Finished My Time as Zone Leader

Hello Everyone!

It's been going well over here. I actually moved this last transfer which was on Friday! So, I have finished my time as zone leader. I am now back down on the east coast of Taiwan, but this time in the place called Taidong. Many of the missionaries often call this place the promised land of Taiwan, haha. It's a little more rural here, not crazy packed in like Taibei. Our apartment is about a 10 min run from the beach. The people here are also more open and willing to talk so that's been a blessing too! I really like it here already and I might finish my mission here since I only have 5 and a half months left. My guess is that I will train someone next transfer. My companion right now is Elder Nelson from Delta, Utah. He has been on his mission for about 7 months. He is awesome. He is such a nice and humble guy who is willing to work hard. He is also pretty funny. I think we will see much success here. So I'm really excited!

Well, I have to say... I was pretty pumped when I saw my name pop up for Taidong at the transfer meeting!  After we got the sheet that said we would be moving, I had a feeling that I would either go to Hualien or Taidong...and I did!  Maybe it was the spirit giving me a hint :)

The last part of the week, I was in JingXin and it went great. I had the opportunity to go on exchanges there with Elder Chatman - my old companion. He will be returning home the end of this new transfer. He is also doing great. It seems like "coming to the end" has given him more of a desire to get out there and get the work done with fire and boldness. I have felt that too. I received an email today from my friend who is in Brazil and he said that as he entered into the last 6 months of his mission last week he felt more of a feeling to savor every last moment of the mission and the experiences the Lord has given us and will give us. The past few weeks, and as I have come here to Taidong, I have really felt this! It's a new start to the last chapter and I've got the fire! I really feel that Elder Nelson and I will seem miracles here in Taidong.

I hope that Elder Zhou and Elder Tay will also see miracles in the West Zone (my last area) as they lead the missionaries there. I'm so grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve as Zone Leader for the past 4 transfers. I have felt the Lord work through me to accomplish his purpose as I have focused on serving and loving others. I have truly learned so much about missionary work, people, and life in general the past few months. The missionary hand book statement that says, "you can learn much from the missionaries that you work with" has truly come to pass. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary has been to see all the different skills, talents, and attributes each missionary has. The Taiwan Taipei mission is truly filled with some of Gods most gifted children!

Now that I am in here with Elder Nelson, we hope to continue to learn from each other, grow, and see success. We have 1 investigator that is extremely close to being baptized. His goal is for March 1st and I am positive he can meet it! We also have a couple of other investigators that I am in the process of meeting and getting to know. They seem to be good too! I hope to just be able to continue to use all of my time and effort so that the Lord will place miracles in our path. In other words, I want to be a Preach My Gospel missionary to its fullness!

Sorry for the long email!

Hope everyone has a great week back at home.

Love you all!

Elder Bastian