Wonderful Time of Year

Hello Everyone!

 

Well... sadly, Christmas is over, but a new year is about to begin! What a wonderful time of year. I think this is a great time to reflect back on all the good things that have happened this past year, all of the blessings, memories, or major events which have come into our lives. As I have been out here on my mission, I have really started to enjoy the time that we have at church more fully. One of the reasons is similar to what I have just talked about, it's a great time for me to reflect back on how things are going. Sometimes in the mission or life in general, we just start to go through the motions, but I have found that as I take the time to reflect back on my week each time at church and realize all that has happened, it motivates me for the next week and helps me to see what I can do better and what I need to continue to do. Reflection helps us to stay out of the rut of just going through the motions. One of my biggest goals in life, is for it to be FULL - filled with experiences, memories, family, friends and happiness. I hope that everyone can take the time to reflect and see what we can do this next year to achieve our goals. Make life fun!

 

This past week has been a good one. I was able to talk to the family over the phone and get a little taste of life back home. It sounds like all is going well! Even the Seahawks are having some success!? One of the highlights this past week has been the opportunity to serve. On Friday, we were able to go to a Buddhist temple and help out with their service team for about an hour. When I first got there I was wondering what it was going to be like and how the people would receive us, but as they took us around to the back and we saw so many people working together, I knew it would be a good experience. This Buddhist temple is famous for its service in the community over the years. That day we helped recycle plastics. Here in Taiwan, one of the popular things to eat is guava that you can buy from the street vendors. It comes in a small Styrofoam container and a plastic bag. Our job was to pick out any of the left over bits of fruit or leaves from the packaging so that the packaging could be recycled and used again. It was actually pretty fun, and all the older ladies who were working there thought it was pretty cool to see some young foreigners helping out. They were pretty great and took a big picture of us at the end. 

Another cool experience was going over to the home of Brother Wu who just got baptized about a week ago. His father had come to the baptism last week and Elder Johnson and I were able to meet him. Brother Wu really loves his family and was hoping that we could meet them sometime soon. So after the baptism we talked to his dad and set up a time to come back during this past week. Brother Wu told us how his family might not be too receptive to the gospel because they don't have a lot of interest in religion, but he still wanted us to come over anyways and at least get to know them. When we got there they were super friendly and we got to know a little bit more about this family and introduce ourselves - where we are from, and a little bit about our families back at home. As we started to talk about the gospel, Brother Wu's father proceeded to tell us about how impressed he was by the missionaries he has seen and their willingness to go to a completely new country and do all the things that we do. It was cool to hear that. We started to talk to him and his wife a little bit about the importance of families in our church and family history work too. You could see them start to open up a little bit more after that. We were able to set up a time with them to go to the family history center this next week. There was nothing super special about this visit, but to me it was memorable because I was able to see the big picture and look at the influence this gospel is starting to make on their family and how it is able to spread from person to person. I don't know if they will be up to hearing more about our message in the future, but I hope that things go well! There is so much joy that comes from this gospel. One last quick experience - this last week my companion and I were about to go to a pre-school and teach the children about the Christmas story on Christmas day. It was pretty cool! There were about 20 little kids running around when we got there. We were able to teach them about the nativity story, the birth of Christ, and sing some songs with them. It was pretty cool!

Well my time is about up here but it's been a fun week. I hope it has been a good one for you guys too! Don't let things change too much while I am gone!

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Christmas Spirit

Hello Everybody!

It's Christmas Day here in Taiwan, and just a little bit longer until it reaches your end of the world too! I hope that everyone has a great day and enjoys the "Christmas Spirit". It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! This past week was pretty great. The highlight of the week was the baptism of our investigator, Wu Di Xiong. It was a great experience and everyone that was there was able to feel the spirit. Our mission president and his wife even ended up coming to it. Brother Wu has a new start and is doing so great. Right after the baptism, I was standing next to Brother Wu and I asked him how he felt. He told me that he felt something new in his heart that has sprouted and is starting to grow. I know that it is a feeling from above. How cool it is to see the love of God spread through other people. I'll never forget this experience. He has really jumped into being a part of the Zhong He family. 

Yesterday, was our Ward Christmas Activity, and he was there from the very start to the end helping out with all of the different stations and events. The Christmas activity was held outside in the middle of a large park hald Si Hao Gong Yuan. It was a big success! There were many people at the park who stopped by to see what all the hustle and bustle was about. There was a lot of Christmas music, games, food, and dancing. Many of the people asked which church we were, as they were really interested in the activity. The Christmas Spirit changes hearts in a way that other thing couldn't, just like the Grinch. It's a special time of year.

Some other highlights this week was teaching an 87 year old investigator my companion and I found while tracting a few weeks ago. He is christian but hadn't been to church in 60 years. He got a ride with a member and came to church 2 weeks ago, but this last Sunday didnt show up. As we met with him on Friday, we found out that he had tried to walk all the way to church by himself last time and got about halfway when his knee started to really hurt him so he turned back. What determination! Our sad feeling we had that Sunday before quickly turned to joy as we more fully understood the intentions and desires of this man. We taught him about the restoration of Christ's gospel and you could see his heart start to change at the lesson went along. It was very cool. 

We also had some other miracles happen this last week as we were going about sharing this gospel. One lady that we hadn't been able to get a hold of or meet with for about a month ended up inviting us over to meet with her AND her son! The worth both invigorated to learn more of the Book of Mormon and prophets and being able to learn of the truthfulness themselves. We have seen that as we've prayed for opportunities to share this gospel with families the Lord has been answering our prayers. I love it and know that the Lord will answer everyone's prayers. It may not come in the time or the way that we expect but He will always answer. He loves us and know perfectly what is best for us. We just need to do our best to align our lives with His will and we will find greatest happiness in this life. I have seen this starting to happen in so many lives including my own. I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Bastian

P.S. I meant to attach some pictures of this weeks baptism and the previous ones, but we forgot our SD card adapter. Next week! Sorry!

Holiday Spirit

Hello Everybody!

 

How is everything back at home? I bet all of you are excited for the holiday spirit that is coming around! It's almost Christmas!  A funny thing happened on Sunday at church. Our ward mission leader came up to us after one of our meetings with a box full of Christmas stockings and told us to each pick one for them to hang up in the church. All of them had different sports teams/ American colleges on them. One was the Redskins, Connecticut, Huskies, Steelers, Michigan, Michigan State and a few others. It was so hard to choose because my allegiance lies with the Seahawks and BYU/UW. Eventually, I settled on the University of Michigan because my brother-in-law went there for graduate school. So I will represent them this Chirstmas! I'll try and put up the picture next week. It's a good one.

 

This past week has been pretty great! We got the transfer calls on Wednesday and the two temporary companions moved on Friday to other parts of northern Taiwan. My companion and I are staying put in Zhong He for at least 6 more weeks. We are so excited for this. This Saturday we will have a baptism for one of our investigators, Wu Di Xiong. He is the one that my companion ran after in front of the church my second week here. He is so great and his faith has truly blossomed as we have shared the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with him and he has began living the principles that Christ has taught us. On Sunday, he had his baptismal interview and afterward as we were talking to him about the baptismal service and who he could invite, he asked me if I would be the one to baptize him this next Saturday.  My heart was full. As I thought about the significance of the choice that this wonderful man is about to make, and that I will be able to assist in it, it really warmed my heart. The joy that comes from sharing this gospel and seeing people change their lives is like no other joy. It is true happiness. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in Taiwan sharing this wonderful message. I have learned so much!

As I have been thinking about Christmas this past week, I've kept dwelling on an email that my brother sent to me last week. He talked about the importance of Christmas, and the most wonderful gift any of us has received in this life, the birth of Christ.  He told me that the best gift I could give to anyone, and be able to give back to Christ too, would be to work my hardest to share His message with those around me. This has really impressed upon my heart as I have dwelt on it. This gospel truly can change lives and bring unimaginable happiness and direction to this life. I hope that all of you back at home might be able to take the time to think about the importance of the true meaning of Christmas in your lives - it is such a wonderful time of year! These next few weeks my companion and I are really going to try and focus on finding a family and sharing this message with them. Each day as I forget about myself and focus on helping others I feel the hand of the Lord helping us do his work. Anyway, my time is up for this week. I hope everyone has an amazing week.

Love,

Elder Bastian

Photo Time!

The More the Better

Hello Family and Friends!

 

It's been a great week here in Taiwan! The work is moving along well. I hope everything has been going well back where you guys are!

On Monday this past week, my companion got a phone call from our mission president saying that because of emergency transfers in some of the other areas in Taiwan, we would be having two extra Elders join our companionship until the actual transfers this Friday. So this week we have been happy to be joined by Elders Davidson and Heaton. Both are from Utah and are fairly new to the mission like me. Elder Davidson has been out for about 6 months here in Taiwan and Elder Heaton has been out for about 3 months. It's been crazy having a companionship with 4 Elders but a lot of fun and we have been able to get a lot of work done! I will try and get a picture up of the four of us next week. We've been striving to effectively use our companionship so that we can get the most work done in these two weeks and really get our area Zhong He up and moving. It's been a bit of a challenge, but its worked out well. What we do each day is split the 4 Elders into 2 companionship's of 2, like we usually have, and then we both head out to different areas and lesson appointments so we can get double the work done. Usually each day we rotate the companions around so that we are all able to be with each other. Its been interesting to be with the two new additions because our language in not nearly as good as Elder Johnson's. So, when two of us younger Elders are together I've found that we really have to exert all effort and really push our language to get up and moving. Its been great. I have had a lot more opportunities to contact, hold conversations, and teach the people. It has also been nice to be able to learn from the other two Elders and have their help and inspiration in how we can better do the work.

On Saturday, as Elder Davidson and I were out working together, it was raining pretty hard and we hadn't had much success that day with being able to contact people who were interested. At about 3 o'clock we started to head back to the church building for a lesson we had scheduled, but when we got near the church we found out that our investigator cancelled on us for that day so we weren't going to be able to meet with him. As we reached the other corner across form the building, we stopped to cross the street and a man walked past us, so we said hello and he stopped and we proceeded to have a conversation with him. He told me that before he was Catholic, but right now he didn't believe in God and believed in a lot of the conceptual science things about the universe. He seemed interested but was hesitant to accept the belief of God - it seemed. At one point the man had explained to me that he actually thought that man made up God and that it was wrong to believe in him. He was very nice about this all and very open about it, but his expression still touched me deeply in my heart. At first I was a little taken back and didn't know what to do, but then I remembered my testimony. I testified to him that I do know He exists and that I came to know this through praying and reading the scriptures and how so many others have done the same, and that he can too. It seems that in times of need the Spirit jumps in and the lessons become much more soul to soul communication. My testimony was simple but sincere and you could see that the Spirit had touched his heart at that moment and softened it. Next, we asked if we could say a prayer with him to help him see how he could know these things for himself. He accepted. I offered a simple prayer and prayed that the man would be able to know these things for himself. Afterwards we asked the man how he felt. He said that he felt very peaceful and as if we really were talking to God when we prayed. It was so profound and cool. He said that he would have to think about all of this but we would probably be able to meet with him this next week. Whether he does or doesn't meet with us, I know that this gospel has had an influence in his life. I hope that he will choose to meet with us this week.

I just thought I would like to share this experience with you guys. I learned a lot from it. I have been learning so much as I have been out here doing the Lord's work. All other facets of teaching and things have been going well. We are excited for one of our investigators as he has been working with us to prepare for baptism at the end of this month - before Christmas. He is sooo great! He is the man that my companion met in front of the church. It has been so great to see the changes he has made in his life. We are really excited! This gospel is SO TRUE! I hope that all of you have a wonderful week with school and work and family, everything!

Love you guys,

Elder Bastian

This Book is Truly Amazing

Hello Everyone!

 

This past week has been pretty good here! We have been having a great time, my companion and I, finding and teaching the people in Taiwan. It's been so cool to see all of the different kinds of prepared people as we go out each day. This month our mission has been working on focusing around the Book of Mormon. Our mission President gave each district a box of Book of Mormons and wanted us to place them by the end of the month. My companion and I were supposed to place 7 and we ended up placing around 9. It has been so great to see the people's eyes light up as we tell them about this wonderful book and that it truely is the word of God.  I am learning quickly about the importance of a testimony of this book in the conversion process for investigators. You can see the difference in the investigator that reads it often and those that don't. It's not because they are better at keeping commitments or they are just willing that they progress faster. That may be part, but I firmly believe that it's because of the Spirit that is invited into their lives as they read the Word of God. I have seen several times recently of investigator telling me that they have a special feeling when they read this book. 

We had one investigator this week who read about Lehi's dream in chapter 8. I thought this may have been a confusing part for him but he was searching the book and was able to see past the outer story and find the deeper meaning of it. He said that he really loved that chapter and was able to receive a lot of personal inspiration on how he could better his life. This book is truly is amazing. I am so grateful for a loving God, who has prepared a way back to Him and has given us so many things to give us direction in this life.

Right now we have several investigators. We are learning the importance of having shorter, frequent visits as we go about week to week. I wish there was more time in the day and people didn't have to work! Haha. It's been great to be blessed to meet these people. We actually have an investigator that is preparing for baptism this month. He is just on fire. We got a phone call earlier this week from him, saying that he was going to find a different job that would allow him to go to church each week and keep the Sabbath day holy. We were so stunned! He has such faith and is so prepared to hear this message. You can see how much he loves this gospel and the Book of Mormon. He carries it with him when ever he comes to meet with us in its own little bag. We are very excited for him. He has truly allow this gospel to change his life.

This week has been pretty crazy. It has rained everyday and its been pretty big rain too! Im so grateful for my rain gear, but I think my guess was right when I said I would be seeing this a lot more. It keeps us on our toes as we rush from place to place trying to avoid it as best we can. The crazy food that I tried this week was.... pig tongue! I didn't even know what it was 'til after I ate it and then the member who we had dinner with started busting up laughing and then told me. It was a good laugh. But i dont think I will eat it too often. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well back at home and making time for the important things in life! I love you all!

Elder Bastian

The Lord's Work

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving back at home! I actually have a quite interesting experience about my Thanksgiving here that I will share in a little bit.

This week has been pretty great. I have been able to see that Lord's hand in His work much more this week as we strive to find and teach those who are prepared to receive the gospel. In each opportunity we have to meet with people I see how the Lord has influneced their lives, or given them experiences that help prepare them to hear and accept this gospel. I am so grateful to be a part of this work. 

We had two baptisms on Saturday that went absolutely wonderfully. They were for Brother Mei and Brother Wang. Brother Mei is about 25 and is so great! He really loves the gospel. On Sunday I sat with him in Sacrament meeting and he started to tell me about his experience yesterday being baptized and today receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He feels that recently the Lord has really been helping him personally and is starting to recognize the influence of the spirit more and more and his role in guiding our lives. It was so cool to hear him explain this to me and for me to better help him understand what these feelings are and how they can help him the rest of his life. The other, Brother Wang, is also awesome! He is 16 and loves Jesus Christ. He has such a love for Him that you can see whenever we talk about following the example the Savior has given us. He always focuses in more when we talk about Him. He had the opportunity to be baptized by his less active dad and it was such a cool experience to see them together. I think it will be a big boost in their lives and hope that this will re-motivate the father to come back to church. It was been so cool to see all these changes.

 

This week we have been able to continue to meet with our others investigators and share the gospel with them and invite them to make changes in their lives so that they may be able to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been using the Book of Mormon a lot more this week in the work. It has been so great in helping the investigator build a testimony of all these things as they learn of the significance of this book and feel the spirit as we read from it. It is truly the keystone of our religion. Each person that sincerely reads it and prays to know of its truthfulness, receives that witness. We have a lot of investigators right now and are working with them to prepare for baptism. I am learning more and more how important it is to have the spirit with me and my companion to be able to discern the needs of these people and best be able to help them accept this gospel into their lives.

 

Ok, now for the funny part of the week! On Thursday a couple in the ward took us out to dinner for Thanksgiving. I thought we were going to their house for dinner but it turns out we went to a sushi house. The husband kept pulling off all these different plates of raw fish and seafood. I dont even know what half of what I ate was. I had some sea urchin though and raw tuna and scallop and eel. It was pretty weird but an experience that I will never forget. Oh I also tried some squid this week too. Just thought you guys would like to know! Be grateful for the food that we do have!

 

Time's up for this week, but I hope everyone has a great week back at home.

Love Elder Bastian

Here Comes the Rain

Hello Everyone!

 

Another week has gone and passed here in Taiwan! So many things have happened. One of notable mention is the rain. 2 days ago is started to downpour and it was the same yesterday. I'm sure I am going to start seeing my dear old Seattle friend a lot more often these next few months. Luckily, i was able to get some rain gear about a week ago. That stuff is magic! It's super cheap and is totally water proof. We get dumped on as we are riding our bikes but are able to stay dry. Why don't they have this cheap stuff in America?

This next Saturday is going to be awesome! We will be having a baptismal meeting in the evening, where two of our investigators will be getting baptized. My companion and I are so excited. The first, is Brother Mei. He is such a golden investigator. He loves the Book of Mormon and understands the importance of each thing he reads as we teach him. He really has been prepared for us to teach him. It's so cool. The other is, Brother Wang. He is a teenager and has been living with another less active family but has been going to church for a little while with the family's son and daughter that are about his age. He loves Jesus Christ and wants to follow the example He has given us. He knows that His example is the door to all blessings in life. I love being able to see the changes and differences the Gospel makes in people's lives. It is truly miraculous.

The other investigator we have, that we bumped into in front of the church about 2 weeks ago, is doing awesome. He was able to come to church yesterday for the first time and he loved it. He loved the atmosphere and the spirit that he was able to feel there. We taught him about the The Plan of Happiness, God's plan for us, a few days ago and he absolutely loved it. It teaches about where we came from before this life, our purpose here on earth, and what happens after this life. He had some great questions and felt that this was able to give him much greater direction and purpose in life. We're excited to meet with him again soon.

The last investigator I would like to talk about is a brand new one that we met with for the first time yesterday night. Her name is Sister Lin. We had actually contacted her about 2 weeks ago in front of the church while she and her husband where on a walk. She asked what made our church different from all the others and we were able to briefly talk with her about the Book of Mormon.  She also said that she really liked how all of the Mormon men treat their wives so well. We were able to get her number and she got ours, but we hadn't been able to get in contact with her over the past week, but then all of sudden we got a call about two days ago from her. She said that she wanted to meet with us on Sunday night. So we met with her at the church last night. We were able to take her on a little picture tour around the church and show her 3 paintings that are hanging on the walls. The first was a picture of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane,  the second was of Christ ordaining the 12 apostles, and the last one was of Joseph Smith with God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to him. We were able to talk about Christ and His purpose and who He is and the establishment of His church while he was on the earth and how after he was crucified the doctrines started to be changed by the people and how this is why there are so many different christian churches here on the earth today. We then talked about the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the translation of the ancient plates, now called the Book of Mormon, and how the Church today is the same as it was when Christ was on the earth. She really loved the lesson and was able to see the truths in these things. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon to read and to pray about to know if it is true. Towards the end of the lesson she told us how she thought that this meeting was a Godsend and how she was so thankful that she was able to meet with us. She then told us how she would have the Book of Mormon finished by the time we meet next Saturday! We were blown away. It was such a miracle experience, you could already see the changes in her as we met. I love this work and can't tell you enough how true this message is and how much I love being able to share it with others. I hope all of you have a great week!

Love Elder Bastian

SO Busy

Hello Everybody!

 

Well, we jumped right into the work and have had so many things to do and so many people to meet with! This past week has been pretty good. We have a few new investigators that are preparing for baptism that we found this week. It's been so fun to see the changes that the gospel can make in people's lives even though i've only been here a week and a half. The language is coming along and I have been able to help contribute in the lessons and share my testimony. You can always feel the spirit in the lesson. It's great. So many people here are seeking for truth and are willing to change their lives when they hear about the gopsel.

 

One cool miracle we had this week was when we were finishing up a lesson one day at church and were walking out of the building. There was a guy who was walking past the church and was almost past it. My companion had the impression to run up to him and start talking to him. He invited the man to come into the church and take a tour and meet with us for a little bit. When we sat down and he started to talk to us he said that he felt that God had given him this opportunity to meet with us and that life has just been hard lately and he has been looking for somewhere to receive help. He has been really receptive and has accepted to be baptized after that first short lesson with him! He has been great and really is seeking for truth. The gospel is so miraculous in the ways that it is able to help people. We have been working hard

contacting at the intersections on our bikes and at the parks and on the street talking with everyone. Its been hard, but fun.

 

Other than teaching and finding on our bikes and in our parks, I have had some other pretty interesting experiences. I have tried a lot of new food since I have been here. Some including pig intestines and cartilage, dried pig's blood with rice, and some other weird stuff that i dont know exactly what it is. It's been pretty fun to see all of the different things they eat here. They have some crazy stuff! Another cool thing is that on Wednesdays we have the opportunity to teach English classes at the church. I taught the advanced class this week so everyone spoke pretty good english. The main point of the class is to get the students to talk and practice the language with each other. So we mostly just had discussions and talked about all sorts of stuff. They asked some questions about America and different things that were pretty funny.

 

The weather has been pretty good. It's been mostly dry. Yesterday was the first day that it rained and it kept up through today. Today is Preparation Day so we haven't  done any contacting in the rain yet, so we will have to see what that is like later tonight! I'm pretty excited.

I've Arrived

Hello Everyone!

 

It's been a week of many changes! We left for Taiwan last Tuesday at around 8:30 in the morning. On our flight to LA there happened to be a lady sitting behind my friend and she had a copy of the Book of Mormon in her hands and was reading it. He started to talk to her. She is from Taiwan but is currently living in Hawaii. She is not a member and had been visiting friends in Salt Lake City when she ran into some missionaries. She said that past weekend was the first time she really started to investigate church seriously and she was very interested in the church and in the Book of Mormon. The were able to talk to her and testify of the truthfulness of this book. It was really cool. They were able to get her contact information so that when she gets home she will be able to start meeting with some missionaries. It was cool to see the missionary work starting so quickly. 

The rest of the flights were long, but good. We arrived in Taiwan about 23 hours after we first left Provo.  What a culture shock! So many people and so many lights! It's a great place. We were picked up by our mission president, his wife, and the assistants. They took us to the mission home where we stayed for 2 days to receive some orientation and training before we met our companions and headed out to our proselyting areas. The mission home is right across the street from the temple so it was very cool to be there and wake up each morning to see the temple. Most people around in the neighborhood, when we talked to them, had said that they have seen the temple before. 

I think my mission president said that there are about 6 million people in the Taipei basin. The main area for missionary work. It is so cool. On Friday we were able to have our transfer meeting where I was able to meet my companion. His name is Elder Johnson. He is from Provo, Utah and he has been out for about a year and 4 months. His Chinese is sooo good. He's been such a help and a great companion.  He is really cool. He actually went to the University of Arizona for a year before his mission where he played baseball for them. So, both of us are collegiate athletes, I bet that doesnt happen too often in companionships! Kind of cool. We found out which area we are going to the same time and we are serving in the south Taipei area called Zhong He. 

Elder Johnson has been in this area for about 6 months. We were able to get our stuffed all moved over a little later that day. We had to take the "MRT" a little underground subway, which is supposedly the cleanest one in the world. It is super helpful! After some planning, we headed out to do some proselyting and we taught a lesson with a 16 year old who is preparing to be baptized. Right now we have about 12 investigators. They are all so great. It is awesome to be able to share the gospel with them and see their lives already changing even though it's only my 6th day here. One of our investigators, Mei, is so great! He just loves the gospel and eats everything up that we share with him about it. I have been able to meet about 5 other of our investigators and will meet more of them this week. 

The other crazy part about Taiwan is the traffic! It is nuts. There a tons and tons of scooters and cars everywhere and you just weave in and out of every one! It is a lot of fun. Especially contacting from the bikes at intersections. We usually have about 30 or so seconds to start talking to the person and get their interest and have to pull off to the side where we can talk to them about the gospel and set up a time to meet with them. It's crazy, but awesome! It's been a little hard for me because of the language, but each day is getting better and I get more and more confident at it. 

My companion has no fear! Ha, he talks with everyone, Literally. I know I need to do the same and am working on that a lot this week and improving my Chinese to be able to better talk with them. I have already learned so much! Yesterday, I was able to meet our ward. They are soo great! There are about 130 people in the ward and I was able to introduce myself and bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting. It was really fun and you could feel the spirit so strong in that meeting. They are all so great! Other than that, everything is going well. I am working my hardest each day. And I know that this gospel is true and will make changes in so many people's lives. It is just awesome. I love all the people here.

I hope everyone is dong well back home! Here in Taiwan my mission president allows me to receive emails from everyone. So feel free to send them! That is probably a lot faster than mail, but mail is still nice too! Time's up for today, but I'll let you know what's changed next week!

 

Love, Elder Bastian

Photos from the MTC

Sooo Close

We got our Travel Plans this past week! Next Tuesday, we leave from Provo at around 8 in the morning for the Salt Lake Airport. From their we will fly to the LAX airport and have and wait for a little while before we catch our next flight over seas. We go from LAX to Tokyo, Japan (i hope i will be able to find my way to the connecting flight there....) Then a quick flight from Japan to Taiwan, Taipei. Everyone is super excited. Today is our preparation day to get everything ready for the week, so i spent my time doing laundry, shining my shoes and a little bit of pre-packing to be ready to leave next week. I feel like this week is going to fly by, and then next thing i know, i will be walking of the plane stepping into a foreign land where i'm sure i wont understand what anyone is saying. So cool! I know that once i get to Taiwan, the language is going to take off because i will be completely immersed in it. I kind of hope that i get a native companion in the first couple transfers to really help me learn the language too. We shall see... Much is going to happen these next few weeks.

 

This past week has been great. Lots of studying and teaching. Everyone is trying to squeeze out the last little bit of information they can get before we go. I think the highlight of last week had to be our teaching opportunity on Saturday at the TRC. Two Saturdays ago we had the opportunity to teach a non-member from Beijing. She came with her friend to the TRC because she has gone to a few church activities with her friend at BYU and thought it would be cool to come to listen to us at the TRC. We were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and pray about it to know if it was true. It was cool because we also taught her how to pray. She had never really done it before then. But she committed to do the things we invited her to do. The really cool part of the story happened this last Saturday at TRC. We found out about 5 minutes before we were about to start teaching that the same group from the week before had requested to meet with us again (usually it is just random who we teach). We were pretty shocked because we had thought we would probably never see the two girls again, but we were able to! When we met with them, we asked Wu Jie Mei if she had done what we had invited her to do, and she said that she had! She had prayed and she really liked it. She said that she felt very peaceful. So, we continued to teach her about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, we asked her if she would like to meet with missionaries regularly outside of the MTC and she said that she was interested and would think about it. The two told us that they would be back next week (this coming Saturday) and would like to meet with us again. So as of now we are planning on teaching her again.  She has a lot of question's but is pretty interested and wants to know more about how this can help her in her life. It has been a really cool experience doing this here, since this is what i will be doing everyday once i get to Taiwan. I am learning a lot each day.

 

Anyways time is up, and this is the last email you will get from me here in the States! Next one will be from good ol' Taiwan! Hope everyone is doing well!

 

Love, Elder Bastian

The Countdown

Da Jia hao!

 

Thanks to everyone who has sent letters! I don't have much time to write back individually, but I want to let everyone know that I appreciate them and they always give me an extra boost of confidence and energy throughout the day. Hopefully my emails will give you a glimpse into how things are going, and I hope all is well for you too!

 

The time is counting down until I head out on a 14 hour flight to Taiwan! I am soo excited and trying to use every last minute I can to prepare to go with more knowledge and better skills, so that I might be able to help others. Everyone in the Chinese group is very anxious to leave.

 

Last Tuesday evening, we had the chance to hear from Elder David A. Bednar from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There is a cool little story that goes along with it. Usually every Tuesday we will leave about 45 minutes early to the devotional but last Tuesday, we thought that we should go about 30 minutes earlier and wait at one of the side doors instead to see if we could try and get better seats. I thought one of the apostles could possibly be coming because it had been about 8 weeks since the last one came. They let everyone in about 25 minutes before it started and we ended up getting 3rd row seats right in the middle!  It was soo cool!. He is a very genuine person and a powerful speaker. Everyone loved hearing from him. Too bad I didn't get to shake his hand afterwards!  Maybe next time.

 

The other highlights of the week were on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we had our TRC teaching opportuninty. We found out about a minute before that my companion and I were going to be teaching an actual investigator. We were pretty shocked. A bit nervous, but very excited. Her name was Wu jie mei. She is from Beijing and is currently at BYU for school. She has some friends in the church and has always admired the values that our church has, so she decided to start meeting with the missionaries to find out more. Saturday, she came with her friend to the TRC to hear from the Chinese missionaries. It was very cool to be able to teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. She was very interested and it was fun to be able to get a glimpse of what it will be like to teach people in Taiwan. The other highlight of the week was on Sunday.  The new Taiwan, Taipei temple president was in town for training and came up to the MTC to visit. He came to our branch meeting and then came and visited with my district afterwards. It was very nice to meet him and his wife. We were able to eat dinner with him and practice a little bit of our Chinese with him. He is a great guy and I can't wait to be able to see him again in Taipei!

 

Only 14 more days till I'm off to the tiny island on the other side of the world! Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well!

 

Love, Elder Bastian

 

P.S. I will attach a few pictures next week so you can see what the MTC is like. I didn't have much time to do it today.

The Buzz

Hello Everyone!

 

This has been awesome! We had, sure as some of you already know, General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. We able to hear from a lot of the leader of the church, and it was very inspiring and cool! President Monson announced that the age requirement for missionaries was changed from 19 to 18 for the guys and from 21 to 19 for the girls! It doesnt sound to profound from an email but this is a very big thing. The amount of missionaries serving is to expected to increase dramatically over the next year or so. This makes it much more convienient for missionaries to serve right out of high school and more of an opportuninty for the girls if the decide to. I know for a fact the BYU will be changed for ever! Pretty much no more 18 freshman on campus, everyone will head there after the mission at 20. This is such a great opportunity beacuse it will really allow the gospel to spead and move forward at an excellerated rate. Right now there are roughly 58,000 missionaries around the word with some 340 missions open. They predict that this number will go up significantly and subsequently plan to open more missions to new countries in the follow years. Maybe China? haha well we will have to see in time. Some of the other elders in my district have already recieved some letters from some of the friends back at home or at college who had decided to serve missions right away! It cool to see that it's already taking effect.

 

Things are going very well here. Everyone is getting excited because we leave in about 3 weeks and we will probably get our travel plans the end of this week or next. I am so excited. I know that I probably wont be able to understand too much when I get taiwan but i know that i'll start to pick it up quick one i've been immersed in it. As I have been here at the MTC, my biggest priority is to continue to stengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel so that I will be able to better help other know of the truths that I know and so many others around the world know. Obviously the next biggest priority is the language. It coming along well, but I wish that I was better at it! Often times when I am teaching I want to share some impressions or thoughts that I have but they come out in very broken chinese. It's frustrating sometimes, but i glad to know and at least have a little patience that it will all come in time.

 

On Sunday, our MTC devotional speaker was Chad Lewis the former NFL football player. I was so excited to see that he was speaking to us! I had met him on the BYU campus back in april as he over heard when I was talking to a friend that I would be going to Taiwan on my mission. He also went to Taiwan on his mission back in the 90's. He went to the mission my brother Marc went to, Tai Cheng. He gave me the biggest pep talk and was so excited for me! He told me how all I needed to know was how to say "Ni hao" and "Zai Jian" (hello, goodbye) and I would be ready to go and have an awesome time. So it was super cool to listen to him on sunday. He talked alot about the experience he had as a missionary and in the NFL and how all of his blessing in life after his mission has stemmed as a result of him serving. He is actually as of right now the NFL Ambassdor to China and translated the last Super Bowl for all of China. Pretty cool, huh? He is an awesome guy. He all so had the chance to hike mount kilimanjaro in Africa with some of the wounded warriors from afganistan and iraq, along with some of the other NFL players like Teddy Bruiski form the Patroit. As he was telling us these different experiences he related them all back to his mission and how when on the mission we need to rely on the Lord and He will do the rest. Often times we wont know what to say, but he said to just keep speaking, if you get discouraged, just pray. If you dont know what to do, just keep working. And as you do your best in all of these things, all areas of life, the Lord will take care of the rest. He will open doors to blessings you could have never have thought of. I really like his talk that he shared with us it was inspiring. I know that this is true. I have seen it in my life and countless others, including many of you who are reading this right now. I encourage everyone to recognize the the blessings you have been given in life, big and small. These are from the Lord. He loves you and is always taking care of you.

 

Wish I had more time to write, but I hope all is well for everyone!

 

Love, Elder Bastian

Being An Example

Shang ge libai guode hen hao! Nimen ne?

 

This past week has been pretty good! Lots of studying, eating and sleeping. Sometimes I wish I had more hours in the day to study everything that I want to. This weekend is General Conference where our prophet, Thomas Monson, the Twelve Apostles, and other church leaders will address the members around the world. There has been a lot of buzz around the MTC starting this week. We are all very excited to see what they have to say. I know that what they do say, is exactly what God wants us to hear at this time. How cool is that!? I hope everyone will be able to see it who wants to. Anyway, time is really starting to fly by. Last sunday marked the the one month count down 'til I leave for Taiwan! I am so excited. This past week we have been watching some of the mormon profile videos on Mormon.org. We watched a couple of the Chinese ones. It was pretty cool because we were able to see how the natives speak and it's a fun little test to see how much you know and cool to see different members around the world, in places where I will soon be! Another big thing that has happened this week is that all of the new Chinese speaking missionaries have arrived. It was funny to see the deer in the headlights expression that first day. I'm sure that's exactly how I looked. It's been great to get to know them a better and help them out.

 

On Sunday, the Branch President asked to speak with me and my companion. At first, we weren't to sure why, but he got to the point very quickly and asked if my companion and I would be will to serve as the next Zone Leaders (leaders for the Chinese speaking missionary group) from the following Sunday, until the older group of us leave to our respective countries. We were both pretty suprised. This has been why I chose to label this weeks email home, "Being an Example." As I have come to notice pretty quickly, is that when you are given an assignment like this... pretty quickly everyone knows who you are, especially the new missionaries and they look to you to been an example. It's been humbling to see all of those around me who I have an opportuninty to get to know better and serve and help in anyway I can. I'm trying hard to make sure that I am always doing my best in whatever I do so that I may be an example to them. The the most important thing that I want to do as a result of this assignment is to really just love everyone. Making sure that I am doing all that I can to help everyone in their needs. I'm excited for this experience that lies ahead of me!

 

On Saturday we again had the opportuninty to teach at the Teaching Resource Center. It was a little different this time around because instead of teaching two 20 min lessons like we have done before we were to teach one 40 min lesson. The person we met with this week was a returned missionary who is attending BYU. He grew up in Singapore and served his mission and Melbourne, Australia. Our topic that we wanted to teach about was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were able to discuss with him why he tought it was important, and how it has affected him in his life. As we strived to listen to the promptings of the Spirit we were guided in how to convey our message in a way that would allow him to be strengthened. 

At first, we thought that it would be hard to know what to say to him our how to go about the lesson because this guy was already a missionary and we didn't want to just teach another lesson to him. We wanted to convey it in a way that was personal to him and could help him even though he has already taught this same part many times. That is the goal of each of our lessons is to teach in a way that will convey the spirit to the investigator and allow them to know the truthfullness of the message and help build their faith and desire to act and change for the better. As we stopped worrying about what we needed to say and focused on him, we were guided in what to say. It was a very cool experience. Each time after we teach at TRC we always get a feed-back slip of how the people thought the lesson went. This week the returned missionary had written down our meeting together was the highlight of his week and really helped him to know what he should do in his life. So cool! I love teaching!

 

On last quick thing: I started playing 4 square this week its alot cooler than I remember back in elementary school! When everybody gets into it, its crazy fun!

Anyway, I got to get going but I hope that everyone has a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Bastian

Jia You

Hello Everybody!

 

This week has been great! We have been teaching most of the days to our role play investigators. I am really learning how to best teach each of the lessons and learn to teach by the spirit and allow Him to guide me in my words. Sometimes it's hard because I want say something in Chinese but I dont completely know how so this week I have been trying to expand my vocabulary so that I can testify and descibe things more effectively. I'm pretty sure that I have mastered that basic Chinese needed to teach! But I know that it is not good enough and that I need to keep striving to expand my vocabulary and listening skills. 

My companion and I taught at the Teaching Resource Center again on Saturday. The place where we teach real people who come in and volunteer to listen to us. It's pretty cool because we get to meet and share are message with new people each week. Most all of them are already members but I have had that chance to teach two people who aren't members so far. It is awesome. This last Saturday we taught a BYU student. It just so happens that I knew this student from BYU. He was is my missionary prep class. He has been taking Chinese for three years but hasn't had the opportunity to go because he has had some health issues but he hopes to get out soon. As we started to teach him and get to know him a little better I had the impression early on to bear my testimony to him that God loves him and that He knows each of us perfectly. 

That he is His son and that He is always there for him. I started to get choked up and didn't really know why I was testifying of these things at this point in the lesson, but I could feel the spirit and knew that he felt the spirit testifying to him that these things were true. He started to get a little choked up too. I know from then on that it wasn't and isn't ever me teaching the people but that I and all missionaries are just instruments in the Lord's hands to bring to pass His work. The spirit is the master teacher, and he will always let us know what is right. 

The second group of people that we were able to teach was a father and son and then another man who goes to BYU. You'd never guess but the son is only 8 years old and is already learning Chinese! I couldn't believe it. He doesn't know to much but he knew enough to introduce himself and say how old he is. His dad doesn't speak Chinese at all. The other guy was born and raised in China so his Chinese was perfect. It was fun to share our message with them and get to know them better. I have come to love teaching more and more.

I finally am over my cold after a long bout with it and it feels good to not be coughing anymore. This week I started to go jogging during my exercise time with one of the other elders. I have just do a mile each time we have run but still it feels good to be running again. The first time we went we ran a 7:34, the second time a 7:04, and then this last time a 5:49. I think I got a little ambitious :) but I'm loving it. I hope to be able to run a good solid mile by the time I leave. We will see what I can do then! Tonight we have our weekly devotional. We never know who the speaker is 'til we get there but we are hoping that one of the Apostles comes to speak again. The last once came about 4 weeks ago. We will see! I always love hearing from them. We hear such good talks every week! So spoiled! Anyway, time's up 'til next week.

 

Love,

Elder Bastian

Much More Learning

Da Jia hao!

 

This past week has been a pretty good one. I have been sick for the past few weeks and it is finally starting to go away which is great! I'm loving it here. I've reached the halfway point at the MTC. The older generation of Mandarin speaking missionaries all left today to their missions, so it's pretty quiet around our dorms and classrooms now. The total group had about 50 people in it and the new group that comes in 2 weeks only has 20. So, the Mandarin zone of missionaries will be much smaller for my last half of the MTC stay. It was cool to see how all of the missionaries have progressed in their language since I have been here. My branch president gave a farewell talk for the missionaries leaving and said how all of them next week would be sitting in Sacrament meetings all around the world. And possibly some of them would be assisting in a baptism that Saturday. How crazy would that be? It seems surreal to go from Provo, UT to the middle of Taiwan in about 14 hours. Im sure when I walk off the plane in about 6 weeks I will have a little bit of culture shock. David Jorgenson, my friend from High School just left to Tai zhong, Taiwan today. He was very exicted to leave. It will be cool to see how his experience is in Tai zhong and if there are many differences from how mine will be in Taibei. I'll be in the north half of Taiwan and possibly along the east coast (which supposedly has some of the world prettiest beaches!) and he will be in the southern half. I can't wait!

 

I titled this week's email, "much more learning" because as you reach the halfway point it seems like the learning curve starts to level out and you don't seem to be learning as quickly in the language. BUT, it all depends on your ability to study creatively and effectively. The Chinese language has some 5000 characters in it, and not to mention when you combine them it blossoms into thousands of meanings. My point is, there will always be more to learn! My branch president, (the leader for my group of missionaries church meetings) has studied the language for 50 years and he says he is still learning new things! He claims that you can never truly call yourself fluent in Chinese. It's pretty funny to think that. As my companion and I are figuring out, we need to constantly change our study so that it is effective and allows us to learn at a faster rate. My idea for this next week and into the coming weeks is to spend some of my time reading the Chinese Book of Mormon and comparing the English right along with the Chinese to learn some of the important terms that the scriptures have in them. I think this will allow me to utilize the Book of Mormon more effectively in my lesson and help the investigator be able to see how the Book of Mormon specifically applies to him or her. As of right now we usually use a scripture in our lessons but we really don't know what the investigator is saying when he reads them, we just have to remember the English meaning because the Book of Mormon language is much more formal and a larger vocabulary than I have learned. So we feel that this new way of studying will really be effective for us in learning and teaching.

 

Another importing thing that I learned this week, almost more important than being able to speak the language well, is the importance of having a strong and profound testimony of the Book of Mormon. A speaker came to talk to us this past Sunday about the Book of Mormon and its role in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. It was a very powerful and life changing talk. He talked about how the Book of Mormon is central to the belief in this entire church and how without it, it would be nothing. The Book of Mormon, truly was translated by the power of God. This book is "most correct of any book, and would help an man draw nearer to God than any other book if a man would abide by its precepts." -Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon truly is the Word of God. It contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and contains all the things we need to do to be able to return to our Father in Heaven. I learned from Brother Watson's talk that I must have a strong, unwavering testimony of this book if I am to help others see the imoportance of it. I love this book and I love reading it everyday and seeing how it helps me in my life and how it can help others. I hope that all other will come to see the truth of it also.

 

My time is up for this week, but I hope everything is going well for every as school is starting and the summer is ending!

 

Love,

Elder Bastian

The Work Continues

Dajia hao!

 

This week has been pretty great! I've started to get the used to the whole routine of studiying, eating, and teaching! Its been great though. The language is coming along well and my companion and I have had good success in our  lessons. We are really learning how to speak with the investigators!  This week we had about five opportunities to teach people. On Saturday for the first time we taught an investigator who is from mainland China. He is studying at BYU and is investigating the church with a friend. We had the oppurtininty to teach him about pray. It was very cool because he was able to see the importance of it and see how through prayer we can truly communicate with our Father in Heaven. He is always listening and will always help us, we just need to stay in touch with Him. I'm beginning to love teaching more and more. At first I was a little nervous with it because of the language barrier but the more I learn the easier it seems to teach. One thing that I have learned this week is that even though being able to speak Chinese is important, it's not everything. We need to be able to bring the Spirit to those we meet with and allow the Spirit of God to teach those we meet with the truths of His message. I have learned that this is not my work but it is the Lord's work. I am just assisting in it, and how great it is!

 

This week the group of Mandarin speaking missionaries that came in the transfer before us (transfer is every 6 weeks) are leaving to their missions around the world. There are people in the Chinese group going to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New York, Manchester England, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, California, and a few others that I'm sure I am forgetting. Its crazy to see how Christ's church is spreading around the world and how the fullness of His gospel is being spread to every continent, every nation, every city, and every ear. This is the Lord's work and He will cause it to go forth until everyone has the opportuninty to hear and accept it. I can't wait to get to Taiwan and experience everything that will go on there. I'm excited for the food, the city, the people, the culture, and yes I can't believe im saying this, but even the rain! (at least for now). Although I still have 7 more weeks here, which seems long, I am loving every minute of it. And I am sure I will love it even more once I arrive in Taiwan. I am learing more and more each day how to have love for each and every person. We are all truly God's children, He loves us, He wants us to return to him, and has provided a way through our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Along with all the learning that has been going on, we do have the chance to get to get in some exercise and sports days out of the week for about and hour each day. I've been taking it pretty easy since I have been here. Not any running or anything, but I think I will be able to start up again soon. I have been playing a little bit of volleyball and frisbee which has been fun. But I can't wait to be able to go for a little jog again! Anyways, I am about out of time for this week. I hope everyone is doing well and doing their best!

 

Love,

Elder Bastian

A Teaching Frenzy

Hello Everyone!

 

What a week it has been! I am loving it here at the MTC. This past week we have been given several opportunities to teach. The first great experience was on Saturday. For the first time since we have been here, we went to the Teaching Resource Center (TRC) where we will now go to every Saturday to teach real people, instead of just teachers or others role playing. The people we teach at the TRC are usually BYU students or others who live in the area that have been to Chinese speaking mission, and also a few people who are from Chinese speaking areas who are here for vacations or who are studying abroad at BYU. So our first go at real teaching, we ended up with this guy and this girl who were attending BYU. I think they were dating, but they may have just been good friends. The guy had served his mission in Australia, Mandarin speaking and the girl was from Taiwan, Taipei. We were super exited to teach them. I was a little nervous before hand, but as my companion and I prayed beforehand to have the spirit to be with us to help us teach i felt a wave of calm come over me. I walked into the room where the two people were and instantly i had a smile on my face and thought, this is going to be great! The Chinese just came to my companion and I and we spoke so well! We were taught the two a little about God's plan for us and how through Jesus Christ we can return to our Heavenly Father after this life. We then talked about the Book of Mormon and how it talked about Jesus Christ and his gospel and that through reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, we are able to know that it is the word of God, that the fullness of Christ's gospel and His church have been restored, and that we do have a modern prophet on the Earth again today. It was very cool to be able to testify of the truthfulness of these things in the Mandarin language. We then shared our favorite scriptures with them. Overall the first lesson went great! They both told us that they were suprised at how well we spoke the language. It was comforting to hear that from them.

 

The next pair that we taught was a father and son who are from Taiwan, Taipei! They are here in Provo 'til November beacuse the man's wife is going to school at BYU to get her degree. The were both so cool and so kind! We loved talking with them about our families and Taiwan and everything it was so fun. We also, taught them about the same things as we did the other pair. At the end I asked the man how the gospel has blessed him and his family in his life and he explained how throught scripture study and prayer to our Heavenly Father, his family has been able to over come any struggles that they have had. It was so cool to hear his testimony and it really just showed me that the church is true where ever you go around the world. We truly are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

 

The next to opportunities to teach were with Wei di xiong and Mao jie mei. We had meet them both once before. They are our regular investigators. Again our lessons went sooo well. My companion and I just prepared as best as we could to teach the two and we left the rest up to the Lord to help us out, and He really did. There were times in the lesson where I was listening to our investigators speak and I didn't know what they were saying but I could understand what they meant. It was an awesome experience. The spirit truly helped us teach and testify to Mao and Wei. My companion and I walked away from the lessons feeling great. The language has just been coming along so well this past week!

 

I guess the only downside to this past week has been that a cold has been going around and I happened to get sick for a few days. I actually lost my voice from it so I could only whisper in a raspy voice and it was pretty funny to teach like that. I'm pretty sure that it was hard for them to understand me... but luckily it is gone and passed! I'm back to normal now. Well, my time is up for the computer, and I've got to get going.

Hope everyone is doing well! 

Love,

Elder Bastian