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\

 

Taiwan Week 15: Set Backs And Miracles

Dear family and friends,

What a week it has been! We've had some great success, as well as some troubling times. We have mission standards; one is to get 30 sit down lessons a week, and another is to reach our adding goal each day. We've been struggling on both of those this past week. We would come in contact with a lot of people, but they have no interest. The lack of success started hitting us pretty hard. We were pretty behind and didn't have a whole lot of lessons set up. It was a rough first few days of the week.

Wednesday was pretty amazing though. At english we had a combined spiritual share at the end. It was on the Atonement. We had a bag of candy and each person had the choice to either take a piece or not. And when they did, I had to do 4 push ups. When they didn't, I still had to do 4 push ups. It was easy at first, but it started adding up really fast. Everyone was really confused as to why I had to do it no matter what. They were scared to accept the candy because they didn't like seeing me shaking and sweating. A few people started tearing up. But I still had to do it anyway. 29 people later, I was done. Face red, arms shaking, covered in sweat. Whether we accept Christ or not, He still paid the sins of everyone. He did it because He loves all of us. Regardless of the pain, He suffered until it was finished. It was such a great lesson. Even though I was a little sore.

Thursday we biked down to our secondary area, Qieding. It's a really northern part of Gaoxiong. We biked along the beach on the way down. It was so beautiful. There isn't a whole lot in Qieding. We have an older member down there. He's really active, but the bishop wanted us to visit him every time we go down there since he doesn't get visits that often. He wasn't home though. So we went along the docks. It's a big fishing area and there are a ton of boats. A lot of men from India and the Filipines come here to work for fishermen. They don't get paid that much, but it's more than they make back home. They go home after a year or so for a few months, and then come back for another year or two. It sounds so rough. Because of a coming typhoon, most of them were docked for the day. We came across 7 Filipino guys by the dock kicking back. We sat with them and shared a bit. They were all Christians of some kind. One's wife is LDS. We told them we'd come back with Togalog Book of Mormons and they all liked that. They were really nice.

That night we met with a less active and talked about goal setting. When you set goals and continue to check them, you'll progress. We helped him set goals for the week and we're going to follow up this week. He's really cool. He just has a hard time making it to church because of work. A lot of members here are struggling in that sense. People are taking jobs as they come and don't have much say in the hours they work. We got to meet with a few members that are struggling with coming to church because of work. One was the old Elders Quorum President. He said he's only going to give it another week or so, and if he can't get Sundays off, he's going to look for another job, because he misses church! So sweet! Do what you can to get to church. The blessings will come through diligence.

Friday was a little rough but also so amazing! We met with one of our investigators and he didn't want to progress at all. All he wanted to do was argue with us and tell us we were wrong. It was rought. But during our meeting with him, one of our other investigators, Kevin, came, so we split up and I sat with Kevin while Elder Hoopes finished up. Kevin is doing so good! I asked him what he's read so far and he's been up through 1 Nephi 18. I asked him what his favorite part has been and he starts talking about the Tree of Life all excited! So we went through it and the symbolism of it, which he loved. Then I wrapped that into the Doctrine of Christ. At this point, Elder Hoopes had just finished up with our other lesson, which I guess kept going more and more downhill. Rough... You can't convince them all!... So we continued with Kevin and he was accepting everything. Our plan was to teach the Doctrine of Christ and the Word of Wisdom, but since we were running low on time, we thought of just doing the Doctrine. We asked him if he had any questions and he said "It keeps talking about commandments in the Book of Mormon. What exactly are those? I heard there's something about no drinking alcohol or something." And we were awe struck. So we went on with the Word of Wisdom! He said there will be a few small changes he'll have to make, but he's completely willing. GOLDEN! We also went to lunch with him the next day, to a burger place owned by a guy that went to college in California that makes a super sweet chili burger. We decided to give him a taste of American food, and he's going to give us a taste of pure Taiwanese food. I'm a little scared for that...

We got to sit with another investigator on Saturday that is also loving to read the Book of Mormon. He's accepting everything about the gospel and he wants to be baptized, but he's nervous to talk to his parents about joining the church. He originally just came to our english class, so he's nervous to tell his parents that he wants to join the church teaching him english. So we're just going to work slowly with him. But he's very good. I'm excited for him.

Church was really great. Kevin came and loved every bit of it. He was talking to people everywhere he went and said he loves the atmosphere. He thinks our bishop is intense, as do I. His voice is the spitting image (or I guess spitting sound?) of James Earl Jones. He's so cool. And Kevin liked learning the more in depth stuff in each class; which was the "Doctrine of the Father" in Priesthood and "Honesty" in Gospel Principles.

That night, we decided to go crazy with looking for adds. We need more people to teach, and we want to hit our weekly adding goal. So we went ALL OVER the city talking to people on the streets and finding those who were interested. In the end, we almost doubled our weekly adds in a little over an hour. It was crazy, but fun.

And that's my week! It was a lot of fun! I had a lot of really cool experiences and some pretty weird ones too. But if you want to know about those, you gotta write me a letter. I know, so devious. I love you all! Thank you all so much for the love and support! Until next week.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 14: Things Are Heating Up (Literally)

Dear family and friends,
This past week has been so intense! To start off, it's a lot hotter
here. Like, hot. I down a ton of water each day and I'm so drained at
the end of the day. Here's a little bit about my area. I'm over Anping
chu, Zhongxi chu, and Nan chu. Those are the districts of the city.
It's pretty much the west/middle/south part of Tainan. It's so cool
here! We have the ocean right there and there's a huge beach. Our
apartment is on the 16th floor. It's just us two and it's a pretty
roomy place. We live right in front of a river, and we have a sweet
view of the city. There aren't any mountains, but there are plenty of
tall buildings. The city is way packed! It's what you imagine when you
think of an asian city. It's just filled with people.
My district is really cool. We have the zone leaders and the sisters.
They're all really sweet. We have fun and learn a lot! Our building
has 2 wards, both starting around the same time. The zone leaders go
to the other one, and the sisters split up and cover both. Our ward
has about 80 people each week. They're all so friendly!
When I first got here, Elder Hoopes said we're pretty much starting
from scratch because almost everyone he had the week before either
never answered their phone, or weren't progressing at all. And 7 of
them dropped him in the same day. That's rough. So we had 3
investigators and a few long term investigators that struggle to
progress, but still want to learn more. It was hard, but fun work to
find new people. We actually had a self contact that wanted to know
the difference between his church and ours. And he set up for the same
day! That was lucky. But he doesn't really want to accept any truth.
He likes to Bible bash more and try to prove us wrong.
On Wednesday we had a district english procelyting. It was really fun
going to this HUGE intersection and passing out flyers whenever there
was a red light. Sooo many scooters... English was a lot of fun. I'm
over the advanced class again, which is supposed to be conversation,
and they don't like to talk. I've never been so outgoing in my life,
trying to get people to talk. They're all really cool though and start
asking a ton of questions if I say something they don't understand.
Afterwards there was a guy in the beginner class that had some
interest in the gospel! Elder Hoopes had two guys in his class as
well. So we split up and I got to teach this guy. He was so excited to
learn more. I taught him about prayer and had my peike bear his
testimony on prayer. We had the guy say his first prayer and loved it.
When I invited him to pray daily, he was so willing and was nearly
bouncing around. It was so great!
Thursday was really great as we got to travel further south and visit
a less active member, as well as go along the coast and visit another
less active member. They're both really sweet. Very friendly. And one
of them came to church! That night we had an absolutely AMAZING lesson
with another guy that came to english class the night before. He's
just finishing up with college and wants to know the meaning of life.
GOLDEN! He had our little pamphlet thing that we hand out to everyone
and read the back page, which has questions of the soul and chapters
in the Book of Mormon to answer them. We introduced him to the Book of
Mormon and picked out a few questions that he was pondering. Elder
Hoopes and I would take turns finding scriptures in the chapter that
can help him understand, and he was completely mind blown. We gave him
a Book of Mormon and he said he will for sure read it. We then brought
up baptism and invited him to be baptized, and the Spirit was just
swirling around us! He very happily said yes and committed to the
soonest date possible. So sweet! Sadly it was dropped because he had a
family thing and had to go to it instead of church. But he kept
calling us to apologize and wants to continue meeting. That's a good
sign. We're meeting with him tonight!
Friday was pretty weird. We had weekly planning as usual, and set off.
After contacting a ton of people and finding some really great people
that set up for later, we tracted in this pretty creepy back alley.
Like the cats were making that scary cat noise, there was a mysterious
water drip coming from nowhere, and there was a house with an open
doorway and no light inside. It was creepy. And no success... We
headed more south through a cemetery to find some less active members
and ended up sitting with a guy we met on the street. He's really
humble and loved hearing about the restoration and hope. He didn't
make it to church like he said, but I hope we get to meet with him
again.
Saturday started really good, and ended really bad. Two people that we
contacted into the day before set up to meet on Saturday and both made
it. And it just so happened that the place for meeting both of them
was in the same area that was completely packed full of people. It was
like the Summerfest, but just a regular shopping area. They were both
really cool, and one wants to keep meeting. He just doesn't think his
parents will approve. So we'll have to work on that as well. Once 3:30
hit, we had no success whatsoever. No more people added. We went to a
few different areas and no one wanted to talk. An hour of tracting
with no success. An hour of finding less actives with no success. And
my box lid broke. It was a rough night.
Church was a lot of fun. I met a guy in the ward whose fuyin zhanglao
has the same surname as me. My surname is rare and a little weird. So
I was really happy to know there was another one once upon a time. And
there really isn't a good translation for fuyin zhanglao. Direct
translation is Gospel Elder, which means the Elder that taught and
baptized you. None of us know a good way of saying that in English. We
were surprised to have 3 people come to church. One was the guy that
wanted to Bible bash. And then the other 2 were friends that Elder
Hoopes found playing basketball over a week ago. They all just showed
up right before Sacrament meeting started. It was pretty cool. Last
night was ok, we visited a long term investigator and a less active
that came to church that day. He has a really hard home life and does
his best. We read 2 Nephi 4 with him and talked through Nephi's
experience. He interpreted it so well and the Spirit was so strong. He
committed to read everyday again and we're going to meet up with him
later this week.
Today I really dove into 2 Nephi 9 and really dissected it verse by
verse. It's so good! We're planning on meeting with the Lin guy
(what's the purpose of life), and are going to be going through the
Plan of Salvation. So that'll be really fun!
About me, my arms are extremely tan, I think I've gained about 8
pounds of muscle (I got a good workout going), and my hairline is
receding. I'm convinced. And that's my week! I love you all! I can't
wait to tell you about this coming week! I'm loving it here. Please
continue to write and let me know what's going on with your lives!
Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of us.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter