I'm Batman

Dear family and friends,

 

First off, I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I love you so much! Second, in response to that storm that hit Utah Valley, child's play. Chump Change. But that's pretty sweet that Utah got to have that fluke excitement. And it's better than that "blizzard of the century" a few years ago. Too bad that'll never happen again...

 

This past week was really fun. And I'll show you how. Follow, MEEEEE! Tuesday for DTM we were practicing teaching revelation through prayer. Not planned whatsoever, when me and two other Elders were asked who we were going to be as investigators, we all answered with superhero names. All at the same time. There was superman, batman, and spiderman. Just because the way the missionaries being the missionary in the role play asked "who are you?" in a very fitting way. Then there was a huge silence. It was almost spooky. But super funny. Had to be there.

 

But that night we had such a HUGE miracle! We had a member referral that met with us. He's this 12 year old kid who is an English student of a member that just moved to Taibei. He brought his neighbor and her son who is his age. And they all have so much interest! The first boy, Allen, already knows a bit and really wants to get baptized. And the neighbor woman and her son are also super interested and want to learn so much more. Every question she asked that was bothering her about life and religion is answered so perfectly with the gospel. She's super excited to learn more. I've never seen a more interested group of people right from the first visit!

 

Wednesday we had a fun former hunt. We selected a few former records that had addresses and found them. One let us in before we had a chance to knock. It was really sad seeing how much he NEEDED the gospel in his life, but wouldn't let it in. I felt quite a bit of sadness after that one. I had to think for a bit. It's really sad to see the struggling in people's lives and not be able to help them because they won't accept the help.   That night at English I had a lot of fun talking about communication. It was really funny. The one thing I could say holds this entire nation back from speaking English is the fact that they're too scared to use it. So I pushed it into their heads that night and made them speak out what they were thinking in English. They all loved it.

 

I used the analogy of Bogey, our loved dog, with my class. He grew up in a society ruled by a cat. The cat taught him to hate water. So he did. But water and swimming is just natural to a dog's desire. He'll refuse it when you try though. So sometimes you need to pick him up and throw him in the water. He'll think he's drowning, but he'll do what he was born able to do. And he'll swim. So I picked my class up and threw them in the water of conversation. They're scared, but it's something they were born to do. And they loved it in the end.

 

Thursday was a rough day, but Friday we had assistant exchanges with Elder Erickson. It was so much fun. I had a blast. We were all over the place meeting super cool people. We had some really great lessons that night. And such an amazing first prayer was given by one. He just opened up to God and told him everything that confuses him about life. It was super amazing. And now we know all that we need to help him with! Such a good day. And then having 6 Elders in one room that night was super fun as well.

 

Saturday was the Sisters' investigator's baptism. My RC, Kang dixiong, was going to baptize her, but didn't get a holiday from his military service this week. When he called and told me, he sounded so devastated. I felt so bad. So their investigator chose me to baptize her since I did her interview and she trusted me. It was a really great baptismal service. She loved getting baptized. It was so great.   That night we biked out to an RC's house in our secondary area. He's struggling a lot and really needs help. He loves church so much though. That's his comfort. I love that.

 

Sunday was a pretty normal great Sunday. I love going to choir practice. It reminds me of when I was getting trained. I love it. I was so lightheaded though. My stomach was growling a ton during Priesthood and our ward mission leader and another guy visiting our ward (who went to snow college) kept laughing at me. They both served in our mission a few years ago. So the afternoon was rough. But we had a sweet like Asian style potluck dinner at a member's house. We prepared a food to put into rice, and then we choose from what everyone made and make a rice ball with food in it. It's like those seaweed wraps that I love without the seaweed. It was way good.

 

And that was my week! It was super good. I loved this past week. I'm way excited for this coming week. It's going to be a scorcher! This is week 6 of the move call. So I'll be halfway through training by next week. Time is flying... I love you all! I miss you! I feel like my letters are getting longer and longer. And every week I'm doing all I can to make them shorter. I don't get it... Until next week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Kai Buckwalter