May 16, 2014

Happy Saturday... or Friday, depending where you're reading this from. 

What a blessing it was to see my family on Sunday! For some, it's hard to Skype back home because it seems to distract them from missionary work and makes them pretty homesick... but I'm happy to know that each and every one of you support me in all that I'm doing out here. It strengthens my motivation to work harder and do more! Thank you for being so great and making my Mother's Day the best ever!

Right now, at this very moment, I'm in the middle of uploading over 130 pictures... so no need to wait any longer!! I'll share them with you on Dropbox as soon as they are done uploading... ok, you might need to wait a little bit longer. :)

This week was incredible although, it was not without a few down moments. Let's just take it day by day, shall we?

Monday:

Typed a bunch of documents up on a computer for a little while... That's what we did all day, but at night we had some real fun! We went out and visited a family and had a Family Home Evening with them. It was so great! We shared a nice little Spiritual Share, had some fruit as we all talked together, and then played a really fun game! It was a total blast! 

Tuesday:

We drove quite a bit today! In the morning we had to drive to Yuanlin to get a bike, drove back to Taichung and worked on some office stuff, then had a fun DTM (District Training Meeting) and then finished up the work in the office. We went up to Daya for a bit and then came back into the city to meet with a new investigator! He was pretty cool, but doesn't have a whole lot of interest! No problem, we'll keep working with him! To end the day, we went over to Xihu to grab yet another bike for another missionary! I just realized that I named about 3 or 4 different places and you probably don't know where a single one is! haha, find a map I guess! :)

Wednesday:

SO AWESOME... we went up to the Temple!!! I had the special experience of driving the car up to Taibei with Sister B and Elder H... Dad, I'll never refuse to drive again when we're on rode trips in California. I thought the roads were bad over there, but I have absolutely no way to describe how ridiculous the roads were over in Taibei! It was madness... but eventually we got to the Temple and the outside world was soon forgotten! I'll share more about that in just a bit...

Elder L and I had to go over to the Tabei Mission Office to meet with some of the Office missionaries over there and I saw some familiar faces! I ran into a bunch of missionaries that I was in the MTC with! So that was kind of fun to run into all of those people and chat with them for a few minutes.

Thursday:

Thursday was a sad one. We had to take Elder H and another missionary up to the airport so that they could hop on a plane back to America. It was rough to send poor Elder H off. He has such a desire to do the work, yet he's unable to do so right now. He'll be back within 2 months, and I believe he'll be even stronger than before! The one upside of that trip was that we were able to go with the W's, one of the senior couples in the office. They're so awesome! 

Friday:

And here's the travel day! We took our weekly trip to Gaoxiong yesterday and made it home by nighttime! It was quite the adventure! Lots of fun, lots of fun!

That was basically the whole week! I apologize for the lack of fun stories this week! I'll see what I can do and pay better attention to details next week! I'll end with a spiritual thought for the week...

As I attended the Temple this week, I learned quite a bit, but the most obvious thing that I learned was the principle of self accountability. I think of the Bible story of Adam and Eve. We read in the Bible that God asked: "Adam, where art thou?" Why would God need to ask that question? Didn't He know exactly where Adam was? He goes on to ask what Adam did... He knew full well what Adam did. Why did he ask these questions? I feel that we can learn from these small details. We are to be accountable for all things that we do in this life. God knows everything that we do, and He knows where we are at every waking moment, but we are required to report to Him morning and night and update Him on what and how we are doing. I believe that this principle of Accountability is designed to help us see ourselves more clearly, thus enabling us to change into what we are destined to become! Isn't that an exciting blessing?? Doesn't it make you want to pull out a mirror and take a good look?? I promise that when we prayerfully do these things, God will reveal unto us our weakness. Ether 12: 27

I love ya! Have an awesome Week!!

Elder Noll

 

May 9, 2014

These weeks are flying by WAY too fast. It's been over a month since I've been in the office now, yet it feels like I just barely got here! What with the crazy road trips, mini-vacations and stress-filled circumstances, the time is going by faster than ever before! It's actually really scary! I see so many friends that are already home, starting their lives, and I know that I'm next! The only thing that comforts me is knowing that I'm still here and that my work is not done yet. I absolutely love getting out of bed each and every day knowing that I'm still doing the things which I've been called to do. What a blessing it is to be here and to be doing this great work!

I'd just like to give a short spiritual message before I take off for the week. "I Feel My Savior's Love." That's all that really needs to be said. Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Family. I know that the Savior loves me and knows me more personally than any other person or thing on this earth. I testify that He loves each and every one of you likewise. Please, open yourself up to Him and accept His love for yourself. I promise you that it is the sweetest of all fruits and the most fulfilling of all feelings. 

Love, Elder Noll

May 2, 2014

I've been runnin' all over this island all week! I feel bad for anyone who is still reading these e-mails because they are the same every week lately! I'm running short on time, I spent a good portion of the week driving, and we fixed a bunch of problems in multiple apartments throughout the mission... This week was pretty much the same! So, I'll talk to you next week...

Nah, I'll talk about some of the funner stuff really quick! 

On Monday, I finally got a chance to get a haircut! My hair was getting pretty long, so I finally got it cut down to a normal length and now it's looking pretty good. Monday was the worst day of the week... well, second to worst. We went out to lunch as an office crew to celebrate the D's last Monday as Taiwan Taichung Missionaries... they are the couple missionaries that came on island a week before me and received training at the same time that I did. They've been loved by every single missionary here in the mission, but they will be missed most by those in the office right now. We all had a chance to sit in a circle and share our feelings for the D's... there wasn't a dry eye there! 

At night, we went to visit a part-member family to do a Family Home Evening with them. We took Sister B with us. It ended up being one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. Her husband is not a member, and she is so worried that he will never get baptized. The husband attends church weekly, but doesn't stay for the 3rd hour because he doesn't feel too comfortable. I felt that I should share the story of Grandpa Noll's conversion with her. I told her how incredible it was to read the e-mail when dad told me grandpa wanted to be baptized. I told her how happy I was when I saw those pictures, and then I showed her the picture of dad and grandpa in their baptismal clothes and this sister just burst into tears. We promised her that God is aware of ALL of His children, no matter whether they've been baptized or not, and that He has plans for each and every one of us. We will be going over for a Family Home Evening from now on each and every Monday. I wish I could explain those feelings more accurately, but there just is no way to do so!

Tuesday, we stayed in the office doing a ton of stuff until the afternoon, and then we went to visit a member and had dinner with her. She is a cute, little, old lady who just loves missionaries and we wanted a chance to uplift her a little bit. Her husband is also a non-member, but he isn't very keen on the church in general, let alone missionaries! She sometimes struggles with his opposition to the church so it's nice to go over and watch her relax and laugh for a little while.

On Wednesday, we partied pretty hard over to the Zhongxing zone! My old home! It was so nice to see some of those old faces of the missionaries that I used to serve with. It really feels like you're going home when you go back and visit one of your old areas. It's interesting the way that works. I live in a place so different from the place I used to call home, and yet this place is as much a home and family to me as the ones back in America. Of course, NOTHING can replace the feelings I've developed with my blood family in the states, but it's as if God has added hundreds of people and places into that family and I'll be able to see eternity with all of them as well.

Thursday was a fun day for sure. It was President B's Birthday!!! Elder L and I helped set up for the Mission Leadership Council, we went over and helped some sister missionaries move out of their old apartment and into a new one, and then we went over and partied with President! We had dinner at this delicious place with some awesome Chinese food.This place had some of the most delicious food ever! You'd be surprised at the fact that I thoroughly enjoy eating peppers and onions and eggplant and all kinds of weirdo veggies now. After dinner was over, we ended up at the B's house for some cake and singing. Sister B made an incredible chocolate cake, and we all had a great time talking and laughing together. 

The day ended up being the worst day of the week because the D's said goodbye to us that night. Eyes were all red and none of us really had much to say! We just shook hands (I gave Elder D a pretty big hug) and then had to part ways! It was pretty hard! 

After the goodbye, we hopped in the car and drove down to Tainan... I got some pretty good use out of those sunflower seeds that you sent! They kept me awake as I drove throughout the night, so THANK YOU!!!

Friday was spent in the very southern part of the mission. We spent the day in Tainan, Gaoxiong and Pingdong! I really hope that President will move me down to Pingdong once my time is done here in the office! 

That was the week! I just want to share really quickly about what it means to endure to the end. An example of enduring to the end in my life is my little brother Jessi. He sent me an email today that said: "My right leg is kinda getting destroyed...my shins and my knees...but without pain we wouldn't know happiness!! Haha! So I just gotta train through and tough it out." I've heard many people talk about my brother and tell me that he is just "naturally talented," that he doesn't have to work as hard as other people to get where he is. They may have heard when he shattered his entire knee, and they may have visited when he was bedridden for over a month. But they didn't watch as he killed himself daily in the weight room, they didn't see him as he sprinted miles and miles in order to regain strength in his leg. They didn't notice the trust and effort he put into studying the word of God and the absolute love he developed for for his Heavenly Father. I did. He is my forever example of what it means to PUSH through hard times. Were he to be a pioneer, he wouldn't have walked beside the cart. He wouldn't have pushed or pulled it. He would have put the cart on his back and carried it to the Salt Lake Valley. Brothers and Sisters, to "endure" is a verb. Be active in all that you do, be active in loving others and enduring to the end. 

 

love you guys! have an awesome week!

Elder Noll

April 26, 2014

I'm sorry guys! Yet another P-day has come and gone and we didn't have time left to do anything today! I'm going to try my very hardest to be on the computer next week at 10:45am my time! I promise!... but don't count on anything, cause I can't actually be sure ;)

This week kind of flew right by without me really noticing! I haven't slept in my own bed since Tuesday... we had to take a trip down south this week to assist with some Interview stuff as well as instruct Facebook missionaries on how to safely, and effectively, use Facebook to do missionary work... as well as fix all the broken apartments on the way down and back. What with all that stuff, it gave us a lot to do! I definitely wasn't bored! It also gave me a real good chance to get my driving skills back up to par... It might take a little while!

Monday and Tuesday were very normal office days. We had a few lessons and had an opportunity to visit a couple members... it was REALLY nice to have some "real missionary" time! We had this AWESOME F.H.E. on Monday night with this family from our ward. Their son is going to the University of Utah to study computer science or something really fancy like that, so we had a great time as we shared a spiritual message, ate the best curry rice I've ever had, and played some fun games! I love F.H.E.! 

Once Wednesday hit, everything kinda started exploding. We were preparing to leave for the week so we had to pack as well as take care of all the office work and make sure that everyone in the office was ready for our absence... it didn't help that we were having computer problems and you all know that I can work a computer about as well as the monkeys that I saw last week, so the stress level was getting a LITTLE high on Wednesday, but it all worked out in the end. We got out in the afternoon and started on our quest! We hit almost every city on the way down to Gaoxiong this time! We stopped in Caotun (my old area!!!), as well as Douliu, Huwei, Tainan and finally the golden city of Gaoxiong. We spent about a day in each area, looking at apartments, checking out the English Class, handling mission supplies for missionaries who needed them, doing training, etc. etc. It was a really fun week! I really enjoyed getting the chance to see all of the Mission! 

It was a blast to see all of the missionaries and have a chance to bond with them a little more. We stayed with Elder C on Wednesday night, some Elders in Tainan for Thursday and then stayed the night with Elder Z on Friday night. It was a lot of fun! 

Today we went with the AP's and Sister B to see the GIANT Buddha in Gaoxiong. It was pretty epic. You all know how much I love Buddha, so I had the time of my life... poor Elder L is absolutely terrified of Buddha statues, so he wasn't liking life so much there, but he was brave and made it through the whole thing like a champ! I've got some pretty great pictures, but again don't have any time to put them up on Dropbox yet! Give me a few weeks! I promise I'll get them to you eventually! :)

What an incredible thing it is to be able to serve people. There is one act of service in history which has touched me more deeply and I think about it more often than any other... that is the act of Christ the Lord washing the feet of His Disciples. I wish I had time to write out the story, but I'll just refer to it at this time. I love it because it shows that NO ONE is above even the lowest form of service. It is in fact required of us to serve our beloved fellow beings. I promise that when you forget yourself and remember others, you will find blessings which have been kept especially for you. My favorite line that has come to my mind each and everyday of my Mission: "Forget yourself and get to work." You can't say it much better than that! Thanks Poppa Hinkley! (*Gary has given this advice to the boys on several occasions, so that is why he says poppa HInkley :))

Love you all!~ have a great week!

Love, Elder Noll

April 18, 2014

MORE MONKEYS:
Well, 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

Elder Noll photo bombing Elder "E"...He's going to miss him!

March 12, 2014

Almost every week that I've written an email, I've started off with a line similar to: "Wow! What a busy week!" ... I had no idea what it actually meant to have a REAL busy week until I came into the office! I'm learning so much about planning and goal setting! It's definitely a difficult job, but I know that God wants me to learn these tools better so that I can continue applying them throughout my life! This was the last week of this transfer, so we were a little busier than usual... actually, kinda a lot busier than usual! We had the new set of Missionaries come in from Provo this week!!! It was such a blast to interact with them and be able to be one of the first to welcome them to Taiwan! They all have an awesome fire! 

Sorry, I had to take off to a Baptism today, so I didn't have time to finish my email! I'll just give you a real quick re-cap... well, basically, the only thing that we did this week was welcome all the new missionaries! I'll have to tell you more about that next week, cause I really don't have any time right now!! 

Love you guys so much! I hope life is goin' good! 

Elder Noll

 

Seeing as Elder Noll ran out of time to write more this week, I thought I would add that his wonderful MP wife shared more info on the mission blog... Ryan, along with many other missionaries had the chance recently to sweep grave sites (abandoned or unknown graves). This is an annual activity done by everyone in Taiwan and is a way to show respect to family members who have passed away. The missionaries have the honor of paying respect to those who have no one else. They also get the chance to share the gospel through family history.

Ryan singing a song about geneology

Add caption

 A little more information about Ryan's week: As he said, they welcomed the new missionaries. From what I see, the office crew takes part in the orientation by training on mission operations. After training they are treated to a wonderful lunch (this time at a dumpling house), more training in the afternoon, followed by a banquet dinner. The next morning they are up early for morning calisthenics.

Ryan is on the top left corner

Ryan is in the middle -in  dark gray shirt

 

April 4, 2014

Hey y'all! Greetings from the Office of the Taiwan Taichung Mission! I've been here for over 2 weeks, and yet I still feel like it's a mix between a dream and a nightmare! hahaha, time seems so surreal in here! It never really sinks in! I never imagined that I'd be sitting at this desk typing an e-mail home to all of you! It's just a testimony to me that God gives us certain experiences to really make us grow! 

We had a pretty great week! I want to thank you all back home for getting the drivers license stuff figured out so fast! Wow! I'm now ready to drive a big ol' VW bus around the busy streets of Taiwan.... welp, kinda wish you guys would've taken a little more time with the whole license thing now, cause I'm nervous! haha

Well, let's just go day by day, or else I'm gonna totally forget what happened this week!

Sunday:

Had a great day at church and got to meet a lot of new members! I always love the first Sunday in a new area! It's a little different here in the Wuquan chapel. We share the building with another ward.... a FOREIGNER Ward!! I know you guys probably don't get why that's so weird to me, but it is! Seeing white people who actually enjoy my presence is actually quite a surprise to me now! haha

Monday:

Such an awesome day... except for the part about finding out that I had some pretty bad allergies to who knows what! I woke up, did some yoga with President B and Elder E (yeah, you totally just read that right... I did YOGA with the PRESIDENT of my Mission), and then got ready for the day. I was feeling GREAT and ready to go. Got down in the office, and all of a sudden allergies hit me like a sac of bricks! My eyes are watering now just thinking about it! My eyes literally couldn't stop watering, which then made my nose nice and stuffy, and then my eyes continued to get worse and worse throughout the rest of the day! It's interesting to me though... I could have honestly just given up and gone upstairs to take a nap, or just rest my eyes for the rest of the day. Instead, I just tried my hardest to get through it and do as much work as I possibly could. I've only been in the office a few weeks, but I've learned that perseverance and endurance is key to our own eternal progression. Other than the whole eye-freak-out-thing, the rest of the day was good. We had Dominos pizza at night with some INCREDIBLE drinks called "dong gua mu si" to celebrate being awesome. President ate a little with us and we enjoyed the "bro" time that we got with him! haha, never imagined that I would be hanging out, eating pizza with my Mission President. Who knew?

Tuesday:

Eyes were feeling SOOOO much better this day. We had a good time as we prepared all of our stuff for a trip we were taking to Gaoxiong on Wednesday. We have some old areas re-opening, so it's my job now to make sure that everything is taken care of in regards to apartments and stuff like that. Other than that, kinda a boring day! ha, lots of free time on our hands

Wednesday:

Back to Gaoxiong again! We went to take care of some apartment stuff goin' on down there, and as we finished with our first task, we looked to the GPS to see if there was anything near by that we could eat. There, in the corner, was a "Dunkin' Doughnuts." Elder E and I looked at each other, and without a word starting driving towards the Dunkin' Doughnuts. We looked for this thing for over an hour... with no success. It was a hard loss, but we made up for it with some WAY GOOD curry. 

After the stuff in Gaoxiong was all taken care of, we started moving our way up slowly towards Taichung. We had things that we had to do in almost every area of the Mission, so it was a busy day! One of my weekly highlights, was that we stopped in Tainan. TAINAN!!! My birthplace! It's so alien to me now! I got us lost 2 or 3 times while we were there! haha, I didn't realize how much I really missed that place until I started driving through it again! We ended the night in Jiayi at the English Class there. I'm now the head duffer over the English program, so we try to travel all over and see the different classes! So much fun! 

Thursday:

We spent most of the day helping out with Mission Leadership Council! That's the meeting with President and all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders throughout the Mission. I'll be totally honest and say that it was really hard just to sit there and press the buttons for the slide show and not be able to add my advice to the discussion! haha, definitely one of the most humbling experiences I've had out here. Although it was difficult to watch, I'm still so grateful to be able to serve in the office. I'm grateful that President B has trusted me with these responsibilities, and I plan on fulfilling them all as best I can.

Friday:

BRO TIME!! As the office elders, we spend almost all of our time with the AP's and with President and Sister B. I don't think anything could make me happier! I love being with the 2 assistants right now! Elder E (kicker for the BYU football team when he gets back) and Elder Y, who I met in Daya and I've loved him ever since. The 3 of us get along incredibly well, and so we all spend a lot of time together eating food and just chatting after the work is all done! It's so much fun! Yesterday, after a day full of work and different problems, we all headed over to President's house to eat some of Sister B's home made cinnamon rolls. I'm still in shock that I'm having these experiences! Working out with President, eating at his house, joking around and laughing with him! It's not something I ever really imagined doing! To end the night, we started a new tradition called: "shake night." We just make a bunch of milk shakes and listen to Primary Pop music! What a party! Yesterday, we picked fresh mangoes off of the tree by the Mission Office and turned it into a Mango Milk shake. Yes, you should all be SUPER jealous by the way, cause it was A W E S O M E.

I was reminded of a parable this week that I would like to share! 

This story is about a man who woke up one day to see a giant boulder right outside his door. He then heard a voice, it was God telling him that He needed this man to go out and push this boulder with all his strength. The man agreed that he would do it. God told him to do so every day, and the man did just that. Every day he would wake up early and go to bed late because of his diligence in pushing against this boulder, and yet it wouldn't even budge. After a time, he became frustrated with this tiresome labor. Through his exhaustion, he continued on and continued to push the boulder day by day with the same result. The boulder just wouldn't move. The time finally came when the man broke down and yelled out to God: "I can't do this any more! I've done everything you've asked me to do! I've given this work EVERYTHING that I have, but I just CAN'T do it!" Through his anger and agony, the man told God each and every thought that was going through his mind. God patiently listened and waited for this poor man to finish, and then gently, asked him: "What is it I told you to do? Did I ask you to MOVE the boulder? No, I simply commanded you to push against it."

What do you get out of this story? Every time I hear it I almost break down in tears! ha, it touches me very deeply. We have all the commandments of God, and we know what He wants us to do. The first thing that I see in this story is diligence and obedience, although it was blind. Brothers and Sisters, friends and family, DON'T GIVE UP. God has given each and every one of us our own boulder. I'm here to tell you, you probably will never move that boulder, or temptation, even an inch... but if you don't continue to push against it, you will NEVER grow into what God needs you to be. You have a potential that nobody but God the Father truly understands. DON'T CHEAT YOURSELF by giving up and pulling up short! The second thing that I love about this story is an invitation of learning. Just because we see the big picture and think we know what God wants is no excuse to stop investigating and stop looking for the more detailed portion of the truth. We can be like the man in the story and blindly keep commandments that we don't understand, which is definitely MUCH better than choosing disobedience, but if we do so, we will not be able to withstand the pressure which is bound to come. Learn. Thirst for knowledge like your life will depend on it. Cherish and love the teachings of Christ and the words of the Holy Prophets. These words will strengthen and replenish your everything in this fight against your own personal boulder. I love you all so much, brothers and sisters. Know that I'm on your side, and I'll gladly push my boulder alongside yours as long as you'll let me! 

Have a great week! 

Elder Noll

Elder Noll and Elder Buhler :)

Look Grandma Sue and Grandpa Doug...My new helmet (I used my Christmas money! Thank You!!