Taiwan Week 29: Temple Day!!!

Dear family and friends,

In case you're wondering about the timing of this email, yes it is 4:30 am right now. Because today we're going to the temple (AAAAHHHHH!!!!), we won't have a whole lot of time to email afterwards, so this was an option for us. So I got up at 2:30 today.

I got my birthday package. Thank you so much! I loved it. I also got the cards from grandma and grandpa Buckwalter and Diggy and Ellen. Thank you so much!

Ok so this last week and a few days have been very filled. Last Monday we had dinner at our 1st counselor's house with our recent convert Zhu dixiong and taught the first new member lesson. It was really great. Doing that review really helps. And he's loving the ward more and more.

Tuesday we had a great DTM talking about finding. The zone leaders came out to our district to exchange with the other Elders afterward, so it was fun having them there. For role playing, each person had a secret assigned role. So when we paired off, the person being taught had to act his role and the person contacting them had to use their knowledge to work with their needs. It was really funny trying to teach Elder Jackson, one of my zone leaders. His time is just about up, and you can tell, because he was really good at acting out his part. The rest of the day was pretty rough except for English proselyting. In which we actually had quite a bit of success from this time.

Wednesday we headed out to one of our secondary areas of Shetou. There were some less actives and formers we wanted to find, but it became really hard to find their houses. Luckily a member from the 2nd ward met us out there because he wanted to come around with us, and we used his GPS. That night for dinner, we ate with one of our investigators. He's extremely busy with work and has a hard time coming to church, as well as meeting with us. So every time we meet with him is a great miracle. This time we went over the baptismal interview questions and he doesn't think he's quite ready. That's alright. We'll keep working with him!    English didn't have a whole lot of people. But there were new people nonetheless! We decided that for our English party we were going to take our class caroling. So we're teaching all the classes Christmas hymns in English. I'm so excited!

Thursday was also a little rough. A lot of our plans fell through. But we had a sweet miracle! We were at a 7-11 making phone calls when our bishop called us. He said he was at the church with one of our investigators... We were so confused. When we got there, we found that it was a former that randomly decided to come by the church, and the bishop just happened to be driving by right when he got there. What are the odds?! He's really great. We'll have to work with him a bit, but he already knows a few people in the ward, including the bishopric. That night we met with our Elders quorum president and had dinner and discussed some less actives in his quorum. It was a really good meeting.

Friday was so great. We had weekly planning and then had a few really great lessons out the door! One being a less active who bought us soup for the cold rainy day. It was the most spicy thing I've ever had. I just about died. I found out later that it was pig blood soup. Also a bit of a shock to my stomach. But I got to go back to Caotun with Elder Jackson for zone leader exchanges. It was a lot of fun. We got to visit a kid I knew when I was in that ward. We also tracted into a night older couple. They were very willing to listen to our message, but didn't think they wanted to change their religion.

Saturday morning was really great because I got to run the mountain again! I love that area. Ever since Elder Allen and I left that area, that apartment has just been a 2-man of the zone leaders. And they didn't know about the trails that we would run. So I took Elder Jackson on a really hard one. He loved it. I did too, but I'm now so sore since I haven't run a mountain in a long time! Pretty much all of our plans fell through once we exchanged back. It was rough.

Sunday was really great. We had an investigator come that we hadn't met yet. We had contacted him through referrals and he said he'd come to church. It started out pretty rough with him, but by the end of Sacrament meeting (which we have last), he said he could really feel the Lord speaking to him and he loved it! Following church, we had a 1st lesson with someone we contacted on the street last week. And it was amazing too! Before we had a chance to invite him to church, he said he didn't have much time during the week besides Sunday, so he'll make sure to come to church every week! He beat us to the punch!

Monday was so so great!!! We had a zone scramble, and I got to go with Elder Nickell back to my old area!! So I'm with a friend that I went to elementary school with, in my first city. It was so amazing. We met with a few investigators of theirs that were also mine. One of them is really progressing and has a baptismal date for Christmas day! We tracted into a really sweet family that is Christian and has a bit of interest. It was such an amazing lesson. And then to top off the exchange, we got to go to my recent convert's house, Wu jiemei and Song dixiong. Wu jiemei had her baby. She's is absolutely adorable. It felt to amazing to be there. I felt so at home! And in the end, we were able to set a TEMPLE GOAL!!! Yeah it's still like over 6 months away, but I'm so excited! They're still progressing in this gospel. So mine and Elder Nickells phrase for the exchange was "if only our elementary school teachers could see us now."

And that's pretty much it. I love you all! Sorry I'm now really short on time. I'm now heading out to head up to the temple! I'm so excited! The temple is one of my most favorite places! Do all you can to make it there someday!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter