Dear family and friends,
So pretty much I just wanna start out this email by saying that the
Ke family got BAPTIZED!!! So good. It was quite a journey thus far. It
happened yesterday morning at 7:30 before church. Their only free time
is before church and church. Then they have to book it down to Gaoxiong
right after. So we did all we could to get it before church. It was
extremely early! My companion and I had to get up at 5:30 to get to the
church in time to start filling up the font. We reminded a ton of
members the night before, so there was a great turn out, despite the
time. And one of our investigators came! But he had to leave right as we
were going to do the baptizing. Talk about timing... I had the blessing
and privilege of baptizing them. It was the mom and the dad. Next year
their oldest child will be old enough to get baptized as well. It was
such an amazing experience! Next stop, the temple! They really want to
work towards being sealed.
Now for the rest of the week. My companion and I were really
stressed last week and just wanted to have a relaxing preparation day.
So we ate McDonald's, sat in those extremely hi-tech massage chairs, I
bought my translator, shopped, and went home to either sleep or write
letters. Oh and we got haircuts. Since our only investigator lesson
cancelled, we got to visit a less active that we're working with. He
just has work that's the problem. Work gets in the way with most people
here. It's crazy. Then we visited another less active that we've been
working with for a while. And I nearly died of laughter when I saw my
companion get all cutie with the chihuahua puppy, knowing that he's
scared of all dogs.
Tuesday was pretty much just a normal day. We did a lot of finding
on the street. We also had a first time sit down with a guy that has a
bit of interest. He's really quiet though. He's the one who came to the
baptism. And we had some luck tracting that night and got a few people
to add.
Wednesday we had another first time sit down with a really cool
guy. He's a bit older and likes to cling to his religion he's had his
whole life, but is still willing to listen. That afternoon we finally
got to visit a less active that we've been really trying to help. The
Bishop and a guy in the Elders Quorum presidency that we helped come
back into activity came with us as well, and it all went really well.
They all started talking about their kids and their responsibility to
help them. They jumped back and forth between Chinese and Taiwanese, so I
only understood about 1/4 of it. But I knew what they were talking
about, so I could tell if the conversation was going good or not. And it
ended very well. And since that was the first time Elder Smith had met
him, he set up another time this week to get to know him more. So good!
Kevin was going to eat dinner with us that night, but then
cancelled at the last minute because his boss called him in to work. I
was depressed. English class that night was pretty good. Everyone made
fun of me as usual. And then I had a good lesson on not judging others
and looking for the good in everyone. It was really good.
One of our invitations for the week was to call through our entire
ward list. So on Thursday we were able to do a bit of that and actually
got to set up with a few less active members we've never been able to
contact before. That night we sat with David and watched "The prodigal
son." During the movie, there was an EARTHQUAKE! I just love emphasising
that. It really was intense though. Everything started shaking and my
chair was kinda bouncing back and forth. I had a lot of fun. It lasted
about 30 seconds. And then we just kept watching the movie. Then we got
to sit with an awesome guy in our ward. He's less active because he
travels a lot and sometimes goes to church wherever he is. But he is
probably my favorite guy in this ward. He's really easy to talk to and
it's always a ton of fun. He just needs a boost of faith.
Friday was an epic day. We got to go on assistant exchanges with
Elder Gulas! I love Elder Gulas! We had a first time sit with a less
active and it turns out Elder Gulas had already met him once because the
Elder that taught him was one of Elder Gulas' old companions and they
ate lunch with him once. Then we had a family home evening with a less
active and his family, and the kids were so dang cute! We then got to
sit with our new older investigator and helped him understand prayer a
lot more, which he really liked. Then we met with a former investigator
and started to boost his faith again and got him to agree to a baptismal
date! So we're working with him and slowly helping him prepare for
that.
Saturday we went down to Qieding to see the Ke family and make some
final preparations for their baptism. They were excited. Their kids
were bouncing off the walls because we were there. That seems to happen a
lot here. You sit with a family, the kids see two foreigners, then it's
nothing but chaos. I love it.
And then I've already explained Sunday at church. But at night
after our scheduled appointment fell through, I had a feeling to call up
a former. My last companion and I ran into him last move call and ended
up dropping him because all he wanted to do was bible bash with us and
try to prove us wrong. So we ended our meetings with him on a bad note.
So I was pretty scared to meet with him again. He said we could come to
his work and sit with him. He has completely changed! He was much more
humble, he said he hasn't been to his church in over a month, he's
confused at whether that church could really help him, and he keeps
looking over the Book of Mormon we gave him and thinking about the time
he came to our church. Can you say perfect timing or what?! So we're
starting to meet with him again. And then we had a first time sit with
a cool guy that owns a seaweed wrap store. Like the same kind of wrap
that is my favorite food in Taiwan that I ate all the time in my last
area but couldn't find here. So I found the place where I'm eating most
of my meals now. And he's now an investigator!
And that is a wrap up of my week. It was a ton of fun. I'm so
excited to keep on working. The move call ends this week. So who knows
what will change by next week! I love you all! I love all the letters I
get. Thank you for all the encouragement and support from all of you.
Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter
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