March 28, 2014

Greetings from Dunder Mifflin. I'm chillin' out here next to Elder Dwight and ready to hit the streets and preach some Gospel!!

I'm lovin' the office! It's a totally different atmosphere in here guys, I wish that I could explain it, but you have to work in here yourself in order to truly understand. I'm not sweatin' my butt off all day under the sun, but I'm twice as tired here in the Office! As a Zone Leader, I found so much satisfaction as I learned to love and serve all the Missionaries in my Zone with all the energy I had. I can honestly say that I fell deeply in love with the rural, empty streets of the Zhongxing Zone. I'll always be able to look back at that time and know that I gave it my all and left nothing left in the tank. What an incredible feeling! 

My last Saturday in Nantou was as normal as any other Saturday. We rode all over and ran into awesome miracles! We got stood up the day before by a new investigator, which we were pretty sad about, but as we rode to the church on Saturday, he totally ran into us on the road and wanted us to take him to the Chapel to sit and talk with him and his Girlfriend!! He's a great guy and he has some real interest! 

That night, as we were going to pick up a less active Young Man, I got the phone call. President called me around 5:00pm and told me that Jessi had gotten his Mission Call!!! I was so grateful for President Blickenstaff calling me to chat with me about Jessi! It was touching to know that he would call me in the middle of a proselyting day to tell me such news... but that wasn't it. After he broke that news to me, we chatted for a good five minutes and then I told him that I had to go get this kid... he told me to wait one more second, he had something else he wanted to tell me. He then proceeded to tell me that I was needed in the Office to fill the seat of Operations Manager. You better believe I didn't see that one coming from anywhere. So I finished the day out and then started to pack up all the stuff that I own so that I could move to the Office the following Monday. 

The Office. It's... different. We spent the whole week down in Gaoxiong because of some Zone Conferences that we were doing, so that was totally sweet. I got to hang around my old area, see my friends down there, and see a bunch of Missionaries that I haven't seen in FOREVER! Wow, it was a special experience to hang out down there for 4 days! As Operations Manager, I and my companion, the Recorder, are in charge of basically taking care of all the Missionaries and their apartments. We spent the majority of the 4 days in Gaoxiong helping the Missionaries buy things for their apartments and moving a bunch of stuff. When we weren't helping out with Zone Conference or moving apartments around, we were driving to our next appointment! So we are pretty dang busy in the Office!

One of the most AWESOME parts of being in the Office is the Apartment that we live in. More importantly, the weight set in the apartment. We've got a full-on American Bench Press along with a full set of dumbells (10-70 lbs) along with enough plates to get about 315 pounds. Let's just say that Elder E and I are hitting it HARD right now, and we're both SO sore!! I'm totally LOVIN' it!! So no worries pops, there's no way I'm getting fat here! 

 

I'm so pumped guys. To know that President trusts me with this just puts an unquenchable fire in my chest! It makes me want to go out and scream out to everyone how totally AWESOME the message is that we share... so I'm gonna go do it! No more talk! I'm ready to get r' done!

Love you guys！ Talk to you next week!

Elder Noll

March 23, 2014

Well, this has been one of the most eventful weeks of my mission, and yet, not a whole lot actually happened! Let's just get right into it, because I don't have a whole lot of time today!! 

So, the week started out with an AWESOME exchange. I stayed in Caotun with a new Elder from Yuanlin, and he's a total stud. He wrestled and boxed in High School, and he's a totally awesome guy! Totally chill, and a hard worker! We had a great exchange, and stayed up late into the night just talking about the glory days... wrestling tournaments, college stories, mission stories and then talked about the future for a long time! It was so much fun! 

On Wednesday, we met with a really awesome investigator. He pretty much has no interest in what we're sharing right now, but he has some real potential! His wife is a member from Costa Rica!! She's pretty less active, but she has a great testimony and we love meeting with their family. We had a great lesson about the Word of Wisdom and why it is that we don't drink tea... he didn't really understand WHY we actually keep this commandment, but as we were teaching him, I realized something. There are so many different scriptures and prophecies that say some thing to the effect of: "you will not be confounded before men..." and I've seen those scriptures and prophecies fulfilled. This man was to the point of yelling and rejecting our every teaching, but we were able to calmly quiet him down and allow the Spirit to come into the home. It was a really special experience for me! 

On Thursday we all got together for a Zone Conference!!! We had a wonderful opportunity to go to Zhanghua and have a pretty awesome training meeting. I was invited to conduct the meeting... THAT was a little crazy! haha, it was pretty weird to be conducting a meeting!! 

Okay, I gotta take off and do some work really quick... 

I'm the new operations manager, so now my time isn't as steady as it used to be. My new P-day is going to be on Saturdays! I'm SUPER nervous to start this new job, but I'm really excited! I get to work with President and Sister Blickenstaff a LOT and I'll probably get to use Facebook and all that stuff too! I don't have a whole lot of time right now, but I'll probably find a way to talk to you guys later... the phone call President gave me when he told me I'd move into the office was pretty comical... You'll love it! Sorry guys! I wish I could talk longer! Love you all tons!!!

Love, Elder Noll

March 16, 2014

I can't believe how fast time has been flying by!! Botch is already getting ready to head home, Jessi is getting ready to head out, a bunch of my best friends are engaged or already married!!! I feel like all I've done is blinked and now everything is so different! A mission kind of makes you feel like you're in a sort of "time vortex" where nothing really changes for you (at least, you don't notice the changes), but you have to watch while everything you ever knew changes on the outside! Not a bad thing, not really a good thing either, it's just a thing! ha, it's kinda hard to explain, ok?? 

We were pretty darn busy this week! Lot's of stuff going on in the good ol' Zhongxing Zone! Grandma Sue, you'll be happy to know that I've used the money that you put into my account for Christmas finally! I bought myself a helmet that will actually protect my head! haha I've been using a helmet that a friend from Taichung gave me for the last year... let's just say it's a good thing that I haven't crashed on my bike yet, because that helmet wouldn't have done anything for me! This one fits almost perfectly and it looks pretty snazzy too!! Thanks so much! 

We hung out with Elder W and his trainee from Yuanlin last week for P-day... they're pretty awesome! Elder W, Elder Wa Trainee, wrestled in High School, so we get along pretty well! 

We spent the week doing what we always do... douggy'ing, exchanging throughout the zone, doing Baptismal Interviews, and douggy'ing some more! That's just what we do in the Zhongxing zone! We Douggy! I don't know what's goin' on in our apartment lately, but we have TONS of mosquitoes! I don't notice them at all when I"m sleeping, but I woke up on Thursday with 45 mosquito bites on my hands!!! ONLY on my hands, because I sleep with a sweater on! crazy stuff. 

We've been working out pretty hard lately, and I've been pretty sore throughout this week! That's a good sign! It's been a long time since I've been sore from a workout! Maybe I'll start to lose some of this gut I've got goin' on!  haha, I better start running harder! 

We had some pretty cool miracles happen this week! We've had a Recent Convert that we haven't been able to get ahold of for the past 2 months or so. He never answers our texts, he rejects our phone calls, and he doesn't come to church or any other activity. We went up to his house on Thursday and dropped off a little note saying that we still love him and that we want to find a time to eat some dinner with him again... he called us back within 5 hours!! We met with him and had a good time, and we all left smiling! 

One of our strongest members in the Nantou ward got engaged and moved to Gaoxiong. We, the missionaries, were especially disappointed because he's a total bro and we used to go to his house every single week for Sunday dinner! He's got one of the most incredible testimonies that I've ever heard, and he loves to share it, so he's an awesome missionary!! He actually came back to Nantou for a few days this week, and we got a chance to see him for a little while!! He took us to meet some of his friends and then he did some proselyting with us. He's such an awesome dude. He's the same guy that let us use his computer to skype with you guys at Christmas time! Love him to death!

We're doin' pretty well over here in Nantou! We've found some new investigators this last week, and they are all pretty solid! We're just so grateful to be out here workin' hard!! 

I just wanted to do a quick share on the nature of God. Here in Taiwan, there are so many different ideas and notions of God. Not many people really understand, let alone accept, the concept of there being one Almighty Being, whom we are all required to worship and serve. Their idea is that their are many different Gods, and we don't have to worship them all, just one that is specific to us. The Gods that they mainly worship are great leaders, kings, or rulers in their history. 

God is real, and existing. He is All Knowing, and He has power over all that He has created. I know that the earth and everything thereon was created under His perfect direction, and everything continues to operate under that same power, including you and me, and all and any that ever breathed! Know that this powerful, unimaginable being knows and LOVES you for who you are, and that His only desire and goal is to help you become the best that you can be. He only gave you a "mock 1" body. You're not done being created yet. Don't give up on God, for He surely hasn't given up on you.

Love you guys!! Keep on keepin' on!

Love, Elder Noll

March 9, 2014

Welp, here we are again! I never thought that it would be possible to get used to the atmosphere of a Taiwanese internet cafe... yup, I was right. Still not used to it! :D

We had quite a week over here in the most beautiful area of Taiwan! Plenty of exchanges, a LOT of crazy people, cheesecake (REAL cheesecake ;)), tons of meetings and announcements, and a whole lot of being led by the Spirit!! Basically all in a day in the life of Zone Lord Noll... totally kidding about the Zone Lord by the way! 

First things first, because I've been a total loser when it's come to birthdays at home and wishing you happy birthday on time, I'm going to say: 

happy birthday

ALEC!!!

I hope you have a good one little man! You're hitting the big one zero!! double digits man!! 

I had an awesome chance to exchange with a missionary this week who was going through some hard stuff... nothing too bad, just a lack of desire for the work and lack of motivation for his personal progression. We had a blast together as we worked around Caotun for the day, and we stayed up chatting and having a great time. The next day, as we were on the bus ride home, I decided to talk to him about what his goals and desires were for the rest of his mission. I asked him what he thought about being a Zone Leader soon, and he laughed as he told me that he wasn't good enough to be a Zone Leader. I looked at him very seriously and asked him: "Why not?" He had lost a lot of confidence in himself and his own abilities. It was so sad to see someone giving up on themselves. It made me realize the way that God must see each and every one of us when we don't try to reach beyond our own potential. I then spoke to him about how I prepared myself to become a Zone Leader and better serve the Lord's servants. It's an experience that is very sacred to me, and I'll take some time to tell you more about it once I'm home, but I want to focus on how this story effected this missionary and I. I felt the Spirit working through me just as strong as if I were helping an investigator set a baptismal goal! I am immensely grateful for the opportunity that I've been given to lead the missionaries in this Zone. It's been an experience unlike any other I've ever been through. I love these missionaries, and I hope that they can look back at this time that they served with me in this zone and say that they felt my love for them. This role has taught me so many new things about myself and my potential. Dad always told us that we are born to lead. I feel like I'm finally starting to understand how to walk that path. I want to make sure that I'm always leading by a righteous example. 

On a less serious note, (who am I kidding, this is just as important as the story I just told you) we found a place in Yuanlin that sells real cheesecake. REAL CHEESECAKE!! And it's only 2 American dollars for a pretty big slice!!! Yes, it's even more awesome than it sounds. Don't worry too much. The closest store to me is in Yuanlin, and that's a good hour away by bus, so I won't be eating too much! 

On Thursday, we spent the whole day up in Taichung in a meeting with President and Sister Blickenstaff, the 2 Assistants to the President, and the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders throughout the Mission. This is definitely one of my favorite meetings to attend. President is super fun to be around, and he's one of the wisest people I've ever met! I'm super (there's super number 1) tight with most of the other Zone Leaders in the mission, so it was a total blast to see them, and the Assistants are both my really good friends! It's so weird to me. When I first got on island, I thought all the leaders were like Gods! Now I understand that they're just a bunch of immature, acne-covered duffers who are trying their best to be like the Savior but pretty much failing! haha! Even if the leaders are failing to be perfect, I still look up to them all so much. They're my brothers and sisters and I'll always treasure their knowledge and wisdom. 

We had the chance to visit an AWESOME family who runs a small restaurant business by the college in our area on Friday. We have a kind of competition with them... we're always trying to find ways to one up the other in serving each other. They'll give us free food, so we try our hardest to get in the back and wash the dishes before they stop us. They give us a ride somewhere, so we go out and buy them drinks. To be honest, they are usually winning. They got baptized just last December, right when I moved here!!! Such an incredible family, I love em' so much! 

My Spiritual Share today is based off a Scripture that means a lot to me. Romans 1:16 "16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;" It's a really simple thing to say, but honestly, pretty hard to do! I think about the Prophet Joseph Smith, after he first saw God, the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. He was absolutely ridiculed and rebuked by men much older than him, and yet he staid firm in his belief. I love the line which he writes in his history: "I had seen a vision. I knew it, and I knew that God knew it. And I could not deny it..." What if we all had that attitude about the Gospel? Brothers and Sisters, know that we have been foreordained to bring about this work in these latter-days. DON'T doubt your own effectiveness as a tool in the Lord's hands, and by all means, don't be ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Get up everyday and know that YOU can go out and DO something. Let us never fear, and let us always bear our Savior's name with righteous pride in our every action.  

Love ya guys! Have a super (there's number 2) awesome week! :D

Elder Noll

March 2, 2014

This has been one of the busiest, most fulfilling weeks of my whole mission so far!! I'll try to keep the email short...ish :)

First things first, Elder R is gone! Man, it was sad to see him go! He will definitely go down as one of my favorite companions! I feel like we did SO much together! We baptized 2 awesome new friends, worked with a lot of different less active brothers, established a truly GREAT relationship with the ward, and had the opportunity to lead and uplift the other missionaries in the zone all the while! So much fun!! It's a lot different with Elder G... No less happy, but it's definitely a little more stressful to be training a new zone leader who doesn't speak English! It's a good thing that he's the most Christlike person I've ever met in my life!! He's got a heart so full of love and charity that it makes me feel like I'm a horrible person every time I open my mouth! haha... we're pretty happy together! 

I picked him up from the Mission Home on Tuesday morning, we spent a day in our area, and then got ready to head to Taipei on Wednesday! That's right! we went to the Temple!!! It was absolutely incredible. My mind was totally blown away, and I'm pretty sure my Spirit is still in shock from the epic-ness of it all. On the way up to the temple, we watched a new movie called: "Ephraim's Rescue." I don't know if you've heard of it or not, but if you haven't seen it yet, go and see it! It's done by the same guy that did 17 Miracles, I think it's T.C. Christensen or something like that... it's incredible guys. I loved it! I was also such a blast to be there with all the missionaries in the Zone, and we also picked up some missionaries in another zone on the way up... much to my surprise when I saw Elder B walk on to the bus! ha, he's a fun guy to be around!

I had an awesome chance to exchange with Elder C on Thursday and Friday... so much fun! It's definitely a little odd to be exchanging with an old companion and be in a different area! Kind of feels like old times, but in a TOTALLY different place! He's doing really well! His Chinese is getting a lot better, and he teaches like a boss now! It's so much fun to be in the same zone as him! 

On Friday, we had a pretty awesome/funny experience! We went to an appointment at an investigators house, but when we got there, the lights were all off and no one was answering the door. We were really disappointed and a little embarrassed because we had taken a member with us over there... I was about to just turn around and apologize to the member, but Elder G says: "Let's say a prayer really quick!" I thought that was a little ridiculous. It was hot and I was sweating, I was annoyed that our investigator had stood us up and I'll even admit I was a little annoyed that Elder G was still so flippin' optimistic!! haha, we said the prayer, called for the investigator once more, and he came walking down the stairs! I was absolutely shocked! There you go, even though I've been out here pretty long, I learn more and more every day. Lesson learned for Elder Noll! 

As we continued to go about our lessons throughout the rest of the day, we had another really awesome experience! We were meeting with a new investigator and a member for the first time, and we decided to talk about the role that we have as missionaries, and the role that they would have as "investigators." We ended up speaking of the incredible relationship that we can have with God and the peace and love that it can bring into our lives. The investigator stopped us in the middle of a sentence, looked at me and said: "What is this feeling? I feel... something! It's in my heart!" He was so sincere. It was almost like looking into the eyes of an 8 year old child as I explained about the love that God had for him and how the Holy Ghost helps us feel of that same love. The man then committed to be baptized on the 22nd of March, and he told us he's already starting to give up smoking and drinking! I was so touched! Such an awesome experience.

Saturday was a special day. We have been meeting with this guy for a long time. I think I told you about him last time.... Everything that goes against God's commandments, he was doing it... and the worst part was that he didn't even care. He came to us one day 2 months ago, and his remorse and desire to change was very visible. It wasn't easy for us, and it definitely was one of the hardest things that HE has ever done, but he changed. On Saturday night, I had the honor of helping him enter the waters of Baptism. It was actually the first person I've Baptized personally! It was a special feeling as we both entered the water. As I said the prayer, I didn't feel anything to special, but as I thought of the words that I had uttered later the next day, I felt like I got hit by a sack of bricks! The power of those words are not only for this world. They are binding and sealing blessings for Eternity! 

I just want to share what I learned in personal study on Saturday morning really quick. I was reading in Jacob 5 (possibly Dad's favorite parable in all scripture) and I was trying to find a way to see a different meaning in the parable than I have before. I've always only connected this chapter to missionary work, but this time was a little different. As I read the first few verses, I thought of the man that we were going to be baptizing that night. The master of the vineyard cares so much for his vineyard and he takes so much care with each separate and individual plant. He will prune, dig about, and nourish each and every area of his vineyard every so often, and he is constantly thinking of ways to help his vineyard be more and more healthy. The master is the Savior in this instance, and His vineyard is the world. I am one of the plants, as is the man we baptized, as is the bum begging for food on the street, and as are you. We are all a part of this vineyard, and the Savior is pruning, digging about, and nourishing us with all the strength that He has. We only need to accept His love and labor and we will become what He knows we can! Accept the hard advice that the Holy Spirit whispers to you. It might not be all that comfortable to be "pruned" or "dug about" but in the end, all the Savior is doing is nourishing us. 

Love you all with all I've got! Have an absolutely incredible week, and go out there and love every day! 

Elder Noll