Golden beyond golden! He's Mythril!

I'm staying in Hualien…relief! :) I love it here. I think I might just stay here until I die.

Sister Lin left, she was awesome! There was a point where they had 15 people in their baptismal pool! She’s left the reigns to her trainee Sister Ackerson who has been called to be Senior Companion in her 4th transfer! She has got a big load on her shoulders due to all the investigators that they are teaching, hahahaha. It will be exciting to watch their growth. Her new companion is awesome, her name is Sister Ho. Get this, her first name is "Ida"! I love this district! We’re like a family. :) God loves us!

We have AWESOME investigators right now. There are 7 in our pool at the moment...

The Lin family- they are progressing the slowest but we're planning to have some pretty forward lessons with them in the near future.

William Gao- we have been teaching him a very important principle about accountability, a “Preach My Gospel special,” also D&C 58: 26-29. He decided himself he's not quite prepared to be baptized, and he made the decision to take a train to Taizhong and visit his family, hoping he can persuade them to support his baptismal decision. We’re really proud of him. He will never go inactive this way. He asked us if we could give him a hug after our last lesson with him, and he promised us he would come back with his parents permission. :) He and I are best friends. That’s something I've really cherished on my mission; all of the investigators that I've seen baptized are my best friends. Ryan’s story really gave William some courage. Ryan writes me from New Zealand every week. He is awesome!

Next is Peter. This week we taught him Tithing and finally got his deepest concerns out. It turns out coffee and church isn’t that big of a problem. We have always thought he was kind of a different, older aged man. He is the most nervous looking guy I have ever met. Haha, it’s because he is quite famous, a very well known author and news writer. He's so nervous because a couple of years ago he got really hot handed with a credit card with 20% interest on it that increased by 20% a month. So he got into debt and filed for bankruptcy. Because he's so famous this hit the news and was so embarrassed that he went into hiding for a couple years and lived with dogs, always thinking about killing himself. Ninety percent of his money that he makes right now goes to the bank. The other 10 percent goes to his living expenses, housing, and he has little money for food. So the law of tithing will be a little difficult for him. We’re still trying to figure out what to do for him at the moment; he really wants to be baptized. Crazy huh, a man who was compelled to be humble. He will make it for sure, though 9/19/09 is his date.

Next is Hank, the man that is Golden beyond golden. He is so golden, he has moved one step up to diamond, more than diamond even, he is Mythril (like Frodo's armor vest). He is “Joseph Smith II.” The man receives revelation from the Holy Ghost in the midst of teaching him. We were teaching the Resurrection and he realized what it meant when it says, “The spirit of the Lord can’t dwell in unholy houses.” He shares that scripture with us and asked, “Does this mean we will get a new body?” We were so shocked!!! This man has never studied Christian literature before...he loved the SECOND lesson!!! He asks us all the time, “AREN'T YOU SO HAPPY? The truth is restored! We have direction and purpose in our lives.” He took pages and pages of notes in church. Holy smokes, all because I opened my mouth at a red light when we were a little bit rushed to get back to the church. A 1 ½ minute setup and now this. He is 45 years old but looks like he's 30; he is a really nice and genuine guy.

Everybody I mentioned in this letter so far will be baptized before the 19th of September, the Lin family might need some time though.

Miracles, miracles, miracles. I love this work. We've got an awesome vision brewing for this next transfer, it’s a biggie! I love you