God is Good

What an awesome week for Elder Grisenti and I here in the land of miracles. Things here  are just going so well! We went on a few exchanges this week and that was super fun to be with those elders! We were able to teach a lot of lessons and find a lot of investigators!

One funny thing, literally everyone here that has seen my family picture asks me if my mom is from Asia. Also lots of people ask me where I am from because they can't tell if I am Taiwanese. They ask and then say they are just making sure because they couldn't tell. Love it.

A super cool miracle from this week was from exchanges with Elder Huntsman. We saw this lady walking her dog and I just love dogs so I had to stop to say hi and pet the dog haha. But of course we started to contact her and she told us that she is a Christian but hasn't been to church in a long time and she asked what was different about our church. It was a super cool contact because we pretty much taught the whole first lesson with her on the spot. Then when we were sharing about the Book of Mormon she asked how we have felt God speak to us. Elder Huntsman then pulled out his Book of Mormon and shared a scripture that really impacted his life and the spirit was very very strong! She set up but she texted us that day telling us that she would be pretty late and has to leave by 7. She got to the church at 6:52. Literally the shortest lesson in my entire mission. We sat down and introduced ourselves and since we had already talked about the Book of Mormon, we gave her one and went into more depth with it. She was very willing to read it and I think she seems pretty golden! She can't meet this week but we are meeting with her next week and we are very excited!!

Another cool miracle was on Wednesday, we didn't have to teach English because there wasn't enough students so we went over to the Cultural Center to contact. They have a big park there and there are lots of people. So we were walking and there was this lady sitting on a bench with her headphones in listening to music. I stopped to say hi and she didn't acknowledge me, super common in Taiwan. But I felt to try harder and not give up. So we got her attention and she was super excited to see us! She told us like right off the bat that her son has lots of interest in Jesus Christ! We sat down and talked to her for like 40 minutes or so and she set up to meet with us. She came to the church the next day with her son and we taught them the first lesson and they really liked it and set a baptismal goal! Super pumped! 

The guy in the Orioles shirt from last week told us he didn't want to meet with us. He called us and said that he realized that we were Mormons and that our beliefs are different and then hung up. We were pretty mad about that because he seemed super golden, but we didn't let it get us down and we went out and found more investigators. 

Our investigator Daniel still hasn't felt like he has found his answer, but he has been reading and praying every day. We feel like he has already received and answer but it isn't the answer that he wants. He wants a really powerful answer but we feel he has not noticed the small voice that the spirit speaks to us through. So we gotta help him with that. But he is super great and we just love him to death.

This week I read about Abinadi. I have been studying with the topic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I found a really good example of enduring to the end.  "9 Now Abinadi said unto him: I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands.10 Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you." Abinadi knew that his time was coming to an end, but that didn't stop him from testifying and not recalling his testimony. Elder Grisenti and I talked about it and applied it to ourselves because our time out here is running out, but we will be as Abinadi and never stop testifying of Christ! We plan on being very ambitious for Him.

Lastly, we have been listening to a talk from back in 1975 given by Vaughn J. Featherstone. It's called "But Watchman, What of the Night?" I recommend every single one of you to look it up and listen to it because it is awesome. The part that we love the most is in the end when he bears his testimony. This is what he says, "The United States of America is the golden door. I bear my solemn and sacred witness that the United States of America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We ought to love it and we ought to talk about it." BOOM. USA USA USA 

差不多

Love

Elder Anderson

The cute 謝 family!!

Gotta see Elder Nelson on Monday! Shout out to him for taking me to lunch!

Exchanges with Elder 張！ my former companion!

雙醬咖哩！！！

Release date

Dear Bro. & Sis. Anderson,

In just a few short months, Elder Miles Anderson will be completing his service in the Taiwan Taichung Mission and returning home. Presently, Elder Anderson is scheduled to depart from Taiwan on 16 Aug 2017. You will be advised of his precise travel itinerary and arrival time as soon as this information becomes available. During his term as a missionary, he has had numerous experiences that he will undoubtedly be excited to share with you. His mission has been a time of growth and development. We trust that it has been a positive experience for you and your family as well. In anticipation of your son's return, we would like to ask your assistance with the following two items:

First: Further education is very important for your missionary. Most universities require that students submit entrance applications many months prior to the start of school; therefore, please make plans now to determine university entrance application deadlines and ensure you apply for your missionary to attend a university after his mission (if desired). The most effective application method is for you to apply on your missionary’s behalf so he will not be burdened with paperwork while still serving his mission.

Second: The last few months of a mission are the most productive time for missionaries. They have the maturity, language ability and teaching skills to be most effective in doing missionary work. However, sometimes missionaries can become distracted and lose focus as they contemplate returning home. Accordingly, I would like to suggest that your correspondence during the last few months of  Elder Anderson's mission center on making the most of his remaining time as a missionary rather than on homecoming plans. Please address only the necessary issues of his return, then focus on encouraging him to finish strong in his missionary work. These last few months are very valuable and we thank you for your assistance in helping your missionary leave his vineyard of service without regret.

As a reminder, the church does not encourage parents to pick up their respective missionary.

We are aware of the feelings of anticipation and excitement that parents have for returning missionaries. You can be proud of your son's accomplishments in the mission field. He has blessed the lives of many people here in Taiwan. Thank you for helping to make these last few months of his mission a productive, rewarding experience.

Sincerely, 

President Michael John U. Teh
Taiwan Taichung Mission

Atten:  Please let us know the closest major airport for your missionary to arrive

Baseball never fails

Well my first week in Tainan has been a blast! Elder Grisenti is so much fun and we have been having a blast doing the Lord's work!

In my whole mission I have heard how great Tainan is and I was super pumped to find out that I would be coming down here. Our area is awesome and our investigators are great! The best part is it is like baseball city down here! Not only is Elder Grisenti a baller, but two of our investigators and a few of our members are! I love it!

One of our investigators is Daniel. He is in his thirties and he is so cool. He loves baseball and he is progressing towards baptism really well. The only problem is he feels he hasn't received a solid answer to know if it's all true. Before I got here, Elder Grisenti promised him that if he reads and prays every day for a week, that he would find an answer. Well he didn't do it. So on Thursday we recommitted him to do it and he has been working on it! So pray he gets an answer! Then on Saturday morning for our workout time, we got up early and went to the park with him and another member. We played some catch and took some bp (batting practice). One, it was soooo much fun! Two, it just meant the world to him. He was just smiling the whole time. I sure do love that man!

Cool miracle from this week was we went to the Cultural Center to contact and we met this man that was super nice and seemed super golden, but he rejected us. Then just last night we went there again and we ran into him again! This time he was wearing a Baltimore Orioles shirt and we were super excited that he loves baseball too! So we chatted for a while and then started talking about Christ. This time he accepted our invitation to meet and he set up for this week! 

Last, in church yesterday a member of the stake presidency gave a talk and he was saying so much good stuff. One thing I loved was he said how in church people will share all these stories that make them feel touched or happy or 之類的 but they never mention Christ. He said, 他們會說這些故事但這些故事跟基督都沒有什麼關係。 It reminded me that we must always be focused on Christ and always testifying of Him!!

Go watch the Easter video!! Mosiah 16:7-9

Love

Elder Anderson

#和平的君

Elder Grisenti spends so much time in front of the ac. too hot

Birthday package for Miles

our district leader had us all put our ties on our head for district meeting because we are trying to become like the sons of Mosiah so we need to look like the Nephites 

Elder spach: let's. hate. the nephites!

Transfers again

LETTER FROM MISSION HOME:

Dear Bro. & Sis. Anderson and family,

I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Miles Anderson has been called to serve as Zone Leader in the Taiwan Taichung Mission.

Only the most experienced, obedient and energetic Elders are called to be Zone Leaders.  Zone Leaders not only must set an unwavering example, but also spend much of their time training and motivating other missionaries in their zone.  He will supervise several districts and be a source of counsel and advice for the missionaries in his zone.  I am confident your son will fulfill these duties with the utmost diligence.

Please continue to encourage your son to reach out in excellence as he serves the Lord in this new calling.  You can be proud of him and his efforts.  He is certainly living up to the trust the Lord has placed in him as he serves here in the Taiwan Taichung Mission.

LETTER FROM MILES:

Well what a week! Watching General Conference just never gets old! If only we could watch it every single month. That would be so awesome!!! 

Ok so I literally have not done well at managing my email time so, sorry mom this will be pretty short as well. 

This week we had interviews with President Teh and wow I sure do love him a lot. He is just so chill but he is so awesome. For part of my interview we talked about playing basketball haha. We talked a lot about the Prayer of Faith and I am so grateful for his guidance and wisdom!

We met a new investigator named Terry Yu. He is a character. Sure do love him though! He literally has no knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. He is one of the few that I have met in Taiwan that are like that. We have met with him twice and just yesterday we gave him a chapel tour and talked more about prayer. When we committed him to pray he said he will definitely do it because last time when we prayed with him he felt very peaceful and warm. That really taught me that even though we were in a good old McDonalds, we can feel the spirit wherever we are. We just really need to be willing to listen to him. I forgot who talked about it in conference... I think it was Elder Stevenson. I liked how he asked, Do we know that voice? One cool think I love about Chinese is that in the character for listen (聽）not only is there the radical for an ear, but the heart radical also shows up teaching us that we must listen with our hearts. So important!

Well I literally have no time because I still need to email President. 

But we got transfers and I am going to the Tainan 1st ward to be with Elder Grisenti! He is super cool and he used to play baseball at Snow Canyon which means we played each other before! I am very excited but also very sad to leave Elder Potts and Fengyuan!!

Well gotta go

Love

Elder Anderson

Last picture with my favorite Elders! Getting our favorite drinks!

Gotta hang out with Elder Jones last Monday! Sure miss him but he will be moving down to Tainan with me so that is so awesome!!!!

As we were taking this picture the waitress walked by and gave us the weirdest look... so we are dying of laughter. Good old Elder Spach

Toilet Restaurant

Toilet Restaurant

Toilet Restaurant

Toilet Restaurant

Each chair represents how many transfers we have been on island. Elder Spach and I literally almost fell and killed ourselves但 沒關係

Work

大家好

Welp, another week has come and gone. Too fast. Not fair. But we had a great week! 

First of all, I hate writing these big weekly emails. They take too long, but I will try to make it good.

So this week we found a new investigator!! His name is Brother Wang and he is so awesome! He is 29 and when he was a kid he used to come to the church for English class and he has also met with the missionaries before! He is a DJ and an engineer. Super cool. We met with him and he is just so awesome and very interested in the gospel. We are meeting with him again tomorrow and plan on inviting him to be baptized so we will see how that goes! 

Also we were able to meet with Brother Liao!! He is the one that is in the military so he can only meet every few weeks. But he is just so golden! He said in the military people are super mean to him and he just hates it. But he told us that he has been reading and praying and has told us that there has been such a huge difference! People have been so much nicer him and he loves it. He just loves the gospel and accepted a baptismal goal! I am super excited for him!

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Spach and it was so much fun. He has been out one transfer longer than me so it was super fun to just tear up the streets of Fengyuan. We met one lady on the street that seems very prepared. We gave her a Book of Mormon because she seemed so interested! She then asked us how she should take care of it. As in, should she buy a case for it or what? Because she really wants to respect the Lord's word. So awesome!

Last Monday we went and played basketball at the 大雅 chapel. There were 16 Elders there. so many. So we did a 4 on 4 tournament. Our district was a team and our team name was 瘋原。Super funny! haha. We took it all.

Lastly, I want to share a scripture that I read this week. It is in 2 Nephi 28:37 32 Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.

I just love this verse of scripture because the Lord's arm is always extended to us. We will sin every single day, but He will always have His arm out to catch us and bring us back to Him. Have faith in the Lord! Be ambitious for Him and use His atonement daily to repent and come closer to Him!

Love

Elder Anderson

We met an old man on the street that was wearing a Jazz hat. He loves Karl Malone! But he has no interest in the gospel.... Nice man though