December 25, 2016 - Last Christmas in Taiwan

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week was fun for me but probably boring to hear about. I got my clothes tailored and fixed so they can last the rest of my time here in Taiwan. My pants all had holes and were kind of gross. It is all okay now and looking better than before haha! .... and more humble

On Wednesday we traveled to my old area in Tainan for Zone conference. I played the violin twice and sang in a trio during the conference. I was grateful that I had been in choir before so I wouldn't pee my pants from nerves. When your mission president is a member of the first quorum of the seventy it makes me just feel more stressed for some reason. 

I saw my long lost friend from the MTC . We are in the same mission but I haven't seen him since last Christmas!! More than a year had passed. I had seen everyone else besides him. Elder Rollap is one of the best. 

Later in the week I played in a violin quartet that will perform in a couple weeks:) It was fun, I was the oldest and was the most experienced out of the group. It was almost like teaching a little music class, so that was fun for me. 

We had a Christmas activity on Christmas eve. Taiwanese people love to eat so there was a ton of food. Elder Cox played Santa and gave everyone treats. 

It was a fun week, It didn't really feel like Christmas but I think when I look back on it, it will. I love you all! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a happy new year! 

I included a couple of pictures of me with my bike. I have grown to love my bike, actually I have a love-hate relationship with it, but more love than hate.

While my companion, Elder Cox was on the phone with his family at the church building,

I spent my time playing with my camera. It was a lot of fun!

Here is one of the pictures I took.

December 18, 2016 - Christmas Parade

This week was fun! We had a chance to go out to Mama Jiang's farm. We helped them remove planters to put in a gate to their house. Jiang Baba (baba means dad or father) suffered a really bad car accident a long time ago so he cannot walk very well and Jiang Mama broke her foot a month ago. Jiang mama said the two of them right now are very dangerous together. haha! They both came out to work with us and Jiang Ma was swinging a hammer really close to where I was working so I told her I would finish it... So I wouldn't get taken out with a rusty old hammer. Both Mama and Baba made us wear hats. They yelled at me if I wouldn't wear it. haha. They don't like the sun.

On Friday we participated in the JiaYi Christmas parade. We handed out candy and smiled and waved. Our group of about 20 missionaries probably had the least preparation but everyone freaked out because there was a giant group of white people at the end of the parade. It was fun!

Saturday we got to go back and finish the work that we didn't finish on Wednesday at Mama and Baba Jiang's house. This time we brought reinforcements and a ride because it is really far to go on a bike. Sister Yu (member who owns the restaurant) drove us in her van with another member. After work we went and ate cake and hot chocolate with her. She is the best! If you look closely at the picture you can see the cool little cakes we had.

This isn't super important and kind of embarrassing, but on Sunday I laid down on my bed during our companionship study and Elder Cox's punishment was making my bed with me in it... I was very tired this week haha! I stayed there longer than I am proud to admit. If you look at the picture, my head is by the window, my hands are clasped on my chest and my legs are over the side of the bed.

I got my Christmas package from sweet parents too! Thanks Mom and Dad! 

That was pretty much it for this week.

I love you all!  

December 11, 2016 - Christmas is Coming

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week was a bit slower than last week but that is okay. To start off the week we went to visit a less active member who is very active in another church... It was really upsetting because they were so full of anger and hate to things that oppose their beliefs. They are actively involved in protesting some of today's most debated topics. They go with their preacher to city centers with signs and banners and it really just seemed like it is not the path that the Savior would walk. I hope they will soften their hearts and come back to church with us here. 

 

On Wednesday we watched the Joseph Smith video with our 15 year old twin investigators. They had a little miracle. They got a 20% on their English test before coming to church and then after coming to English class and church they got 80%. Their Dad is now willing to drive them to any church activity and or meeting with us. I don't think we helped their English that much but it is a blessing for sure. 

 

We met a new investigator this week who is interested in the church because of Howard Hughes, he really likes the church and wants to join.. haha. We will see if he really does. 

 

Our special investigator who kidnapped us last week did it again this week!!! We didn't have a ride to stake conference so he took us. The stake center is in JaiYi which is about 30 minutes from where we live here in TaiBao but it took him an hour to drive us therebecause he drives really weird. He drove us in a big circle up and down back roads! He is a very kind man but he is not all there. I guess it was like voluntary kidnap. 

Christmas is coming. We got our first Christmas gift from a member on Sunday that was pretty nice. It was a tie with Chinese characters on it. We put it under our little tree for a while before we opened it.

I took a picture on a bridge that looks like it has American style Christmas lights on it.

I think that was about it for this week. I love you all!

Elder Erwin

December 4, 2016 - A Week Full of Surprises!

Well this week was great! We started by going to TaiZhong by high speed train, which was amazing! I got to see my old companion Elder White and some of my current companion, Elder Cox's,  recent converts, and some members from TaiZhong that have become some of my best friends. 

Elder Cox's Recent Converts

My friend, Chris Chen, from TaiZhong

On Tuesday we went on exchanges. Elder Sims came to Taibao with me and did Brother Wu's baptismal interview... He passed!!! He wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. We said it would be probably be at least a week but he said this Saturday, so we made it work and he was baptized by his brother-in-law on Saturday. 

Our Crazy District

Wednesday I saw something that made me laugh. My sweet Grandma Jensen used to joke about riding her motorized scooter to Oregon to visit her son (my grandpa). The people of Taiwan are living Grandma's dream. They ride these scooters down the highway... It is very dangerous but it always makes me smile because they are really doing what grandma would always talked about doing.

Thursday we did service and wrapped Christmas candy into little bags to use as invitations to our branch Christmas party. We also set up a Christmas tree in the church. It was fun to tell the stories of Christmas to the members there. They don't really celebrate Christmas in Taiwan so they are like little kids when they hear about all the ways we celebrate Christmas in the States.

Friday we had to scrub clean the baptismal font because it is outside. It is basically just a box on the side of the chapel. We enjoyed the chance to do some manual labor. We don't get to do much manual labor or service because the people of Taiwan are too proud to let a white foreigner help them.

Scrubbing the Baptismal Font

Saturday was the baptismal service, Brother Wu, who is about 65 years old but he seemed to be like an 8 year old child to me. He was so happy. It was an amazing to see Brother Wu, a man who was so difficult and stubborn be baptized in such a miraculous way. Two weeks ago we thought he wouldn't go through with being baptized and then he had a change of heart and seems to be completely different from the man I knew.  I played the violin at the service... as usual. I am glad I have a talent to share, it is not much but I can do something. 

Brother Wu's Baptism

We were also abducted that day by an investigator who is a little crazy... He told us he wanted to feed us and then we got in his car and he took us all the way to BeiGang which is about 30 minutes away by car!! Luckily we made it there and back in one piece. Then we had a beautiful bike ride across this bridge in our area, the wind was blowing pretty bad so it was bouncing around. Once again, all ended up being okay, but it felt like our life was in danger a lot that day. 

Sunday we had a crazy fast and testimony meeting, you know how sometimes it never has anything to do with church. Haha! There is nothing you can do about it, just smile. Brother Wu received the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting and got a beautiful blessing from his brother-in-law who has been a member for over 40 years. We got to practice singing songs for the Christmas activity, it was great.

I love you all!! 

Sincerely Elder Erwin 

November 27, 2016 - Thanksgiving Right Into Christmas

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a good one. At the beginning of the week I was bedridden. I couldn't move because of pain. You might ask "Why is that a good thing?" It was pouring torrential rain outside and our humble Taibao was very empty to say the least. So my companion got to avoid the nasty weather and rest for a bit and take care of his sick companion. 

​I asked Elder Cox if I could wear a scarf instead of a tie... he said "only if you wear it like a tie... so I did!" haha! 很帥! Obviously I didn't go out like that but I really thought about it. 

​On Thanksgiving we went and ate some turkey but... It was very anti climactic... That is our Thanksgiving feast right there. To be honest we went and got another dinner because this was very unsatisfying. Haha! 

Also on this holiday of thanks we had a special encounter on the bus with a bunch of Australians! There was 20 or more of them here to study Taiwanese socialized medicine. They were all doctors and nurses. I told them of the pain I was having in my head and body and they said I should go and see and acupuncturist or go get a massage. I readily agreed but no time really! It was so nice to talk to them on the bus, even though they weren't from my country they kind of felt like family... probably just because they spoke English. 

We found some old Christmas stuff in our apartment this week so we decorated the next day because everyone knows that the day after Thanksgiving is the day Christmas becomes legal. We have Christmas music going all the time now and we sing Christmas songs in our studies. 

We had 5 people at church this week even though it was pouring rain. Brother Wu is having his baptismal interview tomorrow and will be baptized in the next upcoming weeks. Sister Wong met with us at a member's house. She is great we explained the Plan of Salvation, she has a lot of questions about it what we teach. She and I get along really well, we are hoping she will be baptized in the end of December.  Our new investigators, the twins are super cool they come to everything and are super sassy! They have a little bit of potty mouth but it makes us laugh to watch them sass each other every second of the day. Sister Zhang and Sister Zhang they definitely make everything very interesting. 

I have been working on my balance... I hear standing on your head stimulates hair growth hopefully this will keep me from going bald! haha! 

We emailed a little early because we are going to take the high speed rail to Taizhong to visit my old companion Elder White!! The high speed rail travels at nearly 200 miles per hour so we will get there in 20ish minutes when it is normally almost 2 hours! Pretty cool eh?

Well I love you all!  

November 13, 2016 - Service....After Sickness

Thank you for the prayers on my behalf I am doing so much this week. 

The craziest thing that happened to us this week was we decided to look for a chance to serve in Taiwan. A couple weeks ago I wrote about our member who owns a hot pot restaurant. She is always giving us free food and we wanted to do something to help her. 

She said "Come eat on Saturday and I will give you some stuff you can help with." We thought "great!" dishes to wash lights to change...wrong! We became servers for the food!! It was absolutely terrifying! I spent Monday and Wednesday in the ER and then Saturday I was serving food to people... 

She gave us so much candy because she felt so grateful but I am still just mortified by the whole experience! I can't really eat the candy but Elder Cox was really grateful. 

God loves Sister Yu and I hope that she can continue to feel it through those around her. Besides that I was mostly just on my sick bed, and the hospital 

but it will all be alright. I love you all!  

October 30, 2016 - Halloween and Many Moves

Happy Halloween everyone! We probably won't have any kids come knocking here in Taiwan. Thanks to my mom for sending the little Halloween decoration! 

We hung it on the outside of our apartment door.

This week I said goodbye to my old friend and companion Elder Millett. (Below) He was my companion right out of training and now he is heading home. 

I will miss him, he has always been so kind to me. 

​Later on in the week Elder Fuller ate his last hot pot at our member's restaurant.

Elder Fuller is moving to Taizhong (my last area) and my new companion is Elder Cox! Elder Cox and I have followed each other around our whole missions and now he is coming back to TaiBao which was his second area. Usually you don't go back to where you have been before so it is really interesting, also we came to Taiwan at the same time so that is also very different. Usually you don't serve with someone you were in the MTC with.

​This week we contacted into a man from Nigeria and he wanted to take a picture with us.

The Wu family came to visit from Taizhong. I was teaching Brother Wu before I left Taizhong and he was baptized after I was transferred out. It was good to see old friends.

I love you all!

October 23, 2016 - Mountain Adventure

At the start of this week we went hiking.  I really enjoy taking pictures... I won't ever make it a profession but a hobby... maybe.  

The tea fields are amazing and so green. All of Taiwan is green and things don't go dormant like they do in Utah. There are some trees that lose their leaves at this time of year but their leaves grow back like a month later. My companion, Elder Fuller is one quarter Taiwanese. His parents both went to Taiwan on their missions so they both speak Mandarin but my companion didn't speak it until he came to Taiwan.

 Elder Fuller Hanging Out in the Tea Field

Above the Clouds

This week we had a mission tour. Elder Randy D. Funk of the Asia area presidency came and addressed us. It was very uplifting and much appreciated. I played the violin. I saw my some of my MTC friends like Elder Spach and Elder Warner. 

We have a member here in Taibao that calls everyday asking if we want to eat food because she owns a restaurant. We have now been probably 8 times since I have been in Taibao. We owe her big time. I will get a picture there with her. 

Our investigator Brother Wu now has a baptismal date for November 19th. His wife is a member and her brother is a senior missionary here in JiaYi so I am sure he will hit that date.  Keep praying for him. 

That is about it for this week.

Love you all! 

Elder Erwin

October 16, 2016 - Baptism, Bees and a Broken Bike

This week was pretty slow, I am tired but I think I am getting healthier from all the biking we have been doing. 

Last week I played at a grandma's baptism. Old people almost never get baptized in Taiwan so that was cool. 

We took our bikes to JiaYi city on Tuesday... We have to go there for DTM every week but we usually take a 45 minute bus. It was like an hour and fifteen minute ride and a couple giant hills and extreme pain. haha.

Most of our time was spent out and about.  One day we went and contacted and ran straight into a bee farm. They were swarming across the road we were riding on. Amazingly, we came out on the other end just fine! We were riding our bikes a lot and my companion's bike broke, it was really bad. We still don't know how but the derailleur compacted in on itself. It was really strange. So we walked to the closest bike shop... more than 4 miles. 

This week really got us. But we saw some beautiful fields and talked to some nice old people who don't speak Chinese they are that old. It gave me a chance to practice my Taiwanese. I know just enough to make them laugh. What more could you ask for then that?

I love you all! 

October 9, 2016 - Island Traveler

Dear Family and Friends

I had to get online 4 hours early today because I am playing the violin at a baptism that is a 45 minute bus ride away so we had to get all our things done early this morning.

This week was full of riding all over our area. We started by going to the west coast to contact by the ocean. My legs and backside are very tired. I would love to know how many miles we went but... The world may never know. Living in Taibao is really different, always looking for people but they seem to all be hiding somewhere. I serve in all of JiaYi County. Taibao is just one of the cities in JiaYi County and that is where our church is and where we live. Our area is from the ocean all the way to the east mountains which then becomes the Taipei Mission's area on the other side. 

We ended up seeing one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen in my life when we went to the ocean. If you look closely you can see the crescent moon and a planet to its left. And yes, that is my back in the picture.

We also went to a place called "North Port" which was weird because it wasn't to the North and it isn't by the ocean. Apparently it is haunted according to my old companion, Elder Millett who is now my zone leader.  There are a ton of giant temples there. They are cool but are also a little terrifying. There is just a creepy feeling because the inside is full of idols and it is dark and lit up with red lights... so it is a little scary... if you know what I mean

We also visited a town called "New Port" and a place called "Ma Yu Liao" but I don't have any pictures of them.

I love you all have a great week!

October 2, 2016 - Megi the Typhoon

This week we got destroyed by a nasty typhoon named Megi. Taiwan has been hit by 3 typhoons in 2 weeks. Megi hit us last Tuesday, September 27. The first 2 typhoons didn't have much to them for those of us on the west side of the island but this 3rd one was a doozy. We attempted to go out into it and lasted about an hour before it just felt too dangerous to continue. There was no one else outside... Then we decided to go to the roof of our apartment and enjoy getting pelted by water and wind. It was really not the greatest choice, but I really enjoyed the storm. We got soaking wet. In this picture, if you look closely, you can see I am being cheesy because I am soaking wet from being out in the rain that accompanied Megi.

​TaiBao was flooded really bad so when the Typhoon ended there were still no people willing to go outside, but we went out and explored and didn't really see anyone.

This is a park in TaiBao. Most of the trees lost half their branches.

My Companion, Elder Fuller, riding his bike in the flooded street. 

TaiBao is a city in the area I am serving. My area covers a large part of the county of JaiYi. It is very rural and there are only about 20 members in the branch that come to church... so it is really different, but not bad. 

The week was not exactly full of lessons because Taiwanese people take typhoons very seriously, so for a couple days before and after no one wants to do anything. The government closed down most food places for a couple days so we scavenged for food. We had to eat 7-11 food and at some back alley places that were not shut down by the government. But we survived the typhoon and the scary food.

We are enjoying the Taiwanese fall, blistering hot and humid in the day and cool in the nights. The trees are even dying. Last year I was in a city so there was no sign of a season change but here there is a little bit. 

Taiwan Sunset, after the typhoon

We did service for some handicapped people this week. They wanted us to teach them English but we mostly just played games with them because English is really hard and they would have been frustrated. 

I had a surprise visitor this week. One of the members from XingYing, (my 4th area) found out that I was in TaiBao and came to visit me since it's only 30 minutes. I attached a picture of me with him. He is 40 years old but looks younger than 30...

Other than the typhoon, and a visit from the past, there is not too much to report.

Love you all! Elder Erwin