Pig Ear, Pig Feet

Hello Everyone!

 

Well, the Chinese New Year has finished up here in Taiwan! It was an eventful week as we visited many member families and were able to have some awesome meals with them. Our ward set up a meal schedule for our companionship. Everyday, we had the opportunity to eat at a member's home for lunch and dinner. There were so many families willing to feed us! I had a good time being able to meet with all of these people and build relationships with them. I definitely ate some pretty weird things though. The two that really were pretty strange were Pig Ear and Pig Foot. Sounds pretty gross, right? There is a lot of food here that I don't think a lot of people in America would eat.

One day this past week, we had a sister in the ward who had invited us over to her place. She ended up living really far away up on the mountain at the edge of the little city that we live in. I thought it would be a good little bike ride to her place. It was! Except by little, I mean hard! The hill that went up the mountain was probably the steepest and longest hill I have ever biked. I was in the absolutely lowest gear possible the whole way going up. It reminded me of a running workout that we did back in high school at cross country camp each year where we ran up Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington. I just had to tell myself, "OK Jeff, just keep on going, keep on going..."   Eventually we made it to the top and got to the member's place in one piece and had a good meal.

This week has been a little bit harder for missionary work because a lot of our investigators have been out of town or really busy with the Chinese New Year activities. We have had some good lessons though, that I felt have really been able to help our investigators. I hope they continue to progress! It's been very interesting to have the perspective of a missionary and be able to see so many people begin exercising their faith and then begin repenting and truly changing their lives to come unto Christ. It has really helped build my testimony of this gospel as I realize it's power to help all of us overcome any challenge or trial that we face in this life.

I am pretty excited for tomorrow as we will have Elder Evans and Elder Watson of the Quorum of the Seventy come to visit us at the mission headquarters. We will be having a mission wide meeting with them. I am excited to hear what they will say to us! It is always great to be able to meet with the leaders of the church. They have so much experience in the gospel and really know how things work within the Lord's kingdom. I'll let you guys know how it goes next week!

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

Love,

Elder Bastian

Chinese New Year

Hello Everyone!

 

Well, another week has gone by here in Long Tan! It is the beginning of Chinese New Year. The New Year's Celebration here in Taiwan is much different than in America. In fact, New Year's here lasts about a week and a half long! Crazy huh? During this time all of the family will return back to their parent's home and visit and eat a TON of food! The streets have been empty these past few days, but late at night the fireworks start blasting from the roads. It is pretty exciting to see them from our apartment window.

This past week has been pretty exciting here in Long Tan. We were able to have a lot of success. On Monday, we were able to visit a family that is investigating the church. It's a mother, father, and their son. When we stopped by, only the son and his aunt were home so we decided to meet with the son for a little bit and share a message with him. As we were doing so his aunt started to sit down and listen too. I thought, wow, that's pretty cool! Then a little bit later the son's mom arrived home from work with her other daughter and they both sat down and joined in on the lesson...AND then about 5 minutes later, the aunt's daughter came home and joined in too! We had 5 people listening to the message and the 2 mothers were pretty excited to have their kids listen and participate. They kept trying to get their kids to say a prayer and one of the daughters did! It was a great lesson and a huge blessing from the Lord. We hope to be able to meet with them again soon after the new year!

We were also able to have a lesson with a high school kid that I had contacted on the street about a week ago. When we first started to meet with him, I wasn't sure what his perspective was going to be, but we soon found out that he has actually attended 17 different churches and is really interested in religion. His parents are Taoist, but he seems to often ponder some of life's deepest questions, and he is only 16, the same age as my brother Daniel! We were able to talk about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and really help him understand God, prophets and the gospel. He had a lot of questions but was really interested in the lesson and said that he was going to start reading the book of Mormon and start praying. We are actually meeting with him again tonight so we will see how it goes!

On Friday, I had the opportunity to exchange companions for a day. I went to the area called Bada, with an Elder Mattson. He is from California and is a pretty funny kid. We had a lot of fun contacting people at stop lights on our way to visit some members. He was able to bring a great spirit to the work and really made it fun! Saturday was the start of the New Year here so lately we have had a lot of members inviting us over for lunch or dinner. Their New Year's meals are huge and they just keep telling us, "eat more, eat more". It's really funny. I will have to take some pictures.

It's been a very busy week here and I am still getting use to the area and a new companion, but things have been going well. I have really been able to learn a lot about missionary work recently. It's cool to see the different people that the Lord is preparing all around us. We had a really cool experience Saturday night. After we finished dinner at a member's home we decided to go out and contact some people on the streets. The streets were all super empty so there wasn't really anyone to talk to. Then my companion decided to knock on a few doors for the last little bit of the night. At first we had no success, but we decided to knock on one more door and a lady opened. She didn't seem interested at first but then started to open up and say "Well, why don't you guys come in and sit down for a bit.  It's New Year's and you guys are still outside working!" We were able to visit with her and her family and share a short message with her, her husband and their 1 year old. The wife had a lot of questions about our church. In the end the family said they might be willing to meet again in the future and chat. They were super nice and it really was a miracle for them to let us in like that. How cool!

Well, I really hope that everything is going well for everyone back at home or school. You are all so great! Keep it up!

Love,

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

Move Calls

Hello Everyone!

 

Well, there have been a lot of changes here for me! On Wednesday, we got "Move Calls" and I found out that I would be moving on Friday. My companion and I went to the Transfer Meeting where I found out that I would be moving to an area called Long Tan, which means Dragon Lake in English. It's a smaller city northwest of Taipei. It was so great to be able to serve in Zhong He for 3 moths with Elder Johnson. I really hope that the people there continue to blossom.

I've only been in Long Tan now for 3 days but it's been pretty great so far! It's completely different from Zhong He. My area before was just packed with people and 8 story buildings in every direction you looked. Long Tan is much smaller. It is outside of main Taipei city. It's a lot more spread out, less people, and the buildings are only 2 or 3 stories high. I think this type of environment will really help me to learn how to love people more fully as the ward here is smaller and the area is not as rushed and busy as before. I think we will be able to build and create some great relationships here. My new companion is Elder Wang. He is 26 and is a native from Tai Zhong. It's been great here with him so far. He is a great missionary. He is very loving and seeks to help those around him, especially me. Its been so nice as he has been patient in helping me with my language. His English is pretty good.  I think this will really help my Chinese improve a ton! Elder Wang has only been a member for two years, but it does not seem like that at all. He has a great knowledge of the gospel and he truly understands how people work.  He has given me much insight into this work already. I think that this transfer we will really be able to help the people of Long Tan improve and we will be able to help our brothers and sisters come unto Christ.

This past couple of days has already been great here in Long Tan. On Saturday, one of our investigators had his baptismal interview. He passed and is ready to be baptized! He is the younger brother of a recent convert. He is 15 but you can see that he loves the church and although he sometimes tries not to show it, he seeks to understand the principles of this gospel and really believes them. Elder Wang and I are really excited for this upcoming baptism. Saturday was a pretty cool day too because we were able to get a lot of good work done. Elder Wang said that it was the most work completed in a day since he has been here. I have a strong vision that through diligence and effective use of our efforts we can really help Long Tan flourish. We have a few investigators that have already finished the lessons and have committed to a baptismal date. 

This following week and beyond, we are really going to strive to help our investigators overcome their concerns so that they can feel prepared and qualified for baptism. Yesterday I was able to meet the ward members at church. The ward is much smaller here, but the people are great! We also had a great experience working with the Bishop and the Elders Quorum President last night as we went out to visit Less Active and Part Member families. I went out with the Bishop and we were able to visit a family whose father is a less active member. We were able to visit with Brother Fan and his wife. They really opened up to us and they are super kind and funny. I think this was a start to a good relationship! I guess these family visits are something that we will be doing every Sunday night. I think that it is absolutely great because we are able to build our relationships with ward members and with the leaders. I think these visits will open the door to a lot of success in the future.

I'm really excited for the experience I will be able to have here in Long Tan. The mission is just great. I hope that everyone is doing well back at home and at school. I miss you all! Have a great week!

Elder Bastian

My Heart Was Full

Da Jia Hao!

 

It's been another good week here in Zhong He! We were able to have some good experiences and some success in the work this week which has been very satisfying to the soul. Lately, our investigators have been struggling in their progress of faith and in making those steps of change and action within their own lives. It seems like a lot of them have been curious and willing to listen and to try it out, but not to strongly commit. It has been a little disheartening for my companion and me as we love these people so much and hope to see them progress in the gospel because we know this will help them find the most happiness in this life. 

We did have some miracles from the Lord, though, this week. We have two new investigators who came to church for the first time this week. I think they really had a good experience and were able to feel of the spirit and see the difference this gospel can make in their lives as they attend. They have been willing to act upon the invitation to pray and to start reading the Book of Mormon to find out the truthfulness of these things for themselves. It has brought a lot of joy to us to see their sincerity, faith and hope. I think one of the best parts of this week was at church yesterday. One of the new investigators is a new mother from mainland China who has been in Taiwan for about 2 years. We were able to have some of the sisters in the ward guide her around the building during church and at one point, the sisters told her about Primary (the classes for the kids), and our investigator's eyes lit up and she asked "Can we go take a look at the Primary really quickly?" She has a daughter of her own and I think the family aspect of our church and that there is something for everyone here, really helped her open up. It was a cool experience.

Another cool experience this week was on Monday a week ago. For P-day my companion and I were able to go to Taipei 101 with one of the recent converts in the ward. Taipei 101 is the second tallest building in the world reaching about 1600 feet tall. Its elevator is the fastest in the world and goes from the bottom to the top in 30 seconds. It was such a cool experience with a very very pretty view from the top. We were able to see a lot of Taiwan from the top with the different parts of the city and the terrain that it has. I was able to get some cool pictures that I will try to get up next week for everyone to see. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday evening as my companion and I were out tracting, we ran into an older lady who was moving some things in and out of an apartment building. We asked her if we could help her. At first she was a little hesitant, but then accepted our offer. She led us down to the basement which had all of the stuff she was moving. The basement was piled up with books and paper and just different things all over! The only two people there to move the things were the lady and her husband who are nearly 70 years old! We quickly got to work and carried all of the books and things up the stairs out to the moving truck. The lady and her husband were soo kind. They told us that we were a lifesaver and sincerely thanked us for our help. We were able to get everything cleared out quickly. It was a great opportunity to serve and my heart was full at the end of the day. What I felt for this older couple, gave me the opportunity to understand better the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. 

Things are going well here and I am having memorable experiences every week. I hope everything is going well back at home!

Love,

Elder Bastian

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

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!