The district before transfers
The famous boxed lunch (without the box)
We went to the police station on Monday.
Wow, they're good...they had pictures of the man who attacked the young
woman last week, him riding his motorcycle away after the incident
(including his plate), and they had his name and all other personal
information put together in a case file. I hope everything works out as
best as possible for all involved parties.
We
met with a fairly new investigator that evening. After sharing the Plan
of Salvation with him, he really opened up. He told is that his reason
for being atheist hinged on the death of his older brother when they
were both much younger. He didn't understand how God could let such a
thing happen, but he was overjoyed at the prospect of perhaps seeing his
brother again one day. He didn't allow himself to believe it
completely, but he will come to know the beautiful truth if he's willing
to work for it.
We met with Peter this past
week as well. He's a stock broker and has been trying to hire us for a
little while now. He came to the lesson with all his books on stocks and
proceeded to teach us. We listened to show our love and care for him,
but Elder Alexander knew we weren't there to learn how to work the stock
market. I expressed appreciation for those things which he had shared
with us and then asked if I could share a scripture with him. 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." We testified to him of our missionary purpose and of the Savior and His Atonement. The Spirit was present, and he concluded on his own that he needed to pray more, come to church, and take a shower...we agreed that these were all things he ought to be doing, but we remained a little perplexed about the shower until about 10 minutes later when we realized he must be referring to baptism. We checked with him, and yes, he was. I've come to love the man. He's a great guy. We found out that he may live outside our area, but we aren't sure yet. We'll find out this week whether or not we'll be able to continue teaching him.
Exotic foods/things:
Shrimp chips
A sandwich in a donut!
Funny/fancy glasses?
We met with another new investigator named Berlin who is as prepared as anyone I've ever met, but he is leaving on a working holiday to Australia this week for a period of 1 year. Hopefully we can find a way to refer him to Australia.
We ran into a guy on the street from Missouri! His name is Ross. He's an English teacher here and will soon be father to a 2nd child. He's busy with the soon to come baby, but he is interested in hearing our message in the near future.
The MRT
Before the rain
Lots of rain every day!
Last supper together.
Fly vs. Ant
Saying Good-bye for now.
Transfers came and brought with it some big changes. Elder Alexander moved down to Hualian as a District Leader. They split the districts in the north zone. I am now serving as the District Leader, and for the first time, English Unit Leader, in the newly formed Beitou district. My new companion is Taiwanese, but everyone on the street thinks he is a foreigner and doesn't believe him until he rattles off some Taiwanese. His name is Elder Chang (his chosen "English" name is Carlos Dedios...yup). I'll miss Elder Alexander and the old district. We had some great times. However, I know the Lord is directing His work, and we are excited for a good transfer.
My new companion, who was just companions with my MTC companion, Elder Lawrence!
Dinner with the Xu family (a feast)
It's been raining
a lot...but we still see miracles as we press forward. I think my
favorite miracle this past week had to have been Eric Lu. We were on our
way to a lesson on Saturday
when a younger man responded warmly to our greeting as we biked by. We
wheeled ourselves around and talked with the man. It turns out he is
serving in the Taiwanese military, and his English is pretty good. We
told him about our free English class, but he told us he couldn't get
out on a Wednesday
night. He then surprised us by asking if we had a church or something
where he could go to pray and stuff. Do we?! We invited him to church
the next day and he came! He came to all 3 hours and loved every moment
of it. We're excited to see him again later this week.
Elder
Hawkes, my trainer (soon to be Brother Hawkes), and family also came
through Beitou this past week! It was both good and crazy to see an old
friend.
Seeing my trainer as he ends his mission:
This week I will hit my 1/2-way mark.
It's hard for me to believe. The time has passed so quickly, and yet so
much has happened in such a short time. I'm grateful for every moment.
All is well!
Thank you for your love, support, and prayers!
Love,
Elder Dickson
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