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

Mountain Lookout

Hello Everybody!

 

Its been another pretty good week here in Long Tan! Sister Guan is continuing to prepare for her baptism this next Saturday. We are all very excited! It has been so cool to be able to see the changes that the gospel has made to her life. You can really see a new light in here eyes. I think one of the coolest things since we have met her, was that after we gave her a Book of Mormon and she started reading it, she began to call us and give us updates saying that she read today and how it was going. She called us... pretty cool huh?! 

This past week Elder Bennion and I have had a lot of fun. I think as we have worked hard and come home to the warm apartment, wiped at the end of the day, that's when we have really had the most fun because we know that we have done our best helping others come unto Christ.

On Preperation Day last Monday, we decided that we wanted to get outside and bike somewhere cool for the day. We found a cool mountain lookout spot on the map that we had in our apartment and decided to go there. Since I have been here for a little while I thought I knew the area pretty well and knew where the mountain was. We biked out to the edge of town and started to head up the mountains that line the little city. It was such a windy and steep road! We kept climbing and climbing looking for the signs that had the lookout. We couldn't find it... so we finally decided to stop at the top and go down this little road where we could get a good view and take some pictures. We ended up finding this abandoned leather sofa chair in the middle of this field so we decided to get some cool pictures sitting in it. I'll attach them. It was a pretty cool place up at the top of that mountain. Taiwan is super pretty! Elder Bennion and I plan to go hiking so I'll get some pictures up of that next week.

This week we had a cool experience of meeting an 80 year old kung fu master at the park. He was just awesome! He said that he has been teaching kung fu for over 30 years and invited us to stop by his place some time. On Friday, we went to visit him. He was pretty funny. He taught us a couple punch blocking moves and we were able to teach him a little bit about prayer and Jesus Christ. Good trade, huh? We are going to try and keep visiting him. I hope all goes well, and that over time he will be able to accept the gospel into his life.

Well, my time this week is about up. The church has changed some of the mission rules that allows us to email individually to friends so I have spent a little more time doing separate emails today, which has eaten up some of my time for the main email, but I hope that everyone has a great week and that school, work, or whatever life is bringing you at this time all goes well!

Love ya!

Elder Bastian

A Week of Variety

Hello Everyone!

 

This week has been pretty good! We were able to invite 2 other people to be baptized this week and they said "yes!" We hope to be able to set firm dates with them this following week. The work has been a little slower lately but as Elder Wang and I have done our best efforts to help this area we have been able to see some miracles and success in here in Long Tan. As of right now, we have one investigator that is progressing quickly towards baptism. Her goal is for the end of this month and I know that she will be able to obtain it. She is very accepting of the gospel and you can tell that she has been blessed with the gift of the spirit to believe. I think that is one of the things I have noticed on the mission so far, there truly are some people that are blessed with this gift. When you meet them, you just know that they will be baptized and you are truly able to see their potential. How great are the blessings of the Lord! 

This week we have been able to concentrate our efforts a little more on finding as we have been out on the roads going to and from places, seeking out Less Actives. On Friday, I was able to see a miracle. I had felt that finding was a little harder that day and I was feeling a little down. I prayed in my heart that we would be able to find someone. As I began to talk with those one the street I noticed a young man that I had seen cross the street a little ways back after he left the army campus. I rode up next to him and started to share about our relationship with God and prayer, said a prayer with him and he loved it! He was really interested in meeting with us! Sadly, but not sadly, he lives in Xin Zhuang so I had to pass him off, but I know that the Lord is watching over me and him and that no matter what area in the world we are in. There is one more starting on his way back home to the Lord.

On our preparation day Monday, Elder Wang and I and a couple other missionaries in the neighboring area were able to visit a place called the ShiMen Water Resovior. It is a dam that is built up into that side of this mountain at the border of our area in Long Tan. It is such a beautiful place! The mountains here are really pretty and the water behind the dam was pure blue. It reminded me a lot of all the beautiful hiking areas in Seattle. We had to ride quite a ways to get there, but it was so worth it! After the little trip I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Zone Leader, Elder Anderson. We went back to his area, Tao Yuan, which is a little north of ours. We had a great time together and I think we were able to learn a lot from the experience about enjoying the work. 

The next day after that I was able to go on exchanges with another member in our district Elder Robinson. He is from, well actually a lot of different places. His father is an NCIS agent and they often move. He spent his high school years in Singapore, but his family, before his mission moved to California. We were able to visit a new family that we had been able to get in contact with and the family is great! I see a lot of potential in them. Later that night as we headed home and started to talk about life back at home and especially BYU! He did a year there also before his mission. We talked about how awesome of a university it is. It really is the best! By the way, how is the BYU basketball doing and the other sports teams? Im sure the the NCAA is rolling around or maybe already started. How cool.

Well, in all this week has been pretty good! A lot of memories made and people met. Taiwan is great. I hope that everyone is doing well back at home and that your week goes great.

Love you!

Elder Bastian

Enjoyable English Class

Hello Everyone!

 

It is early Monday morning here in Taiwan. I hope everything is going well back at home! This past week has been pretty good! It was my first full week of service here in Long Tan. It is a great area. My companion and I are excited to see what will happen during this transfer (6 week period). The highlight this week was the baptism of our investigator Zhang Han Bing. He is just great. He is 14 years old and actually has an older brother who is 18 that was baptized a few months ago. The baptism went great. You could really feel the spirit as we saw this young man committing to follow our Father in Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ by entering into the waters of baptism. I didn't have the opportunity to see all the changes he has made as I have only been in Long Tan a short time, but I know that he is just great! I have been able to sit next to him the past two Sundays at church. He is a funny kid and you can tell that he and his brother really love this gospel.

Another cool miracle that we saw this week was on Wednesday.  Every Wednesday evening we have an English class that we hold at the church. I am the teacher for the intermediate and advanced class, because I speak the most English here. Coincidence, huh? It is a lot of fun. But on Wednesday night at about 6:45 pm, we had someone come to the church for class. He was new and happened to find out about our English class by finding our website online.  He recently was in America for work.  Guess what? Of all the places he could have gone, he went to Utah for a few months.  How cool is that?!  While he was there he had the opportunity to go to church several times with his friend who is a member and he also was able to do a tour of Temple Square and a few other church historical sites. He is so cool! At the end of every English class we always have a spiritual thought. I shared about God's plan for us, his children. Peter, the new student, really liked it and was asking a lot of good questions and had some good comments. I asked him after class if he would be willing to meet with my companion and me to hear more about the message that we are sharing with others. He said "Yeah sure!" He seems to be really into the church. We will meet with him this week for the first time.  I'm excited.  The Lord truly is preparing people all around the world to accept this gospel.

Another cool experience was on Monday  My companion and I had the opportunity to meet with a member of the ward. His name is Brother Zhang. He was baptized a long time ago and has been a member for over 20 years but over the past few months he has started to fall away from the church. As he met with us, he started to open up about his feelings. He explained that he had been a member for a long time, used to go to church every week and participate actively in his callings and everything, but he felt that he had a lot of questions recently that he just couldn't find the answers to in church. He said that he wasn't sure anymore if this church was the true Church of Jesus Christ that had been restored in our day. As I came to understand this brother's situation more and more, my heart yearned for him to once again return to church and experience the blessings that come from following the gospel. I felt impressed to share with him part of the introduction to the Book of Mormon which reads, "We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)  Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah."

This is our unique message to the world. That once again, the original truths, authority, and church of Jesus Christ have been restored to the earth in our time. I told him that no matter who we are, if we want to know the truthfulness of this church, we must have a testimony of this book and the message it contains, because if we know that the Book of Mormon is true, then everything in this church we will also know is true. I asked him if he would once again take the time to read this book and pray about its truthfulness. He said he would and hopes that he gets the answer he is looking for. I know he will.

It's been a great week here and it is a cool experience to be a missionary here in Taiwan. I feel that my testimony to the truthfulness of the work has grown so much since I have been out here.

I hope that everyone at home is having a great time! I love you all.

Elder Bastian

Conversion Takes Time

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope everything is going well back at home for all of you and that everyone is settling back into classes and work for the new year! 

Things are going pretty smoothly here in Taipei. This last week was pretty good! We had some important lessons with our investigators this week that really helped us understand where they are in the conversion process. Sometimes when we are teaching it is hard to understand what the investigator is feeling or how they are taking all of these things. You feel like you are putting a lot of effort into teaching, and you are just hoping for the best, but you're not sure what to expect in the end. I have learned that as we get on a more personal level with them, we can become a little more direct with our questions and ask them how they are doing. We had a few lessons like that this past week with our investigators, and they were able to open up more with us. The conversion process is different for everyone. I think when I first got here it seemed like it would be quick for most everyone that we met with, but I'm learning that the spirit works in different ways with each person. Some accept the gospel immediately, but for  others it is a process of building upon little spiritual experiences that over time culminate in faith, repentance, baptism and a true testimony of these things. 

One of the investigators we are meeting with is Brother Lu. He is about 26 and is a computer engineer. Life is very simple for him. He has a Buddhist background, but we tracted into him about 2 months ago when I first got here. Even though we have been meeting with him about every week, he says that he still does not believe in God, and he says that he doesn't have much in the way of expectations for our meetings, but you can tell that he does have a desire to learn.  Also, he sees the difference it makes in our lives and in the members lives and he does want to know for himself. This week he explained to us how he has been meeting with us all this time and hasn't felt anything, but he's starting to realize that if he wants to really feel something for himself he needs to do some things on his own - not just listen to us. He told us that he was going to pray and read on his own to see. It was really cool to hear him say that. As much as I wish that everyone would accept this gospel, agency is so important.  It was cool to see him using his agency in a way that will bless his life. I hope that he will pray sincerely and be able to get that answer he is wondering about.

I would also like to share a cool experience with you guys that happened to my companion and me two days ago. We were at a little market store making a phone call that evening. When we finished up, we left to go start contacting at a park.  When we arrived at the park,  I realized that I had left my backpack back at the store. So we decided to go back to the store and get it really quickly and just see how the contacting would go on the way. After we got my backpack, we decided to go to a different street to try contacting. During the last 5 minutes of our time there, we ran into a wonderful family that was walking on the street. They invited us to come over the next day to share our message with them. The father said that he felt it was something that would help his family. It was a cool little miracle to see. Although we did not plan for this at all during the day, and I did not intend to leave my backpack at the store, I learned the Lord is always guiding us and helping us to go where his prepared people are. I know that He wanted me to forget my backpack that day so that we could go to that other street to contact, and at that specific time run into this family. It is so cool to see His guiding hand in the work as we step back and look at all the blessings that have occurred.

My times is about up here for the week, but I hope that everyone has an awesome week wherever you are!

Love, Elder Bastian

P.S. I know that my English is getting worse and the email is a little rushed. I hope it still makes sense to you guys!  Ha, Sorry!

Photo Time!

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

Photos from the MTC

Photos from the Dropoff