I Love Family Reunions!

Dear family and friends,

 

What an interesting week! Some of the things that happened this week have been some of the most happy and the most funny moments of my mission.

 

Last Tuesday for DTM, since all of us are training or being trained, I did DTM on goals. And we worked with our companions to help them set goals for this transfer. It was a lot of fun. Our district is really close. We have a lot of fun. That afternoon we met with the happy trio of friends. Two of them are Christian and one is Buddhist. I really respect missionaries in very Christian countries, because it's very different than meeting with Buddhists. They were a little iffy to set a baptismal goal, but the Buddhist was willing! So we're going to be working hard to help them out.    That night we biked out pretty far to one of our RC's house. He's single and taking care of his 2 year old son. They also have a little Labrador puppy. The boy and the puppy were playing and it was so dang cute. After a while the puppy bit the boy's pants and he was like "dad! He's got my pants! Dad!" So he was dragging the puppy along and soon the puppy won and took his pants. It was so funny. It helped our RC out with having hope for his family.

 

Wednesday was all of our trainee's first time English proselyting. They loved it. People were taking pictures of them. Weird. That's never happened to me. I think... Then that night we had English class. It was pretty alright. But afterwards I was talking to a family that has been coming the past few weeks. Elder Feigleson and I were self contacted by the dad. He's the one that said he has interest because America is a powerful country and has so many Christians. So he's been bringing his wife and little daughter to English class. During the spiritual share when I was teaching about how to say a prayer. The mom looked to interested. I was going to sing "A Child's Prayer" but no one could play the piano. So I read the words and the mom thought it was super cute. So she started talking to a member afterwards. So the whole family is now interested in our church and we set them up for Saturday!!! Super amazing!

 

Thursday we had a super sweet time painting the outside walls of a member's house. It was super cool. Almost exactly a year ago while being trained, I was on Chuson's multi-leveled roof painting his outside walls. Now I'm doing it again while training! These recurrences have been happening so much. It's freaky. But it was a ton of fun. We then got to meet with a less active that's slowly becoming more active. He's mom is an aborigine and their house is super cool. It looks like a cabin. You don't see that here.

 

Friday was a rough day all the way until the end of the night. As we were waiting for a lesson that never came through, we saw some people just walking around in the hall. So we went to meet them. Turns out he's a former of 7 years that came super close to getting baptized but started doubting and backed out. He still keeps the Word of Wisdom, remembers the 1st vision, is still in contact with the original missionaries that taught him, and loves coming by the church every once in a while to feel the peace inside. Miracle! So we sat with him and shared a bit. He said he's not as doubting as in the past. So he wants to try again! Oh, and he's fluent in English. Such an amazing night.

 

Saturday we got to meet with the Liao family that we're going to try to co teach with the Sisters. They're super cute, but don't have much hope because the husbands parents are very traditional and don't agree. But we're going to do all we can to help them! That afternoon we sat with Lin dixiong. We told him that we have a lot that we still have to cover and do before he can get baptized. And because he's so dedicated to hit his goal, he's putting a lot of time in to meet with us a lot this week and get an interview. He's super willing!    That night we got to meet with that family from English class. The Zhong family. It was one of the most AMAZING 1st lessons I've every experienced. While using the pamphlets, it was all brought back to the picture of the happy family, and the picture of Christ holding the lamb. They loved it so much. I can't even describe it. And their 8 year old daughter was asking the perfect questions to lead into the next topic. They're an amazing family!

 

Sunday the unimaginable happened. I'm sitting on the pew right by the door, and right as the sacrament was over, the KE FAMILY walks in. Yes the Ke family from Tainan. I seriously dropped my jaw and stared. Sister Liu and I were in so much shock. They came down to visit us. It was so amazing. They've been kind of touring the south wards for one purpose: to take their friends. Last week they were in another ward that they brought their friends' family to. And after church yesterday, I got a call from them saying that they were coming again next week because they're bringing their friends that live in Pingdong! They went to visit them and told them all about our church. So they're all coming next week! So amazing!

 

Then in the evening, the ward had a thing on eternal marriage. A girl in our ward got sealed on Saturday, so they had a half reception half activity on eternal marriage thing. A bunch of families got up and talked about aspects of eternal marriage as their marriage pictures were playing on a projection screen in the background. It was really cool. Our ward is super strong!

 

And then today a Chen family in our ward took us to this super cool big buddha place. It was amazing. It was so huge and beautiful! We were taken around by a monk from Singapore that spoke English. She was super cool and nice. The life of a monk...

 

And that was my week! I love you all! I love my mission! This place is so amazing. What a blessed place. Keep writing. I'll try to get pictures next week.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Kai Buckwalter