Temples and Transfers

4/24/16

 Transfer week! My new companion is Elder James. Funny enough, he came to Taiwan the same time as me. Granted, he was six weeks behind in the MTC and didn't have visa problems, we ended up here in Taiwan only a week apart. Our new district leader is Elder Xiao, a native Taiwanese, so district meetings are now going to be half-English half-Chinese and I am super excited. Elder Xiao is the bomb.

     I got to attend the temple last week. It was amazing as usual, and the feelings I had inside were indescribable. All I can say is that I really felt special. There has been this focus on one by one in our mission lately and how the Lord knows each of us individually, and at the temple it really just sunk in. I love that feeling.

    After the temple, I got the opportunity to pass of Phase 2! Our mission has a language learning program consisting of a PMG workbook thing (Phase 1), 2000 of the most commonly used words (Phase 2), and all the Chinese characters in the Book of Mormon (Phase 3). So, with 2000 words memorized, I guess you could say I have mastered introductory Chinese. Keyword: introductory. What a hard language, but it really is a blast.

     For the rest of the day, our whole district went to the MaoKong gondola by the Taipei Zoo. It has these little gondola cars that go clear up into the mountains and you get incredible views of the Taipei valley all along the way. I absolutely loved it. At the top, we walked along this winding path leading through thick bushes and trees will all kinds of different colored butterflies flying around. Finally it opened up and we could see the skyscrapers of Taipei and could even see all the way into DanShui on the complete opposite side of the valley. On the right was Taipei 101--completely dominating the surrounding landscape.

     It was an incredible view, and just like that it was over. I'm kind of grateful it is already over though. On my mission, I've learned to just enjoy the process. If I saw that view every day, it wouldn't be nearly as spectacular. Things change, and we don't always like it, but that is really what makes life fun. I'm especially grateful for the opportunity given to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change. I'm grateful that I can be here on the front lines watching people change their lives to follow Him. I hope you have all had a great week! I love you!

____________________________________________________

i don't know if you can see the size of this wasp......