Just a note…Elder Daniels has been on the island one year this week. (He had been in the MTC for 11+ weeks). He has been in two areas, Sanchong and Tucheng, which you can find on Google Earth. Who knows if he will move this upcoming transfer on April 13th?
OH BOY, things have been busy, EXTREMELY busy. Last week we called a lot of people from English class, and this week we've been meeting with the ones that set up and don't stand us up! :) We've also been busy because every night we make a vision of what is going to happen the next day. We even plan the miracles that we are going to see! We also focused on being bold with inviting people to be baptized and last week we invited Phillip, Yan Didi, and Jack. They will all ask Heavenly Father in their prayers if setting a goal for baptism is what they need to do or not. We also gave a couple investigators to the sisters due to convenience.
We've been blessed a lot, and the best bit if news is that Brother Fan is still flying! He wants to be baptized so bad. The next step is setting up his interview for this weekend, since last week we have had three lessons with him, and they have all been in the homes of ward families! Man oh man, I love this ward. We have ALL of our lessons in families’ homes now. It was announced in Sacrament meeting that all the members need to clean their homes so that the Spirit can reside. That might mean there can be EVEN MORE places for us to take our investigators and hold family nights. We've already had 11 family nights in 11 different homes with Brother Fan and various other investigators, ha. Now that is member missionary unity. It is IMPOSSIBLE for Brother Fan to go inactive, besides, he is too excited to go on a mission. He LOVES the Book of Mormon. He is an artist and he draws pictures of Book of Mormon prophets! What a blessing.
Ryan and I have been keeping in touch. He's been worthy and going to church EVERY Sunday over there in New Zealand. He really enjoys it which brings a lot of solace to my heart because a couple times right before he was baptized, he gave a strong impression to me that he might just go inactive and give up on traveling all the way to a church located 30 minutes from his apartment in New Zealand. However, he's made some friends and they take him to church every week by car!
I love this church. Ryan has had a couple of experiences to share the gospel with his friends over there as well. His English is really funny because he learned a lot of his English from the English Book of Mormon that he would read along with his Chinese Book of Mormon. I think that is really similar to how my Chinese sounded for the first little while. I love that book, you should read it...
I love the Bible. I've been reading it a lot this transfer because this transfer my studies have been completely focused on Christ and the atonement. The Bible has a lot of good material pertaining to these subjects. haha.
The Traveling Assistants came over and went on exchanges with us this past week and I learned a lot, mostly about the importance of the planner. It is just like the Liahona when used right (with faith) and can become a WONDERFUL instrument in a missionary’s hand. Oh baby, that’s so true. I learned a lot about planning from those two elders, Elder Evans and Elder Payne. They are an interesting pair. Elder Payne fits his name, he is a machine. He did 25,000 pushups last transfer. I asked him, “Why would you do that?” He said, “Goals.” He sets goals for everything and he gets a lot done. He was at the Air Force Academy before he came out on the mission so he is a very sharp kid. His companion Elder Evans is tall, a little more quiet, a great listener, and very humble.
I learned a lot from both elders and I fell in love with how they do missionary work, so I changed a lot of things and we've seen a lot of miracles because of it. It’s nice to have a senior companion to mimic every now and then. These elders were exactly that, and that is their purpose. They are two very old missionaries, (they are about to die - go home). They have an apartment but they have stayed in it once. They travel around the mission visiting as many companionship as possible, and they teach through example how to be better missionaries and instruments in the Lord’s hands. They take sleeping bags, bikes, a change of clothes, and running shoes. They are Amazing!! They are amazing because they remember their purpose in EVERY decision they make, and they do it faithfully and in the name of Jesus Christ!
This morning was interesting. We went to clean out the elders apartment that just moved and oh boy, that was a task. I've never seen so many cockroaches come out of one cabinet, whew. The Shulin elders were with us so it was really fun!!!
Oh man. I just deleted the second half to this letter. ZAO GAO!!!!! (that means messy cake). It was interesting too. Basically, president’s interviews went well.
I live in a very interesting world where everyone is and speaks Chinese. The time is going too fast and I don't know what to do to slow it down, so some tips would be useful. I have bad English, but I will relearn it in college. I love the Taiwanese and Philippinos. My companion is progressing a lot. He will be a "smart" missionary. I am addicted to rice. The senior couple here has the same carpet that we have back home, and so do President and Sister Nielson.
Elder Z’s bike got stolen, it was really expensive, he doesn't have very much money, so I'm sending him my bike and taking Elder Gilbert’s old one. We found Elder BARTON’S bike and took pictures!! I love you. ELDER DANIELS!!!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Almost missed getting a letter...
Carol Anne says, Dad and I returned from Arizona on Monday night, which threw me off on what day of the week it was. So, Tuesday night we were at the computer with our friends the Skousens’. Gale is retiring from the Air Force and has accepted a job as a Family Practice Doctor at a clinic next to the hospital in Payson, so they were showing us houses they are interested in featured online. Suddenly, I realized it was 8:30, the time we usually hear from Jonathan and I had not written his letter! I hurried to my computer and sure enough, there was one line from The Boy that said:
“Hello? Emails anyone??”
Hoping he was still at a computer, I quickly sent a message telling him that I was sorry I goofed and what was going on. He replied:
“Hello, Skousebow's!!!! When Clayton goes on a mission, don't forget to write to him, hahaha, just kidding, Mom!”
I wrote a longer message and Gale added a few lines, too. I told Jonathan how much we enjoyed his letters and how we looked forward to them. I was so happy that he was able to write the following letter and that we didn’t get to miss out because he’d had a difficult week:
Thank you. I enjoy writing them. It gives me an opportunity to reflect on some of the things that have happened on a weekly basis. I will now continue to write my large email.
Well....it sure is good to hear from the family. We had to switch the place we were emailing at because some guy (probably married) came in sat next to me and started looking at terrible stuff, so we left immediately...yuck.
That’s the sad thing about Taiwan. There is a lot of bad influence everywhere and it’s considered common and acceptable. We were teaching a family last week who allowed their kids to look at stupid things because they considered it natural and beautiful. SO DUMB! As you can see the flesh is so WEAK, and the world is bound with in it, the gospel is the ONLY WAY OUT!!! Read your scriptures!
Ha, moving on. A lot has gone on this past week. It started out difficult but it’s gotten progressively better. Last week was difficult for a day, because my best Taiwanese friend, Elder Z. went home early from his mission. I don't know why, but that on top of some other news and then being rejected by Sister Yan's husband on a rainy night, was like a big punch in the stomach. President Nielson, under direction of the Spirit, called me that night and asked if he could go on exchanges with me. That was cancelled in the end because he had stuff to take care of, but I got over everything fast anyway. Elder Gilbert came over on exchanges and we had a long, long talk way into the night on our beds about life, the challenges we meet, our families, our investigators, the power of our calling, etc. It was awesome! Elder Gilbert is a very good friend of mine.
Being on a mission is a very special time because it gives you the opportunity to focus solely on the Gospel, the thing that everybody needs to focus on but has no time because of worldly reasons and influences. Heavenly Father allows us to learn a lot in this time through our conversations with our companions who are passing through the two year journey with us. So the conversations we have on our mission are the most important, because, as we are in line with the standards of the gospel. It makes mapping out the rest of our lives a lot simpler. Decisions are easier to make when influenced by a recognized spiritual revelation. Basically, the mission has blessed me to learn how to have mature, spiritually lead conversations with a companion, something that will come in great use in the future.
So, anyway, things have gotten progressively better. We were able to help the sisters add a new investigator into their baptismal pool. This lady was difficult because she had claimed to be baptized before into another church, but thankfully the Spirit was able to help us teach the authority portion of the gospel very clearly, and also lead us to commit her to baptism on the 4th of April...SO GOOD!!
Because Elder Z went home, his companion moved over to be a threesome with the Shulin elders. We took over their area but that’s okay, just means more people to teach! A teaching missionary is a happy missionary.
Life is great! Have there been trials? Yes, but that’s all part of the game. We've got some incredible investigators at the moment. Our Lan family and 3 other investigators all came to the Gao family's baptismal service which was AMAZING! The Gao family's husband came to the baptismal service and church for the first time! We plan to get him on the move here as well. They are now our investigators because the other elders moved.
Continuing, our most progressing investigator at the time is Fan Dixiong, Brother Fan. He is SO prepared!!! When asked to answer questions in church, he likes to quote scripture that he particularly enjoys. He's willing to keep the commandments which includes giving up coffee and work on Sundays. He says his testimony comes through the witness of the Holy Ghost. He has a HUGE desire to learn more about Jesus Christ’s Atonement, and he has a great testimony about faith and hope. He attributes his happiness and change to the Book of Mormon. Last and not least, he is also rather interested in going on a mission. He has only been an investigator for 3 weeks, but he has put some serious thought to serving a mission! Everyone at church tells him he is prepared for baptism, and it makes him excited. This is the most golden person I have ever met! We found him one day eating dumplings at a dumpling store.
As you can see, Heavenly Father has blessed me a lot on my mission. I've realized that the reason we've seen so much success recently was because, just before Ryan’s baptism, I learned how to give in and do the work the Lord’s way.
If you look at my planners, you can see a large change.
There are more marks, and the numbers are specifically different in 2 categories.
Transfer before I gave in: 17 pei ke's (lessons with member attending)
57 other lessons (lessons without a member)
Now for the transfers when I gave up and let the Lord win:
48 pei ke's (with member)
12 other lessons
Next transfer: 72 pei ke's (with member)
9 other lessons
Do it through the ward like Preach My Gospel says.
I love you family. Time is up. Elder Daniels
“Hello? Emails anyone??”
Hoping he was still at a computer, I quickly sent a message telling him that I was sorry I goofed and what was going on. He replied:
“Hello, Skousebow's!!!! When Clayton goes on a mission, don't forget to write to him, hahaha, just kidding, Mom!”
I wrote a longer message and Gale added a few lines, too. I told Jonathan how much we enjoyed his letters and how we looked forward to them. I was so happy that he was able to write the following letter and that we didn’t get to miss out because he’d had a difficult week:
Thank you. I enjoy writing them. It gives me an opportunity to reflect on some of the things that have happened on a weekly basis. I will now continue to write my large email.
Well....it sure is good to hear from the family. We had to switch the place we were emailing at because some guy (probably married) came in sat next to me and started looking at terrible stuff, so we left immediately...yuck.
That’s the sad thing about Taiwan. There is a lot of bad influence everywhere and it’s considered common and acceptable. We were teaching a family last week who allowed their kids to look at stupid things because they considered it natural and beautiful. SO DUMB! As you can see the flesh is so WEAK, and the world is bound with in it, the gospel is the ONLY WAY OUT!!! Read your scriptures!
Ha, moving on. A lot has gone on this past week. It started out difficult but it’s gotten progressively better. Last week was difficult for a day, because my best Taiwanese friend, Elder Z. went home early from his mission. I don't know why, but that on top of some other news and then being rejected by Sister Yan's husband on a rainy night, was like a big punch in the stomach. President Nielson, under direction of the Spirit, called me that night and asked if he could go on exchanges with me. That was cancelled in the end because he had stuff to take care of, but I got over everything fast anyway. Elder Gilbert came over on exchanges and we had a long, long talk way into the night on our beds about life, the challenges we meet, our families, our investigators, the power of our calling, etc. It was awesome! Elder Gilbert is a very good friend of mine.
Being on a mission is a very special time because it gives you the opportunity to focus solely on the Gospel, the thing that everybody needs to focus on but has no time because of worldly reasons and influences. Heavenly Father allows us to learn a lot in this time through our conversations with our companions who are passing through the two year journey with us. So the conversations we have on our mission are the most important, because, as we are in line with the standards of the gospel. It makes mapping out the rest of our lives a lot simpler. Decisions are easier to make when influenced by a recognized spiritual revelation. Basically, the mission has blessed me to learn how to have mature, spiritually lead conversations with a companion, something that will come in great use in the future.
So, anyway, things have gotten progressively better. We were able to help the sisters add a new investigator into their baptismal pool. This lady was difficult because she had claimed to be baptized before into another church, but thankfully the Spirit was able to help us teach the authority portion of the gospel very clearly, and also lead us to commit her to baptism on the 4th of April...SO GOOD!!
Because Elder Z went home, his companion moved over to be a threesome with the Shulin elders. We took over their area but that’s okay, just means more people to teach! A teaching missionary is a happy missionary.
Life is great! Have there been trials? Yes, but that’s all part of the game. We've got some incredible investigators at the moment. Our Lan family and 3 other investigators all came to the Gao family's baptismal service which was AMAZING! The Gao family's husband came to the baptismal service and church for the first time! We plan to get him on the move here as well. They are now our investigators because the other elders moved.
Continuing, our most progressing investigator at the time is Fan Dixiong, Brother Fan. He is SO prepared!!! When asked to answer questions in church, he likes to quote scripture that he particularly enjoys. He's willing to keep the commandments which includes giving up coffee and work on Sundays. He says his testimony comes through the witness of the Holy Ghost. He has a HUGE desire to learn more about Jesus Christ’s Atonement, and he has a great testimony about faith and hope. He attributes his happiness and change to the Book of Mormon. Last and not least, he is also rather interested in going on a mission. He has only been an investigator for 3 weeks, but he has put some serious thought to serving a mission! Everyone at church tells him he is prepared for baptism, and it makes him excited. This is the most golden person I have ever met! We found him one day eating dumplings at a dumpling store.
As you can see, Heavenly Father has blessed me a lot on my mission. I've realized that the reason we've seen so much success recently was because, just before Ryan’s baptism, I learned how to give in and do the work the Lord’s way.
If you look at my planners, you can see a large change.
There are more marks, and the numbers are specifically different in 2 categories.
Transfer before I gave in: 17 pei ke's (lessons with member attending)
57 other lessons (lessons without a member)
Now for the transfers when I gave up and let the Lord win:
48 pei ke's (with member)
12 other lessons
Next transfer: 72 pei ke's (with member)
9 other lessons
Do it through the ward like Preach My Gospel says.
I love you family. Time is up. Elder Daniels
Monday, March 2, 2009
Huge English class!
Wow…there is so much to report and being an elder who types at a rate of 17 words per minutes, with terrible English to boot, and only having 40 minutes of time to work with, we are in for a long and bumpy road to the lands of "Morrisville," so please bear with me. At least I don't have to carve it onto brass plates. :)
So, we'll start with the events that happened before last Wednesday. The next time you look in Webster’s dictionary, check to see if the following paragraph is listed as the definition to the word "INSANITY." A record SMASHING amount of 111 people came to English class last Wednesday, it was absolutely insane! There were 45 students in my primary class. (I think he means the beginner’s class). They are all under the age of 11, and then some of my students have parents that came along with them. Originally when I first got to Tucheng, there were 5 students that came to English class regularly, and it’s grown in number since then. We had 15 NEW students in my class last week, and we all met in a classroom that was built for a maximum of 15 students. There is no work book, no curriculum, so the lesson is based off of what Elder Daniels can think to do that day to grab the students attention and learn English at the same time.
I love teaching the primary class, it is so much fun. All of the kids love it too. As for their progression in the English language, well, that’s another story, but we sure get a lot of investigators out of it! By the way, only 5 of the 111 people that came were members, the rest are all people preparing to become investigators. :) THAT IS A LOT!!!!!!
Haha, well moving on, the next bit of information is a little bit more on the "oh man" side of the spectrum. Last Thursday as we were meeting with an AWESOME PERSON who is now our top investigator, I got a phone call during the lesson, and it was Sister Yan. She said that there was no way that she was going to be able to be baptized during the weekend, because her husband decided to make a move and stand in the way and become an obstacle to her baptism. Her husband doesn't want her to be baptized.
My first instinct was shock, then confusion, and then patience. I decided this time to be patient. Sister Yan really wants to be baptized so I know that the Lord will allow it to happen. I feel like this is a trial that she needs to face to build her faith, so yes, her baptismal service was cancelled. Right now we are doing our best to try and support her and get the bishop in their home to help us clear things up with the husband. But she will be good and the Lord will take care of her.
Friday we got a family. They have VERY strong Buddhist concepts, but they at the moment have no problem allowing their kids come to church and even be baptized, so that brings a bright future for this family.
Okay, now we put all the reports on pause and I’ll tell you the information that you have been waiting for. I will start off by saying…I AM STAYING IN SANXIA!!!!!!! You don't realize how happy this makes me. I would say it now if it doesn’t sound weird, but is sounds better if I say it like this to describe this sacred land…20 years down the road I will say, “Sanxia is the place that I became a man! I’ve grown up!” I love this ward. I love these people. I am so glad that Heavenly Father is allowing me to continue the work here.
Now, for the rest of the information. I have a new companion named Elder Teshima. His great grandfather is from Japan. He is AWESOME! He looks just like superman and Adam, ha ha. We are gonna get along great together.
I should also mention that he has been on the island for 4 days. How about that??
President called me on Thursday night, which was quite unexpected. I had finished telling him all the events of the night, and then the words, “Elder Daniels, I would like to call you to be a trainer."
My English isn't good enough to describe my expression. Maybe the words "holy moly" can capture the moment. Time is gone, I must go. I am VERY excited!!!!!
So, we'll start with the events that happened before last Wednesday. The next time you look in Webster’s dictionary, check to see if the following paragraph is listed as the definition to the word "INSANITY." A record SMASHING amount of 111 people came to English class last Wednesday, it was absolutely insane! There were 45 students in my primary class. (I think he means the beginner’s class). They are all under the age of 11, and then some of my students have parents that came along with them. Originally when I first got to Tucheng, there were 5 students that came to English class regularly, and it’s grown in number since then. We had 15 NEW students in my class last week, and we all met in a classroom that was built for a maximum of 15 students. There is no work book, no curriculum, so the lesson is based off of what Elder Daniels can think to do that day to grab the students attention and learn English at the same time.
I love teaching the primary class, it is so much fun. All of the kids love it too. As for their progression in the English language, well, that’s another story, but we sure get a lot of investigators out of it! By the way, only 5 of the 111 people that came were members, the rest are all people preparing to become investigators. :) THAT IS A LOT!!!!!!
Haha, well moving on, the next bit of information is a little bit more on the "oh man" side of the spectrum. Last Thursday as we were meeting with an AWESOME PERSON who is now our top investigator, I got a phone call during the lesson, and it was Sister Yan. She said that there was no way that she was going to be able to be baptized during the weekend, because her husband decided to make a move and stand in the way and become an obstacle to her baptism. Her husband doesn't want her to be baptized.
My first instinct was shock, then confusion, and then patience. I decided this time to be patient. Sister Yan really wants to be baptized so I know that the Lord will allow it to happen. I feel like this is a trial that she needs to face to build her faith, so yes, her baptismal service was cancelled. Right now we are doing our best to try and support her and get the bishop in their home to help us clear things up with the husband. But she will be good and the Lord will take care of her.
Friday we got a family. They have VERY strong Buddhist concepts, but they at the moment have no problem allowing their kids come to church and even be baptized, so that brings a bright future for this family.
Okay, now we put all the reports on pause and I’ll tell you the information that you have been waiting for. I will start off by saying…I AM STAYING IN SANXIA!!!!!!! You don't realize how happy this makes me. I would say it now if it doesn’t sound weird, but is sounds better if I say it like this to describe this sacred land…20 years down the road I will say, “Sanxia is the place that I became a man! I’ve grown up!” I love this ward. I love these people. I am so glad that Heavenly Father is allowing me to continue the work here.
Now, for the rest of the information. I have a new companion named Elder Teshima. His great grandfather is from Japan. He is AWESOME! He looks just like superman and Adam, ha ha. We are gonna get along great together.
I should also mention that he has been on the island for 4 days. How about that??
President called me on Thursday night, which was quite unexpected. I had finished telling him all the events of the night, and then the words, “Elder Daniels, I would like to call you to be a trainer."
My English isn't good enough to describe my expression. Maybe the words "holy moly" can capture the moment. Time is gone, I must go. I am VERY excited!!!!!
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