We went to the massive war memorial featuring
a massive plaza last week for P-day. Ever since then, Elder Chang and I
like to fall into step every now and then and imitate the changing of
the guard. It was also wonderful to see the Chipman family again. I was
very grateful for their willingness to help, and they're quite honestly
too kind.
Several investigators and a recent
convert opened up to us about persecutions they've been facing as a
result of their choice to follow the Savior. Most of them couldn't begin
to fathom why anyone would attack another for their beliefs and were in
almost a state of shock. I'm grateful that they trusted us enough to
open up to us. We were able to comfort them (or at least invite the
Spirit in to comfort them and teach them) through watching some videos
produced by the church, reading 1 Nephi 8 together, and bearing
testimony.
We've recently had several
investigators with little or no faith in themselves or their ability to follow the Savior. It's
been amazing to watch the Spirit work as we listen to them, and ask
inspired questions coupled with testimony that allow them find their own
answers. It's been a blessing to watch them grow in faith and
confidence. It's hard to see all the potential we could have if we would let the Lord mold us.
This a neat video I found about a piano: A Piano's Purpose
Another investigator opened up to
us about a dangerous situation at home. I was once again grateful for
the relationship we enjoy with our investigators. We were able to
involve the right people and resources to resolve the situation in a
good way.
There are some missionaries I've
been working with to help them see that they are indeed successful
missionaries despite seeing little visible success. We received inspired
training presented at the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast; all were
uplifted and edified by the words of living prophets. During one
discussion, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. Alma 26:22 is a
scripture likely most every missionary is familiar with. It's a
promised blessing. If you do "A," "B" will happen. There are a list of
things missionaries can work to implement. The promise is that by doing
these things, one will be blessed with the opportunity to "bring many
souls to repentance." I never noticed before that the scripture said
"repentance." It doesn't say that you will necessarily bring many souls
to be baptized. I know that as we help others live the Gospel of Jesus
Christ through developing faith, repenting, being baptized, feeling and
understanding the Spirit, and/or enduring to the end, we are successful.
We have been measuring our success as missionaries against the Doctrine
of Christ and come to realize just how much success we have been
blessed to see.
We haven't had hot water for a while now, but it's actually alright with it being so hot out. It's kind of nice really.
Zone
Conference was really good. Some of the bigger take-aways were that we
needed to teach shorter lessons and work more with the members. I
received a compliment that meant a lot to me at the hand of a leader I
look up to. He told me he wished he could have the experience of being
one of my investigators. It was a cool thing for him to say, and it led
me to examine myself and work to be more worthy of such a high
compliment.
I love working with Elder Chang.
He's so much fun to work with. He's optimistic, and he's always willing
to help with whatever needs done. It's also been cool to have the
opportunity to translate for him in several meetings and other settings
(I also get to translate into English at church these days).
Elder Chang
I would like to write about some of our investigators:
Brother
Fang: The man is a legend. He's in his 60s, has much life experience,
and yet he is so very humble and willing to sacrifice. He showed up at
his lesson this past week only for us to find out his entire family had
left for Southern Taiwan the day before, but that he would be going to
join them at a later time so as to not miss our appointment. We could
have rescheduled had we known, but he's just so willing to give it his
all. We had a wonderful lesson this past week in which we sang some
hymns and watched select Mormon Messages to invite the Spirit.
Afterwards, we began to review the baptismal interview questions. He's
been taught all the lessons, and it is only one small thing holding him back from
being baptized. We also quickly found out that he didn't have any
recollection of Joseph Smith and had some misunderstandings relating to
the very core of our faith: our understanding of the Father and His Son,
Jesus Christ. He was so very grateful to hear the glorious message of
the Restoration. I can't believe he was fighting so valiantly to
overcome one small thing and keep all the other commandments without
that crucial basis of faith. He just loved repentance and the
commandments.
Benjamin: 22 years old, he is a
ray of sunshine in a sometimes dark world. He is always smiling, and he
loves every time we share with him. He's quite the missionary himself.
Despite facing persecution and opposition on several fronts, he
continues to learn and progress with renewed faith.
Cliff:
He's also in his 50s, but he looks like he is 30 or so. He faces many
health difficulties (spends half his time in the hospital) and is
concerned about possible family opposition, but we've been blessed to
find a way to teach him that he really enjoys and understands. He is an
artist. So, we draw together and tie it into the gospel. We read Alma 32
one week and then drew the process of the seed growing up into a great
tree of faith: firm and immovable. This past week, we drew our dream
houses and then taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ using an analogy:
Small cottage=us, we encounter storms and other difficulties, faith
provides resources to work with, through repentance we can repair our
cozy little home, but there are still small cracks in the roof or maybe
termites in the walls (things that are difficult to fix or you may not
notice need fixing), through baptism our home is restored or brought
back to its original "perfect" state, afterwards God gives us a
blueprint to build our dream house--the Gift of the Holy Ghost, finally
we endure to the end by following the blue print each day until we
finally reach our full potential (dream house) through the Atonement of
Jesus Christ.
Our drawings
Learning Chinese....the struggle
Brother Wei: He's new, but he's so cool he takes notes during our lessons!
Peter:
We're his best friends in the whole wide world. He's a stock broker. On
top of that, he helps his family in the local market selling
vegetables. He improves each day.
Marshmallow: A
baker by trade, he loves to give us bread to eat. He still faces a lot
of trials, but he has a strong testimony of prayer and is starting to
believe in himself, that he can do what the Savior would have Him do.
Brother
Hong: Faces concerns with both work and family. Lives in a castle, but
he is as humble as can be. He's grateful for the things we share with
him, and he is willing to act.
Brother Liu:
An older man that lost both his father and older brother when he was
young. He loved the hopeful message of the Plan of Salvation, but he is
still struggling to believe that the truth can really be so perfectly
joyful.
These are but a few of our beloved
investigators. We really do love them, and we know God does too. He
loves each and every one of His children perfectly, and that includes
YOU.
We visited a referral received from church
HQ on Saturday. We only had about 5 minutes before the ward missionary
fireside we put on, but we felt prompted to stop by. We were warmly
greeted by a wonderful family. A younger man then came to the door and
exclaimed, "Wow! You guys are professional!...Amazing! I'm so happy to
see you. I just landed in Taiwan earlier this afternoon after living in
the states for a time. My family and I are going out to dinner now, but
is there any way we could exchange contact information and meet another
day? Please." Yep...follow the Spirit.
We
continue to see miracles with regards to investigators attending church.
This was previously the hardest aspect for me with doing missionary
work in Taiwan, but we have large groups of investigators that
consistently come and love church. We even had a member bring a friend
of theirs with them to church this past week. It's been a great blessing
from God to see this weekly miracle. The ward continues to grow and
learn, and our relationship with them has really blossomed and bloomed.
The
recent convert fireside was, as always, a spiritual feast. We attended
with 2 investigators, 1 less active, and 1 recent convert. The speakers
were all baptized within the last few months and spoke with such energy
and enthusiasm. A couple of them were straight up hilarious and were
instantly loved by all present. What's more, they all saw great miracles
on the road to conversion. Some had visions. Some heard voices...crazy.
The music was provided by angels from heaven. The Spirit was so
powerful, and all in attendance were spiritually fed. It was also
refreshing to see some old friends including Sister Guan! She is
Taiwanese and was my first Sister Training Leader about a year ago in
Hualian. She finished her mission a while back, but is was good to see
her. She, with others, helped me through a rough time.
I'm
still doing missionary work in my dreams at night...this 24 hour
missionary deal can be pretty tiring, but it's certainly rewarding. My
companion is convinced I'm teaching in the Spirit World, but I don't buy
it.
Last P-day was actually pretty relaxing
with the exception of some trying technical difficulties. We ended up
going to JinHua Jie with the sisters and Kenneth where we played
basketball and Jungle Speed. Unexpected rain made the trip extra
exciting ;)
We like to have our
members add the social media of our investigators to help them as they
have questions and concerns, but this past week our investigators were
asking our members to add their social media...
I
had a cool experience with the Spirit and following a small prompting
last week. We were in a lesson when I suddenly had a faint impression
almost like a thought to silence the phone. I thought I already had, but
I quickly looked and found I hadn't. No sooner had I silenced it than
we got a call...and another...and then another. The lesson went
wonderfully, and we were grateful it wasn't interrupted (especially when
we called back those who had called and learned that 2 of the 3 were
accidental and the other not by any means a pressing matter).
I'm
grateful that my family has been having a splendid summer vacation.
They had some concerns about a week long camping trip, but I prayed for
them that they might enjoy it and be safe. The pictures last week told
me a story of pleasure and peace. I know prayer has power. It was a
little hard to see Mallory back and the whole family reunited with only
me missing, but I know I am in the right place.
My 3 siblings
I know my family is eternal, and that through my efforts I am able to afford others the same opportunity. Besides, I know God will continue to care for my family in my absence as He has thus far. As I biked through the torrential rain in the dark of night one day this past week in nothing but my short-sleeved white shirt and slacks, I couldn't help but smile and feel grateful. I was hit with how miraculous, how great a blessing and a privilege it was to be there in that moment...to be a representative of the Savior of the world at such a time and in such a place. It truly is a great blessing and a privilege...one I wouldn't trade for anything.
I'm
grateful for what the mission is doing to me. I did an exercise in
Preach My Gospel at the start of my mission in which I made a list of
goals relating to changes I would like others to see in me at the close
of my mission. While I am far from perfect, I've now been blessed to
have others point out all these areas I wanted to work on as my
strengths. I know the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and it is for
everyone. We need only accept it.
God has
really been blessing our area. Our English class is exploding with new
students, and we received many incredible referrals in these past two
weeks. Investigators are coming out of nowhere and in numbers.
Here's
the embarrassing experience of the week: My companion said he thought
there was a holiday this week. I thought and I thought, and I couldn't
think of anything. He then said he thought it was a big thing in
America. Huh? In disbelief I opened my planner and flipped through the
week only to find that the day before was the 4th day of the 7th month.
The 4th of July!!! I totally missed it, and I only caught on thanks to
my Taiwanese companion. Yeah, it's rough...
We
had interviews with President Jergensen. It's always an uplifting and
instructional experience. I'm grateful for the relationship of trust and
friendship I enjoy with him. I look up to him a great deal and am
grateful to serve alongside him. We also got to teach Sister Jergensen a
5 minute Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was present, and it was amazing
to be able to teach such magnificent truths in so short a time.
I
also went on exchange with the zone leaders this past week. It was a
great blessing to meet Grandpa Ye. His body is failing him, and he is
confined to a bed, but we were able to visit and sing to him. We sang
primary songs and other hymns with the accompaniment of a guitar. There
were points when I had to sing solo while Elder Rushton played guitar.
Now, for those of you who know me, I don't sing very well. And yet, the
Spirit was present in abundance. It was a special experience to be in
that room with that man.
Elder Rushton
During the ward
activity we put together we watched "The Hope of God's Light," and in
the part where the speaker says he always expected God to manifest
himself in a flash of lightning a bolt of lightning struck right next to
the church such that it lit the whole room and stayed blindingly light
for a moment. The boom that followed shook the building. It was pretty
cool.
Wonderful ward mission leader
We had the best lesson yesterday with a
historically not so great investigator when it comes to making or
keeping commitments. We've always kind of taught her in a "shy" way in
the name of "politeness/respect," but yesterday we taught her the truth.
We did so boldly, and Wow! Was the Spirit present! My companion and I learned so much from what we had taught by the Spirit that we
took a good 10 minutes after the lesson taking notes on what we had
learned from what we had taught. It felt so good to teach with such
power and authority. Fear is the opposite of faith.
A little nature on the MRT (butterfly)
Great Food!
God notices the little things. He is perfectly aware of us in our circumstances. Friday morning (roughly 10 A.M.), I mentioned to my companion that it would be nice if we had fruit to eat in our apartment. About 3 hours later
we ran into a member. She told us to wait a minute. She returned with a
ton of fruit to give us. Wow. We're also blessed as we are obedient in
all things. Due to exchanges we hadn't had time to do personal study in
the morning one day. We could have easily justified staying in the
apartment to finish our personal study, but it was time to go out. We
decided to just go to the fast food joint next door and do personal
study there. It felt right. We ran into 3 or so cool people on the 30
sec. journey from our apartment to the fast food restaurant (in the
elevator, on the sidewalk, and in the restaurant).
I don't have time to write any more, and you're likely bored by now anyway ;P
Rare 200
I love you all! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers!
Elder Dickson
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