August 28, 2016 - Two Things I'm Passionate About on My Mission and I Like to Translate

This week was very normal, not a ton to report.

Here is a picture of our district at district meeting. My companion, Elder White, is the one just over my right shoulder.

Elder White and me on stage after the performance

Someone asked me what song Elder Crockett and I did the violin arrangement for last week that took us 4 hours to write. It was the EFY Medley, As Sisters in Zion/We Will Bring the World His Truth.

I found this picture of me with a group of missionaries and David Archuleta. I am still waiting on the ones from youth conference. They had a photographer who got some pictures but he is still organizing them. Hopefully I will have them soon. 

President Teh came to do a baptismal interview for the other Elders' investigator. However, President doesn't really speak Chinese yet. So I was invited to be translator. I really think I could go in to that in the future. There is something so special to me about being able to help people separated by language communicate their feelings one with another. Being able to bring people together like that is something I could get used to. Who knows where it could take me? 

Last week my dad asked me to find 2 things in the gospel that I can be passionate about and focus on for the last 10 months of my mission. The two things that I decided to focus on are pretty simple. First is that we have a loving Heavenly Father, who knows us and wants us to be happy. Second is Idol worship is wrong... The people in Taiwan actually worship idols, but even members of the church around the world worship idols too when we put things before God, it is the same. I thought these were two things that I have felt strongly about on my mission.

This week we got a lot of referrals so hopefully in the upcoming days we will see some progress and I'll have more to report.

I love you all!

Elder Erwin

August 21, 2016 - Musical Missionary and David Archuleta

Dear Family and Friends,

To start of the week Elder Crockett (the awesome piano playing Elder I have played with before) and I practiced and literally wrote an arrangement for the EFY performance that took place on Friday. I was so tired by the end of it. Standing for 4 hours writing and changing music. I know am a sissy but your back starts to hurt after awhile.

This picture describes very well the way I feel. Hopefully my body will stop destroying itself. If I lose any more weight I will disappear into nothingness. It was a really good week. It feels a little like getting hit by a bus. However afterward you just appreciate life more right?

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Chen and there was another crazy flash flood. We got soaked just in time for English class. 

On Thursday I played three musical numbers at a funeral and also a member of the seventy came to visit our mission and I was invited to play a special number with Elder Crockett. We put it together half an hour before. I had no music just some reminders on a piece of paper. Missionary life of inconvenience, but totally fun.

On Friday we went straight to the mission home and worked out some last minute details and then got in a car with the office elders to go to Jia Yi. The musical number went really great. It was pretty crazy dozens of returned missionaries, David Archuletta, Elder Crockett and myself. We got a chance to sit and talk with David for about 2 hours behind the stage during other parts of the program. He is very kind. We took turns helping him translate and that was pretty cool. I speak Chinese... What, really?

I'm trying find some pictures of the performance. Hopefully I'll have some next week.

On Saturday we went back to normal missionary work. Our good friend Kris took us to dinner and Coldstone... Yeah they have cold stone in Taiwan. I didn't eat any because I have been ill all week so eating ice cream would have destroyed me. 

I love you all!  

Elder Erwin

August 7, 2016 - I Conducted a Choir

Hello Everyone,

Well, I left the door early today to write emails because we are pretty busy. After this we have to run. I have a practice for the EFY where I will be playing the violin and David Archuleta will be singing. I'm pretty excited about that. The EFY performance with David is on Friday, then I have another performance on Saturday. 

I have a new companion. His name is John White and he is from North Carolina and he's been out for 6 months. He plays the piano, so that is nice.

Miracle for the week: We had a ton of time this week and didn't have too much happen. So we went to work and after working we finally have a week with some new people to teach. So this upcoming week we have 3 or 4 new people who are willing to meet with us! It's been a while since we've had someone to teach.

Fun: We were invited to sing as a zone at the David Archuleta concert and I was invited to be the conductor.  So that is me! haha! I win! I directed a choir at a David Archuleta concert. I even got to direct the star of the show. David sticks out a little... haha

In the picture of the choir you can see how David Archuleta stands out. That's my back, I'm the one conducting.

You can thank Alisha for the pics! Alisha is a recent convert. My old companion Elder Nipper baptized her. She is the one in this picture. 

That night was pretty crazy so we took a taxi to get to the mission home on time to get on the bus to go to the concert. We got home after the concert at around 12:00 a.m. I actually got really sick that night so with the vomiting, I got a total of two hours of sleep. I was really wrecked the next day. I don't know what made me sick. Either exhaustion or I ate something bad.

We had dinner with a member in his penthouse apartment. It was the nicest place I have seen since being in Taiwan. This is my old companion Elder Gasser and the member. This picture shows the view of the city from his apartment.

July 31, 2016 - A Symphony in the Sky

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. I went with Elder Ludwig who is pretty cool. We got to teach two martial artist about the plan of salvation. I then got to watch them hit each other with sticks. We contacted a lot and went home.

The next day we taught English class but because Sister Pierce was still recovering from surgery she couldn't come so we had to go on splits and teach the class by ourselves. That was interesting. I forgot how hard it is to try and teach by yourself for an hour and a half.

It poured rain on Friday. We were visiting the Wu family who lives on the 29th floor of their apartment building. We watched the lightening from their apartment.  The lightning was intense, especially when you are on the 29th floor of a building. I don't think there is anything more beautiful than a storm like that. It's like a symphony in the air with a light show to accompany it.

On Saturday we went met together as a district and I had some extra money at the end of the month... They don't want you to spend mission money on things like trinkets and souvenirs so I bought everyone winter melon tea.  The best drink in Taiwan (In my opinion) It was super fun.

This week we lost some more people and didn't find any new ones so. We just have to keep trying.

I love you all. 

Elder Erwin

Breakfast in Taiwan - Dragon Fruit

July 24, 2016 - Flash Floods

Dear Family and Friends,

Spiritual:

This week was really great! We were low on lessons but high in spirits. The Lord provided new people for us to teach and I am so grateful.  I am learning on my mission that I love to teach. I love to be needed. I love to work. I love to teach because we can take our understanding and love of something and share it with others. I am far from the perfect teacher, I feel my weakness all the time but it doesn't change my love for sharing.

Fun: 

We went bowling. Got caught in a flash flood going to English class at the Taizhong Museum of Art. We watched the sisters ride through some standing water and it went up to their mid-calf. We had to go through it too so our fate was the same. It was super sweet to watch one of our missionaries who brought an umbrella escort people to taxis and their cars, one by one for 30 minutes. After that we all got to eat at Subway together. It was fun.

Info: 

I got the chance to perform twice on Saturday. Once at a funeral and once at a seminary graduation. My pianist however, was the companion of Sister Pierce who happened to get appendicitis and had to go in for surgery. I had to find a new pianist within hours of the performance and got to practice for a few minutes before... you could say I was a little stressed. Luckily Sister Pierce is all well. I think that I should just be a music missionary. I am better at that... Maybe I will suggest it to president:)

We are still working and trying and praying for the miracles.

I love you all!

Sincerely, Elder Erwin