down. She also wants to be able to take her kids with her to church later and that'll be harder if her family disapproves. It's hard teaching about how the gospel blesses families in a place where so often it doesn't seem that way at first. The traditional religions are pretty deeply rooted in the lifestyle here.

That's about all I have to report. I'm looking forward to an awesome week! Elder Washburn and I have really picked it up the past couple days and we're feeling really good and ready to find souls who need the comfort that this Gospel brings. The only downside is that when you're working hard and you're happy all the time, the time seems to go at 10 times normal speed. It's not a very nice trade-off:(. I'm almost at my year-mark and it feels like nothing! I'm going to try not to blink or else it'll be over before I know it. 

Love y'all!

-Elder Smith

P.S.I still want to know what celebrity Elder Washburn looks like. It's driving me crazy.

​Him playing the Erhu(I don't know what it is in English).  

Week Forty-Seven: 7/14/2014 to 7/20/2014--A Great Week on the Island of Pescadores!

Hello family, friends, etc.

Well, this week was more successful in terms of how many people we taught and their reactions to the message, but it was also a week where I learned a lot about myself and had lots of good introspective experiences. Also, it's super hot which provides us with great views from the top of our apartment like this: 

but it also means staying outside for too long is pretty rough. It's not as terrible as some people made it sound, but then again, I'm not really to the hottest part of the summer yet. That comes next month. Yaaayy...A Typhoon is coming this week supposedly so that will hopefully cool things down a bit. For those of you wondering why I'm excited about a Typhoon coming, let me tell you that it's really hard for the Typhoons in Penghu to be that rough because they have to go over the mountains in Taiwan and all the land on the other side before they get to us. So by the time they get here, they're more like a rainstorm with slightly higher speed winds. So they are really something to welcome.:)

We met a few new people this week. One of them in particular seems like he has a lot of potential. He's a really good-hearted humble college student who works at the airport moving around luggage. I like him a lot. 

I also had some good realizations about life as I said above. As I was having these thoughts, I came across a talk by President Uchtdorf that he gave in the October 2012 General Conference. It's called "Of Regrets and Resolutions". If you'd like to read it, go here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng 

It really hit me how important every minute really is. If we're always anxiously waiting for our future, giving no thought for our present, then when our future finally comes, we'll realize how much we wished we would have enjoyed and done better things with our past. It's unfortunate, but that's how most people are, including me. Sometimes it's important to just settle down for a few minutes and appreciate what you have, and make some resolutions so that when you do finally reach the future you can be pleased with what you've accomplished, rather than regret what you haven't accomplished. President Uchtdorf conclude with some wise words of counsel.

"It is my testimony that many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today. If we have sinned or made mistakes--if we have made choices that we now regret--there is the precious gift of Christ’s Atonement, through which we can be forgiven. We cannot go  back in time and change the past, but we can repent."

I love that concept and I know that it's true!

Love you all.

Farewell until next week:)

-Elder Smith

P.S. Elder Washburn looks EXACTLY like a celebrity, but I can't think of who it is. Whoever can figure it out gets a hand-written letter from me on Taiwanese parchment using my nicest penmanship. Let the games begin!

I already said Bernie from Sesame Street, so that one's off the table.