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
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