Sunday, August 19, 2012

August 19th... Nature poem!

Helloooooooooooo!!!!!!!

This week was so awesome. So awesome. Monday we had a picnic with the District. aka ate pb&j's on this path thing. It was nice. :) When we went shopping I found SHOE GLUE for my loafies!!! I was so STOKED! I will wear those until I literally can't wear them anymore. "At first they're constrictive, and then they become a part of you!" Those guys aren't just shoes anymore. We watched Lion King. Love that one. "Correction! I know yo fada." Monday night we met the nicest little lady. And when I say little lady I mean she was like 4'2. Haha. Such a sweet heart. Except we couldn't have a lesson with her because there wasn't another man in her house. :( She was so nice, and she seriously wanted to learn! We'll go back and teach her. She's so prepared.

Toosdee, we had WPS. And if you don't know what WPS is, you sit with your companion for 3 hours and plan the whole week... It's rough sometimes. Elder Relyea gets pretty sleepy. Haha. But this week it was great. Stayed awake the whole time! Then we met with our friend STEPHEN. He told us he had a test that day and before the test he prayed and asked for help to focus. He told us he could focus the whole time when he usually can't! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! And he read the whole 1st lesson Pamphlet. We gave him a Book of Mormon. Before the lesson he gave us chocolate marshmallow pies. :) He's so nice. Then we met with Nian DX. I feel like he is telling us he believes all of these things are true because it's what we want to hear and that he really doesn't know for himself. So, we really focused on him getting an answer. I bore my testimony that I know these things will make us the happiest. He's taking us out for steak tonight. He's a tianxin(sweet heart).

Wednesday, I love Wednesdays. This Wednesday we had District Meeting. Always a good time. Then on Wednesdays we meet with our Ward Mission leader and he owns this restaurant so we get free din din. And it is delicious. We get french toast and peanut butter toast. I discovered if you combine them, it's a nice treat. And then we have English Class! Haha. This week was awesome. Taught them Poetry. And we wrote a poem together as a class. It's called the Nature Poem. And it goes like this.

Nature Poem

Nature is like our mom,
so we call her Mother Nature.
Whatever you ask for, she will give you.
Change a lot, like a woman.
She feeds human beings,
like the way our Mom did.
All may change, but Jesus never.
So Jesus is like our Dad.

Haha. It's beautiful, huh.

Thursday, when we went running this morning there was the most glorious rainbow I've ever seen. It was even doubled for a minute. Great way to shart the day. Today we went and taught Guo dx the Word of Wisdom. He tolds us he has a Kidney stone. Oooooh, sorry homie. But they don't pee them out here, they either break them up, or do an operation... But he said whenever he needs something, we show up and tell him exactly what he needs to hear. He called us angels. So SWEET! Missions are the best. :) Then we found two lil homies. One is 17 and one is like 12. The 17 year old is Wu. He seemed sketchy at first, but he came to church yesterday. And guess what? Elder Peterson and I were doing two different lessons, so I was with a member and Wu dx. And I taught him baptism and he set a baptismal dayyyyeeeeeeeeeete! Yeahhhhhhhh! It was awesome. The Spirit was there for sure. He was so willing/stoked about baptism. So cool.

Fridee, we went to Luye which is about 25 minutes away to teach two investies that will be baptized super soon! We taught them the Law of Chastity. They are 15 and 17 year old broha's. There was one awkward part.... Haha. But it was fine. Then we got back and ate dinner at this....... Interesting place. It was a pick it yourself place. Nothing was really... good. My companion got this stuff with lil fishies in it... And I ate one. Oh, it was so bad. So bad. Like a whole rotten lake in my mouth. Haha.

Saturdee, ate some wrap guys for lunch. Love those. Had to take some surveys for the MTC..... Then Elder Peterson had to take one about me. While he was doing that I got so tyty. Haha. It's like if I sit down for more than 10 minutes my body thinks it's time to sleep. It's not good. After surveys we went finding! I met the coolest kid from Lithuania. Haha. His name was Ignac. Like Ignacio. What are you doing here? He's here for the Hot Air balloon festival. Taught him a little bit about the Gospel. And told him if he sees the missionaries in Lithuania he should go talk to them to learn more about the Book of Mormon.

Sundae, Sundae's are always really good. Church is great. I'm understanding more and more which is nice. After dinner we went finding. I love finding. We met the coolest Waiguoren. Aka foreigner. He is from California and he is here to surf and teach English. I was thinking if we could swim, he could teach us to surf and in return we would teach him the Gospel. While surfing. :) That would be great. What better way to learn the Gospel? Finding is becoming easier and easier. I love just being best friends with the people here. I'm understanding my Purpose more and more. And how vital invites are. If I don't invite them, then there is no way they can learn more about the Gospel.

I love this work. It is so HAPPY! It's awesome. I love this Gospel so much. Seeing how this Gospel makes people so much happier is the coolest thing to watch. I love you all. With my whole xin. Have the best week of your lives. :)

Friday, August 17, 2012

August 13

Herrrrrrrrrrooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!!

This week was a great time to be alive in Taidong! I love Taidong!!! We had move calls this week and........................................................................................................................................................................ I'm staying in Taidong with Elder Peterson! YEAHHHHHH!!! I'm stoked. Heavenly Father knows how much I love it here and all the people here. :)

Monday, was a very nice time. We watched Tangled...... It's so nice being able to take a break from reality for little bit. Pretend I'm Flynn Rider... :/ This day we met with Yao dixiong. (Dixiong is Brother in Chinese) He is so SICK! We taught him all about the Book of Mormon. He told us he really wants to come to church, but he has to get work off. Then we met with Brent. He told us he doesn't want to meet with us. :( BUT, everytime he uses his English name, who is he going to think of? The Missionaries! His lesson was really good though. I felt the Spirit super strong. I bore my testimony on the power of Prayer.

Toosdaiii, we went to Yuli for a district leader meeting. I got to chill with my Australian mate Eldah WRIGHT! Ahhhh, I love Eem! He vented to me about his companion the whole time. Made me so grateful for Elder Peterson. He also asked me a question I've never really thought about before. He asked, "Ye Zhanglao, why are you happy all the time?"....... Haha. I was stumped. I thought about the question all day. And I think I'm happy because I have so much to be happy about! I also came to the conclusion that there are infinite answers to this question. Something interesting to think about though. What makes us truly happy? This day we met with Nian dixiong, and he is so AWESOME! He is reading and praying every single day!

Wednesday we had to go to Yuli again for a Zone training guy. It was 3 hours..... I gave a spiritual thought about always being grateful and relying on the Lord all the time. I read from Alma 26, this is when Ammon glories in the Lord. Such a good Chapter! Go read it. The last verse talks about how Heavenly Father is mindfull of everyone of His children. I know this is true. :) This night we had English class. Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! We talked about personification... Again... I was asking for examples and this new guy Song was like, "The car is farting." Hahaha. I laughed way hard. We were the only ones laughing in the class. Haha. Then for the spiritual thought I taught them how to pray. I shared Enos' story. Then after this kid, Michael came up to me and said he was super confused. He had never really heard that God is our Father in Heaven. I had a lesson with him. Taught him all about Heavenly Father, Prayer, the Holy Ghost. And then he said his first prayer at the end! His english is good enough that I got to teach him in english. Which I've never done before. But it was awesome.

Thursday.... I can't really remember what happened.... We went on exchanges with the South elders. I was with Elder Slawson. He is a good Missionary. He is already graduated from College. What? I haven't even started College. Haha. He was a private school kid, so it makes sense. Haha.

Friday, I was still with Elder Slawson until 3. I ate spring rolls for lunch. We eat them like everyday. They are so good. Mom, I think of you everytime I eat them because you would LOVE them. I think they are vegitarian.... I honestly have no idea what is in them. But they are Hao chi (How chir) aka delicious. Then we get this fruit and vegatable one. It has sprouts, apple, guava, a raisen? maybe, cucumber, seaweed, carrot, I think. It is super good. We taught Nian dixiong again. This man is GOLD! We taught him the Plan of Salvation. Talked about families. It's super sad because he told us he really wants to find a wife. He lives alone, doesn't really have any friends. So sad. He's retired so he just chills all day, everyday. But he can read the B.o.M!!! He is a straight up tianxin (sweetheart). I love him.

Saturday, we exercised as a district. Sister Winters is Training a new missionary. She was in my younger genny in the MTC. She's a shy lil Q.tip. But her Chinese is Goooood. Way better than mine when I got on island. During lunch I met this kid named Stephen. We were eating in 7/11 and I could tell this guy needed a friend. Started talking to him. Turns out he really did. We had a lesson with him. He told us he has a hard time making friends. We taught him all about prayer. Invited him to church. He said he loves sleep. Haha. Well, so do I buddy.

Sundae, STEPHEN CAME TO CHURCH!!! And so did Nian dixiong. It was awesome! We met with Stephen after and said he felt really good at church like everyone really cared about him. So awesome.

I love you all so much!!!!!!! Peace out!! Have the best week of your lives!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

August 4th

What's uuuuuuuuuup?!

This week was awesome! For real. So many ups and downs. But so good. :) Last P-day was SECK. We went to to this crazy bridge that goes to this island. It was so siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. It was ridiculously windy. We hiked to the very top of the island and the wind up there was NUTS. "The bathrooms here are nuts." Tried to take my shirt off like 8 times. Haha. When we got back we met with a guy named Yaodixiong. Super cool young guy. First question he asks after the prayer, "can you guys tell me about baptism?" Haha..... "What.... Uh, Yeah. yeah we can." We set a baptismal date and he told us, "Yeah, I really want to prepare for this. So I want to come to Church and meet with you guys regularly." This man is Awesome. After the lesson we went to a member's house for Dindin and Family Home Evening. They had Dominoes! Crab and Shrimp pizza! It wasn't bad. Their son (this chunky lil duffer) ate and drank so much and so fast. After he was done he threw up some liquid crap right on the floor. Hahaaaaaaa. They were so nonchalant about the whole thing. Just threw some tissues on the puke. Haha. It was crazy. I wanted to laugh so bad because I think throwing up is the funniest thing. Then I shared the Joseph Smith story. All in all, good night.

Tuesday Huangzhanglao and I went on X-changes. We were biking to my favourite man's house (Hou dixiong) and I met this man named Nian dixiong. I knew he was interesting because he was walking down the street with a helmet on.... Haha. I set him up for the next day. We were English Contacting (giving out tons of flyers for our English Class) and Huang ZL was contacting these two girls. He told me to go over there. They asked me how old I am. Me:19 Them:(ridiculous amount of giggles) Ni hen shuai! Aka you're very handsome. Haha. It's nice because here in Taiwan you are told you are handsome about 10 times a day. Confidence boost for sure. And you think it would lose it's meaning after a while... It hasn't. :)

Wednesday we met with Nian dixiong. He is a sweet heart. He poured us some Coconut Juice. My companion was convinced there was some special stuff in it.... There wasn't. We set a baptismal date with him. He told us he doesn't have any friends. :( We told him, "We're your friends!" This night there was a "Typhoon" in Taiwan. So we had to go home at 6:30. So no English Class. I was bummed. I said "typhoon" because the weather in Taidong was awesome.

Thursday there still was the "Typhoon" so we could have stayed in. But Elder Peterson called President Day and asked if our district could go out and work. He said Yes. I originally wanted to just chill all day(classic me) but I'm so happy we went out! We met this man named Pan dixiong. Super cool. I'm going to call him Peter. :) Then we had WPS (weekly planning session). Then we went and found! We talked to this guy Zhoudixiong. Really cool. I taught him all about prayer. Felt the Spirit super strong when I was explaining prayer and how he can receive answers. Then I talked to this lady Han jiemei. Straight up tianxin. Aka sweet heart. I understood almost everything she said!!!!!!!! She called us Shuai like 10 times. Haha. Then I talked to this kid. He didn't have an English name. So I named him Brent right there on the street. Haha. He kinda looked like Brent Shear. He was super cool. Finding is becoming my favourite thing! These people are so awesome! I love meeting tons of them everyday.

Friday was a great day. Started off playing frisbee with the District. It was sick. Dove twice. I have never been so itchy in my life. But I scored, so it was woooooooorth it. This night was an awesome finding night. I talked to a kind of crazy man. He spoke really good English. Who thought the Church was started in Las Vegas. Him:"Yes. I know your church. It was started in Las Vegas." Me:"Uhh. No, it was actually start(cut off) Him:"No, no. Read your history. It was started in Las Vegas." Haha. That was interesting. Talked to a ton of waiguoren aka Foreigners. 4 from Canada and 1 guy from England who is studying Chinese here. He was super cool. It was so weird contacting him in English. It is so much easier in Chinese. Which sounds super weird to say, but it's true. Talked to this man outside a lime juice stand. The whole time he just told me about the girl who worked there. Him:"Her name is Didi(Chinese word for little brother). She speaks English. You come here, buy here a drink, speak English with her." Haha. I love these people.

Sundae was awesome. Nian dixiong came to church!!! When he would introduce himself he would say he is excited to prepare for baptism. So cool.

Okay, my time is almost out. I love you all!!!!!! I LOVE THIS WORK!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

7/29/12

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! This week was awesome. Last P-day the Sister's made a cake... In their microwave and brought it to us... It was pretty much just batter. But still good. AND THERE WAS A GUITAR AT THE CHAPEL!!! Played that forever. :)))) And a Sister in my District likes the good tunies. Then we went and we all bought the same Open! Taidong shirts and took family pictures in them. Haha. It was weird. My companion was the Mom. "Okay, everyone over here! No! What?! NO! Okay, everyone smile! Be happy! Okay, don't move, one more!" That's what he sounded like.... Haha. Just kidding. But close. Then we ate McD's and watched Mulan. :) So nice. I've never laughed so hard at Mulan before in my life. "Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!" Hahaaaa. Then this night our district went to a member's house for dinner and to our suprise there was a white girl there. What the? She was from Austria. Right when she said where she is from I wanted to say so badly, "Austria, Beautiful! Let's put anotha shrimp on the bahbee!" But... I didn't. She was super cool though. Just traveling through Asia. She just graduated in International Business... So cool. We taught her the Restoration. It was awesome. She thanked us for going out and doing such a good thing.
Tuesday, we went on Exchanges. Elder Xu came to Taidong and my companion went to Yuli. Pretty crazy because Xuzhanglao doesn't really know Taidong. BUT, we got around fine. My terrible sense of Direction wasn't too bad. This night we found the coolest guy named Lidixiong. He was like 20. Super willing to meet. We set a baptismal date with him. Comes to find out, he doesn't freaking live in our area. So we have to give him to the South Taidong elders. Sad, but no worries.
Wendsday was such an awesome day! Right when we left the appartment I forgot my Tag.... I've never felt so naked in my life. I had to go to Yuli to pick up my companion. Our Train left at 11:25. Xuzhanglao HAD to go to this airsoft store to get some gas for his gas powered airsoft gun. Haha. We left the store at about 11:04. Seriously had to ride so flippin fast the whole way. I felt like Lance Armstrong. My quads have never burned so bad. We bought our ticket at about 11:23 and ran to our train! We made it. Then when we got to Yuli, my companion was holding up the whole train for the way back! Haha. It was awesome. My english class was sooooo funny this week. Sonny brought me some Mochi things... She's a straight up sweetie. We talked about puns and Palindromes. Haha. I gave them the palindrome gohangasalamiimalasagnahog. They did not understand what that meant at all. Haha. "What is a lasagna Hog?" "Why are you hanging a salami?" Haha. Sophia was saying she went to Taipei and watched D-Rod(Dennis Rodman), Scotty Pippin, and Jason Williams play some B-ball. She was like, "Jason Williams, he is so talented! Soooooooo attractive! What do you call them? White Chocolate? Soooooo attractive!" hahahaha. I was laughing so hard. I love English class.
Thursday, my one month on island mark!!! Siiiiiick! Mom, Guess what?! This day was a completely vegetarian day... On accident. Haha. For dinner I had these sesame noodles that tasted SO bad. Like bitter rotten Peanut butter crap. So bad BUT, I ate all of them. This night we met with 4 lil Grom's. It was really cool. I said the 1st vision for the first time. :) That was cool.
Friday I was SO exhausted for some reason. I was the mean kind of tired. Mindy definitely would have said, "Where did my Ry go?" Haha.Good day though. We visited this family. And when we got there the door was open and there was an arm hanging out of the door holding a cig. It was the mom. She is a sweetheart. Missing one of her front teeth. Smokes all the time. I want to help her so bad.
Saturday was awesome. In Personal study I read a quote by Mother Teresa (Mama T) "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." So cool. Just made me remember without love this work is nothing. If we don't have love for these people, they will know. And feel it. That is why I'm so happy to be in Taiwan! It is so easy to love these people! This night we had a talent show at the Chapel. It was really cool. This man we met on the street said he was going to come and he didn't. His name is Yudixiong. He is so good. "Gold Jerry, pure gold!" Seriously so awesome.
Sundae was great. I always love Sundae's. Finding was so good this night. I met this man who was wearing a Zoo York T-shirt and asked him if he Skateboards. He doesn't. But he speaks awesome English and works at this restaurant. I told him we will come and get some food sometime. Finding is becoming easier and easier. I'm talking to more and more people. THESE PEOPLE ARE SO AWESOME! I love them all. All of them. :)
I love you guys so much. Thanks for being my friends. :) Have the best week of your life. I know Heavely Father answers every single one of our prayers. That was made very clear to me this week. Okay. I love you all.