August 25, 2013

Hey guys! Wow, what a week! It sounds like it was quite a week back at home too!! Way to tear it up Jess! So proud of you bro! I want to see that hit that everyone's talking about!! Keep it up man! 

This week was pretty great! We had another Typhoon, met an awesome new family, and set a baptismal date for this next week with one of our recent convert's mom! Super stoked for her!! 

On Tuesday, we spent most of the day contacting! We had some English Proselyting and then a couple lessons and that was pretty much it! We did get a chance to visit a member for dinner... man, I tell you guys! Daya's members don't ever stop feeding us!! Out of the 7 days of the week, at least 5 of them have people feeding us at least one meal!! It's crazy!! On Wednesday, we went to one of our Recent Convert's house... for lunch. While there, I ate some pretty crazy stuff! The pig liver was pretty good, the duck stomach was a little funky... but it was the chicken foot that really got me. I've been avoiding that stupid foot since the day I got here! I'm being totally serious when I tell you that they just gave me a chicken foot!! It still has all the skin and talons and tendons and veins on it!! You just stick it in your mouth and suck on it for a while... but no one bothered to tell me that. I tore that thing apart! I was chewing, tearing, ripping and scraping until that thing was spotless! It left me wanting to puke, I'll be dead honest, but I had to be polite! haha, I'll send some pictures...

Wednesday, along with the funky food, also brought the Typhoon... English didn't have many students, so we just kinda chilled and talked with the students that did come. The Typhoon wasn't as bad as last time, but it did rain a LOT. We were riding our bikes through big puddles that went almost up to our knees, splashing down the road and preachin' the Gospel of Eternal Life! That's where it's all at folks! We had a chance to go out with Elder Limpanasraphong (say that 10 times fast) who I went to High School with! So much fun! He's such a stud!!! 

Friday through Sunday continued to kinda drizzle a little bit, but the Typhoon had totally passed. We had some truly great lessons with our investigators, and we're so excited for this wonderful mom to be baptized in this coming week! She just needs to tell her husband about her desire to be baptized and then she can take that step! We're praying hard that her husband will let her do that! On Saturday, the sisters in our District had a baptism and I got to do a pretty fun number on the Guitar for it. "He Sent His Son." Such an incredible song! It was so much fun to do that little number, and the lyrics of that song are just inspiring! 

Well, for the spiritual message of the week, I'd like to share a story. One night, about 2000 years ago, a small group of about 13 people gathered together and made history. At this little gathering, Jesus Christ administered, and taught of, the Sacrament to His 12 Apostles. During this time, Jesus told the Disciples of His betrayal and that one of them would be the one to Betray Him. The Disciples, probably shocked and appalled that one of them would do that, began to anxiously ask him: "Lord, is it I?" What incredible examples of love and meekness. They very well could have begun to blame each other and think evil thoughts in their hearts, but instead, they looked at themselves first. They wanted to make sure that they were clean first before turning to blame a brother. We can learn a lot from this small story, and also from the principle which Christ taught just a short time before this small gathering ocurred. Christ talks of us trying to take the mote out of our brother's eye when a beam is in our own! Let's first clean the inner vessel. This is my invitation to all who read this blog this week. Judge yourselves, and judge well, before you move on to help other people. 

I love ya guys! JIAYOU!!!

Elder Noll

August 18, 2013

Hello outside world!!! You know, everyone tells me that they would get super bad island fever being trapped on an island this small for over a couple months... but honestly I just love it! Everyday is better than the last! Of course, there are times when I'm overcome with longing for my family, my friends and the comforts of home, but then I just contact the next person and I feel the love I have for this place and my Lord engulfs me in arms of comfort! I feel like the outside world is SO far away! 

First things first, Thank you all for the awesome Birthday wishes! They are greatly appreciated! I'm especially grateful to the Family (mostly mom!) for the awesome "party in a bag." Elder L and I partied hard... well, as hard as you can when you've got a curfew of 10:30 haha! We ended up using those little blowie things to try and hit each other in the face and that went on for a good 30 minutes... don't worry! We got pictures! I do have to apologize though, we weren't able to take any pictures outside with the hat on! We were in meetings all day and we're not aloud to take pictures except for on P-days! But everyone got a kick out of it, and I got some pictures of our apartment for you guys! 

The subject title (of the email) reads: "Wu ai wu jia." 吾愛吾家 It means "I love my family!" This is a very special kind of award ceremony that they have here in Taiwan, and it's done by the Church. Usually it's done up in Taipei, near the Temple, but this year they decided to do it down here in Taichung! Our Zone was invited to sing a couple of songs for the big event, and it was incredible!! People from the Government were there watching and everything! We had a wonderful sister in our ward helping us direct the choir and putting the pieces together, she's an absolute musical genius! So cool! Also, side note, our last Zone Leader was Elder P (apparently I went to school with him) and he has been replaced by a guy named Elder T, another guy I went to school with and hung out with a couple times! Talk about a shocker! I got to exchange with him twice this last week and it was an absolute blast!! We got tons done, and It was super fun to do missionary work with someone from home!

I had an awesome Birthday yesterday! My companion brought a HUGE card to church and had almost everyone in our ward sign it! My Zone Leaders brought me a real CHEESECAKE and we pigged out on it while watching some Mormon Messages in the kitchen after church with our Recent Converts! I continued to get phone call after phone call from all the Recent Converts, past investigators and past ward members throughout Taiwan to wish me a happy birthday... including President and Sister Blickenstaff last night! That was fun! haha Over all it was just an incredible 3 days! Ha, I feel like I was just in here yesterday, so I really don't have much more to write about! 

Last thing, The incredible spiritual experience I had this week. As we were preparing this song for the big ceremony thing, our director had us do this really weird thing to practice. We read the lyrics out loud according to the timing of the music, but we couldn't focus on the singing. We just had to read it out loud and put as much feeling into it as possible. At first, I felt like a flippin' idiot... but as I started to get into it and really pay attention to the lyrics, I started realizing how much the words I was saying really meant to me. It was a song about the Resurrection and how it will free us from all sorrows and burdens. After realizing that, we went out and sung with all the power we had!... and to a zone of missionaries, the power of the Atonement is what drives us everyday, so you can only imagine the power those words had to us at that time. I don't think there was a dry eye in that room, especially among us singing. Music has such an incredible effect, and I know it's one of the best ways we can praise our Lord! It was such a powerful experience, and not one I'm likely to ever forget.

Love ya guys! Have an awesome week!!

     Love, Elder Ryan Noll

August 14, 2013

Hawlo! (Yes, tha'ts how they say "hello" here...) WOW!!! What an absolute incredible week, all because of today! We just barely got back from the Temple!!! Taipei is super awesome, and SUPER different than Taichung is! The buildings were absolutely MASSIVE and the temple was right in the middle of all of the concrete jungle! It was a little similar to the one in New York, just cause you don't even expect it, but you turn a corner and it's just THERE! I had a great time sitting with Elder B and just talking for a while on the way up there. That was super fun to see him again... it's weird having him in my Zone now! I've seen him a lot in the past couple weeks! I even got to do a practice teaching session with him yesterday! Talk about weird! I never thought I would be speaking in Chinese with J.B... we both thought that was pretty funny.
     So! This week! First of all, the package is AWESOME! I love it so much! I gotta say, I'm not sure how much I can wear the hat(I bought Ryan a birthday hat to wear...his b-day is the 18th) this sunday! I've got to be at Church and meetings all day!! haha, but I'll try my best and get some pictures! And the FOOTBALL!!! I've been teaching Elder L all about it this week, and I think he's just super confused... it's hard to explain this kind of sport in Chinese!
     Questions for the week:
*Baptisms:
     I've had 4 baptisms so far *Language phases:
     Once you finish Phase 1, the rest is a lot harder to track. Phases 2 and 3 are just boxes full of flash cards (vocab and characters). Right now I've basically got most of the phase 2 words memorized, I'm mostly working on phase 3 and reading and writing... honestly, it's been hard to keep myself really focused on studying Chinese this past month... living with a Taiwanese person and speaking Chinese 24/7 is just kind of part of me now... I find it difficult to think and speak using only English... the majority of my thoughts, conversations, and even dreams are in Chinese! So I'm having a hard time staying really motivated in studying!! any advice? *American Accent:
     Everyone has an American Accent... people tell me I sound like I'm from the South in Taiwan, because when I talk it's a little more feminine. That's just how the accent here in Taiwan (especially in the southern parts) is! *I'm turning 20?
     Super crazy! I totally forgot until I got your package, and forgot again until I read your email today! So nuts!!

     Well, I feel like this week has been 2 days longer than usual... wait, it has. It's weird having P-day on a Wednesday! I get to go teach English in just a bit! Highlights/weird times of the week?
     -eating cow stomach (not a highlight...)
     -making Father's Day cards (Taiwan's father's day is in August!)
     -teaching the intermediate class for English
     -watching (for the 10th time) the Joseph Smith movie and receiving yet more and more revelation from it! I love that movie!!!
     -The Temple of course!

     I don't have a whole lot of time today, so I can't give you too many details on all of these, but they were all super fun and incredible experiences to me!... maybe all except the cow stomach. That was gross. I'll see what I can do to bring some home with me. The Father's Day cards were super fun! I won't say too much about them, because I'm gonna send one home so you can all see it. Intermediate English is a little harder than teaching the Advanced class, but I still love it! It's super fun to joke around with the students!
    

     Spiritual highlights: A quote from the Joseph Smith movie and the Temple trip today. First, the Temple. Wow. It's been really hard not being able to go weekly like we did in the MTC! Today was so nice just to sit in the Celestial room and ponder. The feeling is absolutely unreal. I encourage all worthy recommend holders to go to the Temple as often as possible!!

     "Sometimes the Lord brings us low before he can lift us higher.” One of the important truths of this teaching, in my opinion, is the fact that WE have to recognized how low we truly are. We don't have to be passive, we don't have to wait to BE humbled. We can act, we can realize what we actually are and humble ourselves before the Lord in order to allow Him to lift us higher. Later in the movie, a man says: "Brother Joseph, my pride has brought me very low." which is answered by: "Now the Lord can lift you higher." I was brought to tears as I saw the humble manner in which this man reached out for help. This is the attitude we need. We need to understand that, although we mean absolutely everything to the Lord, we are NOTHING without Him. I know that this kind of humble attitude will bring us to heights we've never dreamed of! I love the Lord. He is my strength and my everything!

     You guys rock! Love ya!

Elder Noll

August 4, 2013

HEY EVERYBODY!! What a week!! It's been full of lot's of awesome drama and incredible miracles!

     Well, it was move-call week this week! We've been super curious about the changes that are going to be made here... President has been hinting at the changes for the last few weeks now, and it's super big! We've closed down 2 zones, but added quite a few missionaries... each zone has added about 5 new companionships! Almost every single companionship had a member move!... we were very grateful that both of us are still in Daya! Yay!!!

     I had a truly awesome chance to help out with the Dan Jones activity this week... that's the activity where the new missionaries stand on a box and share testimony and then go contacting for their first time. It was a lot of fun! There were 33 new missionaries! So we had about 70 missionaries total in that night market contacting people... super crazy! It was so fun to work with a new guy and hear his incredibly strong testimony! People are so prepared to hear the Gospel! And on our way home, we had a really great lesson with the bus driver. He's really busy, so he doesn't have a whole lot of time to meet with us, but he was really touched by the Spirit, and I truly believe a seed was planted in his heart! 

     We were scared to death on Saturday night, when the Move-Call was supposed to come in... it came at 10:29!!! 1 minute before we were supposed to go to bed!!! Talk about coming at the last second!! We're so excited for this next Move-Call! It's going to be super great as we work with all of our investigators and get them into the water!!

     Elder S is going home tomorrow!!! Isn't that crazy??? I feel like it was only yesterday that we were in Tainan together! I got to go to the mission house today to see him for a while, and that was SO awesome! He's sad to leave, but he knows that he's done his work! He's such an awesome guy! It was super fun to see all the people at the mission house today... I had a few of my recent converts come to find me, and I saw a lot of other past companions! OH, I forgot to tell you! Elder B is now in my zone! I talked with him for a little while today, and then some other elder pulled out a football and we played for a little while. SO nice to throw around a football for a good 1/2 an hour! It reminded me of the times Jessi and I would go out in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house in Cali and throw the ball around! Only, it's even hotter here and I can't take off my shirt! haha! So you guys, be on the lookout for Elder S! You can probably find him on facebook, or just get in contact with his parents... let him rest a couple of days though! haha, he's super exhausted! 

     One of the most spiritual experiences I've had this week happened as we were watching a movie with one of our recent converts. Earlier in the week, I got ahold of a Chinese subtitled version of the Joseph Smith movie (the hour long version that only plays in the Joseph Smith memorial building!!!) and we were looking for any opportunity to watch it with one of our recent converts or investigators. Wow. I'm hit so hard by the Spirit each time I see that movie. This time I particularly like a sentence said by the Prophet Joseph as they are building the first Temple... 

     "We're not just building a Temple... the Lord is building us." Take a second and think about that! It's a little weird, isn't it? Hasn't the Lord already given us our bodies? Have we not already been "built?" I think that, although we have bodies of flesh and bone which have already been built, the Lord has a very specific plan for us, and He is constantly trying to "build" us into the person He knows we can become. Everything we do will influence our future. When we are doing the Lord"s work and doing it the Lord's way, we will grow, and build upon His foundation. 

Love ya guys tons!! You're all awesome! Tell Elder Woods and Elder Rhymer how much I love them! Elder Sheranian should be getting home soon as well, let them all know that I'm still working my butt off out here and LOVIN' IT! :D ... actually, you might not want to say that... they'll be super jealous! ;)

Elder Noll
Here is the video of the "Dan Jones" experience...Elder Noll can be seen twice - but the whole video is really worth watching - incredible to watch these kids sharing the gospel!

July 28, 2013

哈囉!! Hey guys! How's it goin' this week?? I know I say it every week, but man time flies. This is the last p-day of the move-call, and we're very nervous about what's going to be changing this next move call! Wow, I feel like I've grown quite a bit in these last 6 weeks! I've had hundreds of new experiences to add to the pages of my journal, I've been broken down, built up, tossed around and steadied constantly! I feel so grateful for all the experiences I've gained in just these last 6 weeks, and it brings tears to my eyes to think on the blessings I've received in the past year! I love the Gospel and I love this Work!

 Well, this week.... not a whole lot happened in all honesty! We did have a Zone Conference on Wednesday at the Mission HQ and it was super awesome to see all the missionaries! I saw Elder B, Sister W, Elder H, and a lot of others! It's weird for me to remember my first Zone Conference... back then, I didn't know ANY of the other missionaries, but now, I feel like I could name almost each one of them! Super crazy how fast the time has gone by!! We had a great time and learned a lot! President B is super awesome and the way he teaches is incredible! 

We also did a really awesome activity this week with the youth of our ward. Our chapel is absolutely HUGE... it's got 3 floors! So this week, we decided to do a Plan of Salvation simulation... They started on the first floor, and all they were told was: "Go start your life!" They go to the second floor and are contacted by missionaries who then tell them to go find 4 cards with commandments written on them... if they meet with us a second time, we tell them there are 3 other cards with other ordinances written on them. After about 30 minutes, we switch roles and started to tempt them into wasting time... telling jokes, playing guitar, dancing etc. At the end, they receive judgement and are separated into three groups based on how they did. It was a super awesome activity!! It went super well, and the kids all really loved it! After the activity, I taught them how to play capture the flag and we all went crazy for a little while. We had some investigators come as well, and they loved it! I think it really helped our recent converts better understand the Plan of Salvation as well! 

Even though we didn't have a whole lot of exciting news this week, it was so packed full of Spiritual truths that I could fill multiple pages of this email! I'll focus on just one of them. This Saturday, I had a chance to conduct a Baptismal interview with the Sisters investigator. While I did the interview, Elder L was in the other room watching the Testaments. I finished the interview and came in the room just in time for the end. I got to see the whole process of the Atonement, the Crucifixion, and the very end where Christ appears to the Nephites. As Christ appeared to the Nephites, I suddenly thought to myself: "What would my reaction be?" Would it be utter joy? Would it be absolute fear? Would it be a humble happiness in knowing that I was worthy to stand before Him? Or would it be a Guilt-filled torture as I hid from His presence? I think we all know what we want the answer to be. I thought to myself how horrible it would be to be afraid to enter the presence of our beloved Savior. Can you imagine? My eyes filled with tears as I imagined that feeling! I know that the Savior will come again. I testify of His coming with every fiber of my being, and I promise you: if you are not ready for His coming, it will come much swifter than you ever thought. If you are not ready, if you are not preparing... start to do so now. I know that if we are prepared to meet Him, we will be filled with more joy and love than we could ever imagine! I can not wait for that day! I want to run into the outstretched arms of the Lord and tell Him that I did my very best... these thoughts also tell me that I need to do better. I need to be more diligent in all that I do and I need to always remember what my true purpose in life is!

I love you guys! You're all awesome! Have a great week!

Elder Noll

July 21, 2013

Oh, the most wonderful word in the Missionary Language... BAPTISM! We, Elder L and I, are on a nice little mission work high right now after having an INCREDIBLE baptism on Saturday! Wow, I'm so happy for this kid! He's such an incredible guy, and he's already getting ready to go to the Temple in a few weeks! SO COOL! 

     Well, this week absolutely FLEW by. I feel like I was just here yesterday! We had a short term missionary with us all week long, that was fun. Kinda showed me the difference between someone who's prepared to go on a mission and someone who is still trying to decide whether or not to go... it really made me miss ya Jessi! I couldn't help but comparing everything he did to you and then being disappointed because you are much more prepared to come out here and do this work! But, I do think we were able to help this young man prepare himself a little better. He did progress throughout the week, so that's a good thing!

     We had a chance to meet some great new investigators this week, meet with some less actives, and visit all of our recent converts! It was a great week, but honestly there wasn't much that happened! We spent most of it preparing for the baptism and making sure that our investigator was comfortable with what was happening! It turned out incredible. One of the best baptisms I've attended here. The missionaries in our district worked on a special musical number called: "I will find you, my friend." The title is enough to make ya tear up a little! It's all about friendships between investigators and missionaries in the pre-earth life and promises we made then to find each other. Really incredible. I also had a chance to give a talk at the baptism. I've learned one of the amazing gifts a mission has given me... the ability to write a few scriptures on a piece of paper and talk about them for 15 minutes straight!... in a totally different language! Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were sick of me talking after about 10, but I meant every word that I told my new recent convert. I talked about building our lives and foundations on the Rock of our Redeemer. The service was incredible and spiritual, and as our new convert walked back in the room after changing his clothes, I almost broke down and sobbed. He was in a full on suit, white shirt and tie, and looked just like a missionary. We got some great pictures and I'll make sure I send them today.

     I want to leave you guys with a message of happiness today! I remember a little quote down in our basement in our house. something like this: "Attitude is everything." That's the message I want to send out to you all today. The attitude we choose, truly is everything. We can choose to be happy, miserable, jealous, proud, humble, anything! The vision we give for ourselves can and will become reality one day! Choose for yourself a bright future! 

Love you all so much! have a great week!

Love, Elder Noll

July 14, 2013

Hello outside world... I'm alive! I survived the typhoon! It hit pretty hard, but more on that later!

Well, it's certainly been quite the week! Baptismal Interviews, the most incredible companion exchange I've had so far, Typhoons, a swimming pool in our changing room, and we have an extra person in our companionship now! We've got a 17 year old short term missionary serving with us! So, I'll just start from the beginning!

     We met a family the first day that I got here in Daya. They own a tiny stationary store right next to our chapel and we started visiting them at least 5 times a week to friendship them and help them understand the gospel... that's just what we Missionaries do... They love us a lot! The mom is christian, but her husband is super hardcore Daoist and didn't even know that we would go over to visit the family. They have a son who is 17 though, and every time I talk with him, he reminds me so much of Jessi. He's a stud when it comes to basketball, he's pretty built too, but he's really humble and very polite whenever he interacts with people. There are a lot more similarities, but my point is, is I just love to be around him! We've been working with them for the past 4 weeks, and this 17 year old is now getting baptized on Saturday!!! He just passed his interview and has even picked out the details for the service on Saturday night! Oh guys, hearing about Grandpa's baptism makes me so happy! I'm seriously just shaking with joy right now! I'm also so happy that you all got a chance to experience the INCREDIBLE feeling of watching that someone you love enter that water! It's incredible! I still remember watching Steph and Alec get baptized and now I have multiple other complete strangers (now they're my brothers and sisters) to add to my memories. These are things that will never be forgotten, and they were meant to happen. I know that we prepared for these special moments in the pre-mortal life! 

     Taking a break from the Spiritual instances this week, let's discuss the most incredible experience (not even close, but it made me super happy) I've had so far. On Tuesday, I had to conduct a companion exchange with our Zone Leaders. I decided to go over into their area to see how things were going, and after a nice long day of lessons, we finally got to their house to end the day... but what to my surprise when the door opened and sitting on a little patio was a full on bench press set with a real barbell and a full set of plates!! I think I may have cried a little bit! I finished all my nightly duties and then just kind of gravitated over towards the weights. Of course, what did I do next? Maxed out. I had to see how much I've lost! I've only lost about 25 pounds on my max though! I got up 275 pretty easily! I'm gonna try for 300 next time... pray for me. ;)

     Another pretty fun experience was the typhoon! It hit Taipei the hardest, but we still got it pretty hard down here. The winds were absolutely astounding, and I've never seen it rain so hard in my life! We woke up, and as I stepped outside, I noticed my feet were wet... our changing room was totally flooded and water was spraying (yes, spraying, not leaking) through the windows! I started going into Dad mode as I freaked out and started trying to take care of the problem! My poor companion didn't really know what to do, so he just sat on the bed and watched me fly around the house (we found another room that was flooding, so I was going back and forth between the two) with the FOUR towels that we had, trying to stop the flow. After about 2 hours of this, it started to look a little better. Everything was moved out of the rooms, so no big damage, and the water was being controlled... kind of. But I found out it was also pooring through an electrical outlet... super safe. It took us, and by us I mean me, the better part of the day to fix the problem. I ran out of dry materials to use, so I stuffed tissues into the cracks of the windows and it actually worked! haha... the only damage that really happened was to our changing rooms paint job... it's totally ruined, but everything else is fine!

     Oh yeah, we've got a short term missionary! Our stake is doing an activity for the youth... Each companionship in my Zone has a young man or young woman serving with them right now. It's a pretty awesome activity! I think it would be pretty cool for Jessi to look into when, and if, he ever has time... Our guy is named Elder S. He's a stud! 

Well, my thought today has to do with the flooding experience. As I was taking care of the problem, the thought came to my head multiple times to just stop and let it be. I wanted to just give up and call the office to come and save us. But each time that I thought this, I would think to myself about the suffering of Christ in Gethsemane. The pain He felt there can in NO WAY be compared to any earthly thing, let alone this small problem we had, but I thought of it nonetheless. What would the world be like today if He had given up? If He had sat back and NOT drank of that bitter cup? Christ is the ultimate example of all things. His Diligence and ability to persevere are supreme. I've learned a little bit of what it means to persevere through out my life. From those times in the 4th quarter when your team is down, your body is sore and you just don't want to continue or those times when you have 1 minute left in a wrestling match and 145 pounds of stinky muscle is pinning you to the ground... Those days when your house is falling apart "as the rains come down and the floods come up..." When these things happen, let's ask ourselves a question... "What is our foundation?" Is it rock or sand, worldly or of Heaven? If we are built upon the Rock of our Redeemer we need not worry. We will be able to withstand all the fiery darts of the adversary and no matter how dark the setting, no matter how bleak the situation, WE WILL PERSEVERE.  Hold on guys, don't ever let go of this lifeline that we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ, It will pull you through.

Loves! Elder Noll