Monday: We went to the driving range with some other missionaries in the zone. I'd never hit a golf ball before; I'd only played putt-putt if that counts. I was surprised by how relaxing it was. The weather was clear and beautiful, and I had a great talk with Elder Raley. It helped me get my mind off of present concerns and struggles to just talk with an old friend and enjoy the beauty of the day.
He moved out to Yilan this past
transfer on the other side of the island, so I don't know when I'll see
him again, but I trust we'll be friends for a long time.
Flashback to Elder Raley's first P-day in Taiwan
We had great plans lined up for the evening, but all fell through. Our back-up was to visit some part-member families. We brought some caramel M&Ms and with a prayer in our heart, went to work. We ended up visiting three part-member families and were received fairly warmly in all cases. What's more, we ran into an investigator we haven't been able to get in contact with for some time outside of his workplace and were able to have a good chat with him. In addition, I called out to a guy on the side of the street just saying hi. He called back, so I pulled over and started talking with him only to find that he was a man we had met at a bus stop a couple of P-days ago when we went to Costco. We had set up to share with him before, but he ended up having something and had to cancel. We were able to set back up with him, and we gave him a tour of the chapel this past week while sharing the message of the Restoration. He's a great guy, and it was a miracle to find him again.
Nutella on pancakes with Cranberries
Goodbye to Elder Smith who has been a great companion for 12 weeks
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Yummy marshmellow
Tuesday:
Another day of miracles. We met with a cool new investigator named
William. He loves to travel and has super good English. He recently had a
friend of the family pass away and has had other encounters with death
throughout his life. I'm excited to share with him about the Plan of
Salvation and the joy it brings to know that our families can be eternal
through the power of the Savior's Atonement if we follow Him. We had a
crazy cool lesson with Albert, our Filipino friend. We talked about the
temple and the blessing of and goal of an eternal family. The Spirit
guided the lesson and we all felt uplifted and empowered after the
lesson to press forward.
We had prepared a lesson for our investigator
Ken who has come to be a close friend of mine in which we were going to
talk about why he hasn't been praying or reading the scriptures. His
birthday is today (same as my dad); he's turning 16 (not the same as my
dad, but oh how I love the man). His situation at home isn't everything I
wish it was. Anyway, we finished praying and he told us right off the
bat that he had been praying and of how he felt peace when he prayed.
Upon further inquiry, we found he was also reading the scriptures. I
couldn't stop smiling as I heard him describe his feelings after reading
and praying. Then Elder Smith and I had to figure out what on earth it
was we were going to teach him as our plan based on his not reading was
not what he needed. Elder Smith pulled up a Mormon message on
forgiveness. Watch: Forgiveness: My Burden was Made Light It turned out to be exactly what he needed. The Spirit was present, and Elder
Smith and I were able to testify powerfully of the blessings and joys of
repenting and forgiving as we weren't perfectly united from the get go,
but through prayer, repentance, and discussion we became true friends.
We got to teach about repentance and forgiveness two more times that night and learned that another of our investigators who hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon has started as well. The huge miracle of the night was when I felt we should go to the trouble of going upstairs to watch the video on forgiveness again when the lesson with our investigator was just wrapping up and it honestly didn't make a whole lot of sense. Elder Smith lovingly went along with it and off we went. We didn't plan on it, but a man who has held onto a burden for at least 8 years saw the video with us and I know it touched his heart and was no coincidence. Another tender mercy was that all of our investigators prayed for the health of the missionaries in their prayers without me telling them of any health issue or concern; they've never done that before, and it helped me realize just how aware the Lord is of me and all of His children.
Elder Smith and I got new planners
My desk on a typical day, it's pretty crazy!
My
new companion is Elder Paden Jorgensen from Provo, Utah. He is a man I have
already come to love and respect. He does everything with great care and
dedication and has an overarching love for God and all the people of
Taiwan. He's crazy diligent. We had nearly 70 commitment contacts in the
first couple of days of his being here, meaning we talked with that
many "strangers" about the gospel and extended invitations to them to
come unto Christ in one way or another, this on top of all our lessons,
meals, studies, etc. We met a huge security guard from Hualian on the
street out in Nankang and shared with him over dinner only minutes
later. He also enjoyed the message and we're sharing more tonight
over dinner.
We invited one guy off the street to come into the church
building for a tour. He's from the states and teaches English across the
street. We shared the Restoration over the course of the tour, and he
LOVED it! He told us he would be back for sure! We've been so busy, we
oftentimes don't get around to eating, but almost without exception food
has been provided from one source or another from Heaven above.
Yesterday, a member gave us pineapple cakes that became our dinner. As
we sat down to look at our plan for the night and make a couple of
calls on the side of the street, two Indonesians came out of nowhere,
gave us some fruit, and then were gone as quickly as they came. God is
looking out for us. This transfer is going to be a transfer of miracles.
Our members are the best of the best and very supportive of us and our
efforts. I know that as we follow the direction of our leaders and are
captained by Christ, God will use us to do a great work in building Zion
here in Taoyuan. I love my mission! I love the people of Taiwan, and I
love the Lord!
Thank you for your love and prayers and support! Take care and have the best week ever!
All is Well,
Elder Reed Dickson
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