Taiwan Week 2

Dear family and friends,

Another week of my mission is gone! Where does the time go?... I don't really have a grasp of time right now. It's fast and slow. Looking back, it feels like stuff from last week was just yesterday. It's so weird.

So there's a learning program we have here with 3 phases. It's very detailed and so helpful in learning the language and how to teach in the language. I'm in phase 1 (obviously), and I'm passing off the first section to my district leader tomorrow. I'm so nervous but excited! I had a flashback to the movie "The Best Two Years" when Kirby Heyborn says he's in trouble because this isn't the language he learned in the MTC. I'm kind of having that experience right now. When people talk, it's just this slur of who knows what. It's like... real chinese. And Elder Allen understands it and keeps going! That will take some time to get used to. We're working on an language goal for me right now to help me progress faster. He's really good at helping me learn.

My district is so solid! We had a training meeting last Tuesday and it's so much fun meeting with all of them. They're all so focused on improving to help their investigators come unto Christ. My district leader is Elder Crofts. He's so nice and welcoming. I love all the missionaries here!

Elder Allen and I have some really promising investigators. We have a family that is so solid with every commitment. They've just had some scheduling conflicts with coming to church. But they said they can this week. And they love studying the scriptures as a family. We even gave them a childrens Book of Mormon to help keep the kids interested. They're pretty young. They attended another baptism we had in our ward this last Saturday and they said they absolutely love the atmosphere of the Church and they're excited to come this Sunday. 

We also have a few pretty new investigators who are pretty shy and don't have much to say. But they keep calling US back to schedule another meeting and they said they'll be able to come to church this Sunday as well. I love when people are so curious about the church that they're just dying to learn more. These few were just people we ran into on the street and they really love learning more about the gospel. We've been really lucky to run into so many people that are that willing to learn and come to church as well. I'm not entirely sure if I said this in the last email, but we call church "game day" because it's so crazy getting everyone there and getting them situated and comfortable. But most of the time, if they have a good first experience at church, they're hooked on wanting to be baptized. Church is so essential in conversion. I love it.

As far as I've heard, President Bishop has made a lot of changes to the mission to help all members have enduring conversion. A lot of converts have stopped coming and it's one of our focuses to help them stay active. As well as look for less actives and help them want to come back. I absolutely love doing it. I love working with the recent converts and helping them want to learn more. 

We had a pretty awesome experience yesterday at church. One of the original missionaries of Taiwan, Elder Kitchen, came with his wife to speak to us. Him and 3 others got here in 1956 (I think) and had pretty much no knowledge of the language or any gospel material in mandarin. I can't imagine how hard that would be. That helped me so much to realize what hard work and trust in the Lord can do. They're back here in Taiwan on a temple mission. It was so cool. They also taught the sunday school lesson and showed us pictures of his mission. So much has changed.

I love you all! I miss you dearly. But there's work to be done. And I'm loving the blessings of doing it! I love the people of Taiwan. I can't wait to give you some more updates on what will happen in this coming week. Please continue to write! I love hearing back from everyone. The Lord loves all of us. And he wants to help us, as long as we have the desire to learn from Him. Pretty much the scripture that kept coming up in a lot of our lessons was Ether 12:27. My invitation this week is to read that and wonder how the Lord could help you this week. He'll help you as much as you have faith in Him.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

First Week In Taiwan: Time to dive in and go

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, I finally made it! I can't believe it. This place is so cool. To start off, it is so humid here. I feel like a frog. It's so intense. I love it though! The air is very thick with moisture. It's like taking a drink with every breath. My clothes are pretty soggy most of the time. Also, the plane flights were very nice. Both of them were reasonably on time and we were able to transition really well. I didn't realize how long that flight from LAX to Taipei was, until I looked at the clock and found out that it had only been 8 hours and I still had so many to go. What a long flight. But it was a very nice flight. The plane was huge! I've never had such a smooth flight. We landed around 9:00 local time and met up with our Mission President. President Bishop is so cool! We had a 2 hour drive to the mission home from the airport, so we got to know him and his wife a bit; as well as the assistants. He gave us a brief of what is expected on the mission. I'll be honest, I had never been so scared in my life. There is so much to do! We didn't get in to our apartment until after 12:30. We stayed with the zone leaders in Taichung. By the way, it's actually Taizhong. It drives me crazy to call it Taichung now.

We were awakened really fast with a hardcore run through the city to a stadium to run some more. It was so hard to keep up with the zone leaders. In the end, we had run about 2.5 miles by 7:00 am. I'm glad I'm used to getting up early now. We ate breakfast at the mission home and President Bishop gave us some more training. He is so smart and knowledgeable. And he's super nice. We had training most of the day. We also got to go to a hot pot for lunch. I love those so much. And dinner we went to one of those places with a huge spinning table on a bigger table. (I have no idea how to describe it). I'm definitely going to have to get used to fish here. We were surprised with something afterwards. Dan Jones night. We all got to go this night market and stand on a box just like Dan Jones and preach the gospel. We just did our testimonies, then a missionary would take us individually and do street contacting. It was intense. It was pouring rain and we just went around and looked for referrals and people interested in the gospel. I enjoyed it quite a lot, even though I couldn't understand much!

The next morning was pretty much the same routine. Then we went into the church and were greeted by all the trainers. One of them welcomed us and sat with us. But we didn't know if they were our trainer or not. After a few more lessons by the assistants and the mission president and his wife, we watched a pretty intense inspirational video that got me so pumped. I was still scared out of my mind though. Finally it was time to find out who our trainer is. We did it in a traditional Chinese way with the red envelopes. I was first. I opened it up and read "Elder Allen, Nantou." So crazy! I honestly can't explain the huge amount of comfort I felt as I saw him come up to greet me. I could really feel the spirit's comfort that he will be an amazing trainer for me. It feels so great. So we all went out to eat one last time, grabbed our stuff, and headed off to our respective areas.

Nantou is more in the center of the island. It's not as populated and is so beautiful! We had an hour bus ride here, so we were able to get to know each other a bit. He's actually from Alpine, Utah. And he graduated the same year I did. Pretty cool if you ask me! We share an apartment with the zone leaders for our area, which is pretty rare. Most companionships live by themselves. Another rare thing is we have 6 missionaries in our ward. Us, the zone leaders, and a companionship of sisters. I love it!

We went out and did some street contacting almost right as we got back. That's jumping in. I couldn't understand a thing. We were able to go to a few houses and talk to some families. By the end of the night, I was completely terrified that I wasn't going to learn the language.

I'm so glad for planning and goals. If it wasn't for those, everything would be so much harder. We'd be all over the place. We had some meetings on Saturday and I was able to meet the ward mission leader. Really nice guy. Everyone here is so nice! Then we did some tracting. I can't wait to be able to talk to people more. The people we got to talk to were really hospitable.

I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to have two baptisms in my ward on my second day! A 14 year old boy and an 8 year old girl whose family are already members. All the missionaries planned to sing a special musical number at the baptism, so we met a few minutes early to go over it. Oh by the way, our zone leaders names are Elder Petters and Elder Gulas. Elder Petters' time is up and he is going home today. Elder Petters was going to be doing the baptizing, when he suddenly walked in and said, "ELDER BUCKWALTER, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BAPTIZE TONIGHT?" Total shock came over me. This is his last chance to baptize and he gave it to me as a welcoming experience. He has such a soft soul. Such a nice guy. But then it sat in that I had to memorize the baptizmal prayer in chinese! So it's 5 minutes before the service starts and I'm scrambling to put on Elder Petters' clothes while trying to memorize the prayer. And as far as everyone has said, I did a very good job. The two kids are so lucky to be baptized into this true church. What an experience! I asked the boy how he felt afterwards and he said great! So great.

There was a ward fireside immediately afterwards. So I was able to meet a lot of the ward. I absolutely love this ward! Everyone is so nice (and patient with my chinese). They're all so willing to work with us to help us teach investigators. I also love the spirit felt around them. It's so strong and loving.

Sunday we had church in the morning. It was so nice. I'm really starting to more experience the blessings and spiritual blessings of church. I can't understand much of what everyone is saying, but the spirit speaks every language and I could feel it. We call Sunday "game day" because getting investigators to church is a huge step for their conversion process. It's such a blessing to go to church.

All of us missionaries had dinner at a recent converts house last night and we brought one of our investigators. He's very curious about the Holy Ghost. It was so much fun. We also met with an investigating family at the end of the night. They're so golden. I can't wait to see them progress more.

Today we said our goodbyes to Elder Petters and he left. Today is more for getting me settled in and ready to get into the daily schedule. I love my bike! We're about to go buy accessories for it.

Ok so now here's the info for everyone back home. No matter where I'm transfered to, my mailing address stays the same. It goes to the mission office first. So always use that address. Also, use the US postal service. They don't accept Fedex here. Very crutial. And it shouldn't cost that much when you use the flat rate boxes. And this time is about when we'll be doing emails every Monday. Just a heads up.

I absolutely love it here. It's so much fun. Still a lot of hard work trying to learn and learn how to teach. But it's so much fun as well. I can't wait for this coming week. We have some great lessons coming up. I'm so excited. I'm sorry for how long this is! I just had so much to say for my first week. I'll try better next week. I love you all! Please continue to write me. Every missionary loves mail. I can't wait to hear back from all of you! Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of us. This is His true gospel.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Here are some pictures. They are not in order. Some are just before he left the MTC and some are his first week in Taiwan

Week Nine: I'm leaving on a Jet plane

Dear Family and Friends,

Well for those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm taking off today! In two hours actually... All the Taichung missionaries were supposed to leave on Thursday. During class yesterday we were called to the travel office and they said we were leaving now in 16 hours. What?! Needless to say, we had to cancel the rest of our classes and start doing laundry and pack. None of us were packed at all. It was a crazy night last night. But now we're all packed. We leave at 8:00 this morning and we take off for LAX around 11:00. From there we have a 3 hour layover until we fly straight to Taiwan. We're scheduled to get there tomorrow night at 8:30. And even with the international date line and the time zone changes, that's a long flight! I'm so excited! I can't believe how fast the time has flown already.

Last Tuesday night Elder Christofferson spoke at our Devotional. That's the 5th Apostle since arriving at the MTC. A record maybe? Yeah I think so. It was so cool. He spoke on the relationship of the Godhead and how they are different but support each other entirely. It was really good! He had a different approach to his talk as well. He asked for a lot of missionary feedback and had a few missionaries with microphones running around to those who wanted to read a scripture. It was pretty cool. It was so funny to see the nervousness in a few of them when he asked a follow-up question. I think the one thing that I loved the most about his talk is that it was entirely based out of the scriptures. He would have someone read a passage and then he'd talk about it and expound on it. It really showed the deeper meaning of the scriptures. Through studying, not just reading, you can learn so much.

Also as a surprise this past week, we were informed that we were going to be interviewed by NPR. My class was chosen to be interviewed. So a lady from NPR came and recorded us in our regular learning session. Then she said she wanted to interview a few people. The head of communications at the MTC had previously chosen a few sisters in my district. So they went off to be interviewd. When they came back, the lady said she wanted to interview Elder Plate and I. Gulp! So we went into another classroom and the head of communications at the MTC as well as the head of communications for the Church were there. Yeah you could say I was a little nervous. But once the lady left, he told us all that we did an amazing job. What a cool opportunity!

Friday was in field orientation. A lot of classes to prepare us for the field. And one thing that I really loved was learning to work with the members. Something that was really stressed was "every member a missionary." I absolutely loved that. They said the most baptisms come through member relations. Meaning, when you work with the members, more people feel welcome to come to church and take more discussions. Members friendshipping others is so critical. I challenge everyone to search for a fellowshipping opportunity. Charity is the pure love of Christ. Show more love towards others.

One of the final things I got to do was be a member at the TRC. There wasn't enough volunteers for us, so my district got to be volunteers and fellow missionaries in our zone got to teach us. I don't know how they felt about it, but I absolutely loved being able to see how far we've all progressed since arriving here. The two that taught Elder Plate and I were our zone leaders. They're also flying to Taichung with us. I'm so excited for them to jump into the work as well. We've all prepared well.

Every Sunday we have 4 films that we can choose from and watch. Last week, a bunch of us really wanted to watch Testaments for our last film so we can cry one last time. For those of you who haven't seen it, wait for the ending. It's a tear jerker. So we searched for President Brown and begged him. He said he wish he could, but they're on a schedule. So we kind of lost hope. Then on Saturday when we got the Sunday bulletin, we saw that Testaments was playing! And that's not all, they usually show a film in two different languages and he got them to show it in mandarin! So almost all of us from our Branch were there watching it in mandarin. That was an eye opener for me. But it was still so cool that I could understand a lot of it. And yes, even in mandarin, still a tear jerker. Like all the Elders. So great.

Well I need to be getting off and finalizing my packing. I love you all! Pray for me. Don't forget to write. If you need my Taiwan address, my parents have it. Here I go, out to preach the true gospel of Christ. Inviting others to come unto Him. What a blessing this is to serve. The Lord loves each and every one of us!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Week Eight

Dear Friends and Family,
What a great week this has been! I honestly can't believe another week has gone by. So much has happened since last week. I feel like time is different on a mission. So much happens in such short time, and time flies so fast.
We've had a few baptisms this past week! I had the privilege to interview two investigators for baptism last Wednesday. That has become a favorite thing of mine. It's a little difficult and scary doing it all in Chinese, but hearing them bear testimony and see their faith and change to come unto Christ is so amazing to experience. I'm excited to know that I have a few more interviews this week as well! My testimony has been greatly strengthened through these investigators coming to know that the church is true. So much is happening as my stay at the MTC comes to a close.
Speaking of leaving the MTC, I have some more exciting news. We all got our travel plans last week! It is now set in stone that we're leaving extremely early next Thursday morning, flying to Detroit, and then straight to Taiwan from there. Why we're going out to Detroit just to fly west again, I don't know. But we're all excited anyway. Longer flight! Approximately 17.5 hours I believe. I've also been called to be the travel leader to Taiwan. So I get to be responsible for all the missionaries going to Taichung. Everyone going to Taipei leaves next Tuesday. Our Branch President doesn't know why we're on different days flying to the same airport. It's so weird knowing everyone in my branch is going off to different places now. That will need some getting used to.
To more confirm the travel plans, everyone going to Taichung received a letter yesterday from our Mission President giving us further instruction of what will happen once we arrive. Included was a specific packing list for our backpacks since all our other bags won't arrive for a few days. That made packing a little more complicated. But now I just feel that much closer to leaving!
Since Sunday was Fast Sunday, we had mission conference with everyone at the MTC. That was so exciting! All of the MTC Presidency spoke, as well as the a District President, President Sonne, and his wife. And out of all of the talks, Sister Sonne's talk spoke to me the most. She talked about President Hinkley's 6 pillars of his testimony and how it made him such a strong believer of Christ. And that just makes you think, what are the pillars of my testimony? What do I have a testimony of that no one could convince me otherwise? Pretty deep thing to think about. I challenge all of you to ponder those questions. I absolutely loved hearing how she put it. What a great conference!
Today I had a pretty special opportunity to do a family name for an Elder in my Zone! I thought it was even more special because he is from China and these are all Chinese names. I guess that's proof that work is being done in China. Just in a very special way. It had a special impact on me as I thought back to when I first received my call. I instantly fell in love with the people of Taiwan. And knowing I helped a Chinese ancestor today really helped me grow closer to my mission and the people I'm about to go out and serve. The temple is such an amazing place. The spirit is so strong and I always learn something new.
Since this coming Sunday is Mother's day, mom, I'm sorry but we aren't allowed to call you here at the MTC. But I'll be able to call you at the airport on Thursday! Just a few days late right? So until then, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I love you so much! I'm so blessed to have you as my mother! I miss you. Mothers are so great. The world would be kind of stuck in a rut if no one had a mother. Just look at the lost boys on Peter Pan. Everyone needs a mother. And I'm so blessed to have mine!
I love you all! Remember to write and keep me updated on your lives. But remember that next week I'll be heading out to Taiwan. So if you don't have the address, please contact my parents and get it from them. I would give it to you, but I don't have it memorized yet. Oops... Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of us!

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Week Seven

Dear Friends and Family,

I honestly don't know what happened this last week. Where did it go?! So weird. Time is really starting to fly by, and I'm still in the MTC. I can't wait to finally fly out to Taiwan! We're supposed to get our travel plans this Thursday! That'll be so weird and exciting! Why are airports to epic?! Oh yeah, so come 2 weeks, I won't be at the MTC anymore. Just a heads up so you know where to send mail and stuff. But not until mid May.

So last Tuesday we had Elder Nelson come speak to us for Devotional. I can't believe how lucky I've been here. They say Apostles come usually every 3 or 4 weeks. But since I've been here, I've listened to 4. I absolutely love it! Elder Nelson talked about the 9 basic doctrine that needs to be taught to investigators. I'm sorry, but I can't remember them at the moment. But I do remember this: whenever the word "doctrines'' is said in the scriptures, it's always talking about false teachings and lies. Whenever the word ''doctrine'' is said, it's truth and God's teachings. See the difference? I'll give you a hint, one has an ''S'' at the end. So when we teach and talk about the teachings, it's the doctrine of Christ. Not doctrines. And I think it went very well with what Sister Nelson had to say. We are spreading the greatest news ever. What do we know that others don't? Pretty deep question, huh?

All the new missionaries finally came! I can't explain how exciting that was for all of us who have been here for 7 weeks. Oh by the way, my subject is how you say ''new missionaries.'' I could tell a few of you had some confused looks when you read that. Anyway, their first night here, we pretty much overloaded them to the point of crying. I just sat there as 3 or 4 missionaries gave more and more advice to this companionship in their residence hall. The look on their face was priceless! But yeah, it's really exciting having more than twice the amount of missionaries than before. I love helping them find their way around and answering questions about chinese.

A little over 3 weeks ago, Elder Plate and I challenged one of our investigators to be baptized. He liked the idea and wanted to prepare! So the his baptism date was set for this Saturday. A few lessons ago, we asked him if he was feeling ready, and he is! He knows the church is true and wants to be baptized. I'm so excited! So his baptism this Saturday! I'm practically exploding with joy. What an amazing blessing for him.

Since we're now entering our last few weeks and we have the new group of missionaries here, our teachers said they're going to be much more intense on us. And from that point on, we dove into no mercy. If we do something wrong with our teaching, they stop us, tell us what we did wrong, and then tell us to do it right. It's intimidating but so exciting! I really feel so pumped after every lesson because it's like language and gospel teaching boot camp. And our mission purpose is our boot camp mission statement.

Just last night as we were wrapping up our lesson in class, we were just talking about teaching moments. Elder Plate brought up our moment with our investigator ready to be baptized. And while he was speaking, he referred to me as ''Elder Buckwalter.'' As always. But this time hit me so much more than ever before. Elder Buckwalter. I am a missionary. I'm out here inviting as many people as I can to come unto Christ and be a part of His church and His restored gospel. How powerful of a knowledge is that? What an amazing blessing. I love every moment I have. I love serving the Lord.

I love you all. Remember to write me. I love getting updates on all my family and friends! Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of us!

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter