Taichung Time
SO!! We had a pretty fun week over here in the
beautiful land of Caotun!! On Monday, we hung out in casual clothes all
day as we went hiking and played basketball for the majority of the
day... it felt really weird not to be wearing a shirt and tie! I felt so
underdressed as we were walking around the city! It's weird the things
that you get used to on a mission... but I won't lie to you and say that
I prefer a shirt and tie! Like that'll happen! haha!
The line of meal appointments continued on
throughout the whole week, and I'm feeling so full of food I could
burst. On Tuesday, we went to another Thai place with a really awesome
family of recent converts and it was SOOOOOO good! Dad and Jessi, you
guys would LOVE this place. Everything's really spicy (which, you'll be
surprised to know that I like that now) with lot's of different meats
slathered in different tangy/sour sauces! We ate so much and my stomach
was so uncomfortable for the next 2 days as I digested the spicy peppers
and sauces. I thought my stomach was literally on fire. It was totally
worth it.
That same day, we went to the Yuanlin chapel to hold
a Zone Training Meeting. It was a total blast to be with the members of
our zone and to talk with them and inspire them about how we are going
to hit certain goals in the month of February. We also had the assistants to the President come and attend as well, so it was really
fun to hang with Elder H and Elder E. I even got a chance to
wrestle with Elder E after ZTM and it got me pretty fired up! Man,
I miss that kind of exercise!!!
We had some fun working together in our own area for
the next few days after that. We met with a couple of our investigators
and helped them progress towards their baptismal dates. We have quite a
few really great investigators lately, and they're all gaining small
testimonies as they struggle along with their individual problems and
concerns... It's been a humbling experience for me to work with these
people. It's definitely tested my patience and helped me learn more of
what it means to serve people and be charitable. We had a member talking
in church yesterday about his work (he's an owner of a small restaurant
and he does everything from cooking to serving to washing dishes) and
he shared a story about an annoying customer who was getting on his
nerves more and more as the time went by. Eventually, he thought about
the Savior and how He always served with love and patience and never
once lost his temper or allowed uncharitable thoughts to enter His mind.
This man then said a prayer of gratitude for the lesson he learned
about what it means to truly serve God's children. That story really
touched me. There have been times when I've been so annoyed because
somebody's not progressing fast enough, or they won't keep the
commitments that I invite them to do, and I let it get to me and bug me
quite often... but it shouldn't be that way. I want to emulate the
Savior's example and love God's children the way that He does. It's
going to take some work on my part, of course! But I'm determined to do
it, and I know that He'll be by my side helping me feel of His love all
the while.
When I went over to Zhanghua on Friday to work with a
new missionary, Elder C, I had one of the most special experiences
of my life. We decided that we were going to go look for a specific less active member to visit, so we found him on the map and headed towards
his house.... it was literally up a mountain! We were killing ourselves
and our bikes as we rode up this steep hill for a good hour! When we
finally found the place, it wasn't there. The street was completely
missing! Disappointed and discouraged, we were about to head down when
we saw that another less active lived near the mountain we were on. Just
by coincidence, the street we needed to take was right next to where we
were at the time, so we decided we should go find this guy. We looked
and looked, but couldn't find the address. I was in a new area that I'd
never been to before, and Elder C said that he had a hard time
reading maps, so you can imagine the frustration that we both felt! But
we both new that we needed to find this man, so we kept looking.
Finally, after an hour and a half of biking, dripping in sweat, we
arrived at the door to this little house. We knocked and saw that the less active brother was home! He was overwhelmed with joy to see us and
heartily ushered us in to the house to eat guava and chat. Turns out, he
and his mother joined the church about 3 years ago! About 2 minutes
into the conversation, we heard a woman's voice outside say: "Oh! The
Missionaries are back!" She came in, and it turned out to be the his sister! She had been baptized over 3 years ago and she helped
her 2 younger brothers and her mother join the church. She's a very
active member of the Relief Society Presidency now in Taichung. When she
saw us, she was so excited, almost to the point of tears! She said that
her mother, an older and frail woman, had fallen and broken her collar
bone about a week ago. Even though they had taken her to the doctor and
had it operated on, she was still in a lot of pain, and they'd been
praying for help. When the active sister saw us, she knew that God had
answered their prayers and she then asked us if we could do a Priesthood
Blessing.
How grateful I am to be able to be a tool that the
Lord can use to answer the prayers of His beloved children. I was so
touched by that experience, and I know that, although I may never see
that family again, I will never forget them or the feelings that I had
in their home.
I want to leave you with a small spiritual share
today. As I listened to the brother speak in Sacrament meeting
yesterday, I marveled at him. He's been a member of the church for just
over 3 months, and yet he's so full of the love of Christ and he's
bursting with the Spirit. I watched him, and I thought of all that he
gave up to be a member of the church. Coffee, tea, alcohol, drugs,
friendships, he sacrificed the booming business of an open restaurant on
Sunday so that he and his wife could go to church, and many other
things that I probably don't even know about. Ask yourself this
question... What would you give up for the Savior? Abraham gave his only
Son. Many prophets gave their own lives. Early saints gave up
everything they had in order to follow God's council! What is it that
you can give up to be more consecrated unto the Lord? It's something
I've thought long and hard about over the past week, and I felt so
touched as I watched this man speak yesterday. God asks everything of
us, and in return, He gives us all that He has. Don't ever forget where
our standing is with God. He expects us to fully consecrate ourselves
unto him, that's not something we can debate! But He promises us
absolutely everything we need in return for our sacrifices.
Elder Noll
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