Week Seventy-Six: 2/2/2015 to 2/8/2015--Obedience Brings Blessings

Dear Everyone,

This last week wasn't as great as I would have liked it to have been, but there were some major miracles that happened for which I am super grateful. As fare as lamesauce things that happened, people cancelled on us/didn't show up to their appointments way more than normal this week. That was really depressing because a lot of them seemed really solid. I always wonder what the reason for people not showing up is, but most of the time, they don't communicate very clearly/stop answering their phone completely, so I have no idea if it was something we did, or if they heard something bad about us, or what. It kind of stresses me out. But I suppose I can rest assured that if I've done all I can, I can trust the Lord that he will make up for my weaknesses. He is "able to do [his] own work."(2 Nephi 27:20) 

Another let-down is that the new missionaries are still waiting for their visas. Elder Gong(Asia area president) will be meeting with the Taiwanese consulate today to discuss a lasting solution. President said he is still hoping they will come within the next couple weeks, so no moves yet, but whether they come or not, we'll have a move day in two weeks(so on the 23rd in the middle of Chinese New Year). That'll be fun:) So yep, I'm still in Tainan. I love it here! But I'm getting ripe. 

So now for the upside, the miracle! Yesterday, Fourth committed to be baptized on the 28th of February. It was funny. Yesterday when we met with him and shared stuff, he seemed like he was grasping it super quick(which was cool, because we were pretty pressed for time), but we had no complaints. At the end of the lesson, we learned that his member friend had already told him everything we were going to teach him today. It's a nice system. Jemaal(the member) gives him a lesson preview, and then we can just go over it and answer and questions he has. He's looking super solid for being baptized in 3 weeks. It seems like what really did it for him was seeing Dhylyn be baptized and then share her testimony. That really impressed him and he wanted that for himself. 

It's super cool to see what a powerful influence one's testimony can have. I think it's because when people say they know something important is true and that thing really is true, God can then witness to all those who hear that it really is true. It's a weighty feeling calm and clarity. It kind of reminds me of resonance as explained and demonstrated to me in Physics class. It just speaks to your soul and resonates with you. I know God is real. He is as real as me or you. He lives and He loves us. He is the source of all truth and light. If we seek him, he will answer us. I know that. And because He's real, we can "with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast.” (Ether 12:4)

Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week:)

-Elder Smith

This week's song: #103 "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer."

Week Seventy-Five: 1/27/2015-2/1/2014--Baptism weeks are always the toughest. But they're the best.

Good morning(evening) everyone!!

Elder Smith here. This week was pretty fantastic. It didn't start out so fantastic, but it ended really well. Actually. The very start was pretty great because I got to go to lunch with Elder Colvin(my MTC companion) and Elder Dawson(also from the MTC days) at this sweet BBQ place with all-you-can-eat Haggen Daz ice cream and ninjas on the roof. That was pretty tasty and it was fun catching up with them. They're both doing really well.

Anyway, after that, it kind of went down hill. We found 2 new investigators, but one kind of disappeared after his dad expressed his disapproval. Then the other one who we thought was super solid(she asked us when church was, committed to go, and seemed really excited to read the Book of Mormon) called us the next day and said she read the scripture in Luke16:13 that says "No man can serve two masters...you cannot serve God and mammon." then proceeded to let us know that she felt as though mammon suited her better and that she wouldn't be coming to church on Sunday. She was pretty polite about it but EXTREMELY mislead. We're still scratching our heads and massaging our wounded hearts over that. I also felt pretty alone this week in my desires to be obedient and diligent. That's never fun:(. Anyways, I was feeling kind of stressed and a little discouraged when Saturday morning came around. That was lame because we had a baptism that day. Luckily, the Lord came to the rescue just in time as always. He sent me Isaiah this time(that's a first). Isaiah 49:14-16 to be exact. It reads: 

14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

I felt so much love from those verses. I knew that God was very much aware of me and my struggles and I just felt like things would be okay. And they were! That night, Brother Lu and Dhylyn both got baptized. It was a great service. Dhylyn had to get baptized twice(my bad), but other than that, it was all smooth. I feel so blessed to have been a part of that. I hope I can stay in Tainan a little longer and see it all pan out, but I'm afraid that when the new missionaries come, I'll be the first to go(I've been here over 6 months which is a long time in this mission).

I love you all! I hope you have a great week. We also had a Harry Potter party this week for English class. You can check out the pictures on Facebook. I think I'm tagged in a couple. We played quidditch dodgeball. And now I know how to say quidditch in Chinese along with a host of other Harry Potter vocabulary. 

Love,

Elder Smith

Pictures!

​From left to right: Brother Ramos, Elder Crook, me, Dhylyn, Sister Ramos, Elder Stevens

​left to right: me, Sister Lu, Chichi, Brother Lu, Lulu, Elder Millheim(first missionary contact Brother Lu had in Taiwan), Elder Stevens 

This week's song: "'Tis Sweet To Sing The Matchless Love"

Week Seventy-Four: 1/20/2015 to 1/26/2015--Happy Birthday, Elder Stevens and a double baptism next week to boot!

Hello Everyone!

This week, like every week, has been kind of a roller-coaster. Every day is full of a bunch of different emotions and experiences. As a missionary, you feel so invested in the happiness of the people you're serving and when they won't let you help them or you can tell they don't really take what you're teaching seriously, you feel so devastated and helpless. It's a lame feeling. But! When they let you help them--when they listen, accept, and apply what you teach--you just see their lives change and you see their countenances brighten and it's one of the best feelings ever! This week, we had a little bit of both. First of all, Brother Lu AND Dhylyn are getting baptized next Saturday! We're pumped, the ward is pumped, and most importantly, they're both pumped. I feel so blessed to be able to witness them make this decision and follow through on it. It was really cool last night because I was able to call a lot of the Elders that have worked with Brother Lu over the past year and let them know he's finally getting baptized. They were all so happy! It made me happy. I went to bed last night super warm and fuzzy inside, that's for sure:). 

As for our other investigators, Yonghan is doing pretty well. Last night, we met with him at a different member's house and he shared a really simple, but sincere testimony of how prayer has made a difference in his life. That was really good to hear. We were kind of worried that he wasn't really taking in anything that we were saying, but it was good to find out that he's let at least a little bit sink below the surface. Sister Lan's about the same. Junwei finishes testing today, so he'll start having time to meet again which is awesome! Other than that, though, not much else to report.

We had Stake Conference this last weekend. President Blickenstaff came and spoke which is always good. His Chinese is pretty good! I was also able to see some people from Yongkang that I hadn't seen in a while. I don't remember if you all remember, but there was an RC I worked with there named Brother Lee. He's doing WAAY better now! He looks so happy, he's lost weight, and he helps the missionaries a lot, it sounds like. It's super cool to see that huge change. 

We also surprised Elder Stevens yesterday for his birthday. That was fun:). I feel really bad, actually, because I told him we were meeting a new investigator and he prayed for them twice in our companionship prayers. Both times, I felt like a terrible person. I probably should have thought of a different excuse to get him there without suspicions. Anyway, the other missionaries and some members were all there to surprise him and gave him cake and pizza, and stinky tofu. By the way, I had stinky tofu for the first time yesterday and it was really tasty actually. It tasted like squishy
Dorito cubes to me. yum:). but yeah, all in all, a pretty good birthday celebration! 

That's about it! Love you all! 

-Elder Smith 

This week's song: We Are All Enlisted

Week Seventy-Three: 2015年1月19日

Hello Everyone! 

This week has been pretty good. We had interviews on Thursday in which President Blickenstaff gave me some really good advice. He's so wise! I'm so grateful he's my mission president. I miss our 25+ minute interviews that we got to have when I was in Magong. 10 minutes feels way too short. 

One shocking realization I had. We only have 3 more weeks of training! Where did the time go?? Another shocking realization: Elder Stevens doesn't know what indie is. I made an off-hand reference to a tie he was wearing, saying he looked super indie(it was teal with little cartoon bat shapes all over it) and he totally 聽不懂'd. That Chinese means he heard but he didn't comprehend. And he has no frame of reference for it, so it's impossible for me to explain. I've given up.

Our investigators are doing pretty good. 

Brother Lu will most likely be baptized on the 31st. He feels like he needs to do it and he's waited long enough. He'll be giving us a definite answer on Thursday, but he sounded pretty set on the 31st. Pray that he'll recognize answers to his prayers. 

Dhylyn didn't come to church and we weren't able to meet with her yesterday because she had to go to Gaoxiong(Kaohsiung) to get her records renewed or something. She just said it was about some papers that were really important for her work. So that was too bad. But we'll be seeing her this weekend and she's also pretty excited to get baptized on the 31st. 

Yonghan(the EQP's younger brother) is doing ok. His brother's giving him a lot of pressure, but he's holding up well. He committed to quit smoking by the 28th and that he'd keep the rest of the Word of Wisdom starting now. We hope he follows through. He had a cool experience last week with receiving guidance from prayer so that was heartening! 

We met with Phoebe again for the first time in quite a while. She said she really believes the Book of the Mormon to be true because when she reads it, she "has a feeling [she] doesn't know how to describe." It was really cool to hear her say that. She's still a little hesitant about being baptized, but hopefully she'll be able to warm up to it. Her main concern is that her family will think she's weird if she's a Christian and they're all Buddhist/Taoist. Pray for her too!

This week, I read a talk that one of my MTC teachers showed to me. It's called "There Are Many Gifts" by Marvin J. Ashton. It's super awesome. If you'd like to read it, here it is: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/there-are-many-gifts?lang=eng

Everyone has a gift or two. They might just be gifts you don't recognize all the time. "The unexamined life is not worth living" as Socrates said. So examine your life! Seek God's inspiration as you discover your own gift(s), then use it to bless your own life and the lives of others, "that all my be profited thereby."

Love you all! Have a good week:)

-Elder Smith施長老

P.S. This week's song is "Israel, Israel God is Calling" 

Week Seventy-Two: 1/6/2015 to 1/12/2015--A Quick Update

Hello Everyone!

So, I didn't plan what I was going to talk about in my email this morning like I normally do. Forgive me if it's choppy. 

This week, Elder Stevens was kind of sick(can I get an aaaawwww?). But seriously, it was rough for him. We could still go out and do missionary work, but he had to blow his nose all the time, and just felt kind of lousy. I think it's almost gone, though, so that's good. We had some good success this week in helping some recent converts and less active members set goals for when they want to attend to temple. That was cool! It's always sad when members don't want to go, though. I want to go so bad! I haven't been in over a year:(. I'm hoping I can move up farther north so I can attend the temple trips. 

Dhylyn's doing super well still. We taught her and her boyfriend, Baolo, the ten commandments yesterday. They already knew all about those, so it went pretty fast. Although, they stopped and asked a bunch of questions about "Though shalt not kill." which I feel like should be a no-brainer. Like, just don't kill people. It just ethically makes sense. I think Baolo was testing us. He had this kind of smirk on his face the whole time like he was trying to catch us in our words. But we kept our cool, and I think we really gained his respect. That's nice, because Dhylyn told us he said he was born a Catholic and he'd die a Catholic. I hope he can open up a little with us. We also stopped and discussed the law of chastity and they both seemed really serious about keeping it. I'm excited for them! There wasn't much progress made with our other investigators. Keep praying for them, though! Our EQP's brother said he'd come to church this next Sunday and he needs to if he wants to be baptized on the 7th of February. Our lesson was pretty positive yesterday, but his brother was giving him a lot of pressure. I hope he didn't get scared. 

Love you all! Also, get pumped for the song we did this week. It's super awesome. 

-Elder Smith

Week Seventy-One: 12/30/2014 to 1/5/2015--Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone,

So the new year came too fast. That's all there is to it. It was always really comforting when people asked me when I was going home and I could say "next year." Next year always seems ages away, but then when "next year" becomes "this year," it becomes frighteningly more close. 

But enough of that! This week was pretty fantastic. Lately, it just seems like everything's going right. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm very happy to just let it stay forever haha. First of all, Dhylyn is doing great. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she had a little problem with coffee, but she was really willing to give it up for a greater cause. Her boyfriend, Paolo wasn't there, though and he's the one who really needs help, so we hope we can get in contact with him this week. They are both set to be baptized on the 31st. 

Also, miracles! Brother Lu, who's been pretty anti-gospel discussion lately, told us yesterday that he talked to the sister missionary who contacted him in the first place at temple square and she helped him set a goal for January 31st as well. We walked into gospel principles and he was like, "Elder Smith, just so you know, I've set another goal to be baptized on the 31st. I know you're going to call me tomorrow anyway, so I just thought I'd let you know now and get it over with." Not the most positive way of telling me, but I think he's just kind of trying to save face or something. I don't know, but we'll keep talking with him about it and just see what his thoughts are about it. That was really exciting and super unexpected though! Then, also yesterday, Yonghan(a member's younger brother) set a goal with us to be baptized on the 7th of February. That was awesome and his family is so stoked! Ever since Brother Su's been baptized, the ward's seemed a lot more excited about missionary work and it seems like they trust us a lot more as well. It's exciting! 

Last Friday, I had an exchange with Elder Rock. He's super funny. I was super impressed by how hard he worked especially on learning the language. With any spare minute he had, he was getting out his flashcards and studying them. It was awesome and made me realize that I can't let myself get comfortable with my Chinese speaking level. I need to always be striving to improve. 

Last thing, we went over to the Ramos' house yesterday and ate something called Balut. I don't know if you know what that is, Kayla or Georgette. I don't think they sell it in America. It seems kind of unethical. but it's basically a duck egg where the duck is already partially formed inside. It was SO gross. I almost threw up twice. But I ate it. It's over. And next time, I can eat it more slowly(they told me eating the whole thing at the same time is the best way to do it). This is what it looks like:  

​NAAAAAASSSSTTTTYYYYYY! but as you can see, we also ate some nice chicken soup and some papaya. That was pretty tasty.

Anyways, I hope no one threw up when they saw that. Have a good week! 

-Elder Smith 

P.S. Also, in other news, my family is moving to Olympia. So here's a sad-ish song:( -- Abide With Me 'Tis Eventide.

Week Seventy: 12/23/2014 to 12/29/2014--Well, Christmas has come and gone, but the miracles haven't:)

Hello, everyone!

First of all, Merry Christmas. This was a good week. Good week, indeed. Brother Su was baptized on Saturday with minimal support from his family, but they all came on Sunday to see him confirmed. Here he is:

​I had to use that website to make it landscape and it got super fancy. Sorry...Anyway, we'll be looking for opportunities to visit the rest of his family this week. His wife, who we thought was super grumpy about the church for the longest time, is actually really nice. All the members were really good about welcoming them. Dhylyn and her boyfriend Baolo accepted a baptismal goal for January 31. Dhylyn's thrilled. Baolo is a little more doubtful, but Dhylyn will be a huge help to him. Maybe a little too much help. She was getting pretty preachy yesterday haha. Either way, I'm grateful to be able to teach both of them.

Junwei hurt his foot this last week, so he wasn't able to come to church. Please pray for him and for us! This could be pretty hard on his progression in the gospel as he can't really ride his bike anymore and his parents don't really want us coming over to his house. 

Other than that, this week we skyped our families(awesome!), we had dinner with an American/Taiwanese family and had one of the most awkward dinner conversations ever, we exchanged with the Zone Leaders and had a good time, I got my package from my family! I got a tie-hanger which sounds really simple and it totally is! My life has been simplifiedx999. I love being organized. I also got some goodies from Trader Joe's(I miss that store SO MUCH) and some other stuff that I'll need. I also got some fake glasses to keep the construction dust from getting into my eyes. They also make me look much smarter and hopefully less intimidating so I'll have more success contacting on the roads. 

Love you all! Have a fantastic week and a Happy New Year!

-Elder Smith  

P.S. Also, here's the Song: How Great Thou Art.