CALLED TO SERVE: Sea Cucumber Schedule Change

1/30/16

So there's this jellyfish, and he is walking next to a sea cucumber (well there not really walking because there in the ocean.... it's a joke), and he turns to the sea cucumber and says, "With friends like these on the dinner table in front of Elder Hawkes, who needs anemones?" Haha. Ya. But I actually did eat a nice big dinner of squid stuffed with fish eggs, pig feet, pig-foot tendon, fish wrapped in sea cucumber, jellyfish salad, deep-fried shrimp (I wasn't brave enough to suck out the head), and boiled chicken. Out of all those, hands-down worst food was the boiled chicken. Who would have thought. The jellyfish was amazing. Let's just say there was quite a few of "hey this is the first time I've eaten this food!".

Last week we watched a worldwide missionary broadcast and whoa did they announce some big changes! Daily planning is changed from the nighttime to the morning, companion study and language study can be anytime during the day that works for your schedule, and they key indicators have been reduced to just four!! When I first got to Taiwan, there were 34. Most missions have 11. Over time, President Jergensen reduced it to 8, and now it is down to 4!! How crazy! I am absolutely loving the morning planning too, because now when we come home it is just nice and relaxing instead of stressful. At the mission conference, I got to see all the missionaries including the other four Viewmont graduates (missing Elder Bryan Anderson in the picture included)! I also took a picture with my mission dad (my trainer Elder Boyce) and mission son (my trainee Elder Dickson). Anyways, not much news in the way of investigators, because they are all off celebrating GuoNian (Chinese New Year). Oh well, more next week on them.

Interesting discovery lately. I used to think that reading the Book of Mormon wasn't for the stories. Scripture isn't like a normal novel where you just enjoy the scenery right? I thought you just kinda read it for its teachings and for personal revelation and that the stories weren't necessarily important in and of themselves. Over the past few months, however, I've sort of realized that you learn the teachings and receive personal revelation because you read and understand the stories. It has really changed the whole way I look at the Book of Mormon. Instead of just reading what the prophets say, I've been reading why they say what they say, to who they say what they say, and how what they say is like the things I encounter on a day-to-day basis. The Book of Mormon has become an even greater source of light than before, and reading it is incredibly interesting! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Chinese New Year week!

Here is an example in Omni of all places: Chapter 1:27-30. Reading the way I used to before, I don't learn much. The previous two verses are the testimony of Amaleki written on some of the last portion of the plates, but 27 through 30 are a little out of context. It seems that Amaleki is a little bit of a perfectionist, so he wants to fill the remaining few lines of the plates he is writing on with a quick news report on a group of people that left Zarahemla. Well, he includes it and leaves me confused for another eight chapters until we get to Mosiah 7. It turns out, that group of people that left are the people of Limhi that Ammon finds in the land of Lehi-Nephi! Their story is recorded in the record of Zeniff in chapters 9 through 22. So, a portion of scripture in Omni suddenly shows how Amaleki is in tune with the Spirit enough to know he should include a short blip about a group of people that would become really important later on. How cool is that?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. WHOAH.

us up on a members roof at nighttime. The kids names are 'Peace' and 'Receive Mercy'.

Check out this tiny orange! So stinking sour!!!

"technical kouipment," "oluring trans portation" "keeps looks hinges joints mooing freely." "Do not pierce or bum, even after use."

the crazy dinner

our investigator board

Went to Gu Gong (National Palace Museum). Incredible. Funny too. Funny and incredible! Try to guess which pictures are funny and which pictures are incredible.

"Emporer Qianlong accused jade artisans of Suzhou and Yangzhou of showing off skills to appeal to the market and cater for the masses, yet without consideration for the actual use of the piece, e.g. he questioned how an incense burner entirely carved with multi-level openwork was supposed to hold ashes?"

Guess who I saw at the museum??? Rosy!!!! She is a member from when I served in XinFeng almost a year ago. We would go and visit her and her grandma, because her grandma is semi-active and is from Indonesia! They are super cool and it was super exciting to run into Rosy!!