Where are the Yuli missionaries?

This past week was different. We were only in our area for three days!! It was hard to progress the work when you aren't here that much. We stayed in Hualien with the other missionaries from Saturday night to Tuesday night. During that time we got lots done. We had interviews with president, stake conference, and a fun P day. We went bowling as a bunch of the Elders and only two of us got above 100 points! I barely made it over 100 cause I did terrible at first, but I made a good comeback in the end! Elder Chang and I went to a Kaorao. Barbecue place and we ate so much. We kept ordering more and more and the waitresses were really surprised and asked if we wanted to stop, but we just kept esting. I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of it, but I was ready to eat more when I came out. The next few days weren't the most fun in the bathroom, but it was worth it in the moment. 

While we were in Hualien we visited one of our friends that I've never met. He was hospitalized the day before I came because of some problems drinking alcohol. He'd been sensitive to drinking before and had a few close calls so he stopped. Some of his friends got him into it again while he was with them though and now he's in the hospital because of it. He's been there for three weeks now and mostly unconscious. We gave him a priesthood blessing and visited him twice. His wife is so sad, and she's convinced if he gets better and God saves him that he will be a completely different person after this. This might just be a trial of their faith. Keep them both in your prayers.

On Friday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders in Taidong which is more south than where I'm at.  It was good and I learned a lot. We got back Saturday night. It's good to be back in your own area. We are trying to work really hard and change it. Thank you all for the encouragement and emails. Enjoy the pictures.

-Elder Thayne

 

 

Who's feeling a picnic?

Beautiful week here in the Jade Village! It was filled with long bike rides, picnics outside, talking to crazy people on the streets and more of all that. 

I'm getting to know this area a bit better now and I'm getting used a little bit more used to how missionary work is done here. Since we have a lot of time, we teach an English class every Wednesday through Friday from 7:00-8:00. A bunch of kids come with their mom's to learn. We keep teaching the kids English in hopes that we can become friends with the families and they will let us come to their house to teach them! It's a process, but we think it will be worth it. The kids are really cute too. I'll put a picture in.

We woke up one morning and Elder Chang asked me where I wanted to study. I just told him somewhere outside that was pretty! We had set up an old Grandma to go visit that day in a place called Dongli so we biked half an hour to get there and teach her. She was really funny and wanted to talk for awhile. She's Christian and loves her church! We shared the Book of Mormon with her and she was excited that she had another book to read, I hope she understands it! This summer there were no typhoons, so there was a surplus of a fruit called Youzi. There are so many that people don't know what to do with. She insisted on giving us each about 7 Youzi that were half rotten and we biked all the way home with them haha. There's no way to convince old people out of giving you stuff, they're just too nice!! On the way back we stopped by a park and ate our lunch outside. Some of my favorite times have been to be on a long bike ride and just think to yourself. If there are people on the street, you should be talking to them, but here there aren't many people on the street so you can really ponder on things. It's really peaceful out here.

One day I woke up and Elder Chang asked if I wanted to go and Kan Shu that day. Read a book of course! I didn't ask what book but I said yeah. Elder Chang's Chinese is really weird, it doesn't sound like a normal Taiwanese, and he uses weird grammar that no one else does, so when he said Kan Shu it meant to go cut a tree! It's the same words, just different tones. So that afternoon we stopped by our branch member's home and cut down most of a tree for them using a saw. We finally get service opportunities here outside of English class! It's the best. 

What else happened this week... We came up to Hualien this week cause we had Stake Conference and interviews with President. This was the first time that I had questions and stuff I needed to bring up with him. I'm already thinking about next transfer because Elder Chang will be going home in 5 weeks and this area is gonna need another good missionary to replace him. So I talked to president about that and hopefully he thinks of someone good. 

They updated our Preach My Gospel book and as I was studying I noticed that in the studying section it talks about things you can do for an effective study. One of the new things they included was Pondering. As I've had more time to do that and just think things through, it's a really effective way to feel the spirit and recieve direction on what to do next. I hope that everyone gets enough time to ponder every single day. If you do that, you will understand more clearly what you should do and how to make decisions. Enjoy the pictures! 

-Love Elder Thayne

 

 

 

 

Ohhh so I'm that kinda missionary?

This week has been insane everyone! 

I was doing well at the beginning of the week. Had a fun P day, went and bought a bunch of groceries with my newly purchased Costco membership! It is worth it in Taiwan cause you can actually save a lot of money as a missionary by buying stuff from there. Everything was nice and good as transfers were coming up. As a district we kind of guessed who was going to be leaving and we knew lots of people were. The ones that had been there for three or four transfers were for sure leaving. Elder Fredenberg was a bit nervous that he would be leaving cause this was only his second transfer in Taoyuan and he's only gone two transfers in every area up to now. On Monday as we were in Taipei with Elder Fredenberg's friend I got a call from another Elder in my district saying he was training! Another Elder in my district also got a training call... I was waiting for mine that day but it never came! I was glad cause that meant Elder Fredenberg wouldn't be leaving and we would probably stay together.

 

 

The day of transfers came and we got all of our information on what would be happening. As I was scrolling down to my name I didn't think anything would change for me, I actually felt pretty safe this transfer, oh I was in for a treat. I open up my file and....IM MOVING AGAIN. And not to just any normal place, but I'm moving to Yuli. It was such a crazy call change that I wasn't even surprised. I only have six transfers left of my mission so I was thinking it was gonna go a certain way, but this is something I didn't expect at all. I've only been here in Taoyuan for 6 weeks. I loved the ward I was in, we were just starting to get the area moving pretty well and then I get cast out of the Peach Garden 🤤. When I saw this I was actually kind of mad. I had just gotten there six weeks earlier and tried my best to help the area and now it's like my work goes unfinished. Kind of a waste of six weeks. I had bought lots of new Good good from Costco cause I was 100% sure I was staying, and we had a really great district with lots of missionaries I loved. I was also close to other missionaries so I could see them on P day. It took a lot of humility to accept that I was being moved and to start packing from a place I had just moved to. Elder Fredenberg got kind of serious with me and told me to stop thinking negatively about this. I've tried to take that advice and do the best I can. 

 

 

Yuli is a place in the Hualien zone on the east side if Taiwan. It's pretty far away from other missionaries. The closest missionaries to Yuli are an hour ride away on the fastest train. Two hours if you take the normal one. It's pretty far in the middle of nowhere. It has people in it still but not very many. It's kind of a harder area to do missionary work because there aren't many young people in Yuli and most everyone has talked to the missionaries before. Missionaries can take two days and knock on every door in the town. The cool thing is that the area is really big so you can go to other small towns and teach those people. Also can find different villages just looking for who will listen. 

Getting there was probably the biggest nightmare this week. I packed all of my stuff and took a taxi to the train station. I first took a train to Taipei and then from there took the subway to the area of the mission home so I could pick up my train ticket. The problem was that the first train I was on was running slow. When I was finally getting out of the subway I didn't have much time. I asked the people at the subway if I could leave my luggage in there and come back five minutes later with my ticket. They said no haha so I had to drag my luggage out of the subway and all the way to the mission home, I was running and a missionary there handed me the ticket as I was leaving. All the new 19 missionaries were coming in about to get picked up by their trainers and the AP's yelled and told me good luck in Yuli! President was right there and grabbed one of my suitcases and ran with me to the subway. I said goodbye and took it to the train station. I was running the whole time and I barely was able to get on the train before the doors closed. I went through the eleven cars to the very back and sat there. It was pretty insane but I made it!

This week has just been a lot of change and adjusting so I can give more details next week. It was a big surprise and I didn't know it was gonna turn out like this, but I trust the Lord and know that this is where he needs me. I'll work my hardest here and I know God will support those he calls. I'd love to get more emails from you guys, especially where I'm at now I can answer!! More time haha. Love you!

-Elder Grayson Thayne