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

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

He Is At the Helm

Hello from Taiwan!

 

This week has been just awesome! Elder Relyea and I have really be able to see miracles as we have done our best this week. The Lord lead us to the places and people that we needed to help.

Of first note, Brother Rong came to church yesterday for the first time, and he brought his three kids!!! We were so excited. After spiritually-filled sacrament meeting Brother Rong came up to us and said "As long as I have faith, I can do it!" His meaning was to be able to give up things that have been holding him back and be able to be baptized! It has been so awesome to watch his desire grow over the past month and a half. We will be heading over to their house tonight with our Branch President and another member to make a plan with them on how they can over come their problems with the Word of Wisdom. It may take a little time, but we know that as they rely on the Lord, truly, all things are possible. We really hope to see them be baptized at the end of September!

Another miracle of the week happened on Friday night. We had decided to head over to a kids house that we had met on the street to see if we could set up a time to come back and as we got to the house and knocked on the front gate, we ended up running into his older brother who will be starting his senior year of high school this week. Their family seems to have a lot of challenges, but they are so humble! We began talking with his brother and were actually able to teach him about Heavenly Father right on the spot. Tears came to his eye as we talked about the peace, comfort, and support that He can give us as we develop our relationship with him. We were able to go back the next day have another great lesson and then he came with us to church on Sunday! We will head back to his house on Tuesday and hope that his Mom and little brother will be able to join us too. They need the gospel so much!

Last cool story that I would like to share... On Tuesday night, my companion decided to tract in the neighborhood of a less active member in our branch. We were going door to door and nobody seemed to have any interest, some were even a little rude. My companion was starting to feel a little frustrated, but then we rang a doorbell and the whole night changed! A lady came out and says "Oh Elders! Hello!" We were shocked, she quickly invited us into her home. As we were walking in she told us how her son used to be a missionary for our church. We were able to sit down with her and her husband and they told us all about her son who went to Australia on his mission and who is now in Texas working with an active family of three. As of now they are not super interested in hearing the gospel, but I know that we have established a good relationship that i believe over time will be nurtured and turn into an opportunity for them to hear the gospel. It was a cool little miracle as im sure no one in our branch has ever heard of this family.

This past week I have come to know more deeply and personally of the reality that this work we are doing is truly the Lord's work. He is at the helm of this ship and is leading us as we seek to do our best. I know that He lives, He loves us, and we will all be able to return to Heavenly Father as we turn towards his Son, Jesus Christ.

That sums up much of this past week. I wish I had more time to tell more! I hope that everyone has a great week as summer is finishing up and everyone is getting ready for a new start at school.

Love you all,

Elder Bastian

Great Week

Hello Everyone!

 

It's Monday morning here in Taiwan. I hope you all had a great last week! My companion and I had a great week also! We were able to teach a lot of lessons and meet several new, cool people. The highlight of the week was on Thursday. That morning, my companion and I went out to find a referral that the sister missionaries had found a week before while tracting. We went to the man's house and were surprised to find 3 high school seniors there. They turned out to be the man's nephew and his friends.  We were able to sit down with them and teach them what we as missionaries are doing here in Taiwan. They all seemed to be pretty interested, especially one of them when we started to talk about the existence of God and how each of them can come to know for themselves that God is our loving Father in Heaven who wants to help us. He kept asking great questions which we were able to answer as we helped him better understand this principle. The sad part for me and my companion is that these high school boys all live up in Taipei and not here in Yuli! So, we won't be able to teach them, but we will send their contact information to the missionaries up there so that they can get a hold of them. I'm glad that these young men will have a chance to learn the gospel wherever they go!

This past week we were able to meet with the Rong Family again. We talked to them about about their baptismal date and the parents seem really excited! They understand that they will have to make some changes in their lives, but they truly have a desire to draw closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through baptism. We went by on Friday night to visit really quickly and say hi, and we were able to talk to the father. He said that he and his family have started to read the Book of Mormon together as a family most nights! I was shocked - how cool!  In the previous lesson, I had shared with them how my family just read a little bit together each night.  They took this to heart and started doing it too. It has been a really sweet experience to see this family change as they begin to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus's Christ's atonement truly provides the power for all of us to make changes in our life for the better. I'm excited to see how the family progresses and will keep you updated!

Today is our preparation day so we have until 6 in the evening to do what we want and then prepare for the coming week. My companion and I will take the train down to Taidong and Coastal City and spend the day with the elders there. Hopefully, we will be going to the beach also, which will be my first time since I have been in Taiwan, so I am super pumped!  I will make sure to take pictures for you guys to see.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week! I'm so thankful for all the prayers and support from each of you. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!

Elder Bastian

The Power of Personal Prayer

Hello!

 

The heat is kicking up here in Taiwan, but the work still moves forward! My companion and I had a great week last week. It was full of focus, vision, and hard work! We were able to meet with a few new people including a high school student named Xie Yu Quan and and older man named Brother Jian. I met brother Jian on the street the beginning of last week and shared a little bit about the power of the gospel in helping us to overcome life's challenges and to make changes for the better. He seems to have had a lot of struggles in his life and saw hope in the message we are sharing. We met with him a second time on Thursdayevening, but back at the chapel this time. As we got to know him more, we learned that he has a little bit of christian background and has attended a few other christian churches here but at the moment he doesn't seem to be very active in any of them. We felt impressed to share with him more about the nature of God as our literal Father in Heaven and also how we can communicate with him through prayer. We invited him to say a prayer at the end of the lesson and he did. It was so sincere and beautiful! After he prayed, he explained that at first when we asked him to pray he didn't want to, but then he said he felt God encouraging him to do so and when he was praying and after he finished praying, he had such a wonderful feeling, as if God was right by his side lifting him up. He said that at all the other churches he had been to taught him to read/memorize prayers from the bible, but that every time he did that, he never felt anything, but when he said a personal prayer with his own words a whole new door was opened.  SO COOL!  We are excited to keep meeting with him and watch him progress.

The rest of our time this past week was spent visiting members and doing service. On Thursday, we had the opportunity to help a less active man that has started coming back to church move some things in his house as he was in the process of remodeling.  Afterwards, he bought lunch for us. Saturday, we also had another big service opportunity as my companion, some priesthood brethren, and I went to a widowed sister's home who is in the Branch and we repainted her small home for her. It was pretty fun and her house looked so good afterwards! I wish I had some pictures to show you, but i forgot to bring my camera that day.

Sometimes my companion and I are asked why our church does not have a cross on it and I always think back to the quote by President Hinckley that the symbol of our devotion to Christ is manifested in the lives and action of our members. Whenever we have the opportunity to serve others, I always feel that we are really fulfilling our purpose as followers of Christ. Service is fun too!

Well, that about wraps it up for the week here in Yuli. Things are going well and we are working hard! I hope that everyone is having a great summer. 

Love ya!

Elder Bastian 

Seeing Old Friends

Hello!

 

Another week has flown by here in Yuli. I forgot to mention last week that our P-Day would be on Tuesday this week, so I would not be able to email until then. We had a Specialized Training Conference yesterday in Hau Lian, about an hour away from our town. It was a really good experience. We were able to hear some inspired instructions from our Mission President and I was also able to see Elder Lackey, my MTC companion, and Elder Orchard who was also in my district at the MTC. Whenever we reunite at a meeting or something, I always feel like Alma and the sons of Mosiah as they reunite after serving their missions to the Lamanites for 14 years having not seen each other the whole time. I know my situation isn't as extreme... but it's so fun to see them all again! They are all doing great.

This past week has gone pretty great! Our investigator Sister Rong and two of her kids were able to come to church for their first time this past Sunday!  Her husband and their other son were not able to come because of work and a basketball competition, but we were so happy to see the other three at church! I think they had a great experience and really felt welcomed by the branch members. We really are like "little, big family" down here in Yuli. I think the family members were all able to feel the Spirit and have a good experience. Elder Relyea and I will visit their family tonight and will be able to see how they felt about church.

This past week, we have also had some great opportunities sharing the gospel with new people that we have come in contact with. On Saturday, we met a guy that is 18 years old and is already a doctor in a hospital. He is so smart! He already has a Book of Mormon and has read the whole thing.  A patient he had a year or so ago gave it to him.  Also, I was able to meet a high school kid on the train ride home from Hau Lian yesterday. I sat next to him and we started to talk and get to know each other and then I was able to have a great conversation with him about God and about Joseph Smith's experience. When I started talking to him, he told me that he was Atheist, but as we talked more and more he really started to open up and by the end he accepted my invitation to pray that night after he got home. He was so nice and really sincere!  I hope we will have a chance to see him again. Another cool experience was meeting a high school student here that is from California. His parents are divorced and he moved to California before middle school.  He comes back each summer to visit his dad. He was really open to meeting with us and talking about religion. He willingly accepted a Book of Mormon and even told us that he tried praying after he met us the first time like we had invited him to. How cool!  He will be heading back to California in a week, but we were able to get his information for the missionaries in California. Hope all continues to go well with him! 

It is cool each week to see all the different ways that Heavenly Father is preparing people to hear and accept the restored gospel!  I know with all my heart that the message we are sharing is true!

Last fun thing - on Saturday we had the opportunity to play T-Ball with the branch members, their kids, and some local kids. It was pretty fun! I haven't thrown a baseball in forever!  It felt so awkward...

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. I love you all and hope that you all have a great week back at home!

Elder Bastian

My First Typhoon

Hello Everyone!

 

It's been a great week here in Yuli with lots of awesome experiences!  Elder Relyea and I have been meeting with the Rong family that was found by the sister missionaries a couple months ago. They are doing great! We had the opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation with them this past week and talk about eternal families. They really absorbed all of these restored truths and when we asked them if they would want to have an eternal family they all said, "Yes!" They are an aborigine family with a little bit of christian background. The best part has been seeing the dad's disposition change as he learns more about the gospel and as his faith grows. He is even helping his kids to say prayers before meals! How awesome. 

On Saturday, we were tracting and ran into an older man in his late 50's or 60's. He doesn't really have a religion but says that he will sometimes read from religious books, including the bible. We asked him if he believed in God and what he thought his relationship was with him. He said that he did believe in God and he believed that God was the creator of our spirits, our father. My companion and I looked at each other and said... "Ya, He is!!" We were both really surprised because many people here don't really know what attributes God has at all, many of them don't even believe in God. We continued to teach him about prophets and the Book of Mormon and he seemed to really like it and accepted the copy of the Book of Mormon that we gave to him. He is so humble and really accepting of what we teach him.  We will be heading back to his house tonight to meet with him again. We're really excited! The work is moving forth in Yuli.

Of other news, I experienced my first typhoon here in Taiwan. At first we thought it was going to be really big, but the typhoon decided to hit the northern part of Taiwan hardest and we just got a little bit of rain mixed with some huge winds. Trying to ride our bikes in the wind was really funny because we had to focus on not falling over while pedaling as hard as we could to move only a couple miles per hour.  The typhoon has come and gone now so we are doing fine and are back to enjoying the sun.

Last night, I also had a pretty funny experience. I woke up at about 1 o'clock and felt something on the back of my head so i knocked it off and sat up so I could look down at my pillow to see what it was - a Fat cockroach right there!  As it started to run off my bed, I jumped up and turned on the light, then pulled my bed away from the wall, found a shoe and smashed it! The whole time my companion stayed asleep only to wake up when I was getting back in bed and he said "why is the light on?" He turned it off and I just laughed. Crazy story!

To end on a better note, my companion and I were also able to do some service for a less active man in our branch who lives up in the mountains. We spent about 3 hours moving old furniture from his house to a little shack back in the jungle where he stored stuff. It was super pretty up there. It was fun doing service and fun being able to build a good relationship with this man. He is just great!

Well that about sums it up for this week. Thing are going great here. I hope you all have a wonderful summer back at home.

Love you!

Elder Bastian 

Yu Li

Hello Everyone!

 

Well it's been a pretty awesome last week! Monday I went to Taipei on Monday to meet my new companion and head out to the new area I would be serving in. Now for the big news... I have moved to Yu li on the south eastern coast of Taiwan. It's about a 4 hour train ride from Taipei. It's the most rural area of the entire Taipei mission, but it is great here! The people are so nice and its super pretty. It reminds me a lot Aurora, Utah. My new companion is Elder Relyea from Farmington, Utah. He is just awesome! He has only been here in Yu Li for about 3 weeks but were both getting into the swing of things here quickly. We've have some time this past week getting to know the members of the branch here. There are about 35 and they are all stoked for missionary work! I can really see their desire to help this area of the Lord's vineyard grow. Elder Relyea and I are going to do all that we can to continue to build our relationships with them and find though who are prepared to receive this gospel. This area hadn't seen a baptism for about 2 years but since the beggining of this year they have already had 5! This place is really on fire, with the missionary spirit.

My companion actually had to head back up to Taipei on Wednesday night for a training meeting since he is the district leader. He got back on Saturday morning so during the time that he was gone I went to the neighboring area called Taidong. I was there with a newer missionary, Elder Martin for a few day and we saw so many miracles as we went out to do the Lord's work. I think the coolest was when we went to this small park and we ran into these 4 college students from Tai Nan about 4 hours away. I asked them if they would like to do a church tour and they gladly accepted. So we all rode over to the church and did a tour and then had a small lesson with them on Prayer. They really seemed to like it and asked some great questions. We going to hand them off to the missionaries back in their hometown, but I'm super excited for them. It was a great blessing to see the Lord lead these people to us. Im grateful to have been in the right place at the right time.

Now back in Yu Li, were ready to get the ball rolling and hit the pavement. I know that the Lord will lead us in the things he needs us to do. He has a plan for each and every single person on this earth, and is a perfect plan.

I hope that you all have a great week back at home. Enjoy the summer! It's pretty warm here!

Love you all!

Elder Bastian