Taiwan Week 9: A Trainee Helping Train

Dear family and friends,

Well to start off, I have a cockroach crawling on my leg right now. I think he likes me. This past week has been pretty interesting. They announced to missions all around the world that every month we are now going to have combined zone training meetings. So last week was our first one. It was really cool. We talked about contacting and appropriate ways to go about doing it. If you're really stiff or fake, it's not going to be that great. Just like in real life, we gotta be friends with everyone we talk to.

After the training meeting, we did a district leader exchange. District leader Elder Croft came up here to Nantou with Elder Allen, and I went down to Mingjian with Elder Bee. It's so beautiful down there. As far as I know, it's the biggest area in the mission, and it's a lot of mountainside and countryside. We took a train to Shuili to find a lady and her family. They were so close to being baptized a while back, but the dad didn't want any of them to. We were going to go visit them and talk with him a bit more. But when we got there, they had moved. No luck. But wait! The neighbor came out and handed us some of the lady's mail that was sent there by mistake. It had the address where they moved to. So we go on the epic chase around the town and up the mountain; random extremely nice families helping us find the street as we go along. But no luck. They had moved again. I guess they move a lot. One of the people helping us noticed a smaller written address that looked investigatable. So we go searching for that one. But no one knew where the street was. We asked this family and they were all for helping us. They even called up the city mayor and he came over. He didn't know, so he called up the next guy in line and he said he'd help us. But we had to head back, so they gave us their numbers for another day. Talk about diligence and amazing people!

This past week we were very unlucky with set up first appointments. We'd get there and most of the time the people weren't there. It happened quite a lot. And President Bishop's weekly invite was to have a member at as many lessons a possible. We had set up most of our lessons with our progressing investigators with a member, and most of our investigators had to cancel at the last minute. So we had to call our peike's up and tell them never mind. It was rough. But one thing I really liked that came from a cancelled lesson was the fact that a less active set up at the last minute. He's been through so much. And even just in the time I've been here, he's struggling a lot. But he's made so many improvements. It was a really good meeting with him. He was excited to come to church and everything! He had to cancel on Saturday because of family matters, but he still really wanted to.

One thing I realized is how useful it is to get a peike who's age matches the age of the investigator. They get along really well. We have an older investigator and we were able to get a high priest leader to come, and he was able to relate to our investigator so much. I was so glad! I really love the help of the members.

So now for some pretty big news. The Taizhong stake is doing an activity in which the youth has a chance to be missionaries. A member missionary is called a duanchuan (short term missionary). Our companionship was chosen to have one! So on Saturday we picked up a 15 year old and he'll be staying with us for 2 weeks! It's pretty interesting. I'm still being trained and we're also now training him. It's a little hard since he only speaks a little English. But it can get pretty fun. Our apartment is way packed though. It was crammed with 4 people. Now we have 5. It's crazy. BUT, we let the mission office know about our little sleeping space dilemma and they sent over a ton of pieces of metal and screws and said build a bunk bed. You have no idea how hard it was to do it from scratch. But we did it! It's pretty intense, and probably against safety standards. But it saves a ton of room and we can fit another mattress on the floor for our duanchuan. He's Elder Yang. It'll be a fun few weeks!

We were surprised at church yesterday to see President Bishop sitting on the stand with our Area 70. None of us knew either of them were coming. But it was very cool. They were able to meet one of our investigators and his son, who came for the first time yesterday. And they liked it!

Well that's pretty much all the news for now. We have Zone Conference tomorrow. So much to report on that next time. I love you all! I miss you all. Please continue to write. I love letters! Well, I'm off to an all you can eat hot pot. Until next week!

 Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 8: Effects Of A Simple Question

Dear family and friends,

I feel like this past week we finally got to get back into good old fashion missionary work, with concentrated tracting, contacting, and teaching new people. The few weeks before just seemed so scattered with various training meetings and exchanges everywhere. But this past week has been very good for finding. We've tracted some really cool areas that we've never tracted before and have found some really cool people that are willing to learn more. One of the areas is close to the southern most point of our area. After these houses is just fields and open land. It's pretty cool. We were able to find two new families and a kid in college. That's quite a lot for just a few streets!

We're now teaching our new recent convert and her husband (also a recent convert) the new convert lessons. He's already had them from when he was baptized, and now he's also helping us teach her. It's so great! They're really such a cute couple. They have a ton of questions about the temple and they really want to go. We showed them pictures of temples around the world and it just made them more excited. It also seems like they want to learn english from us as well. Every time I'm trying to explain something and I can't, they say to say it in english. That way I can learn the word, and so can they. So funny. We also got into the story of pioneers and it was so funny trying to explain why they had to be in covered wagons as they traveled.

Since Wednesday was Independence Day, we gathered all the stuff in our apartment that had any American influence (which was not much) and sang the patriotic songs. We even had to result to our apples that said "US grown." It was really great though. And people on the streets would tell us happy July 4th. It felt good to still feel the love of our country away from our country.

That night was english class, and I am now the English Leader! It's not a whole lot, but it's pretty cool. I'm in charge of new student forms and book order forms and reporting the weekly numbers. It feels good to be given responsibility.

We also had a little complication meeting with some potential investigators. Every time we'd go over to their house, they would be out and we'd schedule another time to go back, and then they would call us and have to change again. It was a vicious cycle. But we were also to find some really cool less active members that we've never met before. They're really everywhere. There are roughly 600 members in our ward records, but only about 100 that come every week to church. So there are plenty of opportunities to rescue! And just being able to befriend them makes them want to come back. Every member needs a friend in the church.

Church was really great! We had quite a few of investigators come to church, and the members just dove in and did all they could to help them feel welcome. That's how it should be. Members are so important in missionary work! We even had some of our peike's invite the investigators to church. And one of them was just golden. When he felt the time was right, he bore his testimony of church and invited our investigator. Then he went even further and asked for his phone number so he can get in contact with him that morning. And wait there's more! He offered to pick him up and give him a ride to church! Hook, line, and sinker! It really seemed like they were connecting too. Our investigator is 18 and our peike is 22. Not too far off in age. It was so good.

The biggest thing that hit me this week is actually really amazing. My first week here on island, we were tracting in this kind of rich area and found this 22 year old kid who lives with his parents and younger brother. We were talking to him for a bit and getting to know him and telling him about our church. But as soon as we asked if we could come back another time, he paused for a few minutes and finally said no. Bummer... But there was just something about him. After a while, we pushed it aside. Last week, we got a call from the sisters in our area and they said they were tracting and found him and he said he talked to us before. He said we asked him a question about God and what he thinks his relationship with Him is. And he hasn't been able to forget it. We knew we had to go back and find him. We came across him, his brother, and his dad. (Mom is in China and Dad just barely left yesterday for China as well for work). His dad really happily let us in. He said him and his wife are open to all religions and the dad said he wants us to meet with his sons. It was really funny because both of them are like "Dad! Wait a second!" But the dad just kept saying it'll be good for them. So we went back the next night, Saturday, and got to know each other a bit.

Last night, we didn't have a set time to come back, so we came by at 8:00. It was just the two brothers since the dad was headed to China. The window shades were completely open and the door is mostly made of glass. So we could see there were some lights on upstairs. We kind of knocked on the door, but not loud enough. So I knock harder and it slammed shut. We didn't realize it was open just a crack. And the slam sounded so mysteriously like a trap went off. It was a little scary. Next thing we know, we hear heavy footsteps from upstairs. We see a flashlight shining down the stairs and the boy and his brother come down wielding legit swords. They were ready to fight. It was insane! So we were freaking out, yelling to them that it's just us. When they heard the slam, they thought people were breaking in. It was so funny. But in the end, we got talking and they both said they're not really into religion. But the more we talk with them, the more they have questions. I really hope this develops more. It's just amazing what can come from a simple question. A question can have such an impact on someone. That made me really think about contacting and how amazing the questions we ask are.

And that is my week at a glance! I miss you all! I love you all! I hope everyone had a great July 4th! I can't wait to hear from all of you! And my challenge this week is to think about, and share a simple powerful statement of truth to someone. Maybe to a coworker or a neighbor. Like "God loves all of us." It's amazing what can come from a simple statement.

Until next week!

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 7

Dear friends and family,

 

What an insane week! Last Tuesday as we were getting ready for companionship study (us and the zone leaders sing together and we're singing every hymn in the book in order), they randomly said we need to sing Elder Gulas' favorite song. Which is also the song we were planning to sing at the baptism the coming Saturday. We were a little confused, but we went all out. Then he started hugging us. Nothing like getting hugged from a model. Haha. Then they finally told us he was going Assistant to the President and leaves the next morning! It's so great! But we all miss him like crazy. We got up a little early on Wednesday and he gave us all Taiwanese hair cuts so we can carry on the handsome look in Nantou. And it's actually not that bad. And we're actually getting a lot of compliments. The only weird thing is that it looks a lot like an American 80's haircut. But we like it.

 

The problem with him leaving on Wednesday is that move day wasn't until today. So Elder Muhlestein's new companion didn't come until today. So we were in a tripanionship until today. That's a little hard covering two areas. Especially since our city is 30 minutes away. So we had to separate the days by areas. We spent the rest of Wednesday in Caotun. And that night for English class, it was party night. And Elder Allen and I wore suits that are between 30 and 40 years old that he got from one of his recent converts in the ward. It was so awesome.

Then we spent Thursday in Nantou. Each day we had a good amount of lessons. Monday night we met with our investigating family and they said the weren't too sure about being baptized on Saturday because of the baibai problem with the husbands parents. and then on Thursday night, they said they want to do a little more praying about it first because at times it feels like they want to be baptized for the missionaries. And we don't want that! So we're happy for them for wanting to be baptized for the right reasons. And they're still really willing to be baptized. They just don't feel ready yet.

 

Friday was in Caotun and we were able to meet with a lot of their progressing investigators. We also met with one of their families who they really like and it got so interesting. Our time had pretty much run out and the wife had a lot of questions for our peikes that came. They were husband and wife, also converts, so the investigator wife had many questions for them. Soon they started only speaking in Taiwanese. And at that point I was pretty lost. Elder Allen described Taiwanese perfectly. If you listen to someone just talk in Taiwanese for a long time, it starts to sound like the language of the Ewoks on Star Wars. Pretty awesome if you ask me. So I'm still giving my all to follow Chinese, and now she decided to switch it up. And every so often, she'd stop and ask us three missionaries if we understood. I was as involved in that conversation as a pile of dirt. But Elder Muhlestein, who is now on his final move call, had learned a little Taiwanese and said he understood a little bit. So all the adults would laugh and start talking even faster. It was so interesting.

 

Saturday was pretty interesting because we had to go to Yuanlin so Elder Muhlestein could interview someone to be baptized. It was very interesting having to help do zone leader stuff as well. But it was really fun. BUT not as great as that night as we got ready for a BAPTISM! So great! Recent converts wife was ready and so excited! We did a little practice using a chair in font because she's really pregnant and can't risk going back like a normal baptism. She felt really comfortable with the chair. And It was seriously such an amazing baptism. The spirit was so strong. And most of the ward was there since there was a ward activity that day and it ended right before the baptism. It was absolutely adorable seeing husband baptizing wife. So precious! And then us three missionaries sang a musical number of "How Great Thou Art" that we arranged A Capella. And we must have sounded pretty good. We thought we did, and we got a ton of compliments from the ward and family that came to the baptism. The Sister who was baptized really liked it and was smiling the whole time. What a great night!

 

At church the next day she was confirmed and even more happy than the night before. It was a really great day at church. Like half the testimonies given were about the baptism the night before and how amazing it was. They all loved it. It was a good Sabbath day. And this ward choir that started up a few weeks ago is really coming together. None of us really know what it's for still, but we think it might be for a stake talent show in a month or so. I really have no idea. But we're sounding good now!

 

Today we went to Yuanlin again today to pick up Elder Ostvig, Elder Muhlesteins new companion and the new zone leader. He seems pretty cool. Most of the Elders in the zone met there and we all ate at Subway. SO delicious! I missed it so much.

 

Well I love you all! Thank you for the emails. I'm pretty sad that I missed the anniversary party and now the reunion. But Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa! It's been a great 19 years on my part in this family! Hope the reunion is a blast! I love you all. Please stay safe from the fires. Most people here are caught up on the news of the world. So when they ask where we're from, they tell us anything that's happening in Utah. It sounds pretty serious. Be safe! Remember, the Lord loves each and every one of His Children.

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

 

 

Taiwan Week 6: What a short week!

Dear family and friends,

It's weird writing another email after only 5 days. But I feel like a lot has happened. First, the typhoon never really came. There was a good 2 hour burst of rain that beats out Utah's annual precipitation. But that happens a lot here. And there was wind later that night (Wednesday night), but that was pretty much it. And it felt so good that night riding home from English class. It was nice and cool. The annoying thing about that night was because of the typhoon, everyone stayed home and didn't come to English. Even though it didn't look bad outside at all. So instead of the usual 45ish people that usually come, we had 5. 3 of them are in the advanced class. It was pretty sad. So we all just chilled and talked with them. Which helps them a lot as well. And one of them is one of our progressing investigators and we got to meet with him afterwards. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it answered a lot of questions. We just need to get him to church!

That night starting at 9:00 I got to go on a Zone Leader exchange with Elder Muhlestein. And since we all live in the same apartment, me and Elder Gulas switched rooms. It was pretty fun. But the exchange was really fun. And so far, all my exchanges have had something fail pretty hard. My first involved getting on the wrong train with my district leader. The second was extremely flooded out with a fellow missionary being trained. And now my third with my zone leader and all of the confirmed appointments fell through as we got to each of them. So we did a lot of searching and resulting to back up plans. Thank goodness for back up plans! It was really fun though. Elder Muhlestein is a really positive missionary. And EXTREMELY smart. He's a Harvard man. He can solve a rubics cube in 15 seconds. 17 seconds if he goes by the official Rubik's cube rules. It's pretty cool to watch. But anyway, he's extremely friendly with everyone he comes in contact with and has a positive attitude about everything. I learned a lot in that exchange.

Friday almost felt like we got no missionarying done. We had our regular studies and weekly planning as usual. Then all the missionaries that came out in my group had a meeting in Taizhong at 3:00. So we headed straight there afterwards and were there until 7:00. It was really cool seeing all my MTC friends again though! They're all doing really great. And the meeting was just to see how we all were doing and gave our input of how we think the first 5 weeks have been and what we think needs to be changed about the training. But then that night at 7:15 we had an investigator meeting and we watched The Restoration. He's struggling with Joseph Smith and Prophets. So hopefully that'll help him a bit more.

Elder Taylor is the trainer in Puli with Elder Chan and he was on exchanges with Elder Gulas that night. So he was in our apartment that night and he's really cool. He's from Bountiful and he's in the movie "Unitards." I really wanted to see that movie! Oh, and Elder Allen is in "Unicorn City." What are the odds of that? Also wanted to see that. I love it.

Saturday was pretty good working with the ward council on missionary efforts and how they can help. We always get a lot of volunteers to help. I love this ward! We also had a chance to do service for a recent convert. Finally! I love doing service activites. Also that night we had our investigating family and the wife of our recent convert have their baptismal interviews! They all passed and are planning for this Saturday! I'm so excited! Two completed families baptized into this church. I'm so happy for them. I got to hear the wife of the recent convert talk about how her look at life has changed since meeting with us, and how much it has blessed her life. It was so great. It was really great to see all of them at church as well the next day. They're really loving the ward. I love when everything starts to fall into place.

And today we went to this place called xitou. It is seriously the most intense outdoors beautiful place ever. I'm so in shock. It was beautiful. Way high up in the mountain. We got to hike around and everything. It was so great. That's Taiwan for you!

Well I love you all! I can't wait to hear back from you next week. Please continue to write. I miss you all!

Love, Elder Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 5: The Calm Before The Storm

Dear family and friends,

Sorry this is two days late! Today is Temple Day and our preparation day was moved to today instead of Monday. And none of us remembered to put in our emails. But behold, we have a typhoon upon us right now and President Bishop called us last night and said we can't go to the temple today because of it. We were supposed to have a typhoon a few days ago, but they said it barely missed the coast of Taiwan, so we thought we were safe. But then we got an update yesterday that a new one was coming and should be going through all of Taiwan. It was crazy in the stores yesterday as everyone was buying stuff to prepare. Always be prepared! But anyway, we're all pretty bummed that we can't go to the temple. So far it's been pretty consistent rain today and should get worse tonight. That's when everyone says it'll hit our area. I love the weather here!

Speaking of crazy weather, there was a leadership training meeting last Tuesday and Elder Allen had to go to it. So Elder Chan and I were paired up in his area of Puli. Elder Chan is from England and has an intense accent. And he's only one move call above me. Which means he's still training. So we were both a little nervous to be set loose together. And Puli is extremely beautiful and off in the middle of the mountains. It's so cool there. But as we got there, it started raining a lot. And it usually rains a ton there. But we got more than usual. Actually the streets started flooding and the rivers were overflowing. And it was just us two new guys trying to get through all of it. I've never seen such crazy rapids of water in the streets. Turns out there was flooding all over Taiwan and Puli was one of the worst. I'm pretty glad to say I got to experience it. But it destroyed a lot of land.

We've had some pretty cool new investigators this past week. One guy has been coming to English class for a while and saw Sister Smith's cool scripture case thing and wanted it. She wouldn't give it to her, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him about it. He's was a little whatever about it, but the next week when we sat down with him, he said he'd been going over this tract we gave him and the soul searching questions with scripture references. He said he was actually pretty curious as to how it can bless his life. So we've been meeting with him and he's progressing a lot. We also met this family that owns a clock shop. The parents are Buddhist and the kids are all Christian. They've all moved out, but they come by a lot and we were able to meet all of them. They have this very interesting curiosity in missionary work and wants to learn more. So we've been teaching them a lot too.

Our investigator that had the baptismal goal for this week didn't quite come through. He's been investigating for almost 10 years now, and we went through the interview questions with him and he still has some problems with prophets and the Book of Mormon. So we're really trying to help him, but he is a little hard to get a hold of because of his work. He has this desire to be baptized though. So we're not giving up.

One of our investigators that has the goal for next week doesn't quite feel ready for baptism yet, but loves reading and praying and feeling the peace that comes from it. So we're also very excited for him still. And we still have 3 people that still have their goals for next Saturday. Both of them the families. The recent converts wife, and the couple with two little kids. They also have some concerns of their own, mostly just the social aspect, but with the help of our amazing members' testimonies, they all feel more ready and all 3 of them have their interviews this weekend! So exciting!

On Saturday we had a ward fireside and the 6 missionaries in our ward were in charge of it because it was on effective peike-ing (members in lessons). We had an awesome skit in which we had a demonstration of a good peike lesson and one with a bad peike. The members thought it was so funny. And they said it really helped them know what to do when meeting with our investigators. They love helping so much. And they help so much. I love it.

Yesterday before District training meeting, I passed off lesson 3! I was hoping to pass it off last week, but because of the training meeting in Taizhong, I was unable. But I love the progression I've been making! We also had a really great meeting on recognizing the spirit and following the promptings. As well as how to help our investigators feel those promptings. I know it'll help them so much.

Last night we met with the old Stake President/now young mens President for dinner. He's a really nice guy and always helps peike. Him and his family served a really interesting dinner though. Clam pizza and Shrimp pizza. Pretty interesting right? I never thought I'd have such an opportunity to eat such interesting things. But I ate it none the less. I love all these experiences! Everyone here is so charitable to the missionaries. They're such an example to me.

It's been a packed week with helping many people greater understand this wonderful gospel and helping them come unto Christ and come into the church. I'm so excited for these coming weeks. They're going to be so busy and packed, and I'm so excited!

I love you all! I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! Thank you for all the love and support! Please continue to write and keep me updated on your lives. And I challenge you all to think of someone who you could help lift their spirits. Help them out, and continue to strengthen your friendship. Until next week!

 

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

Taiwan Week 4: Always Progressing

Dear family and friends,

I can't believe this week will mark my first full month in Taiwan! That's so crazy. We realized that last night after reminiscing our adventures in different monsoon rainfalls. This last week has been pretty adventurous in other weeks! It started out with a zone activity last Monday after emailing. We all met in Caotun and went to a chidaobao. Which is an all you can eat hot pot. So good! I keep eating more and more each time we go to one of those. It was really cool seeing/meeting everyone in my zone. Also, there's these drinks called duoduo. It's like yogurt in the form of a drink. I'm fully addicted to it. It tastes so good. It was all you can drink at the chidaobao. We all love it.

The family that we're working with is really progressing. Last Monday night we brought the Bishop and his family over to their house and taught them about family home evening. They thought it was really nice. Later in the week we met with them and watched Finding Faith in Christ. That movie is so great. Members and investigators alike love that movie. This wonderful family knows everything we teach them is true and they're feeling great about baptism, but they would like to come to church a few more times. And they're having a little problem trying to find out how to tell their parents about wanting to be baptized, because their parents are very baibai (ancestor worship) and want their kids to worship them once they die. So we're still trying to work with that. But other than that, they're doing so great. They came to church yesterday and loved it. During our gospel principles class, he made a comment about repentance and we pointed out that Christ said almost those exact same words in 3 Nephi. He was so in shock and pretty much fell in love with the scriptures even more. So Great! I'm excited to work with them tonight.

The wife of our recent convert has been progressing so much. Her husband has been getting her to read the gospel principles book so much so she can understand what we teach better. And she asks the really good questions that no one else asks, but is usually a thought in their mind. I really love how bold she is with questions. Like she asked why other churches don't use the Book of Mormon as scripture. It's these little interesting questions that are helping her learn so much more and have a desire to learn more. She now has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month! She really wants to work towards it. She also came to church yesterday and she's making so many friends in the Relief Society. She's loving it.

We've been working with a somewhat former investigator. His record is completely full and we think he's had all the lessons and dropped right before getting the baptism interview. It's a little unsure looking on the record. Record keeping is so important. I can't stress that enough. But we've been meeting with him more. He came to church last week and we asked him about his thoughts towards church and baptism. He knows all of it is true. There are just little but essential things that are a problem for him. But he knows it's all true. He said he's been obeying all the commandments, stopped smoking and drinking tea and coffee. So we asked him if he has a desire to be baptized and he said yes. So we've set a goal with him for the 23rd of this month! He wants to work towards it. I'm really hoping. He's such a great guy. Very positive and loves joking around.

Last Thursday we were surprised to find out that a group of students from West Valley, Utah were coming to Nantou for a month as foreign exchange students. We heard they were coming straight to our church from the airport to get an orientation. We called the bishop and asked if he knew and he was like "yeah. Actually... you all should probably be there too." Haha so we got to be their welcome committee and it was nice since a few of us are from Utah. One of them came to church yesterday and had a great time. There's also a kid in each of the hosting families that's going to Utah next month. I guess it's like a kid swap for a month. And the zone leaders came in contact with them before the Utah exchange students arrived and were so excited to learn about the church since Utah has so many members. So from this exchange program, they have this REALLY willing family to teach. Opportunities to teach everywhere!

Sister Porter, the head of the chinese department at the MTC, has flown out here and is going all around to Taiwan to spend a day with everyone in my MTC group to see our progression since we were the first in the 9 week pilot program. So on Saturday she was with us and got to watch our studies and our ward correlation meeting. And it just so happened that as part of my weekly training, I had to take the lead in working with our ward mission leader and discuss the progress of our investigators. So she had good timing to take part in that. Then she said the church is volunteering to pay for a meal of our choice. So we went to a steak chidaobao, recommended by zone leader Elder Muhlelstein. And it was so good! So much food. Then we got to take a taxi all over our area and visit with a potential investigator and a less active. It was really fun. Then we had interviews with her about the pilot program and she left. It was such a cool day. I could tell she really missed being here. She served in this mission as well.

On Saturday night in the middle of the night I got to experience my first EARTHQUAKE! It was really cool. We actually didn't really know it was an earthquake until the next morning. I was dead asleep and next thing I know, my bed is shaking like crazy. Mine and Elder Allen's beds are right next to each other. I have 3 mattresses piled on top of each other, and he has 2. So mine is really shaky and I thought he was like kicking my bed or something. But then we were informed that it was an earthquake. We're supposed to be getting bed frames in the next 2 weeks, and I'm so glad we don't have them yet. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed that cool experience!

Last night we went to a member family's house. This week's zone leader invite was to get members involved in inviting others to come to church and get referrals from them. So we met with them in the far south mountains of our area in the middle of a huge rain storm. They're such a great family. The wife is Philipino and they have two teenage boys. It was a lot of fun and they're actually already working with the husbands brothers and asking them about church and stuff. Way to go them! Then we had the most intense trail biking experience as we were on this epic flooded trail in the dark in the middle of the biggest storm I've ever experienced. I loved it. The family didn't think we'd want to go all the way out to their house, but we assured them that distance isn't a problem to visit with them. What a great family!

I'm so excited for this coming week! The weather is supposed to be very stormy. We have some great appointments and new families to visit. It's going to be a great week of learning and serving.

I love you all! I pray for you all daily. I hope everything is going well. Please continue to write and keep me updated! Don't let any moment pass you by. Look to serve everyone! The Lord loves each and every one of us. Put your trust in Him and he'll guide you. And for all you fathers, have a happy Fathers Day! Happy Fathers day dad! I love you so much! You're such a great example to me. I'm so glad I can call you my father. Thank you for all you've done in raising me to be who I am! Until next week.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter 

Taiwan week 3: Game Day

Dear family and friends,

This past week has been very eventful. I don't quite know how to organize it in this email. I guess it all started last preparation day after emails, us and the ming jian elders spent a lot of the day in Nantou city and just adventured around. Every move call, we go on exchanges with the district leader and another exchange with the zone leaders. One of the ming jian elders is the district leader, so we planned to just do it after the training meeting on Tuesday. But last Monday night while we were teaching an investigator at the church, we asked one of our recent converts to peike for us (help teach the lesson). He was baptized a few weeks before I got here and is so solid. We also planned to meet with him afterwards and have a lesson with him. He said he was going to try to bring a friend from work too. So he showed up a little late with a girl to peike and we let him in and asked if the girl he brought was his girlfriend. He said "nope, this is my wife." What?! Elder Allen was one of the elders that taught him and baptized him and didn't even know he was married. And she's 6 months pregnant. That was a shock to both of us. It turns out he normally lived in mainland China and came down here without her to find work first, which is where he ran into the missionaries and got baptized. So she just got here a few days before that and is interested. So now we're teaching them as a family. Which is so amazing! But she really has no knowledge of Christianity. It really shows us the need to teach for understanding and teaching simply. But we love teaching her and having her husband there as another testimony.

I got to go with Elder Croft to ming jian for a day. It was really cool. I could really see the emphasis of being a friend to everyone we come in contact with. He is so friendly to everyone. He said "after the first few seconds of looking at someone, you have the automatic assumption of what kind of person they are. If you can push past that an instantly think they're another brother of sister, a son or daughter of God, you'll develop the love and desire to help them know and partake of this gospel." I learned a lot about sincerely listening and seeking to understand the needs of people. That became our focus of the exchange. It was so amazing. We also got lost because we were involved in a deep gospel discussion and got on the wrong train back to the apartment. We actually left our zone and had to call President Bishop and let him know we were going to be late getting back. It was funny. He thought it was funny. I also passed off the first lesson to Elder Croft and am actually passing off the 2nd tomorrow! Learning the language comes faster and faster through listening and speaking.

For some mysterious reason, we've run into a lot of people that speak really good english and have been teaching them a bit in english. It's kind of weird. We have a family, a guy that comes to our english class, and these 3 students. Of of them was born in LA and knows really good english. It was really cool though being able to teach them. Right now, it was a lot easier to teach them and get more involved because I could understand everything they were saying. A good relief for now!

We have a secondary area called Zhong liao that is pretty far away in the mountains. We have a potential investigator up there and we went to meet him. And that was easily the most painful bike ride I've ever been on. It was the hottest day I've experienced so far and it was completely uphill. We were drenched in sweat. But it was so great. We got to meet with a less active on the way and invited him to come back to church. Then when we got to the guys house, I learned that he is in the airforce and is a pretty intense guy. But so nice. Although he seems a little more interested in being buds than learning about the church. We had dinner there, and I'm still in shock. I ate fish. Like it was a full fish staring at me while I ate it. It was so interesting. Still trying to get used to it.

I thought that was an intense experience, until the next day... We went to something like an outdoor food court and just ordered these noodles that we weren't sure what was in them. To my utter shock, it was noodles with squid, clams, crab, fish ball, processed fish patty things, and some other kind of fish. I still can't believe I ate it. And that has set the standard for most interesting food so far. I'm trying new stuff everyday!

Sunday was absolutely amazing! Our main three progressing investigators, one of them a family, all came to church. Plus 2 that are still a little curious about meeting with us. On top of that, all our recent converts were there, and 4 less actives that we have been working with. Including the one from Zhong liao. It was so great! We were having a party getting all of them involved in the lessons. It was so much fun. They all really loved it. I was so happy. I was especially happy to hear the father of the family say church has strengthened his faith so much and his whole family loves it. The wife of our recent convert says she understands so much more now and is excited to learn. And our other main progressing investigator said he loved the peace he felt there and all he was able to learn. Attendance at church jumped from in the 80's to 103. What a great Fast Sunday!

We have also started up a single's family night every Sunday night. So it was a lot of fun getting all the single members there to get to know each other more. They all had fun. And there are still so many more that haven't come yet.

I'm so excited to see what happens this week! So many great experiences are ahead. I love reaching out and serving everyone here. I'm learning so much and seeing miracles everyday. The life of a missionary is so different, but I'm loving every bit of it.

I love you all! I love hearing about everyone's lives back home. Please continue to write and keep me updated! The Lord loves each and every one of us. Look for and be thankful for all the blessings in your life. This church is true. It has blessed my life so much and I can see it blessing the lives of all those who are learning more about it everyday. It's such a blessing to have the scriptures to learn from everyday. I love having all the guidance of the scriptures. Continue to read and pray everyday and I know it'll bless your life. I love you all! Until next week.

Love, Elder Anthony Buckwalter

 We tried to wedgie our pants to be old school

 On the plane to Taiwan

Elder Petter right before he left to go home