Schizophrenia and Death of the Santa Hat

4/17/17

  This week we get to go to the temple for Preparation Day, so this email is coming in on Wednesday rather than Monday. This week marks a sad one in the way of Christmas. On exchanges with Elder Klein, we had to go back to our apartment to get something during the day, and it just so happened to be all-to-convenient to finally cut off the Santa hat I have been wearing on top of my helmet for the past five months. What a sad moment... I miss having to flip back the top of hat so it wouldn't hang down in front of my eyes... I miss the little white puff-ball on the end that I would have to wring water out of when it rained... I miss that soft, red felt that I could use to meticulously mop that grease from my hands after adjusting the imaginary brakes on my Precambrian bike... well, c'est la vie...

   We have this awesome investigator named Joy. He smokes. He drinks. He does just about everything prohibited by the Word of Wisdom. He met with missionaries for a long time in SanChong before he moved over here to TuCheng for work. We started meeting with him, and actually most of our lessons are in English with a bunch of Chinese phrases thrown in just to clarify. He is a really funny guy, and super mellow. Well, every time we teach him about baptism he brings up that he can't quit smoking. Or drinking tea and coffee. Or alcohol. Or... And then we have to cut him off and say, "Joy! One at a time buddy, lets just focus on one at a time." Anyways, we get a call from him yesterday, and he is almost in tears about not being able to quit all this stuff, and asks us to come visit him. We think he is just plastered and drank way too much that day, but went anyway. To our surprise, the address he gave us turned out to be a mental hospital. Sure enough, there he was in the middle of a bunch of adults with various mental incapacities. We are still not sure if he was a patient, caretaker, or just visiting, but either way it made for an interesting lesson. Afterwards, we asked the doorman to the apartment building complex, and he told us it was a mental hospital for those with schizophrenia. Well, awesome! We are teaching a schizophrenic with amazing English.

    Our mission is focusing on improving prayers, and as I pondered last week on what I could do to improve my prayers, I had an idea. I took some notes I had from that morning's personal study and from general conference and prayed over them during my prayers before bed. It was awesome! As I pondered the things I had been learning at the end of the day and was able to ask Heavenly Father what I could do the next day to apply what I had learned, I had several clear impressions of things to go and do. Those impressions are so exciting, because that is when you see miracles happen on your mission, and those are the experiences you remember the most. I know that as we seek and act on personal revelation, we will, like was mentioned by Elder Rasband in conference about President Monson, be "on the Lord's errand". Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Tuscan Raider and Remembering the Savior

4/30/17

    Well, I forgot to bring my planner with me, so I'm not exactly sure what happened last week and what is worth mentioning. I didn't have any more dreams of teaching the gospel to Donald Trump, I wish I had only dreamed how many cockroaches I've killed in the past week (they may or may not have made it into the fridge (how do cockroaches make it into the fridge??)), we found another completely intact guitar in a trash pile on the street (that makes a total of three in our apartment now (all from trash piles)), my english is getting worse (notice how I didn't capitalize english on purpose to bother any english major reading this?), and this morning may or may not have been spent on our eighth floor balcony water-blasting all the dirt and grime away while holding brooms above our heads and making Tuscan Raider noises. Other than that, it was a pretty normal week.

   On to more serious things. We had two great lessons this week that in particular stood out to me. One was with the non-member family of a member named Rainbow 賴虹宇. Rainbow couldn't be there for the lesson, so we just visited her parents and her older sister. The parents are classic Buddhist/Taoist-Taiwanese mix, which means they think religion is just a culture and a scapegoat, so they don't know why they need to believe in Christ. The older sister got baptized into another church when she was younger and is very devout. The Spirit must have been there, because we somehow managed to talk with all three of them about their beliefs and commit them to pray daily as a family for a week. It was walking on eggshells so as not to cause conflict between us and any of them, and we even had to go about it in a casual way because the daughter started getting a little heated towards her parents. In the end, I felt we were all edified in some way or another, and we managed to get them to commit to pray daily! 

    The other lesson was with another part member family. The dad is returning from less-activity and bringing his kids, but the mom isn't as interested. Nothing miraculous happened, but we were able to encourage him and give him a blessing afterwards. Though it was simple, you could tell that it made a difference and gave him the hope he needed.

    The last 9 weeks of my mission, I decided to study the 1 of the 9 Christlike attributes in Preach My Gospel every week. Last week was diligence. An interesting aspect of diligence that I found was remembering. I would argue that a large part of becoming diligent is remembering your purpose, vision, and potential on an active and regular basis. Think about it from a scriptural standpoint: when Nephites or other righteous people lost diligence in keeping God's commandments, how did the prophets call them to repentance? Most often, I believe it runs something along the lines of: "Do ye not remember?" When we remind ourselves of the sacrifice our Savior made for us often, we are more inclined to remain diligent in keeping the covenants that are steps to using that sacrifice. How do we remind ourselves? Well, I think a look through the scriptures in the topical guide on remembrance to see our people in the scriptures reminded themselves is a good start. I'm so grateful for the lessons the Spirit has taught me as I have studied attributes of Christ and tried to become like Him, and wish you all the best in your efforts to become like Him!

Messing around at DanShui and Fishermans Wharf. We. Are. Nerds.

awesome beaches!!! really cool shells

biking preparation day to almost the very most northern tip of Taiwan. Rented fancy road bikes to do it, and biked from ShiLin to the top and then back. 

Super far. Super tiring. Super epic.

Spiritual Goldmine

5/30/17

Monday we had an epic preparation day, Tuesday and Thursday we had exchanges, and Saturday we had the baptism of an investigator I had found, taught, and passed off to the Sister missionaries and then a mission conference with five general authorities. Recipe for a spiritual goldmine. There is so much I want to share about last week that I will probably have to do it in a shot-gun manner without the doilies and the lace.

     After skyping my family for mother's day last week (which was super awesome!!), we went on a hike about an hour's bike ride from our apartment. We took an investigator with us, and our goal was to get to the top. It was a hot, sunny day, and we were all drenched in sweat. About halfway to the top, we ran out of time. What's more, HUGE thunderheads started rolling in. Within minutes, it started raining buckets of freezing cold water--the exact opposite of what it had been just half an hour previous. Everything we had got soaked to the bone and then to the marrow. We started heading back, but had to stop in the pouring rain and eat guava as fast as we could so we could stuff all electronics in a Tupperware container to avoid the rain. Elder Puzey's planner didn't make it, but we did.

     Two exchanges: one with Elder Boyle and one with Elder Holloway. With Elder Boyle, we talked about just making friends with everyone in town, so you could say hi to your friends as you were finding. Makes things a lot more fun. Saw two HUGE miracles. At night, we had 10 minutes left and I turned to Elder Boyle and said, "I know there is just one more person out here for us to find tonight!" I then saw a side street with a park, pointed to it, we crossed the road, and the second person we talked to had the same name as me and gave us his phone number. Second miracle. The next day we went to find less actives, and the first one we knocked wasn't home. We knocked their next door neighbor, who talked with us for five minutes, invited us in his home, and we shared pretty much the whole first lesson. It just so happened that he chose to take a Wednesday off of work instead of the weekend this week. The other exchange, us four missionaries and a member pounded a cua bing (shaved ice) meant to serve 30 people. Though my stomach still hurts, objective achieved.

     The baptism on Saturday was amazing. Her name is Huang Ying黃瀅, and I was able to perform the confirmation on Sunday. Super hard in Chinese, but it worked out. At the mission conference was Elder Cook of the Twelve, Bishop Waddel in the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Funk of the Asia Area Presidency, Elder Murs also of the Asia Area Presidency, Elder Suarez of the Seventy, and of course President Jergensen. Wow. To say I was intimidated is a gross understatement. Here are some of the principles they taught: the Lord gives a pattern in all things, investigators should begin with the end in mind (the temple), the Spirit establishes trust with someone you've just met, without faith there is no repentance, repentance without faith is just a change of behavior rather than a change of heart, provide invitations so that others can start the path to conversion, learn to access the Spirit, when you feel incapable remember that at least you can bear firm witness of Christ. Elder Cook bore testimony of Jesus Christ that shook my heart and the hearts of everyone there to the core. What an incredible experience!

     This email is getting long, but here is the rest of the things I learned this week: Joseph Smith got an answer to his prayer not out of curiosity but because he was trying to draw closer to God through repentance and didn't know how (the actor who played Joseph Smith in the new 6 minute First Vision is in our mission); 喜歡 (like) and 愛 (love) are pretty different in Chinese--like means you want something in return and love means you only want to give, interesting to think about with respect to fellow man or even God; could you write "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" on your journal?; how to learn how to give a priesthood blessing--read the Book of Mormon to see how God blesses his children; if someone feels understood they are a lot more likely to listen; "one progresses only as fast as he gains knowledge" (Joseph Smith); and knowledge is taught by the Holy Ghost, "line upon line, precept upon precept" (2 Nephi 28:30). I had a wonderful week, and I hope you had one too!

 

Exchanges and Virtue

    Not too much exciting this last week. Two exchanges.... Ya!! The last exchanges of my mission. It was fun learning from those two missionaries. A good exchange is great, because you can just have really good conversations about what you are becoming on your mission, what challenges you are facing, and what you hope to become. Granted, neither of the exchanges last week had those kind of conversations, but I still learned a lot I'm ready to go and apply. Only three weeks left in this transfer, and Elder Puzey and I are working really hard to get one more baptism. Huang Bo Chao, Bob Xie, and Lu Zhong Heng are all potentials, but all three still have some pretty big obstacles to overcome. Huang Bo Chao still doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and has been in China for a few weeks, Bob Xie promised his parents he wouldn't get baptized until he is 21 (he is 15), and Lu Zhong Heng has only had the first lesson.

    Continuing with my weekly study of a different Christlike attribute, this last week I thought a lot about Virtue. It continues to amaze me at how much you can still learn about even the most basic principles of the Gospel. Take faith for example, or the atonement of Jesus Christ. No matter how many hours you spend studying it, you can always draw out incredible insights and applications. So it is with Virtue. I used to think that Virtue was a pretty basic principle--don't let inappropriate thoughts in your mind. Now I realize that the definition of 'inappropriate' can be expanded to mean any number of things: thoughts of discouragement, thoughts of unkindness and anger, thoughts of impatience and pride. Obviously we don't know, but I would imagine if we could examine Christ's thoughts we would see exactly what we did through his actions: love, patience, kindness, humility... virtue.

     After much thought and reflection, I came up with this definition of virtue instead: a pattern of purity in our innermost thoughts and desires. I can't fully take credit for that definition (since most of it came out of Preach My Gospel), but I thought that was interesting. You can use this analogy: our mind is a garden. In it, we plant beautiful flowers (righteous and positive thoughts) and grow trees (desires of our hearts). Flowers need to be watered, trees need to be pruned. Weeds need to be pulled, fruitless trees need to be felled. We should often reflect on the desires of our hearts, prune back unhealthy branches of distraction, and harvest the wonderful fruit of those righteous desires. We should be active in our garden: planting new thoughts that will lift us, pulling out negative thoughts and temptations that will burden us, and watering those positive patterns of thinking that have led to positive actions and feelings. How comfortable would the Holy Ghost feel in the garden of your mind? This last week as I have been diligently working in my garden and meticulously pruning my trees, I have been able to more appreciate the blessings of a virtuous mind. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Few quick things: could you find the piano sheet music for the song "the only moment we were alone" by explosions in the sky? It is the background music for the church video "the hope of God's light". If you can't find it that is totally alright. Also "your hand in mine" by the same artist. They are super awesome songs and I would love to take a crack at them some preparation day! Also, I'm trying to figure out what to do with shoes and my shoulder bag. Is there an incoming missionary that would like to buy them off me? The shoulder bag and then the sandal dress shoes are still in great condition, practically new. The only reason I offer is because I could just leave them somewhere in the office until he gets here or something. 

Check out this Buddhist worship stuff! They have these burnable shoes and shirts and even cigarettes to burn to their ancestors so their ancestors have tons of stuff in the Buddhist spirit world.

I love this elementary school's name. Long Pu. Like, pronounced 'long poo'. 
How unfortunate.

Went to a place called YeLiu last week. Super big tourist spot. Super cool! I loved it. There were tons of little hoodoos.

The famous queens head rock. She is about to get decapitated.

Went down a secret path to get to a beach where there weren't any tourists, 

just fishermen....

    There were a lot of really cool experiences I had and lots of incredible lessons I learned this last week. Hearing Elder Cook's testimony of Jesus Christ was one of my favorite parts of the week. It was so powerful. The next day during sacrament meeting, I also had this wonderful feeling. As I just sat and pondered on Christ and his sacrifice for all of us, I felt something that can only be described as the pins of a lock rotating in my heart. I could literally just feel my heart being changed. It wasn't a big or even obvious sort of feeling, but I could just feel myself becoming more like Christ--inch by inch. My mission has taught me so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember this one day, I flipped through my journal to find one of my favorite experiences. I remember praying to God and asking if he loved me, and then feeling a overwhelming warmth and joy as the knowledge entered my mind that I was a Son of God, and that He loved me. As I flipped back in my journal though, I realized something I had never realized. That prayer was in response to me going through the repentance process. Then, this last week, I heard that Joseph Smith's experience was very similar. When he had the First Vision, he had been seeking forgiveness. All this time, I thought he had just been curious. I thought he just wanted a question answered. I never knew that the First Vision was in response to Joseph Smith seeking to draw closer to our Father in Heaven through repentance. Now I understand that curiosity in and of itself is nowhere near powerful enough to merit an answer from God. Rather, we must have faith and a burning desire to draw closer to Him. In other words, a sincere heart with real intent. What a powerful lesson, and one that has blessed me in many ways.

Then... HUGE thunderheads rolled in right as we were about to turn around because of time. HUGE! It started raining buckets of freezing cold water--the exact opposite of what it had been just half an hour previous. Everything we had got soaked to the bone and then to the marrow. We had to stop in the pouring rain and eat guava as fast as we could so we could stuff all electronics in the Tupperware container to avoid the rain. Elder Puzey's planner didn't make it.....

Preparation day after skyping, such an epic day. The first part was extremely hot, and we saw all these cool animals and then there were trees all over the mountains that were blossoming. Then...

This little kid I took a picture with is hilarious. His name is Ray, and him and his brother are soooooo hyper. While we ate dinner they were in their room playing, and after they came out just covered in sweat. He speaks a little bit of Chinese in a super scratchy voice, and it is just the funniest thing ever. Hearing him say prayers is hilarious.

My ward mission leader from my first area got married in the temple!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that??? I had no idea, and then we went to Taipei for a mission conference and he was outside taking pictures!!! So awesome.

Say hello to the fattest cat I have ever seen in my life. I told the owners that the cat was bigger than their one and a half year old daughter, but they didn't believe me. I could you not, that cat is two or three times as big as their baby.

The things other weird missionaries do..... Fa Lun Da Fa

Also, cool lighting effect with this Captain America lego thingy.