December 15, 2013

George, George, George of the Jungle... Greetings from the jungle of Taiwan... yes, that theme song has been stuck in my head for a week straight and, again, yes, I break out in a George of the Jungle yell sometimes on my bike. Judged. 

Nantou is I N C R E D I B L E. I love it in this place. It's REALLY rural and the population isn't totally huge, but the people are so kind and just pure at heart. This first week, I've bought maybe 5 meals. The rest of the time we've been given meals by members, investigators, less active members and recent converts. The ward is really kind to us here and I'm so excited to be here serving them. 

It's super weird to be considered an older missionary now. I feel like time has gone by so fast! I find myself thinking a lot about where I was last year at this time, being trained by Elder S in Tainan. I never thought that the day would come that I would be the Zone Leader in charge of all those missionaries! I remember seeing the Zone Leaders call when I was just being trained and thinking to myself that I needed to be more mature when I answered and kind of show off a little... it's odd to be on the other end of the line! I try to show my Zone that I'm a fun dude, so usually when I answer the phone I yell in a super loud, high pitched voice: "WEEEEIIII!" (That's the way you say hello in Taiwan on the phone)... the reactions are pretty interesting. 

We've had a really good week with quite a bit of success! Elder R and I have been working super hard in all aspects of the work, and it's really showing! We set over 5 Baptismal dates this week and found 2 new investigators as well as worked with up to 10 different less active members! We're planning on baptizing at least 2 people next Saturday and we hope that more will be able to hit that date. It's interesting the miracles that prayer and hard work will bring!

I've got multiple people from my MTC zone (the guys that went in 6 weeks before me) in my zone right now and it's super fun! Elder K, Elder G, Elder C and a few others! We're all having a blast out here! Also, the Sister A that you said moved into Freddy's ward is now in my district. Kinda crazy, huh? 

We're really stoked for Christmas coming up! We're doing the mission-wide Christmas activity on Thursday, and we're going to Sun-Moon Lake! It's gonna be a BLAST!! I can't wait to talk to all of you guys in 10 days or so! 

My spiritual share from this week comes from a visit we made to a man yesterday. He is a VERY active member in the ward, and he invites us over for dinner every Sunday night. While we were there, we asked him about his conversion story and boy did he have a story! When we asked him, he got a little smile on his face, put down his spoon and leaned back in his chair. He looked at each of us and then he started into one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard. The experiences and the little bits and pieces of the story were honestly not all that incredible. It was the sincerity and the purity of heart in which he told the story that made it so awesome. I was so moved by the Spirit and so touched by his testimony that it almost brought tears to my eyes. 

I want to testify that selflessness and love for the Savior brings Spiritual Power. When we are accepting of other people and when we give of what we have, we will receive so much more. I know that this is true, for I see it every single day! I love this work, I love the Lord. I love all of you, and I'm happy to have met each of you and be able to learn from your examples! 

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Noll