Week One Hundred and One: 7/28/2015 to 8/2/2015--Short and Sweet

Hello everyone!

I'm just going to jump right into it.

Roger's run into some more challenges now in that his mom says he can't get baptized for another 2 years due to some custom regarding the death of his grandfather. She really likes the church's principles and believes the members are good, but says he can't be baptized right now. But we're not giving up. We fasted with him yesterday and he said it was a really cool experience and we're hoping for miracles to come out of it. Pray for him!! 

Jason is doing great, but he slept in again yesterday. Cursed LOL! We'll have to be more straight laced with him in the future. But he really is doing awesome and his mom doesn't oppose him being baptized! That's a first! 

Doug is looking pretty solid to be baptized next week. He gave some really good answers in gospel principles class yesterday and it seems like his sincerity and his testimony is growing consistently. Also, we found out yesterday that he's read the New Testament before all the way through and he's now reading it again along with the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. That's super impressive considering he's a busy aerospace engineer and works every day except Sunday from 7/8am to 8pm. Good guy.

We had some fun contacting this week. Tuesday and Wednesday, we didn't have a lot of appointments set up and thus spent a lot of time finding. My nose got pretty sunburned. But anyways, on Wednesday, we were contacting and everyone was rejecting us and we were getting a little bummed, but Elder Chen, being the determined, optimistic guy he is said out of no where, "Alright, I want to tell someone about Joseph Smith." So, at the next light, we stopped next to a young man and Elder Chen said, "Hey! We want to share a story about a boy named Joseph Smith with you. Can we pull over to the side of the road and tell you about it." And he pulled over! And he listened to the whole thing, left his number and said the missionaries in his area could teach him. Then, 2 more times in a row, we thought of a topic like our family picture or the word of wisdom and met 2 awesome kids, one who came to basketball last Saturday, and one who met with us and expressed a lot of interest in the church. It really strengthened my testimony that as we open our mouths and share our testimonies instead of just shooting the breeze and hoping for an opportunity to share the gospel, people really respond. I'm so grateful for Elder Chen. 

We also had Zone Conference this week, where we learned how to really discern whether or not someone is ready for baptism and how we can focus our efforts in order to help them prepare. I also gave my reflection. It didn't feel like it though. It just felt like a normal testimony. I feel like everyone understands I'm going home soon but me. 

I'm so grateful to be a missionary. These last few weeks have been incredible and I feel confident that I'll be able to carry that momentum throughout the last two weeks as well. The Lord is with me. I'm confident that I'll see miracles before I leave. 

Love you guys! See you in a few.

-Elder Smith

Today's song is one I heard in sacrament meeting yesterday that I've never sung before, but enjoyed quite a bit. I only did one take this morning, so my voice cracks a couple times, but just ignore that and enjoy the words and the melody:)

Week One Hundred and Two: 8/4/2015 to 8/10/2015--A Family and a Typhoon!

Dear Family and Friends,

So I don't know if the typhoon that hit Taiwan was broadcast at all, but it was pretty intense. Friday night, the wind woke us up almost every hour and at some point in the middle of the night, our power went out(which includes our AC unit), so we started waking up because it was so hot. Then, Saturday evening, we had to return to the apartment early so we didn't get literally blown away. Psych, it wasn't that bad, but it was bad enough that we had to go home. Below is Elder Chen doing the plan by candle light. Poor us. 

But no one got hurt and that's the important thing. Here's our church parking lot where 2 trees got blown over and another one completely snapped in half. Pretty beastly winds.

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But again, people wise, everything was ok. 

As far as the work goes, Doug is getting baptized this week along with the 8 year old son of a member in the ward. It should be a good service:). Roger is still struggling with things. His house incurred some damage from the storm(he made a point to mention that his Book of Mormon is still fine haha), so he wasn't able to come to church yesterday. Jiazhang is rockin' and rollin'. He's still looking really good to be baptized on the 29th. The biggest challenge right now is that his dad wants to teach him how to drive Sunday mornings, so the past two weeks, he's only been able to come to the first hour of church. I think it's something he'll be able to work around, though. 

We also found some new investigators including a FAMILY! They are the Liao family. The mom came to our English class with her daughter this last Wednesday and she was planning on bringing her husband with them to church on Sunday, but then she slept in -__-. We were able to meet them that afternoon, though, and they were SUPER golden! The mom has a really strong Christian background, but hasn't gone to any church in a long time. The dad has a very traditional Buddhist/Taoist background, but he loved all the things we shared with them. At the end of the lesson, he said the prayer. We invited them to pray daily as a family and set up a time this next week to meet and talk about the Book of Mormon. I really think the gospel is what they're looking for:). Pray for them! 

Well, this is my last week. I'm going to be working hard until the very end, even though it feels like I'm staring straight into the pit of my everlasting demise sometimes. 哎呀. Well, here goes. Woooooooooo!

-Elder Smith 

Week One Hundred: 7/20/2015 to 7/27/2015--Lots of Miracles!

Hello everyone,

May I first just say that I love working with Elder Chen. He's super diligent, he's mature, and he can connect with people in a way that I never could. I'm very grateful to have him around. And it's nice because he's from Taiwan, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't have a very interesting conversation about home. It's like a firewall against trunkiness. Super nice!

We also saw a lot of success this week. Roger's still looking really good. His mom sounds like she also might have interest. She took his pamphlets and Book of Mormon to investigate them (she gave them back), and it turns out she's already ahead of Roger in the Book of Mormon. We haven't been able to meet her yet, but Roger says we'll be able to find a time this week. He doesn't have a set date right now, but I think he'll be baptized pretty soon. Maybe next week or the week after. He just needs to get into a good habit of coming to church. He came yesterday for 2 hours, but had to leave for the last part. 

We also inherited an investigator named Doug. He has accepted the lessons, as he says, "because I don't have any evidence to prove that it's false." It's a start, but I hope as he keeps coming to church and praying, he can get an affirmative and not just neutral answer. He's a good guy, though and he's an aerospace engineer so that's pretty cool. 

Another inherited investigator, Kent, accepted a baptismal goal for the 28th of August. He's a dad with a wife and one daughter. He's pretty quiet, but willing to share his thoughts and very humble and wants to learn. He hadn't made time to come to church for the longest time, but this last week, we let him know that if he wants to be prepared for baptism, he needs to come and that helped be a little more serious about it. I'm hoping he comes next week (he took his family out hiking this last weekend).

There's also a high school student named Jiazhang. We'll call him Jason so he'll be a little easier to remember. He's pretty cool. He likes to write raps and play basketball. And he loves the gospel. He came to church for the first time yesterday for all 3 hours. Afterwards, we sat down with him and he accepted a baptismal goal for the 28th of August. He said his mom is fine with him coming to church so hopefully she won't oppose him getting baptized.

We have a few more investigators, but those 4 are the ones that are making the most progress right now. Something else cool that happened was that there was this really old member who we visited this past week (quite an ordeal, by the way. the security guard didn't trust us at all) who came to church! When we met with him and invited him to come, his answer was pretty vague ("if I have time and I'm feeling ok, I'll go." But he was so old, we didn't blame him). But then a few minutes into sacrament meeting, he came trotting right in, practically dragging his son and daughter along with him. It was one of the happiest moments of my mission, seeing him so happy to come and worship in his old age. 

Anyway, there were lots of good things that happened this week, but there's a little sample. 

I started writing my mission reflection this week so I can give it in zone conference next week and it's a really odd feeling.

-Elder Smith    

This week's song: I Believe in Christ. Forgive me for my poor english accent ;)

Also, some friends from Tainan came up this last week and showed me a picture of a guy they saw on the bus who looks like the asian version of me. Let me know if you agree. I think it's a little eerie how close it is...

Week Ninety-Nine: 7/14/2015 to 7/20/2015--New Companion and the Start of the End

Hello everyone!

This last week was honestly a bit slow as it often is close to the transfer. First for the bad news. Roger had to work SUPER late last Saturday night and wasn't able to make it to church Sunday so he will no longer be getting baptized next Saturday, but he will still be getting baptized soon. He called us today to explain more about it and still seems like he has a strong desire to figure out a way to make it work. His mom is making him work at her factory Friday and Saturday night from 12-6am and church is at 9am, so that's going to be rough for sure. We said we'd meet with him tomorrow to talk about it. Pray for him! 

But good news, Elder Anderson is HOME!! Just kidding that's not good news. But the real good news is I have a native Taiwanese companion. His name is Elder Chen. He's from Taipei and he's already graduated from college. I just met him this afternoon, but he seems really easy-going and willing to work. I've heard lots of good things about him from other missionaries as well, so I'm pretty excited to spend my last 4 weeks with him. 

Also good and bad news. The other set of elders in our district got shut down because of a lack of missionaries so we get to teach their investigators. They are all really cool. One has a baptismal goal for three weeks from now. His name is Doug and he's an aerospace engineer. How cool is that! He loves reading the Book of Mormon and he's been coming to church every week. 

Man, I'll be honest. This last week was really not too hot, but the coming weeks look so exciting, I'm just going to forget about it and march onward, ever onward! I'll let you know how it goes next week. 

Love you all! 

Also, this is me with my son at the train station for the last time before he comes home. He was in my zone, but just got transferred to Gaoxiong(Kaohsiung).

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-Elder Smith

P.S. The song this week is Adam Ondi-Ahman. Treading into some deep waters now...but I really do just like this hymn. The melody is really interesting(though difficult to sing at 8 in the morning) and the words too. Enjoy

Week Ninety-Eight: 7/7/2015 to 7/13/2015--Two Big Miracles and a Dying Elder Anderson

Hello everyone,

This week, we gained a lot of faith and confidence and we're pretty stoked about what the future holds. Also, there was supposed to be two typhoons that hit Taiwan at the same time and rock us, but they ended up changing directions so all we got were some mild winds and sprinkling. Not too shabby. Typhoons always slow us down. But they're super fun at the same time. It feels like a crazy adventure riding out there through the wind and rain:).

The first miracle happened while I was on exchanges with Elder Moore in Donghai. He's a super good guy and gave me lots of compliments on my guitar-playing/song-writing skills. I'll try not to let those go to my head:). But at night, just before we were about to go home, I saw a guy walking up ahead and I didn't realize he was white until I rode up next to him. I said hi and he was friendly(phew! Some white people in Taiwan are less than friendly to us. Elder Anderson even got a death threat once). His name is Louis and he's from Paris. He's a super cool guy and the craziest thing about this is that I met him last year--THE SAME GUY--when I was in Penghu. I can't believe that's coincidence. That's definitely divine intervention. Anyway, I got his facebook and his email so I'm hoping we can start teaching him and maybe I can even send Salmon a referral when he goes back to Paris in September.   

The second miracle was on Sunday. We had met with Roger on Saturday to teach him the Word of Wisdom(which he accepted), and he said he could come to church, but then when we called him on Sunday morning he said he had to go to baseball practice. We were so bummed because that would mean we'd have to push back his baptismal goal. But then, he showed up in the middle of sacrament meeting and said "I told them I'd be a little late. I wanted to see what sacrament meeting is like." MIRACLES!! He left right afterward to go to practice, but luckily, it rained, so he came back and attended a YSA activity at 1:30, then met with us at 3 to discuss the law of tithing and fasting. He accepted those as well and set up a baptismal interview for Wednesday. He's going to make it! And then in his closing prayer, he said "Before, I felt kind of skeptical, but now I'm filled with faith and I hope I can pass my interview on Wednesday and accomplish my plan to get baptized." When he said that I did a little mental fist pump. He's awesome and I'm excited for his baptism! I'm just said Elder Anderson won't get to see it. Hopefully he'll have time to skype in from bear lake. 

Besides that, there wasn't much else of note. I love all of you! Pray that Elder Anderson and I will have a super solid, uplifting week together as he finished his time here in Taiwan. And get ready to meet my new and probably last companion next week. 

-Elder Smith

P.S. I'll send the song a little bit later. It's going to be the star spangled banner, so get ready for some patriotism. 

The Star Spangled Banner