Ola, Family,
I wrote the most beefy email of ALL TIME and then the computer shut off...it’s gone. My watch just broke too. Ha-ha, oh man, I'll summarize.
Training, training, training. It’s fun, though, because unlike the other assistants, we aren't stuck in the office all day. We’re out!
The Xinzhu zone is doing a lot better. They were part of the other mission now combined with us, and it has taken a little while for them to adjust. We have visited with EVERY SINGLE companionship in the zone and taught them how to work with members, using Preach My Gospel.
I went with Elder Teshima and he can speak Chinese now!!! Ha-ha
We’re putting together a Learning Resource Center idea to help Taiwanese missionaries learn English. We'll present our ideas to President tonight.
Life is so happy.
Any requests for something from Taiwan? Any suggestions for not being really weird when I get home?
Gotta go!!! I love YOU! Elder Daniels
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Holy smokes! What to write? SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!
I have now seen the mission from every angle. Meeting with President Grimley as one of his assistants is a lot different than when you are having an interview with him. He asks for our suggestions. We got to work on Tuesday; we planned out our exchanges for the transfer, and sent out a fax to everyone that wanted to go on exchanges with the traveling assistants. We are taking President’s vision for the mission and transfer and to the missionaries. We're trying to resolve communication problems between Senior companions and District leaders, District leaders and Zone leaders. President said he wanted to call two "swashbucklers" for the job, so he called me and Elder Worthen, haha, I still don't know what that means, but I think it’s good. We want to build a fire among the missionaries in the mission. This calling has been awesome...exchange after exchange and we've seen nothing but miracles, tender mercies given from Heavenly Father, produced to strengthen the faith of the missionaries that we are exchanging with.
We've seen several people set baptismal dates on the street, and when we invite them, we make sure that they know what it is that they are agreeing to. I've realized that it’s super easy to set a date with someone on the street without it having any meaning, but I don't like that. So we like to teach the Doctrine clearly before we invite. We have already exchanged with 6 companionships and we report to President each week. Currently we are in Xinzhu, the huge city that just became part of the Taipei Mission and used to be apart of the Taizhong Mission. Some missionaries are still adjusting to being in a different mission and we want to help with that. I'm learning a lot from each missionary...
I got to go on exchanges with an elder from my MTC district and that was a BLAST! He is the 25 year old MAN who turned his life around to go on a mission; he's my hero.
I went on exchanges with Elder Chen and we contacted a family that consisted of a mom, a cocky dad, and a meimei being pushed in the stroller. After several minutes of contacting them the dad said to me, "Alright, if you can beat me one-on-one in basketball, I will come to church tomorrow." So I took him on. He said he has never lost before…and...he remains undefeated even to this day, ha-ha, dang it! He beat me 3 times in a row. He did admit that I was one of the hardest competitors he had ever faced, but that meant nothing in the end, ha ha, I failed. However, it was enough to touch the heart of the mom to see a person coming all the way from America, with "no home and no salary,” so much that she made the decision to come with her daughter to church on Sunday!! Miracle. I'm determined to beat that guy at basketball some day...some day.
Biking to the next stop, my tire exploded, and right next to a bicycle store! But, the moment the tire had been completely replaced and had sat for two minutes, it exploded again before I had even taken it out of the store! We were late that night.
We attended my last Zone Leader Council. We showed how the doctrines in chapter three of Preach My Gospel resolve EVERY SINGLE concern! While applying teaching skills taught in chapter ten, the goal is "becoming a master teacher."
A funny side story. Elder Lin, the Assistant that went home last transfer, is now married! He is the funniest person I have ever met. Every time he spoke, your outlook on life became positive! He got married within a week, and when he gave his home coming report in Sacrament meeting, his wife was sitting in the congregation! Hahahaha.
Something, I just found out. Elder Leavitt, my last companion and one that I trained, is the son of former Utah Governor Leavitt. He never mentioned it. Now his father works in Washington DC, he was on President Bush’s cabinet. Elder Leavitt speaks some Russian and fluent French. No wonder he traveled so much!
Melanie, did you know a McKenzie Ackerson or an Adam Gassin that lived in the Foreign Language dorms?
Paul, HAPPY STINKIN’ BIRTHDAY! "33" (Scotty Pippin)
Back to the goods of the letter...
It’s difficult not having our own investigators, so every time we have the opportunity to teach a lesson we put EVERYTHING WE CAN into it. As for sleeping at nights, we have figured out that sleeping on the box springs at other elders’ apartments is actually rather suitable and when blankets run out, window curtains and towels get the job done. Ha-ha, this life is awesome!!! My house is all in a backpack!!! We travel at nights and arrive in the new area at 9:00 am, just in time to do planning with each companionship. We usually stay until 7:00 the next day before we head off to the next area!!
Well, I have to finish registering. LOVE YOUUOUOUOUOUOU! ELDER DANIELS!!!
We've seen several people set baptismal dates on the street, and when we invite them, we make sure that they know what it is that they are agreeing to. I've realized that it’s super easy to set a date with someone on the street without it having any meaning, but I don't like that. So we like to teach the Doctrine clearly before we invite. We have already exchanged with 6 companionships and we report to President each week. Currently we are in Xinzhu, the huge city that just became part of the Taipei Mission and used to be apart of the Taizhong Mission. Some missionaries are still adjusting to being in a different mission and we want to help with that. I'm learning a lot from each missionary...
I got to go on exchanges with an elder from my MTC district and that was a BLAST! He is the 25 year old MAN who turned his life around to go on a mission; he's my hero.
I went on exchanges with Elder Chen and we contacted a family that consisted of a mom, a cocky dad, and a meimei being pushed in the stroller. After several minutes of contacting them the dad said to me, "Alright, if you can beat me one-on-one in basketball, I will come to church tomorrow." So I took him on. He said he has never lost before…and...he remains undefeated even to this day, ha-ha, dang it! He beat me 3 times in a row. He did admit that I was one of the hardest competitors he had ever faced, but that meant nothing in the end, ha ha, I failed. However, it was enough to touch the heart of the mom to see a person coming all the way from America, with "no home and no salary,” so much that she made the decision to come with her daughter to church on Sunday!! Miracle. I'm determined to beat that guy at basketball some day...some day.
Biking to the next stop, my tire exploded, and right next to a bicycle store! But, the moment the tire had been completely replaced and had sat for two minutes, it exploded again before I had even taken it out of the store! We were late that night.
We attended my last Zone Leader Council. We showed how the doctrines in chapter three of Preach My Gospel resolve EVERY SINGLE concern! While applying teaching skills taught in chapter ten, the goal is "becoming a master teacher."
A funny side story. Elder Lin, the Assistant that went home last transfer, is now married! He is the funniest person I have ever met. Every time he spoke, your outlook on life became positive! He got married within a week, and when he gave his home coming report in Sacrament meeting, his wife was sitting in the congregation! Hahahaha.
Something, I just found out. Elder Leavitt, my last companion and one that I trained, is the son of former Utah Governor Leavitt. He never mentioned it. Now his father works in Washington DC, he was on President Bush’s cabinet. Elder Leavitt speaks some Russian and fluent French. No wonder he traveled so much!
Melanie, did you know a McKenzie Ackerson or an Adam Gassin that lived in the Foreign Language dorms?
Paul, HAPPY STINKIN’ BIRTHDAY! "33" (Scotty Pippin)
Back to the goods of the letter...
It’s difficult not having our own investigators, so every time we have the opportunity to teach a lesson we put EVERYTHING WE CAN into it. As for sleeping at nights, we have figured out that sleeping on the box springs at other elders’ apartments is actually rather suitable and when blankets run out, window curtains and towels get the job done. Ha-ha, this life is awesome!!! My house is all in a backpack!!! We travel at nights and arrive in the new area at 9:00 am, just in time to do planning with each companionship. We usually stay until 7:00 the next day before we head off to the next area!!
Well, I have to finish registering. LOVE YOUUOUOUOUOUOU! ELDER DANIELS!!!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Last Transfer! Traveling Assistant!
Daniels Family!
Hello, I am your child, Elder Daniels and last week was awesome. I'm writing to you on Monday because it’s a new transfer, again, for the last time.
Last week’s happenings:
All of our investigators with dates are progressing and they all know it’s true; they are just trying to overcome their trials before baptism.
Family, I am old! It’s happened! I caught myself sitting with my legs crossed "high priest style"..."knee over knee." It scared me to death when I realized what I was doing!
Last week we held another zone conference where Elder Watson, Asia’s representative of the Seventy, came and visited us. He gave a talk in General Conference a couple weeks back. I was called to give a 5 minute talk in Chinese about my studies and it went really good.
Last week we saw a lot of progress ward/missionary wise. We want the members to focus more on having a “Preach My Gospel” based Sacrament meeting, which was an invite from President Uchtdorf. So what we did was start visiting members and introducing Preach My Gospel more directly. We visited the 1st counselor and asked him and his wife, "I know you read your scriptures every day, but do you have a scripture study plan?" “Not really, no.” “Well, that’s why we have this book called Preach My Gospel.” They liked it so much that they called and invited me to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, which is absolutely HUGE!! When a missionary has an opportunity to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, it is a very sacred time because it doesn't happen that often. So the ward is really excited about missionary work and reading Preach My Gospel. Hooray!!!
Okay, now for the part that I know you are waiting for....
In the midst of all these happenings, I also received a special phone call on Friday night at 6:00. "President Grimley," said the words on the screen on the front of the phone. He told me to call him back after we ended the lesson we were in, so I called him and he asked, "Are you sitting down?” "Yes, may I ask why?" "Elder Daniels, I would like to call you to be my traveling assistant."
So after giving my talk in church on Sunday, writing in 12 bye-bye books, saying goodbye to my beloved Elder Leavitt, and forgetting to fulfill my responsibility as District Leader and call the Sisters to tell them their new moving situation, making for a rough nights sleep for them due to anxiety expecting a phone call that never came, I have left Keelung after being there for one transfer. Here I am in Taipei with my new companion Elder Worthen, my high school classmate. Hyrum Worthen, ha-ha.
There were no Traveling Assistants for the past two transfers but they have started it up again this transfer. We don't know why yet.
In case you forgot what a traveling assistant does, I will remind you briefly. We ride our bikes all around the island visiting different area's and go on exchanges with every companionship. No bed, ha-ha, AWESOME!!! I'm so excited! I get to go visit all my old areas! Sanchong, Tucheng, Hualien, and Jilong (Keelung)!!!
We never sleep in our house but all of our stuff is left at the Assistants’ place. We will stay there when we plan for zone conferences and things like that. Otherwise, it’s us, a bike, a sleeping bag, and a back pack, with packing skills required.
Elder Worthen. He is 2 transfers younger than me, we played football together in 10th grade and were friends in high school! We never had much opportunity to cross roads though, low and behold, he is killing me off of my mission in 6 weeks!
In a couple minutes we are about to go and eat lunch at the Lin family’s house!!!! Elder Barton’s Lin family!!! (Elder Barton was Jonathan’s trainer and first companion in Taiwan). They live close to the temple near our house! It will be so good to see them again because I'm the last thing left of Elder Barton and Sister Lin loves me, hahaha. I love them too!
Well, there will be more in the near future but for now. I have to sign up for classes. LOVE YOU!!! Elder Daniels....
Hello, I am your child, Elder Daniels and last week was awesome. I'm writing to you on Monday because it’s a new transfer, again, for the last time.
Last week’s happenings:
All of our investigators with dates are progressing and they all know it’s true; they are just trying to overcome their trials before baptism.
Family, I am old! It’s happened! I caught myself sitting with my legs crossed "high priest style"..."knee over knee." It scared me to death when I realized what I was doing!
Last week we held another zone conference where Elder Watson, Asia’s representative of the Seventy, came and visited us. He gave a talk in General Conference a couple weeks back. I was called to give a 5 minute talk in Chinese about my studies and it went really good.
Last week we saw a lot of progress ward/missionary wise. We want the members to focus more on having a “Preach My Gospel” based Sacrament meeting, which was an invite from President Uchtdorf. So what we did was start visiting members and introducing Preach My Gospel more directly. We visited the 1st counselor and asked him and his wife, "I know you read your scriptures every day, but do you have a scripture study plan?" “Not really, no.” “Well, that’s why we have this book called Preach My Gospel.” They liked it so much that they called and invited me to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, which is absolutely HUGE!! When a missionary has an opportunity to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, it is a very sacred time because it doesn't happen that often. So the ward is really excited about missionary work and reading Preach My Gospel. Hooray!!!
Okay, now for the part that I know you are waiting for....
In the midst of all these happenings, I also received a special phone call on Friday night at 6:00. "President Grimley," said the words on the screen on the front of the phone. He told me to call him back after we ended the lesson we were in, so I called him and he asked, "Are you sitting down?” "Yes, may I ask why?" "Elder Daniels, I would like to call you to be my traveling assistant."
So after giving my talk in church on Sunday, writing in 12 bye-bye books, saying goodbye to my beloved Elder Leavitt, and forgetting to fulfill my responsibility as District Leader and call the Sisters to tell them their new moving situation, making for a rough nights sleep for them due to anxiety expecting a phone call that never came, I have left Keelung after being there for one transfer. Here I am in Taipei with my new companion Elder Worthen, my high school classmate. Hyrum Worthen, ha-ha.
There were no Traveling Assistants for the past two transfers but they have started it up again this transfer. We don't know why yet.
In case you forgot what a traveling assistant does, I will remind you briefly. We ride our bikes all around the island visiting different area's and go on exchanges with every companionship. No bed, ha-ha, AWESOME!!! I'm so excited! I get to go visit all my old areas! Sanchong, Tucheng, Hualien, and Jilong (Keelung)!!!
We never sleep in our house but all of our stuff is left at the Assistants’ place. We will stay there when we plan for zone conferences and things like that. Otherwise, it’s us, a bike, a sleeping bag, and a back pack, with packing skills required.
Elder Worthen. He is 2 transfers younger than me, we played football together in 10th grade and were friends in high school! We never had much opportunity to cross roads though, low and behold, he is killing me off of my mission in 6 weeks!
In a couple minutes we are about to go and eat lunch at the Lin family’s house!!!! Elder Barton’s Lin family!!! (Elder Barton was Jonathan’s trainer and first companion in Taiwan). They live close to the temple near our house! It will be so good to see them again because I'm the last thing left of Elder Barton and Sister Lin loves me, hahaha. I love them too!
Well, there will be more in the near future but for now. I have to sign up for classes. LOVE YOU!!! Elder Daniels....
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Getting "It" and kind words for Mom and Dad
Life + missionary work = terrificness! I was thinking about the next step in life the other day, and then I thought about the step after that, and then the one after that, and then I thought about my own parents and realized something...YOU ARE LEHI!!!!!
Tell me, what is the virtue that all old people know that we young people just don't get yet? (I think that when you become an Apostle, it’s the same.) I think that they all have a secret virtue/principle that is taught to them when they are ordained. I bet it’s got a really weird name too, like "scroomility" or something like that! I think my parents have learned it, (whatever “it” is) because they are SUPER good parents. Very Christ like.
The word "parent" means "child raiser" right? My vernacular lacks a better adjective to describe the magnitude of your "child raising" abilities! So, I will use the Chinese word "LEHI." Lehi = super ridiculously awesome!!! Mom and Dad, you are "Lehi" child raisers. You must have a lot of “scroomilitude.”
In past zone conferences we have referred to the central point of the Gospel by using the word "it,” as, “Do you get ‘it’?" "It," referring to the principles taught about Christ’s gospel in 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 27:13-20. My parents get "It."
My goal for the next step is to find me a woman who gets "It,"
and then I gotta figure out how to "till" the earth and teach "It" to my posterity. Hm, that seems easy! I repeat, "Yes parents, you are LEHI!" Ha, hooray...moving on!
This week was very superb! In addition to the three people with dates for the 5th of December, we have been blessed to work with 3 families!!! In one family, the father is already a member but not active. We've been teaching his daughter recently who is a 9 year-old, chubby mei mei. (Little girl) When we teach her, the mom, dad and son all participate in the lesson. In the past their daughter had NO interest, but we've been going “Book of Mormon crazy” with her and she LOVES IT! We want to get the dad active, the daughter and the mother baptized!! The son is only 5 years old, but he wants to be a MISSIONARY!
Okay, so across the street from this family is a poor family with 5 kids. At first they didn't open up to us, but because of the influence from the other family, they have started to open up to us a lot more and they are willing to meet with us!!! HOORAY!
And lastly is a family that we found and started teaching, with two AWESOME didi's (little boys) who love us! However because the husband is not around, we've handed them over to the Sisters, but it’s okay because the Sisters are taking good care of them, and they still LOVE to meet with us. They loved the Plan of Salvation and the mom and kids both LOVED Church! They got along just fine. They are a rather rich family and they have a relative who is also a member of the church. Therefore the mom already knows all the standards of the church and is already willing to accept them! Hooray! Good stuff, huh.
As for our other investigators, one loves "it" and knows “it’s” true and has to figure out his problem with the Sabbath... pray for him! And then there is another who is still looking for an answer, and lastly there is still the half crazy man who is progressing a lot!! He expressed that he wants to be baptized again into a church that has the Book of Mormon because he feels his last one didn't count... because they don't have the BOM, they don't have "a fullness of Christ".
We set a goal with a less active returned sister missionary (who is divorcing her husband because he beats their kids) to go to the temple before Christmas and before I leave Taiwan! She really wants to get back!
One morning we took the bus to the church because we parked our bikes there the night before on exchanges and when I got back to my bike I saw that somebody had spit beetle nut juice ALL OVER MY helmet!!! I washed it but it still reeks! Yuck!!! Beetle nut is like tobacco but 30 times grosser!!! Also on exchanges we were waiting for a new member to come play football with us and while we were waiting, me and Elder Hammer were throwing the football back and forth. As we were throwing, a kid started walking by that had just finished school and I decided to throw the ball to him. I forgot that nobody in Taiwan plays football and most kids have never even seen one, so the ball sailed through the air and hit him square in the face. Dangit! He didn't even think to put his hands up. He didn't even say anything and walked away awkwardly. Oh, I love Taiwan.
Talking in the elevator to strangers is awkward in the first place, but when those people are Taiwanese, it just become incredible! Ha-ha, they stare at you for about 2 seconds and put their head back down immediately, ha-ha, like a missionary turns his head after he realizes that he was unconsciously looking at a bad poster on the wall. Ha-ha, I love Taiwan!
My bike is dying. On the way over I stopped by a motorcycle shop to get the tires pumped up and the chain re-oiled. Two minutes afterward, in the midst of saying the sentence, “That’s better, now my bike is…BAM! My chain skipped abruptly while I was changing gears and then it fell off completely causing me to hurt myself in a very awkward manner on my seat. Ha-ha, all my cards I had stuffed in my bag had fallen out and been scattered across the intersection. It happened so fast. What I was beginning to say was, “That’s better, now my bike is kingly again.” But it was all in vain. Ha-ha, Kathi (bike named after Aunt Kathi) is on her last couple threads, ha-ha.
Susan from Hualien came to visit last weekend with her son Peter and brought me two huge bags full of goodies and pineapple cakes, bless her.
Well I gotsta go. I love you always, Elder Daniels
Tell me, what is the virtue that all old people know that we young people just don't get yet? (I think that when you become an Apostle, it’s the same.) I think that they all have a secret virtue/principle that is taught to them when they are ordained. I bet it’s got a really weird name too, like "scroomility" or something like that! I think my parents have learned it, (whatever “it” is) because they are SUPER good parents. Very Christ like.
The word "parent" means "child raiser" right? My vernacular lacks a better adjective to describe the magnitude of your "child raising" abilities! So, I will use the Chinese word "LEHI." Lehi = super ridiculously awesome!!! Mom and Dad, you are "Lehi" child raisers. You must have a lot of “scroomilitude.”
In past zone conferences we have referred to the central point of the Gospel by using the word "it,” as, “Do you get ‘it’?" "It," referring to the principles taught about Christ’s gospel in 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 27:13-20. My parents get "It."
My goal for the next step is to find me a woman who gets "It,"
and then I gotta figure out how to "till" the earth and teach "It" to my posterity. Hm, that seems easy! I repeat, "Yes parents, you are LEHI!" Ha, hooray...moving on!
This week was very superb! In addition to the three people with dates for the 5th of December, we have been blessed to work with 3 families!!! In one family, the father is already a member but not active. We've been teaching his daughter recently who is a 9 year-old, chubby mei mei. (Little girl) When we teach her, the mom, dad and son all participate in the lesson. In the past their daughter had NO interest, but we've been going “Book of Mormon crazy” with her and she LOVES IT! We want to get the dad active, the daughter and the mother baptized!! The son is only 5 years old, but he wants to be a MISSIONARY!
Okay, so across the street from this family is a poor family with 5 kids. At first they didn't open up to us, but because of the influence from the other family, they have started to open up to us a lot more and they are willing to meet with us!!! HOORAY!
And lastly is a family that we found and started teaching, with two AWESOME didi's (little boys) who love us! However because the husband is not around, we've handed them over to the Sisters, but it’s okay because the Sisters are taking good care of them, and they still LOVE to meet with us. They loved the Plan of Salvation and the mom and kids both LOVED Church! They got along just fine. They are a rather rich family and they have a relative who is also a member of the church. Therefore the mom already knows all the standards of the church and is already willing to accept them! Hooray! Good stuff, huh.
As for our other investigators, one loves "it" and knows “it’s” true and has to figure out his problem with the Sabbath... pray for him! And then there is another who is still looking for an answer, and lastly there is still the half crazy man who is progressing a lot!! He expressed that he wants to be baptized again into a church that has the Book of Mormon because he feels his last one didn't count... because they don't have the BOM, they don't have "a fullness of Christ".
We set a goal with a less active returned sister missionary (who is divorcing her husband because he beats their kids) to go to the temple before Christmas and before I leave Taiwan! She really wants to get back!
One morning we took the bus to the church because we parked our bikes there the night before on exchanges and when I got back to my bike I saw that somebody had spit beetle nut juice ALL OVER MY helmet!!! I washed it but it still reeks! Yuck!!! Beetle nut is like tobacco but 30 times grosser!!! Also on exchanges we were waiting for a new member to come play football with us and while we were waiting, me and Elder Hammer were throwing the football back and forth. As we were throwing, a kid started walking by that had just finished school and I decided to throw the ball to him. I forgot that nobody in Taiwan plays football and most kids have never even seen one, so the ball sailed through the air and hit him square in the face. Dangit! He didn't even think to put his hands up. He didn't even say anything and walked away awkwardly. Oh, I love Taiwan.
Talking in the elevator to strangers is awkward in the first place, but when those people are Taiwanese, it just become incredible! Ha-ha, they stare at you for about 2 seconds and put their head back down immediately, ha-ha, like a missionary turns his head after he realizes that he was unconsciously looking at a bad poster on the wall. Ha-ha, I love Taiwan!
My bike is dying. On the way over I stopped by a motorcycle shop to get the tires pumped up and the chain re-oiled. Two minutes afterward, in the midst of saying the sentence, “That’s better, now my bike is…BAM! My chain skipped abruptly while I was changing gears and then it fell off completely causing me to hurt myself in a very awkward manner on my seat. Ha-ha, all my cards I had stuffed in my bag had fallen out and been scattered across the intersection. It happened so fast. What I was beginning to say was, “That’s better, now my bike is kingly again.” But it was all in vain. Ha-ha, Kathi (bike named after Aunt Kathi) is on her last couple threads, ha-ha.
Susan from Hualien came to visit last weekend with her son Peter and brought me two huge bags full of goodies and pineapple cakes, bless her.
Well I gotsta go. I love you always, Elder Daniels
Friday, October 30, 2009
Life on a mission is spectacular!
There is nothing better then having perfect weather and being in a church building that is literally located on a bay. We see all kinds of boats coming in an out. HUGE ONES, (tour boats, car-transporting boats, cargo boats)... absolutely massive!!! It’s so cool!
This past week was VERY effective! Our district is awesome, we get our district goals every week, and because of it, we've got a lot of investigators brewin' in the baptismal pool. :)
We have three at the moment... one is the half crazy man, we're not sure what to do about him at the moment, sanity wise. He probably at least needs baptism in order to be saved, ha-ha, but it takes a lot of patience teaching him. Two times ago he got kind of frustrated because he knows the Restoration is important, and he believes in the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't understand why he has to come to Our church on Sundays rather than another church. Poor man, he is always happy though, so we can learn a lot from him. Now for the other two. One is a referral from a member, and he is really good, he wants to come to church really bad but he has work on Sunday. However, last time after teaching him to "pray with faith" he said he would make it to church on Sunday and only God knows how. Ha-ha, the other investigator set a goal for the same date. 12/5. He is searching for his answer, both are mid 20's and future priesthood holders!!! We've found A LOAD of people, and now we're picking out the weeds I guess you could say.
There are a couple members of the RLDS church here in Keelung; the sisters said it was weird! They had an investigator who is a member of that church and they read the Book of Mormon in Chinese and everything.
We have been visiting inactives in hopes to reactivate them. One is a family with a deaf father, so we are trying to learn some Chinese sign language so we can teach him!!!
Last week my son III, experienced his first spill...hahahaha. It was so funny and unexpected. We were riding down an alley, VERY slow, and then all of a sudden, I stop and I look behind me in time to watch my companion go through a 4-second falling process that took him to the ground over his bike. His initial reaction was priceless, (laying on the ground looking up and saying, "I have know idea what just happened,” ha-ha. Splitting a rib due to laughter, I went to help him off the ground.
A member expressed his love for the Book of Mormon to us the other day. He said it in English, “The Book of Mormon in my gas station and my pillow. I love to have it with me.” Ha-ha, good man!
I got a letter from Susan, Jeff, and William...they are all very active!
At tonight’s English class we will hold a Halloween activity. However, due to lack of pumpkins in Taiwan, we will use WATERMELONS to cut jack-o-lanterns. Ha, you do what you can, I guess.
Missionary work is a blast! I could do it forever. Elder Leavitt and I were talking about it...if we could have a wife and kids with us we could do it for the rest of our lives. Then we started thinking, why doesn't the church allow that? Oh yeah, men need occupations. (You forget about that stuff while you are serving a mission.)
My companion’s hair is very special. He got a flat top a couple weeks ago, and it’s been slowly shaping into the coolest looking hairdo of all time. Even 64-year -old men comment on it, hahahaha. I told him, “Son, next time let me cut your hair.” Yeah, so I like to tease him a little.
Well I gotta GO. LOVE YOU!!!! Elder Daniels
This past week was VERY effective! Our district is awesome, we get our district goals every week, and because of it, we've got a lot of investigators brewin' in the baptismal pool. :)
We have three at the moment... one is the half crazy man, we're not sure what to do about him at the moment, sanity wise. He probably at least needs baptism in order to be saved, ha-ha, but it takes a lot of patience teaching him. Two times ago he got kind of frustrated because he knows the Restoration is important, and he believes in the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't understand why he has to come to Our church on Sundays rather than another church. Poor man, he is always happy though, so we can learn a lot from him. Now for the other two. One is a referral from a member, and he is really good, he wants to come to church really bad but he has work on Sunday. However, last time after teaching him to "pray with faith" he said he would make it to church on Sunday and only God knows how. Ha-ha, the other investigator set a goal for the same date. 12/5. He is searching for his answer, both are mid 20's and future priesthood holders!!! We've found A LOAD of people, and now we're picking out the weeds I guess you could say.
There are a couple members of the RLDS church here in Keelung; the sisters said it was weird! They had an investigator who is a member of that church and they read the Book of Mormon in Chinese and everything.
We have been visiting inactives in hopes to reactivate them. One is a family with a deaf father, so we are trying to learn some Chinese sign language so we can teach him!!!
Last week my son III, experienced his first spill...hahahaha. It was so funny and unexpected. We were riding down an alley, VERY slow, and then all of a sudden, I stop and I look behind me in time to watch my companion go through a 4-second falling process that took him to the ground over his bike. His initial reaction was priceless, (laying on the ground looking up and saying, "I have know idea what just happened,” ha-ha. Splitting a rib due to laughter, I went to help him off the ground.
A member expressed his love for the Book of Mormon to us the other day. He said it in English, “The Book of Mormon in my gas station and my pillow. I love to have it with me.” Ha-ha, good man!
I got a letter from Susan, Jeff, and William...they are all very active!
At tonight’s English class we will hold a Halloween activity. However, due to lack of pumpkins in Taiwan, we will use WATERMELONS to cut jack-o-lanterns. Ha, you do what you can, I guess.
Missionary work is a blast! I could do it forever. Elder Leavitt and I were talking about it...if we could have a wife and kids with us we could do it for the rest of our lives. Then we started thinking, why doesn't the church allow that? Oh yeah, men need occupations. (You forget about that stuff while you are serving a mission.)
My companion’s hair is very special. He got a flat top a couple weeks ago, and it’s been slowly shaping into the coolest looking hairdo of all time. Even 64-year -old men comment on it, hahahaha. I told him, “Son, next time let me cut your hair.” Yeah, so I like to tease him a little.
Well I gotta GO. LOVE YOU!!!! Elder Daniels
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Missionary Meets Many Kinds of People!
Life is "g"e"w"d" “GEEEWWWWWD!” (Good!)
Keelung City is awesome. Ever since I spent all that time complaining in my last email about the weather, it’s been beautiful! Nothing but blue skies and fresh Taiwan air, and at a perfect temperature, about 78 degrees! And now for the best news...I get to go to the Temple today! I've been Temple trunky for quite sometime now, ever since moving away from Tucheng. I’m pumped!
Update on the area:
We have a lot of potentials at the moment, but everyone is so busy except for the one man who is in our baptismal pool that we aren't completely sure whether or not he is sane. Seems there are a lot like that in Taiwan.
Story: The other Elders invited a lady to church (she's not sane). She comes to the church everyday now and we are too sorry to tell her to leave so we let her sit in the church for a couple hours and watch videos. Ha-ha. Taking the bus on the way to Stake Conference in Taipei, she said something classic, “Look, I got this card from the government that makes stuff really cheap. I only had to pay 24 kuai but you had to pay 45." We didn't dare explain to her why. (There are a lot of not completely sane people in Taiwan that follow the missionaries. I would say there is one in each area).
Moving on, more about the area. We are finding through the ward members and also a lot through our own efforts. We're spending a lot of time strengthening the new and less active members. That’s been VERY successful. :)
The one man in our pool still is under the impression that all Christianity is the same, and yadda, yadda, yadda. We've explained to him so many times but it finally helped him understand as we outlined the Plan of Salvation for him. We’re going to share commandments now that should get him! In his mind this is what matters...
Jesus + free food = good. (His perception)
Jesus + faith, repentance, baptism, endure to end = truth (God's perception)
(His perception again) "Huh?? Baptism, then you’re saved, it’s all good." (Elder Daniels slaps his own forehead.)
Ha-ha, I love being a missionary. Teaching 2000 lessons in two years, you meet a lot of special people. So yeah, now for more stories:
The other day we took the elevator to our chapel on the fifth floor and as we exited through the door, I saw a homeless looking man crunched up in a ball (squatting) next to the coat rack where we hang our rain gear. I asked him, “Can I help you?" He said, "No, I'm leaving now." I asked, "What did you come here for?" and he replied "Stealing rain gear." I said, "Oh," and as he started walking toward the elevator where there was a 20ish year-old girl there holding the door, waiting for him. I saw at the spot where he had been squatting and there was a pile of human feces. I was shocked! I said to the man, “HEY, YOU FORGOT YOUR POOP!" He walked over, grabbed it up in his hand, and went down the elevator! The girl looked extremely confused, hahahahahahahahahaha. Oh man, it stunk so bad!!! We were stunned with what had just happened, so after I came to my senses, we went down the elevator and found the guard and the man. The guard told the man to go back upstairs and clean it up. It’s a week later and it still stinks a little.
Okay, next bit if info...
The Elders and Sisters in the area are “tearing it up,” meaning, doing a really good job. One of the Elders’ investigators is scheduled to be baptized on the 31st, but he needs to marry his live-in girlfriend before hand, so they are getting married tomorrow… and he doesn't know it yet! Ha-ha, pray for him AND HER.
Time’s up!
Keelung City is awesome. Ever since I spent all that time complaining in my last email about the weather, it’s been beautiful! Nothing but blue skies and fresh Taiwan air, and at a perfect temperature, about 78 degrees! And now for the best news...I get to go to the Temple today! I've been Temple trunky for quite sometime now, ever since moving away from Tucheng. I’m pumped!
Update on the area:
We have a lot of potentials at the moment, but everyone is so busy except for the one man who is in our baptismal pool that we aren't completely sure whether or not he is sane. Seems there are a lot like that in Taiwan.
Story: The other Elders invited a lady to church (she's not sane). She comes to the church everyday now and we are too sorry to tell her to leave so we let her sit in the church for a couple hours and watch videos. Ha-ha. Taking the bus on the way to Stake Conference in Taipei, she said something classic, “Look, I got this card from the government that makes stuff really cheap. I only had to pay 24 kuai but you had to pay 45." We didn't dare explain to her why. (There are a lot of not completely sane people in Taiwan that follow the missionaries. I would say there is one in each area).
Moving on, more about the area. We are finding through the ward members and also a lot through our own efforts. We're spending a lot of time strengthening the new and less active members. That’s been VERY successful. :)
The one man in our pool still is under the impression that all Christianity is the same, and yadda, yadda, yadda. We've explained to him so many times but it finally helped him understand as we outlined the Plan of Salvation for him. We’re going to share commandments now that should get him! In his mind this is what matters...
Jesus + free food = good. (His perception)
Jesus + faith, repentance, baptism, endure to end = truth (God's perception)
(His perception again) "Huh?? Baptism, then you’re saved, it’s all good." (Elder Daniels slaps his own forehead.)
Ha-ha, I love being a missionary. Teaching 2000 lessons in two years, you meet a lot of special people. So yeah, now for more stories:
The other day we took the elevator to our chapel on the fifth floor and as we exited through the door, I saw a homeless looking man crunched up in a ball (squatting) next to the coat rack where we hang our rain gear. I asked him, “Can I help you?" He said, "No, I'm leaving now." I asked, "What did you come here for?" and he replied "Stealing rain gear." I said, "Oh," and as he started walking toward the elevator where there was a 20ish year-old girl there holding the door, waiting for him. I saw at the spot where he had been squatting and there was a pile of human feces. I was shocked! I said to the man, “HEY, YOU FORGOT YOUR POOP!" He walked over, grabbed it up in his hand, and went down the elevator! The girl looked extremely confused, hahahahahahahahahaha. Oh man, it stunk so bad!!! We were stunned with what had just happened, so after I came to my senses, we went down the elevator and found the guard and the man. The guard told the man to go back upstairs and clean it up. It’s a week later and it still stinks a little.
Okay, next bit if info...
The Elders and Sisters in the area are “tearing it up,” meaning, doing a really good job. One of the Elders’ investigators is scheduled to be baptized on the 31st, but he needs to marry his live-in girlfriend before hand, so they are getting married tomorrow… and he doesn't know it yet! Ha-ha, pray for him AND HER.
Time’s up!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
We got to watch General Conference!
Meetings, meetings, meetings, and more meetings, ha-ha, it’s awesome! Conference was nuts, Elder Holland is out of this world! Doesn't it make one curious to know why he gets so hyped up over that “one book” he was talking about? We also had zone conference which is a lot different then the ones from Hualien, ha-ha. They had me translate, oh man, and it was a blast! Rather difficult at some parts however. For example, when they start going off about the Lord’s vineyard and all the things He does to prune it, dung it, etc... Ha-ha, I love attending zone conference because it’s so spiritual! The topic was PMG (Preach My Gospel) chapter two, about studies. Sitting in that meeting for 5 hours made me so trunky to go and read my scriptures. Ha-ha. We've been spending a lot of time with member work, and finding through the members. We have Elder Perry’s vision from general conference, to help the members know how to teach discussions 1, 2, and 3, side by side with missionaries. It’s been rather affective. We usually do most of our teaching through method of pei ke. When the members attend our lessons, they learn how to teach, and after the lessons we spend time evaluating and preparing them to give us references to their friends. We ask straight forward questions…”Hey Brother Wang, have your neighbors joined the church yet? Okay we want to visit them, etc...” We’ve been seeing a lot of success!
We have 2 people in the baptismal pool for this transfer that are solid, one is the man from last week that I mentioned, however he is in mainland China on business at the moment, and the other one is man that we find on the street. He is...special. He has half a set of teeth, a bald head, crossed eyes and bad breath, but he is SO nice!!! He is a little slow. We had a member come to our lesson with him last night to help us figure out whether he is crazy or not. Apparently he seems okay, he is just really slow. We have taught him the Restoration about 25 times in two meetings ha-ha. He's the type of guy where you tell him that truth is back on the earth 50 times, and he says, "Every church is the same, they all teach the same thing. Do good and that’s enough, it doesn’t matter which one you join, all believe in Christ, I was baptized in once." “Really? So do you pray?" "No I've never prayed, I just went to a church once and they asked me if I wanted to be baptized or not and I responded, sure why not, but I’m willing to be baptized again if I have time."
Elder Daniels slaps forehead after explain for the 40th time, ha-ha. However in the end of last lesson he committed to say his own personal prayer. It was great!!!
I and Elder Leavitt have been seeing some TENDER MERCIES on the street!! Setting up families and what not, we'll be visiting them soon. One has a cute five month old MEI MEI!!
I really love Elder Leavitt, really! He is so COOL! He is so mature for a greenie, he knows how to study and he's already full of legitimate virtue traits such as temperance, humility, charity. He is awesome.
Keelung is really growing on me. Today is the first day it hasn't rained since I’ve been here, it’s amazing. Other than today, it’s been AT LEAST sprinkling ever hour of every day...for 3 weeks almost!!! Ha-ha. My rain gear smelled like barf until yesterday. Today we cleaned and mopped our apartment, we made an AWESOME breakfast. I love that feeling of freshness, cleanliness, remission of sins, and you receive the Spirit!
Obedience brings a soft heart, which invites the spirit which we receive through our covenants we make every Sunday! I love my mission, the best two years ever.
I part my hair on the right now. I don’t have any tan, my muscles are gone from the waist up, I didn't even break 100 bowling last week…ultimate travesty!! I lost face. I’m just kidding. I am going to by a rice cooker for college.
My companion is hilarious. He took Elder Nelson’s invite to the test one night. He doesn't recall doing it, but he recorded thoughts and deep inspiration that came to him in his dreams. These were some of the notes he made:
"Depart out of darkness"
"Everyone needs a five minute break"
"Modesty = happiness"
"Pure building faith what is it?"
"hame gandi"
"Work ederlder work,” and my favorite is,
"Paul gave bread to the woman and sunshine." Hahahahahahahahahaha. I split a rib as I read that stuff.
Well family, I love you to death, Elder Jonathan Scashby Daniels
We have 2 people in the baptismal pool for this transfer that are solid, one is the man from last week that I mentioned, however he is in mainland China on business at the moment, and the other one is man that we find on the street. He is...special. He has half a set of teeth, a bald head, crossed eyes and bad breath, but he is SO nice!!! He is a little slow. We had a member come to our lesson with him last night to help us figure out whether he is crazy or not. Apparently he seems okay, he is just really slow. We have taught him the Restoration about 25 times in two meetings ha-ha. He's the type of guy where you tell him that truth is back on the earth 50 times, and he says, "Every church is the same, they all teach the same thing. Do good and that’s enough, it doesn’t matter which one you join, all believe in Christ, I was baptized in once." “Really? So do you pray?" "No I've never prayed, I just went to a church once and they asked me if I wanted to be baptized or not and I responded, sure why not, but I’m willing to be baptized again if I have time."
Elder Daniels slaps forehead after explain for the 40th time, ha-ha. However in the end of last lesson he committed to say his own personal prayer. It was great!!!
I and Elder Leavitt have been seeing some TENDER MERCIES on the street!! Setting up families and what not, we'll be visiting them soon. One has a cute five month old MEI MEI!!
I really love Elder Leavitt, really! He is so COOL! He is so mature for a greenie, he knows how to study and he's already full of legitimate virtue traits such as temperance, humility, charity. He is awesome.
Keelung is really growing on me. Today is the first day it hasn't rained since I’ve been here, it’s amazing. Other than today, it’s been AT LEAST sprinkling ever hour of every day...for 3 weeks almost!!! Ha-ha. My rain gear smelled like barf until yesterday. Today we cleaned and mopped our apartment, we made an AWESOME breakfast. I love that feeling of freshness, cleanliness, remission of sins, and you receive the Spirit!
Obedience brings a soft heart, which invites the spirit which we receive through our covenants we make every Sunday! I love my mission, the best two years ever.
I part my hair on the right now. I don’t have any tan, my muscles are gone from the waist up, I didn't even break 100 bowling last week…ultimate travesty!! I lost face. I’m just kidding. I am going to by a rice cooker for college.
My companion is hilarious. He took Elder Nelson’s invite to the test one night. He doesn't recall doing it, but he recorded thoughts and deep inspiration that came to him in his dreams. These were some of the notes he made:
"Depart out of darkness"
"Everyone needs a five minute break"
"Modesty = happiness"
"Pure building faith what is it?"
"hame gandi"
"Work ederlder work,” and my favorite is,
"Paul gave bread to the woman and sunshine." Hahahahahahahahahaha. I split a rib as I read that stuff.
Well family, I love you to death, Elder Jonathan Scashby Daniels
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