June 27, 2014

Oh man, this has been the best week of my entire mission for multiple reasons, and I'll tell you why in just a little bit~

We thoroughly enjoyed going out and proselyting for a large amount of time this past week. We had a chance to meet with a few new investigators and had a great time getting to know them and introducing ourselves as well. It's so fun to go find new people to teach! I don't really see them like I used to when I first got to Taiwan. I don't see them as numbers or people that will be willing or not willing to listen to the message I'm sharing. I don't see them as a possible baptism or even a possible member! I've now come to see them as just people and possible friends. I've truly come to love these people here, and I love them even before I meet them so I feel that I really HAVE to share the Gospel with them because I want them to be happy! I know that the Church itself has a lot of issues. The people in the church are FAR from perfect, I know because I'm one of them! But the Gospel itself has been restored in it's fulness, and it is as close to perfect as anything on the earth. The principles and teachings, the Priesthood which turns children into men, the ordinances of salvation and all aspects of the Gospel will influence your life in a way to help you improve and change. What a blessing it is to know these things, and how important I feel my role is now to tell the world about it!

Alright, went off on a little tangent there... this week rocked. We finished up zone conferences (FINALLY I CAN SLEEP) and we're getting ready for the new missionaries this next coming week. :) Yay. hahaha, I'm actually pretty excited even if it will be a little busier than usual. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent the whole time finishing up zone conferences in different zones throughout the mission. It's a lot different to be behind the scenes of a zone conference. When I first came to Taiwan and started attending these meetings, I was always in awe of how smoothly they ran and of how spiritual and awesome the meetings always turned out... I continued to have the same thoughts about these meetings throughout my time here... that is, until I came in the office and it became my job to make sure the meetings ran smoothly and that everything and everyone was ready to go! Ha, reality check! Sometimes things get a little crazy backstage during the preparation hours, but I'm grateful that everything went smoothly once the actual meetings started! 

Thursday, we were lucky and got back a security deposit from an apartment that we closed up in Daya, so that's always nice! We also were able to close the deal with a new bike company, so hopefully our bikes aren't going to be falling apart all over the place from now on, I'm pretty excited about that! We took President to the airport so he could go over to one of the islands bordering Taiwan, then we came back, loaded up the car, grabbed some stinky tofu for the road and took off for the weekend! We stopped for the night in Jiayi and fixed some apartment stuff there, then continued on our trip south to Gaoxiong the next morning. We spent the day down there, apartment hunting and fixing broken stuff... pretty much just doin' our thing...

And this leads me into my spiritual thought of the week... it's a long one! 

I had an investigator who I found in Gaoxiong over a year ago, he's the one who had the dream and hasn't missed a day of church since, remember me talking about him? He has gone to church and English class for over a year straight, without missing a day of either!! When I went down to Gaoxiong last week and saw the English class there, I had a chance to get together with him and talk to him a little bit. He's so great! I've prayed for him my whole mission. Always praying that he would be able to overcome his personal issues, his prideful nature and other issues and accept Baptism. That night, we stayed with the Lingya elders and I felt like I should invite them to go and start meeting with this man again. They resisted at first, but in the end they said that they'd give it a shot. They met with him this week. I'll tell you the story the way that they told me... "When we went to meet with him, we thought it was just gonna be a total waste of time. We were wondering why we even agreed to this and neither of us really wanted to meet with him again, cause we were not gonna get any progress with him! Then we just walked into the room and all sat down. The man looked at both of us and just said 'I want to get baptized.' We just looked at him. We didn't really register what he had said. He then said: 'Isn't that good news? I want to get baptized, guys!' We kinda freaked out after that!!" Apparently this man went on to tell the Elders that he'd been praying a lot lately about baptism. He told God, "God, I promise to get baptized if the missionaries will start meeting with me again." So when I went down to Gaoxiong, this guy thought that I would start meeting with him. Then I told the elders to meet with him and he said that his prayers were answered! Isn't that incredible?? He's going to be baptized next Friday night, and it just so happens that I have to be down there to sign a contract for an apartment on Friday night so I'll be able to go! This baptism is what I've prayed for throughout my entire mission. Seeing this man enter this covenant will honestly have answered more than half the prayers that I've offered throughout the past 2 years. I honestly can't even explain how happy I am for this guy! He's so cool!!! 

Another really cool story (a little shorter this time) is a former investigator from Daya getting baptized this Saturday! I found him when I was with Elder L in Daya, and he just totally disappeared after a few months. We taught all of the lessons to him, and he was going to church and everything, but he just disappeared after a little while. The Elders in Daya now got ahold of him through text lately, and he told them that he's been trying to find missionaries for the past 2 months! He'd been praying throughout the entire time that we would find him and told the missionaries that God had answered all of his prayers... He'll be getting baptized on Saturday night. I'll send pictures! 

I've found that success on a mission is not based at all on how many baptisms you had. Not based on the number of people that you talked to in one hour, or the number of phone numbers that you're able to collect in a day. It's not based on your skill level in Chinese or how early you turned into a Senior Companion, a District Leader, or a Zone Leader. The quality of your mission is wholly dependent on your heart and your purpose. If you are able to say that you worked for the Lord and gave your whole heart, then you are a successful missionary. I've learned this lesson over a period of months in the office. What a blessing it's been to serve the people here. They are lovable in so many ways. I've gained so much by giving of myself to them, something that I never believed was possible until lately. I encourage you all to do the same. Although you may not wear a black name tag on your chest, although you don't ride a bike around and act like a crazy person, you can still give of yourself. When you do so, I testify that you'll find something out about your personality and your own potential.

Have a great week!! Love you all!

Elder Noll

June 21, 2014

I seems like almost everybody is busy doing epically awesome things this week! Thanks for the insightful emails! I love reading about every little detail! 

We were a little bit busy this week... Monday and Tuesday were spent in preparation for our trip to Gaoxiong this week! I love going down there. It's gotta be one of the best places on earth. So on Monday, we had a great time as we helped the assistants with a mini transfer (happens all the time) and made sure that everyone had a nice smooth experience moving to a new place. Not a whole lot of changes, but it still took some time to make sure that everything would go alright. On Tuesday, we spent all day in sprint mode as we cleaned out our van, loaded up hundreds of boxes full of missionary supplies for the Elders and Sisters down in Gaoxiong, and hurried as fast as possible to finish our weeks worth of work on Tuesday night... We were up a little later than usual that night. ;)

We had some miracles save our lives on Wednesday morning. We got out on the road at about 6:30 in the morning, making great time. Drove for about half an hour and noticed we forgot the projector, like the most important part of us going down for Zone Conference! So we drove back and hit a little traffic, making us incredibly nervous because of time! We were for sure going to be late now. We got back on the road at about 7:50!! And we still had 2 hours to go! We were just praying that there would be no traffic... we crossed the boarder into Gaoxiong and it looked like we were gonna make it, and then we hit the traffic. we were completely stopped for at least 30 whole minutes. There was a really serious accident just up ahead of us. They even needed to send in the helicopters the clear the mess! If we wouldn't have gone back and gotten the projector, we very well could have been right in the middle of it! Pretty eye opening! 

Anyway, Zone Conference went really well, and I got a lot out of it! Even though it was my 3rd time seeing basically the same conference, the Spirit is still really strong every time! AND, I didn't have to translate this time! Yay! This was the first time! I turned around and had to translate for 6-7 hours the next day, so I didn't really get off too lucky in the end! I'm happy for those opportunities though, I think it's really helping my Chinese improve a lot more!

We just barely got home yesterday! One week went by just like that! One of the best highlights of the week was the chance I got to go see the Lingya/Shizhong English program on Wednesday. That's my old area!!! I saw a bunch of old students and a few members, but my favorite person to see was my old investigator. Do you remember the guy I told you about that had the dream? He still goes to church and English every week, but still hasn't been baptized. When I saw him, my heart just melted. I love that guy to death! I feel like I share a special bond with him. I didn't see it at first, but the Sisters told me later that in class, they'd asked the class to share about their happiest memory. This guy stood up and told everyone in the room that meeting me and learning the Gospel was the happiest thing that had ever happened to him. That was enough for me. When I heard about that, my heart was completely full. If I hadn't baptized a single other person out here, knowing that I was given the opportunity to touch this man's life is enough for me. 

I'd like to end this email as I always do... with a spiritual thought!! Matthew 10:38 tells us that we're to "take (His) cross upon us..." Well, that doesn't sound very fun, does it?? A cross sounds pretty heavy to me. So heavy that even Christ, the greatest of all, stumbled under it when he was weakened, and was forced to share that cross with another. What crosses do you carry? What makes you stumble? What weight are you crumbling under? Matthew 11:28-30 expounds this scripture. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you... and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I have no other words to add... But Elder Russel M. Neilson sure does! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMwKxmTLaCs&index=37&list=PL4E784EC0770935C0 Copy this url and watch this video. 

I know that the Savior loves and is aware of each and every one of us. I know that He is willing to shoulder our burdens with us and walk alongside us every step of the way. That doesn't mean that He will take everything off of you. We need a little pressure in order to grow stronger! But His presence alone will strengthen you enough to let you walk with ease underneath your burden, no matter how heavy. 

Have a great week and party on! Love you guys!

Elder Noll

 

Ryan got beat up by a wall playing basketball:)

 

June 14, 2014

Sorry, not a whole lot of time this week! Just want to let everyone know that I'm doin' great! I still love it out here and we're all chuggin' along in the Office... well, mostly out of the office, but the office crew is all together still! haha

This week was completely taken over by Zone Conferences in both the Taichung and North Taichung Zones. A few late nights, some lessons on how to make movies, and a bunch of food later and now it's Saturday! I'll have to find a way to get you a copy of the movie. It's pretty cool! Well, now that I think about it, it's all in Chinese! So you wouldn't really have a clue what's going on... maybe have Dad translate it for you... yeah, I've seen you posting in Chinese on Facebook lately! 

I spent quite a bit of time in Daya this week! Saw some old friends and a couple of people that I helped baptize! So exciting to see them again. I especially enjoyed seeing a few members of the Ward. I ran into the Elders Quorum President and a few of the single adult members and a few others of my good friends there! So fun! I also had a chance to hear that one of the former investigators that I taught for a while there is getting baptized on the 28th! Let's just say that I was in very good spirits that day! Such a miracle!!

Oh! I totally forgot the funny experience of the week. Monday morning, Elder Y and I went to play basketball with a few other missionaries in the chapel. I went all out as I was trying to save the ball from going out of bounds, saved the ball... then I crashed head first into the wall. The wall was fine, the ball was in, but I've still got a nice shiner to prove that I'm an idiot. :) I guess I can't really shake the competitive edge out of me yet. :) No worries, I'll send pictures. 

I'd like to share what we've been learning about in lately. We were asked to read a talk given by Elder Bednar in 2001 about the Enabling Power of the Atonement. It talks about how the Atonement doesn't just have the power to heal us from sin, but it can strengthen us to handle the challenges of life. I think my favorite part is that Elder Bednar talks about the type of power that the Atonement brings into our lives. It's not something that will change our surroundings, but it's something that will change us. It's unfair of us to ask God to change somebody, that goes against everything that God stands for (free agency?). But if we ask God to strengthen us so that we might be able to push forward and overcome those trials, then this becomes a prayer that God can answer. Interesting to know that no matter who you are, where you live, or what you believe in, the principles taught in the Gospel are going to improve you and help you become a better, more active person... if lived correctly. By DOING the things that the Gospel teaches us to DO, we will improve and become stronger. 

Have a great week! (I feel like that's a pretty week sauce sign-off... it's like writing H.A.G.S. in a yearbook... oh well, I've done it for a year and a half, a little longer won't hurt. :D)

Elder Noll