Transferred to Taizhong?

This week has been one of the craziest weeks of my mission! 

Last P day, we went to a waterfall on Pingxi and saw it! It's the biggest waterfall on Taiwan. We also painted Chinese characters on a lantern you light up and let float in the sky so that was really fun!  Overall a really fun P day! 

This week Elder Halverson and I were working hard to help people set a baptismal date and it paid off! I'll talk a little more about it later. 

On Tuesday afternoon we were in the church planning a few things when I received a phone call from the AP's. Whenever you get a call from the Assistant's, you know something big is going to happen. I picked up, and they told me to put Elder Halverson on the phone. He was listening, and they asked him how fast he could get to the nearest hospital. We knew they must be joking, so we told him about 20 minutes and then we heard from the AP  that Elder Halverson is going to be training! It's right in the middle of the transfer. The transfer still has 3 weeks, but Elder Halverson got the training call. A missionary came, he got his visa early and so he came to the island and so they called out there have her send to be his trainer and of course I was wondering what was going to happen to me, and then they told me:" You will be going to Miaoli with Elder Fernandes!" I was honestly so excited but super confused. They told me I would be leaving on Thursday morning and I need to get everything ready and buy a train ticket and just be ready to leave by then. 

It was a crazy announcement, so we finished that day like normal. The next day we picked up the new Trainee. He is a really cool guy, and I know they'll get along pretty well. The rest of the time, I basically just packed and got the area ready for them. I felt a little bad because Elder Halverson doesn't really know what he's doing in that area. I also taught my last English class that night. The students were a little sad cause it was so unexpected, but they were also very loving. We all said a kneeling prayer together for the last day, and I said goodbye to all of them. It's funny cause the Sanchong ward saw me give a talk, and then the next Sunday I wasn't there. I basically just disappeared!! They'll do well. 

The next morning getting to Miaoli was a nightmare! I left and took my suitcases on the subway for awhile. When you carry that much stuff, it's really heavy and hard. I didn't have a companion the whole way over there, so I was by myself on the MRT. When I got out of the first station, one of my suitcases split open and most of the stuff spilled out. The zipper broke. I stuffed everything back in. Tons of people were walking past. I was had to hurry and be super careful with the suitcase so it wouldn't spill out again. I was barely able to get it to the train station and I got on the train. It was a struggle, but after about an hour and a half, the train was coming to Miaoli station. I grabbed one suitcase and then stepped off the train. I put it on the deck and then I went back on the train to grab my broken suitcase... As I was about to get off the station with my second suitcase, the doors closed and I was stuck in the train. What I didn't know at the time, is that the train was delayed, so it was trying to make time up by closing the doors faster. Too bad for me the next stop was 15 minutes away and it's out of the mission! Miaoli is right on the border with the Taizhong mission. So yeah I traveled across the border into Taizhong. I was able to get back to Miaoli, but it was a rough ride haha. 

The story doesn't end there sadly haha. They have to ship my bike from the mission home, so it took three days to get to my new area. We only had 2 bikes between 4 missionaries. I borrowed one of the bikes and as I was riding it, I downshifted and it broke the derailer off!!! I felt Christlike that day so next thing I knew I bought Elder day a new Derailer which costed around $20. Which is a lot for missionaries!!

This is going to be a long email, so I will send more details about my new area and my companion! But I am SOOOO excited to be with Elder Fernandes! We became best friends while in the MTC, and we always joked around about becoming companions and now that we are we're super happy. We'll work our hardest! Love you all. Talk to you next week!!

Some pictures with members at the waterfall, English class. And me on the train in Taizhong

6th Transfer!!

Transfers happened again... And I'm still in Sanchong. It is a long time to be in one area, but it's all good because I got a new companion named Elder Halverson!! I actually knew him back in the MTC. He's only 6 weeks older on the mission so it's pretty fun! We both don't know how to read yet so we are having a fun time. He is from Kansas, and he has a really good singing voice. He's only a month older than me, but looks a lot more mature haha. He tells me I remind him of his little brother so that's cool! We're getting along well. When transfers happened I totally thought o would head out cause I've been here for awhile, but instead Elder Hyde left. He became a zone leader in Songshan which is the East Taipei zone. The funny thing is, there are only two missionaries in this mission with the same last name of 海(pronounced Hi). And they have both become my companion! So when people ask his name I just say he's the same person, just got glasses and became a little bit taller. 

So yeah this week has been pretty crazy getting everyone switched around to their new areas! Our district changed a lot too. One of the sisters left, and then both of the Luzhou Elders left too. We weren't expecting that at all because they have been whitewashed 3 times in the past 7 months which kind of kills an area. Elder Donalson whitewashed in when I came in, and then he got whitewashed out. His companion became the AP. For those of you that don't know what Whitewashed is, it basically means that both of the missionaries in an area get switched out with two brand new missionaries so it can be hard. If it gets whitewashed a lot, the missionaries basically have to start over from scratch in a lot of ways. Like getting investigators, or knowing who the ward members are. So yeah I've been in Sanchong for the longest out of everyone in the district.

General conference was pretty amazing!! It was a great time to just sit there and watch the prophet and the apostles speak right to us. I was sitting right behind president Jergensen which was fun. He turned back and said the main financial guy that should up to give the report is actually his cousin. I hope everyone got a chance to see that and really get help and direction from the prophet of God. 

Yesterday we taught a lesson to a less active kid's mother. We showed her the talk by Elder Uchtdorf on Jesus Christ and testified of him and what he has done for her. She just told us she believes it is good stuff and that's why she is letting her son go to church. I could really feel the spirit testifying in that lesson but it wasn't getting through to her. It frustrated me because I couldn't get her to see the importance of Jesus Christ. We did everything we could by inviting her but she wouldn't accept. 

Sometimes it can be really frustrating when people don't understand what we know can help them, but all we can do is invite them.Which reminds me of a quote in Preach my Gospel by Elder Holland: "Much of the time we are just too casual about all of this. This is eternal life. This is the salvation of the children of God. Eternity hangs in the balance. … It is the most important path this investigator will ever walk. But if he or she doesn’t know that, at least you do! … So take control of this situation. Teach with power and authority."  

I know as we understand that this gospel can help other people live a happier life, we will be more inclined to share it... So just do it!! 

Here are some pictures. By the way, we are having Temple Wednesday next week so my P day will be changed to Wednesday. So that will be Tuesday evening for everyone back home!! 

We also went to the zoo today!

-Love Elder Thayne

Wang shi hao

The best part of this week was Wang Shi Hao. He's a 19 year old kid who has been meeting with the missionaries for four years now. He's super shy and doesnt say much. He also has spiritual experiences in the form of dreams, but he doesn't really telk the missionaries about those. He mostly just tells his friend in the ward Rui Cong. I knew he has a testimony, but it's really hard to get him to talk. He has been waiting until he turns 20 to get baptized, but this last week he went and asked his father and he finally got approved. So this whole week has just been us thinking about him and trying to help him get ready to be baptized on Saturday. When he went in for the interview i honestly didnt know if he was going to make it through or not. Well... He DID!! The zone leader who interviewed him said he has a strong testimony so he passed. We are still going to have to work with him really hard to help him with church and scripture reading, but he got baptized on saturday!! Saturday was a big baptism day in our mission. Just in Taipei we got like 8 or 9 baptisms which is crazy for the mission!!

I was also able to go on exchanges with Elder Jorgenson which was awesome. He was trained by Elder Welch so we had a really good time talking about him. He was a really amazing companion for both of us and we really look up to him. We just went street finding and talked to so many people. We got a setup though so it was all worth it. 

This week's English class went really well! We played the game where one person stands in the middle of a circle of people and they have to say what they have never done before, and the people that have done that thing have to stand up and find another chair. The grandma's didn't really get it though because they stood up and said:" I have never eaten food before," and then everyone else got up and ran around. I don't think they understood it needs to be true haha, they had fun though! 

This week we have been getting ready for General Conference because we will see it a week later than everyone in America. We have told our investigators to think of questions they would like answered and then bring them to conference. I also heard about the Apostle that was called from Hong Kong. He actually served his mission in Taiwan too!! His chinese name is not "Gong by the way haha. It's Jiang. So my family will all say his name right when I get home haha. 

Last p day we went on a hike so I can send some pictures. Love you all!

Miracle week!!!

The last P day we had, we went to my old area in Danshui and went uo to the beach with some people. I told them that they need to buy a discraft frisbee because there is a difference. We all played on the beach and went around to some of the farms around there just to look at the scenery. Always have fun P days. 

The title says it all. This week was absolutely crazy with all of the miracles we saw. I'll share a few things that happened. 

The whole time during Elder Hyde and I's companionship, we have been working hard with little success. We haven't seen a baptism together, so we have been working really hard anf doing our best at making plans to see things happen. And I believe that through all of those efforts, we were able to see so many miracles.

So. The Elders in Sanchong have been working with a kid for four years now. He is a little bit different mentally, so he was waiting to turn 20 years old before he could get baptized. 20 years old is the Adult age in Taiwan. He has always been afraid that his parents wouldn't let him get baptized because they are Buddhist. Missionaries have been telling him for three years now to just ask his parents if they would let him, but he was always way too scared. It's only because of the member's help that he has stayed this long. Last week he finally asked his Father if he would sign the paper to let him get baptized...and he signed it!!! We were all super happy for him and we are going to help him get prepared for baptism soon. Finally after 4 years he get permission.

I got word this week of an investigator from my old area in Bali is also getting baptized next month. He had the same problem as the kid before, but his parents wouldn't let him. He's been waiting to get baptized for years. He comes to church as often as he can, and he was pretty much a member. So many missionaries have been with him, and I'm so glad that something good is coming out of the area I served. 

We have been also helping one of our members really get working to share the gospel with his friends. They all don't live in Sanchong so he didn't really know how to share with them. We met with him a few times, and then skyped his cousin who is a Taiwanese Aboriginal. She was really funny and had a fresh different attitude from the other people around here. She was really excited to meet with the missionaries in Taoyuan after we talked about the Book of Mormon with her. So yeah! Fun helping members with their own missionary work. 

One day as we were going around doing normal missionary stuff, I wanted to go to the park to do our studies, so we went over and just sat there by the tree doing our studying. People would come and walk by and talk to us cause it was a Saturday and the weather was nice. While we were sitting there we met two cousins with their parents exercising their dogs, they came up and started talking to us. They were super nice and it was just a really casual conversation with them. We set up one of the kids because he said he wanted to learn about Christianity! As we were leaving the park, we saw him already reading the Book of Mormon!! His cousin's Mom was smiling at us really wide so we stopped and talked to her to find out that she is actually a member of the church!! She hasn't been to church for seven years now, so we hope we can get working with her!

So yeah those are some of the miracles we've had this week!! Really blessed!

Zone conference!

Sorry if this email isn't as detailed as you would like. I wrote it, and then somehow it got deleted before it was sent so this is draft #2.

This week was full of great stuff!! Last

week on Monday we went to my old area in North zone around Bali and had some good fried rice with some of the Elders in the district. After that we went all the way to the south zone to play soccer with a bunch of other Elders. It was super fun and we were pretty tired when we finally got back to our home in central zone getting ready to go back to work!!

This last week was the week of birthdays. The two sisters in our district actually have the same birthday which was last Sunday. They both turned 20 years old!! And then we had another Elder in our district, and some members also had their birthdays last week!!

Elder Hyde and I have really been trying to improve our teaching and lessons. We have been making sure to have the spirit teach them through us. In one of the lessons we taught last week, we were teaching someone the Restoration and he just wasn't really believing what we were teaching. We taught the Great Apostasy and then the spirit just told us to stop teaching because he wasn't open to the message we were about to share. So we stopped and told him we wanted him to start praying to receive a desire to learn what we were teaching before we talk about the First Vision.

We taught another person who owns a shop that sells beer. He's a father and he's a really cool guy who has been meeting with missionaries for over 4 years now. We talked to him about his family and how the best way to raise his family is to build it on the foundation of Jesus Christ. He said he will ask his wife and see if they can meet with us, so we were happy that he was willing to ask. 

We have had to drop a few of our investigators this week which was pretty sad. I was working with Brother Chen for so long and really hard trying to help him. He got a text from a member that told him about the commandments which kind of scared him off. We haven't taught him or talked to him for 2 weeks now, and we are waiting on the spirit to tell us when we need to get in contact with him again. The ward mission leader came up to me and told me that Brother Chen never had a testimony. It kind of frustrated me because I've put the most effort into him and helping him build his testimony and I know be has one, he just has to realize God has a plan for him. So this week we have been trying to get new investigators. 

Because I'm the teacher for the intermediate English class level, we have a set topic that we need to talk about. This week was:"going to the hair salon". I'd never gone to a hair salon before so I didn't really know how to teach them. I brought my razor and shaved without a mirror having them tell me what to do in English! They thought it was really funny and I didn't get cut! Yes!

Zone conference was by far the highlight of this week! They told us that the Asia area covers all of Asia except for Japan, Korea,. and the Philippines. The area that we are in holds more than half of the world's population, so it's a big responsibility haha. They said the goal for our area is to have every companionship baptize one convert each month. It's a really big goal, but it is possible, so we are really going to try to do it. President asked us if we are really willing to do what it takes to reach this goal. It made me reflect on what I'm doing as a missionary and gave me more motivation to work harder!

That is pretty much all that happened this week. The pictures are just us with investigators and stuff. Love you all!!

-Elder Thayne

So this is Persecution?

Sorry for not writing the big letter to everyone last week! I was pretty busy with P day stuff so I didn't have enough time to write one. Last P day was really fun though! We went and played lazer tag with a bunch of people in the central zone! I was able to see Sister Fissiahi from the MTC!!(I know I spelled her name wrong, but she'd give me credit for trying haha.) I also got the inside scoop on one of her companions from the MTC. She had to return home for a knee surgery pretty early on her mission, and now she's engaged to someone! Pretty crazy, but just goes to show that there's always a happy ending! 

Elder Hyde and I were able to work really hard this week, and we saw a lot of fruit come out of it. We had some people to come to church and found some new people who want to learn. I've been the English Unit Leader in our district ever since I came to Sanchong, and now Elder Hyde is the district leader so we are busy all of the time. We are trying to get English class better because it's one of the only ways we can serve in Taiwan, plus it's a really good way to get people interested in the gospel. 

There is an Elder here who got on the Island the same time as I did and he is a master computer programmer! He made a new English class website for the mission and it's super good and professional. They are really trying to do good things with the English class, and Elder Hyde and I plus some other people in the mission are going to be Beta testing the website with finding new students. Pretty exciting stuff. Just since the website has been made we've had 18,000 visitors on the website And 400 people signed up for the class. Out of those four hundred, we have about 140 that said they want to learn about Jesus Christ. So yeah really exciting opportunities! If this goes really well, they may use this with other missions across the world. Here is the website! It's in Chinese, but you can still check it out! Taiwaneng.com

We went to the mission office a lot this week. We had to go there on exchanges with the Zone Leaders one day and that was really fun. The Zone leaders are awesome! That night we went to a park and set up a Lemonade stand to give to people and shared about how the Book of Mormon can answer questions of the soul. It was a fun activity, and they were able to get a few potentials out of it. I still can't tell the difference with Asians so I started to try to talk to someone in Chinese and I found out they are from Japan. It was really weird cause they couldn't understand English or Chinese!! So we just stood there awkwardly and then gave them a handshake and let them go. 

We also went to the mission office to have interviews with President! It was really good for me to meet with him and get his counsel on how to improve the area. We got some famous street food on the way there and ran into some other missionaries. One of the Elders told me that someone had painted "Mormons go home" on a street lamp by the temple. I thought it was hilarious because it's the first bit of "Persecution" I've seen here it made me laugh.

I also went up to Luzhou on exchanges and went with Elder Donalson. It was fun and I got to see more of their area. He got a flat tire and got it patched by someone on the street and then it got flat again so he got it fixed a second time! 

Don't want to bore you all with the details but it was a busy week and we were able to get a lot done! 

Another Transfer...

Transfer week!!! I've been banished to Hualien where the earthquake happened! They decided to send a few Elders from Taipei to help with the cleanup, and that includes me! I will be helping with the cleanup service and sharing the gospel with people there...I was wondering how far I wanted to take this, but I don't want everyone to freak out. 

I'm actually staying in Sanchong for this next transfer with Elder Hyde. I was pretty sure I was staying and Elder Hyde would stay here too because he's only been here for one transfer. The sisters are staying together again and Elder Endicott left from training. The district pretty much stayed the same. A few of the ward members were happy that we were all staying! So hopefully the work will be able to pick up a bit!

English class was also good this week! All of the grandma's that I teach in intermediate class were really happy that I'm staying. I will be staying and teaching them. It was fun because I taught about directions and how to lead someone with English directions!  We played some games and they really liked it. At the end I taught a spiritual share on how to receive direction in your life. And how Jesus Christ and his teachings can be that direction. I had a member come up to me after saying that what I taught on was an answer to her prayers, and how she realized she needs to focus on raising her family instead of trying to chase her dream job. Family has become number one for her.

Our investigator Brother Chen is doing really well! He is super funny and was at church with us yesterday. He is really savage to the other people in the ward so it's really funny. He'll tell people that they became fat over Chinese New Year and then us missionaries just laugh. They will just say whatever they want and most everyone is okay with it. But missionaries have to be careful what they say or they will offend someone, it's funny. But he is doing really well and he came to scripture class last week when we were talking about Lehi's vision of the tree of life. He said that the Iron Rod was the Book of Mormon. He didn't even know that is in a hymn!!! He's so cool, and he said he'll play frisbee with us tomorrow. He's 43 but super healthy.

So yeah! We are working hard and having a good time doing it! That's the key to having fun! 

Here's some pictures:

My companion, us with members, me when I had hair haha.

Love you!

-Elder Thayne

你吃飽了沒?( Are you full yet?)

This week was Chinese New Year!! Really different because everyone went back  to their parents house, so most of the people in Sanchong went to every other place in Taiwan haha. Everyone asked us what we were doing for the new year and we just said we keep doing missionary work. They're all so surprised, but we still stay in our areas and do what we can. 

Krispy Kreme!!

 We have a security guard at the bottom of our apartment building who knows us by name and always does the same things. We come in after a long night and he says “你吃飽了沒?” we say yeah we ate. And then he asks us where we went to eat and then tell him. And then he asks us if we went to church that day, and we usually just say no we're on the streets today. He's just a really weird guy but he's so funny. He likes to shake our hands whenever we come in, and the past few times it's been cold he grabs my hand and then slaps me and tells me I need to keep my hands warm or I'll get sick. Sometimes we walk in and before he stands up to greet us, I hide behind the furniture and he has no idea where I am. Elder Hyde then tells him that I left him, and he doesn't see me for the rest of the night. I then come in the next day and he gets up and walks over to me demanding where I went. It's pretty hilarious, stuff like this happens every single night with him.

Since it was Chinese New Year this week, members of the ward fed us. It's over 6 days, feeding us 12 meals. I have been putting on a little bit of weight because they make me eat so much. When we want to leave, they say:" you have to eat more or we won't let you leave." So yeah my stomach has been hurting these past few days...I think it's being forced to get bigger 

It's been a pretty slow week with the work because most everyone is gone, but it's been interesting. The Sanchong ward combined with the Luzhou ward for Sacrament meeting yesterday, and they asked all 6 of us in the district to give talks. Everyone had their ideas for talks, and I had totally forgot about the talk so I prepared a little during Saturday night. I decided to do it on loving someone enough that you will do the hard thing to help them. I told them that the last time I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting apart from testimonies was in Lehi Utah with my family and friends. It's pretty weird to think that was over 6 months ago. I basically talked about how God loves us so much that he will give us trials as an opportunity for us to turn to him for help. I also shared the story of our cow Creamy and how I spent so much time with her every day and I loved her. I told them how she got sick, and we tried to keep her alive, but it just got worse and worse until we had to let her go. When I shared that part some of them were crying and thanked me after. I was just happy they could understand my Chinese!! It was weird after though because all of the members started asking me to share stories from the farm, cause it's so different to them. They think it's so funny but cool! I love that I was able to have that opportunity growing up cause not many do. 

That's basically all for this week, just a ton of eating, and seeing members.

新年快樂!!

Companionship study at the park!

摩爾門教

This week was actually pretty awesome! For all those who are wondering; my hair is growing slowly but surely! I had some Elders come up to me and tell me they have respect for me cause I cut my hair. Also Shoutout to the Lynch's and the Jonson's Northrup's and everyone else for sending me stuff! You guys are amazing!!

Last P day we went up to the top of a mountain with the zone leaders and Rui Cong. It was crazy cause we saw snow!!! There wasn't much, but it was pretty awesome seeing snow in a sub tropical climate! The really funny thing is that the police were telling everyone they needed to put chaines on their tires because of the snow, but being from Utah it was hilarious. There was like a half inch of snow in the deepest parts and people were acting like they were going on a Klondike! It was so funny. I guess most of them hadn't seen snow before so I can't judge them.🤣

We also had an earthquake this week which some people were freaking out about. It was a 6.0 that hit in Hualien which is on the east coast. I've been there before on a P day actually. I was on exchanges up late talking to Elder Donalson when I felt it. The apartment building I was in was moving side to side so that was fun! If an earthquake like that hit Taipei city tons of building would fall over. Taipei is in a bowl, and the soil is kind of wet, so hopefully we don't get an earthquake here.

So our investigator Brother Chen had a really cool experience. Every year at the end of the year, companies will hold a party for their workers and do a raffle. Our investigator told the members that he had never won it before and he really wanted to. He said he prayed to Heavenly Father and then he won 1st prize!! He won 20,000元。It's pretty insane, but he's super happy and knows it's from God. I'm not saying it works for everyone haha, but it worked for him!!!

A really cool miracle happened. We had some extra time one day so we went to a few less active members homes to make sure the church had their correct home address. We were biking around and the people weren't home, but we were talking to people on the street a lot. As we talked to them, they just kept telling us to go find the young people because they will actually listen to us. People kept telling us, but we talked to as many people as we could. We had an appointment with someone though so we started on our way back home. About halfway home I got a call from the person we were about to meet with saying that he couldn't meet anymore cause his work was moving to a different workplace. So we turned around and biked back close to where we were. The person we were looking for wasn't there so we started on our way to get closer to our house. As I was biking there was an old guy on the street(by the way there are always old people out and about here walking and buying food and stuff) I just said hi expecting nothing to come out of it when he said hi back. We pulled out bikes over and asked if we could share a message about Jesus Christ with him and he said sure! It's super weird to hear that, but he unlocked the door to the apartment building and brought us to the roof to meet his son. It was super funny when he brought us to him cause his son wasn't expecting us at all. The apartment was super messy and we just sat down inside. Once we had all got situated his dad just said:“ you guys can just talk and I'm going to my apartment,” it was super random cause he hair left us to talk to his son. His son was kind of in a trap haha, he couldn't really tell us to leave cause his Dad was the one who brought us there. He was just folding laundry so we sat and shared the Restoration of the Gospel with him. His wife came out to go buy groceries and was super surprised to see us there! The husband just said one word to explain:“摩爾門教,"(Mormons). It was funny. It was a really cold experience though because all that stuff happened with perfect timing. If all of the stuff didn't happen before then the son wouldn't have listened to our message, or got the opportunity to. I could tell that it was only in that setting that it would be possible for him to accept us and listen. The Lord has amazing ways for gathering his children.

So yeah that was basically my week!

Here are some pictures!!

-Elder Grayson Thayne

Why did MTC teachers say it wasn't gonna get cold in Taiwan???

Okay so it's only been 5 days since my last email, but I have a few things I can write from this week. It's been a very busy week full of traveling and other things. We've gone to the Mission home 5 times in the past seven days for things, so it's been pretty busy. We went for interviews with President, meetings for English class, a piano practice and now a fireside from last night. It's been busy, but good! It's also been really cold here this week! The teachers in the MTC said it wasn't going to get cold... We checked the weather one day and it was 8℃ here and 11℃ in Salt Lake City. And that's not even accounting for the humidity and the rain. It's actually been pretty chilly. All of the Taiwanese people think that America is so much colder because it snows, but Taiwan is cold too, it's just different.

Something cool that happened this week is we were going around 三重 trying to figure out if some members lived in the apartments that were on the records. We walked up to a door that had another wooden door behind it. We knocked on the metal outer door pretty hard and no one answered. We tried it a few more times and no one came. I thought I heard someone move though, so I was able to squeeze my hand through the metal door and push the wooden door behind it. It opened and then a man from the Philippines came to the door and talked to us. We asked him if we could come back another day and talk to him about Jesus Christ and he said yes! Hopefully he'll set up a time with us! 

We were able to get Elder Hyde's Bike fixed which was good. He refused my free services and got it done by a professional instead haha. 

English class was good this week. I got a few new ideas for how to teach my class better cause we really want to teach them English. A few new kids came that I found on the street and they seem pretty cool. They just live in another area!! They live in 淡水 my old area!! But they were nice, and they should be good referrals if they want to be taught. 

We have also started up this Book of Mormon class every Thursday for people to come to. Both members and our investigators. We just want to help people better understand the Book of Mormon and how important it is to everyone's conversion. We had one investigator come and we also had a bunch of members there. We talked about Nephi and his brothers going back to get the plates. We had a really good discussion and our investigator really liked it. He's brother Chen. He is 43 and super awesome. He dresses super well and he looks like he just turned 30. He's super healthy and really happy all the time. I met him on the street with Elder Welch and he's progressing super well. He's also really funny. So yeah he liked the class!

We went into a Hi Life one night and met a man playing cards by himself. We talked to him for a bit and found out that he is homeless. He's only 65 years old, but he has no job and he doesn't want one. We taught him for a bit and then tried to help him find somewhere to sleep cause it was cold. He had just made some bad choices and didn't have money to live anywhere. He wouldn't accept help though because he doesn't want people knowing he's poor. It's hard and sad, but he doesn't understand how things can help him. I hope he will learn later.

Pics are us in Mormon Helping hands shirts.

The whole Taibei Central zone was asked to do a service project in Taibei for feeding the homeless. All of us missionaries went to help set up tables and chairs and decorations for 2,000 tables and 10,000 chairs. We set them up and tents and it was pretty fun getting to do something different. We were there for 6 hours so it was good. On the way back while we were on the MRT we were talking to some Elders and missed our stop for 三重 so we had to get off at the next one. We got off and two Black foreigners got off as well. They had pretty good hair, and I remembered my friend Elder Fernandes was looking for a place to do a lineup (the people in Taiwan don't know how to cut his hair so it's been a struggle haha). So I went up and asked them where they got their hair done. I got a guy's contact info and we talked to the two guys. They were really cool and were from the Caribbean teaching English. Hopefully they will set up and we can start teaching them!

But yeah that was basically my week. The fireside last night was great. I got to be with a lot of my missionary friends, and the people I know in my ward now. We haven't gotten very far into the lessons with Brother Chen, so when someone bore their testimony about abstaining from coffee and tea he was astonished haha. He couldn't believe it, but I told him we'd teach him later haha! Don't wanna get too ahead of ourselves! At the end of the fireside he told us that he felt like he needs to be a better person. I was pretty happy, last night was a really good night.