Teaching Prayer

Hello Everyone!

 

How is everyone back at home, any snow? It's been a pretty good week here in Zhong He. The rain is starting to kick back in. The weather here kind of reminds me of Provo in how extreme it is. One day it will be over 70 degrees and really sunny then the next day it 45 degrees and raining hard the entire day. It's interesting; you never know what to expect when you wake up in the morning. I hear that the best weather here rolls around in March--May. 

Well, we had a lot of good things happen this week. I think the highlight was last wednesday. We were able to go to the temple. We have a temple day about every 3 months. It was a great experience as it was my first time going to the Taipei temple. I love how wherever you, go the temple always sticks out amidst the scenery. Here in Taiwan, there are buildings and buildings all compact together with scooters and cars everywhere and then right of the middle of it is the big white temple with beautiful landscaping around it.  It is gated, separating it from the busy city life. It was very re-energizing to go there and have the opportunity to think about the Savior and the important things in life. It brought a lot of peace and motivation to this week's work. The temple is such a beautiful place!

After going to the temple on P-day, our district decided to go up to a shopping market that was about 25 minutes from where we live. It's at the base of some smaller mountains, a little outside of the dense city area. From the outside, the shopping area just seems like a lot of apartments lined up together, but as you go in between them through the little alleys to the back it's just a maze of hole-in-the wall shops. There were so many! I wish I had a picture to show you what it looks like; it is kind of hard to describe. Most of the stores are clothing stores, just lined up kind of like they are in the mall. All of the inner alleyways that have the entrances into each of the shops have canopy covers on the top so it kind of turns it into an indoor mall. We were able to look around for a while and some of the Elders bought some shirts. The best ones where the cheap plain t's that had English writing on them, or at least the attempt. None of the English really made sense; it's pretty funny.

After P-day this week, we have had a lot of important lessons with our investigators and also several new investigators coming in. I think one of my favorite parts about meeting with people for the first time here in Taiwan is teaching them about prayer. Many people here have heard of prayer or maybe seen it on TV, but they dont really know what it is. So when we start to simply explain that prayer is communication with God and not just us speaking words to Him, but truly a two way communication with someone at the other end who loves you, listens to everything you say or ask, and answers, their expressions after hearing this is pretty cool. Most say that if that's true that it would be pretty miraculous and something very special. A lot of people here feel that God is just a power or something that is very vague and distant, but as we help them to better understand their relationship with him, that he really is their Father in Heaven and how close their relationship can be, their hearts start to soften and they start to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Almost everyone we pray with for the first time, afterwards explains their feelings as very calm and peaceful. I think one of the really important responsibilities we have as missionaries is to help these people recognize and understand their feelings and promptings and that they are coming from God.

I've learned so much as I have been out here on the mission. I know that I am still pretty new to all of these things and am still adjusting to it, but the experiences I have had so far are truly priceless. I know that I have, and will continue to learn and experience things here that I could not learn anywhere else. What an opportunity it is. Well, it's good to be able to hear from some of you! My time is about up here, but I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Bastian