Taiwan Week 31: Start Of A New Transfer

Dear family and friends,

 

So this is the first transfer that nothing about my companionship or area has changed. Elder Stone and I are still companions. Elder Stone is now the new district leader! Elder Fiala left and Elder Bardsley has come in. I'm not sure if that's spelled right. He's really cool. He's one above me, so I knew him in the MTC. I'm way excited. This is his first time as senior, so he's all excited and whatnot. So Elder Stone is on his 8th transfer, Elder Bardsley is on his 7th, and I'm on my 6th. And then Elder Hanset is on his 3rd... Haha. 

So last Tuesday we did district leader exchanges and Elder Fiala came with me in my area. It was pretty fun. We ate at my favorite bread place for dinner. There is no other bread like it here. Then that night we had a new member lesson with Zhu Zhang Qi. It was pretty good. They also fed us curry and rice. So I was about to explode by the end. But then the rest of the night kind of fell apart. So Zhou Heng (member that comes around with us often) took us to a former that he knew about and we were able to sit with him, but no luck in getting him interested again.

Wednesday we went looking for some less actives only to find out that a few of their addresses don't exist. So that was fun. Following that, we ate at Feed Me. It has a supersize burger. I got the supersize spicy chicken and Elder Fiala got the supersize hamburger. It was so intensely painful to eat. It was big. We then headed over to the church because our investigator Liu dixiong said he was outside the gate. He sounded pretty worked up. So when we got there, we found him and an 11 year old ward member sitting on the curb. Liu was pretty worked up and the boy was comforting him. Turns out that he was just on his way home from school and stopped to help. I just thought that that was such a great example of Christlike character. The boy didn't know what he was getting himself into, and was actually pretty nervous and scared in the end, but stayed all the way through until we got there. Liu dixiong has had some problems come up, so we gotta keep working with him. We then went to thank the boy afterwards. Then we hopped on a train and headed to Tianzhong to find a recent convert that has gone less active. I've never met him, and we were so close, but his dad said he was out with friends. So we found and sat with another less active. He's planning on coming to our two ward Christmas party.   After that we returned home and headed to English class party. A cool ward member beat me in bobbing for apples and still hasn't stopped letting me know. Then we went caroling. While caroling, we got turned down a ton. But there was this one older lonely man that had this huge smile on his face as we sang to him. That was just what he needed. I'm so glad we got to touch his heart. That was a really cool experience.

Thursday and Friday have morphed together in my head. We went to find a former that was really close to getting baptized. He willingly welcomed us in and talked to us for a while. But he says that he doesn't have interest in church anymore. The whole experience felt weird. There's something that is stopping him, we want to know how we can help him. But he wouldn't let us know.  We also biked out to one of our more far away areas of Beidou and ate lunch at the really nice 3 week old McDonald's. Then we were able to sit with a former family that has a lot of potential. The dad just has a very shifty work schedule, so it's hard for them to come to church. But they were very nice. Then we found a secret less active. He's not on the ward list because he went less active and then moved without anyone knowing. He still believes it's all true, but his work schedule doesn't allow him to come to church. We've thought of a few ways to help him, so we're going to keep working with him through the ward. He knows a member family that lives near him already. So that's really convenient! 

Saturday we had a mission wide service day. Our zone went to a hospital and caroled and shared the Christmas story with all the patients. We also got to act it out for the retirement center. It was a lot of fun. They shared some of their talents as well. It was fun. Then we had a lesson with Zhang dixiong. His wife is a member and helped peike. They brought pizza to us for dinner. We were talking about promptings of the Holy Ghost. His wife is the Friday night gospel class teacher. She helped out a lot. We still need to keep working with him though. 

Sunday was all over the place for church. We have been meeting with this long term investigator. Missionaries have been meeting with him for a long time. He's an older guy that's loud and loves to joke around. We finally got him to come to church. We walked with him there. Once we got there, we were surprised to find out that he's actually a less active! Some of the older members knew him. Turns out he was baptized a long time ago, went less active 7-10 years ago, his address on the ward list was wrong and has been marked as not real, and somewhere in the switch of many missionaries and poor record keeping became an investigator to the missionaries. Whenever we bring up baptism, he says he doesn't understand. So that might have caused the confusion. It was way weird though. Hong dixiong also came and had to leave early. He's so good, but can never stay for the full time! And he's busy during the week, so we only see him on Sunday mornings. We had a contacted referral come as well. He was contacted by the other Yuanlin Elders. Turns out he's actually in their area. So next week he'll meet in their ward. What luck... It was quite a weird day. It gets weirder, but to know about that, you have to write me an ask about it first... Haha! 

I love you all! Christmas is next week! Keep spreading the holiday cheer. Remember the origin of the holiday cheer: Christ, our Savior being born into the world. Through all the pains and turmoil of the world, always remember that a Savior is born to save all mankind.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan week 30: Christmas Is Practically Here!

 

Dear family and friends,

 

This past week has been really great with some miracles. The temple was absolutely amazing! I can't even tell you how much I missed going to the temple. I just had this "welcome home" feeling the whole time I was there. It was pouring the whole time we were there, so I got pretty wet as we took pictures afterwards. English that night was a little rough. Our lesson plan fell through and they don't know what they want to learn. And we learned that a really cool student is going into the military this week, so we won't see him anymore. But we got him an English name, Aden. Pretty suave.

Thursday was my birthday. Yay I'm 1/5 of a century old! We had a good finding morning and then lunch with a cool friend in the 2nd ward. We then had a lesson with a contacted referral. We got to the church and met up with another friend in the 2nd ward that bought me a cake. When our contacted referral came through the door, our friend was like "wait. He's a member! Me and him were baptized by the same missionary!" So he's a less active member in the 2nd ward. That was pretty funny. We went to a hotpot for dinner with a less active that lives directly below us. It was really good. I have never been so full in my life. So we shared about "feasting" on the words of Christ afterwards. We're really hoping to work with him and have him help his family also want to join the church. They're all really cool. After that we sat in on the institute class with Zhu dixiong to help him feel comfortable for his first time. Discussing Christ's parables in Chinese is way hard. My head was thumping by the end. But Zhu dixiong liked it.

Friday we biked out to Tianzhong, one of our secondary areas. It's a bit more of a trek, so we brought a big list of formers to visit while we were there. Pretty much no one was home, including one of our recent converts who has gone less active. It was sad. But we did get to sit with another recent convert. He's in his 70's. He's really nice. We had to bike way fast to make it to a lesson at the church. He's extremely golden, but has a way hard time scheduling because of work. We can only meet with him once every week and a half or so. And it's way hard to get him to come to church. But he had questions about baptism, so we showed him the font and talked about baptism. His desire grew a lot, but he wants to come to church at least once before setting a goal. So were able to schedule the 23rd for him to come to church!     During that lesson, our investigator that has a huge fear of water kept calling us. When we'd answer, he wasn't there. It was a little annoying. But then we finally got a hold of him and he said he'd been thinking about baptism for a few hours that day and really wanted to get baptized the next day... What?! So we set up a last second baptismal interview. He has a small smoking problem still, but is really willing to quit. So we've been following up with him everyday on that, and we have a goal for the 22nd. So I'm really excited for him!

Saturday we got to help a member move. It was a lot of fun. A lot of heavy lifting in the rain. That took up all of the morning, so we did afternoon studies. We had a really cool lesson with our long term investigator that's having a hard time feeling that it's true. We had our 2nd counselor peike and we all knelt and prayed one by one for an answer. He's still not entirely sure, but the Spirit was completely there. It was really comforting. We can see that he's progressing. We then visited with a soon to be no longer less active. After helping him work through his problems, he said he could come to church this week. So we sat with him and he was really excited to go to church the next day.

Sunday was great for church! One of our investigators that can only meet on Sundays made it for Priesthood meeting. The lesson was on forgiveness. Afterwards, he said that the whole lesson was exactly what he needed to hear. He couldn't stay for the rest of the time, but he's really excited to come for all 3 hours next week! He loves reading the Book of Mormon and he said praying helps calm his anger at work. He loves all these miracles working in his life since starting to learn about Jesus Christ. Liu dixiong, the one who has a goal for the 22nd, made it to Sacrament meeting and loved it. He started getting worried at the fact that a lot of ward members were going to attend his baptism. But then we sang "Be Still My Soul" and you could tell the Spirit was calming him down. It was so great.    That afternoon we got to attend the dedication of a Sister's house. That was really cool. We talked about the power of the Priesthood and blessings that come from the Priesthood. It was a really cool experience.

And that was pretty much my week! Miracles. Everywhere. Always look for the miracles and blessings in your daily life. No matter how horrible of a day you're having, there is something to be thankful for each day.

 Oh and yeah we are having a ward Christmas party. I'm pretty sure I'm singing a solo... I'm not entirely sure though. I just said I would.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

 

Adopted this dog. Don't know how to spell his name. Its pronounced Ahpeeyah

 

 

Elder Fiala and Zhou Heng

 



At the Temple

 

Statue at Sun Moon Lake

Staring off in an epic manner

 

This is the cake Zhou Heng bought me for my birthday. It looks like it has gold flakes on it. It's completely made of chocolate. There's no flour inside. Just different chocolates. I think it said 97% chocolate. The other 3%, I'm not sure.

 

Elder Nickell and I heading to the Temple

 

Taiwan Week 29: Temple Day!!!

Dear family and friends,

In case you're wondering about the timing of this email, yes it is 4:30 am right now. Because today we're going to the temple (AAAAHHHHH!!!!), we won't have a whole lot of time to email afterwards, so this was an option for us. So I got up at 2:30 today.

I got my birthday package. Thank you so much! I loved it. I also got the cards from grandma and grandpa Buckwalter and Diggy and Ellen. Thank you so much!

Ok so this last week and a few days have been very filled. Last Monday we had dinner at our 1st counselor's house with our recent convert Zhu dixiong and taught the first new member lesson. It was really great. Doing that review really helps. And he's loving the ward more and more.

Tuesday we had a great DTM talking about finding. The zone leaders came out to our district to exchange with the other Elders afterward, so it was fun having them there. For role playing, each person had a secret assigned role. So when we paired off, the person being taught had to act his role and the person contacting them had to use their knowledge to work with their needs. It was really funny trying to teach Elder Jackson, one of my zone leaders. His time is just about up, and you can tell, because he was really good at acting out his part. The rest of the day was pretty rough except for English proselyting. In which we actually had quite a bit of success from this time.

Wednesday we headed out to one of our secondary areas of Shetou. There were some less actives and formers we wanted to find, but it became really hard to find their houses. Luckily a member from the 2nd ward met us out there because he wanted to come around with us, and we used his GPS. That night for dinner, we ate with one of our investigators. He's extremely busy with work and has a hard time coming to church, as well as meeting with us. So every time we meet with him is a great miracle. This time we went over the baptismal interview questions and he doesn't think he's quite ready. That's alright. We'll keep working with him!    English didn't have a whole lot of people. But there were new people nonetheless! We decided that for our English party we were going to take our class caroling. So we're teaching all the classes Christmas hymns in English. I'm so excited!

Thursday was also a little rough. A lot of our plans fell through. But we had a sweet miracle! We were at a 7-11 making phone calls when our bishop called us. He said he was at the church with one of our investigators... We were so confused. When we got there, we found that it was a former that randomly decided to come by the church, and the bishop just happened to be driving by right when he got there. What are the odds?! He's really great. We'll have to work with him a bit, but he already knows a few people in the ward, including the bishopric. That night we met with our Elders quorum president and had dinner and discussed some less actives in his quorum. It was a really good meeting.

Friday was so great. We had weekly planning and then had a few really great lessons out the door! One being a less active who bought us soup for the cold rainy day. It was the most spicy thing I've ever had. I just about died. I found out later that it was pig blood soup. Also a bit of a shock to my stomach. But I got to go back to Caotun with Elder Jackson for zone leader exchanges. It was a lot of fun. We got to visit a kid I knew when I was in that ward. We also tracted into a night older couple. They were very willing to listen to our message, but didn't think they wanted to change their religion.

Saturday morning was really great because I got to run the mountain again! I love that area. Ever since Elder Allen and I left that area, that apartment has just been a 2-man of the zone leaders. And they didn't know about the trails that we would run. So I took Elder Jackson on a really hard one. He loved it. I did too, but I'm now so sore since I haven't run a mountain in a long time! Pretty much all of our plans fell through once we exchanged back. It was rough.

Sunday was really great. We had an investigator come that we hadn't met yet. We had contacted him through referrals and he said he'd come to church. It started out pretty rough with him, but by the end of Sacrament meeting (which we have last), he said he could really feel the Lord speaking to him and he loved it! Following church, we had a 1st lesson with someone we contacted on the street last week. And it was amazing too! Before we had a chance to invite him to church, he said he didn't have much time during the week besides Sunday, so he'll make sure to come to church every week! He beat us to the punch!

Monday was so so great!!! We had a zone scramble, and I got to go with Elder Nickell back to my old area!! So I'm with a friend that I went to elementary school with, in my first city. It was so amazing. We met with a few investigators of theirs that were also mine. One of them is really progressing and has a baptismal date for Christmas day! We tracted into a really sweet family that is Christian and has a bit of interest. It was such an amazing lesson. And then to top off the exchange, we got to go to my recent convert's house, Wu jiemei and Song dixiong. Wu jiemei had her baby. She's is absolutely adorable. It felt to amazing to be there. I felt so at home! And in the end, we were able to set a TEMPLE GOAL!!! Yeah it's still like over 6 months away, but I'm so excited! They're still progressing in this gospel. So mine and Elder Nickells phrase for the exchange was "if only our elementary school teachers could see us now."

And that's pretty much it. I love you all! Sorry I'm now really short on time. I'm now heading out to head up to the temple! I'm so excited! The temple is one of my most favorite places! Do all you can to make it there someday!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 28: This Letter Brought To You By The Letter B (Baptism)

Dear family and friends,

So this week has been, well I'd say pretty epic. We had a great Tuesday full of meetings. And also my district biked to this college in the mountains to do English proselyting. I have never seen such a beautiful campus! A member friend in the other Elder's ward that goes to that college says it's not that high up on the fancy scale, but I think it looked amazing. We also had our 1st counselor take us to one of our secondary areas to visit an investigator and two less active members. We've been working with this investigator for a long time, so it's really great to have a peike come with us to help him understand more. We only got to visit one less active member because of time, but the one we got to see is this really great 87 year old who just has a hard time making it to church since it's so far away. But he made it this week!

Wednesday we got to bike to one of our other secondary areas and spend the day there. We actually never found the people we were looking for. But we ended up sitting with one of the less active's father. He knows a lot about the church and wanted to talk to his dad about it once his son got home! We also got to sit with a guy during lunch. There wasn't much food out there, so we stopped at this little rice and noodle stand where it seemed like everyone ate. We became the main attraction since most people out there don't see foreigners too often. So this guy came and talked to us and we were able to share a bit before he left.    English that night was pretty alright. We talked about a ton of different foods. Describing brownies was really hard since they don't have those here. And then we played hangman. For the spiritual share, we read through the introduction of the Book of Mormon paragraph by paragraph and talked about the significance behind it. That sparked some people's attention. I thought that was pretty cool.

Thursday was a busy day. We had to get up way early to get on a bus for Nantou. We had planner checks and interviews at that chapel. And out planner check was before we were going to get instruction from President Bishop. So we had to get there way early. We got some instruction and then had our interviews. It seemed like it took forever to finish. But the Assistants took us back to our area in their car, which was so much faster! That night we got to meet with Zhu dixiong. We finalized everything for his baptism and our peike helped demonstrate how to be baptized. It was great!

Friday was really great as we got to visit Zhu dixiong's dad in the hospital after weekly planning. It was a very spiritual moment. We were able to find some really cool new people after that. It was a pretty eventful day.

Saturday we had a few new people that we added on the street meet with us. They were all really cool. We also got to meet with our 2nd counselor and discuss the ward mission plan a bit. He has created this epic booklet that should get the whole ward involved in missionary work. It was really intense. There are new ward activities, missionary training, and a new creation of Home teaching for the ward. This made me pretty excited. It'll take time to start up, but it'll be worth it. That night he helped us peike with one of our long term investigators. He's having a hard time feeling that everything is true, but he wants to believe. So having our 2nd counselor there was such a big help. They carried off in Taiwanese for a while too, so Elder Stone and I just kinda sat there trying to maybe follow their mannerisms or something.

That night was Zhu dixiong's baptism! It was so great! A member friend was supposed to baptize him and an 8 year old boy, but he got caught up with work. So last minute, I was asked to to the baptizing! It was a really great experience. The whole meeting was really great. Zhu dixiong has a really great testimony. One thing I liked was that he said the feeling of being baptized is a feeling that comes from God, so he knew it was done by the power of God. The ward welcomed him in really well.

Sunday was really great having him and the long term investigator make it to church. He shared his thoughts on the lesson during priesthood meeting. It's those times when we know that he knows it's true. We just need to help him know that he knows. Also last night we had our weekly FHE. A lot more people showed up, including a less active family that was in our plan to visit after the meeting. What a blessing! Zhu dixiong also came, and we all had a great time. The ward is slowly starting to grow closer together.

And today we went to Sun Moon Lake. Such a beautiful place! That's why this email is late. I had a lot of fun though. This last week was really great! I got to see a lot of miracles. I've really learned to be more patient. I've had to practice my patience this last week. I love you all! Thanks for all you love and support! Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Thanksgiving Picture of Tony

Tony's Mission President's wife sent us a nice email for Thanksgiving with a picture of Tony

 

Taiwan Week 27: It's Getting Chilly

Dear friends and family,

Well I just ate as much steak and pork as my body could handle for an American equivalent of 12 dollars. That's amazing! And we get to make it ourselves. We pretty much had a big missionary lunch today with half our zone and half of the Zhanghua zone. It was a lot of fun. I'm so full! We also bought district scarves because it's getting pretty cold now.

Last week I got to go on a lot of exchanges. Tuesday I got to exchange with Elder Fiala, my district leader. It was really great. I got to meet a few of their investigators and less actives. It was interesting that most of them are really trying to overcome a Word of Wisdom problem. I enjoyed getting to help them find faith and courage to overcome what they need to overcome. Their area has a lot more people than mine. We're in the same city. It's just split, so we have most of the houses and they have a lot of businesses. I had a lot of fun though and learned a lot.

Wednesday night we switched back and taught our English class. For some weird reason our class only had women in it. Where did all the men go? They had a lot of really interesting questions though. I taught them tongue twisters because that would really help them with pronunciation differences. They got really good. We also got to watch the movie on President Monson's life and calling as the prophet because the sisters have a really progressing investigator in our class and wanted us to watch it. I love that movie.

Thursday was really great! We struggled on lessons, but our big lesson was that night with Zhu dixiong. We taught the law of chastity and had the bishop peike. He did a really great job talking about the importance of chastity and explained the benefits as a family. It was great because his really cute 3 year old son was playing during the lesson and served as a great example! Zhu dixiong had his baptismal interview right after and passed! He's getting baptized this Saturday! I'm so excited!

Friday we had such an amazing Mission Tour Conference. Elder Larry Wilson, of the Seventy, came to speak to us. His wife did a lot of focusing on teaching about the Book of Mormon with understanding. It was really great to learn better ways to help investigators better understand the scriptures. Elder Wilson talked about Preach My Gospel and finding the diamonds hidden inside to better missionary work. He emphasized on a part about staying in contact with our recent converts after we leave the area and when we go home. He shared a few really amazing stories that occurred in these past few years that came from a result of some of the people he baptized on his mission. It was really great. It came in handy during the conference for me as well! While we were eating lunch, Song dixiong in Nantou called Elder Nickel to cancel their appointment that night, and I got to talk to him for a few minutes! He was so excited to hear my voice. I got to ask him how him and his wife are. (If you don't remember, she's the pregnant lady that we taught and baptized. Who is actually no longer pregnant, but now has an adorable 2 month old baby!). They're all doing really well.

After the conference, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Bennett, my zone leader, back to my old area! Well half of it. The area has changed a bit since I was there, so half of my old area is in the Zone leaders area now. It was really great. I got to visit a lot of investigators that I met on exchanges back when I lived there. I also got to visit the recent convert of theirs that I got to baptize my 3rd day on island. He remembered me and we had a great reunion. The zone leaders are actually working with his siblings to get them to be baptized as well. They like coming to church, there's just a little parental opposition at the moment. It was a lot of fun getting to work with the zone leader's investigators. I remember all of them really well from before. I also got to spend the night in my old apartment! I was buzzing with memories. It's funny because That was my old area, and my area now is Elder Bennett's old area. So we were updating each other a lot on our areas, former investigators, and recent converts. It was really great. I also got to attend their ward correlation meeting on Saturday. All those who attended remembered me. Their ward is doing really great with investigators right now!

The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday was really cold and rainy. I was so cold. By night time yesterday, I was fearing I was getting sick. But it went away with sleep. Last night we also had a combined yuanling 1st and 2nd ward FHE. The other Elders did the spiritual share. It was the push-ups for candy... haha! Elder Hanset did the push-ups. He's on his 2nd move call of being trained. It still is a great lesson that impacts all those who watch. The whole meeting was great and a great way to establish relations with the ward. 

And you already heard about today. It was a great week! I didn't really do much in my own area last week. I was exchanging too much! But our area is doing really great though. I miss you all! Thank you for all the great letters and encouragement. This week is Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for family. I love my family so much. I love how much the gospel blesses my family. I didn't know just how much until I got out here. Now I'm so blessed to see this gospel bless other families. Families can be together forever!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter 

Taiwan Week 26: Have Miracles Ceased? NO!

Dear family and friends,

First off I'd like to say, NATE!!!! You're going to ALPINE?!?!?! That's so amazing! I'm so excited for you! I had a bit of an episode when I read that. That's going to be so amazing. You'll love the mission field so much.

Wow, so I feel like a lot has happened this past week! Monday was a rough night. But we had an earthquake during nightly planning that shook our room a bit. We're on the 11th floor, top floor of the building. Last Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting. I was beyond excited because we meet in the Nantou chapel, my old building. So I had a rush of memories flood in. I saw Elder Nickel. He's training in that area where I was trained. So cool! We had a great meeting on getting investigators baptismal goals and helping them accomplish their goals. President Bishop gave us an invite to get 3 people Week C goals. Those are people that have been to church at least once. So they either need to be current investigators without goals, former investigators, or part member families who have been to church before. This invitation can be pretty tricky. Because the week after you get them the goal, they need to have an interview so their baptism can be announced on Sunday. Then their baptism will be the following Saturday. But it's possible!

Wednesday was also a little rough down in one of our secondary areas, but at english class, we had a pretty alright turn out. One of our new investigators came, so I got to meet him. He's really cool and likes english. The spiritual share was really great. We shared about the blessings of repentence and it wrapped into a few of the classmates asking other questions about the gospel. They were all pretty involved in the scriptures that night. So good!

Thursday we got to sit with our investigator that came to english class. It's him and his wife. We go to their house to meet. They're really great, a little older, and have many questions. We taught them about the restoration. The husband had questions about the Word of Wisdom because he had heard about it before. And then they said the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy, so they can't come to church for a bit. That's a downer... But they still could set up for another time to meet during the week!

Friday was a great day of miracles! We had a lesson set up with a guy that was contacted on the street the week before. When we met with him, he was carrying the old chinese translation of the Book of Mormon. The new translation came out 3 or 4 years ago. It's a much better translation to understand. He said he had met with missionaries 16 years earlier in Taizhong. So we shared about the restoration and he had remembered a lot of it. He also said he had been to church before. Recently he wanted to check out some Christian churches, and then he was contacted by us a few weeks later. So we shared about baptism and got him to commit to a Week C goal! He sadly dropped it because his mom doesn't approve and didn't want him to go to church. So there's a little problem to work around. But he's still really good.

That night another miracle happened. We were meeting with an investigator that is progressing. He dropped his last goal because he couldn't make it to church because of work. He's really good though. He loves to read the Book of Mormon and is willing to keep all commitments. We got him a Week C goal too!

Saturday we had another miracle! There is a husband of a member that missionaries have been working with for quite some time. He's extremely nice. He had heard the lessons a long time ago, has read the Book of Mormon, and a bit of D&C. He's just not sure if he's felt the feeling that it's true. He's not sure how to recognize it. That's what us and the ward has been trying to help him recognize for a while. So we met with him and went through the baptismal interview questions. In the end, we got him to commit to a baptismal goal and helped him know that God will help him prepare to reach the goal. He's trying his best. We just need to help him know how to recognize the answer.

Sunday was a really great day. We got pretty nervous that none of our investigators were going to show up, but right before Sacrament meeting, our progressing investigator came. He likes church and is making new friends. Afterwards, a member came up to me with this 13 year old boy. She said he had come by himself to check out our church. Apparently his school teacher gave an assignment to find a church? So he came to ours. That's a miracle I'm so willing to take! He we sat with him afterwards and also got to set up to meet his parents that night. When we met them, they didn't have any huge opposition, but they want him to try other churches as well and see if this one is the one he wants. So we'll have to work with them a bit. But he loved it so far!   Also after church we got to sit with our progressing investigator and set up a baptismal interview for this week! So good!

The week was so great! I had a lot of times of stretching my patience and miracles to follow! You just need to endure, and endure it with a smile and faith. Have miracles ceased? Not in the least bit. I love you all! I love all the support from all of you. I keep you all in my prayers.

 

Love, Elder Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 25: Hey Nantou

Dear family and friends,

So there have been some changes. As you can probably see in the subject, I have been moved back to my old zone! Not my old area because Elder Harrison Nickell is training there! So we're now back in the same zone. I'm in Yuanlin. I came here once on a zone scramble for a day. And now I'm here! My new companion is Elder Stone. I'm way excited to start working here.

Well now for what went down last week. It was a struggle. A lot of our lessons fell through. But our investigator that came to the baptism met with us. He's doing really well, but can't meet for a while and isn't entirely sure if he'll want to be baptized yet.

Wednesday was cold. Really cold. I don't know where it came from. So our plan for a finding day didn't work out so much since the streets were pretty empty. But we were able to sit with the seaweed wrap owner and share a message about prayer. He said he already prays every night, but when we taught him to close the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, he said he felt so much better afterwards. That night at English all the little kids had a costume party and came to the other classes to do trick or treating. It was so cute. They also sang with us. Afterwards we had pumpkin pie.

Thursday we went down to Qieding to visit the Ke family. They were pretty busy. So we didn't get to share much. But they're still doing really well. We then got to meet with a less active. He's the son of a really active guy that is so awesome. So we sat with both of them. The son is really cool. We see him every week when we go to email. He's just busy with work because he just finished with the military.

We were informed that our zone was doing some kind of puppet show at a blood drive on Saturday. So on Friday we all got together to practice it. It's all about the dangers of smoking. It was so interesting. It was all to a recording, so we just had to move the mouths. We also practiced songs we were going to sing as well. That night all of our lessons didn't show up and we were dropped by a boy because his parents didn't allow him to meet with us. That was a pretty sad.

Saturday we went to Dong qu for the blood drive. The puppet show was pretty interesting in front of this large crowd outside. But it was still pretty good. Then we sang. And then I got to donate blood! That was so unexpected, but a lot of fun. It was way hard doing the interview because the doctor didn't speak English and spoke all these Chinese medical words very fast. I've never given blood so fast though.   That night I had a sweet experience. There's this kid that was referred to us by a member in Yongkang. He was very golden when we first met him. But then he disappeared for over two weeks. The member told us not to drop him though. So we just keep calling him and hoping he answers. So when I called him, he answered. He said he'd been having some problems recently and needed us to pray for him. Then he said he will get back in contact with us soon. It was a really touching moment. He knew this gospel will help him.   Then right after that, Elder Smith had the impression to call a less active. He answered and said he needed us to pray for him too. Two really amazing phone calls in a row!

Sunday I told the ward that I was leaving, so I got some pictures with some people, including the Ke family. That night we visited a friend that has been a former for a long time that cuts our hair. I told him I was leaving and he said a prayer with us. As far as I know, he has never agreed to pray before. So that was really cool and a step towards progression! Then I packed up.

Now I'm here in Yuanlin! It feels good to be back in the mountains. I can't wait to start getting to work! I love you all! Thank you all for the wonderful support! I'm so excited to hear where Nathan is called to serve! I still need Michael's address by the way.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 24: On The Way To The Temple

Dear family and friends,

So pretty much I just wanna start out this email by saying that the Ke family got BAPTIZED!!! So good. It was quite a journey thus far. It happened yesterday morning at 7:30 before church. Their only free time is before church and church. Then they have to book it down to Gaoxiong right after. So we did all we could to get it before church. It was extremely early! My companion and I had to get up at 5:30 to get to the church in time to start filling up the font. We reminded a ton of members the night before, so there was a great turn out, despite the time. And one of our investigators came! But he had to leave right as we were going to do the baptizing. Talk about timing... I had the blessing and privilege of baptizing them. It was the mom and the dad. Next year their oldest child will be old enough to get baptized as well. It was such an amazing experience! Next stop, the temple! They really want to work towards being sealed.

Now for the rest of the week. My companion and I were really stressed last week and just wanted to have a relaxing preparation day. So we ate McDonald's, sat in those extremely hi-tech massage chairs, I bought my translator, shopped, and went home to either sleep or write letters. Oh and we got haircuts. Since our only investigator lesson cancelled, we got to visit a less active that we're working with. He just has work that's the problem. Work gets in the way with most people here. It's crazy. Then we visited another less active that we've been working with for a while. And I nearly died of laughter when I saw my companion get all cutie with the chihuahua puppy, knowing that he's scared of all dogs.

Tuesday was pretty much just a normal day. We did a lot of finding on the street. We also had a first time sit down with a guy that has a bit of interest. He's really quiet though. He's the one who came to the baptism. And we had some luck tracting that night and got a few people to add.

Wednesday we had another first time sit down with a really cool guy. He's a bit older and likes to cling to his religion he's had his whole life, but is still willing to listen. That afternoon we finally got to visit a less active that we've been really trying to help. The Bishop and a guy in the Elders Quorum presidency that we helped come back into activity came with us as well, and it all went really well. They all started talking about their kids and their responsibility to help them. They jumped back and forth between Chinese and Taiwanese, so I only understood about 1/4 of it. But I knew what they were talking about, so I could tell if the conversation was going good or not. And it ended very well. And since that was the first time Elder Smith had met him, he set up another time this week to get to know him more. So good!

Kevin was going to eat dinner with us that night, but then cancelled at the last minute because his boss called him in to work. I was depressed. English class that night was pretty good. Everyone made fun of me as usual. And then I had a good lesson on not judging others and looking for the good in everyone. It was really good.

One of our invitations for the week was to call through our entire ward list. So on Thursday we were able to do a bit of that and actually got to set up with a few less active members we've never been able to contact before. That night we sat with David and watched "The prodigal son." During the movie, there was an EARTHQUAKE! I just love emphasising that. It really was intense though. Everything started shaking and my chair was kinda bouncing back and forth. I had a lot of fun. It lasted about 30 seconds. And then we just kept watching the movie. Then we got to sit with an awesome guy in our ward. He's less active because he travels a lot and sometimes goes to church wherever he is. But he is probably my favorite guy in this ward. He's really easy to talk to and it's always a ton of fun. He just needs a boost of faith.

Friday was an epic day. We got to go on assistant exchanges with Elder Gulas! I love Elder Gulas! We had a first time sit with a less active and it turns out Elder Gulas had already met him once because the Elder that taught him was one of Elder Gulas' old companions and they ate lunch with him once. Then we had a family home evening with a less active and his family, and the kids were so dang cute! We then got to sit with our new older investigator and helped him understand prayer a lot more, which he really liked. Then we met with a former investigator and started to boost his faith again and got him to agree to a baptismal date! So we're working with him and slowly helping him prepare for that.

Saturday we went down to Qieding to see the Ke family and make some final preparations for their baptism. They were excited. Their kids were bouncing off the walls because we were there. That seems to happen a lot here. You sit with a family, the kids see two foreigners, then it's nothing but chaos. I love it.

And then I've already explained Sunday at church. But at night after our scheduled appointment fell through, I had a feeling to call up a former. My last companion and I ran into him last move call and ended up dropping him because all he wanted to do was bible bash with us and try to prove us wrong. So we ended our meetings with him on a bad note. So I was pretty scared to meet with him again. He said we could come to his work and sit with him. He has completely changed! He was much more humble, he said he hasn't been to his church in over a month, he's confused at whether that church could really help him, and he keeps looking over the Book of Mormon we gave him and thinking about the time he came to our church. Can you say perfect timing or what?! So we're starting to meet with him again.   And then we had a first time sit with a cool guy that owns a seaweed wrap store. Like the same kind of wrap that is my favorite food in Taiwan that I ate all the time in my last area but couldn't find here. So I found the place where I'm eating most of my meals now. And he's now an investigator!

And that is a wrap up of my week. It was a ton of fun. I'm so excited to keep on working. The move call ends this week. So who knows what will change by next week! I love you all! I love all the letters I get. Thank you for all the encouragement and support from all of you.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 23: Keep Your Fingers Crossed For A Family

Dear family and friends,

This past week has been so great, but so terrible at the same time! I had some intense eye pain the beginning of last week and it lasted a few days. I could barely open my left eye because it would sting and start to water up like crazy. But that left after a while. And then for the past few days I've had some intense stomach problems. Our first thought was food poisoning, but then we thought e-coli. Still not entirely sure because the symptoms were all over the place. I'm now in the process of recovering. I have little to no energy though. But that's all the bad news. Just lame physical junk.

Last Monday we got to meet with Kevin again. I was so happy to get back in contact with him again! We started to have the recent convert lessons. We found out that he moved out of our area... He's still in our zone though. But he goes to school outside of our zone and goes home to his family every week in another zone. So he's all over the place. And he said that because of his new job, making it to church is a little hard at times, but when he can, he'll be near where he goes to school. So we're gonna have to transfer his records up there. But we have a cool friend in that ward that is excited to meet him as well.

Tuesday we went out to visit the Ke family. They're doing really great! It was pretty busy at their work, so we left for a bit and ended up getting two new investigators in the process! We went back and they had a friend there that we met before. He had a sudden curiosity about the church, so we shared a 1st with him while we waited for work to slow down. He then gave us all his info to give to the missionaries where he lives. So Sweet! We finally got to sit with the family and shared about the Plan of Salvation, wrapping in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and finishing with the Law of Chastity. A lot, I know, but they had heard it all at church before and accepted it really fast. They're so golden!    We also sat with a guy that contacted us a few days earlier and said he used to meet with the missionaries. He's really good too. We're still not sure why he stopped meeting with the missionaries, and I can't find his previous teaching record, but we're excited to work with him!

Wednesday we had a district service opportunity at a retirement center! I love doing service. We were cleaning out they're recreation hall. It was a good sized room that was completely covered in dust and spider webs. Like it hadn't been used in decades or something. I killed spiders sizing from microscopic to 4 inches long, lifted heavier objects than I have in over a year, and pretty much made my own long sleeved shirt out of spider webs. It was a ton of fun.   That night we also got to eat at a favorite burger place of mine with Kevin! He's doing really well still and was getting ready to head back to where he goes to school. We'll be moving his records this week. Such a depressing thought...   And English class was a lot of fun too. My class loves making fun of me and telling me I'm going to go bald in the future. NIGHTMARE!!

Thursday was so amazing! We had Zone Conference. So we left really early in the morning to get on a train for Gaoxiong. We either had to leave really early and get there really early, or leave at a more reasonable time and risk being late. Never be late! So a ton of missionaries got there early and we all had a great McDonald's breakfast. It's been a long time since I've had that. Zone Conference was extremely great. President Bishop focused on working with members. Member referrals are the most golden investigators because they already have a friend in the church. And getting members involved in the lessons early helps the investigator have a new friend early on.   I was then happily surprised to see my trainer, Elder Allen! Him and a few other companionships from up north came down to help with training, Including Elder Greer! So I was way excited to see them. It was such a great reunion. We had training from one of our senior couples on family history. It got me really excited to do it as well! And then the Assistants taught us about quality less active rescuing. It's not just meeting, sharing a spiritual thought, and then inviting them back to church. It's friendshipping, helping them overcome their problems, inviting back, and strengthening. Many less active members know why the missionaries are going to visit them, because their less active! But many missionaries treat it like it's only a job or something to check off the list. Real rescuing involves having that desire for their well being and showing it. It was a really good lesson.    I was also sung to with a ton of other missionaries with birthdays in October, November, and December.

Friday we went back to see the Ke dad and go over the baptismal interview questions. He was by himself at work and was really busy, so it was a little difficult, but he wanted to and we finally got through it. That night we got to sit with a cool kid we met with a few weeks ago. He's really good as well, just very busy with college.

Saturday was all over the place and it seemed like we got nothing productive done. Everyone stood us up at our appointments. It was really annoying.

Sunday was really good though. Us and the Zone Leaders got to the church really early to interview the Ke dad. It all went over really well! We also got to show them the font and demonstrate how to be baptized. A little while later after our classes were over and were about to head up to Sacrament meeting, Elder Crandall came up to us and said the Ke mom might also be getting baptized next week. We were surprised because she didn't feel ready before. So all 6 of us missionaries were talking to them and she said she felt ready now and wants to be baptized the same day as her husband! So she's going to get interviewed this Wednesday and will be a drop in week A! So we're keeping our fingers crossed that the interview goes well and we get a family baptized this coming Sunday!      Later that afternoon, we were able to sit with an 85 year old less active that lives rather close to the church. His house is flat out amazing. He was the CEO of some company here in Taiwan and is well known by the government officials. He has an autobiography of his life, and the last 50 pages are all about his life in the church. He was baptized around 15 years ago. His health isn't too great and hasn't been able to wake up early enough to get to 9:00 church for a few years now. We really took to heart what we learned at Zone Conference and really wanted to show him that we cared about him. In the end, we told him that Sacrament meeting started at 10:45 and we would come ride over to his house and ride back to church with him so he can be a part of that. So I'm excited for next week! A baptism in the morning, a confirmation a few hours later in Sacrament meeting, and a great older man to come see it as well.

That was my week. Pretty rough physically, but amazing spiritually. Thank you all for your love and support. I love the letters I've gotten. I love letters. Until next week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 22: Conference Weekend (for me)

Dear family and friends,

This week has been a lot of fun. We had a great district training meeting on Tuesday on working with members and getting to know the ward more. It'll help a lot since my ward is a bit more reserved than in my last area. It'll be great to work with them even more. After district training meeting, Elder Smith was helping one of the sisters pass off one of her phase 1 lessons, so I got to make a ton of phone calls to referrals and found that a lot of people didn't have interest and didn't want to meet. Bummer... But that night was great because we got to meet with our Bishop and talk about the ward. He gave us a list of people he wanted us to get in contact with that haven't been to church in a while.

Wednesday was Taiwan's birthday/independence day...? I'm not entirely sure. I heard birthday a lot until English that night when one of my students went in full detail of them breaking off from China. I'm still a little confused, but it was a special day for Taiwan! All the government businesses were closed and no one came to English class. It was pretty depressing. We were able to visit a less active that we've been working with though. It's been really hard to figure out what exactly he needs, until he mentioned a list of friends at church that were his good friends. Suddenly a huge opportunity clicked because we now had significant people that could visit him that might have a better influence on him than us two Americans! So we've been working with them and finding out time that they can come with us to visit him.

Thursday we got to bike down to Qieding to visit the Ke family. It was really awesome as we shared the Plan of Salvation. They enjoyed it a lot. And using the scriptures helps so much! We got a little nervous, because we also wanted to talk about the law of tithing. They own a business and that usually is the stopping point for most people that have their own business. So we talked about the blessings God has given their family, especially since starting to learn about the gospel. Then we came in with the law of tithing and asked him if he'd be willing to pay tithing after baptism. With the most sure sounding voice, he said yes! Such a miracle! This family has been well prepared by God.

Friday after weekly planning, we had Zone Leader exchanges. I got to go with Elder Crandall to his area. It was a lot of fun. We saw Elder Smith and Elder Westbrook a lot since we go to the same church building to teach lessons, but it was sweet getting to go around their area and meet some of their investigators. I also got to watch the second half of "The Testaments" with their investigator getting baptized this week! I love that movie! And the kid is so great. We ate dinner with him afterwards as well.

Saturday was conference! I loved it so much. We got to the church to find out that they couldn't get the 1st session in English for some reason, so we watched it in Chinese. A little weird. I was pretty happy to know I could understand most of it though! Us 6 missionaries went in on 2 Costco pizzas for lunch. I love having one of those in our area. And then we got to watch the 2nd and 3rd session in English. I loved it so much. Conference is such a blessing. It's like a spiritual buffet. All the talks were amazing! And that night we got to sit with a less active that we were told to go find. He was really happy to see us because he hadn't seen missionaries in a few years. His little 3 year old girl kept saying she wants to go watch conference. So they said they would come.

Sunday was really great with conference again! I LOVE conference! Everyone was chilling at the church eating lunch between sessions because we only have an hour between sessions. So it was a lot of fun eating with the two wards. Once the final session ended, we had a few meetings. One of them was a huge breakthrough because some of the ward members found a way to get in contact and find one of our recent converts that has completely disappeared. I haven't even met him yet because we haven't been able to get in contact with him. But with the help of the ward and family connections, we found a way. We went to his house that night and talked with his family. He wasn't there again... But at least we found out what his schedule is roughly like. So our chances of finding him has increased! We also had two pretty great lessons last night. One was a first time sit with a referral we got from one of our investigators. And the other one contacted us while we were going to get the pizzas the day before. He's a former of a few years it seems. So we're excited to meet with him more as well!

Well that was pretty much my week! There were some really frustrating times, but it always got better as I just kept pushing forward. That's always what you gotta do! There was a quote from conference, I think one of the Saturday sessions, that I really liked. I can't entirely remember it at the moment, but it's talking about faith. This is what I got from it: "With faith comes a trial of faith, and then an increase of faith." I see that almost everyday out here. Never let a trial overcome you and pull you down. It's through the endurance that the lessons and the blessings are received.

I love you all so much. Thank you so much for the love and support. Thank you for all the letters and updates on your lives. Have a wonderful week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 21: Working With The Ward

Dear family and friends,

We were informed of the new missionary ages, and that is SO cool! I honestly think it'll be really weird having Sister missionaries that are my age and younger out here. I'm only used to Sisters that are older than me! And that's so excited for all the young men as well. Taiwanese young men were already able to serve at age 18 because of a military thing that they're all required to do here, so it's really cool that the rest of the world can do it as well! There will definitely be a huge jump in missionary work from this. Get those seniors in our ward out here! Haha

I got the package yesterday (Sunday) because of a delivery problem the day before. So I got it right after I broke my fast. And you best believe I dipped those oreos in that Nutella right away! So good! I loved it so much. Oh and I think I'm good on animal crackers for a while. I still had a bit from the last package left over. Hey, I can dip those in Nutella too! Just thought of that.

This past week has been pretty great and annoying at the same time. We had a lot of people set up on Monday night and they never showed up. We even called them and they said they were on their way. After 15 minutes or so, we would call them again and their phone was turned off. That drives me crazy. So we had to result to our back up plans all night.

Tuesday we had a really amazing lesson with a new investigator. We taught him about the restoration and he had a great interest in the 1st vision. He thought it was absolutely amazing. We also gave him a Book of Mormon and talked about it. He was even more in shock as we told him how it came to be and what it contains. Then when we told him that he can also pray daily to God, he got so excited. I'm really excited to meet with him tomorrow and share more with him. He's such a great guy.

Wednesday we had our Zone Training Meeting. It was really good. This month we're focusing on working with the ward. We've set some new goals for our wards and how we're going to help them get involved. Our Bishop also set up to take us to dinner the following night. That'll help! At English class, we had some pretty low numbers, but we had some new people come as well! Michael came and brought his daughter! They had to leave early for a doctor's appointment, but I was really glad to meet his daughter and talk to him for a bit. The Zone leaders' investigator that has already passed his interview came and loves it. And the Sisters' quickly progressing investigator that they met at English class was there as well.

Thursday we biked out to Qieding to visit the Ke family. They had some friends over who were really cool and welcoming to us. One of them had gone to English class in my last area (Nantou) 15 years ago! They're open to all religions and think it's really cool that the Ke family is liking this church. That night we had dinner with the Bishop, his wife, the Sisters, and a family that just returned from China. It was at a really nice traditional restaurant. Of course we had to try everything that was brought to us. And the Bishop laughed his really awesome wise laugh when I tried to down the fish soup. It was good because we were able to set up a time to meet with him and discuss the ward mission plan. That's also tomorrow.

Friday we had another really sweet lesson with an 18 year old that's just starting college. He's really cool. He showed a great amount of interest as well and is excited to learn more. He said he could come to church, but later had to cancel. But he's still wanting to learn more! We also got to meet with a really cool less active that we've been meeting with for a while. He's really cool. He's trying to come to church, but work always gets in the way. But he said he's going to for sure get this weekend off to come to conference. He likes conference.

Saturday was rough. We had set up 7 lessons all in an hour and a half. So we were going to have to split up and teach all of them as they came, but one by one, they fell apart. It was pretty rough. We had two of them say they were on their way and then never arrive or answer their phone after that. So annoying! But we were able to visit this really amazing member in the ward that's getting ready to go to the temple. I'm so excited for him!! He's got such a genuine heart. And he said he wants to help us visit this less active family in the ward. They were active when he was baptized, and he wants to help re-activate them! That night was also a baptism of an 8 year old boy in the 4th ward. His family is American, so all of it was done in English. It was the weirdest thing to hear the baptism and confirmation in English! Great family though.

Sunday was really great! It started out really rough because a lot of the people that confirmed for church didn't come. But after the first hour, one of our kind of former investigators that we meet with off and on came because he felt like he needed to. And then the Ke family arrived right before Sacrament meeting. And this was the best part: right near the end of the meeting, the Ke dad stands up and is pulled and dragged to the stand by his kids to bear his testimony (also something I haven't seen since being in America). And his testimony was so amazing and so touching! I loved it. It was such a great way to end the meeting.

And that was my week. It was a lot of fun. I'm really excited for this coming week! We've got some really great people that we're meeting with. And I get to watch conference this weekend! I'm so excited! I love conference! I love you all so much. Thank you for all the support and letters that help me push on in the work! Until next week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 20: Mid Autumn Festival

Dear family and friends,

Dear dad, this week I'm sad to say I've made some pretty bad choices. I ate fish balls, squid, lobster, shrimp, crab, tuna, something really slimy and chewy that I think resembled whale blubber, and something crunchy and chewy wrapped in bacon. That is what came from the Mid autumn festival and people inviting us to dinner. I'm pretty sure I won't ever get used to eating fish. But they also had some extremely amazing steak and other stuff. It was quite a week of food...

Now, I would first like to tell everyone to not say anything about conference in next week's email! I don't get to watch it here until the 13th and the 14th. You can tell me which talks stood out to you the most, but don't include any details until the following week. Us and the Zone Leaders get to chill in one of the classrooms and watch it in English while everyone else in the two wards at our building get to watch it in the chapel in Chinese.

The week went fast and slow at the same time. I can't tell what it felt more like. Tuesday we had a good District training meeting on how to use "how to begin teaching phrases." It was Elder Smith's first time teaching a meeting and was pretty nervous, but did a pretty good job! And then the long week of being stood up by our investigators started...

Wednesday we did a bit of tracting and searching for less active members. And we pretty much got no results. It was pretty annoying. English was pretty fun though. I just want them to talk more. I thought they'd be more talkative after 6 weeks, but it's pretty much the same. One of them told a funny joke though and I pretty much died of laughter. I haven't heard a joke since I got out here. They don't do that here. No one else thought it was funny. And then some more lessons fell through...

Thursday we biked down to Qieding to visit the Ke family. We really wanted to talk about the word of wisdom and commit the dad as well as get him a baptismal date. But we had no way of wrapping the random Mormon messages they were watching into the word of wisdom. But then they clicked on one about Daniel refusing to eat and drink the king's food. And I just got so excited. We talked about Daniel and how he did all he could to obey God's commandments. In the end, the Ke dad committed to obey the word of wisdom and now has a baptismal date!

That night we got to meet with Jones and David. They're doing really good, but both still have a hard time coming to church. But David said he won't have class because of the holiday. So we were really excited! And then we were stood up some more... We ended the night at Chen dixiongs house. It was really cool hearing his story of how he met the missionaries and got baptized.

Friday we got in contact with Michael and he took us to lunch after weekly planning. It was cool because he is a taxi driver and we got to ride in it. While we were eating, we talked about baptism and got him to set a goal! So we were really excited for that. Then he said he was going to take us for a drive while we talked some more. We thought that was kind of interesting, but ok. Until we realized he was taking us out of our area. So we panicked and said we had to head back. That was funny. That night we went tracting again and met a really cool kid that set up for later this week! I felt good since we were stood up a few more times that night as well...

Saturday was a good finding day. We set up with some really cool people and got to contact a lot of people. And by the way, we hit our mission goal to talk to over 100,000 people! We were also stood up some more, and then went to dinner at a part member family's house. It was really good, and there was a lot of fish...

Sunday got a little stressful before church because everyone that confirmed didn't show up. But then Michael showed up a little late and stayed the whole time! We were about to head up to Sacrament meeting and Kevin hadn't shown up yet. So us and the ward mission leader were panicking. But then he got there a few minutes before. He was so nervous to get confirmed because he didn't want to sit in front of the entire ward. But once the blessing was over and he came to sit back down, he looked so happy. He said it felt so cool and powerful.

That night we had a good search for some less active members and then had a big dinner at another part member family's house. A girl in the family just got back from serving in New York and invited all the missionaries over. She also knows Jordan Egbert. I thought that was pretty cool. Connections through missions! And food was also very good.

That was my week. It was probably one of the most stressful weeks so far because of how many times people didn't come to their appointment, even after they confirmed. I also had to act as senior in a lot of cases because I knew the area and have to get Elder Smith used to it. I didn't realize how stressful that was going to be, having to plan where to go and what to do. But it's getting easier each day as he learns more about the area and can help me decide. I never sleep well at night. I just wake up whenever I turn over and it takes a while to fall back asleep. So my mornings are always pretty rough, but it gets better as the day goes on.

Well I love you all! Thank you for all the love and support! Have a great weekend watching conference! I'm so excited for conference, I just have to wait an extra week...

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 19: Start Of A New Move Call

Dear family and friends,

This last week took a huge toll on me. I'm so drained of energy. We did a lot of bike riding and finding. It was really hot as well. Tuesday we didn't have a whole lot of time to go out and find because we had DTM and ward correlation right afterwards. But these two less active brothers took us to dinner that night where one of them works and one of them came to church on Sunday!

Wednesday seems like a blur to me for some reason. I'm looking at my planner and still have no idea what we did. We did get to go visit a less active that we've been working with for a few weeks. He's really great and still reading the Book of Mormon. He just needs that fire for church again. English class that night was probably what took it out of me the most. We had a party night and watched a great church movie that was probably made back when mom and dad were kids. Gotta love the oldies. And then afterwards the Sisters had some activity thing for the adults while us four Elders kept all the little kids busy on the stage. And it was crazy. They didn't like the game we were trying to teach them. They just liked to hit each other. It was hard getting them to cooperate. We were all exhausted that night. But that night we also confirmed with Kevin to be baptized on Sunday!

Thursday was pretty fun as we went looking for former investigators. We found what looked like a lost/hidden ancient city right behind where we would always contact. Elder Hoopes has been here for 7 months and has never seen it before. It was all traditional looking and had a rope bridge going over a river that we crossed. And then we ran into two less active members. One of them came up to us and told us they were members. That was really cool. We also met with a new investigator that was referred to us. He's really cool and deeply believes in God. We've set up to meet with him tonight as well. He was way excited to read the Book of Mormon.

Friday we got to pick up Elder Chan from the train station. He got to live with us for the weekend because his companion became a trainer. So we had a great weekend with him. We got to go down to our secondary area to meet with the family we've been co-teaching with the Sisters. They enjoy watching the Mormon messages. We also got to visit a member in our ward down there. He lives right on the border of our area. He's 71 with two bulging disks in his back and bikes and hour and a half to church every week. That's hardcore.

Saturday was a little rough. It was extremely hot and no one really wanted to talk to us. We had planned a lot of contacting time and didn't get a huge result from it. We went shopping with Kevin for church clothes that night though!

Sunday was so great! We had an amazing block of church meetings and then Kevin's baptismal service immediately afterwards. He was so nervous because it was right after church, so a lot of members were there. But it really was so great. I had the blessing of getting to baptize him. As we got out of the font, he said it was a really cool experience. He loved it! Once the whole service was over, all the ward members came and started welcoming him into the ward. That's how it needs to be. It was such a great day.

Today is the start of a new move call. Elder Hoopes has now moved up to Taizhong to be Zone Leader! My new companion is Elder Smith. He's really cool. This is his first move call as Senior, as well as District Leader, so he's excited. And we're both really searching for connections because he's from Pleasant Grove. So this will be a great move call! I'm way excited! Thank you all so much for the love and support! And Happy Anniversary mom and dad!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 18: Time To Baptize

Dear family and friends,

This past week has been all over the place! It all started out after we bought all our food last Monday. I decided to move back to my old eating habits from my last area. They were more healthy. So I bought a bunch of food that needs to be kept in the fridge and freezer. Elder Hoopes did too. To our surprise on Tuesday morning, our fridge didn't seem that cold. But we didn't think much of it. That night, we got home and found that it was pretty warm inside. So we booked it to a store and bought ice. But it was too late. So on Wednesday we had to go buy a new fridge. Well, a used fridge. And the one we found was in the budget and probably now the best fridge in the mission. Pretty sweet! But we had to buy our food again.

Other than that, Tuesday was pretty great. We had our district training meeting. Elder Hoopes presented a really good lesson on dreaming BIG dreams and doing BIG things. It was really good and really inspiring. We also got an update that we're crushing our lessons on the street goal. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned, but our mission has set a goal to talk to 100,000 people about the gospel this month. And so far, we're really ahead! That night we had a gut feeling to bike down to our secondary area and visit the Ke family. The Sisters have been working with them, but the dad is busy at work, so he's behind on all the lessons but comes to church with his family every week. So we're tag teaming it with the sisters and teaching him. They were all so excited to see us. They're a really golden family. It's just quite a bike ride out to see them! We went so fast though. We made a goal to stay caught up with this scooter. It. Was. Tough! But it had to be done to get to this family!

Wednesday we had lunch with a good friend of the missionaries. He owns a dog grooming place and personally owns 4 big dogs. One of them being a Great Dane. Pretty cool. In the process of getting food, we ran into a fridge store where we found our awesome fridge. English that night was pretty interesting trying to whip out a bunch of American words. It was a lot harder than I thought. And then my class decided they wanted to learn about how our mission's leadership authority is laid out. So I drew up everything from district leaders to the president. Then I talked about exchanges. They all thought it was so crazy. After English when we were about to head home, we had a guy come up to us and say that he wants to meet with us and learn more. So we set him up for the next day!

Thursday night we had a lot of really good lessons. We met with David. Once again, it's so weird teaching in English. But he understands very well. He wants to come to church and he wants to get baptized, but his school schedule will not let him. It's all day on Sunday. So we gotta find a way! Right after a lesson with him, we had a referral come meet us. He lives in Taipei but is coming down here for college. He's heard all the lessons and wants to get baptized! So we're planning on that happening in the next few weeks. But he lives not quite in our boundaries. So he's going to start meeting with some other Elders. He's really excited though. Then right after him, Michael, the guy from the night before, came and we talked with him. We also teach him in English. He's really excited to learn more. He's a very humble guy that wants his family to be strengthened more. And he said he wants to follow Christ! And he very happily agreed to a baptismal goal!

Friday was a rough day. Not much happened. I don't wanna talk about it... But Saturday we ate lunch with a really cool guy in our ward and then he wanted to spend the afternoon with us. So he drove us down to Qieding to meet the Ke family again. Then we went to find some less active members. It was fun. We also met with Michael again that night and he's becoming very golden!

Sunday started out pretty depressing when we were informed by a few people that they couldn't make it to church. But then about 30 minutes in, Kevin shows up! We haven't seen him in over a week because he's been with his parents in Gaoxiong. So it was a huge happiness booster. He had his baptismal interview after church and passed! We're just not sure when the baptism will be because he's still trying to figure out where he's going to live for school and his school starts on Saturday. But there might be a chance that he'll be baptized on Sunday! Fingers Crossed!

And that was my week. I'm exhausted. I go to bed exhausted. I wake up exhausted. Ah the life of a missionary. I hit my 1/4 mark last week. That was weird. Well I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support! Beware of Pride. Blasted pride causes so many problems. Do your best to love everyone around you!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 17: Nothing like a sunburn where the collar rubs against your skin

Dear family and friends,

First I'd like to start out by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I really don't remember the dates at all anymore, unless something important is going on with one of our investigators. We were talking to a member yesterday and we set something up for next Monday. He said the wrong date and I was like "no it would be the 17th because tomor OH MY GOSH it's my dad's birthday!" So I'm glad I remembered! Time just flies out here... Anyway. Hope you have a great relaxing day dad!

Another great week here in Tainan! We dedicated a lot of time to contacting to get new investigators. And we did a pretty good job! We started out by making a goal to not eat rice or noodles at all that week. It's not an easy goal. So we had a lot of McDonalds. Also not a good thing. Tuesday we had a great combined zone training meeting. Each of the district leaders taught a small principle on contacting and we did some practicing. It was a lot of fun. We also have a new zone leader because Elder Wang was called to the office to be the new operations manager, and he has training for the last 3 weeks of the move call. So we had a mini move call and Elder Crandall came down here! He's really cool. He just came from Yuanlin, where he lived for 3 weeks. That was in my last zone, so I was glad to hear some news about what's going on up there.

That night we met with Kevin. He's all ready for baptism! We went through the interview questions with him and he's excited. We set up the interview for Sunday morning before church.

Wednesday was a really hot day and we had no energy whatsoever, and hardly anyone was outside to talk to. It was hard. But it ended really nice with English class. It's really funny now that they've started to talk more. They want to learn how to speak "American." Not just English. So I gotta prepare for that now.

Thursday was a miracle day. We had contacted a guy, David, on the street the week before and set up for Thursday. And he actually came. I was so happy. He speaks fluent English, so it was pretty weird teaching in English. We both could do it and explain things a lot better than when in Chinese, but it just sounded weird saying all the church terms in English. That'll be hard to adjust to when I come home... But David is really good! He asks a ton of questions and clarifies everything once we teach him. So he left really excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn more.

Friday we got to go on zone leader exchanges! I got to stay in my area and Elder Crandall came with me. I felt kinda bad because all I had planned was straight up contacting in a bunch of different areas. But he said that's all they're doing in their area too to boost up their teaching pool. And I made it better by taking him to get Dr. Pepper and Subway. I LOVE Dr. Pepper and Subway! It was a good day and we got some great adds.

Saturday was "clean up the world" day. So all the missionaries in our zone got to come over to this big park in our area by the ocean and help clean up the area. There was a ton of people there. Like 500 maybe. Just a bunch of Tainan people coming together to clean the world! It was so much fun! But since we were just in our regular clothes in the sun for a few hours, we all got some pretty intense sunburns where our collars usually are. I can't turn my head without a lot of pain to follow. That evening we got to meet with a guy that I added over a week ago during Assistant exchanges. He's really cool and wants to know all about the church. Him and his wife got married last year and she's pregnant with their first child. How do I keep running into this same circumstance? And she's from China, which is where she is now visiting her family. So I'm really excited to teach this family! He loves the story of Joseph Smith and loves hearing about God's authority. He's really excited to learn more and flat out brought out his own planner and planned in church next week.

Sunday was a little rough. Kevin was sick and called and said he couldn't make it. So the baptism is pushed back a little bit, but he's still really dedicated.

This morning we biked over to the beach and had some fun standing in the water. I love the beach. And then we headed over to a morning market and finally found some passion fruits. By far my favorite fruit! I missed it so much. And that's my whole week! It's been a lot of fun. We've got some really sweet new investigators and one that's right about to be baptized!

I love you all so much! Please continue to write and send pictures and whatnot. Thank you all so much for the love and support!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Elder Hoopes with what he bought last week

 

 Cleaning between some raft things on the beach

 

 How we relax on preperation day

 

 Typhoon from our balcony

 

 At the beach

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

 

Taiwan Week 16: Where Is Everybody?

Dear family and friends,

Well I survived another week! Haha. It's really been a pretty tough week. We've been struggling to find new investigators, and I've gotten a little sick as well. It started up last Tuesday when I started to lose my voice (that's twice on my mission so far!) and my stomach was in a lot of pain.

We had a really amazing Combined District Training Meeting that day. It was so cool! We each got to share an experience about using the Book of Mormon to help an investigator progress. As each story was shared, we got to take a big block and stack them up to create the arch. As the arch got taller, it starts to lean in towards where the keystone needs to be. Elder Stark and I were holding the blocks in place, and it started to get hard to hold them up. Once everyone was done sharing, President Bishop grabbed the keystone and put it in place. And then the arch held itself up! That just shows how important the Book of Mormon is in knowing this is Christ's true and living church. It was a lot of fun.

Wednesday I was feeling even worse, I took President Bishop's advice and started eating a lot more fruit. Fruit has gotten pretty expensive because we had a few pretty intense typhoons in the past few weeks. It only did a lot of damage in the southern most parts of Taiwan though. But all the fruit prices have gone way up. After a rough day of trying to find people, we had a good night at English class. My class is finally starting to warm up a bit and talk more. They're starting to like me! It's a lot of fun.

Thursday was really sweet because we got to go on Assistant exchanges. Elder Turk came around with us and Elder Gulas went around with the Zone leaders. Our area was Elder Turk's first area. And he's about to go home. So we had a lot of fun visiting a lot of his recent converts. We did a TON of contacting too. That always happens on Assistant exchanges. It was sweet! We wanted to focus on talking to EVERYONE but still making it to our lessons on time. Which we did a good job.

Friday and Saturday... Those were the rough days... Friday was pretty hard with little to no success. So we made Saturday our hardcore finding day. But it was unbearably hot and no one wanted to talk to us. So we went to our next planned area and there was almost no one there. The people that were there completely shot us down. The same thing happened in the next two areas we tried. And every single person that would listen to us became a referral. It was a rough day. We had a pity dinner.

Sunday was SO great though! It was such a great fast and testimony meeting. At the start of the meeting, the bishop got up and explained to everyone that was experiencing a fast and testimony meeting for the first time what is the purpose of a testimony meeting. All in Chinese, he said he welcomes all investigators to come up and bear their testimony too if they want. Kevin leans over to me and asks "what's an investigator?" I said "anyone who is meeting with the missionaries and is learning about our church. So, you. Welcome!" And he just starts laughing. He's so great! We met with him that night as well as a few other times last week. He has accepted everything and is loving the Book of Mormon. His parents came up from Gaoxiong a few days ago and surprised him. He told them all about the church and how he wants to get baptized. They didn't have an "opposing" kind of attitude. They just wondered if maybe he's moving too fast. So he himself asked us if he could have an interview with the bishop to talk about it! He really wants to be sure and he's willing to do anything to find out. So good!

And that's my week! It was pretty hard and trying. But I learned a lot. Elder Hoopes and I have dedicated this week to finding new investigators. My voice is still recovering. It was EXTREMELY low the past few days. Lower than I've ever heard my voice go before. It was pretty sweet. But it's coming to an end.

I love you all! Thanks for the love and support in your prayers and letters! Always remember to keep the Book of Mormon close to you in your life. It's such a life saver! Until next week!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter\