March 24, 2013

Hey guys! Sounds like it's been a pretty busy week!! I feel like these e-mails are always a little hard to write at first, there's so much that happens on a daily basis but the weeks go by so fast that I can barely remember half of them! Don't worry though, it might surprise you- but my journal writing has been pretty good since I've gotten on island... maybe I should just start bringing it with me to the internet cafe! To answer the question this week, yes... I can see the pictures if you attach them.

     I got your letter this week! The one with the quote and the pictures of Jessi's ridiculous shirt and Alec's birthday stuff, and Macy being weird! haha Those pictures make my week guys, you have no idea! I love them so much and each new picture usually ends up in my picture book and it goes around with me everyday. I love showing you guys off to my investigators and ward members, and they enjoy listening to the crazy stories about all of you... well, I enjoy telling them. I'm not really sure how much they like listening to the broken Chinese and me cracking up at my own story at the end... oh well! :)

     I'm sorry if this E-mail is a little shorter this week, I've got A LOT of stuff to do today! Well, the majority of this week was spent doing one specific thing. Helping out a man who literally isn't able to do anything himself... It's one of the saddest cases I've ever seen in my life. He is about 50 years old with a 13 year old son. The son is in charge of taking care of him. I don't want to try to paint this picture for you, because it's pretty graphic, but let's just say my eyes well up with tears whenever I see this family. We went to visit him on Saturday because Elder D just felt like we should. I followed, just because I was being a good junior companion haha, and when we got there I was shocked. We've visited him before and his situation has always been pretty bad, but this day was so much worse. The entire hall of his apartment complex smelled horrible, and when we got to his room he could only weakly lift his head to see it was us. He started trying to talk to us, but his throat was so parched that he couldn't say anything. We gave him some water to drink and he finally told us that his son hadn't been home in 2 days... that means that he hadn't drank or eaten anything for about 2 days. We were shocked! We stayed and helped him drink more, gave him his medicine and then ran to get him some lunch. We let him eat while we talked with him and promised that we would come back to get him some dinner... this poor guy. He literally can't move more than a couple of feet on a bed by himself... he can't move more than his forearms and even then they're not very controlled. My heart just broke as he smiled at us and told us how much he loved us and about how he was praying that someone could help him. Often when we visit him, we sing to him. So that day we decided to sing his favorite song, "Lead Kindly, Light." What a beautiful song! One of the verses highlights a very real truth that many of us face at times... "the night is dark and I am on my own. Lead thou me on." Wow. That line of the song lets me feel the role of the Savior so powerfully. Here on earth, here in Taiwan, I've had some nights that I thought were pretty dark. I can't say that they were anywhere near as dark as some other people may have experienced, but they were lonely and hard for me to get through... the only way I did get through them was by following the Savior's Kindly Light. The Savior is always leading us, we just need to look for Him.

     I love you all more than I could ever express in this simple e-mail! This week I've missed you all more than usual! I'm not lying when I tell you how often I look at your pictures! Every night! I think about the examples each of you have been in my life. Whether it's the love I feel from Auntie Sue when we're talking, the dinners and holidays with Grandma and Grandpa Noll, Aunt Sherri, Uncle Gary, Aunt Francie, or the times at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Doug's house. The visits from Stephanie, Brian and Trent, the advice from Stephen, and the constant flow of love from each of you... I appreciate it all and hold those experiences so close to my heart now more than ever before. I love you, and I always will. I look forward to a whole lot more experiences when I get back!! (Which means Stephen and Feff, you guys better be keeping a list of the good movies to see!!) Love ya guys! Jiayou!!

Love Elder Noll

 

 

 PS  I hope you're all loving the snow back home... haha, I'm dying of heat here right now... I love it!! The only time to rival how much I've been sweating lately was wrestling practice. It's pretty great!

       I hope you guys are still loving the Book of Mormon! Are Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Sue doing it? I just finished mine this last week and it's pretty awesome! Maybe I'll send it to you in my next package... I just want you to know I love you! I've read your parting letters a lot over the past couple weeks, and they give me so much strength! I don't think a minute goes by when I don't think of you, and I'm serious when I say I tell family stories at least once every lesson! My companion must be pretty sick of it by now! I love ya guys! Until next week!
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(go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxvimHtghHE for a version of Lead Kindly, Light)