January 26, 2014

 When I was at home, I was just like any other teenage kid... I thought that Stake Conference should have just been "Stake Day Off!" Now on my mission, this is the 5th Stake Conference that I've attended... I can't even begin to explain to you how difficult it is to stay awake during a Stake Conference when everything is in Chinese... but I did it! And I learned some good stuff from it! :D

We had a pretty dandy week! Lots of exchanges again, and some fun finding activities, along with a whole lot of lessons! On Monday, we went up to Taichung to see all of the missionaries who would be moving and to hang out with my recent convert, L. (have you met him  through facebook yet? I know that F has...) It was so much fun to see everyone and to be able to chat with them. Elder B is doing great and he's really happy right now, Elder H is just duggyin' like a boss in the office, and Elder W is heading home! I'd never tell him this, but he's been one of the most influential role models to me throughout my whole mission! One of the most exciting events of the new move call? Elder C is coming into my zone! He's serving in the mountains of Puli! I had a chance to go on exchanges with him last Tuesday and we had a blast together! It's so weird to be his zone leader now! All of my memories of Elder C were from Daya, so it was a little different to be taking him around Caotun!! He's doing great though! His Chinese has gotten a lot better and he's super happy to be in Puli!

We've been working really hard with a few people for the past month or so, and they really are not progressing at all. So we discussed our situation for a while yesterday during our companionship study, and we decided that we were basically going to be starting over here. We need to continue meeting with those people we already have, but we won't spend so much time on them. What we hope to do is use our faith, and go find those people whom God has prepared to hear this message! We're totally pumped to get out there and start tearin' up the streets! Both of us are really excited and we've planned out a lot of fun activities to find this next week!

We're also excited because the Chinese New Year is here!!!!! I'm gonna gain a lot of weight. As of now, we have 12 different people lined up to feed us HUGE meals over the next week and a half! The members of Taiwan are so incredible. They have such huge hearts and they love to show us how much they care for us by stuffing us full of incredible (sometimes incredibly weird) food! But don't worry... Elder R and I have decided that we will be going on a vegetarian diet to lose whatever weight we put on once the New Year holidays are over... we'll see how it goes.

I don't have a lot of time today, so I'll end with a quick share about something I've been thinking a lot about this week. I'll be totally honest and tell you all that I didn't understand the commandments very much before coming on a mission, and as a counter effect, I didn't understand the law of obedience very well either. I'm not saying that I understand perfectly now or that I could ever become perfect, but I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have obtained over the past year and a half. 

Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 

The commandments that the Lord has revealed unto us are not simple guidelines that can be forgotten or even changed on a whim. We are invited and expected to be perfect. To follow ALL of God's commandments to a tee. Obedience is a choice, and it is the only way that we will ever become what God has planned for us to become.

I hope you guys are all doing great! Love ya!

Love, Elder Noll