Letter # 57

Okay hello family.

Well the time has again come on my mission.... a time when strong Elders turn to little boys, a time where sweat literally becomes the sixth sense of a human being, a time where wet towels can turn to instant mold (armpits included),..... Its Summer time in Taiwan! Ya its here and its hot! My companion had one afternoon this last week that was rough! We got a little bit of heat stroke by the time we had hit 4:00 and we both were pretty wasted. That afternoon we did not have any lessons so we were outside on our bikes all day. Luckily after that day it started raining and it has been that way to the last two days. Other than the weather report, things have been good.

This last week as far as investigators go has been good. Set two new baptismal dates with people which was really exciting. One of the people is this guy named Jun Min Yeh. He has met with us for almost two months now and is progressing well. He was baptized into another Church before, but is extremely curious with the message of the restoration. He will be coming to church for the first time this coming week.

In other news the Gao family has run into some adversity and a bit of a faith trial. From what Brother Gao told me, he had been on the Internet looking up things about the Church and he ran across a lot of anti-lds stuff and came across some chat room where people openly talk about their religious views. Ya....trouble! So basically these last few weeks he has been hearing a lot of stuff and is starting to have some doubting thoughts. We are going over to their home tonight to have family home evening with them. So please pray for them. They need everyone to pray that they will be able to recognize what is true in the midst of the confusion that face. One of the members of the Bishopric will come with us to visit them and help answer some of those questions.

Well yesterday we had a big stake conference. It was all of the Taipei East Stake. It went really well. Elder Watson spoke. The members in Taiwan love this man. He has been a Mission President here multiple times and now he is in the area Presidency over Asia. His Chinese is really good too. At the stake conference I was really touched in one particular instance when I heard everyone singing the hymns. I don't really know what caused it for me but I just remember looking at their faces thinking how much I loved these people. I don't think it was any real specific reason either. I just remember feeling so much for them. I don't know if it's because I have been here for a while or what but I just felt like going out everyday and serving here has made me feel so much for the people. I know that with all my heart that I have stayed diligent here and it has been a blessing because it seems that as the mission goes on and the more and more I learn about the work, the more
and more I love about the people.

I do love it here, even though it gets almost too hard to handle at times. I love Taiwan with all my heart. I feel at times that this place is where I truly learned about myself. Obviously that would come anywhere with the mission but this place really is a special place for me.

...Well on other great news, mango's are finally here! Ya that's right all you people in the states with your Cafe Rio and what not. We have fresh mango slushees over here. The Taiwanese really pride themselves on their mango's. But they can brag all they want because they really are that good. So ha!

I finished the Book of Mormon again this week, and as I finished it I really tried to pay attention to the promise that Moroni gives in the end. He gives very specific conditions on how to receive the answer of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. that is the scripture I want everyone to read.

Moroni 10:3-5. 

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

The part that really stuck out to me this time when asking was "having faith in Christ." What I want everyone to do is to read the promise and again ask in your personal prayers if it is true?

I gotta run. Love Ya'll

Elder WEI

Letter # 56

Hello my dear sweet Family.

Yes, we had another good week here. We found four new investigators. 2 of them are younger guys. One 27 and the other 18. The 27 year old was kind of a cool story. Yesterday we were outside doing a lot of finding, and I ran into this guy. It started out as a pretty good contact but he didn't really believe in God so the conversation really wasn't getting anywhere. But I asked if he would be willing to meet with us in an hour and he said yes. When we sat down with him we had a really good first lesson and he said he was willing to come to church with us the next week. He also said his first prayer. Its amazing the curiosity the spirit can bring to someone. The same went with the 18 year old we met with. He was just someone I met on the side of the train station. At that time the only reason why he was willing to meet with us was just in the mere fact that he had nothing to do. From the lesson his curiosity grew to the point that he was willing to take a Book of Mormon and pray to God. Awesome!!!

Well I forgot to tell everyone, that the week before we had Elder D. Todd Christofferson come visit the mission. He spent a couple hours with us and gave an awesome Testimony. He also gave us about a half an hour to ask questions if we wanted to. I actually had a question that I had been thinking about for a long time on my mission and I decided to stand up and just ask it. I was kinda sweating bullets when it was my turn and he pointed at me. The question I asked him was "What is God's influence in other religions?" I stated it more clearly when I explained to him that we had multiple investigators with different religious testimonies. All the way from Buddhism, Islam, and then to a basic Christian sect. I explained to him that our investigators were all so sure of the divinity of the religion that they were joined to, and this has been something that I had thought much about before but never been able to truly get a good answer for it.

In a way he didn't answer it the way I thought or kind of hoped he would. But he did answer. He explained to us that there are laws in heaven and if any one of God's children abide to those laws, they are blessed whether they realize the laws they are keeping or not. He then went on to explain that only we have the Priesthood, and that only through the Priesthood we can receive all the blessings from heaven. The sealing power of families especially. Pretty cool.  I am so thankful that I grew up in a family where the principles of the Priesthood are taught and lived. What a blessing that has been in my life, and it took me this long to get it.

Well my companion and I are still doing great! We are having a really good time. He and I lately have kind of been on this so called (vigilante movement) I like to call it. So lately every time we see a group of kids smoking we immediately ride up to them on our bikes and take the cigarettes from them and throw them on the floor. That is my companions favorite part. Then we have this nice little 5 minute disciplining session on how stupid it is to smoke, and really NOT cool it is. It's great, some of these kids faces when we are doing it too.  It makes me crack up every time. Sometimes my companion enjoys the disciplining part a little too much. In the end we know that they are probably not going to stop smoking because we told them to. But it will have an influence on them in the future. Most of the kids end up just saying thanks and smiling in the end. Even though they are probably still scared out of their minds. Its hilarious.

Well this week the scripture I am sharing is in Doctrine and Covenants Section 18:2

Behold, I have manifested unto you, by my Spirit in many instances, that the things which you have written are true; wherefore you know that they are true.

I really like it because it reminds me and makes me think back at all the times I have received a witness of the truth. Its good especially when you run into those hard days and doubt starts to take over.

Alright love you all

Elder WEI

Letter # 55

Well its a little weird writing this email about twenty minutes after I got off the phone with everyone. There are so many things that are going on in my head. But once again I have discovered how wonderful my family really is. I vividly remember the first two times I called home.......It was always a very difficult experience, especially when it came to the part where you say goodbye and then you hear a "click". This time was so much different. I wasn't hard. It in fact gave me more desire to give all I have. So that I am being (EXACTLY) what my family expects of me. I know with all my heart that I have represented well what it is that I claim to be......(Missionary)! But this morning was another pleasant reminder, that I indeed can and will give more. There will always be more!

Well other than that, the family seems to be doing well. It sounds like the kids are more out of control than ever, and me not being the parent/guardian of those hooligans just makes me happily think "That's the way it should be!" I am sure the stories of all the kids right now are just absolutely hilarious. Oh.... Madeline and Hannah; well done! You two really are Awesome!

Okay well this week went well. It was a fairly average week as far as missionary work goes. But we are seeing many miracles every single day. We have run into a bit of a stump with a lot of our investigators. They are having a problem making it from the level of an investigator that is willing to sit down and learn to the level of an investigator that is truly progressing. We are really trying to get out of this stumbling block. But it seems to me that I have had this problem my entire mission. The ones that have really progressed in my mission have been the investigators that we are constantly in contact with and there progression truly gets influenced so much faster. But the kicker to all of that is the action. For example when they feel the light they need to act on it or walk towards it. Not stop and wait for the light to get closer. The ones that really make the effort to "TRY" are the ones that truly feel the sweetness of the gospel. The mother of the Gao family is still doing well. We are going on a Taipei Temple Square tour with the whole family this Friday and we are centering the entire visit around the principle of Eternal Families. I am positive she will feel it, because she has felt it before and she knows what it's like.

Right now we have one investigator with a baptismal date set. It is for the 29th of this month. His name is Jun Qi Wang. Pray for him please. His story is a little interesting. The day we contacted into him he did not have that much interest in what we had to say. But he had a lot of interest in the Free English class we were teaching in the area. So he set up with us to meet right before the English class started. When he got to the appointment he went on to tell us that the day after he ran into us, he found work, and he had been trying to grind work for a while now. He felt that maybe it was some sort of sign for him and maybe he should look into what it is that we were saying. So from then on he has been a willing investigator that has been like I said "TRYING". I feels the difference already. I really believe that. So please pray for him.

One quick story.... We ran into this young 17 year old Irish kid. What is amazing about this is that I had run into his sister about 2 months ago. This Irish family has quite the story. The Parents of this family were sent on a mission by the Pope to better establish the Catholic church in this area. They have been here for almost 18 years. Anyway we ran into one of the younger sons of this family and taught him the entire Restoration story on the street. Or in other words the first lesson. He really felt it. He did. I know he did because I could see
it on his face. He took a Book of Mormon with him and said he would pray about it. It really is a miracle when you put into account the background of this family. So he gave us his number and said we could call him.

Well that's it for this week. Love you all so so much.

The scripture this week is to read Joseph Smith history. I think I have done that before. But do it again! ha ha

love all of you so much

Elder Wei

Letter # 54

Okay we had a great week this week, filled with so many Miracles. Seriously we saw sooo much. We have a lot of great set ups for next week too. So we could see a lot of New Investigators rolling through. The trick to it all was work. We worked really hard this last week and it paid off. It's amazing having a companion that will work. Elder Duff works really hard and we get along really well. Things are going to go really well this Transfer.

Another upside is that the other Elders in our district are willing to get things done too. Our district is made up of 4 Elders. The Beitou Elders and the Shipai Elders. Elder Duff and I are in Shipai. The senior companion in Beitou is actually my old companion Elder Yo. I don't know if anyone remembers. He was with me almost exactly a year ago. Crazy huh? Anyway that area got "White washed" this transfer. What that means is that the two elders that were there originally, both got the call to leave the area, and they called in two new Elders who do not know anything about the area to fill the spot. Basically this only happens when the Elders in an area are not really getting much done and they need two brand new Elders to bring fire to the area.

So last transfer was not easy trying to be a district leader over the area. But this transfer we have a whole district of Elders that are willing to do exactly what they are supposed to. I have seriously learned so much about the importance of Agency. Unfortunately one of the downsides of agency is that you can't force anyone to do anything, which is too bad sometimes. hehehaha. Basically this transfer is going to be awesome.

The Ward yesterday really stepped it up. They usually are awesome, but yesterday we had a few new people come to church and they just jumped on the investigators and smothered them in love! (metaphorically speaking) We had a mother come. I think I have already told everyone about her (Sister Yu). Her two kids loved Primary and it did wonders. The Primary in Taiwan ROCKS!  We are meeting with that family this coming Friday. I'm excited.

This week one of our new investigators was this guy from Africa. His name is Bai Cham. He is a very devote Muslim. He and I had a very interesting conversation. He walked away with a Book of Mormon and was willing to meet with us again. We are going to have to put together a seriously good lesson for him next time, because the guy knows his stuff, especially his history when it comes to the Bible, and honestly I don't know much about the Koran.

Well my companion and I are having a good time. I will give some good stories next week and some pictures to explain.Okay the scripture this week is 2 Kings 2:23-25. I thought this story was hilarious.

And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. 

The moral of the story is don't make fun of the Prophet!

Okay love you all.

Elder WEI