Dear family and friends,
Well, it happened. Nantou area was shut down. It was pretty rough
telling all our investigators that it won't be us next time the
missionaries meet with them. They were pretty confused. We found out on
Thursday, so we did an emergency exchange and Elder Allen took Elder
Ostvig all around our area to show him where all our investigators are;
that way none of them get lost or forgotten in the move. And then
telling all our recent converts was even harder. They all knew Elder
Allen was going to move since he'd been there for so long. But when they
learned that I was too, they were confused. At least they all know
Elder Ostvig. And a lot of them know Elder Ostvig's new companion too.
Elder Bennett. He was in our zone already.
Last Tuesday we had a zone scramble. That's when everyone in the
zone goes to different places. I went with Elder Fiala to his area of
Yuanlin. It was a lot of fun. His city is a bit bigger than mine, so it
was pretty different seeing so many people in the streets. I'm more used
to the open country with a semi large city. So different.
Wednesday night at English class was so great. It was the party
night and we made it Olympic themed. We just had a spelling bee and a
spelling game involving ping pong and stuff like that. But we had a lot
of people show up. Us and the Zone leaders had a lot of investigators
there as well and we all had to split up to sit with all of them
afterwards. So there were 4 rooms of investigators all at once. It was a
lot of fun.
Thursday during our emergency exchange, I went with Elder
Muhlestein to Caotun. It was a lot of fun as well. I learned a lot.
They've been working with a guy for a long time and he's had a really
rough life. I was so happy to find that he's doing all he can to get
baptized. He straight up quit smoking and drinking. He says he's always
tempted to try it again, but he's trying to have faith in his prayers to
overcome it. That's gotta be quite a struggle! I can't even imagine.
Such amazing miracles through faith.
Saturday was pretty chill. We had a lot of back to back lessons at
the church. So we were there pretty much all day. We got to sit with
Song and Wu and tell them that we were both moving. They were pretty
sad, but we told them that we could go with them to the temple next year
and they were really excited for that. Right after all our lessons, we
had a long choir practice for the stake talent show that night. All that
last minute music cramming sent me back to high school. It's harder in
Chinese though. The talent show was in Yuanlin, that's where our stake
center is. It was so much fun. Our ward really went all out and we got a
big applause after our big number. Us 4 Elders had a bit of a solo at
the end of it. It was sweet!
Afterwards was MOVE CALL MADNESS!!! It really is crazy how much
people care about where everyone is going. Some missionaries go all out
and make brackets and have theories and ways of figuring out who is
going to become trainer and who is going to become a leader of some
kind. It's more crazy than March Madness. I found out that I was going
to Tainan! So cool! It's the same city that Elder Allen started at, but
I'm in a different area than he was. Elder Allen is going Zone leader in
Taizhong. Pretty sweet! Church was really amazing. Us two and Elder
Muhlestein spoke in church since we were all leaving. It was really
spiritual. And a guy who served a mission here and his family came back
to visit and came to our ward for church. We were all a little shocked
to see a whole family of Americans. But they're from Alpine, Utah. He's
really cool. I thought it was really sweet to find out which people in
the ward were taught and baptized by him.
We had our final dinner at Chuson's house that night. Us 4 Elders
were there. He really knows how to make a feast. His mom was also
baptized on Saturday! We got to talk to her on Skype for a little bit.
She's so sweet. When we hung up, she immediately called us back and said
we need to say a prayer together. She's pretty set to endure to the
end. I'm so excited for her and her family.
We got to visit the Hong family at the end of the night. They
couldn't make it to church because they were in Tainan visiting family.
But they were also shocked that we were both leaving. And they also
expressed excitement to see us next year at the temple. And who knows, I
could probably see them down here someday! A little unlikely though. I
could also someday move back up to that area again. You never know.
I'm now down in Tainan. And it is a whole lot hotter! I got to take
a really sweet train down here. I was on it with Elder Croft, and he
described it as being on the starship enterprise. Pretty close. My new
companion is Elder Hoopes! He's really cool. And I've only known him for
about an hour now. He came on the same time as Elder Allen though. And
this will be his 5th move call here in Tainan. So he's pretty
knowledgeable in the area. This place is really huge! This is a big
city. I'm so excited to get things started!
Well that's my week! Time to start anew and get going! I love you all! Please continue to write. Remember, the Lord loves you!
Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter
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