Week 5 in Beitou: rain apocalypse and roaches

Weekly Update:

Northern Taiwan had the most rain it's had in 21 years this past weekend. There was water everywhere, almost 2 feet of it.

The quote of the week has to be "it's either the rain or the roaches man! There's no escape!" My mom has a video of the intense rain and crazy roaches she will try to post to facebook so you can see it.

The rain brought out so many roaches it was like one of the plagues of ancient Egypt.

On P-day we went to the inner part of the city with some members and missionaries. 

A store that sold Chinese silks.

Beautiful selection of silks:

I got some material to have ties made from:

We even saw shark fins for sale

The MRT station:

Some beautiful parts of the city:

Tuesday was exciting between some mind-blowing miracle and some petty theft by the innocent. We like to study and plan in public so as to have more opportunities to find those prepared to hear our message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and all it entails. We were studying Chinese in a McDonald's when some children came up and started using my language study materials as toys. At first I was going to tell them to stop, but I saw their mom at a nearby table looking exasperated, exhausted, and hopeless. I decided it would be okay as long as they didn't do any real damage to anything. Unfortunately, the kids liked their newfound toys a little too much and took some of them with them when they left. They weren't interested in their message, and they had taken the very materials I was using to try to help them and others. It bothered me, but what bothered me more was the fact that I was bothered. I allowed myself to be affected by their innocent act. I prayed for help and that I might find additional opportunities to look outward and lose myself in the service of others and was blessed to be able to overcome these feelings quickly. It did, however, lead to some reflection on lessons I've learned in the past about life and fairness. If I was concerned in any degree over so trivial a matter, how was I to help those facing issues of disease, disability, or deaths in the family...?

Good food!

Life is not fair. "If you expect the world to be fair with you because you are fair, you are fooling yourself. That's like expecting the lion not to eat you because you didn't eat him." The Count of Monte Cristo also has a lesson for us to learn: "Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes." The prophets are the best source on the matter. Pres. Hinckley, quoting Jenkin Lloyd Jones, said: "Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise...Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." Finally, my personal favorite is an address delivered by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. It is entitled "That I Might Draw All Men Unto Me" . In short, we all ought to be grateful life is not fair. For, were life fair, none of us would be resurrected or be saved in the Kingdom of God. The Savior lived the perfect life, but was it fair? No, so why should we who follow Him expect any different. It is because of the unfairness and "injustice" of the life He lived that we all have the "unfair" and undeserved blessing of living again with the opportunity to secure eternal life for ourselves and those we love. It is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that our hurts can be healed. This applies to all. If you feel you have been wronged/hurt, that life isn't fair, or that you simply have no reason to be happy. Please read this address and choose to allow the Savior to take your burden from you. Choose happiness. Choose peace (John 14:27).

" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I also realized that I've been preventing myself from growing as much or as quickly as I might otherwise as of late. A quote from C.S. Lewis will help me get my point across:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

This is the true meaning of repentance. This is the miracle that is the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ at work in the life of an individual. I've been looking at myself all wrong and seeing myself as something of a finished product, nothing too big or flashy with its flaws, but functional--a decent little cottage if you will. Once again, prophets of God have said it best. See Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Remember the story of the current bush?

Now for a miracle or two...We were walking with Brother Fang to his lesson that would take place in the home of the Ward Mission Leader when we asked him what the happiest thing in his life was as of late. He shocked us by saying that studying the Book of Mormon was the best part of his week. We inquired further, and he pulled out a verse that he said he absolutely loved. He just went on and on about how much it meant to him and how much power it held. The verse was 1 Nephi 10:10: "And after he had baptized the Messiah with water, he should behold and bear record that he had baptized the Lamb of God, who should take away the sins of the world." The verse is speaking of the Savior's baptism performed by John the Baptist. Elder Alexander and I could not believe what we were hearing. We then asked how he was doing with the commitments he had made the previous week. He had kept all of his commitments even when pressured to do otherwise. It is a great blessing and privilege to know and teach this man.

English class was fun. We made a story as a class. We ended up building spacecraft to travel to Mars, but we got into a big fight with the X-Men. However, due to our superior powers, we were able to overcome them and come to a peaceful consensus. My students sure do have imaginations. I then told them a story: "How the Book of Mormon came to be."

We were also amazed by the progress of Jimmy. We haven't been able to get in contact with him for a couple of weeks, but he has been reading and praying almost daily and feels he has started a new life, that he has found new life in Christ. We were only able to meet for about 5 minutes, but he set a baptismal date and is excited to continue learning.

I'm learning another lesson about finishing things I start rather than redoing the first few steps a million times until I think they're perfect.

There were several tender mercies this week that allowed me to know that God is aware of and loves me: "You Raise Me Up" playing in a convenience store, a cool experience involving Chinese and Japanese, and Peter coming to church for the first time among others.

One of our investigators was teaching us some simple Japanese and using Chinese to explain what he was saying. After a little while, I realized his explanations were in Chinese and that I was following without trouble. It wasn't long ago that Chinese was the language I didn't understand at all, and those explanations were all in English. It's a great blessing and a miracle. I have experienced the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues.

Brother Guo was baptized this week. He's the most amazing guy. He has a powerful testimony and is already excited for his 5-year-old daughter, Barbie, to one day serve a mission.

We attended the recent convert fireside and I got to see some former companions:

I love you all, and I love the Lord!

All is well,
Elder Dickson