My second birthday on this island (I'm old now)

It's a kind of surreal feeling just thinking about how you were straight out of high school as an 18 year old going on your mission, and now turning 20. I feel really old haha, it was a really good birthday though. When I turned 19 last year I had only been in Taiwan for a week and so it was just me and my companion celebrating it. This year though I actually have friends and people that care about me so it was really awesome! We celebrated with Ice cream cake and games for a family home evening. Some friends from Taibei came down to have dinner with us, it was actually my old friend that I used to teach and also Rui Cong and they even brought Yuan Mei as a surprise haha. It was good to see them all because it's been forever. Just experiencing my birthday out here with all these people made me realize how nice and loving the Taiwanese people are. They love go give gifts and want to make everything perfect and make you happy on your birthday. I really love them for that.

We had a zone conference in Taoyuan this week and I got to sit next to Elder Fernandes again! We were just talking and having fun together. It's weird not being his companion anymore, but we're still best friends. The Taoyuan Stake is known for its ward members. The provided the food and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. Probably some of the best I've had here in Taiwan. I saw President Peterson just standing there getting food, so I walked up to talk to him. We don't have many opportunities to talk to him cause he's always so busy. We got talking about Transfers because they're next week. He told me I would be moving! He said:" you've already been in Miaoli for four transfers now so you're gonna leave..." I corrected him and told him I'd only been in Miaoli for three transfers. Then he said" well maybe you'll stay for another one then!" He always makes me have more questions than answers haha but he's great.

For sure the Highlight of this week was their baptism. He hasn't smoked for like 11 days now. The day we had for their baptism was the same day as the ward temple day. So only a few people came. It was okay though because the wife can be pretty shy in front of lots of people. We stood up and introduced them to those that were there and then we heard some talks before the actual baptism. The water heater is kind of broken, so the water was cold but it felt nice. I helped the husband get baptized first! He's a taller guy so I wanted to make sure he went all the way under, so in the process I got my clothes wet too but it was a smooth baptism and he came out great. Same with his wife. I forgot to bring another white shirt to change into so I was a little wet the rest of the day but it was so worth it haha. They were so happy as they shared their testimonies about what they had come to learn which was true. The wife talked about how she and her husband would read the Book of Mormon together like we invited them, but she never did it herself cause she didn't understand what it was saying. One day when he was gone though, she got the feeling she should just read a little by herself and she did! She said she looked up so many things and started reading a lot more wanting to know. And so when they read together again they could understand! They shared a few other really cool things. We were able to get our Ward Mission Leader Owen to come which was a huge blessing. He has to work every day at inconvenient times, so this is the first time he's been to a baptism in this ward since before his mission over 3 years ago. Lots of miracles happened this week and I wish I could tell you all of them. 

-Love Elder Grayson Thayne

The pictures will tell you the rest.

Lots of birthday pictures! They even drew a Pikachu for me. 

We found two huge dead rats one night this week. They were about a foot long.

Some good food, and some not so good ( I forgot how fast things mold in Taiwan so there goes my cream cheese.:(

Lots of baptism pictures. Seriously the best. The whole zone was really excited that they were baptized.

No one can complain of the lack of pictures this time. Love you guys.

Shendeernü

It's been a pretty great week! Really really busy trying to help that couple with the Chinese wife and it was good. We met with them last Monday night and then Wednesday when he told us he had smoked again. That means that we would push back his baptism. They have to not be smoking for at least 7 days before they can be baptized. He actually did it and his wife didn't know until right before they met with us that night. He told us how much of a struggle it's been for him. He has been smoking every single day for the past ten years. He used to smoke 20 cigarettes per day when he was in China, but then when he was exercising he felt a big pain in his chest. He knew he had to cut back on it, so he got down to 3 per day, and now completely going cold turkey on it has given him some withdrawals. But we taught them and have been helping them and he hasn't smoked for 4 days now! Which is more than the past ten years combined. He's really happy and his wife is also so happy. 

The funny thing about teaching them this whole time is that right when we started we were trying to focus on the wife. She had no concept of God and she didn't seem to be feeling anything. As she read and started praying though she's gotten feelings that it's all true. She has shared her testimony with us and I can see how much happier she is and how much she's learned. We weren't too focused on her husband cause he seemed all good, turns out she's been helping him along just as he's been helping her! They had their baptismal interview over video call with President Peterson and they passed!! They were nervous in the beginning but they made it. As we were helping them fill out their baptismal record I asked them who they wanted to baptize them? They sat and thought about it for awhile and told me they didn't know. They were thinking about people in the ward, but couldn't really decide who. Then they asked if we could baptize them ( it's an honor when you have someone who wants you to baptize them, but since it's their choice, missionaries don't want to influence their decision). Needless to say we were both super happy! This will be Elder Merrill's first baptism in Taiwan! I'll be baptizing the husband and he will baptize the wife. What's really cool is that when I was at the same point on my mission that Elder Merrill is right now, I baptized a married couple. And now he is too! So they will be baptized next Saturday! Stay tuned for pictures.

We are working with one of our friends who is our other friend's friend haha. His name is Dan. A 16 year old super smart kid. The story behind him is that we've been teaching his friend for about 3 months now. He's a super good kid and he likes church a lot. He wanted to get baptized, but his parents won't let him. We did a fast with him about two weeks ago and by the end of the fast his friend hit us up. His friend Dan is basically Golden. Since those two weeks he's fully embraced the gospel and been to see the temple in Taipei. He is going to get baptized at the end of this month. When he came to church yesterday he had a name plate on his shirt which said "Shendeernü" which is PinYin for 神的兒女 which means Children of God in English. It's some kind of club for student members of the church in Taiwan and he was way excited about it haha. A bunch of members saw him and as they talked to him they would ask him questions like:" what ward are you from?" He would just tell them he hasn't been baptized yet. It was super funny to see their faces when he said that. He's gonna be a big help to this ward for sure. 

So last Friday was my year mark on the Island of Taiwan. I've actually been out of America for a year now which is weird to think about. I burned a white shirt on our roof for the celebration. It was really interesting to think about how many experiences I've had as a missionary since then and what I've come to learn and know. I know that this is the best thing I could be doing right now serving, I don't know what's going to be in the future for me in a year when I'm back home, so I'm just thinking about how I can serve the best I can. I made new goals and thought of things I can do to really be the best missionary I can and use every day to serve. I know that if we have righteous desires to help people, then God will grant them and we can do so much for others. I'm so excited for this next year of experiences and learning so much and even more than I did last year. 

Rice fields and burning my shirt.

Love you

-Elder Thayne

Adjusting to missionary life

So this week went by way fast. We were super busy with lots of stuff!

I don't know if I told you all but I'm the District leader here in Miaoli. That basically means I just help the missionaries around here and teach them stuff during district counsel each week. What's a little weird about my district though is that there are only two sisters and us two Elders here right now, which means I don't go and help them much cause we are only supposed to have limited contact with them #lockyourheart. They've been trying to reduce almost all contact between Elders and Sisters in the mission. So the sisters in my district report to the sister training leaders instead of me so I don't know what really goes on with them. And then the sister training leaders tell me if they need any help with certain things and I can train them in District counsel. 

The two Sisters in my district have been super stressed out lately. And because of that, the STL's told me to teach about stress management in Adjusting to Missionary life, as well as finding people to teach. Two things they've been struggling on. The zone leaders came to visit and by the end of the meeting the two sisters broke down crying cause of the stress they feel. I really don't know how to help them because I can't really talk to them outside of district counsel. If anyone has any advice about being happy and dealing with stress I'd love to hear it to help them more.

Onto the good news though. Our mission has had a goal to talk to 10 people about the gospel per day outside of finding activities. That doesn't sound too hard when you think that's all that missionaries do, but when we have so many other things we have to do it's hard to hit that goal. We've been trying though and the days we have more time we succeed. Mostly our biggest challenge is finding people. The people we have found we are working with though. 

We had four people that came to church this past week! One that can't get baptized cause his parents won't let him. Another that is his friend and who is going to get baptized the end of this month, and a couple that plan on getting baptized this weekend!! We need your prayers to help them get ready. If they aren't we may wait another week or two but we will try our hardest. 

We also taught our friend Dan who is up at the college. We are super excited for school to start so we can find new people. It was cool though cause we were playing basketball with him and then all of his friends came around. One of his friends who's a girl is actually Christian! I had a book of Mormon on me with the Restoration Pamphlet inside so I gave it to her. She was so excited because she didn't know God had given us more scripture as his children. She took it and said she would show her whole family! Pretty awesome.

Another time we were at the college we taught a friend from Niger and his French friends were all around talking to us. Then I see a bunch of Asians walking past whispering and I knew they were talking about us. I started speaking Chinese thinking they were Taiwanese and they replied in broken English that they were actually Japanese! It was way weird cause that was the first time I couldn't communicate well with Asians. We were all laughing though cause we were from different countries all speaking second languages  when I heard them speak Japanese it sounded like we were in some Anime or something haha. 

But yes another week in the mission! I'll make sure to let you know the successes we see this next week. Love you all.

-Elder Grayson Thayne