Letter # 81 - Final Letter and Testimony

Well this is my last letter.

I can't really explain the feeling that are going in my head right now. I feel that at moments that nothing is wrong and that everything is just normal, and then I am suddenly reminded that my mission is just about to be over and I am going to be home in a day. Thoughts of nervousness, anxiety, and obvious excitement all at the same time is quite the emotional roller coaster.

The first thing I should talk about is the report from this week. This week went well for us. It was a weird thought thinking that it was my last week but I was constantly just trying to do my best not to think about it but while at the same time needing to face reality. This last week I had decided in my heart that I was going to endure to the end no matter what, that I was really going to try my best and treat it as if it was just another missionary week. I feel like I did well and because of that decision we were still able to be productive.

In Taiwan, the members love to feed the missionaries, especially ones that are heading home. We had lots of people feed us and take us out. One were the parents of a new member we taught and was baptized in my second area. Her parents are not members and it was a cool missionary opportunity, especially for a couple that knows absolutely nothing about the Church, or Christianity in general. With all the people wanting to take us out it could have been incredibly easy to slack off and take it easy my last week but my companion and I, like I said, made a very conscience effort not to waste time and to do what we could with the time we had left together. I believe that we were blessed greatly for it. I believe it also taught me a lot about the principle of enduring to the end with all things, not just referring to Commandments and Covenants.

The Baptisms yesterday were great. The 4 people baptized were just so prepared. Their testimonies were so powerful and I was so happy to be a part of their progression on their way home. Does everyone remember the Sisters I told you about last week? Their testimonies were amazing. I have never seen people that were so repentant and truly fulfilling the baptismal requirement of a "broken heart and contrite spirit."

One of the other women that we baptized this weekend. Her name is Sister Yang or "Carrie". That is her English name. She is in English teacher so at least half the time we were speaking to her in English. I am not sure if I have told everyone this story yet. But basically this women was contacted a year ago by a missionary and after that the missionaries had lost contact with her. Then exactly a year later the same missionary contacted her on a bus and she said she would be willing to meet with the missionaries. She lived in our area so the missionary gave me her number. It took me about a month to get her to set up with us. But we kept calling her and eventually she was able to find a time to sit down with us. I remember the first time we met with her very specifically. She told us that she didn't really care if God existed or not, and that if she believed in God he was probably a mean God who punished people for not doing what he wanted. As we kept meeting with her, her entire countenance began to change. As weeks would go on she would start to express the changed feelings in her mind towards God and the world. A week before she was baptized we had a powerful lesson with her about the Atonement and she expressed these different feelings that she was having, and especially her view towards happiness. She expressed that her happiness now did not derive from short-lived spurts of Joy, such as Candy, or being able to sneak a seat on a crowded bus. She went on to explain to us that she is starting to understand what that true happiness that we were always talking to her about really meant. In other words she was explaining how she is being converted and she didn't even know it. Her testimony at her baptism was great. She sat down after she gave her testimony and I told her that she did an awesome job with it and she looked at me and said that it was God that helped her with it. This is coming from a person who said about a month and a half ago that she did not care if God existed or not.

I truly testify from the bottom of my heart that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it has the same effects on every human heart, and why does it have that effect? Because we are all the Children of a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to be like him! I know the Church is true. I love it so, so much. I especially love the leaders of the Church and their inspired teachings. I could go on all day about what my mission has done for me. But I just want to say that it has saved my life and I am in so much debt to my Heavenly Father. A lifetime of service is the only thing that I can think will suffice for the most precious blessings he has given me. I love this Gospel and it is true. My mission has been the hardest thing that I have ever done. I mean incredibly difficult. But it's much like what Mom would always tell me "You get what you pay for." I tried to pay a lot and I got so much out of it.

I can stand before the entire Family and say that I worked. I worked hard on my mission, and I tried to serve my best. I really tried. I was not perfect. But I tried to change every time I knew I needed to. So I believe that I stand accountable to my Heavenly Father for the work that I have put it in. I believe he is proud of what I have tried to do. I love my Family so much that there are not words to express. I truly love you all so much. I have that I have grown so close to my family while I have been here, especially my parents. I love you both more than you know. I truly realized the blessing that I have been given and I am truly grateful.

Moroni 10:32

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Thank you all so much for your support and your love. I will see you all soon

Elder Weinberger

Letter # 80

Okay this week had a turn of events, and it was all for the positive.

Some great things have happened to us, and we have truly seen the powers of heaven. To anyone that might doubt that there is a God and that He does not work by miracles and by the prayer of faith, I say that I know with all my heart that He does. I have seen it on too many accounts and this one just strengthens more than ever.

Well, as I have told the family, we have been teaching these two sisters for the last 2 months and they have been so prepared to be baptized the whole time. In my last week email I believe I told everyone how we had a set a goal with these two sisters so that they could be baptized on the 20th of November. We set this goal about a month ago and we were going to pray every single day for the mother's heart to be softened. (because as of that time the answer was absolutely NO!). The Mother was not going to let them both be baptized. But about a week and a half ago, after praying for a long time, we had decided that it was time that the girls talk to their parents about allowing them be baptized. They decided that it was also time, and so they decided to be very forward and tell their Mother why they wanted to be baptized and what it meant to them.

After they had the talk with the Mom the conclusion was that the older sister was permitted to be baptized and the little sister still could not. The Parents thought that she was too young and that she did not know what she was doing. At that time we only had one week to get the parent's permission for the younger girl because she needed to get the signature from them before the 13th. Last Sunday we asked many people to help pray for these girls, including multiple missionary companionship's. The girls also fasted with us last Sunday. My companion and I were really filled with faith at this point. I felt excited because I knew that faith was truly being expressed by so many, and there was absolutely going to be a result.

On the next Monday (the day after they fasted), we called them to see if there was anything new with the situation. The older sister went on to tell me that the little sister had talked to both of her parents the night before and they both gave up on trying to stop them from being baptized and signed the permission slip. I don't know the details of those conversations that resulted into what happened. But I know that God was present helping those girls. The girls passed their interviews two days ago and are now planning on being baptized this coming Saturday on the 20th of November.

I believe with all my heart that this miracle occurred because of the faith of those girls. They set a goal and they were willing to pray for it. We also did our best to pray every single night for them to be baptized on their scheduled date. Miracles really do occur. I know they do. It is all based on faith. This miracle has set a great foundation for me personally for the future. Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles, and I am never going to forget it.

Besides those two passing their interviews, we also had another two investigators pass their interviews this last week. So we are planning on having four baptisms on the 20th. It is also my last weekend in Taiwan. I feel extremely blessed. The feeling of leaving is getting more weird as time goes on. It doesn't feel like I am leaving at all, and I am a little torn about it. I love this place with all my heart. Of course I am excited about coming home and seeing my family, but the feelings I have for this place are not going to be easy to leave. I have seen so many miracles in the last few months of my mission including much spiritual growth and love for missionary work. It is not going to be easy to leave. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. It is true because I can stand as a personal witness that it changes hearts. I love my Savior and his Atonement. There is so much I have to learn, and I do not have a perfect knowledge, but my testimony is strong enough to keep me on this path that will lead me back to my Heavenly Father. I know its true because I feel it everyday. For anyone who doesn't know if its true or denies it, it is because they have not "Experimented upon the word." In other words they have not FULLY tried, and they will continue not knowing until they put it to the test.

The Scripture that I want to share this week is Alma 32. The whole Chapter.
I love you all so so much.

Elder Wei

Letter # 79

Sister Guo

Brother Guo

Okay Family,
Well things are really starting to feel weird. I know that my time is so short and it is with honesty making me a little sick. I think one reason is because I know that there is still so much I desire to do, and the other being the fact that I feel like I am just getting to my prime, and it hurts knowing that right as your the most focused, obedient, spiritual, and just overall prepared, the next step is the plane ride home. I remember what my trainer told me on one of my first days here. He told me that it takes about 2 years to figure out missionary work and by the time you do, it's time to go home. Ya well it's true. President Grimley told me that it is that way with every calling I will have in the Church. I guess it's just the learning process that Heavenly Father is constantly putting us all through.

Well this week was extremely trialsome. I feel like Heavenly Father is putting my companion and me in a very deep trial right now. He and I have been struggling to find new investigators for almost a month now. We still have the blessing of a few great investigators that are really progressing. But the thing that is hard is that we are spending so much time and effort outside trying to find them and it just seems that every single person we set up to meet with us, at the last second will not show up for the lesson. That is incredibly irritating. But because of this I have never been so fired up to go outside and contact everyone. This trial is starting to push me into competing with it. In a way, I guess in a that is a great thing. It could be possibly keeping me from turning into an old missionary that many Elders fall into. I believe that this will end and that great blessings are in store. That again is solely predicated on our obedience and our work. We believe we have that. Now its time to wait it out and endure.

Other than these things, there already is great blessings that we received this week. As far as right now we have 4 scheduled baptismal interviews for this Saturday, which means that the following week (My Last Weekend here) we would have 4 baptisms, which would be great and the most I have ever been able to see at one time. We are praying earnestly for those people and I sill give their names so that everyone can start praying for them too.

1. Wen Hong Lin
2. Hong Jia Yang
3. Zi Wen Lin
4. Zi Chen Lin

The bottom two are these two sisters that are amazing. One is 20 and the other 16. They have so much faith and I think they have more desire to be baptized than any other investigator I have ever worked with before. Their one problem right now is that they are getting a lot of opposition from the family for wanting to be baptized. For more than two months now their Mother had put her foot down and said absolutely NO. She told them they had to be mature and married before they were baptized. The Mother believes that the Church has brainwashed the two girls and that they had no idea what they are doing. The Mother originally gave permission saying that they were allowed to go to church. But they just could not be baptized. The girls have continued to meet with us and they have progressed so much. They have so much Faith. So about a month ago we set a goal with them saying that we wanted them to be baptized on the 20th of November and that we were going to pray every single night for this goal and we told them that if they were willing to put in the faith necessary that God would step in and soften the Mother's heart. As of right now we have seen that miracle starting to come to pass. As of two nights ago their Mom just gave permission for the older sister to be baptized. Saying that she had decided that they she was old enough to make her own decision. Right now we are just waiting on approval for the younger sister. Right now there is so many people praying for them and we really do need everyone's prayers. We believe its going to happen.

Well one of the other things that happened this week was my final Zone Conference. That was a very weird feeling especially when they have all the departing missionaries get up and bear their testimonies. That was not easy for me. The two things that I really talked about in my testimony was my love for the Gospel and my testimony in the change that comes from it, especially the Atonement. My Testimony is something that I hold on to so strongly.

I can solemnly testify that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes hearts. That I know because I have felt it first hand. This gospel has shown me what is really important in this life and the things that just really are not. I am so thankful for my family. Every time I think of any one of them my heart swells, and it does that because I know what the purpose of families are and how sacred they truly are. I love this Church and there is nothing in this world that can bring such goodness into a persons life than this Church. That I can say because I know it. It is true!

This next week is going to be a big one for us, and we need everyone's prayers. I love you all.

The Scripture I want to share this week is one of my favorites if not my favorite and I have probably shared it many times. Moroni 7:33

And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

Letter # 78

Hey everyone,
This week was filled with many blessings. I know that last week I expressed the blessings that I felt we had received with the baptism of the Zhou family and the others. But I don't think that blessing really hit me until yesterday at Sacrament meeting. We had 5 of our investigators get confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost yesterday. Sister Zhou was crying the entire time. After that they all got up and bore there testimonies. It practically took the entire meeting. But it was so powerful. Every single one of their testimonies were powerful and everyone knew by the things spoken that they were new members planning to stay and truly endure to the end.

My companion and I were talking about it yesterday, and we had decided that the people that were baptized in October, were truly a special group, and that the Lord had special things for them to do in the Ward. One thing I thought that was particularly cool was that in the confirmation of the 15 year old that we baptized, the person giving the blessing kept talking about his mission, and how he needed to prepare himself for his mission. After the blessing I talked to him and asked him if he was listening to the blessing. He said yes. I asked if he was going on a mission then? We both kind of laughed. He said that he had a while before he goes and then he went on to asking me questions about what he had to do so that he could go. Basically the whole experience at church yesterday was great.

The Ward is completely thrilled, especially the Leadership. Another great miracle that happened on top of that was the Guo family. I have talked a lot about them. The mother of the family is one of our new members. She was baptized about one month ago and her 9 year old son followed her two weeks later. But because he was getting confirmed this week and had to say a quick testimony at church, the husband of the family was willing to go. It was amazing, because the night before I had a feeling that it was something that I wanted to pray about. Then the next morning at Church we were standing in the door waiting for everyone to walk into church and there they were. The whole family walking together. Everyone was in their Sunday clothes and the Father was in his suit. We were both shocked. Just another tender answer to my prayers that the Lord allowed me to experience. Tonight we are taking the whole Guo family over to the Bishops house to have a Family home evening and dinner. We are praying that the Dad will be able to make it.

One of the other really cool things we saw this last week was when we went over to the Zhou family house. When they were baptized the ward gave them a big picture of the Washington D.C. temple. "I don't know why that one?", but it's still big and pretty. Anyway we got there and we saw the big picture of the Temple right in front of the main room on top of the mantel. It looked like a Mormon family home when we walked in. It made me laugh and made me so happy to see how fast they were progressing.

This week, our finding efforts did not go as well as we would have hoped. We had huge goals and we worked really hard but we still were not able to see as many new investigators as we would have hoped for.

Oh, here is some new for everyone. In case you were wondering? The country of Taiwan has Halloween. Probably about 1% of the population actually knows or does anything about it. This week we were asked by the Taipei city government to go to this Halloween fair that they were holding for families and be volunteers there and work at some of the booths and basically just play around with the kids. It was right in Central Taipei so President asked my companion and I to be the ones translating and maintaining everyone, making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. It was fun but a little exhausting. One of the activities we had to do was tell scary stories to all the kids. Elder Clavel, Elder Acorda and I got up and tried to tell this scary story about how Halloween got started. Elder Clavel was the narrator. I was the designated "witch" or the person that did all the actions, and Elder Acorda was the sound effects. It was a disaster. There was no real story line and not enough time to prepare and the in the middle of the story we were interrupted by a homeless man who walked through our performance and said some things that kids probably shouldn't hear. It was so funny all the Missionaries were just busting up laughing at us 3 up there trying to tell this story. The week was overall good. We are excited for this next week. My time is short but I am trying to leave it all out here. I try not to think about it. But it seems to be a haunting thought in the back of my head constantly letting me know that it is almost up. I have grown to love this work so much and I am so so grateful that I am still a "full-time" part of it. I love this Gospel and all that it brings. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the sweetness that everyone needs in this life. I love it with all my heart.

The Scripture this week is one my companion picked. 2 Nephi 9:28-29.

O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.

  But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.

Letter # 77

This was a ground breaking week!

The Zhou family passed their Baptismal interviews and we are pretty ecstatic over here! This will be the first time that I have seen a full Family get baptized on my mission. What more could a missionary ask for? It is the biggest blessing from the Lord. I am so happy that I get to see them baptized and most importantly, see them PROGRESSING. They are really starting to get it and its wonderful.

The Mother of the family is a little scared. She has many friends in the Catholic Church and has been in contact with it for some time. Last week in our lesson she was being a little quiet and a little hesitant to say much about her Book of Mormon reading or anything. For some reason I felt like I should ask her a question. I looked at her and asked " Are you scared this is all true?". She then replied by saying "ya I think so". We all kind of laughed but I knew that she really was scared and was worried about joining the church. The only thing I think she is really worried about is facing all of her Catholic co-workers. But I think she is going to be fine. She has a great husband and he is just glowing right now. He is progressing so fast. He is really starting
to get it. He will help her progress. I'm sure of it. Well their baptism is scheduled for the 23th of October.

We also have another person being baptized on that day. He is a member of the Guo family (That's the Mom we baptized 2 weeks ago). He is 9 years old. He and his little brother are hilarious. Before she got baptized they used to get mad at her if she drank tea or forgot that a drink had tea in it and drank it. They'll be great missionaries. The mom will speak at the baptism. I am excited to hear her. Her testimony is already so strong.

There was a huge miracle that she saw in her life this last week that strengthened her testimony even more. Two weeks ago when we were all at General Conference a member came up to us and told us that Sister Guo needed a blessing. We went up to her and asked what was wrong. At first she didn't know what we were talking about. But the member that suggested we give her a blessing was with us and told her that her hands had an allergy and needed a blessing. At that time I guess that I had noticed that her hands had band aids on them ever since we started meeting with her, but I never took much thought to it. The Member was pretty persistent and insisted that we give her a blessing. She explained to us that her hands have this rare allergy where they break out in open wounds if she is exposed to certain types of climate. I guess her hands have needed bandaging for over a year now. We explained what a blessing was and then took her upstairs to give the blessing before the next session of conference started. Four days later we met with her and she told us that her hands were better and that she didn't have any wounds on them and that she didn't need band aids anymore.

My first reaction was "Gen de ma?". Which means "really?" with a very surprised/doubtful feeling behind it. She said "really" and then let us look at her hands. I was amazed. She then went on to thanking us. I pointed my finger up to the sky and said "Thank Him". I immediately felt a little bad and probably a little like how Thomas felt in the New Testament. I doubted, and I allowed myself to be surprised about it. I felt bad and it reminded me that I needed to repent. I feel like this was a very important lesson for me, that being "not putting any boundaries on the Lord". This is something that a missionary told me just a few days ago while we were on exchanges and it hit me really hard when he said it. So I have decided to make that the motto for the rest
of my mission. "Do not put any boundaries on the Lord".

As of right now I have decided to exercise the most faith possible and cast all the fear and doubt out of me, and I expect by doing so that there will be many miracles following. That's about it for this week. I wish there was more time because there is more I want to say. But something I thought was funny was that I think that I am starting to turn more and more into my Dad. My companion has been on this thing lately where he enjoys making fun of the little idiosyncrasies I have and imitating me, which immediately reminded me of all the family dinners where we would laugh at the things Dad does. Ahhh yes.... the thing I feared most is beginning to happen. ha ha its okay. It was going to happen eventually. I am turning into my Dad.
[Editorial from Dad - "Poor Chris!!]

The scripture this week. Mormon 9:19-21

And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

Much love,

Elder WEI

Letter # 76

Hello everyone. This week was again another good week for us.

Conference was fantastic. Being a missionary and watching it is the greatest blessing. Whether it's just spiritual growth or the fact that as a missionary you are completely desperate for advice and words from the prophets, it is a very spiritual experience every single time I listen to one of their talks. I am so utterly convinced that if a person actually watches General Conference and listens to their words, they will come out of the Conference session a better being, and their hearts will be changed. This General Conference was very particularly special for me. I got more out of it then I could ever imagine. It was filled with so many spiritual moments for me. It was great. My favorite session I think was Priesthood. I really like the talk from President Ucthdorf, and then from President Monson. One of my favorite comments made was by President Monson when he was quoting "Alice and Wonderland." He talked about how Alice came to one point in her journey where she confronted the Chester Cat and two paths she could take. Alice goes on to ask the Cat which path she should take and the Cat replied by saying; "That completely depends on where you want to go." Then the Cat says "But if you don't know where you want to go, it doesn't really matter which path you should take." It was interesting how Conference seemed to focus on Agency and the importance of the choices we make.God has already told us everything we have to do to be happy in this life. The next step is our choice. Are we going to follow, or not?

Well this week for still okay as far as teaching investigators. It was so nice to see the two people baptized last week at conference yesterday. That made me so touched to see them walking into the church. What a blessing it has been for me on my mission to see the wonderful change that this Gospel has made in other peoples lives. There is no greater gift as a missionary.

The Zhou family has moved their baptismal interview to this coming Saturday. So everyone, please continue to pray for them. The mother of the family probably has the largest concern out of the both of them. She is struggling with the answer of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She believes in God and Jesus Christ, but she comes form a very Catholic background. I think it scares her a lot of the time knowing that it all in fact could be very well be true. I think for that reason she is a little hesitant in actually reading and praying about the Book of Mormon the way her husband does.

The other investigators are actually doing incredibly well. My companion and I have truly been blessed so much this last transfer, and with the start of a new one (Today) we have lots of plans and goals for this next month and a half. We have multiple people getting prepared for baptism. One of them is interesting. He is a 15 year old kid that I met on the street. His name is Wu. The way we met him is cool.  One night we were on our way to a lesson and we had to stop because my companion started to contact someone. Just then three middle school aged kids walked up just in front of me and started debating with each other who I was and what I was doing. At that time I am pretty sure they had no idea that I could understand what they were talking about because when I rode up to them and started talking to them, he and the two girls he was with started laughing and looked pretty startled. I told them that I was a missionary, and because of time I kind of just got to the point and asked if any one of them wanted to come to church? The two girls kind of shook their heads, but Wu said that he would be willing to go. He asked for the address and the next day he showed up for Church. He has been meeting with us ever since, and I asked him last week why he likes coming to meet with us. He told me "I don't know, just a feeling I guess."  To me that is amazing. The Holy Ghost is working in him and he is feeling it.

Well this week the scripture that I want to share is Mosiah 3:13.

And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive bremission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.

I love the Prophet that we have guiding us today. He is the Prophet of God. I know it because I could never possibly doubt the feeling I get when he speaks. The Spirit confirms it every single time.

I love you all

Elder Wei

Letter # 75

Wow, What a great week that was filled with so many spiritual experiences.

Sister Guo was baptized and so was Brother Lin. The baptism was one of the best that I have attended on my mission. The spirit was so strong. Another great part about it was that we had multiple investigators attending the baptism, including the Zhou family. All the investigators thought that it was a great experience, especially the Dad of the Zhou family. The most spiritual part for me personally was when, after they were baptized, they both shared their testimonies and shared with everyone their reasons for joining the Church.

It was so powerful, especially Sister Guo's testimony. She shared her testimony of how God helped her to be baptized and the miracles she saw before the baptism. I will share a couple of those miracles later in this letter. She also explained that the reason why she joined was for her family and that she wanted her two boys to grow up and be just like the missionaries. Obviously I was touched down to the core, and inspired to become even more Christ like to live up to the impression that we had given her. She also started to get a little teary when she talked about how religion had split her family before and, in other words, destroyed some relationships within the family and how she new that this was the right place for her family and the path she wanted for her children. It was a great testimony from an individual who has been completely prepared to receive the fullness of what God has to offer her.

This last weekend was overall a very uplifting and spiritual experience for me personally. In Sacrament meeting yesterday one of the members performed "Love at Home" on the piano and I just remember it hitting me so hard then that this gospel truly is the "ONLY" way to happiness, "REAL" happiness. That I can really testify of with all my heart. The Church is true. It takes any person regardless of circumstances and molds them and refines them into a person who is prepared for eternity. That is happiness! Wouldn't it make sense that Heavenly Father's way is the happiest. After all he did create happiness in itself. So the plan that he has given us, if followed, is guaranteed to work 100% of the time in spite of some temporary trials. Ah it's awesome! and there is nothing like it.

Well, so about the miracles that led up to Sister Guo's baptism. The first one is really cool. This was last Monday and we were still unsure if she was going to be able to be baptized because, like I said last week, she had not told her husband about her desire to be baptized. She told me on the phone that her original plan was just to just be baptized with her son and not let anyone know about it. When she told me that I told her that was not the right thing to do. I told her that we are not just teaching her for baptism but that it was for her and her family to be able to be together forever. She agreed and decided that she was willing to fast before she talked to her husband about it. That night I called her and she told me everything that had happened. She went on to tell me that her husband said that it was okay as long as she could still attend some of the traditional Taoist ceremonies, mainly because if she didn't the Mother-in-law would not be happy and the family situation would get even worse.  The members of our church in Taiwan have been given permission by the first presidency to be able to be in some of those religious ceremonies, as long as they obviously know that the ceremonies to worship those other Gods have no relevance. She was so thrilled on the phone when she talked to me. I know that it was because of prayer and fasting that the husband said it was okay. She had told me previously that she was certain that her husband would say no.

The next miracle was the day of her baptism. She wanted her husband to attend, but in all honesty he wanted nothing to do with it. She told us that she said a prayer and asked that the whole family would be able to make it to the baptism. She went on to say that when she tried to talk to him about it again he was willing this time and said that he would go with her. When we saw the whole family at the baptism together my companion and I were ecstatic. The baptism, like I said, was great and the Dad actually said that he liked it. I am certain that the seed has been well planted in his heart and he is being prepared. Now it is only a matter of time in my opinion. He will have the spirit that his wife carries with her now around him all of the time. Elder Clavel and I will be doing our best to include him in everything we can.

Elder Clavel and I broke our record again for church attendance. We were able to have 13 investigators at Church this last week. He and I are really happy about it. If anything it gets us to want to work harder and see even more next week. So we are really looking forward to everything coming up. Please pray for our investigators. They all need everyone's prayers, especially the Zhou family right now. They are supposed to be getting their interviews this coming Saturday. Okay, the scripture I want to share this week is in Alma 41:10.

Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

Wo ai nimen

Wei Zhang Lao

Letter # 74

Well Family, I am sorry that I didn't really have the opportunity to write last week. There really wasn't enough time and Preparation day was coming to an end.

I don't know if anyone heard but a typhoon hit Taiwan two Sundays ago. We had to stay inside and Church was canceled. It was kinda cool. I was able to get a lot of reading in but my companion was about to go a little crazy by the time it started to get dark. We are really not used to staying inside and sitting in the same place for long periods of time. I had a huge headache. Fortunately, the typhoon was only here for one day.

This last week went great for us. We have a person getting baptized this coming Saturday. His name is Bing Fu Lin. How we met him is a great story. His Father was contacted by a missionary in south Taiwan and they sent us the information to call him. When I called his Father set up a time with us to meet in a park. But when we went to go meet, his father had sent his son in his place, probably because he didn't want to be rude or something. We met with the son, taught him a first lesson, and invited him to be baptized. We gave him the date of October 2nd, and he accepted. Ever since then he has met with us and progressed. He is just a guy that is full of faith, and truly believes in God. He believes that by being baptized God is going to strengthen his testimony which is great.

The Guo mom and her son are getting baptized this week as well. They were planning on getting their interviews yesterday but they called us last minute and told us that they were not able to make it. We later found out that she has not told her husband much about her desire to be baptized because she feels like if she did that her husband might not let her and the kids go to church at all. I think I told everyone their story. But the husband is not a big fan of religion. He likes our church but just does not trust religion. I told her that she needs to talk to her husband because this is for her whole family, not just for her. I told her that we are helping her prepare for eternity not just for baptism. She agreed and said that she would talk to him tonight. So please pray for her.

The other great story of the week is one of our great Investigators. Jia Ping Chen. She is someone I think I told everyone about a few weeks ago. Maybe two weeks ago. But she is the Mother that is raising the two daughters on her own. One is 9 and the other 8. She is the most prepared investigator that I have seen in my almost two years here. She is unbelievable. She told us last week when we met with her that for a long time she has been wanting to come unto the Lord, but she hasn't really known where to start searching for him. She told us that her friends have invited her to church many times but she just never felt the big drive to go. So when we contacted into her she was more than willing to set up a time. We have met with her now 3 times and everything we teach her she just soaks in like a sponge. She believes in what we say and most importantly feels it. Why? Because it's not from us, it's all from God. She also was willing to set a baptismal date for the 30th of October.

Last week we gave her a Liahona and asked her to read it. The next morning she called me and told me that she wanted to be baptized earlier. She said that she could really relate to what it said. When I got off the phone with her I about had a heart attack. The next time we went to visit her she told us about all the things she had read and she even quoted scripture on us. My companion and I were laughing pretty hard. My testimony about prepared people has gone up so much. She is great and completely ready to accept the fullness of the gospel. Everyone please pray for her and her safety.

This last week like I said was great. I have never had the success before that I am seeing now on my mission. It truly is such a blessing. I also have never been so busy in my entire time as a missionary. I love that too. I only get one chance to do it. So I am trying hard to be as busy as I can and get the most I can done. The month of October will be great for us. My companion and I have set the goal of 8 baptisms for the month. That is the most I have ever set in my mission. But I believe that if we keep doing what were doing and rely on the arm of God to help us, it's going to get done. I love you all very much I really am so thankful for my Family.

Okay the scripture this week is one of my favorites. Moroni 7:33

And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do
whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

Letter # 73

WOW! What a great week....

This was one of the most successful weeks on my entire mission. I broke my own personal record for investigators at Church. Our three main families we are teaching right now were all able to come, and a lot of the single people we are teaching came through and were able to make it. Counting kids the grand total was 17 investigators at Church. Yay my companion and I were loving life yesterday. We knew that Saturday night there were going to be a lot of people at Church so we prayed a lot for it all to go very smoothly; and it did! The Ward did a great job at fellowship and talking to everyone and made great impressions for the Church. My companion are quite happy you could say.

One of the great successes was with the Guo family. The Mother and son are still planning on being baptized the 2nd of October and the Father of the family came this week to church just to inspect and see if it was okay for his family to join. We feel that it did not just make a good impression on him but in fact sparked interest that he never had before. I am excited to follow up with Sister Guo about it and find out what her husband really feels. But I sat by him all throughout Sacrament meeting and I saw that he was quite frequently looking at the Pamphlet I gave him and listening fairly intently to the speaker. It went well overall.

The Zhou family still as great as usual. They are really starting to get into Church and learning about it. I think most of all, is that they just enjoy the atmosphere of Church. The Kids run around like its McDonalds, and that is one of the reasons they like to go. The environment is good for the kids. But hey, whatever gets them to Church. This last week my companion and I gave them a Family Proclamation to the World and asked them to read it together. They said they would, but I still haven't had the opportunity to see what they thought of it.

Well this week overall has been incredibly busy. We are constantly on the move from one place to the next and it's hard for us to be on time anywhere. But I wouldn't have it any other way. It feels good being this busy. Its less time to think about my own worries and anxieties, and that is a great thing. The most joyful thing right now in my mission for me is the fact that I know that my companion and I are working extremely hard. We are trying to do what's right; and we are seeing countless blessings for it. Even though we are so far from perfect, the Lord really looks on the heart and know that we want to do what is right and so he steps and makes up for what we can't do. It is such a wonderful blessing to see investigators progressing in the gospel. That has to be my favorite thing from my mission, to truly be able to see the change that the Gospel has on people. "This Gospel, is a Gospel of transformation."

Oh I don't know if I told everyone about Brother Gao from my previous area Shipai? I actually found this out a while ago, and maybe just forgot to tell anyone. But anyway I think most of you should still remember the Gao family right? Well he is now the Ward's gospel doctrine teacher and he hasn't even been a member for six months. Crazy right? He is progressing so fast!

Okay well the story that I want to share from this week is a cool missionary finding story. So we had just finished a lesson with the Sister Guo and we were really hurried to get some dinner so we walked quickly over to where we had parked our bikes and as we were about to take off I realized that I had a quick call that I had to make before we left. Right as I got on the phone I looked right in front of me and there was this Mom and her two daughters sitting in this little restaurant right in front of us. I then looked at my companion told him that there was that mom in front of us. He immediately went over and started talking to her. After I got off the phone I went over and we all started talking. We found out that she was raising this 9 and 7 year old girls all on her own and that basically she had interest in involving God in her Family. She obviously was dealing with a lot of trials right now.
     Long story short she said that we could go visit her and we set up a time for later that week. When we got to her house to my shock they lived in a house or room that was smaller than my room in High School, and everything that they owned was jam packed into this little room. So we just barely had enough room to sit on the floor. I was so humbled when I walked into the room and the thought popped into my head like it has many times in my mission before "How could I ever have complained about anything in my life".
     The lesson that we had with her was quick because we did not have much time. But we taught her about family prayer and she said that she was willing to pray every night with her girls. She also told us that she has a desire to go to Church but that every time she thinks about going into a church a guilty feeling fills her heart and she feels unworthy. My companion and I just kind of looked at each other and thought "Wow", perfect!

This is why we have the Gospel. We are meeting with her again this week and we are going to invite her to be baptized. Please pray for her and her little girls. The Mothers name is Jia Yin Chen.

Okay well that is it for this week. The Scripture is Alma 32:13-14

And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy
and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?

Love

Elder Wei

Letter # 72

My first week with Elder Clavel was good. Average but a little bit of stress involved. We had so many people set up to meet with us for the first time. But almost all of the lessons did not show up. Fortunately we are teaching a lot of people right now so we were still able to see the progress of the Families and other progressing investigators. Which is sweeeeeet!

The Zhou family is doing awesome we feel. They came to a Fireside last night and we think they really enjoyed it. The dad was listening really intensely to the speakers. This Fireside is great. Its our Mission President that puts it on, and its especially for new members and investigators. So the people they invite to speak are all new members. Usually the talks are so good to hear and are powerful. I love hearing why people joined the church. It always invites the spirit, every time, without fail.

Well the Guo family is good. She wants her and her son to be baptized. But she is so scared that her Mother-in-law will lose her mind if she finds out that she joined a church. Her Mother-in-law is a Buddhist Monk and I guess is very high up in the Buddhist sect that she is in. So its a serious problem that we have on our hands. Obviously we could try to just meet the family but it could cause more problems. Sister Guo's husband doesn't really care either way from what we understand. The problem is just the Mother-in-Law. This "Family Opposing" is actually a really common problem in Taiwan. I am sure that I have told everyone before. Its the hardest concern to fix as well because as missionaries there is only so much we can do. The rest is left to prayer, and faith. This family needs big prayers right now. The Mother of this Family is
amazing. She wants the best for her kids. She is hands down one of the most diligent and committed investigators that I have had. After she puts the kids down for bed every night she grabs the Book of Mormon herself and starts reading it. and she is doing it all for her Family. Ya that's awesome. Please pray for her.

So one of the best things that happened this week was news that I heard from other missionaries, and it was news that came from the last two areas I served in. Basically I found out that a person who I had contacted at a stoplight in my last area (Xin Zhu) and started meeting with my companion and I, was just baptized two weeks ago. As a missionary that is one of the best things you can possibly hear. It makes all the hard days so worth it. The joy that you feel when you know that because you tried to do what the Lord expected of you and do your best to talk to everyone a person was able to come closer to their Heavenly Father. There is nothing sweeter than that. I also know that if I wouldn't have contacted him that day the Lord would have just found another opportunity for him to meet the missionaries. But I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of it. A huge blessing from the Lord!

Also, even bigger news..... the Swedish investigator we had when I was in Shipai just got baptized this last Saturday. I was asked to speak at his baptism. It was one of the best experiences from my mission. This man's story is amazing. His name is Sam Wallberg. He came to Taiwan because his wife is Taiwanese. Its kind of a confusing story but basically he met this Taiwanese lady and moved to Taiwan and got married to her. Sam's life has been so difficult. He has been involved in two divorces and he has kids that he doesn't even talk to, or really even know. How we met him is the best.... He self contacted me. Its a funny story. One night last January my companion and I were trying to find the address of this less active member and right as I turned the corner at this stoplight a big hand slapped me right in the back. I slammed on my breaks and looked back and there was a 6 ft 8 huge white guy standing there and in his thick Swedish accent said "why Hello."  I kind of just paused obviously being surprised, and then said Hi. He went on to tell me that he had a Swedish restaurant in the area and he gave me one of the menus. I told him I would go the next day for lunch. After that its a really long story but we started to become really good friends with him, and after months and about 50 plates of meatballs and mash potatoes he was willing to sit down and listen to us tell him about the Plan of Salvation. We ordered a Swedish Book of Mormon for him and by the time he started really meeting with the missionaries I was already transferred down to Xinzhu. But I remember during that whole process with him and biking by his shop and talking to him just about every single day. I remember thinking how badly he needed the gospel in his life. Well I when I got called back up to Taipei. I found out from my old companion Elder Duff that Sam had a date to be baptized. Well he was baptized last Saturday and the Baptismal service went really well.

Also another great thing is that the English ward in Taipei meets in the same building as our ward so I get to see him every Sunday. Oh ya! I forgot to tell you that the Elders that met with Sam after I left found out that his wife was actually a member of the church who was baptized 20 years ago, and now she is coming to church with Sam. It's amazing how the Lord is able to work it all out right.

Okay well the scripture this week is Alma 26:11

But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

Love you all

Elder Wei

Letter # 71

Well.... New transfer, and New companion.

Its going to be awesome. My new companion's name is Elder Clavel. He is from Chino, California. He is half Chilean and half Mexican, and his Spanish is just about as good as his English. So I am going to be doing some brushing up on my rusted non existent Spanish. I took two years in high school and remember 3 words. One of them is "bathroom".

I know I am a total embarrassment of the Public School system in Utah. But its okay, and I will repent of that ....eventually. If I decide to take Spanish in college I promise to work hard. Also I have the "Mandarin excuse". Because learning Chinese pretty much destroys anything that I learned before. It occupies your mind and then deep fries anything that has to do with another language. (English included).

Anyway he is a great missionary and really young. He is the youngest Zone Leader in the mission which means that he has possibilities of doing great things in the mission. He was one of the District leaders in our Zone Last transfer so I have already been on exchanges with him once before. He is cool, and we will get along just dandy. I really think that I have been blessed on my mission with my companions. I have always had fun companions. Well... for the most part. I think there is only one that was a little hard to get along with. But the rest have always been my good friends. I am so thankful for that.

Well it was weird for Elder Moreno to leave. he gets on a plane tomorrow, and that was a weird reality for me to face, knowing that my time is not far either. I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye to him or anything. He had to run into his final interview with president, and we had to get home. But I had a great last transfer. One of the best on my mission. I think the relationship I had with Elder Moreno was one of the best that I have had with a companion. We never even really had one disagreement, and we pretty much saw eye to eye on the way to do missionary work. This last transfer was also one of the most successful I have had. Like I said in my last emails. We have been contacting pretty much every Family we see, and it has really paid off.

Yesterday we had two families at church and it went great they all loved it. We were able to meet with one of the families last night for Elder Moreno's last lesson on his mission. We watched the Restoration movie with them and invited them to be baptized and they accepted. This Family is set to be baptized on the 9th of October. It is the Zhou family. I don't know if I have said anything about them in earlier blogs but this family is great. They are one of our best investigators right now. I actually contacted the Mom originally right outside of their apartment. She set up with us originally mostly because she is just nice and she had been involved with the Catholic Church before so she knew a little bit about Jesus Christ. The Husband of the family was the one that has really surprised us with his interest. He really is curious about our church and after last night he expressed his desire to know if it really is true or not. There are so many blessing in our area right now. I am pretty excited about next transfer and what is going to happen but I imagine for me personally it will be  the busiest transfer of my whole mission, which is exhausting yet so satisfying. So everyone please pray for the Zhou family and especially for their prayers to receive answers.

As far as the news last week. It was really HOT obviously. But no big rain. Well there was actually rain but it wasn't the rain that got us. We happened to be doing our Weekly Planning Session in our apartment the one time it rained last week. Ha ha, tender mercies of the Lord. Also because it was elder Moreno's last week we had lots of members taking us to dinner and lunch. That was sweet.

This last week was really stressful for us as well. We were pretty stacked with things we had to be doing. I was pretty tired all week. A lot of it is attributed to bad sleep. I don't know what it was about this last week but there was a couple nights where I kept waking myself up because I was contacting or teaching a lesson in my sleep.Elder Moreno kept saying that I constantly would sit up and start acting like I was teaching someone in the middle of the night and wake him up. I thought it was hilarious.

Well the scripture this week is in honor of my companion. Its Alma 26:12.

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Love you all so so so much.

Elder Wei

Letter # 70

WOW! I am in week six in my 13th transfer, and my companion is going home next Tuesday. Things are starting to get a little weird here. But Elder Moreno and I were able to avoid a lot of the conversations about home. a.k.a...(Trunky Discussions). When I first got to this area Elder Moreno told me that because it was his last transfer he had a goal to try to not talk about the.....When I.... Before I..... get home conversations. He really wanted to stay focused and he and I both feel that we have done a good job with it. Usually we don't like talking about it, mainly because it freaks us both out.

Now when people in the mission ask the question "Hey Elder! What transfer is this for you?" or my favorite "How much longer do you have?"  This sudden cringe come over me reminding me that my time is short, and I HATE answering back. I think mostly because there is so much more I desire to do here. I feel like there are so many precious things that I am learning now that I would literally kill to have that knowledge and the attitude that comes with that knowledge as a younger missionary. It makes me sad and it hurts. But the truth of the matter, is that I think it is this way for almost every missionary. We all deal with the same things, and all we can do is just endure to the end and do your best. I am going to love and hate coming home at the same time.

Well the last week I thought was good. Basically this whole transfer has just been good. Our focus has been completely on Families this transfer. I don't think we even really meant to do that either. It was just kind of the way things worked out. I think mostly because Elder Moreno and I contact every single Mother we saw. But we are teaching so many families and its great.

One family in Particular is doing well. That is the Kuo family consisting of a Mother and her two kids. We have had great follow ups with her on the phone this last week. She told us that her kids had all these questions about the Book of Mormon and she didn't know how to answer, so she asked me if she could borrow some movies to watch to help her better understand so she could teach the kids. I was ecstatic when I heard that. She is an Investigator that is actually trying to do her best in keeping commitments; and because she is trying and "experimenting upon the word", she is starting to feel the difference in her life.

That's the trick really for everyone. Just do it, and you will see why. I think back at the best investigators that I had in my mission, and they got it because all they did was just simply DO what we invited them to do. It's impossible for a person who lives the gospel and obeys the commandments to NOT taste the fruit from it. I am so happy for this Mother.

* * PLEASE PRAY FOR HER EVERYONE!
Also there is another person that I hope everyone can pray for. It is a another Mother. Her name is Yu.

Yu has two daughters. We took them on a little bit of a temple tour yesterday and had a good lesson with her in the chapel. She has such a strong desire to go to church and have a better family, but her husband is very against Christians, so chances are he will not allow her to meet with us again. Please pray for them and especially her husband.

Well the week before was also my Birthday. My companion and I met with other Elders and went to the Outback Steakhouse in Taipei. I know ...not very frugal right? But I hadn't had a real American steak since I got to Taiwan so I was a little malnourished. It was divine! The Birthday was fun. It also happened to be on a preparation day so it was the double bonus birthday.

Last thing I want to share from last week is about someone that I think I have already told everyone about a few weeks ago. Sister Mo? She is the older lady in our ward that was the refugee from China when she was a little girl. She wrote this song/poem and sang it for us one night at dinner. It is a song about Jesus Christ and the greatest blessing God has for us which is him. This song she wrote has the old Asian sound to it and the way she sings it is awesome. It was such a cool experience for me personally because when she was singing the song chills just came over me and a special thought came to me. It was a thought that told me that God loves all of his children everywhere. That he is truly mindful of all. I will try to hold the feelings I had that night close to me, because they were strong.

Okay the scripture I want to share this week I might have already shared already but I want to share it again. It's Alma 26:37.

Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

Love everyone so so much.

Elder Wei

Letter # 69

Hello Fam/Everyone.

Well this week went pretty well. We didn't do so well on numbers this week. It seems like our whole zone is struggling with the same problem. Everyone is working hard, including our own companionship. But It seems really hard to get the amount of lessons we need to be getting. One "Zone's" biggest struggle is bringing people to Church. I think I have talked about this a little before with everyone. But it is hard here.

Elder Moreno and I are working hard with the Families we are teaching but I realized last night, when I was thinking about the week that there was so much more we need to be doing, I realized that we have not been involving them or really getting them into the Book of Mormon the way we should. That is going to be one of my main focuses this week with our investigators. I am going to try to make it a big effort to follow up on their reading, and make sure that they are actually reading the assignments we give them.

The Book of Mormon is so crucial for the conversion of people, my own Testimony included. It's an enormous part of my testimony. The Book has so much power. It does bring change in peoples lives. It brings a new spirit and changes the way you think about everything. Most importantly, it testifies of the Savior.

I am doing this kind of personal study with the Book of Mormon right now. I took a new copy and started from the beginning and starting marking every time I see the name of Jesus, or any name referring to him in the color red. For example (Lord, Savior, Messiah). Then I mark every time it is Him speaking with yellow. Then I mark every time it talks about his attributes in blue, and then I mark every time it talks about the Atonement in orange. Doing this has done so much for me personally.

Something that is cool about the Book of Mormon is that I have passed 200 pages of it and there has only been three pages that haven't made reference to Jesus Christ. Pretty sweet huh? The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know because I have never read anything that has changed my heart the way that book has. Every time I read about the Savior in the book I can feel in my heart that what it is saying is true. I can't deny that feeling.

In no way is it to displace or discredit the Bible. The Bible along with the Book of Mormon has truly helped me to understand personally much of Christ's life and his ministry. The Bible and the Book of Mormon enhance each other and should be studied together. I love the scriptures, and I regret so much that I did not read them the way I should of when I was younger. But I have made a lot of big commitments with myself on how I am going to study when I get back.

Well one of the big things that happened this week was when my companion and I went on exchanges with the assistants. It was great because I was able to go with Elder McLaws. He is the Senior assistant and I had a lot to learn from him. A lot of it was his humility. But one of the things he told me was that because it is my current companion's last transfer and that I would be getting a new companion next transfer that there was a lot I had to do to prepare for the coming transfer. He basically advised me that my focus is going to have to be completely on the needs of the zone. In other words, we was telling me that thinking about myself is not really one of the options. This is something that I have actually thought a lot about the last week. I have looked back on my mission and realized that I have not been the best at this. I have certainly tried hard, but now is an opportunity to do it completely.

Well the Investigators are doing well we feel. I feel a little concerned about a few, mostly about the Deng Family. I hope they are going to make it. They are all going out of town this week and will be back next week. A couple of the Investigators are falling out right now and told us that they didn't really have time to go to church right now and that finding time to meet with us would be hard for them. One example is a Mom we we are teaching. Her name is Lo Li,and the other is Sheng Xiu Huang. He is a Father who just recently had a new baby with his wife.

* * * So please pray for them and their time to open up and their desire to grow.

The Scripture I want to share is one of my favorites. Mosiah 26:30

Yea, and aas often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.

Love you all

Elder Wei

Letter # 68

Okay, we had some great things happen this week. Things are getting a lot of momentum in our area. We are  finding so many new people, and the best part is that they are all families. I have never taught so many families before in my mission. One of the biggest blessings is that they are actually doing it. They are all progressing, coming to Church and preparing to be baptized. The two main Families we are working with right now are the Teng family and the Kuo family. The Teng family consists of the Mom, Dad, 15 yr old son anda 2 year old daughter. They have come to church the last two weeks and they seem to be enjoying it. I think most importantly is that they enjoy the feeling when they are there. As for doctrine and the understanding of the gospel, their knowledge is very limited but if they keep following their feelings everything will be fine.

Its actually kind of an interesting story why the husband was so willing to hear the gospel. He told us two weeks ago that he had seen the movie The Passions of Christ a long time ago and that he cried through the whole thing. He said from that time on he always had interest in learning about Jesus Christ. He has told us that is just feels right, and that the Taoist and Buddhist religions are something he doesn't agree with.

The mother is investigating the gospel mainly just for the kids. She is scared that her 15 year old son is going to get himself into trouble. What Mom doesn't?.... The Son actually has warmed up to us a lot. At first He didn't really like us but after a couple visits and joking around with him a little bit he realized that we were normal people and so he actually started paying attention to what it is that we had to say. I love this family.

* * * Please pray for them.* * *

Unfortunately the Kuo Family was not able to make it to church yesterday. It was Fathers Day yesterday here in Taiwan. But they promised next week that they would make it.

That being said, one of the biggest miracles this week for us was the turn out to church. We had so many investigators that came to Church. One of the most successful Sundays on my mission. The Ward was really excited about it. It seems that the Wards here base a lot of a missionaries' success on the people they bring to sacrament meeting, which can make that difficult. Bringing people to Church on Sunday seems to be one of the harder things to do here. People in Taiwan are usually busy or really just like to relax on Sundays, which I guess does not sound that much different from the States.

One of the miracles I want to share from this week is awesome. (One of the best in my mission.)
So the story starts on a rainy night in Taipei (Go Figure). It was last Saturday night. My companion and I were heading back from the other side of the city. We had to Bike over there to give a baptismal interview.
As we pulled up to our apartment we parked our bikes and started heading to the elevator. We both kind of looked at our watches to see what time it was and we realized that we still had 5 minutes before we had to be in. We decided that we were going to say a quick prayer and try to get a quick set up with someone. As we walked outside and were getting ready to say a prayer we both spotted a family across the street. We quickly said a prayer and asked for help and hurried and biked over there. We knew we only had a few minutes at this point, But we were able to use our missionary tactics to corner them - Moreno came from the side and I flanked them from the front, so they didn't have a choice but to listen to us introduce ourselves.
Haha.

As we introduced ourselves they knew who we were. They said they had seen missionaries before. At this point we only had a minute to share something with them.  We shared a quick message about families and asked if we could come over.  The mom was more interested in learning English, but the dad invited us over for the next day.

We went over the next day and had a great lesson with them.  They are the Chang Family.  They have two kids, a thirteen year old girl and a five year old boy. The Five year old reminded me so much of Zeke and Grant it was hilarious. He kept coming over and sitting by me during the lesson while he was playing his Nintendo DS.

The lesson went well. We taught them about prayer and the relationship that God has with us. They agreed to meet with us again next Sunday. I'm so excited about this Family.

* * * Also please pray for them. * * *

Okay, I am a little out of time but the scripture this week is Alma 16:16.

And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming

I think this scripture is very appropriate for what is going on in our area. My companion and I are seeing so many miracles. I really believe with all my heart that there are so many being prepared in our area.

Have a great week everyone.

Love, Elder Wei

FAMILIES TO PRAY FOR:

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  Teng family
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  Kuo family
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  Chang family

Letter # 67

* * SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT * * 

Elder Chris Weinberger will be officially returning home on November 23, 2010!

His latest update:

Okay so I do not have a lot of time to write this letter.

For the most part went well this week. We worked incredibly hard. Even when it was the hardest to do it. It seriously gets so hot at times. I will still come out of my apartment in the morning and start the day and think, how can it be THIS HOT already. But it makes it more fun at times (That whole "I am going to conquer it" mind set).

Oh yes, a little info for the family. I am loosing weight. Yes, I am getting skinnier. So quick send me some cookies and sweets.

Well this week like the last was a little trialsome personally. I was being a little too hard on myself about some of my imperfections. But as I spoke with President Grimley about some of the things that were bothering me I had a very large spiritual impression last night about the Atonement. I felt so much peace last night when I thought of my Savior and his ability to cleanse us of our sins and help us with our imperfections. I was filled with so much gratitude for him and my Heavenly Father for providing me a way to overcome my mistakes. I feel in a way that my heart has been softened just a little bit more, even from just last night. There aren't words to express my thanks for him. Even though trials can be so painful, especially when your right in the "fire" of it, the growth afterwards makes it so worth it. I feel that even from last night I was filled with more desire to share this message.

Well the baptism went great this week. Really smoothly. My Companion was the one that ended up baptizing him. Also we were able to have 2 investigator families at church this week, which was huge for us. I think that is probably the first time that has ever happened in my mission.

Well I really don't have a lot of time this week to write but things are going well. Thank you for your prayers.

Elder Wei

Letter # 66

Longshan Temple. The oldest Taoist Temple in Taiwan.

Things are great in Taipei. We had a rough week as far as numbers go, but like every week we were still able to see some great things and some miracles certainly occurred.

My companion and I are doing great. Elder Moreno is a really good missionary. I have already learned so much from him. He is one of those just "good old Mormon boys". He gives me a good example pretty much all the time. I have seen growth in myself because of his example in just a week. I truly believe it was an inspired call for me to get moved up here with him. It's awesome, we are working hard. But like I said ...a bit rough. It was kind of a trial some week for us. We got stood up on a lot of lessons. I think I have told everyone before, that getting stood up is the one thing that really stresses me out. I really don't like the feeling of putting so much effort into people to get them to set up and them just not show up for a lesson. Obviously there is a good side about it, like the fact of seeds being planted for later missionaries. I think that is the only thing that is comforting when that happens.
In the meantime this week we were still able to run into a family that was willing to meet with us. A mother and her two kids. Amazingly this family is related to one of the other investigators we have right now. Ya that was a big miracle. Oh and the little girl of the family is the 1 ranked ice skater for her age in Taiwan.  Sweet huh? The family's name is Lin. So please pray for their success.

Oh and on topics of miracles. An investigator that we have just passed his baptismal interview and is getting baptized next Sunday. His name is Xing Ming Hu. He is a 20 year old kid and he is so great, and incredibly humble. I have only been here for a week so I haven't really had the chance to really get to know him. But he is awesome.

Well I will tell everyone about the area I am in. My companion and I cover two main area right in the center of Taipei. These two areas are called Tatung and Wanhua. It is one of the oldest places in Taiwan. It is right where the first explorers settled when they came to Taiwan. I will go ahead and formally invite my Father to look up the information and I am sure he can inform everyone at the next family dinner all about it. (That joke was intended for family members). But the area is really cool and like I said has lots of history. We see all the really old buildings all the time and the oldest Taoist temple in Taiwan is actually in our area too.

Well the story of this week goes to one of the new members in our ward. She is a 75 year old widow in our ward and wow does this lady have a story. She is one of the refuges from China when Mao ZeDong was taking the country over in the communist movement and the so called (cultural revolution). After seeing some of the men killed in her family her mother and some of her other siblings starting running south to make it to Hong Kong. She eventually made it there after days of running, and at 9 years old was completely separated from her family and was on her way to Taiwan by herself. Imagine being a 9 year old in a new country after seeing all that and then on top of it having no one to take care of you.

She then was taken into a military orphanage and raised there. After a life time of working incredibly hard work she was able to make a living and eventually was married. The next time she saw her mother was over 50 years later when she went back to China to visit her. She then was informed that all the men in her family had been killed years earlier (along with approximately 70 million others).  This Lady told us this story last night as she fed us dinner and I just remember thinking in my head " How dare that I, ever complained about anything." Ya and me at 9 years old  complaining about the school shoes I got and how I wanted a different color.

This women in our ward is the sweetest lady in the world .She invites the missionaries over every single week and feeds them. Mostly because she is lonely and has no one to really talk to, and she is always asking and making sure on the next time we come. She is so sweet. She loves feeding us. She stuffs us full of so much food and she won’t ever let us stop eating. I have eaten there twice now and I thought I was going to die both times. Every time I try to sit back in my chair she quickly reminds me on how I have to finish the whole bowl and how she has more coming. My companion and I are always just laughing about it.

The scripture I want to share this week Mosiah 23:22. It’s all about putting trust in the Lord.

Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

I am a little out of time but I love everyone so much thank you for your prayers.

Elder Wei