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