February 3, 2013

Hello everyone! Another week flown by and here I am, drinking my delicious donggua tea, with a load of new experiences to share with you! This week has been just as great as all the rest!

     So I'll start with the weekly report and finish up with my Spiritual thought of the week!

Monday:

     Monday was just our normal P-day activities! We hung out with a recent convert and he took us to Anping to get some of there famous Douhua. (Douhua is like sweet toufu in a sweet kind of soy milk stuff with different funky stuff inside... yeah, not exactly a very clear explanation but I don't really know what's in it myself! It's good though!) And then at night, we have a group of investigators we meet with every night. This night they took us to a new restaurant that opened up. Authentic Thai food! Oh wow, it was incredible. I had the curry rice and thought I was in heaven! It was incredibly cheap too! For a GIANT heaping of rice, an egg, and a big fried piece of chicken, it was only 2 American dollars! I love Taiwan!

Tuesday:

     We played ping pong with another recent convert who is about 16 years old and he kicked our butts! I should definitely work on my ping pong skills if I want to compete with the members here! So that was fun, but the best part of the day was going to a members house and having a quick lesson with them. These members have two little daughters that are absolutely adorable and you can literally see how much this family loves them! I love watching them during sacrament meeting because there is just so much happiness and love between the four of them! It makes me miss you guys a lot, but it makes me so happy to see that they have such a strong family! I had a chance to share my "conversion story" with them about visiting the church historical sites. I feel like I had a good testimony before going to New York, but my testimony was purely in Christ. I believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and I believed the Book of Mormon was true, but it didn't have much of a personal connection for me. Visiting those sites, specifically the Sacred Grove, rooted my testimony and I will never forget the personal growth because of that experience.

Wednesday:

     This was another finding day! It was completely spent looking for other people to teach with not much success, but I know that as long as we're working hard, God blesses us. We spent the entire day finding and literally had no visible success. No one set up to meet with us, no one even gave us a telephone number! We finished the day with English, and then had one of our investigators come meet with us randomly! We sat down with him and asked him how his Book of Mormon reading was going... He read 20 chapters in one night just because he couldn't sleep!!! Isn't that awesome?? That's like 2 hours of reading for me!! He's got a baptismal date for the 23rd of this month and he's so prepared to be baptized!! I love that guy!

Thursday:

     Another finding day! Nothing much really happened today!

Friday:

     We had an English meeting in Gaoxiong where I saw Elder G. He's doing great and is loving Taiwan! His trainer used to be Elder S's companion and Elder S. tells me good things about him all the time!

Saturday:

     We spent almost all of Saturday helping the ward deep clean the church! While we cleaned, we took some breaks and met with some less active members and had some success in getting 3 less actives to church on Sunday! It was great! That was just about all we did on Saturday, and then at night we had a big meeting with the bishopric and presidencies where we just discussed the monthly plan... fun, right?!

Sunday:

     I love Sundays! Church is always great to see our less actives and investigators show up! I have to tell you, Church is so different as a missionary! It's pretty stressful trying to get people up on time, making sure they're coming, making sure they're not buying breakfast on the way over, and then making sure they have friends to sit next to, making sure they're not confused as they're listening... making sure they ARE listening! As stressful as it is, I still love it. Taking the sacrament calms it all down real fast! So that was basically our Sunday!

 

And that's the week in a summary!! Now on the the important part, the Spiritual side!!

 

This week, I had a chance to read President Uchtdorf's talk in conference, "Of Regrets and Resolutions" - October 2012 Conference, Saturday Morning session. I loved listening to that talk in the MTC! When I first heard it, I just thought about how I should work as hard as possible in the MTC and I wanted to be able to look back and have no regrets! Now, looking back, I have none! I loved every minute of the MTC and I really worked hard! I think we can always work a little harder, but I can honestly say I gave it my all and I enjoyed each and every moment at the MTC. Now, I'm starting a new chapter. The MTC was like the introduction to a book, or like the chapter heading, now I'm actually smack-dabb in the middle of the story! Here in Taiwan I don't think it's possible to relax, especially not on the roads, but I know that each day I need to give it my all and really put in 110% as I go about my day! This talk makes me want to ride my bike a little faster, talk to at least 2 more people, study harder and pray longer! As I read this talk this last week, I thought back to an experience I had in High School. Mom, Dad, you're sure to remember this one! It was my senior year and I was wrestling at the JV Rocky Mountain Rumble, I had gone undefeated and now I was wrestling for the 145 championship. I was so stoked, I was feeling nice and rested and I was really ready to just tear this skinny little guy apart! The match started and we were pretty even! I'd get a take down and ride him for the round, and then the next round he'd do the same to me. I remember he was up with just a little bit of time left so I really needed to score, I took a risk and scored!! Overtime. I was exhausted... but I still had control and was determined to win. We started the round and neither of us moved, we just watched each other for a second... we tied up and I snapped him down. I still remember the feeling of giddy joy as I leaned on him, thinking I was about a second away from winning!! I got careless and tried to spin around behind him to get my points... I over-spun and he got behind me, thus, winning the match. Even today, almost 2 years later, that match tears me up. I can't stand reliving it, but I can't help it sometimes! I still have nights where I relive every second of that match, and I tense up as I go through the motions that would have won me the match. How sad is that?? This was a pointless High School wrestling match!! Can you imagine the regret we would have if we got to Judgement Day knowing that we slacked off at the last second?? That would absolutely harrow up our minds for eternity!!

     So my message, and invitation, today is this. Live life to it's fullest. Have no regrets. When something needs to be done, do it and do it with a smile and with all the energy you can possibly muster! Now, this is a different invitation than "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!". This invitation is to follow the Master and to do as He does. This is an invitation to come unto Christ and Live the way He showed us how to live. Loving, forgiving, and ACTING until the very end.

 

Love, Elder Noll

 羅正傑長老