Taipei Taiwan

Taipei Taiwan

Monday, July 28, 2014

Taoyuan #60

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness :) There are so many things that happen in July every year! Happy birthday to Jared, Jacob, Enoch, Adelynn, Dad, and Olyvia. Happy Anniversary to Anna and Sid, and Joseph and Lisa :) Congrats to Brianna!!! :) This week was awesome!!! Haha, seeing as that we had no Weekly Planning session last week, I think it wasn't too bad! The Lord really helped us improve in bringing an ever increasing number of souls unto Christ. The Mission Vision for the next month is Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. I'm super excited to see what the Lord will do here with us here as we sincerely desire to become like Christ and seek His guidance to change. This week we saw some wonderful things but the most awesome thing I think was a guy that we ran into two weeks ago on the street and last week we gave him a tour of the church and then this week we set a baptismal date and came to church!!!! :) He (Brother Zhang) is 54 and is just a good guy. He is really sensitive to the Spirit and loves to learn about Christ. He has a cool pipe that he smokes, but next time we meet with him we are going to teach him about the Word of Wisdom. Pray that he'll know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and will have the faith to come unto Christ. Brother Lin is doing ok... It's been really hard to keep in touch with him daily. We do our best to send him a text when he doesn't answer, but because of his work ... he isn't always available. That Brother Yang... the one we found right after a prayer of faith that just had a little baby girl... his wife was there the last time we stopped by and we had a young man with us to share the First Vision. They haven't set a baptismal date yet, but the Spirit was really there very strong, and we will Follow up and love them. I love you all. You are so wonderful. so great, and I pray for each and everyone of you. My family, friends, fellow servants in the Lord's Vineyard, and anyone else (also counts as my friend). I want to testify that I know that God lives. I know that He is a true and living being that wants the best for us. He knows each and every one of us. He invites us all to come into His rest, through the Savior Jesus Christ. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and we can obtain the blessings of our Father in Heaven through the Priesthood. The Book of Mormon is a testament of the truth of this Restoration. Read it. Hold fast to it, and you can know for yourself. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Love, Elder Westover

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Taoyuan # 59

Brother Lin, the one that came to church with his whole family last week, was planning on getting baptized this week, but he can't because he drank tea. But that's no problem, because we are going to reset a baptismal date with him and reteach him as we teach his daughters :)!!!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is best implemented in the home, and my companion and I feel really confident that this is the way to help him. His daughters grow and learn and encourage him to keep the Word of Wisdom... all so they can be together forever :) * Please pray for him. and for us as we seek inspiration to have good creative ideas to teach his daughters. So we had a lesson with a Liao Family (RC family) and we were really punctual with our plans that we made to teach and start finding. We went to an area that we both had felt good about in our prior planning sessions. We said a prayer and we felt really good about the house that was right in front of us as we were praying. There was a little boy playing on the phone and a mom washing clothes, and then a man sitting at a little table drinking beer. I looked at them and I wasn't really too sure, but Elder Clyde said that he thought we should talk to them. So we started with the little boy and he was too preoccupied... and the mom just completely ignored us, but before we talked to that man sitting down drinking beer, another man (Yang Dx) walked out and was super nice! He asked us to come in and sit down. And we shared with him about our purpose and about the plan of our Father in Heaven. He felt the Spirit and even though he rejected the invite to prepare for baptism and set a date, he said we could come back and share with him and his family. He was super special! Really wants to find and experience how the teachings of Jesus Christ can bless his family. :) That was a super wonderful miracle because it was the only person we found the whole week. We made some plans and set some goals of things that we were going to do to find the "Elect". Sometimes it really is "after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6) that you see the miracle, and find that ONE soul... I know that my Heavenly Father loves the people here in Taiwan and everywhere. :) That's it for this week :) Enjoy the pics :) There are so many people inTaibei! this is a picture of the city. His companion took it. pics to come...

Monday, July 14, 2014

Taoyuan # 58

Two weeks ago I got to go to participate in the MISSIONARY TSUNAMI! (a ton of extra companionships in one area doing nothing but finding 9 hours a day. I had the opportunity of participating in it So many miracles and a super great experience. Planted lots of seeds and hope the missionaries there are able to reap the fruits! :) the following is the report of President Day. He'll explain it clearer than I can :) haha. "MISSIONARY TSUNAMI The ancient prophet Abinidi declared: “And now I say unto you that the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” Mosiah 15:28. In latter days, the Lord has renewed this prophecy through Joseph Smith, when he said: “And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” D&C 133:37 Today is the day when this prophecy is being fulfilled. Slowly and surely, nation by nation, missionaries enter and declare this gospel. This past week, the prophecy was being fulfilled by Taiwan Taipei Missionaries who participated in the July 2014 East Coast Missionary Tsunami. During this Tsunami, our mission was able to do the following: Total individuals contacted: 3256 Phone numbers obtained: 572 Copies of the Book of Mormon placed: 144 Set ups: 217 Lesson taught: 226 New investigators: 171 As a mission we exceeded our goals for the Tsunami. We had a goal of having 110 new investigators for the zones on the East Coast. We exceeded that goal by 61 new investigators. Now the goal is to have effective follow up on each name. The Assistants will be helping us with that, as well as all zone leaders and district leaders. There are some key things that need to be recognized as part of this Tsunami effort. First, we need to recognize the companions who remained in the Taipei and Taoyuan areas to keep their respective proselyting areas alive and on fire. Without these missionaries staying and effectively covering two areas for 4 days, the Tsunami could not take place. These missionaries were absolutely critical to the Tsunami effort and we are grateful for their efforts. They are as much a part of the Tsunami effort as those who traveled to the East Coast. Second, we need to recognize those involved in the planning and logistics which made this happen. Thank you to the Assistants, Temple Sisters, Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, local church leaders and members who planned, coordinated, scheduled, called, exchanged, peike’d, and did a variety of other things to help the Tsunami flow smoothly. Third, thank you to the 28 missionaries who left their own areas to travel to TaiDong, YuLi and Hualien for this incredible event. Going out to find, find, find…..And that is exactly what they did. The Lord has stated: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.” D&C 88:73. That time has come. Thank you for participating in the hastening." Had a bunch of awesome miracles this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: Our investigator (Lin Dx) brought his two daughters and "friend" (Ding JM) to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They all loved it and they are going to come next week too. He is progressing well!! He fasted last week and hasn't drank tea or coffee for a week!! Remember that one older lady in Xinzhu??!?!?! Sui JM. Well last week at the temple I ran into my baby Elder Willes and he told me that she finally came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) She is going to be baptized some day, I know it. When I was on exchanges this week, we had just finished eating lunch, walking out the door, on our way to an appointment with an LA when I said "Hello, how are you today?", to a man (Eric Yang Dx) just standing in the door way... he responded back in English and we kept on talking to him. He was having some women problems......... hahahah .... after a minute or two I was afraid he was interested in just the English, but because we were in a hurry and didn't have alot of time, I just asked if we could meet with him later that day at the chapel and give him a look at the chapel... he accepted. He actually came and really has some wonderful desires!! He set a date for August 8th and we will see him tomorrow to share the restoration. :) Last week we got to go to the temple and serve there for 4 hours!!! so good..... awesome. We are seeing some wonderful things with little opportunities to serve our members!!!!!!!!! just little opportunities, but it's gaining their trust :) I've been working on the attribute of patience... patience with myself, and love and patience for those that I meet. I've been praying for that and I am having lots of opportunities to do learn about that now. The Lord will give to those that ask. Love, Elder Westover Hualian!!!!!!!!!!!! :) The East Coast!

Taoyuan # 57

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so much news from everyone! Congrats to John and Yumiao on the engagement!!!! Congrats to Jared and Laci on the baby!!!!!!!!! Congrats to Joshua and Katie on the callings!! I am so happy. I love it! I feel more and more like the promise of him that looses himself in His work will really find himself. When Elder Holland came to talk to us, he said that if we give it all we have for Him and are completely ALL IN, we won't go home unless it's on a stretcher... so Plan on seeing me come out of terminal on a stretcher because it's all on the feild!! I really have received so many blessings. I have so many things that I would have to be like Enos and pray for a day and a night and a day to list it all out, but I just want to share with you a few miracles. This week we met with an investigator (Lin Dx) that has been having some problems with the drinking tea and coffee, but as we were having our WPS a few weeks ago we had the feeling that fasting would be good for him. Last Monday we shared with him about the fasting and Saturday night we started the fast together. It was super great. He gave a wonderful prayer and the next day it was incredible... in our Gospel Principles class he received some inspiration as to how he can quit and the things he needs to do to accomplish it!! He set another date for July 26th and we will work with him and love him and help him "Come unto Christ". that's it! Love, Elder Westover