Skype Call

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great week with your families! Skyping this week was just the greatest and I'm sure lots of you got to experience that yourself! It's crazy to see how much can change in just a few short months.

So this is my last week of training! Yay! Our last week actually gets cut short because the move call got all messed up with Christmas and with the new missionaries coming in but are you ready to hear the news? Well, Elder Fleming is moving away from me! So sad! But I am really excited for my new companion! Everyone in our district is super jealous and they say that I will love him so I am really pumped for that!

Some of you might be wondering what we did for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Well, it wasn't much different than any other day! Except we did have a few miracles involving food so that was awesome! On Christmas Eve we went out to the outskirts of our area to visit an LA with a member and after the visit we needed to get dinner. The place we originally wanted to eat at was like 20 minutes away so we decided to find somewhere by us. We found this place that looked nice so we went there. The give us the menu and it was pretty expensive! Like 5 bucks!!! But they said that since it was Christmas, they didn't have the cheap steaks that we wanted. So the next cheapest was like $8! Crazy haha! So we get that and we weren't really happy. But they had free fountain drinks so that made things a little better. Turns out, we paid for a 7 course meal! Oh man it was the greatest thing ever!!! Haha then on Christmas we went to a curry place and they brought out our food and while we were praying, they brought out a ton of extra food for free! Remember this, prayers bring blessings :)

But yeah, we just planned on Friday (Christmas) and just worked the rest of the day. It was pretty great. 

OH yeah, so last Monday we went bowling with the Zone Leaders out it Da ya. We decided to make a deal that the losing companionship had to buy ice cream. So we did a warm up game to get loose. Then in the first game we tied! It was crazy! So we decided we can't tie, so we bought another game and guess what? We won!! I got 4 strikes in a row and ended with 164 points! Elder Fleming ended around 35 haha (he bowls like Elder Slack ;) ) and that's all we needed so that was awesome! Elder Sng wasn't too happy that they lost and had to buy ice cream:)

 Well I wish I could tell you all about some lessons that we had with investigators, but we didn't have any this week... :( We did meet with one that we thought was a golden investigator! Do you remember Duncan? The one that when we met with him the first time he was asking about Jacob 5? Yeah so turns out he was baptized 10 years ago... so instead of a golden investigator, we have a golden LA! Except he has no time so hopefully we can find time to meet with him and he can find time to come to church. 

Sorry I don't have much to say about this week. It's was just contacting and stuff like that.

I love you all and I hope Christmas was awesome! 

Love

Elder Anderson

Christmas is here!

What a week. Let me start off with a big old MERRY CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas. Especially being on a mission. Everything is better. Presents? 不用, just gotta get out and work! It's gonna be so much fun to work on Christmas!! 

I feel like this week has been the turning point of my mission. I no longer think contacting is 辛苦, I think it is so much fun. I love going out to contact. Even though most people turn us down, it's fun to talk to them. I love asking people if they like the Utah Jazz or Clash of Clans. I still haven't found anyone that does though... Through this Christmas season, I have grown a greater love for our Savior. A love that I have never felt before. I just want to share that love even more now. Also, yesterday was our ward party. I was singing in the choir and while we were sitting up on the stand, I looked out at all the families and I started to think of my own. But then a voice as clear as day said, "This is your family now." I love these people so much. They really are my family. 

I know those are just small experiences to you all, but to me they have changed me. Things are different now. and I like it. I love getting up every morning and being able to go out and serve the Lord all day. As I am starting to come to an end of training, I feel like I don't have enough time to find people here. Even though I will most likely stay for another transfer, I need more time. 24 months isn't long enough. I am so grateful for the time that I have to serve the Lord every day for these 24 months. There is no where that I would rather be than here in Taiwan. I know that the Lord has a will for me here

Anyways, I'd imagine you would all like to hear a funny story? Yes? ok, stop begging. So this weekend I went on an exchange with our Zone Leader (and he is actually Bryant's grandson so that was cool) and we had a blast. As we were waiting for the other two Elders to come to McDonald's to do the evaluation, we see them come up the stairs with this white guy. That's when we knew something was weird because there was a white guy. He has these two little metal cane things around his neck and it was really interesting. So we were all talking to him and he told us how the Lord told him to make these things and to go and give them to people to bring them to Christ. He does this thing with the two canes where he swings them around saying how it's a J for Jesus, then makes them into a heart, and then into an infinity sign and then a heart again. Really weird but he was an awesome guy. He said you can use these things for anything. To rub your body out, play hockey, poke stuff, I don't know just about anything you can think of. So yes he gave us some and they are really weird but hilarious. He was such a great guy though. Even though we aren't of the same faith he kept saying how awesome we are because we are wanting to bring people unto Christ. He loved us for that. Haha and then he said he would love to come speak to our ward and we were like "haha yeah......." good thing he doesn't speak chinese ;)

OH yeah our ward party! It was awesome. There were so many non members there and it was so great to talk to all of them. They all had a blast so that was awesome! Everyone loved it and there was so many spiritual shares and stuff. They announced to everyone that if they have interest in our church then they should come talk to us haha. so awesome! Hopefully people set up because we need new investigators really bad!

Speaking of investigators, one of ours got dropped this week because he started his military service. It was really hard to see him go because we wasn't just our investigator, he was our friend. We would go play basketball with him in the mornings and then go eat breakfast and then teach him.I really hope he calls us when he can come home. He is such a bro.

Well I don't have much time, but I really hope you all have a great Christmas. Remember to go out and be charitable in all that you do. You will find more happiness in that than in any gift that you give anyone. Be happy and have fun! 

I love you all so much! 聖誕節快樂！！！！！！！！！！

Love

Elder Anderson

The "J" canes turn into a heart

The "J" canes

Gina made these for Miles and his companion

The Christmas tree we sent (minus the "star")

Ward party

Their USA jerseys for preparation day fun

The week before Christmas ...

Yep this week was our mission Christmas Activity! Yay!! We went up to a place called Sun Moon Lake. It is soooooo pretty and it kind of has a Park City kind of feel to it. We went and took a picture at this Buddhist temple thing on top of a mountain and let me tell you, that might have been the scariest hike I have ever done. The way up wasn't too bad, but the way down I seemed to notice a lot more things. If you were to look up while walking, you would see the webs upon webs full of banana spiders. I literally saw 50 in like 5 minutes. They are really poisonous spiders and if you get bit by one, then you have to leave Taiwan and you can't come back because the antidote only works once.. Good thing I didn't get bit!! Oh and if one lands on you, you can't brush it off because you might crush it and then the poison will be on your skin so you have to blow them off. These fellas are not little spiders either. Most are about the size of my hand and some are bigger. Straight up demons. But other than the spiders it was really awesome. We got to go into a small town on of of the sides of the lake and buy stuff and that was really fun. Then we all went to a buffet for lunch/dinner. Here in Taiwan, if you want to go to a nice restaurant you go to a buffet. These aren't your typical Hometown Buffet or Chuck a Rama garbage, these are really really nice buffets. It was soooo good and we all felt really fat afterwards haha. Then after that we all went down to Yuan Lin for our Christmas devotional. That was also very scary because I was selected to play the piano... we sang about 7 hymns and I had to play in front of the whole mission. I didn't even know how to play one of them so on Tuesday after DTM I was able to practice for an hour... it was rough. But it was a really nice devotional and it was great to learn from President. He talked a lot about Christ, obviously, but it was so simple that it just made my appreciation and love for our Savior increase exponentially. It was awesome.

We had an interesting experience on Saturday for dinner. One of the Sister's investigators invited us all over for dinner because it was her daughter's birthday. She is from 'Nam and so her and her family fed us a bunch of Vietnamese food which was good but interesting because we had no idea what we were eating... but one of her relatives was just so creepy and tried to flirt with Elder Fleming and it was just awkward for everyone. Good thing we had a lesson so we couldn't stay long! 

So recently, finding has still been really rough and we haven't found a new investigator in a long time. So on Saturday, me and Elder Fleming came up with a plan for this week to find some. We said a prayer that through our plan, God will help us. The next day at church, they were talking about the ward Christmas party and they said that there will be 76 potential investigators are the activity! and since our ward is so awesome, they made a thing on Facebook for it and for people to RSVP they had to give them their name, number, and address :) So sneaky I love it! But I really feel like that was an answer to our plan and our faith in God. We don't know if anyone will even want to meet with us but it was just comforting to me to know that God is looking out for us.

Yesterday we were able to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional! It was really awesome and I loved seeing all the lights and stuff. The two things that I loved the most from it was when the first speaker said to figure out what our inner Scrooge is and get rid of it. Be more charitable and serve others. And then I think it was President Uchtdorf that said that we should let all of the wonderful lights about Christmas remind us of our Light and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Christmas time is such a special time and I love it. Make sure that you all get rid of that inner Scrooge, be charitable, and always remember Christ. I hope this week will be a very happy one leading up to Christmas. I hope all you procrastinators can find last second gifts! 

I love you all so much! It has been said time and time again, but remember the true meaning of Christmas!!

Love, 

Elder Anderson

Temple Trip

Yep! Elder Stevenson came and visited our mission this week! It was so cool! The whole mission got together and he spoke to us and it was just awesome! The spirit was so strong the whole entire meeting and he really spoke some comforting words to my heart. I could go on for a while about what he talked about, but that will take too long. So I'll just tell you my favorite part. At the end of his talk he gave us all an apostolic blessing. He blessed us with peace, comfort, confidence, power to endure, and to allow us to love fully the people we are serving. It was so amazing. That was only 4 days ago and I already am seeing the results of the blessing. I feel more confidenct when I go to contact someone on the streets and just yesterday in our ward activity I just felt an overwhelming sense of love for the people here in 潭子. It will be hard to leave this ward but luckily I still have a lot of time left. The people in Taiwan are just the best! I love them so much!!!

So also this week we had a really awesome lesson with a new investigator. We shared the first lesson and we had him read the page in the pamphlet about Joseph Smith. Then him and the member we brought with us started talking and he was saying how before, he didn't really understand much of what we were saying but after and while he was reading that page he said he felt something special. Oh man the spirit was so strong and I know for a fact that he felt it!!! We recited the first vision and then invited him to be baptized and he accepted!! But the bad part is, we didn't set up a date because he thinks it will take him a while mainly because the member said they met with the missionaries for 2 years so he thinks he needs to wait that long. So hopefully when we meet with him this week he will change his mind and set up for around Christmas!

OH AND THANKSGIVING WAS THIS WEEK! Woo! I just remembered!! So while all of you were pigging out on good food, we went out to eat with a member to a little Italian place. Of course I couldn't read the menu because it was all in characters but in the pizza section there was some Italian and it said traditionale or something like that so I figured that was safe to get. Nope, wrong choice. Instead of cheese and pepperoni, I got a little bit of lettuce and a bunch of little dried fish things on my pizza. Yeah it was disgusting. So be grateful that you all got turkey and pumpkin pie. :)

I don't have much time to write because since we are going to the temple this week we only get an hour to email today and then an hour on Wednesday (so if I don't email you back today I'll get you on Wednesday) but here is a really great story for the week. So we were meeting with and RC that has been rather less active and then this random guy wanted to come and talk with us so we were like alright cool! We started talking about baptism and this guy said he was baptized before but it was only a sprinkling baptism. Our RC was super confused! He was like "I was baptized by immersion like what?" and they kept talking for a while and then our RC said, "But I think your baptism counts too. Like you should be ok!" We were like noooooooooooo!!! Come on! Don't you remember the stuff about the priesthood and being baptized with the proper authority??? We didn't say that, but we were definitely laughing on the inside.

Well sorry this doesn't really have much detail in it. The best two parts of the week were definitely our lesson with our investigator and Elder Stevenson visiting us!

Hope you all are happy and holding to the rod! 加油！

Love，

Elder Anderson 孫長老

Get the Tofu Turkey in the Oven

Well I am half way done with training! Time really flew by on this last transfer and I can't believe that November is almost over! Where does all the time go!!

So this week we went out and did some tracting and there was this lady walking down the road and she was holding her baby while walking. So obviously I thought "Hey you could share about families!" And I feel like I had a prompting to go talk to her. But we kept going and eventually stopped. I told my companion we should go back and talk to her. So we did, but turns out she had no interest. Dang... That really hit me hard. I felt for sure that I had a prompting from the Holy Ghost to go and share a message with her but she had no interest. Why? Me and my companion had a real long talk about it. Sometimes God gives us promptings just to see if we will follow him. He wants to know whether we will obey him. And lots of times the prompting don't work out. I feel like God just wants to know how faithful we really are, ya know? And then the same thing happened later on in the week as my companion felt really strong that we should go out and tract again. We didn't really have any success, but I guess from both of these experiences I learned that we just gotta plant that seed! Follow the promptings from the spirit even if they don't turn out the way we want them too.

As of this week, we practically have no progressing investigators. We have the one with the baptismal goal, but he did not answer his phone at all this week so we have not been able to meet with him and he didn't come to church. We have another one that we have invited to be baptized but he says his family will fan dui (reject?). That has been really hard. But on Saturday we did get him to come to a baptismal service and then we talked about agency and how it our choice whether we want to be baptized or not. So hopefully that will help, but he still hasn't come to church yet. And then we have our other investigator that has come to church 3 times!! woo!! But we have only met with him once... We were about to meet with him after church yesterday, but one of the members said to not meet with him so he can think about church... that was a little strange. then he told the guy he can go home (because the investigator thought he was gonna meet with us). 

However! this week we met a potential that is super golden! the only problem is he doesn't have very much time to meet. We met with him the first time this week and as we walked upstairs in MacDo, he was reading the Book of Mormon! We couldn't even introduce ourselves before he started asking questions about Jacob 5! Haha. He is such a sweet guy. He really wants to be baptized and he just loves our church. He said he sees the missionaries out riding their bikes so he decided that he wants to ride his bike more because the missionaries do! So if you all have time, please pray that he will have time to meet with us. It has been really hard to set up with him.

This week, we got to go down to Jia yi for a trainer follow up meeting. It was super fun to see my MTC companion! We have become really good friends so that is super exciting. President and Sister Blickenstaff actually drove us down there so that was sweet! We got to drive through Nan tou. Oh man, it was so pretty!!! Taiwan is such a pretty place. I love it here so much!!

Well this week is Thanksgiving and I'm sure you will hear it from everyone, but I'd invite you all to really focus on the things that God has given you and thank Him for it. We would have nothing if it wasn't for Him. But don't just thank Him because it's Thanksgiving. Do it because you truly are grateful and do it all throughout the year. Since coming out on my mission I have seen so many blessings in my life that I have never even noticed. Look for the small things. It has brought me so much happiness and it will do the same for you!

I love you all so much!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Love Elder Anderson

Hot Dog and Mustard Pizza

Yeah so we were meeting with this potential investigator for the first time and we were talking about prayer. We asked him if there was anything that he would ask God and stuff like that and he said he would ask him for his girlfriend back! So we told him how God wants to help us and he wants us to be happy and that he hears our prayers and answers them. We invited him to say the closing prayer and literally right after we all said amen, his girlfriend called him!! Whoa crazy right?! They got back together! BUT later we tried to set up a time to meet again but he said he has no time and he doesn't want to meet anymore... super lame. But it gets better. So he was a referral from a member and one day the member called us to come over and talk with him. He said that our potential investigators girlfriend broke up with him and now he wanted to commit suicide. We didn't really know what to think haha. He was overreacting of course.. She broke up with him like literally a week after they got back together. So here's a friendly reminder and invite for everyone! When God gives you a miracle or a blessing, be grateful! And then proceed to be a better person, read your scriptures, pray, go to church, *cough cough* meet with the missionaries again. Oh man, that guy is missing out on so much happiness!

Haha anyways, this week was pretty good for me and Elder Fleming! So we have one investigator with a date right now and it was originally scheduled for the 5 of December, but he told us he wanted to change it to the 19th. We asked why and he said it's because he wants to come to church at least 4 times before he gets baptized because he really wants to have a super strong testimony! We were a little bummed that he wanted to change it but once he told us his reason we were so happy! He is so awesome!! Granted he is also very confusing haha. This week he showed us these formulas and like drawings to like prove our church is true? Or that God exists? We aren't really entirely sure because we didn't understand him at all, but nonetheless he is awesome and I'm super excited to get him baptized!

Here's another funny story. So we have another potential investigator and met with us last week and he came to church twice before he ever met with us! He could be a really awesome investigator. The Plan of Salvation could help him so much and give him so much comfort and peace so hopefully he will still want to meet with us. But we were going to meet with him on Saturday at McDonalds (that's where we have half of our lessons, so convenient!). We were waiting for him and he hadn't shown up, so we called him! He said, "Oh sorry I can't make it! I'm out drinking with my friends and it's probably not a good idea for me to drive there!" Haha what a smart guy! At least we know we definitely need to teach him the Word of Wisdom! But then yesterday we called him to see if he could come to church, but he was totally hungover!!! He could barely talk on the phone haha. Oh well, we'll get him!

And then yesterday we met with a member with an interesting story. So this guy hasn't come to church in forever because he is a security guard at an apartment place, but the bishop considers him active! I guess he has permission to bless his own Sacrament and he does it every week! He also reads, prays, and when he has time he goes to the temple! Haha he is such a stud. It's super cool that even though he can't come to church, he is still trying really hard to draw closer to God. I could really tell that he is bummed that he can't come to church. He told us how sad it is and how he really wants to come. So maybe if you all have time, pray that he will get some time off on Sunday's so that he can come to church!

The mission life is still awesome. I love Taiwan so much! I wish that you all could come here because the people here are so nice and friendly and the food is awesome and it is just a great place to be. This week we have lots of first visits set up with potential investigators so pray that they will be willing to meet again and that they will want to learn about our church! 

I hope you all are doing well!! I love you all a ton!

Love Elder Anderson

Working hard!

Yes, this week we had a really hard time getting members to come to our lessons (we call them peikes). We usually get around 8,9, or 10 in a week but this week we only got 5.... It was rough. It's so nice having a peike because not only do they help us understand what the investigator is saying but it is so nice to have another testimony and witness that what we are teaching is true. A good peike makes all the difference in the lesson. This week one of our peikes was our bishop! He was awesome! He bore such a powerful testimony about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong. I loved it! Plus it was our first time meeting with this investigator and we figured out that the Plan of Salvation could really really help him out and have comfort. It was a super awesome lesson. And then he came to church yesterday!! wahoo!! It's actually his second time coming so that is amazing! I love it!

Also this week, we gave one of our investigators a baptismal goal and he accepted! It was my job to ask him if he will be baptized so that was super scary. It's a good thing we have companionship and language study to practice! I really hope he gets baptized. He is really awesome and seems to like what we have to say. But the only problem is he hasn't had time to come to church yet... He has had a ton of tests so he has been studying and such. If he wants to meet his goal for December 5th he has to come to church the next three weeks in a row, so please pray he will have time! 

We tried to give out another goal to another investigator but he wouldn't accept it. He believes that our church is true and all that but his family is Buddhist and he is scared they will oppose him being baptized. Especially his grandma and grandpa. He is old enough to get baptized without their consent, but I see where he is coming from. It would be hard to have your family oppose you. Hopefully they will have a change of heart and he will be baptized. 

OH yeah! We had mission tour this week! That was super awesome! Elder Wang from the Asia Area Presidency came and spoke to us. He is super funny and super spiritual! Mission Tour gave me so much hope and confidence. I had been struggling with that for a while but it helped me out so much! It's crazy what a little bit of confidence can do. Even though I still can't understand a word the people are saying, I know that just by trying to talk to them the Lord will help me. Even if I just give them an english class flyer, He will help me.

Well I can't think of anything else special that happened this week... sorry. But I hope you are all doing well! Love you all a ton!

Love Elder Anderson

Justin Beiber

Oh man what a week. So last Monday one of this area's eternigators (he's been investigating for 20 years.....) knows that I love baseball soooo much so he took us out to the baseball stadium in Tanzi and we got to look at it and such! I'll send some pictures of it because it is sooo sweet! But that is just another reason why I love the people here so much. It was so nice of him to do that and me and him talk about baseball all the time and I love it. 

That was one of the good things that happened this week haha. It was rough for me and Elder Fleming. So on Monday we were going to head out to Da ya to play basketball with the Zone Leaders. We were too tired to ride our bikes so we decided to take the bus (it's like a 30 minute bike ride). Do you all remember that one Spongebob episode where he is trying to catch the bus but they all leave him? That is kind of what it was like. We park our bikes and get to the stop and the 123 bus just drove right on past us even though we tried to flag it down. So we waited and waited and waited then we turn around to look at the schedule and saw that a bus should be coming soon! We turn around and it just drove past us.... it was the worst. Sooo we didn't go play basketball after all. 

Oh man and we had tons of lessons and peikes fell through so that was rough and like two investigators dropped us :( One of them met with us and we asked him what was the one thing he wants God to give him. He said he wants his girlfriend back. We told him because God loves us he wants to help us and such. So we invited him to say the closing prayer and he prayed they would get back together and no joke right after we said amen she called him. They got back together! Aaaaaannd then he dropped us. Haha whoops. 

Anyways, I bet you are all wondering what the subject of my email means. So on Wednesday we were eating dinner and waiting for english class to start and one of the sister's RCs always comes early so she was sitting by us and a few members. Pretty quiet girl, she doesn't say much because she's like 14 and a little shy and such but out of no where she said "You look like Justin Beiber." then of course I was like heck no I don't. Then she was like, "Yeah! You look like a fat Justin Beiber!" Oh man, for the next 20 minutes she kept pulling up pictures of him and comparing him to me and the whole time the members and my companions are just laughing their heads off... it was the meanest compliment I have ever received haha. But there's that. Enjoy

But yeah, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! We celebrated Halloween with an exchange and a baptism!!! I got to go on an exchange with Elder Pennington out in Da Ya. He is super cool and we are pretty much the same person because we both love all of the same things. It was super fun. Plus he is really good at contacting so I was able to learn so much. We actually talked to this guy that lived in Denver for a few years and had like perfect english. We invited him to stake conference this weekend and he actually came! He only came for an hour because he got bored (but let's be honest, I'd probably say most of you would want to leave after an hour :)) then he said he would come back next week! so that was super cool! So on Halloween morning we helped out with a little party thing at the church. It was exhausting. Me and Elder Pennington were in charge of entertaining the little kids for like 4 hours or more! There was like 45 of them!! It was crazy!! They were super cute but crazy! We got to the church at 9:30 and didn't leave until 2:30. 5 hours of straight mayhem. We were so tired after that.

Then that night we had a baptism! He di xiong was able to come back from the military and be baptized! I actually had the opportunity to help him be baptized so that was really cool! And I didn't even mess up in the prayer once! Woo! Baptisms!!!! Loved it. 

Sorry I emailed so late today. One of our investigators took us into Taichung and we went around and looked at stuff. We were going to go to the batting cages but we didn't have time :( maybe some other week.

Anyways, I hope you are all doing well and I love you all so much! This church is true and never forget it!

Love Elder Anderson

Asian Time flies

What a week! Time flies here. So this week I tried two new foods that people really like here in Taiwan. The first was super good! It was a hamburger with peanut butter on it! Oh man it was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten! And then the other thing I ate was stinky tofu. That was not good. So imagine the worst smelling thing you can think of and then put it into a food. So gross. I don't get how they like it...

Anyways, onto holy things. So this week we had a super awesome miracle!! We have an investigator that we had taught the first lesson to but for some reason we forgot to get his number when we taught him.. so we had no way of contacting him. The only way we could contact him was if he came to English class on Wednesday. So me and my companion prayed a ton that he would show up to English. Let me tell ya, prayers really work! He came and we were able to talk with him, get his number, and set up a time to teach with him! It was super awesome. He has tons of potential too so hopefully he gets baptized.

So this week we were supposed to have two baptisms... but we might have none. One of them is like super dedicated to being baptized but we don't know if he will be able to come home from the military to be baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday. So pray that he can come home! The other... well we have no idea. We knew he was gonna be super busy this week but we cannot get in touch with him. We taught him two weeks ago and things were going super well. When we had to leave, the member we brought with us stayed and talked with him some more. Since then, we haven't talked to him. We think he blocked our number... We don't think we said anything that offended him or anything like that and we are really nervous that the member said something bad.. hopefully after this week we can get in touch...

Yesterday at church we had the primary program!! Oh man it was the cutest thing ever. A bunch of little Asian kids 'singing' (more like yelling). It was just the best. Our ward is so dang awesome and they are super big into helping us out with missionary work. They are always willing to come to lessons with us. I love it! And they give us tons of food so that is always a plus!

So last thing, we were in Mcdonalds waiting for our investigator and I am walking to the bathroom and I see this white guy sitting at a table. My first thought was, "Holy cow! A white guy!" He looked up and smiled and waved haha. It was super awkward but just hilarious because we are both white people. 

Anyways, I love you all a ton. And I love my mission and Taiwan. Everything about it is just the best! Hope you all are doing well!!

Love Elder Anderson

Stinky Tofu

Here is a link of Miles trying Stinky Tofu for the first time. The member asks if it was delicious and Marissa translated Miles' response to be "I cannot say that it is delicious" :)

Marissa said the member talking is a super, great member and very kind to the missionaries

I am just impressed he is using chopsticks !

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO WATCH THE VIDEO
Miles trying Stinky Tofu for the first time

First Baptism

Here is Miles' first convert baptism. Neither he or is companion had their suit coats so they had to try and find some at the church. You can see how well that worked out ;) No, that was NOT the suit jacket we bought him :)

Week 2 in Taiwan

Good morning everyone!! Waa I just love Taiwan. It's so awesome! This week was super good! One of our investigators just had his baptismal interview yesterday and he is going to get baptized on Halloween!! I'm so excited! We had another investigator with the same goal, but we have to change his because he is super busy with work and he will be out of town in Taipei. So that was a bummer. This week was super super awesome. On Tuesday, one of the assistants called us and told us to check our referral system so we did.... we now have 38 referrals!!!!! Suuuper cool! There was a clog in the system but he fixed it so now we have tons of referrals we need to call!! Plus another companionship referred us to this guy that wants to be baptized! We haven't met with him yet but we will soon.

This week's miracle came from one of our lessons with a less active member. We really wanted to get a peike (active member to come with us) but everyone that we called either didn't answer or they didn't have time. But like 20 minutes before we left for the lessons, one of the members called us back and came with us! It was such a blessing. He helped us out a ton and the LA came to church yesterday!! Oh man, speaking of church I had to bear my testimony in front of the whole ward yesterday. Yeah, that was a little scary! And then in Priesthood the teacher asked me a question to start the class and I had no idea what he was saying and it was the worst. That is basically how things are going for me lately. I have no idea what anyone is saying! 

When we do our english class proselyting, I tell them we have a free english class and then they will say something that I don't understand and then I tell them that we have a free english class and make them feel uncomfortable so they take the flyer. That's about all I can do. This week during english me and my companion got to teach the xiao peng you's (the little kids). Oh man, they were so crazy. Literally bouncing off the walls. If that is what nursery is like, I never want to teach that. 

I love the members here in Tanzi. They are just the best and they are always willing to help us out. And they cook super good food so that's a plus. Like every single person here knows Marissa and they think we look alike. They also think I look Asian and always ask if any of my parents are Asian. No, I'm not....But yeah they are super cool. One of our investigators came to church and we were sitting in the chapel and a member had greeted him and brought him to us. Super cool!

Anyways, Taiwan is the best place. I'm so glad I get to serve the Lord here.

I love you all a ton!

Love Elder Anderson

Taiwan week 1 is in the books!

Waaa Taiwan is so awesome! It is so much different from America. It's crazy. It definitely takes some getting used to. But I love it!

So on Tuesday we left around 5am to the airport. We flew to Seattle, then to Tokyo, and then to Taipei. It was probably the worst flight I have been on. We had like zero leg room so it was impossible to get comfortable and we had some really hard landings... oh and the food was gross, but that's a given. Anyways, we then took a bus to the mission home in Taichung. We did tons of orientation things on the bus, Thursday and Friday. Thursday night we did our Dan Jones! That means we went in the middle of a really busy night market with President and Sister Blickenstaff, the assistants, all the missionaries in the Taichung area, and us new missionaries. While at the night market we stood on a little box and just yelled out our testimonies while holding a Book of Mormon! Then we each went with a more experienced missionary and tried to place the Books of Mormon (or Book of Mormons... The Best Two Years really confused me). I placed one and the guy said we could meet with him the next day! Super cool! I didn't get to meet with him, but hopefully the elders in that area were able to do that.

Then on Friday we met our trainers and went to our first area! My trainer's name is Elder Fleming. He is from Lehi and he is awesome! He is super cool and he works really hard. We are serving in Tanzi. So I think that is the most northern area in our mission. I'm not sure though. But I love it here. That night we did some contacting. We didn't really have any success but we did meet a family that really wants to learn english so we gave them the information about our english class and hopefully they come!! 

Then Saturday and Sunday we watched conference! Our church is like a 30 minutes bike ride away from our apartment so that's a little rough but not too bad. Conference was awesome. I loved watching it again. I got to meet lots of the ward members and they are all so nice. They are awesome!

On Saturday night we actually had a baptism!!!! I never met the person until that night but it was still super cool that I was able to be at a baptism in my first few days. It made me super happy to see him get baptized. 

In these past few days I have really grown a love for the Taiwanese people. They are so kind and willing to talk. On Saturday before the baptism, me and Elder Fleming went to get some dinner and as we left this family was super impressed that we knew chinese. They said their little daughter always gets excited when she sees wai guo ren (foreigners). It really hit me that people really do watch us. We get tons of looks from people as we are riding our bikes. That is why it is super important for us to always be looking and acting like missionaries. People notice what we do. But that isn't only for missionaries. It is for members of this church. We need to make sure we are always acting like children of God and acting like members of His restored church. People watch what us Mormons do. Always make sure that they see you doing good works. Make all your actions in accordance with God's will.

I love you all so much. Thanks for all the love you have given me!!

Love Elder Anderson

PS I'll try to send some pictures next week. I don't have the stuff I need to do so.

Pics from Taiwan

The District with President and Sister Blickenstaff

President Blickenstaff posted "This elder's older sister and brother-in-law are Taichung Taiwan returned missionaries too!" I thanked him and also mentioned that his older Sister Kelsi, along with Marissa and Bryant, also served in the same mission

Taiwan here I come!

Ahhh yeah we are leaving for Taiwan tomorrow morning!!! I cannot wait! We were a little nervous because earlier this week we got an email saying we had been reassigned to the California San Fernando mission because we did not get our visas. But we checked on it today and they said we have our visas and we are leaving tomorrow!! Yay!!! We fly from Salt Lake to Seattle, Seattle to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Taipei. Soooo excited!!

Wow this week was just awesome. We knew it was going to be a good one because of Monday night. Every Monday we Skype with members in Taiwan and teach them a lesson. So we called our person and our camera wasn't working. We said, "Hello?" And then in the most Asian, english accent you can possibly imagine we heard (and our volume was so high), "Oh no!!! I cannot see you through the Skype (they pronounce 'Skype' 'Skypey')!!! The camera!! It no work!!!!" Oh my it was possibly the funniest thing I have hear in my whole life!!! So great!!

Conference this weekend was just awesome. Besides the fact we had to sit in very uncomfortable chairs the whole time, it was great! I really loved they talk about What Lack I Yet? It really hit me hard because I decided I needed to ask the Lord that. Especially with being a missionary and heading out to the field. It will help me so much. So I would invite you all to ask the same question in your prayers tonight. If you ask with sincerely, you will receive an answer and it will be exactly what you need!

Then to cap the whole week off, we had Vocal Point come and sing to us for our Sunday night devotional. Wow they are just amazing. I loved it so much!! They are so good and when they sing Nearer My God to Thee, wow. I felt the spirit so much when they all bore their testimonies. They kept saying that we as missionaries have power. I just felt the spirit hit me so hard. Then on Tuesday, Elder Costa (the one that spoke this weekend) told us that we are his heroes and I just felt the spirit again there. Missionary work is just the greatest. I love it.

I cannot wait to get to Taiwan and try to talk with them and share this glorious gospel. 

I love you all so much and thank you for all of your help throughout my life.

Love Elder Anderson

The District with their teachers

Bryant, Miles ,and Marissa

Last week (sorry we are behind in the posts)

Wow it feels like forever ago since I came to the MTC, but at the same time these two months have really gone by fast! All the Taipei missionaries got their visas and left this morning so that gives us hope that we will get ours too! This week was pretty interesting, I guess. I guess our emotions are kind of all over the place. Everyone thinks our district is depressed? So that gets kind of annoying after a while. Like for reals, our teacher wants me to do District Inventory to figure things out. Things are good with my companion. It's amazing how just laughing really helps. We have had so many jokes in these past few days and I interviewed him since he is senior companion and that has helped out a ton. We have grown so much closer and I love it. 

We did skype last Monday with a member in Taiwan. It went... well? We were teaching a lesson but he just kept laughing (but he was trying not to) because our accents were cute. So it is kind of hard to teach a lesson when someone is just laughing the whole time. Oh well haha. He said once we get to Taichung he will help us learn chinese.

So my major spiritual experience came this week when we were talking about repentance and the Atonement. We watched this video which is just amazing. It's called Because of Him. Every time I watch it I feel the spirit so strong. I definitely recommend watching it. It's totally worth it. It really helped me know that Christ really did atone for our sins and that He loves each of us. 

Well I love you all so much! Be strong and be true!

Love Elder Anderson

And then there were two

Wow so there were a bunch of missionaries that were supposed to leave for Taipei tomorrow, but none of them got their visas.... Soooo please pray that I will get mine haha. No offense to the MTC, but I don't want to stay here another week. I want to be in Taiwan!!

Anyways, this week was much better. Things are going so well. My teacher gave me a really nice complement this week because we were reading out of the Book of Mormon so we could practice our tones and she split us into two groups. She went with 3 of the Elders to help them and correct their tones and then she put me in charge of the other 2. I know my Chinese is not good, but she said that I speak with tones really well. That made me feel really good.

We got a new branch president this week and I know I'm not supposed to use slang, but the only word to describe him is LEGIT. Go google Gregory J. Newell. He has his own Wikipedia page and he is the real deal. Just look him up. He has too many accomplishments to describe. I love him so much he is just awesome. Oh and he is in Dubai right now, if that tells you anything about how successful he has been.

Man, I just love Sunday's here. The spirit is just so strong all throughout the day. Yesterday at our devotional we did "MTC and the Spoken Word". We had the guy that does Music and the Spoken word come and speak to us and we sang songs and such. It was really spiritual. The topic was basically Fear Not. There are so many songs that say fear not. "Fear not though the enemy deride" "Fear not, I am with thee" "Fear not and be just, for the Kingdom is ours". I love it. I really learned that no matter how hard my mission is or how hard life is, we have no need to fear, because the Lord is on our side. Who could ask for a better teammate than him?

In closing, this week I really was focusing on patience and I came across a scripture in Alma 26:27, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

Missions are hard. Very hard. I miss home a lot and I miss my friends and family. But I know that even though it is hard, as long as I have patience the Lord will give me success.

I love you all. Make sure to have patience in all your endeavors. From person experience, patience is the best way to receive blessings. I had to wait almost 2 years to find blessings from my trials and it was totally worth it.

Be strong and be true and Fear Not!!

Love Elder Anderson

Miles and Elder NG

Miles and Elder Brewer

3 weeks and then Taiwan!

Hello family and friends. It felt like just yesterday I was sending emails. The time flies here. I became our district leader this week. So that has it's up's and down's. Basically they rely on my leadership to get their mail twice a day. haha. But I interview everyone in the district to make sure things are well and such. Hopefully I can be a good leader and set a good example for my district. I still really like the MTC. The spirit is still awesome. But I cannot wait to get out to Taiwan in 3 weeks! I need real food! We have been talking to some of our Asian friends from Taiwan and China and I just love them. I already love the people in Taiwan. Asians are the best!

Chinese is still really hard, but I am loving it. It's so fun to speak with Marissa, Bryant or that Elder I told you about last week who is going to Idaho. On Wednesday, I made a goal that I am going to memorize 50 words a day. It is so hard. Especially having tons of class time so I cannot memorize during that. But if I keep it up, I will have memorized over 1300 words by the time that I leave the MTC. And yes, I have been keeping to that goal.

Yesterday at our devotional we sang Hope of Israel. It's amazing how the spirit can touch me through song. We sang the words, "Onward, onward, youth of zion; thy reward the victors crown. Hope of Israel, rise in might with the sword of truth and right; sound the war cry, "Watch and pray" vanquish every foe today." The spirit hit me so strong when we sang those words. It was incredible. All I could think about is all the missionaries in the world out spreading the gospel. It's truly amazing and I am so glad that I get to be a part of it. I love you all. Thank you for helping me get here today. Stay strong and vanquish the foe every day!!

Love Elder Anderson

MTC Halfway over

Hello everyone! This week was a little rough but it was still good. We are over half way done with the MTC so that is exciting! Oh so here is something cool: There is an elder in the room next to us that has studied chinese for 10 years. He literally sounds just as good as Marissa and Bryant. It's crazy. But guess where he is serving! Twin Falls, Idaho speaking English. Wow. Clearly there is someone there that needs to hear from him. Just like how there is probably someone in Taiwan that needed to hear this gospel from Kelsi, Marissa, and myself.

I think my chinese is getting better and I am starting to understand a lot of the grammar. Being obedient is key. I love studying the handbook because I feel like it really helps me become a better missionary. Haha and if someone is doing something they aren't supposed to, I just whip out my handbook and read them a section. Like just the other day, some Cantonese elder was telling my companion that his chinese is not good. So naturally this made me mad and my companion mad. So we noticed that his socks were orange and had patterns on them, his tie had pictures, and his hair was too long and we decided to shard some parts of the handbook with him. He didn't say much after that. I don't know if that was the best way to handle it, but if you are going to bag on my companion, be ready.

Elder Oaks came and spoke to us on Tuesday! That was super cool! He taugh us about the spirit and the Plan of Salvation. He said, "With the spirit, you will do miracles. Without the spirit, you will do nothing." I really liked that because I have been studing the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's interesting because we all have the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are entitled to it. But entitlement means nothing if you aren't worthy of the Spirit. We all have to be worthy and create a climate in which the Holy Ghost can always prompt us and we can always hear him. So I invite you all to make sure that every thing you do will create an environment in which the Spirit can dwell with you.

We watched the Testaments yesterday and I loved it. I could just feel the love that Christ has for me and for everyone. It was amazing. I know He loves us all. No matter how much we sin, He still loves us. I love Him so much because He made it possible for us to wipe away our sins and live with God again. This gospel has brought so much happiness to my life. I love all of it.

I hope you all are staying strong and having wonderful weeks.

I love you all!

Love Elder Anderson

Fourth Week and All Is Well

Hey everyone!! This week was so great! I feel like my district is really growing tight together and they are just the greatest. This week we did a lot of role playing to practice for our lessons. This really helps us know what we need to improve in our lesson before we go out and teach our investigator. But for me, it really helps me strengthen my testimony because when I am the investigator and the ask me questions like, "Do you know God loves you?" It really makes me think, as Miles Anderson, does God love me? Sometimes I don't know the answer to that question. But then I take a step back and look at all the wonderful things God has given me to prove that He loves me. I especially see this in my amazing family that has always guided me and shown me love and through my friends who are the best ever and amazing examples to me. I love seeing them all grow in the church and seeing them help grow the church. Whether it be in Guam, Cape Verde, Rome, Chicago, Peru, Chesapeake, California, or South Dakota, they are all amazing men. 

Also over this week I have grown a love for the Book of Mormon. It's just amazing. Tad R. Callister said about the Book of Mormon, "It claims to be the word of God-every sentence, every verse, every page." I finished reading 3 Nephi this week. Wow. Everything about that book has helped me draw closer to Christ. If you haven't studied that book, I invite you to do so. It is so amazing. My favorite verse is 3 Nephi 17:4, "But now I go unto the Father, and also to show myself unto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father, for He knoweth whither He hath taken them." I love this becasue to me, it really solidifies the fact that God knows each of us and has a plan for us. Because "He knoweth whither he hath taken them."

The MTC is amazing. The spirit is so strong. I love it. I feel it especially when we sing. Yesterday we sang Carry On. "Holding aloft our colors, we march in the glorious dawn. O youth of the noble birthright, carry on, carry on, carry on!" When life gets hard, Satan will try to sway us away from God, But we need to raise our colors and carry on. Because nothing that Satan has to offer us is better than what God has planned for us. Just carry on. To my friends, especially those in high school, always remember you are the youth of a noble birthright. You know this gospel. Never sway from it. Never change for people because they might make fun of you for your standards. "Shall the youth of Zion falter... no!" High school is a wonderful time, it was the happiest time of my life. But lots of people change and they don't change towards Christ. I saw it a bunch over the years. Make sure you are not one of those that turn away from Christ. Always turn towards Him. Trust me, your life will be unbelievably more happy. I know all of you, and I know you will do what's right.

Now back to everyone, stay on the path of righteousness. Don't be lost in the mist of confusion. It's not fun, trust me. Everything about it is awful. If you are lost or ever get lost, reach out to God and He will guide you to the path and help you grasp the iron rod.

Well i love you all so much. This church is true. This is the gospel of truth and love. Everything about it. I love my mission, and even though I am ony a month into it, I love it. I hope all is well back home! In the wise words of Gandalf the Grey (When he has to leave the company of Thorin while they go into the Mirkwood forest), "Goodbye, goodbye, be good, and don't leave the path."

Love Elder Anderson

NOTE From Greg: I was able to go to the MTC today to pick up some materials for my BYU IS course I am teaching. I kept praying that I would not run into Miles. I did however run into Elder Nate Schwemmer and Elder Hanks. It was fun to say hi and to tell them to give Miles a hug for me.

Third Week

I am a 1/3 of the way done with the MTC! yea!! It will be a hard 6 weeks, but they will fly by if I keep working hard. It's a good thing we have exercise time because I don't think I could handle things without it. 

In case you were wondering, we mainly play basketball and 4-square. But we lift and run too. Then on preparation day we usually go play soccer. We team up with the other mandarin districts and play the Cambodian and Thai elders. And yes our team name is Mandarin United. And yes, we win. Anyways, back to holy things. I feel like me and Elder Bradford are finally getting the teaching down. 

We figured out how to apply the lessons to our investigators needs. And one of them said he would get baptized in September! Granted our investigators are our teachers, but it was still cool! 

On Wednesday we got to host the new missionaries. I didn't get to host Evan but I did get to host Brigham Brau!! That was super cool to see him. He's an awesome guy. 

So we made some new friends this week too. On of them is named Elder NG. Yes that is really his name. He is from Plymouth England and I think he is in Marissa's district. He's super cool. And we made friends with an elder from Russia. oh man, picture a typical Russian and that's him. He's so cool and he teaches us Russian. I'm pretty sure he has a picture of Drago from Rocky IV hanging in his room right next to his hammer and sickle. But that might just be a stereotype. lol

Yesterday we watched the Restoration movie. Man I love it. I Love Joseph Smith and this church so much!! 

To end things, here's a scripture. Alma 48:17 "Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

Can you imagine if the powers of hell were shaken? This week, I want you all to think how you can be like Moroni. That doesn't mean you have to save the land of Nephi from the Lamanites, but be so Christ-like that the devil has no power over you. 

I love this gospel so much and I'm so grateful I get to serve a mission. I love you all so much!!

Love Elder Anderson

Attached are pictures of Miles and his companion Elder Bradford (flashing the W for taiWan - just my guess :) and Miles and one of his great friends Evan Southwick

Second Week in the MTC

Hello everyone!! Wow is it already preparation day? This week flew by!! I now see why people say missions are the hardest thing you'll ever do. I come back exhausted every night. It's like going to school all day, everyday, but everything is in chinese. The language is definitely getting better. I was able to teach my companion a lesson on the restoration without having to look up any words and I didn't use any english! I was actually pretty surprised!! I feel like I am learning a lot so that's good. Haha so my district decided that none of my sisters are allowed to send me Dear Elder letters anymore because they are sick of me getting like 6 letters a day from them! Keep up the good work Katie, Kelsi, and Marissa!!! Those letters are the best. 

So on Tuesday, Elder C. Scott Grow came and gave a devotional. His talk really helped me realized that even though I'm working hard, I need to work harder and harder every day. It was super good. And apparently my companion knows him from Arkansas so we were able to shake his hand and talk to him. That was sweeeet! After the devotional, a member of our branch presidency came and talked to our district. The things he said were so inspiring. I now have total confidence that the Lord will help me learn chinese and become a great missionary. That will happen as long as I keep working hard and staying obedient.

On Friday, Elder Bradford had to go to a foot doctor because he had an ingrown toenail. So we got to leave the mtc and go into the real world! haha it was only for an hour but it felt good to be away. Only 7 more weeks until we go to Taiwan. Hahaha

We took a picture with all of the springville elders that we could round up so hopefully you all got it! I sent it with a few others. I love those Elders. Springville rocks. Oh on this Wednesday we get to be hosts for the new missionaries coming in!! hopefully I get to host Evan!! That would be sooooo awesome!! I love that kid!

This week we get two new investigators. Our old one 'moved to Taiwan'. Before that we had invited him to church so things were going well. Hopefully our success will carry over. 

Well I hope you all have a great week!! The church is true and don't forget it

 Wo(3) ai(4) nimen(3)!!!!

Sun(1) Zhang(3) Lao(3)

NOTE from GREG: I think the numbers mean the Chinese tones to use when saying those words. Miles went up to the Director of the MTC (Richard Heaton) and said "Hey! My dad is in your Stake!". I am a YSA Bishop and President Heaton is the Stake President. That made President Heaton laugh and said "I usually hear 'Hey! My son is in your Stake'". He spoke with Miles and told me that his Chinese is coming along well and that he seemed like a great missionary.