Mold and Church

4/18/16

This last week was a little rough getting people to meet with us, so we ended up doing quite a bit of finding. There was also a ton of rain. But it was super fun!!! And we still have our investigator Joe working towards baptism on the 29th of this month, so we have nothing to complain about. Transfers are this Thursday, so I will probably be welcoming a new Elder to XinFeng!

     Yesterday was this air raid drill from 1:30 to 2, where everyone had to be inside. Those who were outside got herded up by the police and stuck in a place for the remaining time. We missionaries were inside having district meeting, but right outside the window of our chapel was one of the places where the police were gathering people. I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining watching all the people get caught and then play on their phones for half an hour. It reminded me of playing fugitive back home, except city-style.

    I haven't ever talked about mold have I? It is crazy here. I have seen so many kinds of mold I can't even count them. We leave a cake out for two days, and there is mold on it. Leave a pair of pants on a hangar for two weeks without touching it and there is mold on it. Don't open the window and place a fan in the bathroom, and there is mold everywhere. Mold is literally just a daily part of life here. I mean, granted, we fight it as best we can and usually do a pretty good job, but lots of missionaries have to get moved out of their apartments due to mold.

    You know, a few days ago I was thinking about just how big of an influence the church has in our lives. From the world's perspective, one-tenth of my income disappears, two years of my life are put on hold, every seventh day you can't go out and do anything, every day is spent reading the same book over and over again, and I spend lots of time just closing my eyes and talking to God. I find it interesting that we add all that stuff, and still have time to do everything else everyone else does. Not only that, I have found my life so much more fulfilling and I am so much more happy. The Gospel plays a huge influence in our lives, and I am so grateful. Today I get to go to the temple in Taipei, and every time I go I can find a sort of strength that I can't find anywhere else. I love you all, and I hope you can find time to go the temple this week and think a bit about the influence the Gospel has had in your life!

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This week is transfers, and I most likely will not move. A little bit like Matt Bake you could say, although a little more functional. Emma is doing pretty good, we retaught the first lesson, and she was super awesome. She is pretty well integrated into the ward, and the members love her. Joe is about to get baptized, and he is super excited. Compare with my other area? Actually pretty similar. Some big hills, hard to street contact, but the people are super awesome. The ward here is a lot better though, they are super amazing. I will have to email about those questions a little later today. Because we have to catch a train into Taipei for the temple, we woke up at 3:30 this morning to do emails before, but we only got to do half our emails so we will finish later today when you are all totally asleep. I also have something I'm going to try, I want to email family members specifically more because I feel like I get emails and then you all don't really ever hear anything back, so I want you to know that I absolutely love them and am so excited to read them every week. The other thing I think I'm going to start is switching off weeks, one week email friends like I normally do, and then one week only emailing family. They don't need to hear from me every week, so I think I will start by emailing you all next week.