Too Many Mangoes

Hello Everyone,

This past week here in Taidong was overall good. We some good successes and few downers, but overall I feel that Elder Niedfeldt and I worked our hardest and that is what counts. 
Some highlights of the week though were:
Meeting again with a recently returning LA's and her son who is our investigator. In the beginning, he was pretty closed up to praying with his mom and would tell her that he didn't want to come to church, but we met last saturday and learned that they prayed together this last week 2 or 3 times and the he is liking church more and more! He is slowly opening up to the gospel, its a miracle! I really feel that this is a huge blessing for his mom and him as she is becoming more and more active also. We really hope to help him be baptized in June. 
We also have been meeting with this 70 year old man and he is super willing to listen to our message. Its been a challenge to help him really understand it clearly as its so foreign to him but he is warming up nicely, has set a baptismal date, and is excited to come to church this coming Sunday. If we can help him quite smoking, I think he will get baptized for sure!

The Zhuang Family is also doing well. The 2 daughters came to church this past week, but the mom did not. This week were are focusing more on teaching the commandments. Its interesting how here in Taiwan that one of the harder commandments for people to accept is the 10 commandments because #1 says to only worship Heavenly Father. In Taiwan, many people believe there are thousands of gods and that even there ancestors are gods. I have noticed that the best way to help the understand that we are to only worship Heavenly Father is by helping them have their our spiritual experiences through prayer and communicating with him. Its pretty interesting. I hope all goes well when teaching them this on Tuesday!

Its been pretty hot here lately, but we also had a sweet miracle! Yesterday as we were doing studies at home someone knocked on our door. We opened it to find a little boy and girl holding this big bag of mangos. The said they were neighbors for the floor below and that the had grown too many mangos this season so they wanted to give us some. They were huge! I ate one yesterday and man it was delicious. I will attach a picture to the email.

Well that's pretty much it for some of the bigger highlights of the week.

Elder Niedfeldt and I are continuing to work hard and hope to see much success.

Hope everyone has a great week at home.

Love,

Elder Bastian

Reflecting on the Mission

Hello Everyone!

Its been a pretty good week here in Taidong.

Here are some of the highlights/big news from this past week:

We were blessed with 3 new investigators that all came from member referrals! This is the first time its ever happened since I've been on the mission and whats even better is that they all seem pretty interest. We really hope to be able to work with these members to help the friend/ family be able to progress towards baptism. I know that member missionary work is sooo crucial to help people come unto christ! When and investigators has a friend by his side to answer his questions and encourage him along the way, the probability for them to join the church is so much higher. Then the member and friend can both rejoice in the blessings that have come from this gospel. 
We are also continuing to work with the Zhuang Family. They are so great. Once again they came to church as a whole family! Its their 4th time now. They are continuing to progress and will definetly be baptized in time. They are just trying to resolve some family opposition with the Grandmother. We are going to bring a member on tuesday that struggled with family opposistion at first, but over came it, to help them out.
Sadly, we had to pass Brother Wang off to the 2nd Branch down here in Taidong because we figured out the house that he is living in with his family is actually not in our area. We had been meeting at his Shop and I though he also lived right by, but he doesnt. Its ok though! He is still awesome and I know the missionaries in the 2nd branch will take great care of him.
Last insight:

This week I have been reflecting back on what the mission has done for me and it made me think of something my best friend's dad (Brother Brown) said to me before I left on my mission. He told me that one thing I should do while I am on my mission is to love every single one of my companions that I will have, no matter who they are. That is something that I have strived to take to heart and can say that I feel I have done well. I understand more and more why he told me that. Although we have ups and downs with each companion I have found that loving them and learning how to work with them and interact together has been so beneficial, not only for the work now, but I have really felt that it is preparing me for when I am married and will be with my wife. Its hard to explain in words, but I know that because of the mission and striving to love each companion I am better prepared to be with an eternal companion! So cool!
Well I thought I would share that insight with you, since its been something I have been thinking about lately. The mission really is a training ground for life! And NO, I am not trunky! This is just something I have learned and thought I could share.

This about sums it up for the week!

Love you all,

Elder Bastian

Third Celestial Bridge

Sorry time is a little bit shorter today, so I won't be able to write a lot! We are heading out to a famous tourist spot on the beach that a member is taking us to. It's called the 3rd Celestial Bridge. I hear it's super pretty so I will send pictures next week.

Highlights of the week:

My companion got hit by a scooter this past week and they both crashed! He is OK and only a little scraped up. The people that hit him were two 80+ year old people. I hope they are OK as they are much more frail. I know that the Lord really does send angels to protect us because this accident could have been much worse!

Elder Forbes and my companion met with Brother Wang this past week as I was on exchanges. They say that he seems to be much more on board with everything lately and even in the lesson asked what all the commandments were so he could know how to obtain the blessings that God wants to give him. So cool! I really hope he gets baptized this month.

We also did service for one of Elder Forbes' recent converts, this funny 60 year old sister who lives up on the mountain. We were moving some beds and things for her at her house and we found a spider that was huge! About 4 inches in width! It was funny to see supposed "missionary men" turn into little girls! Ha-Ha. Gladly, we smashed him good after we cornered him! Overall the service was a success.

This is about it for the week!

Hope everyone has a great week at home! Love you all!!!

Elder Bastian

Last Area?

Hello Everyone!

It was a pretty good were here in Taidong! Here are some of the highlights of the week:

We started meeting more frequently with our investigator Brother Zeng. He seemed like he was starting to drop off, but we were able to bring a member to the lesson who is an Aborigine, just like him. They were able to talk and get to know each other and I think it really helped Brother Zeng's desire to grow. Plus the member has a great interest to help him prepare to be baptized! We are doing our best to help him over come his bin lang habit which its getting better and better. I think if doesn't run into it this week that he will be ready to be interviewed for baptism on the weekend. 

Another highlight, our investigating family whose father is a recent convert has been doing well. His children are getting more and more involved with the church and its activities. Elder Neidfelt and I really feel that the kids will be able to be baptized this month. The mom might need more time as its hard for her to let go of the buddhist traditions and begin habits of pray and scripture study. But I'm sure she will be ready in the Lords time!

Last highlight came in finding, two of the new investigators we found are sweet!!! The first was this lady named Grace. We contacted here as she was going for a jog one night and she set up for last friday. We met in a 7/11 that was pretty crowded and didnt have many seats. At first I was think thinking, "ahh man, she is going to feel really embarrassed to meet here..." But as we sat down she was totally fine and was really interested in our message! She was asking great questions and the best part? As we were finishing up I asked if we could say a closing pray and hadn't even specified that I would like here to say the pray when she said, "ok, I'll do it! I want to practice saying a prayer!" Elder Neidfeldt and I were shocked! Afterwards she told us how she had seen us at the same 7 a few weeks ago eating dinner out front and that day she had stopped near us and had wanted to talk to us, but didn't muster up the courage to do so. She said it was such a coincidence to run into us again. As she told me this story I actually remembered that day and remembered her standing there! At that moment, I had a really peaceful feeling telling me that this was all God's set up. We are really excited for her!

We have some great investigators right now who are getting close to baptism. We are going to make sure that we do all we can this week to really help these people build faith in Christ and repent so that they can be baptized soon! I really hope they all chose to make this covenant with God! I feel like being a missionary has given me a peeks view into what parenthood is like as I can see the potential for these investigators and know how much accepting this gospel with absolutely change their lives, yet they in a sense are like children and dont quite realized this yet and will only slowly come to this understanding over time and through personal experience. You want to help them so bad but sometimes, you just got to leave it up to the Lord to take care of things.

I don't know if this is going to be my last area or not but I really hope that If I stay I can see these people be baptized!!!!! They are all such great people and children of God!

Things are going well here and I feel that I am working harder and more efficient now than I have my whole mission. I want to keep it up and hope that the Lord gives me strength to do so!
I think one thing that I have been learning and feeling the importance of over the past several months is the necessity of magnify our calling as missionaries and throughout the rest of my life. We dont just keep following the commandments when we get back, but we prove our faithfulness through magnifying all of the callings that God gives us.
I hope I continue to learn all that the Lords wants me to while I am here in Taiwan.

This about sums it up for here this week.

Hope you all have a great week at home! Love you all!

Elder Bastian

Ups and Downs

This past week was ok here in Taidong, there were a few ups and downs. I felt that Elder Neidfelt and I worked pretty hard, but we just didn't see the success that we had hoped for. A few of our investigators seem to being petering out which is sad because we have so much hope for them! But, everyone has there agency and we will continue to do our best to find the ones that are willing to receive us.

We did see a great blessing though this past week as our investigator Brother Wang came to church for the first time! He hadn't come yet since we started meeting with him about 2 months ago and I was worried that he might not come this week either since he didn't strongly commit when we invited him, but I sent him a text saturday night encouraging him to keep praying and reading and the hoping that we would be able to see him tomorrow and then he came! Elder Neidfelt and I were really excited. I hope that he will be able to make his baptismal date on 5/10.

I was also grateful to be able to hear Elder Wilson, a member of the seventy, and his wife this past week as they came to do a mission tour here. I thought that the topic he chose to address: The Book of Mormon. What perfect. Thats something that I felt has always been a little bit of astruggle on the mission was to help people really become connected with the Book of Mormon or sciptures in general. Its a little different here since people dont have a christian background and are unfimiliar with the Bible. But I felt Elder Wilson gave some great advice to help us better help our investigators experience the Spirit of reading the Book of Mormon. Several times this past week Elder Neidfeldt and I really worked to help our investigators understand the importance of the BoM and read with them to help them experience it. I know this is a process and over time as we continue to help them they will develop their own personal testimony of this second witness to Christ! 

I'm so grateful to have the Book of Mormon in my life and to understand its importance in our conversion to Christ.

This about sums it up for the week. I hope that everyone has a great week back at home!

Elder Bastian

Finished the BofM in Chinese!

Hello Everyone!

This past week here in Taidong was great! 

On the weekend we had the opportunity to watch the re-broadcast of General Conference at our chapel. It was so great, but a bitter sweet moment as I realized that that was the last conference I would watch here in Taiwan. Nevertheless, it was very inspiring, my favorite talks were given by Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf's on Gratitude. I have already begun applying some of the principles that they shared with us and have seen a difference! I know that as we seek the USE the counsel given to us by these prophets of God, we will draw closer to our Heavenly Father, be able to more fully feel his influence in our lives, and be able to more swiftly navigate the challenges of life. Im grateful God has restored the gospel in our day!

Some other highlights of the week:

-Last monday I finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through in Chinese! It feels very satisfying to have accomplished that... but now Im on to D&C!

-On Thursday or so, we were out on our bikes, contacting people on the streets when I stopped and said "Hi" to a man. Well he slowly turned his head toward me and then reach out for my arms without saying anything. I started to back away quickly and without thinking the words, "Oh man, TIME TO GO!" came out of my mouth! As I started to bike away he literaly ran after me for a several meters before stopping!!! I was out of there like lightning... If only I had heeded my companion's warning that he was crazy right before I said hi... What he said didn't really sink in, but now I know what he means! I hope the experience gives you guys a good laugh! Im sure I will remember this one for a while.

-We met with Brother Wang this past week and were able to read the Book of Mormon with him. It was a spiritual lesson as he seemed to really receive some inspiration from God and develop his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He's doing great.

-I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the zone leader on friday. His area is pretty far out of the city near the mountain. It was very rural and life out there is a lot slower! We met a lot of Taiwanese Aborigonees. It was pretty great. We had a cool experience teaching the restoration to a Catholic man, he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and promised to read it.

These are some of the experience of the week. I wish I had more time to write but that's about it!

Hope everyone had a great week at home!

Love,

Elder Bastian

Miracle Lane

Hello Everyone!

This past week has been pretty good here in Taidong. Elder Niedfeldt and I were able to see some great success. 

Recently, we started to meet with a recent convert's wife and kids to teach them the gospel. It's been great as they have been pretty receptive to the message. The husband (Brother Zhuang) was baptized about a month ago and is a super humble and nice man. The best part is, on Sunday, for the first time, he and his whole family came to church together!! They also had the opportunity to watch him get sustained to be able to receive the priesthood! It was pretty cool to see them all together smiling. I can just tell that this family will receive the gospel. The father is setting such a great example for them and im sure they will follow. I'm so grateful that my companion and I have the opportunity to help them in this conversion process.

I also had the opportunity to ask Zhuang DX at church on Sunday what he thought the most profound part of the gospel is to him so far and he told me....."Eternal Families".....SWEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!

Some other successes of the past week were meeting with Samuel, the kid we tracted into last week whose grandma first ignored us. We sat down with him and then his little brother who is 12 sat down too and read with as we went through 1 Ne 1. Now he is investigating too! We really hope that in the end we can start meeting with the whole family!

Last miracle that I want to write about happened last night. Elder Niedfeldt and I rode out to a fairly far away part of town to go meet with a potential we had. After we talked with her we continued to tract in her neighborhood for the rest of the evening and in a matter of 40 minutes we found 3 new investigators! One was a 52 year old man, and another was a mom and her 24 year old son! They all lived within 8 houses of each other.... I think we need to rename this place "miracle lane"!

We are also continuing to meet with Brother Wang and he is great. He wasn't able to meet this past week but is set up for Tuesday and really excited to meet! We are excited too!

The work is going well here in this part of the vineyard and I just hope that I can continue to do my best each day to serve the Lord and serve these people here in Taiwan.

I hope that everyone is doing well at home and has a great week.

Love you all,

Elder Bastian