Taichung Time
We had quite a great week here in the
Zhongxing Zone!! Being busy with a few exchanges, Jedi Council, eating
until we explode, working with drunks, and falling in pitch black
ditches, made for quite an exciting week!
Monday:
4 characters. 石頭烤肉. I know
that you have no idea how to read that out loud, let alone understand what
it means, so I'll explain. Imagine a BBQ with a never ending flow of
meat... basically the Taiwanese version of Tucanos. We went there last
Monday and brought along the member who let us use his Skype stuff so
that we could thank him for helping us out. SO GOOD. I haven't been so
full since that one time we ate at that buffet at the New Orleans man!
Tuesday:
Exchanges with Elder W!
He says he actually knows Aunt Sherri and Uncle Gary... You'd recognize
his mom. She plays the mom who leaves her husband in "17 Miracles."
He's an incredible missionary and he's an absolute blast to be around! I
was a little put out at first when I found out we were going to have to
be exchanging on New Years eve so Elder R and I wouldn't be
together, but Elder W was really awesome and we had a great time
together. We carried on the fruit ninja tradition and drank some papaya
milk to toast the New Year. That night was supposed to be full of golden
investigator lessons and different recent converts that we were going
to be visiting... basically a full plan, but it all fell through and we
ended up knocking doors for about 2 hours straight. We met some really
cool people and saw a giant, super nasty and venomous spider. Not cool.
Thursday:
Jedi Council. It's really
called Mission Leadership Council (MLC), but come on guys, Jedi Council
is so much better. Master Yoda (a.k.a. President Blickenstaff) is such
an incredible example to me. I love talking with him and listening to
his shares about things going on in the mission. We, Elder R and
I, were pretty over the moon to share with the other leaders and
President that our zone, along with one other, had the highest amount of
baptisms and confirmations throughout the mission. A total of 12. We're
especially proud because our zone is known for never baptizing. We were
only expected to get around 4, but we found
some great miracles. We expect to do it again and get at least 10 this
next month! Please pray for us!
We also met a guy who was totally sloshed that night. He
couldn't even talk. He was sitting on the ground outside of the 7-11
that we were eating in and he kept trying to stand up... he finally did
it and then went crashing down against the glass of 7-11 and then
smacked his head on the ground after that and didn't move. I honestly
thought he was dead! I went over and checked to make sure everything was
okay, looked for any injuries and miraculously there was nothing! I
picked him up, put him in a chair and told him: "DON'T MOVE." He tried
to thank me and started blabbering in a language that no one understood
so I looked at him and told him again not to move, then we left. It's
pretty fun to be a missionary and come across these kinds of
situations!
Saturday:
Fell in a ditch and almost
broke my wrist by stopping myself and trying to save my precious bike. I
was singing a song in my head and didn't see the hole 'cause it was so
dark outside, then I scared myself when I started plummeting
towards the ground. In the end, my bike only took a little bit of damage
that I'll probably be fixing today and I wasn't injured at all! The
Lord takes pretty good care of His servants!
I only have a little bit of time to give a quick
spiritual share, so I'll be quick and to the point. The Lord Atoned for
us so that we could change. If you feel like you're stuck in a rut, or
you feel like it's impossible to change, look to the Lord and allow His
Atonement to shape you. Let it become the very nucleus of your being and
let it shape your entire life. I've felt this power so much on my
mission, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the power is real.
I love you all so much! Have a great week!
Elder Noll
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| LDS Chapel |
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| Ryan...still being Ryan :) |
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