Taichung Time

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

August 24, 2014

How is everyone?? I'm more than stoked to be back out, and my excitement is multiplied an hundred fold to be back in Daya! I still remember the first time I emailed you from the Daya internet cafe... That was over a year ago! I feel completely rejuvenated to be back in this area with these wonderful members. I've been here less than a week and already I've had multiple people come up to me and say something to the effect of: "Oh, Elder Noll! I was buying groceries today and decided to talk to the cashier about the plan of salvation! He/She has so much interest, and you need to go visit them soon! Here's their name and number, go contact them!" The members here are just so full of fire. They're honestly just burning with a love for the Gospel. The thing I love most about their excitement, is that they don't just "preach the gospel..." but they truly SHARE the gospel with all they come in contact with, whether it be put together in words or just illuminated in their radiance. It's so wonderful to come back and to see that the chapel feels a little smaller than before, because of the recent conversions and the increase in people. This is an experience that I will not take for granted. Having this opportunity to come back to this area is appreciated immensely and I will not waste it. 

My new companion is Elder P, from South Jordan. He's hilarious! President putting us together was pure genius, because we get along great! We've only been together for a week, but we've already got some pretty great stories to tell from it! It's gonna be a great 6 weeks! 

This week was absolutely great! I had a chance to meet almost all of our investigators and teach them as well. I realized that I remember the roads in Daya almost like it was yesterday. I feel like the time that elapsed since I've passed was more like an overnight dream than anything else... Elder P and I have set some pretty high goals for this next month. There are 3 or 4 people who are going to be baptized in the month of September, so they could REALLY use some prayers to help them endure and make it into those waters! 

We exchanged with some Elders in Shalu this week, as well as the other Daya Elders. I had the chance to work with 2 awesome Elders! One is new to Taiwan, and the other is training another brand new missionary! Elder S has been in Taiwan for just over 2 months now, and he's an incredible missionary! Although he's still worried about his Chinese, I think it's great, he's still absolutely focused on his purpose as a messenger of Christ and he's 100% dedicated to the work. I learned a lot from him while we were on exchanges! With Elder P, I learned even more. Elder P is a hard worker. Always. We rode our bikes all over town, up and down hills, in and out of alley ways and such, always looking for prepared souls who would accept our message. I decided that from now on, I will more dedicated to talking with EVERYONE that I see on the roads, no matter what! 

On Saturday night, the Daya Elders along with the Beitun Elders and Sisters had a chance to participate in a pretty big musical production! I met this really cool kid when I was here a year ago, and he just so happened to call us the other day saying that he and his middle school classmates wanted to put together a huge show on Saturday. The advertising had already been done, it was totally free, and there was supposed to be a crowd of about 300 people coming! This guy was pretty much the leader of the group. They all went to the same middle school and their major was in musical performance... so they're a pretty good group of kids who can play the heck out of a bunch of cool lookin' Taiwanese instruments! They invited the missionaries to close the show with a couple of songs! I'll have to send you the video... you'll get a good laugh out of it! We had about 2 hours to choose what songs we were to perform and then perfect it into performance mode! It actually turned out pretty good! We did an acappella version of Lead Kindly Light, and then an acoustic version of "We'll Bring the World His Truth" with me on the guitar and my old investigator playing a box drum. It was a lot of fun, and we also had a chance to get together with some former investigators, so it was actually pretty productive as well! I'll send you the pics and videos when I get a hold of them.

The share of the week... I'm not quite sure I can beat out the share that Jessi, I mean Elder Noll Jr., shared over his email this week, but I sure can testify that what he shared is true. I always figured loving, cherishing and crying was for girls. In fact, it is! But who ever said that being a girl was a bad thing?? One of my buddies, former Elder E, once shared a story with me. He had a football coach tell him, "E! Don't you get soft out there on your mission!" Elder E then looked at me and said, "How would it be possible NOT to get soft out here?" The tender mercies of the Lord are not meant for rough, hardened men who are all but immune to the soft voice of the Spirit, but the Lord gives us the tender experiences in order to soften our hearts. The Priesthood can only be used under these circumstances. Once our hearts are soft enough and our whole being is willing to give in to the Lord, only then are we able to share in His power. Only then will we be able to do those things which He has appointed us to do. I'm grateful to have such a smart little brother out there to teach me these things! If you haven't had a chance to read his letter yet, go ask my mom where to find it and take a look! You'll get a few laughs! 

Love you guys! You all make the rockin' world go round! 

Love, Elder Noll

Apparently the Elders saw this slide outside their apartment one morning and said that if it was still there when they got back that night they would put it in the apartment...

Saturday, August 16, 2014

August 16, 2014

Good mornin' everybody! It seems as though there have been a few changes this past week... pretty big ones! It's touching to see my little brother head out and get one step closer to Ecuador. The pictures I've seen so far have filled me with the most pride I've ever been able to muster. What an incredible man. 

There's about to be some serious changes here for me as well! This is my last email to you from the office! The time has truly flown by! I guess time flies when you're busy all the time! haha! 

I've had a blast this week. We've had some great lessons, and we continue to find more and more investigators... all miracles, considering the amount of time that we  have to proselyte. On top of the lessons and contacting, we've been welcoming in a group of 18 new missionaries! That's a good story...

They were supposed to be coming in on Wednesday night, so the whole office was going crazy on Monday and Tuesday in order to get the place ready for our guests and whatnot. Wednesday came, President and the Assistants all went up to the airport... and no missionaries. There travel information got changed and we didn't get the email, so everything had to be pushed back a day... hence the lateness of this letter. :) 

Everything turned out totally fine. Everyone got to Taiwan safe and sound, and they're all totally pumped to be here. The whole group is incredible! They're all full of unquenchable fire, it might just burn the whole island up! My favorite part of being with the new missionaries is feeling of that fire. Especially on the night of Dan Jones, when they stand in the middle of a market and yell at the top of their lungs, then contact for an hour or so afterwards. As Operations Manager, we're in charge of the whole thing, so we don't actually get to participate a whole lot, but I was free for this last time, so I got to go out with a new Elder named Elder D! He's super tall, and way nice! We had a great time together as we talked to some people and actually found a few pretty awesome referrals! 

Think about the awesomeness of New Missionary Week, and now add in a Temple Trip as well and you just about understand how awesome this week was. I absolutely love the temple! I learned a lot of new stuff this time, and it was nice to be able to take some time and just ponder on what I'm doing in life and where I should be. The beautiful atmosphere of the temple and the strength of the Holy Spirit within those walls is enough to cure any wounded heart, or calm any troubled mind. 

Lastly, I'd like to share with you an inspiring personage in my life. You probably all saw this coming, but I'd like to share with you about Jessi Noll one more time before I take off my badge. We started out as co-adventurers, heading out into the wild world with Mom and Dad always close behind. Only now I realize that Mom and Dad were much closer than I ever thought. I think this first picture illustrates those memories beautifully.



We continued to grow closer as we learned to play together... some of those memories include ocean-side ball, wrestling in the parks, and many others, too numerous to share. I can honestly say that we were pretty close growing up together... but it wasn't until I came to Taiwan that I started to truly understand the relationship that we had fostered. 

I never knew that leaving the house was what needed to happen in order to come closer to the members in my family. That's exactly what needed to happen. I've grown closer to Jessi over the past two years than I ever imagined possible, being this far away! 

I can't even begin to explain how I feel as I see the picture on the bottom here. The two flags waving in the wind. These two countries literally mean nothing to the stranger driving by the Noll house today, but the sight of them together brings me to tears. Those two flags represent everything I'm feeling at this moment. Although I may be torn and tattered to pieces, I feel absolutely majestic being placed alongside my comrade in arms. I thank each and every one of you for the influence you've had on my brother and I. I thank you for the patience as you've watched the two of us throwing footballs into your yards, wrestle outside, party in the pool and all the other loud and disruptive adventures that we've been on together. How grateful I am to stand here now, at his side and supporting him. 
I love all of you a lot more than you probably know! I'll know by tonight where I'm going for my last transfer. I guess that means I'll be talking to you all in a few days then! I promise to send another email with some more "juice" in it!!


Love, Elder Noll

Sunday, August 10, 2014

August 9, 2014

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!! I hope it's been a great week. This week has gone by quickly once again. We're getting ready for the new missionaries to arrive next week, and we're also working on training Elder F to take my spot! He's doing great! He'll be an awesome ops manager, and I'm excited to see what differences he'll make in the mission! One of the highlights of this week... I'm working on a new textbook for our free English class in the mission, and it's almost done! I'm excited to finish it up this next week and then let Elder F introduce it to the mission in the next coming months! It's gonna be totally sweet!

We basically prepped for this coming week all week... our computer crashed a couple weeks ago, and we're in the middle of trying to get back all the information and all the software going again... It certainly has been quite the project! It's a good thing that Elder F is pretty good with computers, and we've saved almost everything. Now we're just waiting on a new computer from Church HQ! So excited! :)

Everyone is asking me, "Elder Noll, where do you think you'll go now??" I just tell them that I've got no clue, but I'm excited none the less! I'm grateful that I've been given this time to serve missionaries from the background a little more... It's been a great learning experience for me! I've grown as I've served, and I've learned what it truly means to serve with all your heart. 

I'd like to try something for the next several weeks... I want to briefly talk about anything special that happened during my week, and then I'll share with you about someone who has greatly influenced my life or taught me a valuable lesson. Today, I'd like to dedicate this email to my little brother, Alec. What a stud. I've recently heard of a little activity that he decided to do over the summer break. My dad went along with him throughout 30 days of service. Each day, Alec would pick an act of service to do for someone. A stranger, a friend, a neighbor, anyone! I'd like to share some pictures and a scripture with all of you. 

Matthew 18:3 "... Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

As I look at these pictures, I can't possibly imagine anyone else being worthy of the kingdom of heaven. This is a kid who gave up hours upon hours, days upon days of his summer break in order to serve others. This wasn't a scout project, or homework from school! He just wanted to do it. I can't possibly imagine doing that when I was his age... I find it hard imagining myself doing it now! As Alec did these acts of service, I would receive little weekly updates about it... my dad would send me a note telling me about some fun little act they did, but I never really took into perspective what they were actually doing. Seeing these photo's was an eye opener for me. I see a brown little kid in muscle shirts, shorts and flip flops (takes after his older brothers for sure) doing all kinds of jobs all over town! You'll also notice, that there's not one picture of him frowning or being grumpy or even the least bit put out that he's losing personal time. Thank you Alec. You've taught me the meaning of Christlike service, and it's something I'll never forget. 

It's been an awesome week, my friends! I'm excited for a new one! There's always miracles in the weeks to come! 

OH yeah! I almost forgot to share about one of our new investigators! I met with him when I first came to Taichung back in March, and then he left the country so we lost contact with him... He came back recently, and he's totally a changed man. He is so humble. It brings such a special spirit when we teach him. We taught the Plan of Salvation this last Tuesday and it was incredible. I had the chance to share my testimony of the resurrection, judgement and our eternal potential. The spirit was so strong! He needs a little time to really pray and read the scriptures, but he'll be coming to Church tomorrow, and he'll be ready to be baptized in just a couple months. He's one of the most prepared people I've ever met here in Taiwan! He truly has a kind of light about him! 

Well, I love you all! You're all awesome, and I hope you have a super great week! 

Love, Elder Noll
 





























 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

August 2, 2014

Typhoons, explosions and a whole lot of moving made for an excellent week! I find that I've come to enjoy each week of my mission more than the last... no matter how much more difficult or how much more tired I may be! I'll start by saying that everyone in the mission is totally safe, despite the typhoons and explosions. I'm sure that you've seen the news about the explosions. It was absolutely horrible. It just so happened that we were down in Gaoxiong Thursday and Friday... I know Mom probably didn't want to hear that... :) The whole day, we were transporting luggage and furniture on the very road that exploded that night. We slept in an apartment less than five minutes away from the blast! And to tell you the truth, none of us heard a thing. We were pretty tired and slept right through it! We're all safe and were able to do our work just fine.

I'll apologize in advance for this letter and whatever grammatical errors you may or may not find in here... we just got back from a 30 KM bike ride with the Blickenstaffs, and I'm exhausted. :D

Last Saturday night, I received news that I'd be training a new office elder! His name is Elder F, and he'll be formally taking my spot on the 18 of August. :) I promised myself that I would love each and every area that I ever served in, and I can honestly say that I've loved this place... but it's time to go. I'm excited to get outside and start hitting the streets again!

Today, we had the chance to ride bikes with President and Sister Blickenstaff up a nice steep mountain to see some waterfalls. It was awesome! You'll have to look on the blog to see some epic pics! We found a bat cave and had an awesome little adventure as we crawled through a tunnel full of water with bats flying over our heads! It was a fun one.

Elder G and I had an interesting discussion this week, in which I felt like I learned some important lessons. Do you think that God has planned out your life? Is there only one road for you to walk in order to do what God wants you to? Let me ask you a question then, do you think God cares if you're a doctor or a teacher? A lawyer or a fire fighter? Do you think it will influence your salvation if you marry Susie or Jill, both righteous and loving daughters of God? God has given us a brain, coupled with the precious ability to choose for ourselves. Brothers and Sisters, God has not set your life out for you. He expects us to ponder and ask of His advice and guidance, but that does not mean that you can sit back and wait for God to tell you what you should do! Let's be active. Let's get out and start something. The presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives is absolutely critical. Without it, we'll never be safe in our choices. But I promise that if we consult with God about the things which we want to do, He will reveal through the Spirit to us whether or not that is a good idea. If you don't know what you want to do with your life, don't ever say that you're waiting for an answer from God, because in all reality, He's only waiting on you. Think about it, ponder it constantly, and then ask Him. Once you've received the answer, don't hesitate! Go out and DO something. Go out and BE something. 

I love being out here. I love the Lord, and I love the road map that the Gospel has given me for my life.

Have a good week!

Elder Noll