Christmas Carols

Hello!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year too! 

This past week went well here in Tucheng.

On Christmas Day, I had the opportunity to conduct a mission wide conference that President Day put on. It was a great conference, with trainings from the assistants and other zone leaders. I have to say though that probably the best part was...the Lunch! The president's wife and all of the other senior couple missionaries cooked for hours and prepared a wonderful christmas lunch that included turkey, mashed potatoes, costco rolls, and cookies! I have to say, I do miss american food a little bit. Its just so good!

After the conference our district leader wanted the district to do something special since it was chirstmas, so afterwards we all went to the city Ban Qiao which is a very high-end populated city that had a lot of Christmas displays/ activities going on. We went to this big courtyard that was there all lit up and we sang Christmas carols as a district while we took turns having one of us pass our flyers and inviting others to come to a different christmas activity that our ward was holding that friday. It was a lot of fun, many people were taking pictures of us Americans. The best part too was that on Friday, 2 people actually came to the church activity as a result of our efforts!

The miracle of the week was that our investigators that we recently set a baptismal date with was able to come to church for the first time on sunday. We also had a great lesson with him before on the plan of salvation. He has felt recently that his life has been extremely boring and did not have much direction lately, just work, go to school, eat and sleep. He says he cant really even remember one very "happy" memory in his life. It was sad to here him tell us his feelings. But as we taught him about the purpose of life and being able to return to Heavenly Fathers presence I really felt the spirit testify to the truthfulness of this message. I am so thankful for the knowledge that we have about God's plan for us. I feel that he know has a good desire to receive an answer to his prayers and feel of the happiness that we have felt from this gospel. We are excited for him.

We have a few other good investigators that we are excited to meet with this week too.

Well that about wraps it up for the main events of the week!

I hope everyone has a happy new year! 

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Christmas Eve!

Hello and Merry Chirstmas!

(It's Christmas Eve here right now...)

First, just want to say that I am grateful for the Christmas Season and for the help it has given me in reflecting and thinking more deeply and frequently about the Savior.

This past week Elder Chatman and I worked very hard to achieve each of our goals. We were able to do well in helping the ward be involved in helping us teach our investigators.  We hope to continue to keep it up! This Sunday, we were also able to set a baptismal date with one of our investigators that come to the Christmas pageant with us. It was a great lesson and he really seems to have a desire to feel God's influence in his life.

This past week we were able to meet with the assistants to the president of our mission for a bit and be able to discuss some principles of leadership and also plans that we have made for the zone and our companionship. It was a spirit filled meeting.

 I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with an Elder Anderson in our zone this past weekend and it went great. He is a great missionary. I was really impressed with his ability to preach the gospel. He has many great skills as far as relating to people and teaching gospel messages, then applying them to people. I learned a lot from him and his example. 

Yesterday, as we were out side talking to people about the gospel, we met a man who set up to meet with us this Saturday to learn more, so we are very excited! Some other miracles that happened this past week were at church. We had an entire family of 4 show for the 2nd half of church all by themselves. One of the daughters used to attend English, and recently their father has been expreincing a lot of health problems and struggles so the daughter took the whole family to church! Some brothers in the ward were able to give the man a blessing and we were able to meet them and get their contact information. They said we could meet with the whole family in 2 weeks! We are SUPER PUMPED! We also have another family of 4 that will becoming back to church on the 12th for their second time! They came the week before and are a member referral from a xindian member. We are also trying to schedule a time to meet with them. We have many great potentials here in Tucheng, and are working really hard to get them all set up and begin feeling the peace that can come into there lives through coming to know their Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sorry this weeks email is a little jumbled. My time is a little rushed today.

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that Christ and our Families will be the center of our lives this wonderful season, and throughout the new year.

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Miracle on the MRT

Hello Everyone!

This past week has gone well here in Tucheng. It didn't go the way we had hoped or planned to as a lot of our investigators weren't able to meet this week because of various reasons, but we still did see some miracles! 

One of which was a man that I had contacted about a month ago on the MRT (underground subway) on a P-Day. We had given him an English tract after talking for a while (his English is super good) and then he hopped of the MRT and we thought we would never see him again.... we were WRONG!  He showed up to English Class this past week and ended up meeting with us afterwards. He said how after he met us a series of events happened and he wants to learn more about Christianity now! He seems to have a huge desire to get an answer from God. We invited him to baptism but he said that he wants to wait a bit before he answers us. We are really excited for him though. God has once again blessed us with a miracle!

This past week Elder Chatman and I also held our monthy Zone Meeting and ended up having a suprise visit from President Day which was good. We talked a lot about focusing on baptism as that is the gateway for each of us and all of the children of God to be able to come closer to Him. President Day also talked to us about some of the other things we can focus on the help us Hasten the Work. It was an inspiring meeting!

This weekend we also had the opportunity to go to Tapei and watch the Christmas nativity pageant they put on every year. We brought an investigator and a new member. It was a lot of fun and we were all able to feel the Christmas spirit. 

I love this time of year and am so great for for our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he has done to enable us to change our lives through following His example. He has blessed my life and my family tremendously!

I hope that all will be able to feel of the love and happiness He can bring to our lives.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Season.

Love,

Elder Bastian

Christmas Spirit

Hello Everyone!

Well, Elder Chatman and I are starting to feel the Chirstmas spirit more fully here in Tucheng, and we are really pushing, hoping, and praying to be able to give Christ a great gift this month.

This week was a little bit tougher on the finding side. We spent upwards of 20 hours finding, including all day Friday and Saturday. We split the finding between street contacting and tracting. We were able to find a few good potentials, have lessons, and place some Book of Mormons to them on the street.  We just need to schedule an open time with them to meet again before they can continue to learn more.  Right now we have several good investigators and are excited to see them discover more and more about how this restored gospel can bless their lives! 

One miracle this past week has been our investigator Brother Cai. He is about 50, short, and over 300 pounds. He is a teddy bear though! He has grown up buddhist so prayer has been hard for him to adjust to and to develop into a personal habit, but he has committed to come to church each week and came for the second time yesterday! He also set a baptismal date with us for January. I really feel like he will get baptized in time as he comes to understand the doctrine, because he is so willing to come to church!

My time is about up for this week. Sorry I wasn't able to get much in, but I hope that you all have a wonderful week as you continue to prepare for the Christmas season. May Christ and his message of hope permeate from our spirits this month as we seek to remember all that he has done for us.

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

After the Trial of Your Faith

Hello Everyone!

Another week has flown by here in Tucheng. Elder Chatman and I are always surprised that it is PDay as we felt the the last PDay was only a few days ago. This past week we were able to have some great lessons with our progressing investigators. Right now, we are most excited for our investigating couple. We have been really striving to help them start reading the Book of Mormon and our homework for them before our last appointment was to read to chapter 3 of first Nephi. When we met the husband said that he had only read the first chapter and didn't understand too much, while the wife was sitting there pretty quiet when all of sudden she said "I read to chapter 8!" We all looked at her wide eyed and excited! She really understood it too and talked about Nephi's example and how she couldn't believe how stubborn Laman and Lemuel are. We then had a good lesson on faith and reading from the Book of Mormon. We also had a Thanksgiving activity Saturday and Elder Chatman was able to take them while I was on exchanges in SanXia and it sounds like they loved it and were able to meet a lot of members! Our next goal is to set baptismal dates with them and get them to church!

We have a few other investigators that are progressing and just waiting on some answers, I hope they come soon.

This past week for the zone overall seemed to go pretty well. There seems to be a bit more fire now after the transfers and new missionaries that have arrived in the zone.

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Illu in his area. He is from the Salt Lake area. He is doing just great. He is not afraid to talk to anyone and has a huge desire to share the gospel and find those who the Lord wants him to. I was very impressed with his super positive attitude and his ability to set goals and really strive to do all that he can to achieve them. Although he is not the senior companion in his area, he is pretty much leading it. 
This past week in Tucheng we have been getting out and trying to do a bit more tracting in the evening, striving to find families. Last week we didn't see much success in finding but this past week were were able to to see several miracles out of tracting. We found a new investigator and 2 other great potentials that we had lessons with and are now just trying to find another time to set up. I was a little hesitant about how tracting in the Taipei area would influence our results, but we are learning and experiencing that miracles really can come from it! An interesting pattern that I noticed was that much of the success we have seen lately has always happened as we tracted the last few houses, right before we are about to leave the area and head back. The miracles really do not come 'til after the trial of our faith.

Recently Elder Chatman and I have been fasting more for spiritual strength and the blessing of our investigators and I have really felt the influence of the Lord lifting us and helping our investigators.

We hope to be able to see much success in the future, seeing other partake of the blessing that come from this restored gospel.

Well, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has another great week!

Love you all,

Elder Bastian

Christ Was a Vegetarian?

Hello!

This past week had a few great things happen. We have been meeting with one investigator named Mr. Qiu who didnt seem to be top interested at first but this past week he has really started to progress. He is praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He has started to read the BOM and reads it with the bible for about an hour each night and he completely understands the doctrine we teach him. He is attending a Baptist church right now but is super open to meet with us. I really hope he continues to investigate with with real intent a gets an answer to his prayers soon!

We also have been meeting with a family for a little while now and it seemed like they were progressing more slowly. We met this past week and the mom has started to pray with their 1 and a half year old daughter every night! We also re-invited them to baptism in the middle of teaching the Plan of Salvation and they both said that after they learn a little bit more that "YES" they would like to be baptized! We first invited them a month or so ago and they seemed really unsure. We are excited for them and will set a date this Tuesday as we teach them about the Gospel of Christ!

Another awesome thing that happened this week was Ward Council. I feel that is was the first time since I have been here in Taiwan the the member/leaders really came together to get ideas flowing on how they can help with retention of new members, HOME TEACHING, and getting members to the temple. Some great plans started to come together and we are focusing on every quorum/auxiliary being an active part in each of these categories, working together. They finally have started to tap into the potential of a "ward COUNCIL". I really felt the spirit there and hope that much lasting good come because of these regular meetings. We are excited!

Lastly, one funny experience that I want to sure with you guys. This past week as my companion and I were walking down a more busy street, we looked over to the other side of it and saw this man with an anxious look pointing at us. He then started to run across the street towards us still pointing. We stopped and he got to us then asked if we could speak chinese. We said yes, and then he asked me if I eat met and I also said "yes..." much more skeptical now. He then started exhorting me to repentance to because I am not a vegetarian, saying that Christ was a vegetarian! I then asked him if he thought I was committing serious sins and he replied, "Of course you are!" and continued to call me to repentance while poking me in the shoulder as I slowly started to walk backwards away from him. He was NUTS! It was pretty funny but at the end when he was following me a little bit poking me in the shoulder I started to get a little anxious. 

My companion and I are glad that we now have a very funny story to tell others.

Well, that about wraps it up for the week! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Bastian

Many Miracles

Hello everyone!

Its been a great week here in Tucheng. This past week things started to get up and rolling and we were able to meet with a lot more of our investigators which was great and to cap it off, Brother Zhang was baptized!!! It was a wonderful experience for him, he even brought his friend that he has been starting to share the gospel with. How cool! I forgot to take my camera the baptism, so I will try to get my companion to send me the picture and I will email it next week.

We had a couple cool miracles this past week; the first I would like to share is also about Brother Zhang.

After his confirmation and sacrament meeting on Sunday, our Elder's Quorum President put on a little meeting for all the recent converts and he taught about Genealogy/Temple work and the importance of it. He talked about establishing goals to go regularly starting as soon as they can. Afterwards, Brother Zhang came up to me and said, "It's a miracle, really it's a miracle!" He explained to me how in his family not one single person has kept their family history except for his father. He said his father always told him that his other family members never did it because they were too busy, so he did it. He said, "even though my father is not a member, he is a good person and I know that God prepared my father to do this Family History so that I would have the opportunity to take all of their names to the temple and do their work for them!" He was SO excited. (Genealogy in Taiwan and China is a super important tradition and a way that helps people here to be able to remember their ancestors). Brother Zhang is really great at noticing the blessings God has given him.

The other miracle came from tracting on Saturday. We knocked into a man who popped his head out the window and told us to wait 2 minutes for him, then he came out and told us to tell him what we got, he wants to here it, and to do all we can to persuade him. He was serious! It was a special experience. He really seems to be one seeking for truth and said that he would be willing to do the experiment. He will meet with us today so we are really excited. MIRACLE!

This past week I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Leo from New York. He is a great newer missionary. His special talent is just being able to stay relaxed and be funny, which is so important out here in the mission! I really felt lifted up by his personality as I was around him. It was a good experience.

This pretty much wraps it up here. Overall this week went great! I hope everyone else all has a great week!

Love,

Elder Bastian

Roller Coaster

Hello Everyone!

This past week has been a little bit more of a roller coaster. You would think that being out for over a year it would get easier. NO! Ha ha.  I guess the ride doesn't end till we get off the roller coaster, or in this case, on the plane home.

First off! The great news... Our investigator Brother Zhang passed his interview this past Saturday and will be baptized this coming Saturday at 7 pm. He is just great.  The gospel fascinates him, and he is actively participating in the quorum lessons at Church. It's been inspiring to watch him build his faith in the Savior and see the blessings that come from living the gospel principles. 

Much of our time the rest of the week was spent fulfilling our back up plans because many investigators were "No Shows". It was a little frustrating for Elder Chatman and me.  One thing I have been trying to focus on is staying humble, and seeking to understand the Lord's will. Sometimes it's just hard! But we are continuing to learn and grow.

One other miracle we had though was meeting with our new investigator Saturday night. He was set up to meet at 7, but by 7:15 he still hadn't shown up. We had called him twice and he had not answered, so we started to pack up our bags and were about to leave when he showed up!  We sat down with him and ended up having a great lesson about the Restoration. The spirit was present as he had a natural desire to learn about God and ask questions, Elder Chatman and I both especially noticed that. We are excited to see what turns out for him.

This past week, I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Mansell in his area in Xin Ban. It went very smoothly. Elder Mansell is just great. He has a great desire to do the work  and he seeks to recognize his weaknesses and overcome them. His Chinese is rapidly improving even though he is a newer missionary.  One thing I thought was interesting is that Elder Mansell and his companion both have hearing aids which makes it really hard for them to contact people on the streets while riding bikes as it is really loud and hard for them to hear voices over the background noise.  They often have to walk (instead of bike) and contact at parks where it is quieter. We had a good time together.

It's been awesome to come out on the mission and see all the different backgrounds that everyone has come from whether as missionaries, member,s or non-members and how the Lord has influenced their lives and has a plan for them.

Well, that about wraps it up for things over here. Hope that everyone has a great week! 

Love you all,

Elder Bastian

Missionary Leadership Council

Hello!

 

The winter weather is starting to kick in here and I wore my long sleeve shirt for the first time in a long time!

Things are going well here in Tucheng. Right now we have one investigator, Brother Zhang he is just golden. I found him about 5 weeks ago one the street and he will be getting baptized not this Saturday, but next. This will be the first of my converts that I personally (well, really with the help of the spirit) have found and taught the whole way to baptism! This past week he said something to Elder Chatman and I as we were leaving the chapel that I hope to never forget. He said, "I never imagined I would be here. This place is awesome!" Sunday during our lesson after church he said, "I've just seen too many miracle's" (since coming here to not believe in God). Were so excited! We are also pumped for the mission-wide White Chirstmas. (They plan to have a special baptismal sevice on Christmas day).  We also really hope and are striving to find a family in this next week or so and help them to come unto Christ in the month we celebrate his birth. How cool would that be?

Right now we are still striving to figure out where we should go since we are limited to about 2 streets to contact on and then tract in the surrounding areas. We are limited because of walking, but we are starting to figure out where all the different buses go in our area and are trying to get to different areas to possible tract/contact. This week we saw a miracle as we took the bus to a local college to see if we would be able to find there. The first person we talked to after getting of the bus was a college student who seemed very interested! He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon right there and set up for later in the week. Right after that we tried to go into the college but it did not work out, so it really was a miracle that we ran into that kid!

This past week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Hagedorn a missionary from Provo, Utah. He is great. He is a very organized missionary who works smart and I was able to learn a lot from his example. His Dad happend to own a chinese food resturuant on University avenue, that after talking to Elder Hagedorn, I found out I used to run by it almost everyday when I was at BYU. What a small world! I guess a lot of returned missionaries that went to Taiwan often go there to eat. I will have to try it when I get back.

This past week my companion and I were able to participate in the Missionary Leadership Council in Taipei. This meeting happens once a month, where all of the Zone Leaders will come and meet with the President of our mission to discuss the vision, goals, and plans for the next month. We all seek to come with a humble and open heart to be able to learn what the Lord wants us to. Each time I have been there, I truly have felt the Spirit and inspiration given to me, more than most any other time. Its a very cool experience.

This week we hope to just really focus in on sanctifying ourselves, working hard, and listening to then following the promtings of the spirit. We hope to continue to see the miracles!
希望大家有一个很棒的礼拜!

Hope you all have a great week!

Love you,

Elder Bastian

Miracles Follow

This past week has had a lot of good events happen! My companion and I were able to attend Elder Martin and Elder Illu's baptism at our Chapel. We had been preparing for their baptism too, that week we made a goal to invite every single investigator that we met with to come and see Brother Xie's baptism. Saturday rolled around and 2 of our investigators came and one brought his friend too! I think it was a really good experience for both of them. They both have a desire to get baptized and one should be in about 3 weeks!

The past few weeks we have been working with a Brother Zhang. He is Golden! He eats up everything we teach him. This past weeks miracle came when we shared with him the Word of Wisdom. He said that he had a problem with tea and coffee as he often drinks them both but he commited on the spot to quit. When he came to the baptism, he walked up to me and said, "Elder Bastian! I have quit drinking tea and coffee!" It was touching to see his enthusiasm to keep the commandments. I know its only been a few days since we shared it, but his desire to follow the Savior will lead him to a life full of faithfulness.

The other investigator that came to the Baptism doing great too. He absolutely loves the gospel and knows its all true. We are now just praying and waiting on his parents to soften their hearts and allow him to join the church. He is at Tai Da (The best college in Taiwan) and they fear his grades will drop if he comes to church.
It will be exciting to see Brother Zhang get baptized as this will be my first baptism since March! The hard work seems to be finally paying off!!!

This past week I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Gerrard and Elder Beck who are in the zone. They both are doing great and has a pure desire to serve the Lord.
Elder Gerrard is just a solid missionary. His skills are all balanced and all great! The thing that stuck out to me the most was his desire to talk to everyone and share his testimony. He had a wonderful self quote that said something along the lines of, "you can never share too much testimony." Elder Beck is a ball of missionary fire as always. Its inspiring to be around this newer missionary. When we were on exchanges Friday i told him that we would have to cut our dinner time short to be able to make it to an appointment on time and he said, "Its ok, as long as we are preaching the gospel!" .
The both of them are doing great!

Elder Chatman and I are getting the hang of things around here. Its been a good few last weeks. We are focusing on taking care of the awesome investigators we have and find some good new ones! We have had to switch up a lot of the things that we had originally wanted or used to do since now we proselyte completely by foot because Elder Chatman's knee is injured and cant ride a bike. It limits us in some ways, but has truly opend doors in others. We have seen the guidance of the Lord as we rely on Him, and miracles follow.
We are learning a lot and I love it.
Hope everyone has a great week at home, work or school.

希望你们都有一个成功的礼拜！

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Moroni's Promise

Hello Everyone!

 

Another week has flown by here in Tucheng. It felt like we spent a lot of time up in Taibei this past week and then I look back and see that week actually did! It was great to be able to attend the temple, participate in the specialized training, and be able to a special broadcast last night. I often felt the spirit, helping me know that I am doing what the Lord wants me to. I am so greatful this opportunity to serve and for all the wonderful experiences I have shared with these people here. I pray that I wont forget them.

 A big miracle this past week was when we met with our investigator 李弟兄 (Brother Li). He has met for a while now and has had a lot of concerns, but I could always feel his potential. It wasn't until our last lesson with him until he has shown it. We read the first chapter of Nephi with him to help him see how he can receive revelation from the Book of Mormon and then reveiwed Moroni's promise of how to know if this book is true. Afterwards he turned to us and said. "You know, If I knew this book is true... I would get baptized really fast!" We were super excited. We promised fervently that he could get his answer from God as he reads and prays sincerely. I hope he gets it soon! We plan to set a baptismal date with him this week. 

Right now we have one investigator that will be baptized in November. His name is 张弟兄 (Brother Zhang). He is pretty golden! We taught him that Sabbath day on Friday and at first he expressed that he had some concerns with it because he used to meet with his friend every Sunday. We told he we knew this was a commandment from God and that if he prayed about it God would provide a way for him to meet with his friend and be able to come to church. He commited. Sunday night he came to the conference, said that he had talked to his friend and he change his time to meet with him so he can come to church every Sunday now! WOOOO! M i r a c l e!

This week we will be going on exchanges with Elder Gerrard and Mansell. I will be with Elder Mansell in XinBan. It will be a great opportunity to continue to help him progress his skills. He is a great missionary and has a pure desire to serve the Lord. 

On Friday we also had the opportunity to meet with the Bishop in our ward and his family to strengthen our relationship with them. It was my first time meeting with his family we had a good time. We will also be meeting with the Ward Mission Leader's family tonight. Elder Chatman and I really hope that our efforts will make long-term impacts in the ward here, so that more doors will be opened and missionary work can progress as members and missionaries work together.

I am grateful for the many blessing that I have in my life, particularly my family and this restored gospel. I hope and pray that many others will be able to recieve these wonderful blessings also!

Have a great week everyone!

I love you!

Elder Bastian

Transfers and a New Companion

Hello Everyone!

 

It's been a pretty eventful last week here in Tucheng including transfers, a new companion and being able to watch Genereal Conference. All of it was great!

My companion Elder Forbes ended up moving to TaiDong, which is a city on the South eastern coast of Taiwan. It is often the dream place to go to for many missionaries. I'm sure he will love it there. I also have a new companion! His name is Jordan Chatman and he happens to be from Washington also, Vancouver. He is an awesome missionary. I have been blessed to have some great companions who have I learned a lot from their examples. Elder Chatman will finish his mission in May or so and will head back to play basketball for BYU as a point guard so I'm sure you will hear more of him in the near future. We have only been together for about a week, but we are already seeing miracles. We are excited for the success that we will be able to see in these coming transfers.

This past week has been pretty great. One of the highlights was on Thursday before Elder Forbes moved, our investigator who is college student right now called us and he told us how he is so grateful that he has been able to meet us about a month ago and expressed how thankful he for this gospel and all the changes that it has made to his life already. It was a really neat exprerience that really helped us feel that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing here in Taiwan. His parents have a bit of opposition to him joining the church right now as they fear that he it will influence his school a lot, but we are praying that they will open up more to it in the coming weeks. We will be able to meet with him this Wednesday after our English class. We're excited!

Another huge highlight was being able to watch the broadcast of General Conference. I really like all of the talks from the Prophet and other General Authorities. It is always inspiring to hear the council they give us. I know that it truly is what God whats us to know at this period of time. I especially like Elder Hales talk about the importance to review and study these talks that they have all given and seek to apply these gospel principles in our lives as that is what will truly bring us blessing. I know that is something that I want to do in these coming months so that I may continue to receive inspiration on how I can have a more happy life and be able to more fully help all of these people around me.

Today is our Preparation Day and we will have the opportunity to go to the temple. I'm really excited because I havent been able to go for about 7 months, since I was on the east coast for a while and it was too far away from the temple to go then. I know that the temple truly is the house of the Lord and that we can go there to seek and find the peace and comfort that we need as we go about our lives. It is always a special experience to go to the temple.

After that we will also go to this mountain top gondola ride as a zone activity. I have heard that it is really pretty and fun. I will take pictures and try to send some home next week for everyone to see!

Well that about wraps it up for this past week. I hope that everyone has a great time at school, work or what ever the current project is!

Love you all!

Elder Bastian 

Waiting 'Til The Weekend for Conference

Hello Everyone!

 

Another week has flown by here in Tucheng. The transfers ends this Friday and I will probably be getting a new companion as Elder Forbes has already served here for 4 transfers which is usually how long a Zone Leader is in one area. It will be sad to see him go! We have seen so many cool miracles together!

Well this past weekend was General Conference, I hope that all of you had the opportunity to watch it. I'm sure it was just amazing! Sadly, we have to wait till this next weekend to watch it here because they need to first translate everything. So, I am anxiously waiting to here from the Prophet, Apostles, and other General Authorities!

Last week went pretty great! We were able to meet with more of the people we have recently contacted, so there has been some great new people coming in to investigate the church. One of the cool miracles happened on Tuesday. We had scheduled to meet with a man named Mr. Yang. This was his second time meeting with us and as we finished up our other lesson and walked out to meet Mr. Yang we say 3 people instead of 1... He brought his wife and child! We were so excited to be able to start teaching a family, they seem really great too. He had let his wife know that he would be coming to our church to learn more and she asked if she could come with him! We were able to sit down with them and introduce ourselves and our purpose as missionaries and then teach them a few basic principle of the gospel. We hope to be able to meet with them again this week and then see them at church on sunday!

Another great part of the week was last night. We saw so many miracles! We had originally planned to head up to Taipei with a recent convert to watch a missionary program that the mission puts on every first week of the month, but our recent convert last minute wasnt able to come. So as we left the subway station we went outside to our bike and pray to know where the Lord would want us to go this evening. After praying my companion and I felt that we should bike over to the neighboring city (Shu Lin) which is about 20 minutes away. Last night, almost every person that we talked to stopped and was willing to listen us and 3 people set up to meet with us right on the spot! It was awesome! The best part is that 2 of the people that set up said they would also bring their families when they come! So my companion and I are really excited for the next week and we have a lot of new people that we should be meeting with.

On Wednesday we also had the opportunity to head over to Taipei for our Mission Leadership Council, where all the zone leaders, the assistants, and the mission president meet and discuss a vision, goals, and plans for the next months work here in Taiwan for the mission. It was a really special experience as we all prayed and humbly saught the Lord's direction in this meeting. We were all able to see the spirit lead this meeting and in the end were able to come up with some great plans.

Well it should be an exciting next week! I hope that everyone back at home has a great time! This about wraps it up for me.

I love you all!

Elder Bastian

Short on Time

Hello Everyone!

 

Sadly, I must say that this email will be shorter than last week's email. This week time is a little more limited, Sorry!

Last week turned out to be a really good week. We were able to do a lot of good finding and saw some amazing miracles as we sought to follow the spirit and do our best. We were able to run into and college student named Eric Zhang and he set up to meet with us later last week. We taught him about God and the restoration of the gospel. He loved it! He said, "I know I don't know much about this, but I believe in Jesus now!" He also said that he would be willing to get baptized as he comes to feel that this is the right decision for him. I was so stoked! The Lord is truly preparing people and placing them in our paths. 

I am so grateful that I am just able to be here and be a part of this work. We have also recently started meeting with another student who studies at the number 1 college here in Taiwan. He is super smart and loves the gospel. He has come to church the past two weeks and has stuck around and hung out with others there on his own! We are really excited for him too.

Well that's about all I have time for. The rain has started to come back as I hear it has too in Washington. The seasons are finally beginning to change.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. I love you all SO much!

Elder Bastian

The Book of Mormon Really Does Have The Answers

Hello Everyone!

 

This week's letter will be a bit shorter due to time, but it's been a solid past week here in Tucheng. We were able to withstand another Typhoon! (It sounds impressive but it actually wasn't too bad where I live). The rains came and there was a little bit of wind but we were still able to go outside and tract in the city.

This past week we were able to have some key lessons with a few investigators. One of them was Brother Que. He is 52 and has a great desire to be baptized, but is still struggling with smoking and finding someone to take care of his elderly father on Sunday morning so he can come to church. We met with him last night and were able to talk about the power of the atonement in helping us to change as we turn towards the savior like Alma the Younger did in the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson and he felt that he was really able to relate with him. After we read that part with him, he stopped and looked at us with a quiet but happy look and said, "The Book of Mormon really does have all the answers..." It was a powerful witness to me of the importance of this book in regards to our message and the conversion of anyone who seeks to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm confident that through the Lord's help Brother Que will be able fully prepare for baptism.

We were also able to go on exchanges again this past week. I was able to go with an Elder Hagedorn and Elder Illu who are both from Utah. They are great missionaries and it was fun to be able to work for the Lord with both of them.

Overall this past week was another good week.

I love the Lord, and I love this work. It may be difficult at times, but salvation never did come easy, so I am willing to put for the work for my Savior and my fellow brothers and sisters.

I hope that everyone has a great week back at home!

Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Coming Along

Hello Everyone!

 

Wow, it really has been a busy week this past week.  It's been tiring but so worth it! This past week a few cool things happened that I will highlight in my email today.

First off, our investigators are still coming along. We have meet with many this past week - older and newer investigators. We were able to meet with two of them that have baptismal dates for the 28th of this month. One is a father in his early 50's and the other is 21 and in his last year of college. They both have a great desire to be baptized and are still just trying to overcome a few things right now. It has been so inspiring to see them change through the atonement of Christ. That's what has attracted them to this gospel. They both have had some challenges in their lives and since they have heard about the sacrifice that our Savior has made for us and the enabling power of the atonement to change lives through faith, repentance and baptism; they have grown so much and have really begun to develop a testimony of God's love for them. My companion and I are excited to continue meeting with them to help them be prepared to be baptized.

This past week we have also been able to find some great new investigators. One of them is a Mr. Gu, who was a referral from another set of missionaries in Taibei. He met with us on Saturday for the first time and we had a good lesson where we invited him to be baptized at the end. He said when he receives an answer he will. We also invited him to church for the next day and he came! He is great and seems so willing to learn! He is about 27 years old and is an insurance agent. It has been fun to meet all of these new people here in Tucheng. I'm excited to continue to see miracles.

This past week we also had a really special thing happen. President had decided about 2 months ago that he would like to hold a big outdoor zone conference over the coming weeks for the 8 zones here in Taibei. Our zone's conference happened to be this past week. It was so awesome! The north zone and our zone (west) went to Yang Min Mountain - a national park. We were able to hike up the mountain and stop at several different parts of the trail for some training and for lunch. It was a spiritual experience to learn of the gospel amidst the beauty of nature. It was overall a great experience that I will never forget! I should have a picture to send to you guys. As part of the conference, Elder Forbes and I were able to give a training on "how to effectively manage our time through weekly planning sessions". It went really well and I think it helped the other missionaries to know what to focus on when planning so that the spirit might best be able to guide this work.

On another note, I was able to go on exchanges with another elder this past week. His name is Elder Bromley and he is from Utah. He happened to be in the MTC at the same time as me, just in the younger group. It was fun to be able to go out and work with him since I already new him a little bit. He is such a sincere missionary and really loves the Lord and these people here. I have been able to learn so much from going on exchanges with other missionaries. It is great! I hope to be able to continue to learn much more.

Well, I don't have much time left and this about sums it up for the week.

I hope you all have a great week at home! I love you all!

Elder Bastian

Really Really Busy

Hello!

 

Well it's been a really, really busy last week full of meetings, exchanges and meeting with investigators, but during all of this we have seen miracles while finding people to teach out on the streets.

It's so much different here in Tu Cheng than on the east coast. Life is really fast paced here and there are so many people! It's great. This past week we had our first Zone Meeting since I have been here. The zone is great. There are about 18 missionaries here in the West Zone. Many are younger missionaries, which I'm sure is how it is in other places now as over the past few months we have had sooo many missionaries entering the mission field. The zone meeting went smoothly and my companion and I were able to give a training at the end of the meeting on the importance of effective planning and how to do it. I hope it helped the other missionaries!

I was able to go on exchanges twice this last week. That seems to be the pattern. I first went to an area call Xin Zhuang with an Elder Edmunds from Mapleton, Utah. Elder Edmunds has been out for about 5 months or so. We had a lot of fun working together and were able to have dinner at a member's place that evening. We were also able to run into some cool people as we passed out flyers for our English class that is every Wednesday.  We ran into a cool lady whose English is pretty fluent, it was cool!

On the second exchange, I went to another area in our district call Xin Ban with an Elder Heaton. He is from Utah also and has been out for about 9 or 10 months. We were able to meet with a few of his investigators and some new members in his ward. One thing that is great about going on exchanges is being able to learn from the other missionaries that you serve with. I think it will be a great learning experience to be able to go 2 times a week as compared to once a month before. The miracles always come on exchanges!

This past week I was able to meet with a few more of our investigators and continue to teach them about the gospel. Right now we have 3 people who are really close to baptism.  We are just helping them to continue to overcome a few personal concerns. At the end of this month, the stake here in the west part of Taiwan will be having an outdoor baptism in the ocean. Right now our three investigators baptismal goals are set for that date. It would be so cool to help people enter in to the waters of baptism...in the awesome coast front beach!

Another miracle that happened a few days ago was also pretty amazing. We were riding back to our city after just finishing exchanges and I heard some man on the sidewalk call out my name and beckon me over. I was really confused because I had never met this man before and I was wondering how in the world he knew my name. He said, "Do you remember me?" I told him "no...I dont think I have ever met you." Then he said, "Yeah you have, you're Elder Bai (my chinese last name) right? You ran into my scooter this morning and broke my mirror. I have a gospel tract with your name on it." I was super confused and started to get a little worried that as I was riding around in the morning and had somehow nicked this man's mirror with my handlebars as I rode by, but I could have sworn I didn't. In the end we figured out that another missionary in our zone with the same last Chinese name as me had hit this man's scooter this morning. But the miracle of this story comes as he started to ask about us missionaries and what we do here in Taiwan. He then told us how he has researched every religion and how he feels like he has not found the right one - he has never found his "answer". We quickly shared with him the story of the restoration and the Book of Mormon.  We promised him that his answer was waiting for him and he would find it as he reads and prays about this book. He seemed so fascinated with this book and was really anxious to begin reading it. He thanked us and thanked us. He lives in another area so we will have to pass him off to the other Elders who can continue to teach him. I know that the Lord is guiding him to the Truth no matter where he goes. One of the coolest parts of this story is to see how God really led this man through a series of events. First, running into a missionary that breaks his mirror, then mistaking me for the other missionary but we end up having the same name so we stopped, and then how he was searching for an answer himself! I'm so excited to hear how things go for him!

I am sure that my companion and I will continue to see miracles here in Tu Cheng. We are pumped!

Lots of Changes

Hello Everyone!

 

How has it been back at home? The summer seems to becoming to an end which means that school has started or is starting soon. How sad!

There have been a lot of changes this past week here on my end of things. On Monday last week, we got a call from the assistants saying that I would be moving! I was pretty shocked as I had hoped to be in Yuli for a while longer. I really love that area and the people. I hope that the Rong Family will continue to progress and be baptized this month. Elder Relyea better send me a picture! It is sad to leave them, but I know that whoever teaches them the gospel, it is all for their benefit. God knows their needs and I'm sure the new elder there will have a testimony that will be especially for that family.

I ended up moving back to Taipei in the big city to a place called Tu Cheng. My new companion is Elder Forbes. He is just plain awesome! He has been in Taiwan for over a year now, about 3 months longer than I have. He is from Colorado, and before the mission he attended BYU at the same time as I did. He also played for the BYU Rugby Team for a semester. He is just an all around awesome person!  We are the Zone Leaders now for the West Zone in the Taipei mission. When I was at the transfer meeting and it popped up on the screen saying that I would be in Tu Cheng as the new zone leader, I was so surprised! It was pretty humbling.  I have already been able to learn a lot from the service and being with Elder Forbes. I hope that I will be able to serve here as best as I can. I know that Elder Forbes and I will be able to see some great miracles as we work here together.

The past couple of days have been really busy. Being back in the city the missionary work moves at a much faster pace! Right now there are many wonderful investigators in Tu Cheng with a few that are really close to baptism.  We hope that in the next few weeks we will be able to help them be ready to make this commitment to follow the Savior and allow the blessings from heaven to flow into their lives.

A cool story - we were able to meet with an investigator David Wang who is really close to baptism but will be heading back to college today so he will continue to meet with the missionaries there. When I first saw David as he crossed the street I thought that he looked super familiar. As I introduced myself he said, "I have met you before, do you remember? It was at that park in Yong He 2 months ago..." He was right! When I was in Yong He, my companion and I had ran into these 2 college student who were already investigating the church in different areas. One of them happened to be David! It was cool to be able to teach him once before he headed off to college. Such a coincidence!

I wish I had more time to share about the other miracles we have been able to see this past week but my time is short and I need to send an email off to President Day. I'm really excited for these next coming months and know that it will be filled with the Spirit and honest missionary service!

I hope you all have a great week at home.

I love you!

Elder Bastian