Taichung Time
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
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