Just when you get used to him...

Well as you can probably guess from the title, this week was a bit crazy. If you remember last week, Elder Zhuang left and so Elder Day became Elder Fernandes and I's companion? So we had three people. It was a little bit hard to get used to for sure. He is also really really good at talking to missionaries, so we were constantly talking and the days seemed to just fly by. It actually became pretty fun. Since Elder Day leaves in two weeks, we were watching him do all of the "My Plan" work on the computer. Needless to say he was really excited to watch the dating part. The sad end to this whole story is that on Tuesday night Elder Day called President Jergensen and asked him about interview times. And then out of nowhere president told Elder Day he would be moving. Two weeks before the end of his mission they would be moving him back to his previous area in WanHua. It was super weird cause that never happens. So basically he hung up the phone and we got all of his stuff packed up and ready to go. There was a lot of throwing stuff away and it left the house pretty bad, but we got him out the next morning by six. We had to take a train to Taibei for a zone conference. 

The zone conference we went to that morning is actually the last one that will be put on by President Jergensen which is sad. It was really nice though because we were there by his house, and for lunch Sister Jergensen made waffles and bananas and caramel syrup. It was soooo good. I haven't had anything that good homecooked in a long time. We practiced teaching and he shared his testimony with us for the last time. Overall a really good experience. There are 40 missionaries going home this transfer which is super crazy. Because of that, and President going home, he doesn't have enough time to do a last interview with the missionaries staying. Kinda sad, but I do love him and was glad to see him one last time. Right after that meeting, we let Elder Day go, and it was just Elder Fernandes and I heading back on the train.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. We were on the streets talking to people, and then teaching the people that wanted to be taught. Just a normal missionary's life. 

Not much else to say until next week, but I love you all and hope you have a great father's day!! (I didn't know it was father's day until I got an email the day after...) 

-Love Elder Grayson Thayne

My mailing address:

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan

Here are some random pictures.

It's like he never existed

This was a really good week, it went by pretty fast. Had some good stuff happen for the area.

I haven't given an update on our investigators for awhile so I can share a little about each of them.

Phil: an awesome dad we met while the sisters were giving a chapel tour! He had his daughter with him and when we saw her, Elder Fernandes and I totally knew we had seen her before somewhere. They were really awesome, and Phil said he wanted to have his daughter grow up learning about Jesus! We had no idea where we had seen her until they had left. We realized that we'd seen her like 3 weeks before in a 7-11 with Phil`s mom. We had thought she was so cute, only two years old and eating her own ice cream cone is hard to forget!!

Karl: a really cool 25 year old. Graduated from College and owns his own business. He bought a restaraunt from this guy who had it as a burger place. It's theme is really cool and Karl is a nice guy. Business was slow for him, but then after we started meeting with him and taught him about prayer it started to pick up. He told us that Heavenly Father was helping him. He stopped responding for awhile so we checked on him the other night. He was really stressed, and told us that the previous owner who still owns part of the business wants to change the restaurant to a Hot Pot place. Hot Pot is everywhere, so Karl doesn't want to change it. It's making him pretty stressed, so if you could pray for him that would be great.

Sam and his Girlfriend: This is an interesting one... We met Sam biking a while ago and have started meeting with him. He's kind of an awkward 15 year old haha, just acts super weird sometimes. We were really trying to get him to come to church, but he would ride to his girlfriend's house every Sunday at 6 in the morning and stay there the entire day. He really likes his girlfriend, so he goes to her house every single day after school which is a 30 minute bike ride(dedication). Anyways we couldn't get him to come to church without her, but we met her and now we are meeting with both of them! She even reminds him to read the Book of Mormon!!

Jordan: Jordan's situation is really hard. He was Elder Day's investigator until Elder Day combined with us so he become both of ours. He is 16 and is super awesome. He even went to take the Sacrament to an injured member in the ward on Sunday. He's just a super Golden kid. He was about to get baptized next week, but his parents aren't going to let him. The Mom had a bad encounter with Christians a long time ago, not from our church. So now she doesn't have a good outlook on Christians, and won't let him get baptized. Last time we met with him it was hard cause he told us they didn't want him going to church anymore. If he isn't going to church then the ward can't support him easily. The legal "Adult" age here in Taiwan is 20 years old. So he will have to wait four years to get baptized. It's just gonna be hard for the missionaries to keep him around that long if he can't come to church. We're praying for a miracle though, and I am getting my friend from another area that had the same problem to video call us this week.

Okay I can talk about a few more people next week, I don't want to make this email too long and boring!

Elder Zhuang finally got his Visa approved!!! He left for the MTC in the Philippines last Thursday morning at 3:00. He was a really awesome missionary and super funny. We were all sad to see him go, but he's happy to be moving on. We are kind of in a far away area, so most of the mission won't even know he existed haha, Elder Day will be gone after this transfer too, so basically just a few missionaries know he was here. We woke up early and saw him off. It was actually his Mom who picked him up to drive him to the airport haha!! I guess that's what happens when your mission doesn't have cars

Since Elder Zhuang left, Elder Day has been with us. He's gonna be here in a Tricompanionship until he leaves to go home. It's been pretty weird, but fun. I'll let you in on more details soon! If you have any questions, just email back! 

-Love Elder Thayne

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan

Mango ice, and the reason that Taiwan is one of the most safe countries in the world.

Binlang isn't against the WoW??

This week was pretty awesome with a bunch of funny experiences! 

Our Zone which is in Xinzhu made a goal to get 104 setups with new people. And over 7 days we were able to get it! Pretty awesome, the Lord will help us achieve our goals.

Last Monday Elder Fernandes and I were doing some planning, and decided to call someone and he set up! A brand new investigator! We were super excited and wanted to get everything perfect! We had the church all lighted up on the inside, and had the gate and the door wide open for him to come in. As we were planning our lesson though, a member that doesn't come to church much just walked right in with her friend. We were scared because she had been in the Sacrament meeting the day before. She is a little crazy for sure. I was praying during the Sacrament and she came up and was calling people on her phone, and trying to get my attention and show me a video in Sacrament meeting. It took them about 30 minutes for her to leave and it was really awkward. So, we see her Monday night right before our investigator comes in, and she hands us Binlang (beetlenut) and some alcoholic drink. She was really excited to see us and was probably waiting for the church gate to be left open so she could get in. I told her we weren't allowed to have that stuff, but she just kept saying Binlang is okay, she was trying to convince missionaries . And then the investigator showed up while all of this was happening. We had to put all of the stuff away and get ourselves into a classroom to teach him. We had to lock the door cause she was trying to get in. It was funny haha. The lesson was great though!! 

A few days later we were biking, and then we saw her on the other side of the street, she got on her bike and started pedaling towards us pretty fast. We went a little faster and were able to lose her🤣. 

We had a few of our investigators drop us this week because they don't have any interest, so we focused on trying to find some new people. We weren't able to teach many people this week, but we are going to try extra hard to help these people. 

Saturday night we went to buy food for the next Sunday so we could have something to eat. I already had most of my food, but Elder Fernandes still had to get some stuff. It was really funny cause all of the stuff he usually gets wasn't there. A bunch of things happened that made it way complicated, but we finally had the food!! HALLELUJAH!! Little did we know that the next day was fast Sunday so it was all for nothing hahah. I had a cool experience with fasting though. Throughout that whole day I was able to feel the spirit so much better. And that's cause we were closer to God doing the things he wants us to do.

We had a lot of other things happen, but I don't have enough time to write them. I'll put some more details next week!! Love you guys! 

They also have YuGiOh cards attached to drinks for sale here. Super 方便。

I found this quote in a 7/11. It's in English but I still don't understand it. If you do, please write back and explain!🤣

-Love Elder Thayne

{Personal note to Mom}

In some news, remember when I bought all of those golf pants before my mission, and Mr Mac said they couldn't make them any skinnier because of the material? Well I found this little shop on the street that is run by a few grandma's, and they hooked us up really good. I got 4 pairs of those pants skinnier for like $15. Such a steal. 

Cool story. There is a family in our ward that is really cool and they love the missionaries. I was talking to the mom last night and she asked where I was from. When I told her Lehi, she asked if I used to have an Asian stake president. I told her yeah, president Lew? And then she said her and a few members of her family had visited Salt Lake City last summer. Around 6/30 and they went around with the Lew Family because their youngest son went to this mission. When I showed them a picture of our house, she said:" woah! We've been there!! The Lew's told us that their neighbors raised horses and stuff!" So yeah she saw our house hahaha. A super small world! And then they flew back to Taiwan July 5th, and you know why that day is special to me...

White ghost/insides exploding

I've been getting pretty good at doing wheely's on my bike, so this week I was able to upgrade and start doing it on a wheelchair! It's pretty fun, the Taiwanese ward members think Elder Fernandes and I are dangerous though. Probably cause they saw what happened when we tried to be cool.

This week was a little rough for Elder Fernandes and I. We had an investigator we have been working with for awhile and were excited for him to be baptized this Saturday. He was doing everything he needed to, and was so close to accepting baptism, but he came up to us and told us he doesn't want to get baptized. There's good and bad news with this story. The bad news is that he is moving to Germany this week and we won't be able to keep teaching him. He is also moving there for five years, so we won't see him for awhile. BUT... The good news is that he said he is willing to meet with the missionaries in Germany while he's there. So hopefully they'll be able to help him progress while he's there. He knows it's true, maybe he's just not ready yet.

Cool story of the week:

Our English class in Miaoli is pretty small and has quite a few problems. We have been trying to get a lot of new students to come, but it wasn't happening for the longest time. I made an ad for the English class and put it on a Miaoli group. The group had the post pending for around three days, so I didn't think anything would come out of it. But then I woke up me morning and had tons of Facebook notifications. Tons of people had seen it and then liked and commented on it. It was getting tons of attention so by 11:00 that morning my post had over 750 likes with lots of shares and comments. I guess it was getting a lot of attention, so someone reported the post because it wasn't the right format or something. They took off the post, but lots of people signed up for the class!! It's the most success from English stuff we've ever had here. And the sisters are meeting with all of those referrals!

A funny thing that happened because of that post is a girl added my Facebook. It was just a Taiwanese girl, so I thought she was interested in the English class. When I added her back though, she sent a message to me and said she had seen me at a restaurant a few days before. She was acting a bit weird but I didn't think much of it. I asked if she wanted to meet with the sisters and she said okay, so I'm setting them up together. The weird thing was, Elder Fernandes and I went into a Family Mart one day, and as we were sitting down a girl walks in and she looked familiar. I thought it might have been her, so I waved and then she smiled and got really freaked out and left as quick as she could. It was really funny, and then she posted this on her Facebook right after. I didn't know what it meant, so I asked Elder Zhuang and this is the translation:("I saw a white guy and my insides are burning") that's actually the meaning, but the words are a lot more weird... something about bad words, white ghosts, and her body exploding.But... She is willing to meet with the sisters so that'll be good.

Elder Fernandes and I are basically just starting out with new people and trying to help them, so we could use all the prayers you can give. Love you all!

-Elder Grayson Thayne

母親節快樂

Happy Mother's day!!!

I hope everyone was able to do something for their Mother! I really appreciate mine!

I was able to talk to my family last night and it made me realize how much I really do miss them. This is the first mother's day I've had where I haven't been able to tell my Mom I love her in person, but I was still able to feel the love coming from them as we talked. Elder Fernandes and I always forget to buy food on Saturday so when Sunday comes around we don't have food! Good thing we can fast haha. But it makes me really appreciate at home that I have a Mom who makes sure we always have something to eat. The food is there. So I really appreciate her and my family as a whole.

The cookie party for English class was a success! And that's saying a lot because taiwanese don't like to eat sweet foods. It was funny because a few of the Beginner class students came in to our class to see what was going on, and then they just stayed and enjoyed all of our cookies! Everyone thought it was fun, and the cookies turned out really good! 

We went and played Billiards (pool) with our main investigator this week. He's super awesome. He is doing everything we tell him to, but he keeps telling us he isn't getting the answer he's looking for that God Exists. We are trying to help him the most we can, but what it really comes down to is his personal commitment and desire to find the truth. He is attending this club that is another religion and so he's pretty confused about which one to go full in on. I have faith that he knows what we are teaching him is true though, and he'll see the blessings in his life soon. Pool was fun, but by the time we left and got back home, all of our clothes stank from all the tobacco smoke we were around. The other Elders were pretty confused when they smelled us at the end of the day

We had a really big miracle one night which was awesome!! We ate dinner inside that night and before we left the house, we prayed that we would find the prepared people we needed to that day, and then we left. That whole night we ran into so many people that we knew. We saw an investigator of the other Elder's. We saw two former investigators at the college campus. We also found a French exchange student that we have been trying to set up for awhile, and then to finish off the night we saw our investigator that we played pool with. It was way too many people that we knew to be a coincidence. I knoe that God directed us that day to the people that needed to hear that we still love them and so does God. He never forgets his children and now I know that for sure because I've seen it first hand. God loves us all and wants us to be happy. If we will come unto him, he can show us the way. 

Have a great Mother's day everyone! I love you all.

-Elder Thayne

Bake me to Church

So this week was super busy! Almost every day we were out of the apartment before 10:00 doing random things. 

Elder Fernandes led a good district meeting this week by having us discuss the most important thing for our missionary work. We had different cards that said things like:" God and Jesus Christ," or " daily repentance." We were all choosing as a district the most important thing, and we chose to be "led by the spirit." If we are led by the spirit, then we will know what God wants us to do, we will be obedient, and we won't have to worry about not being productive missionaries. We all took the invite to go and do something different in our companionship to have the spirit lead us more. Right after we left District meeting, we went on exchanges with the Xinzhu zone leaders. I went with Elder Anderson and it was way fun. It was really busy though. We were biking everywhere super fast and had 4 lessons. Elder Anderson's bike was pretty messed up because he's a really old missionary. Whenever he stopped pedaling, the chain almost flew off. On the way back home that night, we were going down a hill, and his chain wrapped around his Derailer. It destroyed it and it broke it off. We had to just set the bikes on the side of the road and take a taxi home. The miracle from that night is that the Taxi driver was actually Christian! We talked about the Bible with him for a little and then gave him the Book of Mormon before we got off. He was super grateful for it, and before the night was over they set up to meet with him!

We have been really trying to make our English class good here in Miaoli. We are kind of starting new. So we have a few ideas. One of the things we want to do is make chocolate chip cookies here for English class. That may not sound like a big deal, but in Taiwan it's super hard to find all of the ingredients to make them. We are making them on Wednesday with our English class in hopes of getting new students to start coming more. So we are taking them to church through giving them baked American chocolate chip cookies haha!! We'll see if they taste the same!

This week was a bit of a struggle to find new investigators. We found 4 new ones, but by the end of the week 3 of them dropped us telling us they don't have interest. So that's been a struggle, but we are staying positive and know that we will get a lot of success soon.

Probably one of the highlights of this week for me was my interview with the mission president. He told us he was so happy to have both of us together and that he thinks we'll do great. I only have one more interview with President Jergenson before he goes home at the end of June. So I asked him a piece of advice he could give me. He told me that we need to listen to what the prophet's say, and then immediately obey and live by that standard. Or just do what God wants us to immediately. He said that there will be new changes and when the new mission president comes, some things will be different. He said to just listen, and not focus on the way things were before, but how we need to change right when we hear new direction. It was good advice, and he said we can all be happier because of it.

Thank you for everyone who emails me! I really appreciate it and hope you all are doing well!

-Elder Thayne

Bottom picture is from Taizhong mission. The others are here in Miaoli.

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!