Taiwan Week 36: Big Changes

Dear family and friends,

Well to start, today is move day. And I'd say a lot has changed. Elder Stone has left. He went down to Yongkang in Tainan. And I have become senior companion! I am nervous beyond belief. But my new companion is really cool. He's Elder Lathen. He's going on his 4th transfer. I'm pretty excited to work with him in Yuanlin. We've had a pretty good day so far! Haha.

Last week was pretty amazing. We had DTM last Tuesday and the zone leaders came. Afterwards we went on exchanges with them afterwards. Elder Bennett came with me in our area. We had a fun with English proselyting. And then we had a miracle with finding one of our other lost recent converts! They're brother and sister and we haven't been able to get in contact with them at all. Elder Bennett baptized the sister. So we were hoping he would be able to help them. We had to do a lot of waiting, but then it paid off and we got to sit with the brother. It was a little awkward, but that was unavoidable. He's doing pretty good though. Hopefully we can get to meet with him a little more now. And now that I have a new companion, we can have them get to know each other.

Wednesday we had a pretty great English party night. It was sports night. We had a pretty good turnout. There was a group of people that still wanted to learn English though. So we had a corner where we had class as well. It all just flowed really well. I'm glad that came through after a pretty rough day.

Thursday was going pretty rough, but it all started to come together that night as we got to sit with a less active that we've been working with. He likes Subway, so we ate Subway with him. Zhu dixiong was able to come as well, so their friendship is still going good. And we got him to set up for the church next time! Such a big jump. We then went with Zhu dixiong to an investigators house. He asked Zhu dixiong a ton of questions about why he joined our church. And in the end, we got him a goal! He's a little iffy towards it, but he's willing.

Friday was a little depressing as well. Not a whole lot happened. With New Year coming up, not a whole lot of people want to talk on the road. Everyone is in a hurry. So our day of finding was rough. But that's ok! Because Saturday we had a good day. We went out to one of our secondary areas to meet with our military stuck investigator. He's doing pretty good. He said he wants to take it slow, and that's alright. We don't want to scare him away. But he's grasping everything pretty well. We then found a less active in the area. Then while park contacting, we sat with a cool guy that's Christian and wanted to know why we're different. After sitting with him, he said he would come to church and see what's up. Then we headed back to the church to get the font ready for the Sisters' investigator's baptism. It was a crazy process trying to get the hot water, but it all came through! And Zhu dixiong baptized for his first time! It was so great. And our investigator with a goal came and brought his wife! They liked it too. They just had to leave really fast. It was a great night.

Sunday we had a great turnout at church! The guy at the park came as well. And he stayed for the whole time. He really liked our gospel principles class. But then again he said he won't give us his address. So we'll hope he's at the park next time we go out there! We had a great FHE as well. A family that lives out in one of the far away areas came. They're a really strong family. It looked like they were having fun. So hopefully that causes more people to come as well to strengthen the ward. It was a good way to end this transfer too.

And that was my week! I love you all! Stay safe in the cold weather! It's sounding pretty serious/fun. Keep writing! And until next week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 35: Members Are So Great

Dear family and friends,

What started out as a rough week became a pretty good success. We had dinner with our 1st councilor on Monday night. He took us to a part member family's shop. We were hoping to meet with the dad, who used to meet with the missionaries. But he wasn't there! He showed up right as we were leaving. It was pretty sad. We then talked about some other part member families that we could focus on. One of them was the wife of our recent convert. So we want to help her.

Tuesday was Zone Conference! It was a lot of fun. We set goals for this year, learned about effective planning, and how to retain and rescue members. I learned a lot. And it was fun getting to see a bunch of friends. It didn't leave a lot of time to find new people though.

Wednesday we got to meet with a less active that we've been working with. We're reading the Book of Mormon with him to help him learn how to read. We still not quite sure why he doesn't want to come to church though. He won't tell us. The rest of the afternoon was pretty rough until we had English class. It's a little hard to teach the children's class. Their ages vary too much, so the older guys like to goof off.

Thursday was the miracle day. We had two scheduled lessons in two different towns. So we went of member splits. I got to go with Zhu dixiong to Tianzhong and Elder Stone went with Huang dixiong here in Yuanlin. I went to visit our recent convert that actually just hit his 1 year mark. Zhu dixiong did a really good job friendshipping him. It was really nice. We scheduled to eat with him at Subway this week with a bunch of us. Him meeting more members is helping him so much. He still doesn't quite want to go to church though. We also had a crazy run in with a former investigator. He was a contacted referral that we thought we had never met before. When we found the house, I told Zhu dixiong that we had met him before. He wouldn't come to the door and said he had no time. Why he set up with us again, I don't know. So we had a good laugh about that. We met up with Elder Stone and Huang dixiong and ate dinner. Then following that we got a ride from our 1st councilor back to Tianzhong! Haha. We sat with our recent convert and his wife who we want to help get baptized. They're both in their 80's and he's from China. She wants to get baptized and be with her husband forever! So we just have to have the sisters follow up with her since she was their investigator for a while. Then she'll get baptized! It was a great day.

Friday we had a rough afternoon, but then did Sacrament powerboarding at night with the other Elders. We have a megaphone, a sign, and a lot of tracks that we hand out at an intersection. It's very effective. But then our investigator fell through afterwards. Not the most fun.

Saturday we biked out to Tianwei and sat with our investigator that's in special military. He accepts everything we teach him. And we brought a member, who friendshipped him really well. We just don't know what to do since he can't come to church! We then had another member split so Elder Stone could do a baptismal interview for the Sisters while I had a lesson at the church. The whole lesson was on believing. We had Huang dixiong peike and he did a good job helping our investigator. We asked him what his desires are, and he said he wasn't sure. So we asked him to pray about it, and we'll be helping him through those desires.

Sunday was a pretty good day at church. Two of our investigators came, but both had to go before the 3rd hour. But then last night as we were wrapping up our ward FHE, one of them showed up. So we were able to sit with him. He was pretty calm and his prayer was really sincere. It was a good end to the night.

We are now on our last week of this transfer! That's pretty interesting. Time is still all messed up. Fast and slow. I can't tell which it feels more like. I love you all! I can't wait to hear from each of you. Don't forget to write! With Chinese new year coming up, try to find ways to celebrate it. Get yourself involved in each day's activities.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 34: Nothing Like Stake Conference

Dear family and friends,

Well this week has been a bit of a downer. Us and the other Elders just had a hard time with lessons and finding investigators. All of their investigators called and cancelled at the last minute. And ours called a few days in advance and cancelled. It was rough. By the end of the week we only had one new person set up, and we got 12 referrals. That's saying something for our area. The other Elders got 20 referrals. Where did all the people in our city go?!

Tuesday we had our Zone Training meeting. It was really nice. We went over new goals for our zone for the year. We also had a good testimony meeting. Following the meeting we had a ZONE SCRAMBLE!! I love those. I got to go with Elder Han to Mingjian. Back to the Nantou district leader's area. It was a lot of fun. Mingjian is the biggest area in the mission, and is all mountain. So it's also the most beautiful for a nature lover. We biked out to Jiji. It's a quiet little town that is also a good tourist place because of the scenery. Not a whole lot of people work there. It's just a bunch of houses, a small night market, and a train station. So we did a bit of contacting at the night market. It was a lot of fun. We mostly got referrals, but found a few good investigators after helping an old lady up from crashing her bike in the middle of the road. Everyone here is so friendly! And then the ride back to the apartment was really intense going through a half mile tunnel on our bikes. It was all really downhill and the cars go way fast next to us.

Wednesday morning during English procelyting in Mingjian, we came across a really nice guy that let us sit with him. He's one of those really low voiced, full of wisdom, laughs like James Earl Jones kind of guys. We shared about God and he wasn't too believing in God. But he's still willing to listen to us. We then sat with one of their investigators that's a Baptist minister. He's really knowledgeable of the Bible. While sitting with him, we asked about his reading of the Book of Mormon. He just came out saying he knows that it's true, Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God, and it was written by ancient prophets. My jaw dropped. So he's on his way!   That night after exchanging back, we had English class. We're still teaching the kids class, so we went over animals. There was a kid that new all of them and kept yelling out "I've seen one of those at the zoo!" It was really funny.

Thursday we traveled out to Tianwei and got to sit down with our awesome school security guard investigator. We finally got to sharing about the Book of Mormon and he's way excited to read it. But he still has a problem with church because of his assigned time at the school. So we're not entirely sure what to do. We went out to eat with him afterwards and were surprised to be paid for by a guy that said he's a member in Jiayi. It was so cool. Then we got really lost. Tianwei is a lot of semi open fields and old houses. So we got turned around while finding a former. Then the other Elders called and said Liu dixiong was at the church waiting for us. So we had to bike crazy fast back to Yuanlin, which is about a 40 minute bike ride, to meet with him. We memorized "Lead Kindly Light" with him. We hope that will help him a lot with quitting smoking. Our night almost completely fell apart after that. Our really amazing investigator that is had to meet with cancelled because he had to get mouth surgery. So that was depressing. We dropped off some fruit at his house. We then decided to go visit a former. Either him or his dad, who is also a former. He wasn't entirely meeting with missionaries though. Only when he was home and they met with the son. The son is almost never home because of school and work, but we got to sit with the dad, Lin dixiong. After singing with him, he just gave us this pondering stare and then asked "What does it feel like when you feel the Holy Ghost?" This is a great turn-around point because he belongs to another Christian Church. So we shared with him about the Holy Ghost. It was a good lesson.

Friday was also a bit of a downer for most of the day. We went to investigate a new part of our area of Yuanlin. No one was sure on the boundaries, so there was a bit of a gray area. But we confirmed it with our Bishop, so we went to check it out. Nothing is out there. It was quite a downer. The whole day just crumbled. But that night we went back to visit Lin dixiong. We followed up on his reading and talked a bit about baptism and the Holy Ghost. Then he gave us that pondering glance and said "Why is it that every time you two come over, I get overwhelmed with a peaceful feeling?" YES! We explained that that was the Holy Ghost. We kept sharing with him some more. We were right about to get to an invitation to be baptized, but then his wife came in and changed the subject to prayer, so he said we should pray with his wife. And then our time ran out... What luck. So next time! Which should be tonight actually!

Saturday we biked out to Tianzhong and had an amazing miracle. Every time we went to visit a recent convert that has gone less active, he's never there. Both of us have never met him. And we'd always visit him at night. So we went by in the afternoon and he was there! We excitedly waved for him to come to the door. Once he came, the first thing he said was "I don't want to go to church" in perfect English. That came as a shock. He didn't speak any English after that. It's like he was practicing that once sentence. But we just kept being excited and did all we could to sit with him. He finally let us in. We all shared our favorite scriptures. Then we sang. He wanted to sing his favorite song "How Firm a Foundation" which was sung at his baptism almost a year ago. He still has it memorized. He's a really sweet 19 year old kid. We told him that we could get him a copy of the hymn book too. So he's now gaining a liking for us. We've set up another time to meet with him this week, and we're bringing Zhu dixiong, our most recent convert. I'm so excited!

Yesterday we had Stake Conference. It was such a good turnout. Liu dixiong came, but didn't want to sit down because his back hurt. So he was out in the foyer area which also had conference playing on a tv. The church was packed. There were a lot of really good talks on sacrifice and family history. I also got to see a ton of friends from the Nantou ward, including Chuson and Song dixiong. Song dixiong and his wife are doing really well with their daughter.  Then last night as we were heading over to the church for FHE, we ran into a less active walking home. He's a really nice guy. Really sincere.

And that was pretty much my week. It had it's low parts, but had some really high parts too. So yeah. I love you all! Thank you for all the love and support as I'm out here spreading this true gospel. Keep up the work in bearing your own testimonies wherever you go!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter 

Taiwan Week 33: Let's Get Started

Dear family and friends,

This past week has been pretty normal. Tuesday we did exchanges in the district. I got to to over to the other Elder's area with Elder Bardsley. We had a lot of fun. We both have a huge liking for working out. So we did a lot of it. Their investigators are doing really great. And the college in their area is so great for finding new investigators. We had a good time.

Wednesday was a continue of the exchange. I was just about over my cold by that point. So I was much more lively than the few days before. That night during english, Elder Stone and I switched with the Sisters and took the little kid class. And like always, it was pretty hectic. But I had a lot of fun! It's just a little party.

Thursday we went back to an investigator that Elder Stone and Hanset found on exchanges. He's pretty good. But since we meet with him at his construction site, all his workers like to joke with him during the lesson. That makes it pretty hard to focus. But they all like us. Then we had a long afternoon trying to visit less active members. All of them weren't home. It was pretty rough. But that night we got to watch "On the Lord's Errand" with Zhu dixiong. He liked it a lot. It helped him with understanding prophets a lot more, especially President Monson in general. Then we had a mini exchange for the other Elders. They had an emergancy two golden investigators in seperate places. So we split with them. I got to be with Elder Bardsley again and sat with a really great guy named Wayne. We taught the Word of Wisdom and he already had no problems whatsoever!

Friday after weekly planning we biked out to Tianzhong and met with a really nice less active. Then we went to find a recent convert that stopped coming to church and doesn't want to answer our calls. He wasn't home, but his dad let him in. We had a great lesson with him and he likes us a lot. That could be a great start to getting a hold of our recent convert again.   Following that, we saw a bus back into a building. I nearly crashed from laughing so hard.   Our other recent convert lesson fell through. He's 80 years old and forgot we were coming and went over to a friend's house.

Saturday morning we got up a little earlier and played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of returned missionaries in our two wards here. It was a ton of fun. We then had an early morning last minute lesson with Liu dixiong. He's doing pretty well. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with him and got him to commit to the Word of Wisdom.  Then later that day we had a great lesson with Zhang dixiong with a great peike. It was all on faith. And he loved it a lot.

Sunday we had a great turnout at church. We now have Sacrament meeting first. Our Elder's Quorum president brought a friend and he liked church a lot. He doesn't have a whole lot of time to meet during the week, but our president will keep up with him and he'll come to church next week. So good!

Well that's pretty much my week. It's been a lot of fun! I love you all! Sorry I'm short on time. I keep you all in my prayers! Until next week.

 

Love, Elder Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 32: It's Cold

Dear family and friends,

I'm really tired. I've gotten a little sick. It's gotten really cold (at least cold for Taiwan). And I'm pretty sure there was a flurry of snow last night or the night before (also not normal for Taiwan. It was way cold. And I don't wear (or own for that matter) the right type of clothes for cold weather. So I have a medical mask on for now. I guess that's one way to prepare to be a doctor!

So last Monday after emailing, we went to monkey mountain. That was pretty sweet. I didn't think monkeys were so vicious though... When we saw the first monkey, I told Elder Bardsley to get a picture of me with it. I'm just approaching it and all and smiling at the camera. Then in the corner of my eye, I see it coming towards me with a vicious look. It went full of baboon on me and threatened to attack. I freaked out so bad. Elder Bardsley said it would've been the perfect picture, but he got scared too and ran away.

That night we met with a really cool guy in our ward and did Timtam slams. I'll have to show you all how to do it someday. It was way good. Our district then went to the train station and caroled. We met some really cool people there. But Christmas just isn't celebrated as much here...

Tuesday was great! We opened our packages and stuff early in the morning. We then had a feeling to go visit a former investigator whose son is a less active. We also have no idea where the son has moved to. There was something wrong with him the whole time. Then in the end he expressed fear for his son because he won't go to church and he's struggling with his family. So we said we really want to help, so the dad gave us his son's new address! We've been trying to get a hold of him ever since. But this is huge progress with both father and son. It's helping the father build faith in his prayers. We split that night as Elder Stone went to do a new member lesson with Zhu Zhang Qi, and I went with a member to an investigator families house. Both lessons went really well. Zhu Zhang Qi went to the temple on Saturday to do baptisms! He loved it so much.

Wednesday was really great! I loved Skyping you! It was so cool. I'm glad I got to see you for the second half too. The house looks exactly the same. Sorry I had to really quickly leave. Elder Stone's mom was finally calling right then. So it was for the better good. We had a pretty good English class that night too. We got the class doing role plays to practice their conversation skills. It was really good. I was told that I look like the new Spiderman? So I look like him and the guy from ratatouille. Weird.

Thursday we biked out to Tianwei and met with a really cool investigator. He's in a special military right now that requires him to live at a junior high school. And for this kind of military, they would usually get Saturday and Sunday off. But this certain school is Tuesday and Wednesday off. Kinda lame. So we're going to try to keep working on that obstacle. But he was really interested and liked meeting with us. He even ate with us (and surprise paid for us) after the meeting. I ate more dumplings than I should have. So not a good idea. We also found a few less active member's homes that we couldn't find before! The address system out here is so different!

Friday we got to help a lady in our ward start to move. We pretty much just cleaned out and wiped down the new place where she was living. It was pretty fun. I even found a secret doorway to the outside through the bookcase. My first thought was "Narnia!" We'll be helping her move all her stuff in this week. I love service! We then had our weekly planning and then met with an older less active member. He's lost his memory of ever being baptized, but remembers what the Book of Mormon is and where the church is. So it's a little interesting trying to get him to church and to read. He loves yelling at us in broken English. I have a lot of fun.   Then we went to visit another less active and read the Book of Mormon with him. He's not too good at reading, so we started with him a few weeks ago and you can already see the improvement.

On Saturday we found a nice guy while tracting. He took everything we said very well. We would say something and his response would be "makes sense" or "of course". Then when he didn't understand, he'd ask us, we'd explain, and he'd be all ok again! Really good.   That night we had a great lesson with a former investigator. He's pretty into his Christian church, but that night his wife sat in and had no idea about anything involving Christ. So we started teaching her as well. Everything we taught the wife helped the husband as well. It went really well.

Sunday was when me being sick really picked up and I was way out of it at church. Zhu Zhang Qi gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was way good. He's really loving the ward. He referred his younger brother to us as well. So hopefully we'll get to meet with him too! He's in the military right now though. So it's a little difficult.

And today we had lunch with our ward clerk. He's going to print up a new ward list for me. And then I get to start marking it up! I've gotten a lot more organized since getting to yuanlin. I mark up the ward list with colors according to active, less active, and inactive; the mission president when they were baptized; and if their parents were members when they were baptized. Very useful.

Well I love you all! I hope you all have a happy New Year! Set those new year's resolutions, and keep them! One of my goals: gain 10+ pounds, in a good way. And another: finish all the standard works.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter