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 

 

 

 

 

The Lord works in Mysterious ways.

Me sneakily putting an English tract on a sign.

It's been a very full week here in Nankan! We went on exchanges with the zone leaders in Taoyuan, did a pass off lesson with the sister missionares and Tina, went to Taipei for P day, and also celebrated Elder Fredenberg's birthday!

He's finally 19 haha! He's only a few transfers younger than me on the mission but he's also over a year younger, pretty weird stuff. To celebrate we had the district go to this Tepanyaki place for lunch. It's not as expensive as the Tepanyaki in America though. It's also not paid to have a show, they just cook the food. It's like $6 per person and there is unlimited ice cream and soda so that's a plus! As we were biking back closer to our area we stopped cause there was a lady in a wheel chair with tons of trash and things all around her. We could tell she needed help and so Elder Shope asked her if we could help her! For one of the first times in my mission she accepted our help! She was really happy that there were four missionaries to help her move into her now house. When we got close she told us not to open the doors for the second and third floor. Come to find out there are around 18 cats living in her house. She asked us to take a few and we refused, she was thankful for our help though. The sisters are excited to work with her now and invited her to church! 

The primary kids had an activity last Friday night to go to  big park and pass out candy to people with an invite to English class! They were all dressed up in different costumes so it was cute to go with them and pass the candy out. It made me realize how afraid people really are of missionaries haha. We were just trying to pass it out with the kids but almost everyone was refusing candy!! When the kids came, it just melted the adults' hearts and they would take the candy every time. They're just too cute haha. Yesterday was also the primary program and everyone loves to hear all the kids sing. Some were good singers, others not so good, but it was appreciated by everyone nonetheless.

My friend Jonas back in Miaoli got baptized this week! Because of a recent change in the rules, I wasn't able to see him baptized, but he's really happy and I know he'll be a big strength to the ward. It was struggling a lot while I was there. They have a lot of new members now that can strengthen it. We basically doubled the young men's! They have lots of friends now!

Probably one of the biggest miracles that happened this week is also connected to Miaoli. While I was there with Elder Merrill we talked for awhile and he convinced me that we should buy skateboards together. We got some cool skateboards and we started riding around for exercise every day ( don't worry I used graduation money for this). Then I moved to Taoyuan and haven't had much of an opportunity to ride it. We were having a hard time finding anyone this week, and we've seen that most of the people we're working with aren't progressing very well and can't keep being taught if they don't want to. We couldn't really find anyone this week until on Thursday we were walking around and found this guy skating with his girlfriend behind a mall. We'd never been there before so we didn't know anyone skated over there. I showed them the few things I could do and we talked for awhile. I asked them if I could skate with them next time they were there and then share a bit about the gospel with them after. They were willing and we left with their contact info. We set up with them to go and skateboard at night for a bit. 

That night I changed into my normal clothes and took my skateboard not really knowing what was gonna happen. The whole time riding over there I was thinking to myself if this was worth doing or not. If I was wasting the Lord's time or if this was what I was supposed to do. Well we got there and there were 7 people skating around. They were all really cool and we skated around. They showed me a few things and we started talking to two of them away from the big group. We talked for awhile and then asked them if we could share with those two. They said yes and we just sat down on our skateboards. Before we could start sharing with them though they yelled to the other 5 people and said:" come listen to their story!" They all came and sat around in a circle all on their skateboards and listened to us share. They asked good questions and we taught them the restoration of the gospel. Most of them were paying attention and sincerely wanted to understand why we came to Taiwan and how Jesus has helped us personally. We only had two Books of Mormon and gave them to them. They said they wanted some more so next Saturday when we go back we will bring 5 more and teach the Plan of Salvation! 

This experience was really interesting to me because I found that God will provide a way for every one of his children to here this message about a God that loves them. It may not be the most conventional way of sharing the Gospel, but it's what they needed to do before they would hear the message. I know God loves and he cares about all of us. 

Sorry I don't have many pictures, love you all.

-Elder Grayson Thayne

Suffer the Children to come unto me

This week was an interesting one for sure! I learned a lot and I worked a lot, that's the combination for a good week. Last P day I got to see Elder Cheung! It was way fun being with him and Elder Fernandes. Us three haven't been together since training. And I haven't seen Elder Cheung in 10 months so that was a miracle. 

The zone leaders had a baptism this Saturday and since they're in my district I was able to do a baptismal interviews for the guy. I've done a few of those while I've been here already and I love doing it every time. You get to talk to the person and see how their faith had grown in learning about Jesus Christ. They always share their experiences with me and I can always feel the spirit. There's never any question that they should get baptized or not. Everyone needs this blessing God wants to give. We saw him baptized on Saturday and were able to bring some of our friends we were teaching to see. 

We had zone conference this week and 3 zones got together at our chapel to hear from president! I saw Elder Beus there again so I sat with him and Elder Fernandes. It was really fun seeing lots of good missionaries, and former companions. Lately the mission in general has been pretty bad about keeping apartments clean. They gave a training on how to make a bed and keep apartments clean haha. Thanks Mom for teaching me how to do that stuff! We also talked a lot about urgency as missionaries and how to become better and more effective. 

Something that was really interesting was this week I realized I love kids! In Taiwan wards all the kinds are really comfortable with the adults and also the missionaries so everyone plays with them. My ward at home in Lehi is all grown up so I never got to be around the kids that much. Yesterday during church we got invited to come to the primary and show the kids what missionary work is like. We did a role play of a street contact and made the kids laugh a lot. When I sat down one of our friends little girl came and was just touching and wanting to play haha. When I first met her she was really scared of me and wouldn't talk, but now she loves me I have a good relationship with the little kids. They're just so close to God because they're so good. I realized I love being around them so much cause it's so refreshing. It was awesome to go to primary haha. 

I realized what Jesus meant when he said that we need to humble ourselves and become like little children to inherit the kingdom of God. Sorry I don't have many pictures this week! Nothing too out of the ordinary. Love you guys!!!

-Elder Thayne

你是摩爾門教嗎

My district minus Elder Endicott (he is taking the pictures)

Hey Everyone! 

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference last week! We watched it yesterday in Taiwan and I received lots of answers to questions I've been having. I loved how Bold President Nelson is with the whole church and everyone in the world. He doesn't care how hard things are to change. If there is a change that needs to happen, he will do it cause it's what God wants. I remember when I saw the statement about how the church shouldn't go by nicknames because we are Jesus Christ's church. I thought that is would be really hard cause everyone refers to us as "Mormons". Even people in Taiwan refer to us that way. I liked the way President Nelson said that we aren't Mormons because we don't worship Mormon. We worship Jesus Christ, so it would only make sense that we are his church. Basically right after I watched conference, that night we ran into a Buddhist family who didn't know much about us. They asked us if we were Mormons and we told them our real church's name. It's going to be an every day thing I have to help people understand for the rest of my mission, but I know it's what God wants for his church.

This week was pretty fun! Last P day Elder Fredenberg invited all the missionaries that came to Taiwan at the same time as him to Taoyuan to hang with us. We had lots of missionaries and it was fun hanging out with them. We went to a 烤肉(all-you-can-eat barbecue). It's funny cause most Taiwanese that go there don't eat like Americans. So when the waitress see's twelve American missionaries who use their money for this one meal in the day come in, the get kinda scared haha. We ate so much. We for sure got more than enough food. Right after we were all sick and could barely move and then someone suggested we go play Frisbee. I wasn't wanting to throw all that up so I skipped out lol. It was fun though.

Our Ward had an activity this week which was also really fun! We all got up early in the morning to go have a picnic in Longtan and play games. We didn't know if we should wear normal clothes or missionary clothes so we called one of the sister missionary's who was going and asked. She told us to wear missionary clothes. Later on when we got there, we saw the sisters dressed in t shirts and Yoga pants and knew they tricked us... They said they had just been told not to wear missionary clothes. At the picnic we played games in our white shirts and ties, not something very foreign to me on my mission cause we play basketball in these clothes all the time. We still schooled everyone and it was really fun!! The place was beautiful and the weather was really nice! On the bus ride back, they were playing the smurfs movie which was weird cause it was all English with Chinese subtitles and it was so hard not to watch. I never thought I'd be tempted to watch the smurfs! I'll put pictures in the bottom. We also took some pictures of our district for English class, Elder Endicott isn't in them though cause he was taking the picture.

Last Sunday we had a mom walk into our church for Sacrament meeting. She had two cute little kids. She told me her sister lives in Utah so she's been to church before. We visited her family this week and I just had a really good time spending time with the kids. It's kinda sad because we found out their family doesn't live in our area. So we're gonna be passing them off to the sisters. We're still really excited though because they're a great family and they'll probably get baptized someday! They said that we can still come over for dinner sometimes. 

That's about it! We had some other stuff happen so if you wanna know just send me an email!

-Elder Grayson Thayne

I actually live in Nankan

Hey everyone! 

I can fill you in on some more details about my new area this week so you know what's going on. The place I live is called Nankan District. It's north of the main part or Taoyuan city. It's an interesting area in the way that most of the young people we meet on the street are actually working as flight attendants cause the Taiwan international airport is pretty close. All the missionaries areas in Taoyuan are really close so the borders for the area are pretty messy. All the other missionaries live in our area, and we live in someones else's area so it gets pretty confusing. We have a nice river bike trail that we use to get to the church most of the time, it's like a 15 minute bike ride so not bad at all, we are the farthest away from the church. I can send a picture of the trail! 

Since all the missionaries are close, we get together most mornings to exercise. Either playing frisbee or some basketball. It's really fun cause we usually have like 12 missionaries there so we get good exercise in. Since we live kind of far away we have to wake up 45 minutes earlier than usual so it kinda kills our sleep. We love it though. 

I'm sorry if this email isn't really detailed. I accidentally left my journal in Miaoli when I left and they haven't gotten it back to me yet so I don't have many details. 2 of my friends that I taught in Miaoli are going to get baptized over the next couple of weeks so I'll go back down there and get it! 

While all of my friends are preparing to get baptized in Miaoli, the ones I have here are just starting. Sometimes it can be kind of hard to move because you leave all the people you know and you kinda have to start over when it comes to the people you're teaching. There weren't many people they were teaching when I got here, but we've been working really hard to get more. We are slowly building up. Very slowly, but it's working.

There was a huge miracle on this last Wednesday. We were teaching out English class on family history which was am interesting subject. As we did our spiritual share at the end I started talking to one of the students. It turns out he still believes in God and everything. He's actually just a less active member of our church. As I was talking to him I found out that he hadn't been into the chapel area for about ten years. I asked him if we could go in and I could talk to him a bit. I found out that he had a lot problems with some of the people he ran into. The missionaries and the members. We talked a lot about Jesus Christ though and that's the important thing. He kept talking about all of his problems for about twenty minutes, and being as busy minded as missionaries are I just wanted to get to the point and leave. I had the feeling to be patient and just listen. After he stopped talking I invited him to come to Sacrament meeting the next week. I felt the spirit very strongly and he said he would try to come. I don't know if he did or not but the important thing is that he accepted the invite. 

This area is really amazing. I'm excited to get it moving forward. Love you guys. 

-Elder Grayson Thayne

Also I found this pig in the park haha. Super skinny and unhealthy like the people here, but still good to see a lot. It's been a long time.