Taiwan Week 11: Baptism and When It Rains It Pours

Dear family and friends,

What a week it has been! It's been so full of amazing experiences. We started the week going on exchanges with the zone leaders. That was a lot of fun. I was with Elder Ostvig. And it was a little nerve racking since he came to my area and I was pretty much the senior for the day. So I was leading him and Elder Yang (duan chuan) around to all the lessons, and then taking the lead in the lessons. But it was really fun. We didn't get a whole lot done though because it started raining really hard and lightning was striking everywhere. We were at McDonald's when it started and we were confined to it for a while. So we got our calling done in the mean time. I think lightning struck the building too, because thunder followed directly afterwards and the whole building started shaking. It was pretty cool.

Wednesday was absolutely crazy. While trying to find and visit some less active members, it started storming like crazy; crazier than I've ever seen. We were in Nantou kind of high on the mountain, and we knew we had to go higher. Lightning is striking everywhere and the roads were flooding. All the streets were just waterfalls. We could barely see where we were going because the rain was so heavy and the wind was so powerful. But we kept going. We were giving it our all trying to go up this steep road. But then the wind picked up a lot more and knocked us off our bikes. At that point we decided we needed to get out of there. Whenever they warn us of a typhoon, nothing happens. But when it's a perfectly fine day, chaos. It was so crazy. That night was English class, and we didn't think anyone would come because of the storm. But we actually had 7 newcomers. That's pretty much a record for one week. What was even better was that most of them have interest in the church and came to church yesterday. So cool! They all want to learn more. They stayed all 3 hours. I'm really excited for them.

The biggest news this week is that the Hong family got baptized! It was so great. I'm so happy for them. All last week, they were just doing all they could to get familiar with the ward and have their questions answered concerning the process of being baptized. It's always fun practicing! They didn't seem to have any fears. And then when it all came down to the baptism, they loved it. And their testimonies were so amazing. It was such a great experience. They're loving coming to church and learning more about family history work. Pictures will be coming next week. We don't have much time today.

This morning we had a good chunk of our recent converts come over early in the morning to play basketball with us at the church. Chuson, Song Zhi Hao, and the Hong dad. It was really cool. They all have this old school style about them. And they're way skilled. It was so much fun. Then Chuson took us to Sun Moon Lake today. It was way fun. This island is so beautiful. We got to do so much stuff. But time ran short. Hence the shorter email.
I love you all so much! Thanks for the letters and all the support. Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of us. Keep reaching out to others as much as you can. Go out of your way to say hey. You never know when you'll make some one's day. Until next Monday!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter