Testimony and Typhoon Volleyball

8/7/16

 Last Preparation Day our zone decided we wanted to go to a park by the beach and play volleyball. We got together the five companionships and a lot of members, and despite the light rain started to play volleyball. We knew that a typhoon was hitting the northern Philippines, but we assumed because it was so far away we wouldn't get much of the rain. We weren't right. There was one point where we were playing sand volleyball standing in a few inches of water and getting pelted by huge raindrops and strong wind. It stopped after a little while, but the ocean waves were HUGE the whole day long. 

     This last Saturday I was able to do a baptismal interview for the Sisters' investigator Zeng Yu Ru. It was so awesome. It really felt like I was just a bystander and I was able to watch the interview from the side. The Spirit really led the interview, and I came out having learned many valuable lessons. Zeng Yu Ru passed her interview, and hopefully will be baptized in about a week and a half. As for our investigators, we are working really hard to get an investigator closer to baptism but lately they have all run into obstacles that are really hard to overcome. It was a great week though, and full of miracles.

    One miracle we saw this week was with a new investigator named Fan Zhi Ming. We had a set up who said to come back in two hours, and when we did she was still busy so she just made her grandson (Fan Zhi Ming) come out and listen to our message. It ended up being a great contact, and he was super excited to go and pray about what we had taught. As Elder Stevenson pulled out a Book of Mormon to give to him to read, I noticed a testimony written on the front page. At the end of High School, Tawnie Richman heard I was going to Taiwan on my mission so she wrote her testimony in Chinese on the front page of a Book of Mormon and gave it to me so that I could in turn give it to someone on my mission. It got buried in my desk somewhere, but apparently I had taken it out while cleaning or something because the Book of Mormon being given to Fan Zhi Ming was that very Book of Mormon. I was shocked that somehow Elder Stevenson had that very Book of Mormon, but I know that God wanted that Book of Mormon there at that time because the testimony in the front really changed the dynamic of the contact and made it even better.

    I think the power behind a testimony is amazing. Isn't that really what a missionary is? Just a testimony-bearer wearing fancy clothes. I hope I take every opportunity I can to share my testimony, and hope you will too! I love you all!

--

Elder Hawkes

---------------------------------------------------

I am doing so good. My companion is hilarious. Elder Stevenson, nephew of THE Elder Stevenson. The day before he went into the MTC he ate at the General Authority cafeteria and met most of the Twelve. Super cool. Elder Stevenson has diabetes and is super skinny, and loves to sing. He often says "he has the falsetto of an angel" and uses it often when we sing hymns during companionship study. We are having a really good time together. When he first came to Hualian he didn't like it because we did the work a lot differently than in Taipei where he has been his whole mission due to medical concerns, but I think he has adjusted pretty well and now he is doing well. He is from Melville up in Cache Valley, and has been out on his mission for a year and a half. He was a (self-proclaimed) band nerd in High School, and has a lot of funny cow jokes. I didn't know there were so many cow jokes. Lets just say that a lot of nights end up in tickle fights between him and the zone leaders. This last week I got absolutely wrecked by a cold, so I have been safe for about a week. I'm not exactly sure how to share about our investigators, is there a system of some sort that I could use to tell you about my investigators? I'm not sure who I have told you about, who I haven't told you about, and what I've told you about them. A lot of our investigators ran into problems lately, so we are spending a lot of time finding new investigators, which includes knocking doors, talking to people on the street, and visiting members for referrals. I'm not as good about that last one, but we have been trying pretty hard lately. If you want, you could all help me out next week and send me what would interest you if two Jehovah's Witnesses came up to you on the street and tried to share with you. What would get you to listen? 

Awesome beach photos from last week. I don't know if you can see how high the waves are, but most of those waves are 15-20ish feet high. Not sure exactly because I couldn't get a measuring tape close enough, but either way they were some of the biggest I've seen.

horrifying cat thing we found,

 it turns out that Fenglin got the award for being the 'Slowest Town in Taiwan'.

painting of Fenglin done by a guy from mainland China (I though Sarah would appreciate that)

 organizing papers in our apartment after President Jergensen announced we could throw out records older than a year,

rollerblade contacting (at zone conference we were encouraged to try new and different modes of finding while still be effective--we got a ton of awesome looks and smiles, but we couldn't go fast enough to be effective enough). If you have any suggestions for things we could do while street contacting we would love to hear them!

cheap lego knock-off that didn't bother to use spell-check or worry about copyrights

80ish year old man using a chainsaw (extremely dangerous due to the fact that he just used gravity to let the chainsaw cut through the tree and then would catch the chainsaw as it fell towards his feeble legs)

awesome sunsets here in Hualien. Awesome. 

Fan Zhi Ming, the guy we gave the Book of Mormon to!

We ran into this huge random park in our area that also has this huge water park. All for free. Apparently it is the first year it has opened, so it is all free. Next year it goes expensive. Great place for contacting families, even if it does feel a little awkward to be talking to people on picnic benches next to a pool.