There's a change a coming

Well my first week here in 后豐 was super fun and super crazy haha. Elder Jones and I are having tons of fun and have been seeing lots of weird things too :)

We have a few pretty cool investigators here. One of them is named Ben! Ben is the man! He is 16 years old and he is just awesome! He has a baptismal date for the 18th of February and is looking pretty good! He came to church yesterday and brought one of his friends!! Every time we meet with him he brings a friend so that is super cool. He is progressing really well and he loves the gospel

Our other investigator is Brother Xiao. He is probably one of the funniest 台灣人 that I have ever met! He's hilarious! He is doing pretty good too! He has been taught most of the lessons but he hasn't come to church because of work. He wants to get baptized but he wants to figure out his work thing so that he can always come to church. So we are hoping that will all work out! So pray for him please :)

This week is Chinese New Year! 恭喜恭喜恭喜你 haha. Super fun! We have been eating a lot of food because the members feed us for every meal during the new year. It's super fun to eat and talk with the members and get to know them! I love this ward already! So we have been out contacting and trying to find new investigators so we spent a lot of time out on the streets. The rough part is all the people we have been meeting don't live in our area because they all came to our area to play. But that is ok because we are trying to help everyone come unto Christ!

We did get one cool lesson with a girl that we are pretty sure will get baptized! But we found out she doesn't live in our area :( That's ok though! We taught her the basics of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and prayer. The spirit was very strong and she was very willing to pray and meet again so that was awesome!

Yep. You all probably know by know. Maybe. I'm not sure. But the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have changed up the missionary schedule! Huge bomb. We had Zone Conference this week and we watched a broadcast for missionaries. It was super cool and we learned a lot! One thing I really liked was Elder Andersen said, "When you don't know what to talk about, talk about Christ." I thought that was super profound and awesome because sometimes we are out finding and weird random stuff happens all the time and sometimes we don't know what to say. But when that happens we need to testify of Christ! Well Here is the new schedule change for us :)

6:30 AM - Arise
6:30-10:00 AM -
Pray, Exercise (30 Mins), Shower, Eat Breakfast, Prepare for the day, Plan (30 Minutes), Personal Study (60 Minutes)

10:00 AM- 9:00 -
Proselyte, Companionship Study (30-60 Mins), Language Study (60 Mins), First Twelve Weeks (30 Mins), Lunch (30 Mins) Dinner (60 Mins)

9:00 PM - Return to Apartment
9:00-9:30 PM -
Write in your Journal, Prepare for Bed, Pray

9:30-10:30 PM - Retire to Bed

NEW PREPARATION DAY SCHEDULE
6:30 AM - Arise
6:30-8:00 AM
Pray, Shower, Eat Breakfast, Prepare for the day, Plan (30 Minutes), Personal Study (30 Minutes)

8:00 AM-6:00 PM
Preparation Day activities, including:
Laundry, Grocery shopping, Cleaning of Apartment, Communicating with family, Letter to Mission President/Key Indicators, Lunch and Dinner, Study, Recreation and Exercise, Prepare to proselyte

6:00-9:00 PM - Proselyte

9:00 PM - Return to Apartment (unless teaching a lesson)
9:00-9:30 PM -
Write in your Journal, Prepare for Bed, Pray

Super interesting and super cool! We have learned a lot about accountability because now it is all up to us! Good thing if we mess up that we can still repent haha.

Yes.

In closing, this week we have been working on being more bold and more ambitious for Christ and I have really felt the difference. Sometimes you talk to someone and they will reject you instantly but we still try to testify of Christ and give them a chance to feel the spirit. We have felt the spirit a lot more from being bold and always testifying of Christ!!

Also in English class this week we had all our students introduce themselves by saying their name, what they are doing for the new year, and they had to say "I believe that we will win". It was super super funny and they were kind of confused but it was classic! So at the end of class we asked them what do they believe and they all said 'I believe that we will win!' so good.

That is all for this week! 新年快樂！！

love
Elder Anderson

We did really bad at getting pictures this week but this is when we went to Brother Mao's house to eat for New Years! Yes he looks very familiar. Why? He has one of those cool 'I'm a Mormon Videos' and he is in Because of Him. 

He is super funny and loves making videos of us haha. 

Christmas and Transfers

Welp Sister Guo got baptized this week and it was just awesome! I am still just blown away at how prepared she was to receive this gospel. She has strengthened my testimony so much! I firmly believe that part of the reason why I returned to Nanzi was to learn from her. From teaching her, I have learned soooo much. I'm so grateful that I was able to meet her and see her get baptized! 

The night before her baptism we watched the Restoration with her. As we watched it I just felt the spirit soooo strong! As I was watching it I was thinking to myself a lot. One thing that I thought about was my pioneer ancestors that accepted the gospel and passed it on through generations. I have never ever thought about that before in my life and as I pondered it, I got a little emotional (don't tell anyone). I am just so so grateful that those people decided to join the church and endure so much so that their future generations could be blessed by this church. I can't wait to thank them on the other side of the veil. It was a very spiritual lesson for us. 

When was the last time you thought about those that joined the church so that you could be part of it?

We met with our Filipino friend Lloyd this week. I was really nervous because I do not have a very good knowledge of the Bible but I was very surprised that as we were teaching the spirit brought many scriptures to my remembrance. Sadly, Lloyd is just there to try to convince us to deny the church and the Book of Mormon. He was always trying to trip us up and was very crafty. Didn't work. We cannot and did not deny what we know to be true. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Be careful.

Well as my subject line states, it was Christmas yesterday! My Christmas package got lost in the mail but I got it now! Yay! I'm so grateful for my loving family :)

Also we had transfers and I am sad to report that I am again moving. Well I already moved. I am in the area of Fengyuan with Elder Matt Jones of... wait for iiiiittttt... Kaysville, Utah!! Super exciting! He is so cool and I am very excited for this transfer!

It is talking about the people that will inherit the Terrestial Kingdom

To end, I have been pondering on a lot of things this week. I came across an article in the Liahona that really struck me. It shared a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants.It is talking about the people that will inherit the Terrestial Kingdom d&c 76:79 These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.

Wow if that doesn't want you to become better than I don't know what will. If we are not valiant in our testimony of Christ, or in other words, if we are not ambitious for Christ then we will not inherit the Celestial Kingdom. Have you ever thought of that? I'm going to work so much harder on being valiant in my testimony of Christ. I hope you will do the same.

Well I love you all! Happy Chinese New Years!!

Love

Elder Anderson

Baptism of Sister Guo

Christmas in January

The elusive Christmas package

Family fun with Totoro

First time transferred

Second time transferred

Land of Promise

For those of you with a limited knowledge of the scriptures, "the land of promise" can also be referred to "the promised land". Which just happens to be the area of Nanzi :)

This week was a great week full of lessons, fun, the Bible, refuting every single 'Bible Scholar', and a surprise baptismal interview :)

To start off the week we had interviews with President Teh and that is always a blast! The church wants mission presidents to have interviews with their missionaries once every transfer and I love it!! He is so wise and just knows how to answer all questions. You always feel so refreshed after leaving one of those interviews.

We were able to find some pretty cool new investigators this week that seem to have lots of promise :) so we are super super excited about that! 

We met with Brother Chen a few times this week and he is doing pretty well. We aren't quite sure how much he is remembering so we have been teaching basic doctrine and focusing on the baptismal interview questions. He came to church and he loves coming to church! He has a goal for February 18th so that is good!

Some Elders from the other Gaoxiong zone gave us a referral this week. Her name is Sister Liu (yes, even though I hate contacting girls it seems like all the solid investigators are girls...). She is a member referral and has been to church a few times and has already been taught the Restoration. We met her this week and she is pretty cool! She seems to have a strong desire to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. She also accepted a goal for February!

Brother Liu is doing alright. He too has a desire for baptism but he has yet to come to church enough times. We are giving him another goal for late February and hope he will hit it!

A cool miracle from this week was from our investigator Sister Guo. We met with her on Thursday and planned on teaching a few of the commandments. As we sat down she told us that she feels like she needs to move her baptismal date up and get baptized on the 21st. We were shocked! She asked if she could so we talked about it, made a few calls and then told her that we would have to teach all the commandments right now and then she would have to have her interview the next day. So we did. But the miracle was the timing of it all. The Zone Leaders planned on going on exchanges with us in the beginning of the transfer but it just didn't work out so they planned it on this last weekend. So Elder Musgrave just happened to be in Nanzi on the time that Sister Guo needed her interview. God's timing is incredible. It is perfect. He knows what he is doing.

Copy and paste is so nice and convenient. 

We are teaching the Lin family right now. They are investigators from English class. It is a mom and a dad and their two crazy sons. They are super cool and are trying to find Jesus Christ. The only problem is they have some friends in another church that are trying to get them to go over there. They are just looking for truth. They said they would com to church next week and we are pumped for that!

Other than that... Jesus isn't doing too well.... We are working with him :) 

We had to pull out our limited but great bible knowledge this week with a new investigator named Lloyd. He is from the Philippines and he too is looking for the truth. He's not like most other Christians because he knows that we are supposed to pray to Heavenly Father and he knows that Christ and the Father are different people. He is very smart with the Bible and has lots of questions that he wants answers too. Luckily we were on exchanges and Elder Musgrave knows the Bible very well. I wish I would have listened more in seminary :) But we feel that once Lloyd starts to read the Book of Mormon, he will get baptized.

Things here are just going great! Elder Nelson and I are just having a blast! Transfers are this week and we are hoping to stay together! 

The church is so true. As I read in 2 Nephi this morning I just couldn't help but this about how true the church is. The Book of Mormon is literally the word of God and that is impossible to deny. It is such a powerful book!

This week I studied Elder Bednar's talk 'If ye had known me". Super good. Go and read it

I love you all

Love

Elder Anderson

Gold

Well our week was very good this week. I just used that word too much but that's ok. Elder Nelson and I are having so much fun! We love being companions and we love being missionaries! 

For the sake of time and effort, I am just going to quote 98% of Elder Nelson's weekly email because I was going to say the same thing, but with a few changes here and there. Don't worry, he has no copyright:

Sister Guo, our super golden investigator, is still golden!  It is honestly the highlight of my weeks seeing her, because she has such a love of the gospel!  This week we taught the 3rd lesson and the Word of Wisdom.  When we were following up on her reading, she talked about Nephi killing Laban.  She said she was really confused at first, thinking, "why would God command Nephi to kill?  That doesn't make sense."  But then she said she read the next verse and realized how necessary it was for the benefit of the future generations.  It was super funny cause investigators wonder this all the time, but she found the answer by herself.  She then goes on to compare Laman and Lemuel the people of today.  Very wicked and evil.  She said she wants to be just like Sam, because he's a good guy, and Nephi is too much to strive for :)

Best part was when we got to the Word of Wisdom.  The first time we met with her, she mentioned how her boss had told her how we don't drink tea and coffee, and how she was willing to learn about Christ, but not do that part.  Well this week, as we were getting to the end of the lesson and getting around to the Word of Wisdom part, I had this thought, "don't worry about teaching it, she already knows."  That thought was 100% accurate.  She said she decided to start following it awhile ago!  Super cool!  I could go on and on about her, but that's enough for now :)

Needless to say, she is just ridiculously prepared. We sit down and she says, "Alright let's say a prayer and start the lesson!" "What are you going to teach me today?" We literally try so hard to not smile like idiots during the whole lesson.

Other investigators 的話, They are doing pretty well! We met with Brother Chen this week and he brought his brother with him to learn about the gospel. Even though Brother Chen has a hard time remembering stuff, we can tell he knows this gospel is good. Otherwise he wouldn't have brought his brother. We were going to teach the Restoration and invite him to be baptized but we felt like we should focus on the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. It went really well and they both really like this gospel.

Jesus is doing ok.. He makes delicious tacos! We went and taught the 3rd lesson with him this week and it was a little rough. He is clinging onto his catholic roots and seems to be having a hard time letting them go. We are really hoping that as we review the Restoration with him this week that it will clear things up and he can get baptized in February.

We met with a family from English class this week and they are super cool! They have two super energetic sons named Roark and York. classic. They were pretty cool though! They are willing to give the gospel a shot and see how it goes. Hopefully all goes well :)

A little low on time again but this week was just incredible. So many prayers were answered and so many miracles were seen! There were at least 5 random potential investigators that showed up to church yesterday and we got a referral from the Cui Hua elders for a very golden investigator and things are just looking up!

Don't forget the Lord hears and answers every single prayer. He loves us so much! Don't forget Him! Learn from the sad stories in the scriptures of the people that put Him aside. Always remember Him and you will be blessed. Be ambitious for Him and you will feel His hands holding you up in the trials of your lives.

I love you all! 

Love

Elder Anderson

有信心有辦法

A member gave us a whole bunch of food from Costco :) HEAVEN!

Every morning has been super foggy. We can hardly even see the building right in front of us

crappy picture put it's rather artistic if you think about it

After living for almost 20 years, I have finally found my people.... I feel so at home 

Scratch Train!

Our investigator from Mexico Jesus told us he was going to make tacos this week. We were not disappointed! Sooooo good!

We're on a mission ...

I'm sure mom and dad can finish that quote haha.

Well it feels so good to be back here in Nanzi with my best friend Elder Nelson!! We have been having so much fun and are just living it up!! This week was just full of miracles and laughs and classic missionary moments! I love it!

First I will talk about our investigator Sister Guo! Holy cow. She is the definition of a prepared soul. So two weeks ago Elder Nelson and Elder Yang had to practice the piano for a performance at zone conference so during their dinner time they went to the church to practice. While they were there they heard the chapel phone ringing and they answered it and it was Sister Guo. She said her boss is a member and she has learned about the church and really wants to keep learning! So sweet! So they taught her the first lesson that week. Then last week we taught her the Plan of Salvation. When we were following up on prayer she just went off on how much prayer has blessed her and increased her faith and Elder Nelson, another member, and myself are trying our hardest not to show our huge smiles :) Then she pulls out her Book of Mormon and she has put tabs for all the different books so she can find them! I asked about her reading and she was like " Yeah I read a bit.." then she opens to the back of the first lesson pamphlet (there are scriptures and topics and places to take notes and such) and the ENTIRE thing is filled out! I almost fell out of my chair. So awesome! She is so golden and is trying to get her husband to come to church too. we invited her to be baptized and before we could even finish inviting her she accepted! We planned on the date February 11th then she said she couldn't that day because it's a holiday. She said how about the week before it? Yep. No problem! So cool!!

We went and visited Jesus and also taught him the Plan of Salvation. He is doing pretty well! He reads and prays and has been coming to church. He also has a baptismal date for the end of January. Teaching him can be a little tricky though because his English isn't super super good. It's good, but sometimes he doesn't really know what we are saying. Helps us learn how to teach simply! But he is doing well.

Ok I am low on time but we have another new investigator named Brother Chen. He has Parkinsons disease and got in an accident and he can't remember anything about his past. We were teaching him about the Book of Mormon and were teaching him about how it can change our lives and help us become better and such. We finally stopped and asked if he had any questions. He thought about it for a while and he asked, "How can I change?" wow. I was blown away. He has such a strong desire to change it is awesome. We talked about how Jesus Christ can change us. We shared Ether 12:27 and then later we shared about Alma the younger. The spirit was very strong and he is awesome!

Funny thing: I contacted this guy on the street and I said "hiiii! 你好！" He looked at me and just waved his hand saying "Sorry!!" (typical response) and I said "why?" He had no idea how to respond and then the light turned and he was gone. Caught him off guard.

The church is true! I'm so glad that I get to be here in Taiwan serving the Lord! I love Taiwan! Even though the only thing the people around me in the internet cafe can say in english is cuss words and "Double Kill!" I love Taiwan! Elder Nelson and I have noticed a change in our work. I feel like we have more purpose and focus. Being ambitious for Christ is so fun! 

I love you all!!!

Love 

Elder Anderson

有信心有辦法

Peace out!

Celebrating New Years and Elder Nelson's birthday with some Hot hot chocolate!! diamonds in the rough!