Taipei Taiwan

Taipei Taiwan

Monday, November 24, 2014

Xinan # 75

Hello family! Hey I love you all so much. I am up here in Taibei and get to see the temple every day. We have an investigator (Brother Hu) that is doing really good here in this area and we are planning on him getting baptized this next week :) Please pray for him and another couple... (Brother Huang and Sister Wu) They are a couple that has been dating for 16 years. They need to get married. Haha, like really soon because Brother Huang is prepared, but just needs to get married so that they can be in harmony with the commandments of God ;) Law of Chastity. We have been prayerfully been preparing for their lesson with Brother Huang and we hope that Sister Wu will be able to feel that she can make that step :) I am so happy to be here and have the wonderful opportunity to serve so close to President Day. I have two companions right now (Elder Huang and Elder Weech). I'm being trained to take Elder Weech's place, so I'm gonna be going through alot of briefs and training. The most important thing that I have learned from the scriptures, my father, mother, brothers, sisters, mission leaders, church leaders, and fellow missionaries is that love is the most important key in being a leader. Please on top of all of the other prayers you are praying with my investigators... please pray that I can have more love to give to these missionaries. :) I just have to tell you. Really. You are so wonderful. I am so grateful for you and all the things that you have done for me in my life. There is a scripture that I love to share with the people here in Taiwan: "Cousel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 37:37) I know that God lives. He is our loving Father and there are so many blessings that he has waiting for us. I just want to invite you all to take some time. In your prayers, or take some time in your FHEs to continually be grateful that you may be "lifted up". Our loving Heavenly Father has given us many gifts and the greatest is our Savior. Ponder often that ultimate gift that makes all other gifts available. The Atonement :) I know that the Savior Jesus Christ Lives. He is the only way to return to Heavenly Father's presence and as we remember Him and express our gratitude and love to Him through obedience to His commandments and live the standard of parents, church leaders, and are good people, we are lifted up and will be happy :) Hurrah For Israel!!! Love, Elder Westover

Monday, November 17, 2014

Taoyuan # 74

Dear Family, Thanks to John and Rebekah and Sarah for the pictures :) I really loved to see the pictures of Grandma's funeral. There were many emotions in this weeks work. I am so happy just as mom said that Grandma is with her MAN. :) It's a joy. There were many miracles and some challenges this week. Brother Lu has rn into some problems with the Law of Chastity. Pray that he can come to know that there is no way to negotiate with God. These commandments are set and they will bless us if we keep them. Pray that my companion and I will be able to follow the Spirit as we meet with him this week to have the Spirit tell him why he must obey. Brother Jian hasn't answered our phone calls.... Brother Tu is doing awesome :) Super good. :) We hope that he will be able to get baptized on the 29th of this month or on the 6th of December. We met a Zhang Family this week and the dad really wants to change. :) Please pray that as they come to church that they will feel the love of the members. There is a senior missionary couple that is working in the office in Taibei that speaks Spanish and they came over here on Sunday to help teach the Hermana from Chile (mom and dad, have you skyped her yet??) that lives here and it was great! We had a fiesta at her house with the ward members that are her fellowshippers and it was just a great blast :) She is getting in with the family of the ward more and more. I'm leaving this week and I'm gonna be in Taibei near the temple. Super excited :) This week when I went into President Day's office for a renewal on my Temple Recommend and Ecclesiastical Endorsement to BYU he called me to be his assistant. Hahah.... I just had a huge dead weight in my stomach when he said it. Prayers are appreciated.... Thanks!!! hahah Love, Elder Westover

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Taoyuan # 73 (SUCH A POWERFUL ONE THIS WEEK!)

Dearest beloved family, Hello. I have to say that I am so happy. I love Elder Bennion. Miracles are great.When we were out finding this week we had a day that we felt like we should look for a mom... We had just finished our lunch, called upon the powers of heaven to lead and were going to the place we had planned the night before to go find this mom, and we found her!! Haha!! So incredible!! Her name is Sister Yang. Her mother is a Christian in Southern Taiwan and she was pretty interested in the message we were sharing. We shared about eternal families and she said that her and her husband would come to church this next week!! They have a little boy 1 1/2 yrs. Next week we have the primary program, so I hope that they can come, as well with the other families that we find this week! Pray that we can find families!!! please :) Our investigator Brother Lu is not ready for baptism yet because he still needs a little time to quit the cigarettes. He has cut 10 cigs a day down to about 4. He is going good. :) we are praying for him and we are going to fast for him this week. This week he came to church in a suit :) He really wants to get baptized. We are going to go over to his apartment and read the scriptures to him as he works out :) haha we'll see how it works. Pray that the Spirit will strengthen him as we read the Book of Mormon with him to help him develop Faith in Christ enough to drop this habit of smoking. Brother Jason Jian is going pretty good! He set his own date for the end of December. Pray that he just as Brother Lu will be able to read the Book of Mormon and feel the Spirit testify to him that this is the true church. He feels the spirit at both his buddist temples and here, but we gave him the commitment to live the Word of Wisdom and quit smoking. :) Super excited to see the miracles that the Spirit works with him. Need your prayers!! We also have a new progressing investigator with a baptismal date named Brother Tu. He is super stoked to get baptized on 12/6 :) He loved church, and has started to read the Book of Mormon. He's eating it up and feeling the Spirit so strong every time he prays and comes to church :) The other day I was just looking at my New Year's Resolutions/ Personal Vision for this year, and I was thinking about it :) Haha I set the goal to make Satan afraid to even hear Elder Westover's name because of the courage and faith I have in Christ. I feel like I am really going through that sanctification of the Holy Spirit that is spoken of in Mosiah 3:19. As I am doing the "Remember This...", following the mission vision, being a "one-eyed missionary", and remembering to "Fear No Man". I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Great I AM. This is His church and I am His missionary. I'm gonna invite all people to come unto Him. I need not fear because He Lives. I know that because He lives, Families are Forever. Hurrah For Israel!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love, Elder Westover

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Taoyuan # 72

Dear family, Hi... Hey... I really love Mom's little goblin (John) ;P Happy Birthday!!!! Thanks for your love, Maybe I'll see you in January... JK haha Anyway, This week was super great! I loved it. It's only been 4 or 5 days since I emailed you last so there isn't that much to talk to you about, but I am super excited to share with you that Brother Lu is doing great, and really wants to get baptized. :) Yesterday as we met with him and were sharing the commandments with him he just said, "these really aren't that easy, but they are do-able. And I know that this is a commitment that I need to make with Heavenly Father." We shared all the major commandments with him yesterday and he committed to quit smoking. We gave him a blessing after our lesson to give him more strength beyond his own, but please keep praying for him specifically that he can make this covenant with his Father in Heaven on the 15th :) I'll just list off the other people we are working with: Jackllyn, Jason, Mark, Sister Jiang, Brother Shen, Brother Tu, and the Jiang Family. Please pray that they can start progressing to baptism. I love you all so much. I have seen that the simple tools that Elder Richard G. Scott shared about in GC are true. Brother Lu said that as he has been praying, learning, spending time with ward members, and coming to church that he has felt more and more peace in his life. That is the promise that Elder Scott gave us. If we pray, study, have FHE, and go to the temple, we will develop stronger faith in our Savior, thus have an increased peace in our lives. I know that the Savior lives. Keep up the good work and be faithful to Heavenly Father and CTR Hurrah For Israel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love, Elder Westover

Taoyuan # 71

Dear Family, I have a new companion!!!!!!!!!!I love being with Elder Bennion. He's from Bountiful UT and he is super great! A born leader. I was amazed to hear that he had never been called to a leadership position because he just seems like a natural. :) Our relationship is really great, and I really love going out finding with him because he just talks to everyone and we work really good together. We are super excited about the invite President Day has given the mission for each companionship to have a baptism in November and two in December. We're super stoked to work as Team Jesus to help each other and pray&fast for each other's investigators. Because this week has been super long.... I really can't remember too much about when I was with Elder Clyde, but we have seen a lot of miracles with Elder Bennion. When I was on exchanges with Elder Martin we were at the chapel about to do the language testing when a lady and her son walked in and asked us if they could have a Bible... hahah... we told them that we didn't really have any Bibles to give them, but we shared that we had a copy of the Book of Mormon that we could give them and we talked with them about why they wanted to read the scriptures. She said that her son had major depression disorder and he had asked if they could start reading the Bible, and she said that they were looking for a religion.... :) haha the most golden people I have every met in my life!!!!! We shared about the Savior and his role in our lives and specifically focused on her son. We shared very simply about our Heavenly Father and why he gave us Jesus Christ, and invited them to baptism. They set a date for December!!!! We are super excited for them! :) Then Elder Bennion and I were out contacting, and just got got done saying a prayer of faith and asked where we could go in the last 15 minutes before our other appointment, and we ran into a former contact from about 2 weeks before. The wind was super big and he had lost his helmet. He couldn't find it so my companion and I were just like..., "Have you said a prayer???", he said no... and so I asked him if he believed if God could help him find his helmet and get to his next appointment on time, and he said he did so we said a prayer, and went out looking for it, and we found it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahah super small miracle, but he said that he would go to church this next week with the missionaries in Bade this week. :) Update!!!!! Brother and Sister Jiang: No opportunity to meet with them again, but Sister Jiang came to the Halloween party that we had for our English Class and she loved seeing the little ones all dressed up :) They are praying every once in a while. They don't have much time this month, but we are praying they will be able to meet more next month and can start preparing for baptism. Brother Lu: We met with him on Saturday afternoon again, he is super active in the YSA activities now!!! He actually set up a hike :) (he's gonna do great with a calling as a future priesthood leaders) He committed to read and pray daily and come to to Church :) the YSA members are doing really good of taking care of him and following up with him and asking him to share what he learns :) We had a lesson on the Law of Chastity in Gospel Principles and he confirmed everything he liked about it when we shared it with him before :) Keep praying that his desire will continue to grow and feel it's truth. Brother Burt Huang: Super great!! He has come to church 3 weeks in a row... hahaha, we finally got to meet with him, and he really wants to learn! Hopefully his wife will be willing to meet with us and him and that we can find some time other than right before church to meet with him so we can help him progress faster!!! Brother Qiu said that he would bring his son and daughter to church this next week!! :) Pray for them :) Brother Jian: Needs to know the power of the Atonement. Pray that he will be able to overcome his family opposition to baptism. I love my life :) I love being a missionary. I love the pains, I love the moments of joy, and I love this work. There is nothing more important than this work and the souls that are involved in it. All to bring to pass the will of the Father..... It's not always easy, but just bite the bullet, and fear no man. Nothing to lose!!!!! We can not fail. Invite: Read Alma 42 and ponder the power of the Atonement in your life. Hurrah for Israel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love, Elder Westover