May 26, 2013

     Well, it's been another week on the beautiful island of Taiwan! One of the highlights of the week, we've got an investigator with a baptismal goal for the 15th of June!! YEAH!!! I don't know if I told you about the "merry Monday" crew back from Tainan or not, but one of the guys moved here to Gaoxiong and so we met him for dinner again last monday and he's meeting with us again tonight! He's an awesome guy, and we're gonna work hard to try and get him active in the church! You ban fa!  Well, time for the day by day update:   
    Tuesday: Exchanges! Oh so much fun. I stayed in my area and led around Elder W(one of my Zone leaders from Signapore) for Tuesday and Wednesday. We had some awesome success, and racked up some serious numbers! It was a good day for sure. We also went to the elementary school to do some English Proselyting (just advertising the English Class)... we felt a little like pedophiles, but we got some good families to come to English class and I'm sure it will lead to some new families converting unto Christ!   
      Wednesday: Interviews! Every 3 months President Bishop will visit each Zone and conduct personal interviews, I love these interviews! He's such an incredible guy and he really makes you feel special as he talks with you. He's got a remarkable memory! He remembers things that I said in my first interview with him, he quotes things that I said but don't even remember! Super lihai!! I did leave on a bit of a sad note... During interviews, the Assisstants (and President Bishop himself) very bluntly hinted to Elder M that he would be training this next move call, which means I'm gonna get kicked out of here! Man! I'm super happy for Elder M, but I'll be SO sad to leave this area!!   
      Thursday: Basically had a normal finding day! Spent almost all of it outside in the nice, hot, sun and got some good new investigators! We also met with this guy who is from Oregon!! He's got Taiwanese parents, but he was born in the states. He's a pretty cool dude! We talked with him for longer than an hour and I think he'll be a very likely candidate for baptism and enduring conversion! I can't wait to see the Gospel begin to change his life! We also spent the night teaching a Recent Convert who has become less active... We weren't teaching the Gospel though, I was teaching him... how to ride a bike!! haha, poor guy! He's got a few reasons why he's less active, but one of the big ones is that he's got no way to come to church!! So I spent about an hour teaching him how to ride so he can start coming to church with us on Sundays! I was about 10 minutes away from trying dad's method and ripping his shirt off of him as he pedals!!! But he's getting there... slowly. :)    
     Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: Just a normal weekend! Spent most of it at the older mans house that we take care of, and the rest of it was spent teaching some lessons and a whole lot of contacting! It's always a little hard to get up and go contact out in the hot sun, but if we don't do it, we're never going to help others come unto Christ! It's definitely a neccessary sacrifice! And it's also very worth while!    
     Why do we have commandments? Why is it that God has told us to keep all these "rules?" What do you think? Would you believe me if I told you it's because He loves us? We're given these commandments for our own benefit and protection! It's for the same reason that we have all of our warning signs (don't touch, don't smoke, don't feed the animals, etc.)! Very easy to understand why we shouldn't touch the bright red light on the humidifier, right Dad? These signs are usually the result of somebody with greater knowledge, wanting to help protect the people on earth... Sound anything like a God? God is all powerful and all knowing! He also is filled with love for us, He will do everything He can to protect us (withouth taking away our own Personal Agency) and this is the exact reason he's given us these commandments. Sometimes we don't know what the reasoning is for a certain rule, but there's always a good reason! Exact obedience will ensure our safety and it will give us strength to overcome any trial!     I love you guys all to the moon and back! Hope everything is still going well, I'm certainly doing great out here! Loving every minute of every day! Jiayou!!

proselyting

Good morning!

May 19, 2013

What up Americans? Are you reading this as you bask in the smell of B.O. and second hand smoke, sweating in an internet cafe too? No? You should try it some time... :D 

     Wow, what a week!! It started off INCREDIBLY hot!! I honestly feel like I'm in an oven! But what to our surprise when we woke up Friday morning, still sweating, to the sound of CRAZY hard rain outside... it didn't stop until last night!! You gotta love summer in Gaoxiong! Well, first things first, my new companion! He's from Lancaster, CA!! He's a super cool guy, really chillax and he's got an awesome testimony! I love teaching with him and our companionship studies are always really insightful! He reminds me a lot of Elder S actually! It's really funny actually, I met Elder M my first day in Tainan. He was serving in the second ward and the Saturday I got there, we had a big service activity. I worked with him for a little over an hour, talking and joking, and then he left for the north the next day. And now we're companions! Kinda cool the way things work out, huh? We had a super busy week, and it absolutely FLEW by! Lessons were jam-packed everyday!! We honestly barely had any time to go out and contact people because we were always in the chapel teaching people! We met a couple new people this week and we've set up some more baptismal dates, so the work is really going great! We've got this one investigator that we're trying to help quit smoking, it's been a battle! He told us that he quit, and so we were hoping that he could get baptized in the next week or so... but when he came to church yesterday, I found a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket!!! I was so sad!! I took the cigs from him, gave him some money, and he promised he wouldn't buy any more. He's now got a goal for the 1st of June, and I really think he can do it!! I'm so excited for him, he needs the Gospel so bad!!! I love him to death! 

     We had another lesson on Thursday (or Friday, I lose track of the days out here guys, give me a break!) with a new investigator that I met at the train station a few days ago. He was super interested in learning English, and that was pretty much the only reason he agreed to meet with us... at first! We started talking to him, and I had an impression to say a prayer with him. Not exactly a weird impression, but while I was praying, I had the distinct impression to bless him and his family, and to be a little more sincere in the way I talked with God. When I finished my prayer, I had another impression, DON'T SAY A WORD!! I sat there and looked at my investigator (everyone else in the room must have had the same impression, 'cause that room was SILENT.)... just stared at him. After a minute or so, he looked at me and said, "I feel so good!" I about ran over there and hugged him! We taught about the Spirit of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then gave him a baptismal date for the 15 of June... the next day we found out that he lives outside of our area... super sad, but it is what it is! He'll still be willing to get baptized, and that's the important part!

     Those are basically the highlights of the week! It's been super great!! My spiritual message of the week is this, "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul, Whose mighty hand hath made me whole. Whose infinite power hath raised me up, and filled with sweet my bitter cup." Not totally sure on the exact wording of the lyrics, but that's pretty close! This song really sums up my testimony of the Savior pretty well. I testify that He truly is our Savior and Redeemer. Through His mighty Atonement, we can be made whole! No matter our background or the situation we are in right now, we can look forward with a brightness of hope, knowing that the Lord will make us whole if we allow Him to. His infinite power and Loving nature will lift us to heights we've never dreamed of, and it will fill every bitter aspect of our lives with a sweetness no earthly word can describe. I know these things our true. I know it not only with my mind, but every fiber of my being testifies of these things and cements my faith! I promise you, if you lean on the ever out-stretched arm of the Lord, your faith will be cemented and no matter the size of the storm, nothing will be able to tear you down. 

     I love you all! Love, Elder Noll

Mother's Day 2013!

Oh the joys of move day! I apologize in advance, this letter will be a little bit shorter! I've only got a little bit of time to write this right now! Well, I'm on a nice little spiritual high right now after seeing you guys yesterday!... granted, you were just frozen in the screen for 30 minutes until you disappeared entirely, but I saw you for about 10 minutes and heard your voices! I'm okay with that! You all looked like you're doing great, even if you were a little tired! Sorry about that! I'm looking forward to seeing you again at Christmas! 

     This week has been H O T!! I didn't think it was possible to get any hotter, but Gaoxiong has shown me some pretty hot days! It definitely brings some rockin' fruit though, so I don't worry about it too much! We had an AWESOME experience this week with one of our investigators! He had a dream that gave him an answer to his prayers!  This investigator is super great, but he's always had a problem that we just couldn't quite figure out! Finally, last week, we did a mock baptismal interview with him and found out that he didn't believe in Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon... he's keeping EVERY single commandment, but he doesn't believe that Joseph Smith actually saw God. So we told him to fast with us. The morning after our special fast he called us and told us (in English): "I've had an epiphany of Jesus Christ..." ?!? I had no idea what that meant, but you can bet I was nervous! We met with him on Thursday and he drew this huge, detailed dream up on the board for us to interpret... it was seriously intricate! If you want to see a copy of it, ask my parents in a couple of weeks, I'm sending a copy to them. By the end of the dream, he writes up 4 numbers on the board. 1836. He says: "Elder Luo, do you know what this means?" I told him I had not a clue!! He then pulls out his Book of Mormon and shows us something in the index about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon in June of 1830... the sixth month in the year of 1830!!! I never would have made that connection, but he's a smart dude! He then tells us that he fully believes in the Book of Mormon and in Joseph Smith, it couldn't have made me any happier! The only problem now is that his family doesn't agree with him getting baptized, so it'll be a while! But it's okay, because I know that one day he'll make that step and he'll start on the path to Eternal Life.

     So we've found out that Elder D is now going Zone Leader! He'll rock it up north! My new companion is on his way down here right now, his name is Elder M. I met him my first day in Tainan and he's a super cool guy! We're gonna do some serious work here in Lingya!! I'll have more details about him next week!

 

     I want to bear my testimony to you about how incredible the work of the Lord is, and the importance of His hand in everything we do. This work is absolutely without price. I know because I'm now apart of it more than ever! Seeing the changes it's made in peoples lives is nothing short of miraculous. The most important part of this work, though, is to have the Lord's Spirit to be with us as we do it. That requires us to do and give us certain things! It means we must be worthy, that's the first step to anything in the Church! Personal worthiness is a requirement to work alongside our God. It means we must put forth serious effort. Not only the physical effort (and I'm here to tell you, there's PLENTY of physical demands!) but we must exercise our minds by studying the scriptures and the words of the prophets! We must also be wise in things of the world, including how to budget money, how to wash clothes, how to get along with people, and basic necessities of life! I promise that when we put forth the effort to do these things, the Lord with bring us to heights that we've never even dreamed of! Everything is possible with the Lord on our side. This is my promise and invitation, in the name of our beloved Savior and Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, amen.

    

Happy Mother's Day!

Best MD Gift!!

Even the dog got in on the action...LOL

May 5, 2013

What's up everybody?? Well, honestly this week has been a slow one... not to say it went by slow, it flew by, but there wasn't a whole lot of excitement in it! Last P-day we just kind of chilled. I painted my bike while Elder D wrote a bunch of letters and then we just hung out at home while I played some guitar. I'm working on a new song that I'll send you guys once I get it right... it'll be a while. :) Other than that, we had a very abnormal week... our schedule was jam packed with lessons every single day. I'm serious when I say it's hard to find a time to even use the bathroom, that's how busy we were SUPPOSED to be... but, we got our pigeons placed (Chinese idiom for getting stood up) about 4-5 times each day. Really annoying, because our whole personal and companionship study is supposed to be focused on the lessons we teach to our appointments! But God knows what we're supposed to be doing, and the backup plans we had led to some miracles! I'll have to start out with the saddest (not too sad, but it makes me sad) part of the week. Our investigator, the one I went to the beach with, doesn't live in our area!!! This is the second investigator that we've had to pass off to other Elder's, and he's getting baptized in 2 weeks!! I'm super happy he's still getting baptized, but now we don't get to see him as often! Super sad. But we've got some other investigators who have some baptismal goals for May, so we're still doing good! And we've made sure that they live in our area!! haha

     One of the most exciting events of the week was cockroach hunting at our crippled friend's house! Wow, it was scary man. The man we take care of told us that the cockroaches were starting to crawl on him and bite him, and he said that they would crawl into his food when he was trying to eat! So we went out and bought 2 cans of the highest class RAID and went to work. I can't even tell you how many cockroaches we killed!!! It definitely got my blood pumping as we sprayed them off the walls and basically fumigated this guy's house! As scary as it was, it was funny at the same time. The older man was yelling at us to get certain ones, and then he would crack up as we sprayed them, and then he'd see another one and scream again. We had a pretty good time.

     I haven't eaten anything too crazy this week, other than some weird kind of soup my investigator gave me. I started eating it, and it wasn't too bad. Just a little weird and lumpy. The meet was all kind of a grayish color, and it didn't have a whole lot of taste. I asked him what it was and he told me it's pig intestines, pig liver, and some other kind of stuff that they threw in a pot and cooked. I'm convinced that they just took the insides of a pig and dumped it in my bowl. Needless to say, I was a little bit surprised... but you'll be proud to know that I licked the bowl clean! Aren't you guys excited for me to bring you back here? You'll never know what I'm ordering for you! MuwaHAHAHA! It's payback for going to Hawaii without me... :D

    

     I've been thinking a lot this past week about what it means to love the Savior. He puts it pretty simply himself, "If you love me, keep my commandments... Greater love hath no man than this, that a man layeth his life down for his friends... verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye are my disciples if ye have love one for another..." Those are the 3 things I want to talk about really quick.

Obedience. The first law of heaven! What kind of society would we have if we didn't recognize the Laws which have been laid down for us? The law of obedience is not only a way to protect us and bring ourselves blessings, but it's the ideal way to show the love and respect we have for God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I heard a talk in Sacrament meeting just a couple weeks ago that touched on this aspect of the Gospel. He said: "There are 3 reasons why we keep the Commandments. 1. We're scared of punishment. This is alright, we're still keeping the commandments, right? 2. We want the reward of Eternal Life. This is a little better, but we can still improve. 3. We love God." It's as simple as that. We need to "FORGET OURSELVES, and go to work...", go to work by keeping the Commandments.

"Greater love hath no man than this,..." The first example that comes to mind when I read this scripture is obviously Christ Himself. He laid his life down for all of mankind! I think of other obvious, great examples such as Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Pioneers, and others who have died for the cause of truth. But when we think deeper, laying your life down doesn't have to mean "death." Each and every Prophet and General Authority has laid His life down to work for the Church and help bring to pass this great work! Many parents and spouses have laid their lives down to provide for children or to be with each other. I'm not saying we need to go and throw ourselves off a building because we love Christ, but let's be "anxiously involved in a good cause," hm?

"...love for one another..." We know, from King Benjamin in the book of Mosiah, that "...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." Christ tells us likewise, in Matthew, "And the King shall answer and say unto him, verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these your bretheren, ye have done it unto me." If we want to express our love to Christ, let's serve one another and lift each other up.

     Love you all tons! Love, Elder Noll

April 28, 2013

     Well, I don't know where to start!! It's been a real busy week! Last Monday, we went to the beach with one of our investigators. Super awesome! I got to take my shoes off and walk on the sand for a little while as I longed to jump right in and body surf for a while! ha it reminded me of our trip to Monterey when Jessi, Brian, Cody, Uncle Dan and I all went swimming that night... super fun! After that we all went to a delicious shaved ice shop and had some mango shaved ice... let me tell you a little bit about their shaved ice here... they don't use artificial flavoring!! When you get mango shaved ice, they literally put chunks of fresh mango on some smooth ice with sweetened condensed milk on it!! Even better than Matsumoto! It was incredible! I'll send you all some pictures.

     The week was spent in the chapel! Seriously, everyday we had lessons almost every hour! It was super busy, and I loved every minute of it! It was also really nice to be in an air conditioned building... VERY HOT OUTSIDE.

 

   I think the highlight of my week, was definitely Saturday night. It had been kind of sprinkling all day, and we had a couple hours to contact people outside, so we were a little bit damp but not too bad really. We then went to the chapel so that Elder D could do a baptismal interview for the sisters investigator. The interview was going a little longer than normal, and we were going to be late to a baptismal service... I was super worried we would miss his baptism!

                                                                             ......

  I can't believe I haven't told you this story yet!! So, my first week here, we met this 20 year old kid who was interested in learning about Christ and Christian churches so we started meeting with him... He was SO cool! Very willing to keep commitments and before we knew it, he had a baptismal goal for April 27th. The problem happened when I went on an exchange with my Zone Leaders... I was calling through their list of investigators to see when they could meet and I saw our investigator listed on there!!! I asked Elder M who he was, and he says: "Oh yeah, you guys referred him to us a few weeks ago... he's getting baptized on April 27th!" ???? I was so confused! In the end, we found out that this guy was embarrassed to tell us that he lived over in the zone leaders area and he was going to get baptized there! hahaha!

     Well, his baptism was on Saturday night and we were going to be late! We booked it to the subway and went to the zone leaders area... when we found out that it wasn't just sprinkling anymore... it was raining. We had to walk about a mile to the chapel and we were already 20 minutes late! It took us a while to get there, and I was sad because I thought I missed the baptism, and also we were absolutely soaked to the skin. We get to the chapel and I can hear people singing, so I thought we missed it for sure! But apparently they had forgotten to fill the font with water!!!! God works in mysterious ways, and He postponed the service so that we could see our friend be baptized! It was so great to see! We had worked with him for so long, and he still comes to our family night activities! I definitely count him as one of my baptisms, no doubt! That was by far, the best part of the week.

 

     The Spiritual highlight of the week is about Families. What does it mean to have an Eternal Family? I remember going to the Manti Temple when I was about 8 years old and being sealed for time and eternity to my family... the most I remember of that experience is waiting in the little kid room for 2 hours with my little brother crying the whole time, but I can also remember little blips of the ceremony. The beautiful walls of the temple, the nice workers, the incredibly beautiful room with the most Sacred atmosphere, and my whole family dressed in white. I don't remember what was said, I don't even remember exiting the Temple, but I know, because of that Sealing Ordinance, my farmhilly is furheavier. :) Whenever my family goes to the beach (which is actually pretty often considering we live in Utah...) we HAVE to pick up as many shells as possible. It's been a tradition we've done ever since I was little, and it doesn't matter that I'm almost 20 years old now, I still can't go to the beach without being fixated with the pearly white shells lying on the sand... So this week when I went to the beach, I picked up some shells! I was later looking at them, thinking about my Eternal family, and thought about how families can be compared to these sea-shells! There are a few different categories of shells. Beautiful and whole, funky looking and whole, beautiful and broken and funky looking and broken. Those broken shells are the families with broken relationships. They may have been beautiful or funky looking, but now they are broken and (unless put back together) will remain imperfect. I don't think this represents divorce, or a family death, but I'm talking about the ACTUAL relationship. If we don't have a WHOLE relationship with all members of our family, there is a defect in our family shell. Those whole shells, are much nicer. Even if they are funky looking, they're still worth it to pick them up and put in our pocket. But what's the difference? I was looking at two shells and decided the difference lies in Eternity. The funky looking shells need some work still! They need to be polished and kept after, and only then can they become beautiful! Those shells with have been "beautified" of course, still need some work, but the process is well on it's way. I know that my family is working towards becoming a perfect shell, we're far from it, but we are a beautiful shell and I'm so grateful for that! I hope that all of us can aim for a Beautiful, whole shelled family! It's worth the effort!

 

Love you all! Jiayou!

Elder Noll

 

April 21, 2013

     Well, it's sooo good to hear from everyone this week! I'm glad to know that you're all doing so well! I'm loving life right now here in Lingya! We recently baptized a very steadfast guy about 23 years old, and he's doing great! We're now preparing him to receive the Priesthood! So incredible!! We also have a few other people scheduled to be baptized... soon. We've had to push some dates back because of scheduling conflicts and such... you wouldn't believe some of the things that come up on the week of a baptism!! Let's just say that the adversary works really hard to turn people away from the path of righteousness! We've also met some really incredible new investigators this week! Just yesterday, we met this great, little family! We talked about the Restoration and how it pertains to Eternal Families and they're pretty excited to keep learning! So Great!!

     I've got to say, some of the highlights of my week were English class, and a Single Adult activity that we took our Recent Converts to. In English, we had a chance to watch part of the Joseph Smith movie, the one that they play in the Joseph Smith Memorial building at Temple Square!! Elder P (my old companion) has the movie, and he let us borrow it so I could show my English class!! If you guys want to get that version, it's probably online... you have to make sure it's called "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" and that it's the version they show at Temple Square... wow. I've forgotten how incredible it is!! BUT, on top of that, the single adult activity was watching the Emma Smith movie! Just as good, if not better!! These two movies have set me on a Joseph Smith kick for the whole week! I'm literally in awe at the acts of those early saints and the sacrifices they made to allow us to be what we are today! Very awesome!

     Before I go into my Spiritual thought of the week, I want to introduce you to Taiwanese summers! Very crazy! It's probably about 80-85 degrees, not too hot, right? Wrong. It's about 100% humidity outside!! Elder S told me that he once heard a quote by President Hinkley (apparently President Hinkley once visited Gaoxiong) and it goes like this: "Gaoxiong reminds me a little of H..." I don't know if I'd trust Elder S or not though... ha, Gaoxiong is incredible, but it's also hot. The major plus of that, is the fruit!! SO GOOD!! Also, people are a little more willing to talk to us... I don't know if it's because they see the sweat and feel bad for us, but it sure is nice to talk to more people!

     So I'm doing great this week! Everything is flying by, so I feel like I don't have a whole lot to write down! It feels like I was sitting at this same computer just yesterday! I want to talk about a scripture in Revelations 1:16 today. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..." A simple statement, no? It's a very easy thing to say, but how do we act when we are "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ?" I once had a Seminary teacher talk to us about standing up to opposition and showing the whole world that we are not ashamed of Christ! One of the greatest examples that I've ever seen is in the Joseph Smith movie. Joseph is chained on the floor with various other Church leaders and they are listening as the vile guards describe the disgusting actions they performed as they drove the saints out of Illinois. Joseph stands up and rebukes them with a voice later described as a lion roaring with royal dignity. I invite you all to go back and watch this particular section of the movie, it leaves me chilled and with goosebumps each time I see it. There are times in our everyday lives when we have a chance to stand up and tell people what we believe. What holds us back? Fear. I'm not saying that I'm above it, I'm far from being above fear!! But all of us can overcome it for a small moment to stand up for what we believe in! That's my invitation this week. Stand up, and "Be thou an example of the Believers!" I promise that you will be "lifted up on Eagles Wings" as you do this and you'll see the love of the Savior even more clearly as you stand up to defend His Gospel.

 

     Love you all! I'm grateful for all of the support and I continue to pray for each of you every day! Talk to you Next week!!

Love, Elder Noll

 

 

April 14, 2013

Answers to your questions:

     1. The grave sweeping:

     Nothing too crazy!! It's just like we do in America, garden work around the graves... the only difference is that there isn't a cemetery gardener taking care of them all year, so there's a little more work to do!

     2. My companion! Which one? just kidding!

     Actually, Elder D and I are very sad about that right now, we just dropped Elder P off at the Train Station! After just 2 weeks!! So sad! He's going to my old district in Tainan, kinda funny, right? We had a LOT of crazy experiences in these 2 weeks, and I'll fill you in on those in just a bit! He's a Taiwanese missionary from Taipei, he's already graduated from college and fulfilled his mandatory military service, and he's only 25 years old! Ultra stud!

     Well, like the subject, this has been one heck of a week!! Crazy people, General Conference, a Baptism, Lessons, Lessons, and more Lessons!!! We've been SOOO busy!! The week has literally flown by! Each and every day has been packed full of things to do!! I'll start from the beginning...

     Last Sunday, we got a phone call while we were planning. It was the office, telling us they had a "Golden" referral for us! This guy (apparently) had been beaten by his father and was now living in the hospital, but he saw us missionaries before and decided he wanted to learn about our church and go on a mission himself! Sounds pretty great, right?? I thought so! We get to the hospital on Monday night and tell the receptionist who we want to visit, she tells us he lives in the Jinshengbing ward... Neither Elder D or I had any idea what that meant, but our native companion got this really weird look on his face and asked her to double check the list... she confirms, and then we go on our way. Elder P explains that it's in the Psychiatric Ward... yes, the Crazy House! What do we do? Well, we're missionaries!! We go in to teach the crazies! haha, the three of us were a little nervous until we got to the building... then we got A LOT nervous! This place was absolutely empty. Not a soul in sight. There was a little boxed off room with a staircase inside and an intercom on the outside. We hit the intercom and a lady lets us in... the door just opened automatically, scaring the crap out of the three of us! We enter the creepy little room and there's a creepy, soft voiced recording welcoming us into the crazy house. We cautiously go up the staircase and see two people, a security guard and a nurse. They start asking us why we're there, and then decide to let us in... until she looks at me and then freaks out!! She starts screaming at me and telling me I need to take my cigarettes and lighter and give them to her... ???? What??!! I don't smoke lady!! Ha, she was on that rant for a while until I showed her my backpack and Church flyers, and then she calmed down and let us in. It was the creepiest place I've ever been in, I'm telling you! This place was creepier than the haunted forest in American Fork, creepier than that big balloon, the Beast, at Thanksgiving Point, creepier than any place I've ever been to before!! There was a small group of people that started heading towards us, murmuring and trying to talk to us. Quick side note, every crazy person here (there are a LOT) can speak English!! I don't know what it is, but their English is really pretty good! This guy starts hugging Elder P and trying to steal his pen... Elder P gives him a Church flyer and we start to go into our investigator's room. We were all seriously freaked out now, so we slammed the room door shut, and our little friend watched us from the window for about 5 minutes... haha looking back on it now, it's hilarious!! But at the time it was SO NOT FUNNY! Our "investigator" was totally nuts... some "golden" referral. He wanted to move in with us and be a missionary, but he refused to read out of the Book of Mormon or even consider baptism... we prayed with him and got up. We were so ready to leave this nut house!! We open the door and start looking for the exit... We couldn't find it!! Our first friend rounds the corner and starts running towards us saying, "Wait! I'm Christian!" That was the last straw. We found the exit but it was locked, so we pound on the door until it opens and sprint down the stairs and out the building! hahaha I make it sound a little worse than it really was, but that's how it felt at the time! We've had a good laugh about that for the past couple weeks and my journal has a nice detailed version of the whole story.

     The rest of the week was taken up with lessons, lessons and more lessons! We had multiple investigators we're trying to prepare for baptism, one of them was just baptized this last Saturday! The other has extended until May, but he's still willing to meet and still wants to be baptized! We're working with a 3rd to be baptized on the 27th, but he's just been so busy this week that we might have to extend his date too. We met a new guy this week who is working to be baptized on the 4th of May! So as you can see, it's been a busy (successful) week!... and that was only the first 5 days!! This weekend was like the Superbowl for us! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! It was so incredible this year! We (the 5 missionaries in my area) got the high council room all to ourselves and watched it in English, and I got so much out of it! I'll share more about that in my Weekly Spiritual Thought. Saturday ended with the most wonderful, happy event you could imagine. That's right, WE BAPTIZED! One of our investigators that we've been meeting with got in the water on Saturday night, and made a covenant with the Father of all the Heavens and Earth. It's the most miraculous thing - to witness something like that.

     The Conference this time seemed to be focused on uplifting the members and showing us how to make the Lord, our Redeemer, "the rock of our salvation" and warning us to let Christ, the Lord, be in every aspect of our lives! I loved it! Some of my favorites:

     President Boyd K. Packer: "We need to protect our Nests." We need to live our lives in such a way that the Adversary cannot steal into our homes.

     Elder Dean M. Davies: "Build upon a SURE foundation!" "Anchor our lives to the Atonement of Christ."

     Elder Richard G. Scott: "make the center of your home the Savior."

     Elder Quentin L. Cook: "Let the peace of Christ fill our lives and blot out our hates."

     Elder Robert D. Hales: The Armour of God! "Stand with the Savior!"

     President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: "Take courage, find our faith, and keep trying." (later talk) "God's light is real!... Do not dwell in darkness."

And, of course, one of my favorites: Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: "Hold the ground you have already won, even if it is limited... Be true to the faith that you DO have...FAN THE FLAME OF YOUR FAITH." And towards the end: "Be not afraid, only believe." - Jesus Christ

     My dear family, friends and anyone else who may come across this, these words are precious treasures. Let them effect your lives, hearken unto them and make them become a part of your very beings! My key point in sharing all these quotes? Christ is our center and foundation. He is the Redeemer and Savior of the world, and if we build our relationships, homes and very lives upon His rock, we CANNOT fall! How many people are trying to tear us down? How many tried to tear down the Savior, as he marched to His death with a cross on His back? Let me answer for you, a lot. Every day there are people trying to tear us down from the mount we have worked so hard to climb. Those evil people who rose their own Savior up on the cross didn't understand that NOTHING CAN TEAR US DOWN, SO LONG AS WE ARE CENTERED ON THE LORD AND HIS TEACHINGS. Christ's entire life was given in submissiveness to the Father, of course nothing could keep him down! Don't you know?? After just THREE days, He rose once more, and took up ALL of His Glory!! Brothers and Sisters, I testify to you, because He rose, we will too. Because He has atoned for us, nothing can tear us down. Nothing. I give you this promise, with the authority of one being called by the Lord Jesus Christ, In His Holy name I promise you this, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Family!

 I'm making the most out of my time here, every time I feel nervous to talk to someone, I just think about how I'll regret it later if I don't do it, so then I just get up and go do it. Speaking of which, I had some delicious food this week! You ready for this? Pig intestine, with rice stuffed inside, and a smaller pig intestine stuffed inside of all that, with some sausage ground up and stuffed inside the smaller intestine... sound healthy? It was really delicious!! I love you all to the moon and back! Have a great week!

P.S. I got a guitar!! for Free!!! Not really mine, I'm just borrowing it until I leave this ward... but it made me SOO excited!! Love you guys! Jiayou!
Elder Noll

Saying goodbye to Elder P at the train station

Elder Noll copying the Buddah

Elder Noll at "Monkey Mountain"

 

AHHHH....Oh my!!

The boys killed this in their apartment -YUCK!