September 26, 2016 - Walking...For Hours

Well I have officially moved out to the boonies of Taiwan. You can ride any direction for 20 minutes and might not see a single person. It was a little like whiplash from being in one of the most populated cities to this. From Monday to Friday we were waiting for my bike to be shipped from TaiZhong. So we walked....Everywhere.  

You wouldn't think walking would be that bad, but it is. We got lots of blisters and were aching a lot. I feel so bad for missionaries who walk everywhere. I needed new shoes more than a month ago and kept meaning to get them... I'm going to get them today. :-]

On Thursday, we walked to Pu Zi (said like Winnie the pooh and the sound that "z" makes by itself) which is normally a 30 minute bike ride, but walking.... it was a couple hours.... I included a picture of us on our walk.

​I left the charger for my good camera in Taizhong so I had to use my old camera. Luckily the greatest member ever in Taizhong sent it to me and I have it now. 

​I included a picture of my new companion, Elder Fuller, on the way back was about ready to give up.. haha.

Even though Elder Fuller has been in this area for 6 months, it is like we are starting over. There are no current investigators which is kind of a hard place to start.

This place is so different from anywhere I have ever been. It should be interesting. We got our bikes for the weekend and are extremely grateful. NO MORE WALKING!! 

This next week should be better. 

I love you all.   

September 18, 2016 - Moved to JaiYi

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, I have left TaiZhong to go to JiaYi . This last week was good. I moved on Friday to be the temporary zone leader in TaiZhong because the old one was training a missionary, so he had to go. It was pretty fun and then I got on a train to Jiayi super early this morning so I am tired...

Last week was a hard one because no one knew that I moved so there were no goodbyes, it was just over. That is ok, I get emotional anyway with stuff like that.

My new area, JaiYi, is about an hour south of TaiZhong and about an hour north of Tainan where I spent all of last winter. I am heartbroken but excited to start again. I am in my 6th area. Most missionaries only have 6 or 7 the whole time they are in Taiwan and I still have 9 months. haha. I'm on my 12th companion, which has been hard truthfully because I have never done well with change. I guess the Lord is trying to teach me how to deal with change... My new companion, Elder Fuller is from Texas and has been in Taiwan for about 6 months.

I love you all. Sorry this email is so short, last week was a blur, and I am exhausted.

I hope you have a good week. 

Love, Elder Erwin

September 11, 2016 - A Miracle and Mahjong

To start this week we played Mahjong with the Wu family. I was really horrible so I was replaced. Everyone knows that I don't like games very much..Haha. The real reason is probably because I am really bad at them. 

We found this gem in our area it is just a road full of trees so I had to stop for a picture because in the city this type of stuff doesn't happen. 

This week, our three investigators came to church which was amazing especially because one of them didn't even tell us! That is a real miracle.

This upcoming week there is supposed to be a monster typhoon will hit all Taiwan..but also they say that all the time. When you live in Taichung, like us, we usually are safe from storms. Last time, it did not even sprinkle, it was just a bit cloudy. This week is also the Mid-Autumn Festival. In other words barbecue and moon cakes! We have eaten so much moon cake. I realized that my palate has increased quite a bit. I can eat weird stuff.

This is also the last week of the transfer so I will probably be out of here next week. I will be so sad! But everything has its time and place. Who knows, maybe I will stay for another transfer, making my time in TaiZhong a whole six months!

I love you all 

September 4, 2016 - Baptism, Music and a Sunset

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we found and started working with some really cool people. If they start to get closer to baptism I will let you know. We just find a lot of people and then sadly they go away. However I have a lot of hope in the people we are working with right now. 

Funny story for the week, we went to visit an old grandpa member and when we were about to leave he insisted that we take a picture holding hands...haha... so we complied :-)   He was really cool he is a musical genius and also owns the largest Chinese chess school in Taiwan. We went to his school to visit him and he gave us some fruit...those are grapes in my hand.

Elder White and I got the chance to play at a baptism this week. He is a good pianist and I played the violin and the sisters sang. It was another one of those moments where I realize that I am supposed to do something more with this.

This was taken on the bridge by our house on our way to the baptism. There are not a ton of beautiful sunsets when you leave on the west side of the island of Taiwan so we stopped to just enjoy it.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Erwin