The Key to missionary work is...WORK!

Hey family!
This week has been going especially well because I finished the Book of Mormon again and I've been reading the New Testament which has been awesome!!! Currently we are in week 2 of the new transfer already (this being only a five week transfer because president will be dying really soon). I'll be really sad to say goodbye to him, I really love President Nielsen and his wife. There are a lot of reasons to explain why but it all comes back to the same spectrum. They are nice, righteous people who love everybody! This past zone leader council they taught us about authority and how we need to have faith and trust the leaders that Heavenly Father has called to lead us. No matter what they change, don't be rebellious and just do it. It was a good Jedi council. I can't say it was as good as the first one. I think next time I will get a little more involved with sharing my comments. I just don't want to get over involved and attract the attention from the Spirit. I think that happens when you share opinions rather then inspirations in large meetings like that.

Last week we had close to no investigators…they all died. We found out that one has been lying to us drom the beginning. He said he was 37, married with triplets, but last week we ran into his mom and she cleared things up for us quite a bit. The other main one we had is busy with school and has no time to meet because he is preparing to be a cop and he's got to pass this crazy hard test. They don't specify when the test will come out, so he's just go to be constantly preparing.

Anyway, we've been "experimenting upon the word" and we've invited other specific companionships in our zone to do the same. We've been taking on some of the challenges that President gave us, such as contacting 10 extra people a day. "Maybe during meal time, exercises, preparation day," the times we usually don’t contact. And we've been seeing some of the promises President has given us be fulfilled. Our focus on the work has changed and matured, and we've been "on the prowl." From some of the calls we've made at lunch, we've been finding successful setups. The other night when we were contacting, we ran into a guy getting out of his car with his wife and kid. We talked for about 3 minutes and asked if he was willing to meet. He said, "I think your missionaries are coming over this Thursday at 6:30.” The first thought that came to my mind was, oh man, the J-dubs got ‘em :( but then we looked at our schedule and realized that it was US they were scheduled with!!! We had called them two days ago from some old lists in the area book. We had said a prayer about 2 minutes previous to finding this family, asking Heavenly father to help us find a family:). It was cool.

We've also been blessed with some serious referrals recently, about 6 from Susan and 6 from Jeff! One of the ones from Jeff came in a very “unpreach my gospel” like manner, yet very successful. Ha, ha. One out on exchanges with Elder Waters, we ate dinner with Jeff and taught a new member lesson. Afterwards he didn't want to go home, so he asked "can I go proselyte with you?” We said, “Sure! Take us to meet your friends!” So we went, however, Jeff told us, “When I take you to their house I can't go with you, I'm going to hide.” I guess he couldn’t handle the awkward situation that might have raised, taking us to his friends house without first asking permission and all. So he took us to two friends’ houses. At one, the mom at home was really nice but not willing to let us in, so we said a prayer that his next friend, if it be Heavenly Father’s will, might be home and be more willing to listen. So we went. The kid’s father answered the door and I saw his son in the background. We introduced ourselves and asked "Can we come in?” They said “Yes!!!!” We sat down and shared a 15 minute lesson about the Restoration. They loved it and were willing to reset up!!! Only afterwards did I establish the connection by telling him that we were Jeff’s friends, and the kid got more excited. He said, “Jeff is my classmate!!! We see each other all the time.” So I told him Jeff will come next time we meet and then we invited him to play basketball with us, which he ended up coming to play. So we will be headed over there tomorrow night :) and Jeff will go with us. Jeff told us recently that his friend is very interested in the church. So we'll see how that goes.

JEFFS SISTER SET A DATE! She still hasn't come to church because her parents will not let her come; however, she turns 20 in a couple months and has made the decision to be baptized then. Twenty is the age in Taiwan where you don't need a permission slip signed. We realized that is best if her parents support her, but sometimes that is a really long process and shouldn't have to be the thing keeping their kids from making covenants with God. They have faith that their parents can change. It’s difficult however. We have seen so many miracles come because of Jeff and his faith, his 15 year old niece is on the road to baptism along with 2 more of his classmates. They are all the sisters investigators, but luckily the district here is awesome and we are able to fellowship the other companionships investigators without any problems :).

Susan gave me and my companion new shoes. She is the sweetest lady on earth, hahaha, she believes that the gospel is going to help her with her co workers. She works at a high class Buddhist hospital. She really is a very sweet person. I sure will miss those other shoes however, so I still haven't given them up yet completely, they still haven't seen their last days. But yeah, they are pretty trashed.

We've spent a million hours contacting and tracting recently but rather then degrading our faith as it’s been so possible in the past under such situations, it’s only increased our faith 10 fold, and it’s brought me closer to the Savior’s atonement. We really do get rejected a lot it seems, but that’s nothing compared to the Savior in his ministry. A lot of time spent contacting gives you the chance to focus on the different kinds of affirmations we receive, influenced by the spirit. Dad, I like your piece on the different kinds of affirmations: self, others, God, etc. It comes in handy when you start doubting your abilities to see success. Thanks. (I realized its going to be sweet living at home again some day because you can use your parents for the wisdom and years to find the answers to questions an immature mind can't figure out) hahaha. All I have to say is, enlightenment from the spirit is KEY when you are alone or with someone else who doesn't know how to resolve various concerns. God lives and loves us. I feel bad for those people who learn to find solace from worldly substances that won't be their to support them in the next realm.

Onward. Taiwanese style exercise deserves its own textbook. The only problem would be all that wasted paper to support a quill that writes nothing but nonsense, haha. I remember in San Chong, we would walk around a big track at night where loads of families and old people would go to get outside and exercise. On the sides of the track were slides, playgrounds different sorts of workout machines and also stages for people to do aerobic dancing or chat. Every once in a while you would come across a person exercising in such a way that might make one want to turn his head and look twice to be certain that what he/she saw at first glance was or wasn't actually happening. We saw people who would hula-hoop with HUGE RINGS, people would beat their thighs, slap their backs and their forearms with a special cadence continuously for 1 or 2 hours. One of my favorites are the people that stand in the corner of the park and clap their hands loudly, standing at the ready to tackle somebody position for about an hour, never moving a step, only clapping those hands. They all have some really lunatic reasons why they do it to, but in the end they don't know why they do it, it’s just a tradition. It’s funny, I like it. The best I have ever seen and the reason I bring this up is because yesterday right after morning studies we looked out the window below us at the track and we saw a man with a Taiwanese garden hat laying to his right, a wet towel around his head and pants around his ankles standing with his feet one and a half feet apart doing arm risings with no weights. It was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen so we video taped it. I split a rib it was so funny.

My companion and I get along extremely well and we are best friends. He is a very confident person and he is proud of it, haha. He loves to be in control. He is a great leader because he encourages everyone to work hard and they do. He himself works hard and he also maintains a very awesome relationship with everybody. He's got really good people skills, so I'm blessed to be learning a lot from him. They don't send bad leaders to Hualien because the missionary work is a lot different over here and can be really difficult, but I've never had so much fun on my mission and I'm learning a lot. We’re trying to strengthen the Taidong district as they are struggling and it’s hard to help them all the time because they live a 2 hour train ride away. Everything relies on the leaders in the east coast. I've been blessed to see a lot of miracles in this calling Heavenly Father has given me. He supports us as we look to Him. We've been trying to help Taidong with their desire to do the work. I feel sometimes when dealing with them like I am asking the youth to invite their friends to come to church. We encourage them to work inside and out, to first develop their own testimony of Christ’s atonement and if they have a testimony of Christ, it teaches us in Moroni 7:48, that they must have charity, or in other words, a desire to do the work. A desire more then "because missionary work is what they are supposed to do" but rather what they want to do. To help others meet Christ.

“There is no key to missionary work, the only key to missionary work is WORK.” That’s a quote from an authority that I think is true.

Everything relies on the Lord’s timetable, he sends missionaries to places to meet the people he has prepared for them to teach, and the Lord molds us through our experiences and diligence for his investigators and their needs.

He’s asking us all to put forth a little more effort at the moment because there are some big blessings he's promised those who do the work his way. He tells us his methods and promises through President Nielsen, and we are experimenting upon the word in preparation to relay it unto the east coast zone. We will report on our experiences and efforts to talk to 10 more people a day in zone conference on Friday when President, his wife and the assistants come down and our whole zone comes together. We will invite every one to plant the seed of faith and strive to see the miracles and blessings we've been promised. It seems like a small invite, but we've been trying it and me and my companion will both agree that the work has progressed and our desire to do it has increased, and we've seen the promises coming to pass... by small and simple things are great things brought to pass!!! I'm excited to see the change :).


Last thing.... I just looked at my planner and noticed the things I want to mention in email section. I love you; you are the greatest parents and family in the world. Adam, you are a Nephi- like example to me, keep it up. I love my family.

I like to compare our family to the Wang family in our ward. They are a family of 6 living in the same house and they are all crazy. Yet SO, SO, So happy! Why? They Are Members of Christ’s Church :)!
I don't know why I make that comparison, I think it’s because I'm proud of my family for always being happy, supportive, optimistic, a little crazy yet down to earth, good parents. I love you. Elder Daniels