Oh man, I'm a terrible person, ha! I'm sorry I didn't get a letter out last week and I can explain. We write our letters at an internet café. We have to pay 30 kuai, about one dollar, to use it for an hour. I used every bit of that hour last week trying to send my beloved family a big, fat juicy email. It came down to the last ten seconds and as I moved my hand towards the mouse to press "send", the computer shut off and I lost my email forever. After that we had a really busy schedule and I didn't have any time to write. It was ridiculous. Well, the work goes on and the scriptures say you have to forgive me...so it’s all good. :)
Okay, to review the recent activity of the building up a Zion in Taiwan. It’s been really good, but also really "xin ku,” (rough), but Elder Taylor and I are enjoying every moment of it.
Last week, there were some crazy episodes at church involving an investigator who’s been hiding with her kids from her husband because of an argument and money problems. He is a “male supremacist.” Anyway, the man has really no affiliation with the church, only through his wife who has a powerful testimony and a baptismal goal. He works in mainland China for 2 months at a time and comes home for ten days, and then he is terrible towards his family. So, he showed up to church and started yelling at his wife and kids to come home. There was a big confrontation in the church. I've never seen something like that before, (besides Elders basketball). It was a sad thing to see, but the 2nd counselor in the bishopric took care of things. He has dealt problems like theirs in the past, so it worked out really well. They were taught how the gospel blesses families and we sang. They ended up going home together, but the parents are still on bad terms.
We also saw a fight on the street the other day. There 3 guys going to town on this one guy. It was kind of frustrating, because missionaries are strictly forbidden from getting involved in anything like a beating. There’s been a couple times I've seen things here in Taiwan, where I've really wanted to get in there and establish some sort of peace, but, that kind of thing is strictly forbidden. We had to leave as these three guys were beating on this one man, but I think other people took care of things and the police were called. It was nuts. As we were riding by, I saw one guy uppercut the man, right in the stomach. His face was pretty messed up, too.
We are working with 12 investigators right now, and "Li" is the last name of six of the families, ha. I think that is kind of funny. They are all pretty good, and we plan to add most of them to the pool this next week.
We are working with a blessing right now, the Huang family. They were a street contact with a mei mei who I thought was extremely cute, so we approached them and started talking. The mei mei is 8 years old and when I spoke to her, she lowered her mouth cover ( the surgical mask that all the Taiwanese wear because of pollution) and I realized she had no front teeth, which made her even cuter!!! Her name is Angel. Anyway, they set up and we taught them the restoration. The mom already believes it and she is wonderful. Her favorite was the part about the Holy Ghost and what we understand it to be. She has investigated other Christian churches, but she knows ours to be true, yeah! She wants to be baptized and her family, too. The one problem is her husband. He is very devout Buddhist, and he might oppose the whole thing, which happens a lot here, sad to say.
Things are going pretty well. We are blessed with a lot of great investigators. It’s fun because Elder Taylor and I love to go out and have FUN doing the work! It’s awesome! I love, love, love missionary work. Elder Taylor always kids me and says that I will be training next transfer, because you "love missionary work and you love to contact families.” He's funny. Training next transfer is out of the question. I've been thinking about that lately though, for when I do get to train, about 5 transfers from now, hahaha. What types of things will a do for my trainee? Will I be really bold with him, like Elder Barton was with me or will I let him make his own decisions the whole time? We'll see some day.
We've had interviews recently. President likes us to prepare questions for interviews, so I prepared a lot about, "what to do for the Su family?" But, we talked about to Joyce’s main problem, which is her wanting to be alone forever. And another problem that we have discovered recently is that she doesn't love Heavenly Father, she only loves Jesus. So, yeah, things are different. President invited us to invite her to pray with all her heart, to find love for the father and her family, and through that we can promise her that she will come closer unto Jesus Christ. So, we did, and we will see how that goes......
President also talked to me a little bit about next transfer. He still doesn't know whether I'll be moving or not, but either way, it’s gonna be fun doing the Lord’s work. I love doing the Lord’s work, I love being in Taiwan, and whatever happens next transfer, so be it. 1 Nephi 3:7, baby!
Well anyway, this is my letter. Today we are going to Danshui and visit with the Su family and we’re going to hike a mountain! :) I'm excited and I'm finally going to see the ocean. By the way, I found out that the city I live in, is for sure the most populated city in Taiwan. I don't doubt it, this place in packed with people and I love it.
I love you very much! Elder Daniels
PS: A new record in the 100 meters? That’s nuts!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
If a sign says, "Don't wash your face"...believe it to be true
Well, things have been going really good!! Everything, except a mistake that I made the other day, hahaha, dangit. We were at a basketball court playing ball with about 4 investigators and 10 possible investigators. It was down by a river bank, away from the city and it was really, really hot outside. We decided to use this water pump to wash our faces, but when we got to the pump, it said on the side of it "bukeyixilian,” which means, “Don't wash your face." I figured if it were important they would have written in English too, so I decided to go ahead and continue washing my face. That was a bad idea. I washed my face with what ended up being acid water and ever since then my face has been extremely itchy and I've broken out pretty bad. Yeah, the water is pretty bad over here in Taiwan. We ended up going to see a dermatologist, who gave me some cream and pills and stuff to take care of it. But, yeah, the work goes on......
I have learned a lot from teaching the Su family, a whole lot. At zone conference yesterday, I had a chance to realize that, as Sister Nielson had asked me share my experiences with Joyce with the other missionaries. When we were talking about teaching families, one elder had asked, "What do you do when you are working with a devout Christian family?" I was able to share a lot of the things that I have learned since I have been on my mission.
I've realized that my entire mission thus far has been devoted to the Su family, coming unto Christ and God. I've learned a lot about the "true nature of God.” As we've been sharing with Joyce lately, it’s been this part of the message that has changed her the most. We've recently shared Matthew 7 with her, and I liked focusing on verse 21. She has been taught in her church that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved. "We are all in him," but verse 21 teaches us that we must give all of the glory to the Father, that crying Lord, Lord is not good enough. Joyce has said, “You focus too much on the Heavenly father.” Wow, it didn't feel good when she said that. Wasn't that the point of Christ’s ministry on the earth? It is a straight and narrow path to eternal life. Heavenly Father has given us tools from the beginning of the earth to protect his truths, the scriptures, prophets, and the Holy Ghost. Christ will establish his word in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses. Obviously, it is important that in this life, to learn about God and Jesus Christ in their true form. That is what the restored gospel teaches us.
She is so close and is beginning to love the Book of Mormon. Mormon 9 was very "moving" to her. She says though, that she still gets more out of the Bible than she has the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was strong when she said that and told me to say to her, "Well, that’s because you have already accepted the Bible to be the word of God. Once you know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, you will definitely feel differently towards it. She said, “That’s not fair.” “Truth hurts.” She's also mentioned, "The Bible has always answered my questions.” Then the Spirit had me bring up the topic of infant baptisms, and yeah, she changed her feelings again, haha. Anyway, she is slowly, slowly coming unto the light.
But yeah, Sister Nielson had me share some of this at zone conference. Another cool thing happened at zone conference. Elder H. got up and shared his testimony! He has one now!!! It was about the importance of living prophets (the thing that we shared with Joyce when we were on exchanges together). He is such a soft-hearted and sincere elder. It was great to hear his testimony. He is now a very strong tool in the hands of the Lord now. His companion, Elder Larson, is a good man.
We've had some investigators pop up out of nowhere. A Li kid, and a Huang kid. Both of them are awesome and the Li kid has my exact same birthday! He is so cool. We're going to add both of these guys to the baptismal pool. And, also a Li family that we have been working with, the ones with the VERY cute mei mei's, the dad has been reading and praying.....
I bore my testimony in zone conference. I have learned so much from the Su family. My studies for her about our church "not focusing enough on Christ," has brought me so much closer to Christ, the true nature of God, and the power of the Book of Mormon. It’s been such a blessing working with them. They have been my mission....
I love my mission so, so, so much. There are so many INTERESTING things: spiritually, culturally, and “missionarally.” :) I love it. I love you, Elder Daniels
I have learned a lot from teaching the Su family, a whole lot. At zone conference yesterday, I had a chance to realize that, as Sister Nielson had asked me share my experiences with Joyce with the other missionaries. When we were talking about teaching families, one elder had asked, "What do you do when you are working with a devout Christian family?" I was able to share a lot of the things that I have learned since I have been on my mission.
I've realized that my entire mission thus far has been devoted to the Su family, coming unto Christ and God. I've learned a lot about the "true nature of God.” As we've been sharing with Joyce lately, it’s been this part of the message that has changed her the most. We've recently shared Matthew 7 with her, and I liked focusing on verse 21. She has been taught in her church that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved. "We are all in him," but verse 21 teaches us that we must give all of the glory to the Father, that crying Lord, Lord is not good enough. Joyce has said, “You focus too much on the Heavenly father.” Wow, it didn't feel good when she said that. Wasn't that the point of Christ’s ministry on the earth? It is a straight and narrow path to eternal life. Heavenly Father has given us tools from the beginning of the earth to protect his truths, the scriptures, prophets, and the Holy Ghost. Christ will establish his word in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses. Obviously, it is important that in this life, to learn about God and Jesus Christ in their true form. That is what the restored gospel teaches us.
She is so close and is beginning to love the Book of Mormon. Mormon 9 was very "moving" to her. She says though, that she still gets more out of the Bible than she has the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was strong when she said that and told me to say to her, "Well, that’s because you have already accepted the Bible to be the word of God. Once you know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, you will definitely feel differently towards it. She said, “That’s not fair.” “Truth hurts.” She's also mentioned, "The Bible has always answered my questions.” Then the Spirit had me bring up the topic of infant baptisms, and yeah, she changed her feelings again, haha. Anyway, she is slowly, slowly coming unto the light.
But yeah, Sister Nielson had me share some of this at zone conference. Another cool thing happened at zone conference. Elder H. got up and shared his testimony! He has one now!!! It was about the importance of living prophets (the thing that we shared with Joyce when we were on exchanges together). He is such a soft-hearted and sincere elder. It was great to hear his testimony. He is now a very strong tool in the hands of the Lord now. His companion, Elder Larson, is a good man.
We've had some investigators pop up out of nowhere. A Li kid, and a Huang kid. Both of them are awesome and the Li kid has my exact same birthday! He is so cool. We're going to add both of these guys to the baptismal pool. And, also a Li family that we have been working with, the ones with the VERY cute mei mei's, the dad has been reading and praying.....
I bore my testimony in zone conference. I have learned so much from the Su family. My studies for her about our church "not focusing enough on Christ," has brought me so much closer to Christ, the true nature of God, and the power of the Book of Mormon. It’s been such a blessing working with them. They have been my mission....
I love my mission so, so, so much. There are so many INTERESTING things: spiritually, culturally, and “missionarally.” :) I love it. I love you, Elder Daniels
Sunday, August 3, 2008
A new companion
Well, the transfer flew by, Elder Tuveson is gone, and I will miss him. He was a very, very good friend of mine. I'm sitting next to my new companion, Elder Taylor, who is from Utah. He went to Davis high school. He is awesome and definitely a cool guy. He played football, wrestled, and ran track his junior year. He's about 6'1'' and a healthy 185-200 pounds and he is the biggest companion I've had in Taiwan. The others were 5'3'' and 5'6''. He has blonde hair like me. He also is a very, very young missionary, this is his 6th transfer and I'm going into my 4th. So we've got two really, really young missionaries here in San Chong, but he's got a lot of faith. It should be enough to get the Su family baptized!! :)
I'm excited to get back to work. It’s going to be a lot different, but I'm excited! We had two families come to church yesterday that we are working with, and a guy with his girl friend, so Heavenly Father has blessed us with a lot of people to be working with lately. Hopefully, we can grab some of these people and throw them in the baptismal pool, keep them progressing. The two families are difficult. We teach English to them every week, and the kids never learn anything. They are crazy. In their eyes, missionaries are just big ol' punching bags. hahaha. Oh man, they're cute though.
The Su family.....She's still progressing, but slowly. I went over there on exchanges with Elder H, who’s been struggling a little. It went really, really well. We talked about a lot of things with Joyce that went really well, especially Christ’s words in 1 Cor. 13:1. “By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses shall His word be established.” We talked about how people can easily form their own opinions about scripture and determine it the way they want, keeping them from accepting the truth in the end. But, that’s why we are given more then one witness, so that the truth can be stable. Like a board nailed to a table. If it has one nail, you can turn it anyway that you want to turn it, but if you put two nails in that board, it’s not going anywhere. That is what Heavenly Father has given us in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and prophets. We talked about the importance of a living prophet and to help with her problem about Joseph Smith. We shared King Benjamin, talking about himself being as of the dust of the earth. It hit her pretty well, but she seems to be locked on to her "opinion.” The Spirit spoke a lot to her and it even helped Elder H. as he tried to help her understand the importance of these things. It gave him opportunity and more desire, to help people find the truth.
Elder H. confessed to me on that exchange that he it still having doubts about the church and that he himself is still an investigator. The moment those words left his mouth, the Spirit told me to say to him, "We are all investigators, Elder H." He liked that a lot and said, "I'm glad you said that Elder Daniels." I told him that there are always questions that cross our path in this life. The difference is, once you have already accepted that this is God’s church, you will also be willing to accept the answers that God gives us. God’s knowledge is far greater than ours. We are always investigating His gospel. It’s just up to us to seek and accept the answers when he gives them to us. Through our desires God gives us greater understanding. Elder H. is such a good man with a very soft and tender heart, he is progressing so much.
That night we also went to visit a brand new family that we set up on a scooter, with one small, cute mei mei:). It was interesting because we both were brand new and teaching. The Spirit lead the entire lesson, and the man who you would never think would accept the message, said at the end, “I think I'm beginning to believe in Heavenly Father." The wife was interested to know where her spirit goes after this life. They are excited to pray and read. They have a grandma who is 92 years old and a very devout Buddhist. We aren't sure yet if she will oppose her son continuing to meet with us. We'll see. I will keep you posted.
Heavenly Father is leading the work here in San Chong and it’s awesome. We're getting to work with so many families!! I LOVE IT, I LOVE MY MISSION. I always new I would learn a lot on my mission, but holy smokes!!!!! This is ridiculous!!!!!!
I'm excited to get back to work. It’s going to be a lot different, but I'm excited! We had two families come to church yesterday that we are working with, and a guy with his girl friend, so Heavenly Father has blessed us with a lot of people to be working with lately. Hopefully, we can grab some of these people and throw them in the baptismal pool, keep them progressing. The two families are difficult. We teach English to them every week, and the kids never learn anything. They are crazy. In their eyes, missionaries are just big ol' punching bags. hahaha. Oh man, they're cute though.
The Su family.....She's still progressing, but slowly. I went over there on exchanges with Elder H, who’s been struggling a little. It went really, really well. We talked about a lot of things with Joyce that went really well, especially Christ’s words in 1 Cor. 13:1. “By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses shall His word be established.” We talked about how people can easily form their own opinions about scripture and determine it the way they want, keeping them from accepting the truth in the end. But, that’s why we are given more then one witness, so that the truth can be stable. Like a board nailed to a table. If it has one nail, you can turn it anyway that you want to turn it, but if you put two nails in that board, it’s not going anywhere. That is what Heavenly Father has given us in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and prophets. We talked about the importance of a living prophet and to help with her problem about Joseph Smith. We shared King Benjamin, talking about himself being as of the dust of the earth. It hit her pretty well, but she seems to be locked on to her "opinion.” The Spirit spoke a lot to her and it even helped Elder H. as he tried to help her understand the importance of these things. It gave him opportunity and more desire, to help people find the truth.
Elder H. confessed to me on that exchange that he it still having doubts about the church and that he himself is still an investigator. The moment those words left his mouth, the Spirit told me to say to him, "We are all investigators, Elder H." He liked that a lot and said, "I'm glad you said that Elder Daniels." I told him that there are always questions that cross our path in this life. The difference is, once you have already accepted that this is God’s church, you will also be willing to accept the answers that God gives us. God’s knowledge is far greater than ours. We are always investigating His gospel. It’s just up to us to seek and accept the answers when he gives them to us. Through our desires God gives us greater understanding. Elder H. is such a good man with a very soft and tender heart, he is progressing so much.
That night we also went to visit a brand new family that we set up on a scooter, with one small, cute mei mei:). It was interesting because we both were brand new and teaching. The Spirit lead the entire lesson, and the man who you would never think would accept the message, said at the end, “I think I'm beginning to believe in Heavenly Father." The wife was interested to know where her spirit goes after this life. They are excited to pray and read. They have a grandma who is 92 years old and a very devout Buddhist. We aren't sure yet if she will oppose her son continuing to meet with us. We'll see. I will keep you posted.
Heavenly Father is leading the work here in San Chong and it’s awesome. We're getting to work with so many families!! I LOVE IT, I LOVE MY MISSION. I always new I would learn a lot on my mission, but holy smokes!!!!! This is ridiculous!!!!!!
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