Taichung TimeWell, as you can tell in the subject line of this message, I spent a day with the monkeys of Taiwan today... it also explains the reason behind the lateness of this message... ("lateness"- is that a word?)
The most important event of the week... (well, it was one
of the coolest things that happened this week...) I GOT MY EASTER
PACKAGE!!! I absolutely died laughing at each and every entry on that
"letter" that you all wrote! That is by far the coolest thing I've seen!
You guys are SO awesome!
These weeks are all so blended together right now! I
can't even differentiate between the events from the first week and
events that are happening now! Let's suffice it to say that I'm enjoying
my time in Taizhong. Driving on the roads of Taiwan is definitely an
experience that I would've been fine NOT having, but I'll still gladly
do all the things that are expected of me. haha! Now that Elder E,
the old Operations Manager, has gone away, I'm left on my own to figure
out the problems in the office. It was a little scary at first, but I'm
getting the hang of it now! It's so odd to be the one that everyone
comes to with their problems, but I honestly enjoy being able to help
them out! It's such a blessing to be able to serve the Missionaries in
the Taichung Mission and help them have a smoother experience here in
Taiwan!
On Monday, I just about lost my mind! It was the
first day that I was the "real" Operations Manager, and it was also the
day of the move call so things were pretty chaotic! Not to mention I had
to make a "going home" video for all of the departing missionaries. I
was pretty stressed out for the beginning of the day, and then Elder
B got to the office and I totally relaxed. I love just chatting
with that guy. I never really took the time to get to know him before
coming out here, but we've really become pretty close since we've come on
our missions together. Things were much smoother once all the other
missionaries went back to their own areas!
Tuesday was hard in the morning... I had to say
goodbye to some of my best friends from throughout my mission. Elder
E and Elder H both left on Tuesday! I never really thought
that they would actually leave! It doesn't seem like their gone for
good! I'll miss those guys!
Other than seeing them off, we kept ourselves nice and busy
throughout the day. We met with an investigator at night and had a blast
as we shared the gospel! It's honestly too much fun.
On top
of all that fun stuff, we also got to hang out with Elder W!! Now he
is Brother W, but he's still the exact same as he was on a mission so
I can't really stop calling him Elder... He's going to America to study
at BYU!
Wednesday was a total BLAST. We went to visit the
English program at Daya!!! It was so much fun to see all of the members
and all of my friends there! I saw 2 of my recent converts and had a
chance to talk with them for a long time, and I also got to see some of
the Sisters who I did baptismal interviews for. The change in all of
them is so huge! It's so nice to see that the church is really changing
their lives!
Thursday... Oh yeah! Went back to Tainan! We had to
drive down to Tainan to help out some missionaries who were having some
apartment problems. It was so much fun to go around my old area again
and see all the changes! It really has changed a lot in the past year!
Friday and Today!
We've had
a lot of fun! We had so much fun hiking with the monkeys today, I'll
try to put the pictures on Dropbox asap so that you can see them all.
This week, I've pondered a lot about
the talk that Elder Bednar gave in the morning session on Sunday of
conference. Wow. What an inspiring talk! The "load" that he referred to
made me think of wrestling and sports in general. You cannot progress,
get stronger, build muscle, unless you have a force to push against.
Similar to the parable which I shared a few weeks ago about the man
pushing against the rock, God gives us opportunities to shoulder "loads"
in order to help us grow. My beloved friends and family, brothers and
sisters; DON'T SHY AWAY FROM THESE LOADS. I promise that they will push
you to the upmost limit and you will feel as though the weight will
crush you... but under this load you will find the traction to move
forward and progress.
Love you guys! Have a great week!
Elder Noll
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| Elder Noll photo bombing Elder "E"...He's going to miss him! |
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