Taichung Time

Sunday, January 27, 2013

January 27, 2013

Well Hi everyone,
      I just thought I'd let you all know that I have officially finished PHASE 1 of Language training here in Taiwan. (Sorry to brag a little bit, but I was just so excited to have it done!! I had a little post it note with my finish date goal written on it and this last Saturday, right after I finished my evaluation and got to cross off the little check box saying I finished, I even played some Rocky theme music! Ha Elder S. got a kick out of that) And now that I've finished that, President B. says I can, if I want, get a guitar! Yay!! I'm not sure if I will or not, I'm still thinking about it!
     Other than that, this week has been pretty crazy busy! We've had quite a few lessons, and we've met some great people! On Tuesday, we had Assistant Exchanges!! That's where one of the Assistant to the President Elders will come and work with us for a day. We got to have Elder H. with us this week and he was awesome! It was cool to see him contact and work with investigators, and he gave me some good advice. Elder S. is an AWESOME contacter, but it was kinda cool to see how other missionaries contact so that I can kind of pick and choose what things will work best for me in my own contact.
     This week, I had a pretty cool experience during personal study on Wednesday. I was reading the Book of Mormon, and although I was getting personal relevance out of it, I wasn't finding a lot that I could share with our investigators. I wanted to find something to specifically share with a young investigator, but I wasn't finding anything!! I said a prayer, asking for the inspiration needed, and went back to reading the Book of Mormon... but then I paused, and looked over at the magazine we have on our shelf, the General Conference edition of the Liahona. I picked it up and ended up in the Priesthood session talk by President Eyring. Wow. What an incredible talk!! It's all about helping the youth of the church "Aim High." Now, it's a little bit focused on parenting... but as a missionary with a young investigator, I feel like we're parenting in a way. I found so much in that talk about how to help young men see what they can become. We are now trying to uplift this investigator so that one day he may join the church, receive the Priesthood, and who knows, one day go on a mission!! That was experience number one.
     Number two, and my spiritual thought for the week, was the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference. "The First Great Commandment." I'll never get tired of reading that talk, I think I've read it 5 times just this last week!! There are two lines in the talk that I want to focus on today. The first is Elder Holland kind of interpreting what Christ was saying to his disciples as they were fishing, it goes something like this. "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, thou knowest that I love thee." "Then, Peter, why are we here? In the same place, on the same shore, with the same fish? Wasn't it obvious then, and isn't it now, that if I want fish I can get fish??..." Christ is asking Peter if he truly loves Him. What could we say if Christ asked us the same question today? I don't want you all to give an immediate answer, really think about that. What would you say? I think all of us would do as Peter did, we would immediately say "Yes Lord, thou knowest that I love thee..." Who would say otherwise? This is our beloved Redeemer asking us if we love Him or not!! Isn't the answer obvious?? But if we think about it, what does it mean to love someone? In the world today, I feel like we use the word a little too lightly! We say I love you so often that sometimes it loses it's meaning! In John 15, the Savior says: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That's a pretty clear definition to me! If we love someone, we will truly do anything for them. We will give up ourselves to serve them. When Christ asks us if we love Him, we all want to say "Yes Lord, I love thee." But can we? If we don't show that love here and now, today, how can we tell Him that we truly love Him? He has shown His love for us, He expects us to do more than just SAY that we love Him, we are told to show it. How do we show it? He's given us that answer too!! "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Well you can't get much clearer than that, can you!! That's a scripture even the Scribes and Pharisees couldn't misunderstand! If we love Him, just DO WHAT HE SAYS!!
     The second line I wanted to tell you about is split into two... towards the middle of the talk, Elder Holland (talking as Christ would once more) says: "Children, did not my life, and my love touch you more deeply than this?" and then towards the end of his talk he says: "To every missionary who has ever stood in a baptismal font and said "having been commissioned of Jesus Christ..." that line was to have changed your convert forever, but it was SURELY to have changed you forever." Wow. Goosebumps, right?? When we feel the love of Christ, we are changed. But more often than not, we change back. Why? I don't know! Maybe it's more comfortable to us, the way we once were, but we change back! We can't say that only the "BAD PEOPLE" do this, the apostles all did it and Christ had to come a reprimand them! We all do it, and we all need to be on the lookout for that. There are two steps to repentance. Change, and then DON'T CHANGE BACK!!
     So that's the spiritual share for the week! Let the love of Christ change us! 
   And now for the funny story! This week was a pretty good one, ha, on Thursday Elder S. and I took a Member family out for pizza. They had two of their kids with them, and 8 year old boy (recently baptized) and an 11 year old girl. Towards the end of the meal, the 8 year old started teasing his sister about having a boyfriend... she didn't like that very much!! She grabbed him by the mouth, it didn't look like she grabbed him that hard, but he started crying and screaming!! Elder S. and I felt SO awkward so we just looked down at our plates and kept eating! I looked up as the poor little guy looked at me and I saw his tooth was hanging by a thread out of his mouth!!!! She gripped his mouth so hard that his tooth popped out!! AHHHH!!! He was so scared, I felt so bad!... but then his parents looked at him... and laughed!! Elder S. and I were in shock! They just laughed at him and stuffed a napkin in his mouth to stop the blood! the funny part was, after about a minute more of small crying, he was totally fine! What a tough guy! Ha, apparently here in Taiwan it's not awkward for children to fist fight in public! That was news to me! Elder S. and I haven't stopped laughing about that experience all week!
     Well, It's time to go! I'm still going good (I haven't been run over yet) :) and I'm loving every minute here! It's so incredible to be a missionary. I think back to when I was growing up, every Sunday hearing about how one day, I would go on a mission. It's hard to believe I'm here! And that I've been a missionary for over 4 months! Jessi, Macy, and Alec, (and any other kid who's reading this) PREPARE NOW!! Go to church each week, go to EFY, read scriptures and pray daily, DON'T SLUFF SEMINARY!! A mission may seem like it's a totally different world, but let me share a quote from Elder Holland with you! "A lot of missionaries can't wait to get home from their missions and start real life again, but a mission is real life! That's as real as life gets!" Prepare now, and then let a mission mold you into the person God wants you to become.
 
I love all of you! Ni men Jiayou!!!
 
P.S. Shout out to two of my favorite people in Vegas! Pheff and Stephen! Hope things are going great and Steph, I hope you like your shout out! :)
         Kona, I'll give you a shout out too!
 
          Love, Elder Noll
 
 
 
 

Monday, January 21, 2013

January 20, 2013

Yeah!! Hello everyone!
     Questions! (Macy, these are your questions)
     1. Do Missionaries celebrate holidays?
     Yeah, kind of. We take gifts to people, and we say things like "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy New Year!" but we don't get a day off, haha. Those days are actually even busier than other days! We're out contacting all day, because everyone's out shopping or at home with their families so they have time to talk to us!

     2. Do I get more time to myself in Taiwan than in the MTC?
     Definitely NOT! hahaha I get about 30 minutes to myself each night, but the rest of the day is like this:
      6:30 Wake up and work out
          7:00 Shower and eat breakfast
          8:00 Personal Study (study for my lessons that day)
          9:00 Companionship Study (study more! and plan lessons for the day)
          10:00 Language Study
          10:30 go out and preach the gospel!!
          9:00pm come home and plan, plan, plan!
          10:00pm ME TIME! ha! write in my journal, relax, get ready for bed.
     So definitely not much time, right?
     3. Do I get to walk around and go to stores and stuff?
     Yeah, on P-day we can go and do that kind of stuff, but mostly we're too busy to ever really just walk around and shop! And missionaries don't have a lot of money to do that kind of stuff anyway! We went hiking last week with a member and that was really cool, but mostly we just buy our groceries, clean our apartment and write letters!

     4. Do I like Taiwan better than Utah?
     Right now? hmmm, that's a hard question! Then again, there's a little too much snow in Utah right now!! Taiwan is absolutely incredible, and right now it's my home in every way! I don't really miss UTAH, I miss the people in it. Just like when I get home, I might miss TAIWAN a little, but it's the people in a place that really matter!

     5. Am I doing better with the language?
     Yeah, I think so! Here in Taiwan, they have a special system for learning Chinese. There are 3 phases and right now I'm working on Phase 1. Phase 1 is all of the lessons in Preach my Gospel, memorize about 150 vocab words per lesson, memorize grammar and all that stuff, and then we do a practice teaching session with a leader and they pass us off. Usually it takes about 2-3 "move-calls" (a move call is 6 weeks) to pass it off, but I'm hoping to finish it by next Monday! I'm still having a hard time understanding what people are saying back to me, but I'm able to talk a lot better!

     And now for Jessi! That's awesome you're doing Taiwan for your report! Best country in the world... it's also probably one of the most interesting! You wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen! The first thing to know is that EVERY city is famous for some kind of food. I'm not sure what it is in most cities, but ask anyone living there and they'll know! Here in Tainan, it's not any specific food, but it's known for having the best, cheapest, and biggest variety of food! Pretty lucky, right?? Also, BREAD! The bread here is absolutely awesome! They have bakeries on ever block and it's always full of warm, freshly baked bread. Any kind of bread you can imagine, it's in there. Dessert breads (always full of who knows what kind of delicious Taiwanese delicacy), lunch and dinner breads (with all kinds of meat, veggies, and cheese), and then just snack breads! It's almost impossible to resist going in once you've smelled the breads as you walk past one of these stores!

     Also, markets EVERYWHERE! Each street can be turned into a market just over night. You never know where the next one will pop up, and they're always going! In the morning, afternoon, or into the nighttime! Always absolutely PACKED with people and screaming to haggle over prices! Picture the flea market in California... take the entire block of it and compact it into a street about half the size of 9th South and that's a Taiwanese street market for you... oh yeah, and add about 1,000,000 people (all on scooters of course)! And that's another thing... everyone has a scooter. It's actually a huge pain to drive around in a car! There's so much traffic and so many stop lights that a car is just a pain (although there are still a lot of cars) so everyone rides around on scooters. It's nice for us missionaries because we can talk to just about anyone! It's also really funny because the people here have caught on to the way we missionaries work! They all know that if they're next to us, they're gonna here the Gospel, so if we get to a stoplight before people are there, you can usually look back and see about a 10 foot perimeter around us! Pretty comical, but we just scoot back and talk to them anyways!

     So now to the weekly activities!!
          This week has been pretty great! Not a lot of interesting stuff, but I have 2 awesome stories I want to share with you, and they both happened on Saturday!
     The first one! We had a lesson at 5:30 on Saturday night with a guy that we already met with once. The first time we met with him, he didn't have much interest. He found out that we were that "moermen jiao" (Mormon church) and kind of tuned us out the rest of the time, but we invited him to come to our free English class and he came the next week! He watched us missionaries interact with people after and saw that we actually had a sense of humor! I talked with him about music for a while (he loves Queen and Maroon 5) and we just tried to show him that we weren't just robots! He told us he could meet with us again and so this is how we got him to church Saturday night! Now, to preface this, this whole week has been a "finding week." All of our investigators dropped last week, so we were pretty much starting fresh! It's been exhausting, to say the least. We've biked probably 10-25 miles each day this week, and talked to over 170 people (for more than 5 minutes each)!! I was feeling pretty tired, especially because we didn't see a lot of results out of all of our work! But we stayed optimistic and kept praying really hard to find a good investigator who was prepared to receive the Gospel! And that gets us to this guy! We talked a while at first, just trying to help him feel comfortable, and then we taught a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It was a pretty good lesson, I didn't think we did anything too special, but he paid attention the whole time and seemed interested in everything we had to say! At the end, we told him that, based on our actions, we can basically choose what kingdom of glory we can inherit... he said he wanted to go to the Terestrial. Ah man! You're supposed to want the Celestial!!! We talked to him a bit about why the Celestial is so great, and he seemed to change his opinion. After that, we asked him to say a closing prayer. This was so special. I can't begin to explain how awesome it is to witness somebody literally introducing themselves to a God and Savior they've never thought they could talk to before. He began his prayer (he actually started out by saying Dear Lord, Jesus... but we fixed that after his prayer) and then he was silent for about 30 seconds. I was wondering if he forgot what to do next, but I felt like I should just be quiet and listen. Through tears, he choked out 2 sentences. "Thank you." and "Thank you so much for letting me meet Elder Ryan Noll and Elder S." (and yes, he actually tried using our English names) and then he quickly closed the prayer! At first, I thought he might have been laughing, not crying, but then I looked up and he was wiping his eyes!! This guy, who I didn't think we would even have a second chance to teach, just said a beautiful and heartfelt prayer in front of me, and I know that one day he will get baptized!

     I'll apologize here and say that this next story has no spirituality in it whatsoever. Before going to that lesson on Saturday, we had a former investigator call us and tell us he wanted to eat dinner with us! We were pretty stoked, and told him "Yeah, sure!" We asked him where, and he told us he'd come pick us up at the church. We were a little worried because he was pretty shady about not telling us what was going on... we asked a couple more times, and he said his parents were cooking dinner for him and a bunch of friends. We thought it was great! We could meet with our former, and hopefully find a bunch of other investigators at the same time! We were pretty stoked!! We finished our awesome lesson that I just told you about, and then this guy shows up on his scooter to pick us up... we can't ride scooters. We told him we'd just follow on our bikes and he was still REALLY shady about where we were going! He said his parents aren't cooking, but we're going somewhere to eat with them and they invited us... ok??? We asked him if it was a bar, and his response was "Bu suan jiuba..." in a kind of unsure way... that means, "No, it doesn't REALLY count as a bar"... By now, we're both thinking "it's a good thing we've only got 200 kuai on us, because I think we're about to get mugged!" But we followed him to this place, knowing that it could help us find people who desperately need the Gospel (mom, I know you're about ready to kill me, but just keep reading! It gets better!) We pull up to this tall building that looks nothing like a bar, so we thought we'd be pretty safe. And then, to add more to the weirdness of this situation, our former tells us it costs 50 kuai for dinner! We were more than happy to pay, but we were so confused as to what was happening!! We start walking in, and as we're going to the elevator, we're seeing a bunch of old people, nicely dressed, walking around the building. Now we're even more confused because it's not what we're expecting at all. We walk up to a table and pay our 50 kuai and then we walk into the room and see our former brought us to.... a cooking demonstration. A COOKING DEMONSTRATION!!! They were trying to sell us some POTS!!! Elder S. and I were dying with laughter (later) at the fact that our investigator tricked us into coming to a 2 hour convention for pots!!! Needless to say, we were stuck there for about an hour, and then (at the first opportunity) bolted and got some real dinner!! hahaha that was one of the funniest, most disappointing, and craziest situations I've been in so far!!

     Well, I'll end by telling you all that I'm doing great in Taiwan! I'm loving it more and more each day! We're working hard to find, find, and find! Until next week then! Love you ALL!


 Jiayou!!
Here are some pictures Elder Noll sent today: He and his companion went hiking with a member...
Elder Noll has a thing for "cowboy shirts" :)



 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Jan 13, 2013

Good morning everyone!... I guess it's more like good night for all of you, but it's only about 9:00am for me right now!
 
     Well, another week has flown by! We're at our favorite recent converts house right now, his name is Sandwich... haha that's just a nickname that his students call him. His real Chinese name sounds really close to sandwich and so he lets his little students call him that. He's great! He takes us all over on P-days and he has a great testimony! He's incredibly smart too! He's not only read through the Book of Mormon (he just got baptized in August) but before baptism he read through the entire bible!! He's awesome! Last week he took us to Costco so that we could stock up on our Breakfast supplies and this week he's taking us hiking and sight seeing, so you'll hopefully see some pictures next week! It's been pretty cold here too for the last couple of weeks, I'm wrapped up in a scarf and coat half the time! I know it's definitely nowhere near what Utah is like right now, but I think I'm just getting used to the Taiwan heat!
     So this week has been one of those busy busy weeks! I feel like we've been going from lesson to lesson to lesson to home! It's been great! I've loved being so busy, but it's a little difficult when we're not seeing the success we want. BUT, this week in companionship study, we've been focusing on what the role of a missionary truly is. We are preparing people to accept the gospel. We're helping them come unto Christ. It's so comforting to me to know that as long as I'm working to fulfill that purpose, I'm having success. Not everyone is going to accept the message of our Savior, but as long as I'm preaching it then people are coming closer to Christ! People rejected Christ Himself as he taught them, and He was the best missionary the world has ever known or ever will known! 
     We have a couple investigators that are progressing towards baptism now, and it's just been so great to watch them grow! We have a guy (he's gone for a couple of weeks but he'll be back for Guo Nian) who is going to be baptized in February (hopefully) and I've loved working with him and developing that friendship with him! Sad news is that he didn't pass his baptismal interview. No problems with commandments or anything, he just doesn't feel like he is ready for baptism yet, which is actually comforting to me! It shows me that he understands the true importance of Baptism and that he wants to be better prepared for it! His faith is already so great, whenever we ask him whether or not he believes something, his answer is: "Of course! Why doubt?" He's reading the Book of Mormon and he's praying and he continues to grow and progress day by day! 
   One of the principles of the gospel I've seen come out of this teaching experience is that the Gospel strengthens relationships. I met this guy on my first Sunday here in Tainan. I walked into the Chapel for Sacrament meeting and he was sitting by himself on a pew in the back, he had just walked into the Church because he was interested! Talk about being prepared to meet the missionaries, right?? Elder S. decided to test me and have me sit with him and help him understand the importance of the Sacrament meeting and such. Great. Here's this brand new missionary who speaks little to no Chinese and I'm supposed to help out someone who may very well not even have any Christian background what so ever! But, I did it. I sat next to him and started talking to him. He was very nice, and he actually had a lot of interest in English so I tried to help with that a little. As it turns out,he did have a belief in Christ, didn't know much about Him but he believed anyway! After the meeting, I set up a time to meet with him again, got his number and marked the experience off as a "not so special, very ordinary" kind of experience. Turns out, my first contact is looking to get baptized soon! I'm so excited for him! He now has a great testimony about the Restoration, about Christ, and the second we teach him about a new commandment, he starts living it! He's so great, and I can't wait until he knows that he's ready to be baptized himself!
     Other than him, we've got another 13 year old who is being a little difficult at the moment, but I couldn't blame him. When I was 13 I wouldn't be meeting with missionaries, let alone reading scriptures for a pastime!! But this little guy is doing it! He comes to church every week, by himself, and he prays (most days) and he reads the Book of Mormon (again, most days). We even told him, this last Saturday, that we wouldn't force him to come to church! We told him to choose between TV and God, he laughed a little and told us he wouldn't be coming. We were disappointed to say the least, but yesterday morning, as we were waiting for our other investigators to show up, here comes little Brother Huang, riding his bike in the early hours of Taiwanese traffic. Through the rain, wind and cold air, he came to church. He might not think he believes in God, and he might tell us that he doesn't like church that much, but no 13 year old would go through all that if their wasn't some small desire to be there.
     So those are my two stories of the week that I wanted to share with you. My two investigators who are closest to baptism! What else happened this week, Elder S. and I had the chance to go to a big steak house with an investigator, where we had some real American steak! Oh man, it was so good! They had a big, juicy rib-eye steak (American style) on top of noodles and an egg (Taiwanese style) and I think that it should always be done like that! So good!! Here in Taiwan, they bring you steak out to you still cooking... it comes out on a big heated piece of metal inside of a wooden plate, it's really cool! So the steak itself is already cooked, but the egg is sunny-side up and so you can turn it over and cook it yourself or just eat it sunny-side up! Pretty interesting huh? Btw, I forgot to tell you last week, but I finally had some Chou Doufu! Stinky Toufu. Yeah, it's really stinky. Elder S. really loves it, and I thought it was alright, but the smell lingers in your mouth for a good 12 hours!! We've got a video of us eating it, so I'll send that home sometime soon! other than that, no other weird food for me! I'm going to have to work up some nerve and try the pork knuckles, pork intestines, fish eye soup, and all the other crazy stuff we see in the markets! Don't worry dad, I'll get video and pictures so I have some evidence!
     I just wanted to finish by sharing a story with you guys. This week has been a little harder, not in the spiritual aspect but the physical toll missionary work takes! The first day of the week, I decided to go all out and do a bunch of sprints, lunges, and just a bunch of different leg exercises... not very smart when your mode of transportation is a bike, I know. And so I've been pretty sore all week! On Wednesday, it was especially bad! The wind was blowing really hard, it was raining, and we'd been riding for about 20 minutes straight... but I was still, remarkably, in a pretty good mood! As I was sweating through my rain jacket, I thought to myself, man, my legs really hurt. The next thought was a quick prayer just asking God for some strength. I finished and then tried to catch up to Elder S., "kicking it into gear" as dad would say, and it was even more tiring! I got caught up enough to where I could rest a bit, and I swear, my bike just kept going. I was pretty happy about that because I didn't have to pedal anymore, but through those fierce winds and rain, my bike was just catching up to my trainer (as it seemed) of it's own accord. I know we hear stories like this all the time, and I know it's not like I looked back and saw someone pushing my bike, but I know that God was helping me. That small act has made me think a lot about what we're doing here on earth. At first, my thoughts were the same as Ammon's in Alma 26 "For behold, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength, I am weak... but my God is my strength and in Him I can do all things." I thought about how much God loves us, and how He wants to impart His power to us, all we have to do is ask. 
   But then as the week went on, I thought about what I had to do in order to obtain God's help. I had to physically exhaust myself, literally! My legs burned, I was sweating and breathing hard (and I feel like I'm in pretty good shape!) and I literally gave it all I had before stopping to rest a bit! It was only after that that I was able to receive God's help. I thought of the First Vision and the experience Joseph had before ever seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son. He had a very real, very frightening and physically exhausting battle with the Devil. Joseph had to give it everything he had, he had to fight as hard as he was able, and even after that he couldn't triumph. But because he called on God, and after calling on God, put forth real effort, he had a miraculous vision. I'm not saying that we'll be able to have a "Joseph Smith experience" but we can see miracles if we follow his example. 
    Steph and Stephen gave me a little quote book that I've been absolutely engrossed in for the past couple nights! There's a quote in there (I can't remember who said it) but it says: "Pray as if everything depended on God, and then WORK as if everything depended on YOU!" I loved it so much I added it to my quote wall (which, Steph and Stephen will be happy to know, is absoutely full of quotes out of that little book) along with a lot of my other favorite quotes! We our only mortal, but that doesn't mean we can slack off and only rely of God! Of course we need to ask His help for the things we do, but after that first step we need to ACT!! We need to do something! There's another quote I read this morning that goes something like this: "Putting our best foot forward isn't enough, the other foot has to follow it if we want to see real progress." And so my invitation of the week, is similar to a well known sports brand. (Jessi will like this one.) Just Do It. Let's stop the complaining, and the groaning and the mumbling, we know from Laman and Lemual's story that those kinds of actions get us nowhere real fast! But let's just get up and do something! If we want something done, let's not wait around for it to happen, let's get up and get it done ourselves! That's my invitation, and it's an invitation to myself as well! I promise that if you do this, you'll see God bless you so much. We need to come unto God in order to be lifted up by Him.
     That's it for the week! I love all of you and I think about you a lot! I hope all is well and I'll hopefully hear from you soon!
          Love, Elder Noll
 
     Mom and Dad,
          Hello! How's it going in the new callings? I'll bet you're tearing it up! I'm doing really great, and I'm constantly thinking back to all of the advice you've given me throughout the years! I wish I would have kept a book with all the things you've told me inside! I'm constantly telling my companion and District the different stories and pieces of knowledge I've learned from experiences with you, and I've come to figure out that I must have paid a little closer attention that I thought! I remember quite a bit! Just want you guys to know how much I love you, and I'm working my hardest to make you proud! But more important than that, I'm becoming somebody different, I read a scripture the other day in Alma. I think it's Alma 46, but I'm not sure. It says something like "if all men had been, and were, and ever would be like unto Moroni, the very powers of hell would be shaken forever. For he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, and like unto the other Sons of Mosiah, and like unto Alma. For they were all men of sound understanding, and the were all MEN OF GOD." I'm working hard to become that man that God wants me to be. I know that this is through constant diligence, daily scripture study and appliance, daily prayer and service! I'm so grateful to you two for helping me grow and learn and helping me get here where I am today! I love you so much!
 
Love, Elder Ryan Noll

Monday, January 7, 2013

January 7, 2013

Hello everyone!
First things first, the 5 things to look for in the Book of Mormon are:
- Faith in Christ (or acts of faith)
- Repentance
- Baptism
- the Holy Ghost
- Endure to the End
... that's what I'm looking for in my Book of Mormon right now because that is what I've been called to help people do. That is literally the Missionary Purpose! You all don't HAVE to look for those things specifically, that's just my personal topic(s) right now. I want you all to just pick any topic you want to look for in the Book of Mormon, or any question you want answered, write it down in the opening cover of the Book of Mormon, and then mark away as you read! If you're diligent about looking for this thing, you'll find it in every page!! Yes, even in the Isaiah chapters! So Jiayou! Keep going!

     So Grandpa is doing a little better then? Although he might be healing slowly, I feel like he will make a full recovery. From the way that dad explained it, it didn't sound like he would... but right now, I just feel like I should tell you all that I believe he will recover fully. 
    Ha! I'm glad that my letters have done something more than bore you all with my never ending praise of Taiwan, and my endless advice I try to give to all of you! Wow, I can't believe it's in the negatives there! And here I am, sweating in an internet cafe! ;)

     This week has been great, as always! First of all, I'm not sure if I ever thanked you for all of the letters from the ward and family! That was the COOLEST thing ever! Elder S. and I opened one every day during our Companionship study! Thank you everyone for the love and support!

     So this week we had some interesting experiences! There was one day (I forget which day it was) when we had lessons all day (awesome) and then we ate some dinner, went to another lesson and then we were on our way to a "less active's" house. We passed an intersection and I saw this scooter running the red light to my right, missing me by a couple feet and ramming the scooter behind me head on! It was so loud! Later Elder S. told me he thought they hit me and he was thinking to himself: "My trainee died!!" So we slammed on our brakes and I ran over to see what I could do... It's a little bit more difficult doing a patient assessment in Chinese... But I did my best to put her at ease and keep her smiling. Nothing too serious, no blood or anything and she had a helmet on. The scariest part was the fact that some girls ran over to "help" before I got there and they were trying to lift her to her feet! I ran over and told them to keep her still, had one of them hold her head for C-spine, and then just talked with her until the EMT's got there. She was remarkably calm! I got her to laugh a little bit and she told me that it was only her wrist and her leg that were bothering her so she was ok. When the EMT's got there, they started "attempting" to get her on a backboard (I won't even try to tell you how they did it because Dad would cringe) and asked the EMT if I could help at all (he told me to take off so I passed her off to them and went on to my lesson! I found out later that Elder S., who wasn't entirely sure what to do at the time, took a couple pictures for all of you! Ha, I'll send them in a letter because I don't really want to put those in an e-mail. So, time number two that EMT class has paid off! 

      We have a 13 year old kid with a baptismal date right now, and then we've got another guy who is AWESOME who we're hoping to baptize in February! I'm sorry, I don't have a ton of time to write today so this may be shorter and not as full of the good Gospel related stuff as last week! We also did exchanges this week! I went on an exchange with an Elder C. (the Tainan Zone leader) and guess what? He wrestled at South Summit, and then went on scholarship to wrestle at Air Force Academy! He's definitely a stud! I found out that the zone leaders have some serious hookups (including not only a HUGE, open spaced apartment, but also a bench with a weight set! Just for bench press but still, it sure beats a pair of 30 lb dumbells!) and they also have a ton of food because they have a Costco in their area! Awesome right? So that was a good night, I spent the night there and then pedaled on back to my area!

     That next day, we had a lesson with a 16 year old who has some family problems. He basically plays computer games all day and his mom doesn't like that so much so she tells him to get off and HE doesn't like that so much so he ignores her... basically it's just not a good relationship. 
     The mom "listens" in on our lessons (she does talk quite a bit, I'll give him that) and this time we asked her if she would give the prayer for us. All we told her was that we address Heavenly Father, say whatever we want to Him, ask for whatever, and then close in the name of Jesus Christ. It was one of the most special experiences I've ever witnessed. 
     Mom, Dad, I've never been present for one of your personal prayers when you're praying for us kids. I wouldn't expect you to pour your hearts out for us over dinner or something, but I know that you pray for us all the time because I feel the blessings because of those prayers. 
     This mother, who has so much love for a child who doesn't see it, poured her whole soul into the prayer. As she started, she just started telling Heavenly Father about the problem she had, and then she told Him how much she loved her son and how much she wanted him to love her and how she wanted to fix the relationship with him. She got about a minute in when I started to feel the tears silently slipping down my cheeks! I was witnessing a parent pray for her child! I thought it was a little awkward at first, but then I thought of you mom. I thought of how I never appreciated the love that you showed me on a daily basis, I thought of the times that I may have been snippy with you, or ungrateful for your effort and love. And then I thought of dad, and all the times I've taken your advice and laid it aside for my own, teenager knowledge. All the times I was grumpy because you told me to mow the lawn, all the times that I chose to hang out with friends instead of doing yard work with you. I couldn't hold my emotions in! I felt so bad and so guilty and then so mad that this kid had his parents here and yet he was wasting that blessing! 
     After her prayer, I was quiet for a long time. (During the prayer the kid had snapped at his mom and so when she ended it was really awkward and she quietly wiped away her tears and went into her room). I knew that if I opened my mouth I would say something out of anger instead of love. So I thought for a while while Elder S. talked on the Book of Mormon for a bit, and I thought about how the Savior would handle this. I made up my mind about what I wanted to ask him and then I did, he was really quiet and then he opened up a little. I bore my testimony on the role of parents, specifically mothers, and told him how much I missed mine. I told him he had a chance to be with his parents now, and that I know they loved him so much! It was really special, to me at the very least, and I hope that he felt the Spirit that was touching me as well.

     What's the moral of that story? All you kids who don't listen to your parents, know that one day you're going to leave that house, know that one day you're going to be on your own. I promise you that you will regret not listening. You will regret not loving them as much as you should have. You will be so lonely and so sad when you can't see there faces every day. I know this because I've gone through it now! I miss you mom and dad! I'm so sorry for not being a better child! I'm sorry for not appreciating you as much as I should have! I know that I won't understand the sacrifices you've given me until I have a kid myself, but I appreciate that sacrifice more now than I ever have before!

     I'm sorry to cut this off so suddenly, but I got to go! I love all of you so much! I can't wait to hear from you next week!
     Also, I mailed the package with all the stuff in it... FINALLY!

 love you! Love, Elder Noll