Week Thirthy-Four: 4/14/2014 to 4/20/2014--So Many People Want To Hear The Gospel All of a Sudden!

Also, FOOOOOOOD! This is some curry I made with cabbage, carrots and chicken. And curry powder. Yum:)

Hello Family and Friends!

So as the title states, we met many interested new people this week and saw lots of miracles:) We had 2 people from English class come up to us afterwards and ask to set up a time to meet and talk about Christ (that never happens, by the way). We also met with a guy named Colin. He lived in California for a year so his English is fantastic and he likes country music a lot so Elder Ward is pumped(he's from Tennessee). He's got really pure desires to come and follow Christ. He also thought church was pretty good. He'd been to other Christian churches in America before so we talked with him afterwards about how our church services aren't as "fun" as the ones he might have attended before and he said "Yeah, those services were a really great time, but I don't know. This service was more quiet and I'm kind of a shy person so I don't know, I like quiet."  As for other investigators, Killy came to church and English class, but we didn't get to share much with him. We'll be meeting with him tonight. Rod is still awesome! His family hasn't budged much, but we've got him started reading For Strength of Youth(a book of standards our church has made for teenagers) so hopefully that'll help his parents see changes strong enough to let him be baptized. 

As for me, I'm doing well. I got some feedback that last week's letter made it seem like me and my companion may not be getting along real well, but I just want to clear up any misconceptions and say Elder Ward is great! He's got a giant testimony. He grew up in the south and has had his faith questioned and ridiculed his whole life, so he's got a pretty firm and immovable testimony. He's really good at using Chinese idioms. That comes in handy and impresses all our investigators. Super good. He's also super funny and gets along really well with people. He has a really big love for the people here. We get along really well. In fact, we sang a song today. Check it out...

And for random news, we found a really giant spider in our apartment the other day so that was pretty nuts, I'm becoming a great cook(kind of), and it's been getting hotter. I've heard Summer here is ridiculous so I'm doing the best I can to tell myself the weather right now is really chilly so when it gets scorching, I'll be adjusted:) Maybe it's a false hope, but we'll see. Love you all as always! If you have any specific questions, let me know.

   

-Elder Brendan Smith

P.S. If you haven't seen this video, change that right now! It's E P I C!

http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

P.P.S.  Here's us harmonizing. Get ready for some Tennessee twang, y'all:)  "Nearer, My God, To Thee" by Elder Ward and me.

Week Thirty-Three: 4/7/2014 to 4/13/2014 --General…wait for it…Conference

Hello Family and Friends!

This week has been pretty great. I've found out more about who I am, I cooked my first real meal since being out here, it was Conference weekend. Not much could have been better.

As far as finding out who I am. I've found out that I'm not the super chill, plays the guitar, not a care in the world, indie guy I thought I was. Because when you live with a person 24-7, you can't be that person unless that's actually your personality. I've found out that I'm actually very opinionated and kind of stubborn. So don't be fooled! haha. Just kidding, but that's been an eye-opening experience that's led me to really think about some things I need to change. I forget who it was but someone in conference said that we can't segment ourselves. I think it was Elder Nelson. That really got to me. We need to be the same person in the dark as we are in the light. So yeah, expect changes to come!

I made fried rice this week! And it wasn't even gross. True, it wasn't nearly as tasty as most of the restaurants I go to here, but it was probably more healthy and I made it so that added a sense of accomplishment to the mix. For those of you wondering how I've lived this whole time not cooking food, here's a little tid-bit of Taiwanese fact. Food here is super cheap. Like, ridiculously cheap. Take the price of a McDonald's big mac meal(like $5, right?) and divide that by 2 and that's about how much I spend on a meal here if I'm feeling fancy. So because food is so cheap and convenient, we hardly ever eat inside because it's so much of a hassle. But on Sundays we eat inside, so hopefully over the next year and a half, I can develop a knack for Taiwanese culinary arts. That would be sweet.

It was also conference! I have so many feels I can't ever begin to express them. I think my biggest feel is one of regret. Regret that I didn't take advantage of the wonderful blessing that general conference is. Think about it. We have the chance twice a year to hear LIVING PROPHETS AND APOSTLES, people who speak more directly to God that we can even fathom, speak to us. I feel like that still doesn't have the power to impress on your minds the magnitude of this opportunity and I think it's because it's something you have to feel more than be told about. I'd invite everyone to go back and watch a few talks that I think really had power and made me ponder. One was Elder Holland's talk. One was Elder Nelson's. And the other was Elder Eyring's talk in the Saturday Morning session entitled "A Priceless Heritage of Hope". They all stressed the importance of obedience and standing up for the truth, even when the majority of people may not hold those truths to be important or of worth. I think that's something that we can all work on. 

I love you guys! I'm grateful for the letters and emails I get from you and from the many prayers. I hope I can pay it forward as I bring the most important message in the world to those I meet every day.

With love,

Elder Smith

P.S.  Hymn for the Week is "Let Us All Press On."  Click the link and you can listen to it. :)

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".

Brendan Sings: Redeemer of Israel

Another hymn from Brendan.  I kind of love the times his voice cracks as he's singing--makes me smile.

https://soundcloud.com/brrrrendan/redeemer-of-israel-taiwan

Week Thirty-one: 3/24/2014-3/30/2014--First Week on the Island…Again

Hey Family and Friends!

This week has felt like my first week all over again, but kind of different. There's a lot to get used to, I'm even further removed from home, and my luggage took FOREVER to get here. I was riding on a bike without a pedal for a day and a half(I feel you, Dad!). 

I'm just going to jump right in. First off, all the investigators here are splendid. I don't know what Elder Fronk(the guy I replaced) and Elder Ward did, but all the investigators here just have the most pure intentions. It's really awesome to see. They all just want to come closer to Christ and what's even better is that they're all friends with the ward and with each other! The ones I want to talk about are Sister Zeng, Killy, Rod, and Brother Wang.

Sister Zeng is in her 20s and was just baptized two days ago and she's awesome! She grew up on an island on the outskirts of Penghu and her family was the only Christian family on the whole island. Her faith is super strong and I'm super stoked to see the great impact she'll have on the branch.

Elder Ward, Sister Zheng and Brendan right before Sister Zheng's baptism.

Killy is in his 20s and he's from mainland China. He's here for school and he's super awesome. Just the nicest guy you've ever met and he has super hilarious, good English. 

Rod is 15 and he's just the most pure, innocent kid you ever did see. He has such a big desire to follow Christ. He loves church, he loves all the people at church, but his family opposes him being baptized, so please pray for him!

Brother Wang is in his upper 20s and is set to be baptized next Saturday. He has a problem with his back so it looks like he's always bowing his head and he's really skinny. He's so hilarious though! He always says "ya know me?" When we were teaching the commandments, and said we had another one to teach, he was like "what? there's more? no coffee? no girls? what the?...oh ok!" and then he took the pamphlet. It was super hilarious. He's a great guy and he has such a strong testimony. I'm excited!

As far as Penghu the place goes, it's not super different from Yongkang. The main differences is that here's coastline everywhere and it's a lot smaller. Like, there's still high-rises and McDonald's and 7-11 and things like that. I'm not living in a hut or anything, but it does have a more rustic kind of feel. The people are a lot more laid-back, and we run into people that Elder Ward has contacted 2-3 times before almost every day. Oh also, the branch president births babies so basically everyone knows him. He's super awesome. Super old and wise. A really good mainland China accent to top it all off, and apparently he takes the missionaries out to dinner pretty regularly so I'm pretty stoked for that. 

I love you all! The work is doing well here! I hope your weeks are all going well. The church is true even on the most remote islands of the sea. It will change literally any one's life if they humble themselves and let it into their hearts. I have a strong testimony of that. 

   

Elder Smith

Brendan Sings: Ye Elders of Israel

Brendan has started recording weekly hymns.  It makes me happy that's he's in a mission where he is allowed to make music and use all of his talents.  Here is the first, "Ye Elders of Israel."

https://soundcloud.com/brrrrendan/taiwan-ye-elders-of-israel

Week Thirty--3/17/2014-3/23/2014: An Unexpected Change in Location

Hello Everyone!

Greetings from MaGong, PengHu. If you will notice, that place is different from my previous area which was YongKang. Yes, I moved, ohhhh did I move. So here's the scoop. Every 6 weeks, the whole mission has the possibility of switching around because that's when most new missionaries come on/old missionaries leave the island. Sometimes, however, in the middle of that time period they have to switch people around. This time, it was because they had to train a new Elder to be operations manager(works at the office preparing presentations and handling all problems with apartments, etc...So in this jumble to get everything to work out, I guess President had a feeling he should move me to the island of Penghu which is off the coast of Taiwan. There is a small, but growing branch there of about 30 people and there are only 2 missionaries. We don't go to most of the normal meetings that everyone else goes to because it's super inconvenient to have to fly back and forth all the time. So, we don't have a lot of contact with everyone else while we're here. It's really scary! I feel like I did when I first got to Taiwan. I feel like I'm training all over again. But, if President and the Lord trust me here, I hope I won't let them down.

Yesterday was pretty wild. I totally wasn't expecting to move and no one else saw it coming either so saying good bye to everyone was both easier and harder if that makes sense...I think Elder Gish was more scared though because he really wasn't expecting it haha. I'm not sure if he's really confident with the area yet. Hopefully he rises to the challenge:)

This morning I got up really early, took a train to Taichung, then took a plane to Penghu. That was quite an experience to say the least. I got here safely, though, and my new companion seems super solid. His name is Elder Ward and he's from Tennessee. He wrestles and I'm his first junior companion. It sounds like this area is on fire so I'm really excited to start meeting everyone! We're going to dinner with the branch president tonight, then meeting with some Jehovah's Witness missionaries afterward so tonight should be interesting:)  

So how about the week before this all happened in Yongkang? Eason dropped his baptismal date because his grandma is super Buddhist/Taoist and has some misconceptions about what he can and can't do in order to respect his family's beliefs. He's going to talk to her face to face in a couple weeks, after which he should be able to be baptized. Yaay! There should be lots of great people being baptized there next month:) It's super exciting! I'm pretty bummed I won't have any way of seeing them in person, but I'll be able to hear from Elder Gish occasionally, I hope. 

Yeah, I really don't know what to write. I'm frazzled...Hopefully next week, I'll have it more together.

-Elder Smith