Unexpected Transfer

Hello!

 

Well, Big news! My companion and I got a phone call from the assistants to the president yesterday morning telling us that we would both be moving the next day (today). My companion will be heading to the mission office most likely to become one of the office elders, taking care of computer things, and I will be heading out to a new area as a result of a short term missionary cancelling. I'll figure out where I am going at 3:00 pm today when we head over to the mission office. I'm pretty excited, but also a little nervous to have everything change all of sudden, just after getting used to this area. Well, the Lord always has new things in store for us and I know that His plan is better than mine, so it will be a great experience.

The past week has gone pretty well here. We were able to see some cool miracles. The highlight of the week was with our English Class. We have implemented a new mission-wide English Program with new text books and everything and have been inviting a lot of people to come. This week, about 15 or so new people came. Our class was packed. As a result, 3 new people in our area are interested in learning more about the gospel. We were able to meet with them after class and share a little message with them. 2 of the 3 are a newly-wed couple. It was nice to be able to meet with them and see their desire to learn more about the Savior. One of the best parts of the mission is being able to watch and see people change as they start to learn about, and accept, the gospel into their lives. Their whole composure seems to change.

I had the opportunity to meet with Brother Wu yesterday. He was the first person that I helped baptize on the mission in my first area. He found out that I would be leaving this area again and wanted to meet with me. He has changed so much and really grown in the gospel. He has been to the temple, received the Melchizedek priesthood, and is preparing to go back to the temple for his endowment. So cool!

I'll be sad to leave this area. We were just starting to see things ramp up in getting the work going here. I hope all of these people that we have met in the past few weeks will continue in the gospel and be able to receive the blessings that come from it.

Well, that's about it for here! Hope that you all have a great week back at home. I love you all!

Elder Bastian

Hastening the Work of Salvation

Hello Everyone!

 

Taiwan is really bringing the heat now. We have had several days in the 90's and just as humid as can be. We have had a couple times where we were tracting and my companion and I were just soaked in sweat. It feels good to come home at the end of the night knowing that we've done our best helping our brothers and sisters find their way back home. This past week we have spent a lot of time finding, searching for those who are ready to hear this gospel. We are striving to build up our teaching pool and hope to be able to see a lot of success in this transfer.

Yesterday evening my companion and I had a sweet little miracle. As we were at our apartment it started to down pour and thunder like crazy! It kept coming down so we decided to adjust the first hour of our finding time that day to call former investigators to see if there would be interested in starting to meet with us again. I decided to call one guy that my companion told me had met with missionaries about 5 months ago and was just golden, but who ended getting really busy with school and stopped meeting. I called and he didn't answer... but about 20 minutes later just before we were about to leave he called me back and I was able to talk to him. He said that he his finishing his finals in a week and would love to meet again after that! My companion and I are really excited and thankful that the Lord sent a little rain our way.

Now for the fun story of the week. Just after that phone call we headed out to go tracting in a place that was rather far away. We got there and I noticed that I had forgot my bike key so I couldn't lock my bike. I figured it wouldn't be a problem and that I could just leave it there, but then my companion turns to me his face looks a little shocked and he says "uh oh..." He had just locked his bike and then realized that he forgot his key also. Now he had no way to get back. So we had to make about an hour and a half walk round trip to our apartment and back to get his key. It was just one of those days. We had a good night though after that tracting for a little bit.

In my new area we also have the opportunity to go to this really large park to walk around and talk to people about the church. One thing that I have been working on is listening to the spirit as we are seeking to know who we should talk to. As I have focused on this, we have been able to see some cool miracles, meeting a lot of great people and some that are willing to learn more about the Restored Gospel.

This morning was a world-wide conference on missionary work, titled "Hastening the Work of Salvation." It emphasized the importance of members and missionaries working together in efforts to help all of the children of God to return to the fold. I know that what was talked about today was direct revelation from Christ through his servants, the prophet and apostles, to the world. I'm glad to see what things will come about in the future and the integration of new technology and the internet (facebook etc.) in helping this work move forth.

I hope that everyone has a great week! I love you all!

Elder Bastian

Catch the Wave

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope that all is well back at home! This past week was pretty good here in Yong He. We were able to me with some investigators and members and it was exciting to see them exercising and building their faith! The only downside to the week was getting sick! It started monday and pretty much wiped me out all of saturday. I had a pretty interesting experience visiting the doctors with my companion. We were both trying to understand the medical terms she was saying and she was trying to use the English that she learned from college. It worked out in the end and I was able to get the needed medicine. The doctor visits here are so cheap! The whole visit and medicine cost a total of about 13 american dollars.... I think I'm starting to get over the sickness too. Hopefully I'll be back to normal by tomorrow.

This past week we had another awesome experience. Elder Kent D. Watson, President of the Asia Area mission, visited us on Thursday to do a mission tour. He put on a missionary conference with President Day. It was fun to see the perspectives of hope of the General Authority for Taiwan. He talked about "Catching the Wave" in reference to last General Conference's addresses which many focused on missionary work. He emphasised the need for members and missionaries to work together in this great cause. We were able to receive some training on this that we will be able to take back to our individual areas and begin implementing! We are pretty excited.

Overall the weather here has been pretty hot. Summer is starting to roll around and a lot of people are outside with their families. I hope its the same where you guys are at! I love summer.

My time is about up for this week but I hope that you all have a great time wherever you're at!

Love ya,

Elder Bastian

Move Calls

Hello Everyone!

 

Well there have been some big changes this past week! We got the move calls and on Friday we traveled to Taipei to figure out where I would be heading. I was pretty anxious at the meeting to find out where my new area was. Then my name flashed on the screen and I saw that I was heading back to my very first area! Its called Shuang He. "Shuang" means two. So Shuang He actually consists of two areas and two wards. The first is where I served right when I got on the Island which is Zhong He. Now I will be serving in the neighboring area/ward called Yong He. I am actually living in the same apartment I started in and going to the same chapel! I was able to see a lot of ward members that I knew in Zhong He and also see some of my recent converts. It was so fun to reunite with them! The ward on Sunday actually invited me to come up during their sacrament meeting and speak for a minute to let everyone know I was back. It was pretty funny. I'm super glad to be serving in Yong. My companion is Elder Weng. He is an American-born Chinese from West Virginia! He is super cool and I know were gonna have a good time here in Yong He together helping others come unto Christ.

I've only been in this area for about 3 days now, but my companion and I have already been able to see so many miracles! We have met a lot of people who are willing to stop and listen to our message for a little bit then set up to hear more! We really hope to be able to support this ward and bring in some new wonderful members who can support the Lord's kingdom here in Taiwan.

My last few days in Long Tan were pretty good! We were able to see a lot of good things happen right before I left. We were able to find a few great people through referrals and meet with the two people that came to church themselves last week. They are great! One of them has already set a baptismal date. He just seems super prepared. I hope that Long Tan continues to blossom!

Anyways, that's about it for this week. My email time, is a little bit shorter this week as we didn't get on as early as we usually do to email. I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Elder Bastian

Earthquake!

Hi Everyone!

 

Another week has flown by here in Long Tan. It's been super hot lately! I think its been about 90+ degrees every day this past week. My companion and I are getting pretty tan! Well, kind of burnt and then tan. It's nice to have the sun around now and it looks like it's here for good.

This Wednesday we get move calls. I will probably be moving this Friday, but we will see what happens!

This past week has gone pretty well! Yesterday was great. We have been talking with so many people lately, but at this point just seemed like not too many were interested, then BOOM, yesterday morning two people just walked into church on their own. One is a mother with a 4 year old daughter. Her name is Sister Chen. Her father actually used to take her to our church when she was young, but since then has only gone periodically over the past several years. She says that recently things have settled down for her and she has more time so she wants to come back to church and get into everything again! We will meet with her this Wednesday, so we are really excited. 

The next exciting thing that happened yesterday was an earthquake! We were in our apartment at about 2:30 doing studies and then my desk started to shake a little. I thought, man, I must really be dehydrated and have a bad headache or something. Then everything started to shake and I realized that it was an earthquake! My companion and I looked at each other suprised. It lasted for about 20 seconds or so. It wasn't to bad at all though in my area. There is no damage that I know of. I'm not sure about the other parts of Taiwan though, the hotspot for earthquakes is more in the south. So that was a pretty interesting experience!

Saturday, I was also able to go on exchanges in the neighboring city Bade. I was with a newer missionary Elder Kesler. He is from Missouri and is just great! We were able to see a lot of miracles as we went out finding that day. We went to a park and the first man that we talked to was really willing to listen. At first he didn't really believe in God. He said he used to but that because of a lot of life struggles over the past 10 years or so he has kind of given up on Him. He said he just didn't care any more. As we started to teach him about Heavenly Fathers, his identity, and our relationship with Him, the man really started to change. We could all feel the Spirit. His heart really softened and he even told us that he believed what we were sharing with him. He thanked us for talking with him. He said he feels a new power that has been brought into his heart. I hope all turns out well for him.

I think that that is one of the greatest blessings of the Gospel is the hope and confidence that it brings to our lives. We know who we are, why we are here and where we are going. Life in not a mystery anymore, we understand, and don't need to fear!

Im grateful for the many blessing I have and for the wonderful experience I have had here in Taiwan.

I hope that everyone has a great week where you are!

Love ya!

Elder Bastian

Humbling Moments

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope you are all doing well back in the US. It's been a pretty good week here on the other side of the world. My companion and I have had a lot of learning and growing experiences this past little while. If there is one thing that I have learned on the mission and am still learning (probably will the rest of my life) is the principle that Heavenly Father will never push us further than what we can handle. He knows us better than we know ourselves, which means he knows our potential and our limits more than we do. The mission is full of challenges, but full of miracles as we come to see who we really are and what we and all of God's children can achieve in this life as well as in the next. I'm so grateful for the many examples I have in my life. You guys are the best!

Here are a few of the cool experiences we were able to have this past week. Up until Saturday, we had been struggling to find people with interest in this special message. Saturday afternoon though, we went to meet with a potential investigator we had run into while knocking doors the week before. She had invited us back to teach her and her grandchildren. Elder Bennion and I weren't too sure if she would remember our appointment with her, but she did! AND she had 3 of her grandchildren there, ages 9,10, and 11. We were able to teach them about prayer and share part of the restoration of the gospel with them. They were so great and invited us back for next Saturday evening when the kids' parents will be home! The lesson we taught them turned out to be our only lesson with investigators this past week, but it was a definite set up by Heavenly Father, which ended in four new, pure hearts that were willing to learn about the gospel.  You definitely have some "humbling moments" while out on the mission. I think my faith was a little lower before that point, but once again, without fail, God has shown me that he is ALWAYS watching over us and tending to his field the way he wants to.

This next week, we really hope to be able to meet with our other investigators that have been busy lately. We have many that have such great potential! I hope they will all choose to stick around and see the blessings that this gospel will bring to their lives.

Another cool experience we had, happened last night. We decided to go street contacting in an area of the town that usually isn't very populated. After talking to a few people who weren't interested, we came to the end of the more populated part of the road and were about to head back, but then decided to keep going a little further. We quickly ran into a high school student who is really interested in Christianity. He has recently started to read the bible and wants to be baptized, but hasn't been to church before. We quickly invited him and he said that he would love to come and also meet with us! We are super excited for him and hope that all works out! Life is full of so many memorable experiences.

This mission is awesome!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week back at home.

Love,

Elder Bastian

Blessing Families

Hello Everyone!

 

I hope that all is going well back at home! Things are alive and kicking here in good ol' Long Tan. The past week we have been able to have some pretty cool experiences!

About two weeks ago we ran into a man named Mr. Xie. He said he had met missionaries about 10 years ago and gone to church a few times with them, but hadn't since. He said he was really glad to see us and that he would bring his family to church the next Sunday. We were stoked! The sad thing is... That Sunday we had our Stake Conference in another city called Tao Yuan. We had tried to call him the night before to let him know, but he never answered. The next day at the meeting he called us and said, "Hey, I'm at the church, where are you guys?" Our hearts dropped. He showed up and no one was there!

BUT, the experience gets better. My companion and I this past week were biking towards the small lake in our town, and my companion got the impression that we should go visit this man. We stopped by his house, knocked...lo and behold he answers and welcomes us in! We were able to sit down with him and he started to tell us about how his life wasn't going too well lately. We taught him about Heavenly Father and prayer. He said he hadn't prayed in years, but that he was willing to try again. We were able to say one with him and afterwards he explained that his heart felt so warm and peaceful! At the end of the short lesson he said a closing prayer and it was beautiful and humble. We could all really feel the spirit. Afterwards another man came downstairs and I looked back... it just so happened to be another guy that I had contacted a few days before! They were brothers! It was a very cool experience to see the Lord working through us to help out this family. This past Sunday Mr. Xie's family came to church and I think they had a great experience! We hope to be able to meet with all of them again soon. He has such a great desire to help his family.

Last night I also had another cool experience. We went on splits with our local ward leaders to go and visit less-active members. I ended up going with the Bishop. As we were getting in the car to leave he told me how we would be going to visit and give a blessing to a man who was recently hospitalized with the possibility of having cancer. His mother is a member of another ward in our stake and asked if we could go visit him since he was in our area. Then he said, I want you to give the blessing. I was a little shocked at first, I have only given one other blessing since I've been on the mission and it was on my second transfer. I was glad to have the opportuninty to use my priesthood to bless the lives of others. We were able to visit the man; he is currently working in the military and is very nice. I was able to give him a blessing, a spirit of calmness entered into the room. It was a neat experience. I hope that everything turns out well for this man as I may never see him again.

The Lord is always blessing us with experiences to learn, grow, and help others. I'm so grateful to be serving a mission at this time!

I hope that everyone has a great week back at home. I've got to get going now.

Love you all!

Elder Bastian