Tou Fen #1

Hey Ya'll! Oh my goodness, I can't even tell you how incredible it is to be here! It's everything I ever imagined and more... sweat and all :P President Day and his wife are really awesome. So great to be here with them and serve the people of Taiwan. They are from the South and have an accent :) not a bad one, but it's there :) Anyway, They are awesome and the country of Taiwan is amazing. My first 4 hours with my trainer were spent running from train to train, subway to subway, and bus to bus... with luggage... :) hahah it was a great experience. I've been called to serve in the Tou Fen area, which is on the west side of the island, almost at the very bottom border. It's apparently "rural".... hahahah... yeah. I'm definitely from Cornville :P Ther church here is pretty small. We have a little branch that is just so great! Xu Huizhang (President Xu) is the branch president and slowly, but surely getting his confidence. I got up to introduce myself and bore my testimony in sacrament meeting, and it was great! I pray for the confidence of the members and for their love. Riding bikes is just great! hahah My trainer's name is Elder Hopper from Santaquin, UT. He played middle-linebacker in highschool, has a bruised cervical nerve, has a satchel, and was prom king.... ;P He is the oldest of 5 and he has been out in the field since January. I stinkin' love to work with him and he has a great desire to do the work of the Lord. He is very obedient and diligent. I'm so happy that he is my trainier. There is so much that I am learning from him and want to become as a missionary. I've already seen a ton of miracles with him. Following is the two main miracles that I reported to President Day: 1.) We got to Tou Fen Elder Hopper and I were out contacting and we got a call. It was a youngman by the name of Peter of Lin Dx, who has attended english classes in the past. He called us to set up an appointment to hear our message! I love it! He received everything well and is reading and praying. He couldn't come to church this week, but I am very confident he will come next week. 2.) Last night we were out visiting a less active and right after we finished with her and invited her to come to church next week, we said hello to a man riding by on his bike. He stopped abruptly and came back to talk with us. We started a good conversation with him and found out he spoke pretty good english. We then started to find out what his beliefs were and asked him if he knew how to pray. He said that he prayed for help in his schooling and with family and other things and that he believes that God does hear, but he said he didn't know how to get answers to his questions. He sared with us how he prayed and it was incredible how similar his prayers were to the ones that we say... We have set up an appointment with him on Tuesday at the church, so we'll see how that goes! PRaying for them all, and hope!! I am so blessed to have Elder Hopper as my trainer... I think we are doing a good job of learning from eachother... I know I'm learning a ton from him. I love his desire to be exactly obedient and to continue to build his faith. Those have been the really cool experiences and I've felt the love that God has for His children so much in the short time that I've been here. So AMAZING!... I'm a missionary. Haha.... Everyone who is considering serving a mission. Whatever anyone tells you about sleep on the mission, it's true. Sleep is so amazing, but there is just one thing. You never feel like you get enough. Hahah The work feels so good that you just feel it all the time! :) Love it. I love the people here. They are so incredible and my job is to share zhege xunsi (this message). I love this work, and I know that the more I lose myself in it, the more I'll receive happiness and find Joy in the Journey. It really is HARD WORK, but it's totally WORTH IT. I love you all and hope all is well! I appreciate your prayers and ppray for you. Hurrah For Isreal! Love, Elder Westover (Wu Zhang Lao)