We found a new family last week over in San Xia while we were visiting our Hu family! They are great! Our Hu family is doing well too. They are willing to keep all the commandments, we just need to share tithing and we're done. The only hard one for them is to keep the Sabbath day holy. The husband has a bad leg and it’s hard for him to go anywhere. Maybe this is a blessing Heavenly Father has given them to help them increase their faith before baptism, to give them a long enduring conversion. They love the scriptures, they love prayer, and they believe the church is true. They'll be really good members as they see how going to church will bless them as a family. The husband is more "manmanlai"(he needs time), he still has a word of wisdom problem, but the mother and kids are "lihai"(AWESOME)!!! Such a blessing.
We had a sweet miracle the last day of the transfer, my companion and I wanted to get 7 setups in a day. We tried all transfer long, stayed diligent, having faith, hoping that if it be God's will, He would let us see it. On the last day of the transfer, Heavenly Father allowed us to see 7 people get setup, (and 3 families)! Things are good and the church is true.
That is kind of a brief summary of what’s been going on. I love our new area and apartment. We are still the missionaries in charge of San Xia, so we go there often. It’s about a ten mile difference and my legs are getting HUGE. It’s pretty sweet, but all in all I've gotten a lot skinnier, I think. I haven't been drinking as much milk. I talked to Elder Wyatt from my MTC district the other day and he refers to me as the elder from Ethiopia, hahaha, I'm not that skinny. But, I have lost about 11 pounds, and everyone is Taiwan is skinny.
I crave rice now. I have to have rice. Seriously, whenever I am hungry, rice and cabbage and weird Taiwanese foods are the first things that come to mind. This is just "write random things day,” by the way.
I am still with Elder Gong and I’m glad. We are great friends after 6 weeks together and we both like to work hard.
Other things happened this week. My companion had his identity stolen in Germany. Other elders had their bags stolen, a total of $1000 worth of stuff inside: electric dictionaries, cameras, other dictionaries, priceless pictures, and scriptures. My bag never leaves my side and my electronic dictionary stays at home now.
Wow, my time is short today. We have to go to Taipei with Elder Smith’s new companion and grab some stuff. The clock is ticking...37 seconds…I love you.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
My mission is going way too fast!
It is week 6 and this transfer FLEW by. President Monson’s talk about taking advantage of the time we are given is coming to pass. Time is so little, change is so long, but it comes before we can notice it. Wow, my mission is going way too fast. I wish I could put it on pause, go back and fix all of the flaws. There are so many, but that is not possible.
I have learned so much this transfer. Training is a very humbling process. I'm thinking that I have learned just as much from my companion as he might have learned from me. Wow. We both found a lot of places to improve in our missionary work. I could not have made it through this transfer if it weren't for the help of the Holy Ghost. I learned the importance of companionship unity this transfer, and being in unity with the Holy Ghost. It started with us being able to trust each other. I know you might think, "shoot that’s easy", but sometimes things happen that give you the decision to act on that trust or not and sometimes it is a subconscious decision not to, "the natural man.” However, as we trusted each other and applied Christlike attributes, the Lord showed us how to humble ourselves and allow us to have His spirit, which helped us know how to look inward before we look outward. It puts us in harmony with one purpose, and that is to get God’s work done. I am lucky to have a trainee with fire in his eyes, who is willing to work hard and tear things up. I love that. He has learned a lot about patience, humility, and working with a very young missionary, me, who may not know everything, but he knows a little. It was a great process, and work got done through it.
The Hu family is an example of the miracles we have seen. We just need to teach them tithing and they are all set to go. The husband is ready to stop drinking and smoking. Their faith is becoming stronger and their desire to know Christ is vastly improving. Such a blessing.
We've been working hard this week. We moved to Tu Cheng and our new apartment is AWESOME and I love it. We are working hard finding new investigators so we are whitewashing again, except this time we have inactive and recent converts to visit. Wow, before we had none, so now we can get a full schedule every day, it is beautiful! Missionary work is starting to be like it is supposed to be.
The other day we got a new investigator, a lady who sells shrimp and crab. We go by everyday and she gives us endless shrimp and crab, and we're talking REAL SHRIMP AND REAL CRAB! She says she'll come to church, but she is progressing slowly at the moment. She has prayed but not read anything yet. I'm afraid we're going to have to miss out on the free food if she doesn't keep progressing!
The fishing last week went great! I loved seeing the Su family. Man, I missed them. They all gave Jonathan “gege” a big old hug. I told them NO HUGS, but they did it anyway! We didn't catch any fish but it was a great time.
Chinese is really, really hard, but it’s still coming. I'm on page 400 in the Book of Mormon.
I have learned so much this transfer. Training is a very humbling process. I'm thinking that I have learned just as much from my companion as he might have learned from me. Wow. We both found a lot of places to improve in our missionary work. I could not have made it through this transfer if it weren't for the help of the Holy Ghost. I learned the importance of companionship unity this transfer, and being in unity with the Holy Ghost. It started with us being able to trust each other. I know you might think, "shoot that’s easy", but sometimes things happen that give you the decision to act on that trust or not and sometimes it is a subconscious decision not to, "the natural man.” However, as we trusted each other and applied Christlike attributes, the Lord showed us how to humble ourselves and allow us to have His spirit, which helped us know how to look inward before we look outward. It puts us in harmony with one purpose, and that is to get God’s work done. I am lucky to have a trainee with fire in his eyes, who is willing to work hard and tear things up. I love that. He has learned a lot about patience, humility, and working with a very young missionary, me, who may not know everything, but he knows a little. It was a great process, and work got done through it.
The Hu family is an example of the miracles we have seen. We just need to teach them tithing and they are all set to go. The husband is ready to stop drinking and smoking. Their faith is becoming stronger and their desire to know Christ is vastly improving. Such a blessing.
We've been working hard this week. We moved to Tu Cheng and our new apartment is AWESOME and I love it. We are working hard finding new investigators so we are whitewashing again, except this time we have inactive and recent converts to visit. Wow, before we had none, so now we can get a full schedule every day, it is beautiful! Missionary work is starting to be like it is supposed to be.
The other day we got a new investigator, a lady who sells shrimp and crab. We go by everyday and she gives us endless shrimp and crab, and we're talking REAL SHRIMP AND REAL CRAB! She says she'll come to church, but she is progressing slowly at the moment. She has prayed but not read anything yet. I'm afraid we're going to have to miss out on the free food if she doesn't keep progressing!
The fishing last week went great! I loved seeing the Su family. Man, I missed them. They all gave Jonathan “gege” a big old hug. I told them NO HUGS, but they did it anyway! We didn't catch any fish but it was a great time.
Chinese is really, really hard, but it’s still coming. I'm on page 400 in the Book of Mormon.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
"And it came to pass"
Wow, it’s neat to hear all the cool things that are going on back home. I’m looking forward to General Conference like it’s the Superbowl. I'm so excited and I'm gonna make sure the Su family from San Chong gets a chance to see it too. We have to wait so long to watch it because they have to translate everything into Chinese, oh well.
Let’s get to the business. First of all, last week the Su family came to Tu Cheng and dropped off three boxes full of food, and left a note on top begging us to go back to San Chong and play with the kids. They miss us a lot. It kinda pricked my heart a little. Joyce says the kids ask her every day, "When is Jonathan gege coming back?" Gege means “big brother.” Man I love them.
My companion and I have had a lot of humbling experiences lately that have been really helpful. We get along really well, but we have both learned the true meaning of the words, "and it came to pass," ha, ha, especially my companion. He's learned a lot recently, about how he can trust his trainer and everything like that, ha, ha. The experience came as we were teaching a lesson to a lady in McDonalds. We taught her in English because she was fluent. My companion was way excited to teach the lesson and he did an awesome job, but wasn't quite in line with his companion. The lesson still went really well but the spirit wasn't as strong as it could've been. We talked about it afterward, and it was a learning experience for both of us. You learn early on your mission that you can trust the people above you. I learned that from Elder Barton and it was a humbling process. I shared all of these experiences with my trainee, and then the same thing happened to him, and “things started coming to pass. We make mistakes and we learn from them. We learn not to rely on ourselves, but on the Lord or the people who serve Him. We don't realize it when we mess up sometimes, but then when we become humbled, as when “things come to pass.”
Recently I have learned a little bit about the word "meekness". In the topical guide, meekness is referenced to "teachable". This process occurs more and more on my mission, and “it came to pass.” Elder Barton was right, ha, ha, ha. Elder Gong has learned that too, and he's learned to trust me a lot more and is helped him improve SO fast because he has become "teachable". He memorizes scripture like crazy now and his Chinese has gotten SO GOOD. We teach in Unity now and the message of the restoration is so much more powerful. I love Elder Gong. I learn so much from him.
Okay, now the Hu family. We went to their house again to have dinner with them and it went really, really well. Then Sister Hu said the words, "By the way, we won't be able to join your church." OH NO!!! We played it cool and she explained, “We want to learn more about your church before we join because we heard Mormons are bad, from other people.” We explained and it went very well. We ended up putting them back on the baptismal pool. They came to church, and they LOVED IT! It was great. They love the Book of Mormon. They said, "It’s so clear and easy to understand." Mmmmmm, yup!
The ward was divided last week, but you wouldn't know it because 21 investigators came to church last week. It was insane! Six of them came all the way from San Xia, woo hoo! I love the Hu family. They are so awesome and the two kids are so cool. They aren't shy at all and they love to play with us. One is 14 and one is 7. The mom is awesome and she is a big time jokester. I love it here in San Xia. I love the people.
We rode up into the mountains yesterday and met with a couple Vietnamese people who speak terrible Chinese. They are poor. Their families live in Vietnam and they work here at a steel mill to earn money. We shared the lesson with them as much as we could. They didn't understand much but they are coming to church where we'll give them Vietnamese books of Mormon. Book of Mormons. Copies of the Book of Mormon? :) Ha,ha.
A cool thing happened two days ago, that was an expensive sacrifice for a great investigator. My tire exploded. As we were walking to the bike store, this man self contacted us. This was the nicest man I ever met. He took us to the store, helped us bargain the people down to 1300 dollars (about $43). I fixed the other things on my bike while I was at it, broken brakes, broken lights, etc. Then he took us around town to show us all the good places to buy food cheap. He set himself up with us for tomorrow afternoon. He also ran into the other elders in Tu Cheng and sat in on one of their lessons. Crazy huh? The other elders said he was nice to them too. He's like a mystery miracle man.
Yeah, there has been a lot going on. We've been working way hard and I've been getting up at 5:30 in the morning. I plan to do that until I get the Book of Mormon finished. I cracked out 21 pages yesterday! We have seen so many miracles. I love being with Elder Gong. He's a lot about having a sense of urgency in the work, which I love. He is going to be so lehi! Lehi in Chinese means EXTRAORDINARILY AWESOME!!!
Now for the icing on the cake. We had president’s interviews last week. Interviews are a big thing on your mission because you get a lot of insight in such a short amount of time. This interview went completely different than it has in the past. President was asking me questions this time. He asked me what needed to be done in San Xia. Then he invited me to pray about it and let him know. He wanted me to help him and the zone leaders pick the new area, it was crazy. President is amazing. He actually cares about the opinions that his missionaries give him. He is such a spiritually lead man and it’s so cool because I learn so much from him.
Now for the craziest part. When we were talking about me and my companion’s relationship, I started talking about some things that I learned from Elder Barton and how I have applied some of things that he has taught me on my mission. Out of nowhere, President asked me, “Elder Daniels, have you ever thought about what you might do after your mission?” As a missionary in my 5th transfer, to be honest I haven't thought much of it at all, so this question caught me quite off guard. But, I listened with open ears because I felt like some huge insight was well on it’s way. Him being my mission president after all, and practically a prophet, so I suspected president must have some important reason for asking this type of question, especially for him to be asking me about this so early in my mission. He then went on to ask me if I have ever thought about going into the military or going to a military school. I replied "yes." In fact, once when I was attending the temple while at the MTC, I had a random feeling come over me as someone was saying a prayer. In that prayer they blessed the armed forces and the rest of that day I pondered it, because of that feeling that came over me. It was reconfirmed in this interview with my mission president. It caught me so off guard, but it felt so right at the time we were talking about it. President and I talked about it for a little while. He invited me to pray about it and he told me to tell you to check and see what it would take to get me into the ROTC program at BYU or into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I've prayed about it, and that is what I want to do. I'm joining the Air Force when I get home, (as of right now). But I don't think this decision will change, so will you check that out for me? Whew. I hope President tells me what to study in the next interview...
Well, I love you so much. I pray for you all the time and I can feel your prayers for me. I love you and miss you. Keep the BYU news coming, I need details. I love you. :)
Let’s get to the business. First of all, last week the Su family came to Tu Cheng and dropped off three boxes full of food, and left a note on top begging us to go back to San Chong and play with the kids. They miss us a lot. It kinda pricked my heart a little. Joyce says the kids ask her every day, "When is Jonathan gege coming back?" Gege means “big brother.” Man I love them.
My companion and I have had a lot of humbling experiences lately that have been really helpful. We get along really well, but we have both learned the true meaning of the words, "and it came to pass," ha, ha, especially my companion. He's learned a lot recently, about how he can trust his trainer and everything like that, ha, ha. The experience came as we were teaching a lesson to a lady in McDonalds. We taught her in English because she was fluent. My companion was way excited to teach the lesson and he did an awesome job, but wasn't quite in line with his companion. The lesson still went really well but the spirit wasn't as strong as it could've been. We talked about it afterward, and it was a learning experience for both of us. You learn early on your mission that you can trust the people above you. I learned that from Elder Barton and it was a humbling process. I shared all of these experiences with my trainee, and then the same thing happened to him, and “things started coming to pass. We make mistakes and we learn from them. We learn not to rely on ourselves, but on the Lord or the people who serve Him. We don't realize it when we mess up sometimes, but then when we become humbled, as when “things come to pass.”
Recently I have learned a little bit about the word "meekness". In the topical guide, meekness is referenced to "teachable". This process occurs more and more on my mission, and “it came to pass.” Elder Barton was right, ha, ha, ha. Elder Gong has learned that too, and he's learned to trust me a lot more and is helped him improve SO fast because he has become "teachable". He memorizes scripture like crazy now and his Chinese has gotten SO GOOD. We teach in Unity now and the message of the restoration is so much more powerful. I love Elder Gong. I learn so much from him.
Okay, now the Hu family. We went to their house again to have dinner with them and it went really, really well. Then Sister Hu said the words, "By the way, we won't be able to join your church." OH NO!!! We played it cool and she explained, “We want to learn more about your church before we join because we heard Mormons are bad, from other people.” We explained and it went very well. We ended up putting them back on the baptismal pool. They came to church, and they LOVED IT! It was great. They love the Book of Mormon. They said, "It’s so clear and easy to understand." Mmmmmm, yup!
The ward was divided last week, but you wouldn't know it because 21 investigators came to church last week. It was insane! Six of them came all the way from San Xia, woo hoo! I love the Hu family. They are so awesome and the two kids are so cool. They aren't shy at all and they love to play with us. One is 14 and one is 7. The mom is awesome and she is a big time jokester. I love it here in San Xia. I love the people.
We rode up into the mountains yesterday and met with a couple Vietnamese people who speak terrible Chinese. They are poor. Their families live in Vietnam and they work here at a steel mill to earn money. We shared the lesson with them as much as we could. They didn't understand much but they are coming to church where we'll give them Vietnamese books of Mormon. Book of Mormons. Copies of the Book of Mormon? :) Ha,ha.
A cool thing happened two days ago, that was an expensive sacrifice for a great investigator. My tire exploded. As we were walking to the bike store, this man self contacted us. This was the nicest man I ever met. He took us to the store, helped us bargain the people down to 1300 dollars (about $43). I fixed the other things on my bike while I was at it, broken brakes, broken lights, etc. Then he took us around town to show us all the good places to buy food cheap. He set himself up with us for tomorrow afternoon. He also ran into the other elders in Tu Cheng and sat in on one of their lessons. Crazy huh? The other elders said he was nice to them too. He's like a mystery miracle man.
Yeah, there has been a lot going on. We've been working way hard and I've been getting up at 5:30 in the morning. I plan to do that until I get the Book of Mormon finished. I cracked out 21 pages yesterday! We have seen so many miracles. I love being with Elder Gong. He's a lot about having a sense of urgency in the work, which I love. He is going to be so lehi! Lehi in Chinese means EXTRAORDINARILY AWESOME!!!
Now for the icing on the cake. We had president’s interviews last week. Interviews are a big thing on your mission because you get a lot of insight in such a short amount of time. This interview went completely different than it has in the past. President was asking me questions this time. He asked me what needed to be done in San Xia. Then he invited me to pray about it and let him know. He wanted me to help him and the zone leaders pick the new area, it was crazy. President is amazing. He actually cares about the opinions that his missionaries give him. He is such a spiritually lead man and it’s so cool because I learn so much from him.
Now for the craziest part. When we were talking about me and my companion’s relationship, I started talking about some things that I learned from Elder Barton and how I have applied some of things that he has taught me on my mission. Out of nowhere, President asked me, “Elder Daniels, have you ever thought about what you might do after your mission?” As a missionary in my 5th transfer, to be honest I haven't thought much of it at all, so this question caught me quite off guard. But, I listened with open ears because I felt like some huge insight was well on it’s way. Him being my mission president after all, and practically a prophet, so I suspected president must have some important reason for asking this type of question, especially for him to be asking me about this so early in my mission. He then went on to ask me if I have ever thought about going into the military or going to a military school. I replied "yes." In fact, once when I was attending the temple while at the MTC, I had a random feeling come over me as someone was saying a prayer. In that prayer they blessed the armed forces and the rest of that day I pondered it, because of that feeling that came over me. It was reconfirmed in this interview with my mission president. It caught me so off guard, but it felt so right at the time we were talking about it. President and I talked about it for a little while. He invited me to pray about it and he told me to tell you to check and see what it would take to get me into the ROTC program at BYU or into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I've prayed about it, and that is what I want to do. I'm joining the Air Force when I get home, (as of right now). But I don't think this decision will change, so will you check that out for me? Whew. I hope President tells me what to study in the next interview...
Well, I love you so much. I pray for you all the time and I can feel your prayers for me. I love you and miss you. Keep the BYU news coming, I need details. I love you. :)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
In a word, "Awesome!"
Hey, hey, hey! woooowwwweeeeee. I'm really, really sorry about the $300 surprise, ha, ha. No, it wasn't because my bike was stolen, but you’re going to laugh at me. When I moved here to Tu Cheng, I noticed all the missionaries had "electric dictionaries" and that struck an anxiety bone. The others talked me into it so I decided to buy an electric dictionary. However, the reason I got it isn't just to have way good Chinese, but it’s for the Taiwanese people. Really though, and I can use it for the rest of my life. I plan to study Chinese when I get back home. It put a big whole in my wallet, but I'm telling you that it’s worth it. It’s better than 300 pairs of brand new shoes!
Seriously, my reading in the Book of Mormon has exploded ever since I got it. Before, when I came across a character that I didn't recognize while I was reading, it would take about one minute to look it up using the good old dictionary. Now with this bad boy electric dictionary, all I have to do is write it and I can find it in 2 seconds. It’s amazing. So now I'm flying through the Book of Mormon which I plan to finish within the next 40 days. President encourages us to finish it by our year mark on the island, but I'm gonna get it done as fast as possible. It’s so nice now during lessons because I can actually teach out of the Book of Mormon. I CAN FINALLY READ!!!! I'm not illiterate anymore, but there is still ALOT more to learn. My English has gotten terrible, by the way.
That’s how it’s going with the Chinese language right now. Heavenly Father’s countless blessings have really been a great help. It is so fun to think that it’s one year ago that I got my call, and I barely knew where Taiwan was on the globe! It all goes back to the “intentions.” That’s what I've been recently sharing with my companion, prayers of faith, intentions, etc., Heavenly Father wants a loving babysitter to watch over his kids and teach them the gospel. If our intentions are one with His and His work and His glory, He will bless us. My companion is so awesome, he is a scripture memorizing machine! It’s great! He's going to be a great missionary. He's diligent and has a great work ethic. He's smart. We've learned a lot from each other. He's starting to develop some great charity for these people. I love working with him. He also has blue handlebars on his bike, it’s a Barton/Daniels tradition. Elder Barton is doing well and he's written a couple times. He is so awesome, he contacts his investigators EVERY DAY!!! (Elder Barton was Jonathan’s trainer when he first arrived in Taiwan and has completed his mission)
Okay, enough cheap talk, let’s get to the business. The work is GOOD here in San Xia. President is considering not moving us, because the work is going so well, and it’s all because of my companion’s faith. We go out and we look for families, and that’s what we've found, and in that process, the singles have been coming. Last week we met with a Hu family that we had met the first week that we got here. They were especially excited to meet with us! They have a seven-year-old meimei and a 14 year-old didi and then the mom and dad. I love them and they love us. When we first met with them, the Spirit was just screaming at me, “Invite, invite, invite, invite, invite, baptism, baptism, invite, invite...so we did...and they accepted!!! It was a miracle! So we have a family who will be baptized at the end of this month. They loved the message and they believe it all to be true!! Hooray! Right after that appointment, we had one with a 19 year-old kid at McDonalds. We gave him an English name, Spike. My companion wasn't sure if he would show or not, because he seemed pretty flakey at first, but he did and he brought three friends! They all set up to meet with us again after church. Most of our lessons are at McDonalds because the church is way too far away, 45 minutes. Church ended up being cancelled because of the typhoon. (typhoons three weekends in a row!) so they had no chance of coming, but they are coming the next week. (according to the Taiepei Times, there could be a 4th typhoon this weekend!) We had 12 new investigators last week, it was insane! That’s the most I've ever had. A companion’s faith is awesome.
We have two other really strong investigators as well and they are awesome. We have been focusing on how we can show the restoration on the street rather than be teaching it straight up, and we've had some great opportunities. We have been teaching the Su kid, (a different Su). We taught him a first discussion on a bus and he loved it. He LOVES reading the Book of Mormon and thinks it is so awesome. He is 17 years old and wanted to see how we missionaries do things. That night he came with us to a church activity and had a great time. He loved the feeling of the church and had a special feeling as he met some of the members. Later that night, he went with us to a lesson with Ayi, the homeless lady. He was excited to see how this gospel helps people, so when we met with Ayi, I was expecting some miracles, ha,ha,ha.
"And it came to pass, Ayi's prayer had been answered. She found a job, however because of the hardness of her heart, she was unwilling to skip work on Sundays so she could come to church, to worship the God who blessed her." But then, BOB, the Su kid, stepped in and helped her see the miracle she wasn't seeing. He started to believe for himself that the message was true. He asked her, “Miss, how long have you been looking for work?” “Four months." "Wow, and you've only known these missionaries for a week, they helped you pray to find work, and you've found it, but you don't believe it was because God answered your prayer? I think you should reconsider." J
Heavenly Father sure gave us a chance to SHOW the restoration that night. The Su kid is now going to skip class to come to church for an hour and then go back, which is AWESOME! The kids in Taiwan have to go to school a lot so they can test well into a good college. He's sacrificing to come to church. Awesome
I think we are still going to be moving because our apartment is so far away from the church, but we can still come back and visit our investigators. It’s just difficult because half of our area is 45 minutes away. President might leave us in San Xia, because it’s been so hot lately. Initially, he wanted to have us move to Tu Cheng and build up that area some more and then move a branch to San Xia sometime. We're not sure what will happen right now, but tomorrow are interviews, so we'll probably find out more then, fun stuff.
I love it here. I love being a missionary. We help change people’s lives every day!!! It’s awesome! Gotta go, I LOVE YOU. ELDER DANIELS
GO COUGARS........ ROOOOAAAAAAAAR #8 WOOOOOAAAAAH!
Seriously, my reading in the Book of Mormon has exploded ever since I got it. Before, when I came across a character that I didn't recognize while I was reading, it would take about one minute to look it up using the good old dictionary. Now with this bad boy electric dictionary, all I have to do is write it and I can find it in 2 seconds. It’s amazing. So now I'm flying through the Book of Mormon which I plan to finish within the next 40 days. President encourages us to finish it by our year mark on the island, but I'm gonna get it done as fast as possible. It’s so nice now during lessons because I can actually teach out of the Book of Mormon. I CAN FINALLY READ!!!! I'm not illiterate anymore, but there is still ALOT more to learn. My English has gotten terrible, by the way.
That’s how it’s going with the Chinese language right now. Heavenly Father’s countless blessings have really been a great help. It is so fun to think that it’s one year ago that I got my call, and I barely knew where Taiwan was on the globe! It all goes back to the “intentions.” That’s what I've been recently sharing with my companion, prayers of faith, intentions, etc., Heavenly Father wants a loving babysitter to watch over his kids and teach them the gospel. If our intentions are one with His and His work and His glory, He will bless us. My companion is so awesome, he is a scripture memorizing machine! It’s great! He's going to be a great missionary. He's diligent and has a great work ethic. He's smart. We've learned a lot from each other. He's starting to develop some great charity for these people. I love working with him. He also has blue handlebars on his bike, it’s a Barton/Daniels tradition. Elder Barton is doing well and he's written a couple times. He is so awesome, he contacts his investigators EVERY DAY!!! (Elder Barton was Jonathan’s trainer when he first arrived in Taiwan and has completed his mission)
Okay, enough cheap talk, let’s get to the business. The work is GOOD here in San Xia. President is considering not moving us, because the work is going so well, and it’s all because of my companion’s faith. We go out and we look for families, and that’s what we've found, and in that process, the singles have been coming. Last week we met with a Hu family that we had met the first week that we got here. They were especially excited to meet with us! They have a seven-year-old meimei and a 14 year-old didi and then the mom and dad. I love them and they love us. When we first met with them, the Spirit was just screaming at me, “Invite, invite, invite, invite, invite, baptism, baptism, invite, invite...so we did...and they accepted!!! It was a miracle! So we have a family who will be baptized at the end of this month. They loved the message and they believe it all to be true!! Hooray! Right after that appointment, we had one with a 19 year-old kid at McDonalds. We gave him an English name, Spike. My companion wasn't sure if he would show or not, because he seemed pretty flakey at first, but he did and he brought three friends! They all set up to meet with us again after church. Most of our lessons are at McDonalds because the church is way too far away, 45 minutes. Church ended up being cancelled because of the typhoon. (typhoons three weekends in a row!) so they had no chance of coming, but they are coming the next week. (according to the Taiepei Times, there could be a 4th typhoon this weekend!) We had 12 new investigators last week, it was insane! That’s the most I've ever had. A companion’s faith is awesome.
We have two other really strong investigators as well and they are awesome. We have been focusing on how we can show the restoration on the street rather than be teaching it straight up, and we've had some great opportunities. We have been teaching the Su kid, (a different Su). We taught him a first discussion on a bus and he loved it. He LOVES reading the Book of Mormon and thinks it is so awesome. He is 17 years old and wanted to see how we missionaries do things. That night he came with us to a church activity and had a great time. He loved the feeling of the church and had a special feeling as he met some of the members. Later that night, he went with us to a lesson with Ayi, the homeless lady. He was excited to see how this gospel helps people, so when we met with Ayi, I was expecting some miracles, ha,ha,ha.
"And it came to pass, Ayi's prayer had been answered. She found a job, however because of the hardness of her heart, she was unwilling to skip work on Sundays so she could come to church, to worship the God who blessed her." But then, BOB, the Su kid, stepped in and helped her see the miracle she wasn't seeing. He started to believe for himself that the message was true. He asked her, “Miss, how long have you been looking for work?” “Four months." "Wow, and you've only known these missionaries for a week, they helped you pray to find work, and you've found it, but you don't believe it was because God answered your prayer? I think you should reconsider." J
Heavenly Father sure gave us a chance to SHOW the restoration that night. The Su kid is now going to skip class to come to church for an hour and then go back, which is AWESOME! The kids in Taiwan have to go to school a lot so they can test well into a good college. He's sacrificing to come to church. Awesome
I think we are still going to be moving because our apartment is so far away from the church, but we can still come back and visit our investigators. It’s just difficult because half of our area is 45 minutes away. President might leave us in San Xia, because it’s been so hot lately. Initially, he wanted to have us move to Tu Cheng and build up that area some more and then move a branch to San Xia sometime. We're not sure what will happen right now, but tomorrow are interviews, so we'll probably find out more then, fun stuff.
I love it here. I love being a missionary. We help change people’s lives every day!!! It’s awesome! Gotta go, I LOVE YOU. ELDER DANIELS
GO COUGARS........ ROOOOAAAAAAAAR #8 WOOOOOAAAAAH!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"Power Week"
Family! How is it going? It’s great to hear from you! There are so many things that have been going on I don't know where to start. Elder Gong and I have been going crazy over here in San Xia/Tu Cheng. Things are kinda confusing at the moment because the mission is remarking the boundaries of our area and they are going to have us move closer to the city. President wants us to first build up the people of Tu Cheng and then we'll spread out over to the people in San Xia.
Last week was a long, hard and powerful week. “Power week” means half hour meals and we go out every night until 9:30. It’s kinda hard to set up with people in San Xia because it’s a 45 minute bus ride to the church. Everyone we talk to just says, "Hey, I think we’ll just go over to the Christian church which is right next to my house because it’s more convenient." We say "NO! Don't do that!" Ha, ha. It’s kind of a good way to teach the apostasy on the street.
Our apartment, at the moment, is still in the city, everything is city, but it’s forever away from where we need to be, so we're going to move. Here, we don't have clean water, a dryer, warm water, and or a stove, so that adds to the reason to move. It’s been a blast though and I've gotten used to cold showers. It’s kinda pleasant due to the heat and humidity.
Anyway, Power Week was awesome. I don't know why, but it seems that during Power week, setups never ever come during the day time. They all come at night between 9:00 and 9:30 pm. Nine of our 15 setups, which is a pretty good amount, came between those hours last week. All the people that we set up between those hours are quite decent investigators. This is the week that we get to meet with all of them. :) Right now we have two really good investigators and a family! One of the investigators is actually a homeless lady named Aiyi. Usually homeless people aren’t top investigators, but anyway, she's a little different. She's really smart, but the reason she is homeless is because she can't find a job because of her diabetes. It’s kinda sad. She is quite a self deprecating lady, who has a lot of pain in her life right now, but we've been able to help her. She cries after our lessons because she feels the spirit really powerfully, but she is still not willing to say her own prayer. She feels no hope, so we get to share what hope this gospel brings, etc. She's progressing and reads the Book of Mormon a lot. We with meet with her and teach her on a bridge. :)
We found a lot of great people last week, and a lot of families, but I feel really confident about this one family we found. Their name is Zeng and they have one small mei mei. I love the little kids. We were on our way home from Taipei the other day, and a little bit lost, but they were willing to give us a ride home. Then they set US up to meet with THEM someday! It was AWESOME!!!! Holy smokes, I have a really good feeling about them and I think they are the family Elder Gong and I have been looking for. They were so beautiful that it was almost scary to give them any invites, but we were able to give them a pamphlet to read and ask them to think about the importance of families. I'm excited to meet with them.
Wow, there really has been a lot going on. My companion is so awesome! He is working way hard on the language and he likes to speak Chinese with me. We set some really good goals for him and he has progressed a lot. He can already understand a lot the language, but the hardest part is speaking it so others can understand. Chinese is really hard, but Heavenly Father helps those who have the right intentions and motives to learn the language faster so that He can use us to teach His children. I've learned that I may never master the language while I'm here, there is simply too much. There is still a lot that I don't understand when people talk to me and a lot that I don't know how to respond back, but it’s part of the learning process. It comes and Heavenly Father is going to prepare the way for those who have the desire and are in tune with the spirit. I love learning the language though, and so does my companion. He is such a stud. He is beginning to love the small kids, too, especially the mei mei's. It’s funny to see your son (trainee) pick up some of the same traits that you yourself treasure. He is my best friend. I'm starting to let him lead and press him more, so he doesn't get content to the point of robbing himself of his true potential. That’s how I see a lot of the people Heavenly Father allows me to teach these days.
It’s awesome. I love these people so much. I think about the Su family, every second of the day. I've learned that as we teach this gospel, we ourselves change. It’s true, so, so true. I have learned so much from Elder Gong, it is insane! We were just discussing some finer points of the gospel that I was able to learn from teaching the Su family and it was cool. I'm doing my best to cherish every moment. Elder Barton (last companion) has written me a couple letters and he’s motivated me quite a bit. I'm sorry, but I don't want to come home at all, hahaha. I do miss you though. Wow! Gotta go. Love you!
Last week was a long, hard and powerful week. “Power week” means half hour meals and we go out every night until 9:30. It’s kinda hard to set up with people in San Xia because it’s a 45 minute bus ride to the church. Everyone we talk to just says, "Hey, I think we’ll just go over to the Christian church which is right next to my house because it’s more convenient." We say "NO! Don't do that!" Ha, ha. It’s kind of a good way to teach the apostasy on the street.
Our apartment, at the moment, is still in the city, everything is city, but it’s forever away from where we need to be, so we're going to move. Here, we don't have clean water, a dryer, warm water, and or a stove, so that adds to the reason to move. It’s been a blast though and I've gotten used to cold showers. It’s kinda pleasant due to the heat and humidity.
Anyway, Power Week was awesome. I don't know why, but it seems that during Power week, setups never ever come during the day time. They all come at night between 9:00 and 9:30 pm. Nine of our 15 setups, which is a pretty good amount, came between those hours last week. All the people that we set up between those hours are quite decent investigators. This is the week that we get to meet with all of them. :) Right now we have two really good investigators and a family! One of the investigators is actually a homeless lady named Aiyi. Usually homeless people aren’t top investigators, but anyway, she's a little different. She's really smart, but the reason she is homeless is because she can't find a job because of her diabetes. It’s kinda sad. She is quite a self deprecating lady, who has a lot of pain in her life right now, but we've been able to help her. She cries after our lessons because she feels the spirit really powerfully, but she is still not willing to say her own prayer. She feels no hope, so we get to share what hope this gospel brings, etc. She's progressing and reads the Book of Mormon a lot. We with meet with her and teach her on a bridge. :)
We found a lot of great people last week, and a lot of families, but I feel really confident about this one family we found. Their name is Zeng and they have one small mei mei. I love the little kids. We were on our way home from Taipei the other day, and a little bit lost, but they were willing to give us a ride home. Then they set US up to meet with THEM someday! It was AWESOME!!!! Holy smokes, I have a really good feeling about them and I think they are the family Elder Gong and I have been looking for. They were so beautiful that it was almost scary to give them any invites, but we were able to give them a pamphlet to read and ask them to think about the importance of families. I'm excited to meet with them.
Wow, there really has been a lot going on. My companion is so awesome! He is working way hard on the language and he likes to speak Chinese with me. We set some really good goals for him and he has progressed a lot. He can already understand a lot the language, but the hardest part is speaking it so others can understand. Chinese is really hard, but Heavenly Father helps those who have the right intentions and motives to learn the language faster so that He can use us to teach His children. I've learned that I may never master the language while I'm here, there is simply too much. There is still a lot that I don't understand when people talk to me and a lot that I don't know how to respond back, but it’s part of the learning process. It comes and Heavenly Father is going to prepare the way for those who have the desire and are in tune with the spirit. I love learning the language though, and so does my companion. He is such a stud. He is beginning to love the small kids, too, especially the mei mei's. It’s funny to see your son (trainee) pick up some of the same traits that you yourself treasure. He is my best friend. I'm starting to let him lead and press him more, so he doesn't get content to the point of robbing himself of his true potential. That’s how I see a lot of the people Heavenly Father allows me to teach these days.
It’s awesome. I love these people so much. I think about the Su family, every second of the day. I've learned that as we teach this gospel, we ourselves change. It’s true, so, so true. I have learned so much from Elder Gong, it is insane! We were just discussing some finer points of the gospel that I was able to learn from teaching the Su family and it was cool. I'm doing my best to cherish every moment. Elder Barton (last companion) has written me a couple letters and he’s motivated me quite a bit. I'm sorry, but I don't want to come home at all, hahaha. I do miss you though. Wow! Gotta go. Love you!
Monday, September 15, 2008
I've been transferred!
Changes, changes, changes. As predicted, I am moved out of San Chong and I’m living in a place called Tu Cheng, which is beautiful. I couldn't sleep much last night ‘cause I missed the Su family too much. Oh man, it was rough, but my prayers helped. I love that family so much and it was an emotional time saying goodbye to them last night. We had to get special permission to go there because we are in the middle of a huge typhoon and it’s completely not okay to leave the house. But, President Nielson said it was alright to go and have a family night with the Su family one last time. Elder Taylor will take care of them. She is so stuck in her church right now and it’s making things slow, but, she is still going to be baptized, someday. There is no way she can go to her church anymore and not have doubts in her mind. Here is something that made me so sad when I found out about it. Church was cancelled because of the typhoon, but Joyce didn't know that. She had gone to our church to surprise me because it was my last day in San Chong,… but no one was there. So, she just went back to her church, dangit. I know she'll be baptized, but wow, it’s hard to keep my mind focused on my new area sometimes, because I miss the Su family so much.
As for other changes, here’s the story, hahaha, it’s crazy! Thursday night my companion Elder Taylor received a phone call. (Thursday night is the night that they call all the new people that will be "training"). Oh man, it was 10:30 at night and because we are so young on the island, we were all relaxed and getting ready for bed because the last thing we were expecting was a phone call. Missionaries like Elder Larson (district leader) who have been here for a year get called to train. Well, at precisely 10:30, the phone rang and the first thing that left my mouth were the words "HAHAHAHA, I'm going to be a momma,” because I was sure that Elder Taylor was “becoming a father”, (going to train). I was right, they called him to be a trainer...and then, the next words I heard from my companion’s mouth while he was talking on the phone were, "Oh, you want to talk to my companion too?" ……… I was called to be a trainer.
Wow. I thought it was way early for my companion to become trainer and he was in his 6th transfer. I am only in my 4th . Holy smokes, I wasn't expecting that at all. I felt quite inadequate to say the least. I had a mixture of fear, dread, excitement, happiness, yet sorrowful, mixed with “uh-oh,” running through my body at the same time. I prayed a lot and I felt 100 times better
It was way exciting as they don’t usually call two trainers from the same companionship. It was nuts and we went crazy. We were BOTH going to be Moms and Dads!!!! The next morning, we went to Taipei to pick up the new missionaries and meet our new companions. We went through the whole process I went through when I first arrived, only from the other side. We sang "Called to Serve" as the 13 new missionaries came marching into the room. They all looked so fresh, and excited! I was called to be with Elder Gong! He is from New Hampshire, his grandparents on his dad’s side are Chinese but he is completely American. He is cool. Elder Taylor and I took our companions out that night and they went crazy! They have so much faith and they talked to everyone. They are study animals, seriously. After that night we were stuck inside for two days because of the typhoon, and my companion studied Chinese and read scripture the entire time. I told him that he is allowed to take a nap, and he said, "That’s alright." He's gonna kill me this transfer! I'm excited to learn from him though, and I think I will learn more from him, than he will learn from me. His Chinese is SICK!!!! He knows so much vocabulary from the MTC, you learn a lot of vocab there. You gradually forget it as you go through your mission, as it gradually builds back up again. Strange. I've been encouraging him to memorize scripture, because that’s what helped me most, and he does. He is a great guy. I feel bad when he asks me questions and I don't know how to answer them, dangit. I'm going to be praying quite a lot this transfer since I'm gonna need some help. We're also "whitewashing" a new area and it’s going to be way interesting because this is just my second area, so it’s going to be WAY exciting!!! Faith. We just got him a new bike and we are all set.
It’s going to be new experience for a while, new companion, new area, bad Chinese, no Su family. We live 45 minutes from the church and the other elders. It may seem rough at times, but it’s gonna be AWESOME. I'm so excited to get to work! :)
As for other changes, here’s the story, hahaha, it’s crazy! Thursday night my companion Elder Taylor received a phone call. (Thursday night is the night that they call all the new people that will be "training"). Oh man, it was 10:30 at night and because we are so young on the island, we were all relaxed and getting ready for bed because the last thing we were expecting was a phone call. Missionaries like Elder Larson (district leader) who have been here for a year get called to train. Well, at precisely 10:30, the phone rang and the first thing that left my mouth were the words "HAHAHAHA, I'm going to be a momma,” because I was sure that Elder Taylor was “becoming a father”, (going to train). I was right, they called him to be a trainer...and then, the next words I heard from my companion’s mouth while he was talking on the phone were, "Oh, you want to talk to my companion too?" ……… I was called to be a trainer.
Wow. I thought it was way early for my companion to become trainer and he was in his 6th transfer. I am only in my 4th . Holy smokes, I wasn't expecting that at all. I felt quite inadequate to say the least. I had a mixture of fear, dread, excitement, happiness, yet sorrowful, mixed with “uh-oh,” running through my body at the same time. I prayed a lot and I felt 100 times better
It was way exciting as they don’t usually call two trainers from the same companionship. It was nuts and we went crazy. We were BOTH going to be Moms and Dads!!!! The next morning, we went to Taipei to pick up the new missionaries and meet our new companions. We went through the whole process I went through when I first arrived, only from the other side. We sang "Called to Serve" as the 13 new missionaries came marching into the room. They all looked so fresh, and excited! I was called to be with Elder Gong! He is from New Hampshire, his grandparents on his dad’s side are Chinese but he is completely American. He is cool. Elder Taylor and I took our companions out that night and they went crazy! They have so much faith and they talked to everyone. They are study animals, seriously. After that night we were stuck inside for two days because of the typhoon, and my companion studied Chinese and read scripture the entire time. I told him that he is allowed to take a nap, and he said, "That’s alright." He's gonna kill me this transfer! I'm excited to learn from him though, and I think I will learn more from him, than he will learn from me. His Chinese is SICK!!!! He knows so much vocabulary from the MTC, you learn a lot of vocab there. You gradually forget it as you go through your mission, as it gradually builds back up again. Strange. I've been encouraging him to memorize scripture, because that’s what helped me most, and he does. He is a great guy. I feel bad when he asks me questions and I don't know how to answer them, dangit. I'm going to be praying quite a lot this transfer since I'm gonna need some help. We're also "whitewashing" a new area and it’s going to be way interesting because this is just my second area, so it’s going to be WAY exciting!!! Faith. We just got him a new bike and we are all set.
It’s going to be new experience for a while, new companion, new area, bad Chinese, no Su family. We live 45 minutes from the church and the other elders. It may seem rough at times, but it’s gonna be AWESOME. I'm so excited to get to work! :)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Companions
Man, things sound way exciting back at home, with football season getting started, and all that excitement. I can feel that football atmosphere all the way over here in Taiwan. It’s not treated quite the same here, though. You won't find a football game on anyone’s television over here. They are all about baseball. My companion loves football though, and was really good. He played for Davis High School, so it’s fun to exchange stories and talk about football every now and then. It’s especially interesting when we get on the topic of BYU and UTAH, because he is a die hard Utah fan and I don't have a red drop of blood in my body! It’s interesting, one of our investigators gave us these way cool hats and one ended up being blue and the other red, so every night when we do our daily planning session, we pop them out. It’s fun to hear about how both teams are doing and it’s nice having a companion who also loves that football atmosphere. It brings back a little bit of home and it’s fun, even if he does bleed red.
With so many new missionaries coming on, there will be a lot of things changes going on, with a lot of younger missionaries who will be taking on new leadership roles earlier than usual. We have a very young mission over here in Taiwan at the moment, it's awesome! It’s great to see young boys become men out on their missions. It happens all the time. A mission is a crazy thing. Sometimes it’s a scary thing to have a new burden on your shoulders, but the missionaries here in Taiwan are awesome because they have faith and they welcome the changes with open arms. Just like Ammon with the robbers and the king’s sheep. I'm still a young boy, however, my face might just be able to hold a beard now. I don't know if that’s true or not, because I'm not allowed to grow one. We'll see what happens in 1 ½ years!
The Su family is doing well. We shared Moroni 9:25 with her, and she said, “I feel this is true. You guys are weighing me down to death.” I said, “It’s because what we teach is undeniable truth.” Then I told her to read the next sentence, “but may Christ lift thee up.” She's been pondering that for a while. I have realized that it’s not a matter of "if", but a matter of "when" for the Su family. She cannot deny it anymore because the message is true and it’s killing her! She'll make it someday. Yesterday we "heart attacked” their door. Holy smokes, it is so much easier to doorbell ditch and leave stuff in America than it is in Taiwan because everyone lives in huge buildings, "5" stacks. The only way to get into those buildings is by ringing an intercom on the bottom floor outside of the building, haha. It makes things WAY fun, good story, good times.
Well, apparently my time is gone and I have to go. I love you so much.
With so many new missionaries coming on, there will be a lot of things changes going on, with a lot of younger missionaries who will be taking on new leadership roles earlier than usual. We have a very young mission over here in Taiwan at the moment, it's awesome! It’s great to see young boys become men out on their missions. It happens all the time. A mission is a crazy thing. Sometimes it’s a scary thing to have a new burden on your shoulders, but the missionaries here in Taiwan are awesome because they have faith and they welcome the changes with open arms. Just like Ammon with the robbers and the king’s sheep. I'm still a young boy, however, my face might just be able to hold a beard now. I don't know if that’s true or not, because I'm not allowed to grow one. We'll see what happens in 1 ½ years!
The Su family is doing well. We shared Moroni 9:25 with her, and she said, “I feel this is true. You guys are weighing me down to death.” I said, “It’s because what we teach is undeniable truth.” Then I told her to read the next sentence, “but may Christ lift thee up.” She's been pondering that for a while. I have realized that it’s not a matter of "if", but a matter of "when" for the Su family. She cannot deny it anymore because the message is true and it’s killing her! She'll make it someday. Yesterday we "heart attacked” their door. Holy smokes, it is so much easier to doorbell ditch and leave stuff in America than it is in Taiwan because everyone lives in huge buildings, "5" stacks. The only way to get into those buildings is by ringing an intercom on the bottom floor outside of the building, haha. It makes things WAY fun, good story, good times.
Well, apparently my time is gone and I have to go. I love you so much.
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