Xinzhu # 55

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY :) I love you all. This week was super great! Just like every other week :) It was pretty hard to start out because our phone was stolen and really as far as like lessons and all that... we got "fang-ed" (stood up) a lot through out the week, but we were able to see some wonderful miracles. Shi Dx came to church again this week!! :) He sacrificed watching the World Cup- England Vs. Italy game with his family to come to church :) We're excited to see him prepare to get baptized on July 5th. Probably the most wonderful was our very last lesson of the week. It was with a lady (Cherry) that we met on the side of the road and set a baptismal date then, but because of work she had no time to meet, but we finally set up with her and she is so great!! She had some wonderful questions and the best part was just that when my companion was sharing the First Vision and she said that it sounded like poetry...my baby's (Elder Willes') Chinese is so good!!... after we asked our peike (member present at the lesson) to share their testimony, she asked, "How can I know if it's true?" :) Super cool. She is a super prepared soul that knows what is truth when she hears it and is willing to seek. Then on Friday night we had gotten "fang-ed" again and we were just having a hard time because of the lost phone and just super stressed, but we decided that we were going to say a prayer and just follow the Spirit to help us know where to go. The night before we has felt like we should look for two new souls and we specifically prayed that as we just listened and followed the promptings of the Spirit that we would find those two prepared souls. Well... We just rode and really prayed the whole time and asked continually who was prepared and finally we were riding on a side street and saw a dad (Leo), a mom (Sandy) and a son (Jeffery). I felt really good about them and just had a little clear though that just said, "this is the two prepared souls." We used the English Class approach and found out that the father had been a former about two years earlier and had just not let his family meet with the missionaries... he actually shared with us how he kinda didn't really like his job, and Sandy asked some other really good questions. We shared with them about how their family could be together forever through baptism and asked if we could come to their house and share with them about the Plan of Salvation and answer their questions. So great!!! :) They're ready!! We didn't have any time to share with them right there because the Sisters were waiting for us to go do a baptismal Interview for one of their investigators , but we're really excited to get them to know some members and come to church :) I love this work. I'm super sad that I will probably move this transfer, but we have a ton of member visits set up this week! I'm so sad to hear about the passing of dear Sister Bracamonte. I send my love to Brother Bracamonte and the family. I'm praying for you all. I loved her so much!! She sent me so many little notes and cards regularly. I'm so grateful that through the Savior and His Atonement we can be together forever. All of us!!! We'll be a big happy family!! Oh man. That will be such a happy day. :) I love you :) HURRAH for ISRAEL!!! Love, Elder Westover

Xinzhu # 54

Oh boy!! I don't even know what to do. Please forgive me because I really don't know whether anything that I say makes any sense or not, because I some times just think in Chinese and things just don't make any sense. Haha :) I feel like I'm getting so old... I have been in Taiwan for over a year now, and now I've been here in Xinzhu for 7 months and I'm pretty sure that the next transfer in two weeks I am going to leave my "baby" (Elder Willes) and I'm gonna be really sad because I absolutely love Xinzhu!!! The Ward is super awesome and the people... I just love them here in this part of the Island... I don't know that I can move anywhere else!! Well, that's in like two weeks. I'll wait for my sobs then :P I'm going to give you an update on the people that we're working with: Shi2 Di4 Xiong1- Has completely quit tea and coffee!!!!!!! (Thanks for prayers) Taking a class that is on Sunday, so he is not able to keep the Sabbath right now, but the great thing is that it ends in two weeks. He's reading the Book of Mormon everyday and is converted to it! He actually shared with us that his father appeared to him in a dream one night after he prayed about the Book of Mormon and told him to read it! He said that his father was just dressed up in white and was super happy :) We are looking forward to seeing him be baptized on July 5! Huang2 Di4 Xiong1- Still working on the cigarettes with him... Actually Elder Willes and I feel that we really aren't going to push him to get baptized now, because he is about to start his mandatory military service (I've heard alot of people just go less-active after they go into the military) but we are still working with him. We feel really good about the way that he is progressing. He slept in this week after we called him for church, but he can still do it! Please pray for us as we seek the best way to help him have faith and start acting on quitting the smoking. (RC) Zhou1 Chang2 En1- He came to church wearing his white shirt and tie for the second time in a row, and this time he brought his little brother to church!! :) His little brother wants to meet with us and take the lessons!!! :) So excited about that because Chang2 En1's mom and sisters are all members but Less Active, so I am so happy that they will have each other to stay on the path of Righteousness leading to the Tree of Life :) (RC) Habip & Chen2 Ya3 Yi1- They are doing super great!! :) Habip has a member teaching him how to write a computer program and helping him look for a job (Pray that he can find a job!!!) , and Chen2 Ya3 Yi1 had a wonderful experience. She really has been wanting to obtain an answer about whether she should be baptized for a while and hasn't been getting an answer, but this week more specifically they have run into some family challenges and some things with work and she just prayed that she could get an answer to help her and she opened the Book of Mormon to Mosiah 3 and read verses 1-8 and had an overwhelming feeling come as she read King Benjamin's testimony and prophesy of Christ's purpose and mission. :) Super great! We are praying that Habip can find a job so that she can quit hers and find another one that will allow her to go to church and keep that commandment. :) There is so much to be grateful in this world. I specifically want to just say that I am so grateful for my two wonderful parents and 11 awesome older brothers and sisters whom have set inspiring examples for me and have taught me of the Savior. I am grateful that I can come here and proclaim the message of a loving Father in Heaven who has provided a Plan of Happiness to give us peace and joy in this life and to have those blessings through out eternity. I have a testimony of God answering prayers. 3Nephi 18: 19-20. Draw upon the powers that our Heavenly Father is just waiting to give us. I'm praying for all of you and am so grateful for the love and prayers that you send my way and in the way of my investigators. Love, Elder Westover Yeah... We went Golfing with Wu2 Baba (High Preist's Group Leader) ***pictures to come.

Xinzhu # 53

This week is just a little more short. I really don't have much time because we went to Costo...... :) but I just wanted to show you a picture of our baptism this week!!!!!!! We baptized a Turkish brother in Taiwan!! Only in this work and through a Loving Father in Heaven can this happen. Because no matter where we live, what kinds of needs we have or what questions we have, it's all answered by the steps of faith and the testimony of the Holy Ghost. The Lord will do anything for His children.

Xinzhu #52

Christina!!!! Happy Birthday!! :) I love you all.. You're all so great!! Thank you all so much for your prayers for Habip and all of our investigators. Habip wasn't baptized this week but he is going to on Thursday this next week. :) His wife (Chen Ya Yi) should follow soon after :) pray that she can find some other work so that she can Keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Habip is doing so great!! He is on his 5th day straight of not smoking and he is doing really good! We had a really short powerful lesson with him last Wednesday and we continue to pray for him. Really tried to "Rip off the roof" by telling him right at the end of our lesson to give me his cigarettes and I took it home and threw all the cigs away and took the box and covered it with pictures of Christ and filled it with rolled up strengthening scriptures of Faith and about the Atonement. Then while I was on exchanges my companion followed the Spirit by being persistent with the message of the restoration to a man that was not very nice, by asking him about the questions of the soul on the restoration tract and the guy ended up calling us up the next day and asked if we could meet with him at the church. This man's name is Huang Dx and he is super great! We called a member to come over to the chapel with us and we gave him a chapel tour. He felt the Spirit as the member testified of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he committed to a date on 6/21! He is about to go to dang1bing1, but he really is great! Then those three brothers that we found... haha, the wife and two little girls of one of them is moving down here from Taibei so we will be able to share with them as a whole family next week!! We also were at the church building on Thursday night and six college students walked in wanting to know more about the Church. It was specifically for a class, but they were all willing to learn more, and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. :) Super great! It was really great! They are all going to keep meeting with the other missionaries in the other ward. :) I love you all. I am called of the true and living God. I am a representative of His Son Jesus Christ to bring the people of Taiwan unto Him and enable them to obtain Eternal Life. HURRAH For ISRAEL!!!!!! Love, Elder Westover

Xinzhu # 50

This week has been wonderful. Seeing wonderful progress in our investigators in overcoming challenges and repenting, and having an awesome Stake Conference with our Mission President in attendance. In our own area Elder Willes and I have seen many wonderful miracles, one of which was our Turkish investigator, Habip, really working hard to repent and rid himself of the addiction he has to cigarettes.He currently is really striving to get over, and is doing really great!! We shared the Word of Wisdom with him two weeks ago, and he has dropped from one box a day to 3 a day by Sunday at Church. His baptismal service is this Saturday and he really wants to be baptized on that day! We have plans to meet with him every day this week and to keep him busy. We are going to do service with him and help by reading the Book of Mormon with him and watch the Finding Faith in Christ video with him. His baptismal interview is set up for Friday. Please pray for him!!! We also had a very special experience with following the Spirit and finding three yuan2 zhu4 min2 (kinda like the Taiwanese Native American) brothers. It was Wednesday night and we had just gone through all the steps of the planning guidelines up to the finding step and I just sat and pondered. I asked Heavenly Father where he felt that we should go to find the lost sheep, and I just felt that the first place I thought of was the best. So we planned to go there. Thursday night, we went to that place and we were getting rejected right and left... nothin'. We got about to thirty minutes to the time that we needed to go to our scripture discussion class at the church, and my companion said a wonderful prayer to allow us to do the work that he would have us do at that time and in that place. We went and another 20 minutes later we were in an apartment building that someone had left the door open to so we were on the second floor and I was just thinking... am I doing this right? What are we doing that is not right to allow us to find the souls that are prepared to accept the gospel? And I had a comforting feeling that just told me that we should just keep going. So we went to the third floor, and knocked on the second door, it opened and there were these three yuan2 zhu4 min2(native)... They let us in and we had a wonderful lesson. They had some really good questions and we told them that we would like to study their questions and then come back the next day and share with them the Message of the Restoration, and they happily accepted :) I know that the power of revelation and prophesy is possible as we follow the instructions and teachings that we are given in PMG and following the Mission Vision. Being obedient and keeping covenants will bring the Spirit of the Lord of the Vineyard in the work. We also met a girl on the road yesterday and set a baptismal date with her! Her English name is Cherry Lee. She really doesn't speak good English, but she was very nice. The lesson was great! Elder Willes is so amazing with his Chinese for just being out for 2 months, but I felt the most wonderful thing this week... it really is all about our desire to find those that our Heavenly Father has prepared... Have pure love... Charity. A distinct desire to be a tool in the hands of the Lord to invite people unto Christ. Then the Spirit comes and works with you. Smithsons, Bracamontes, Graifs, Westovers, Halls, Meyers, Browns, and everyone. Thank you for your notes and letters, and packages. :) I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers. Love, Elder Westover

Xinzhu # 49

Oh my... I really can't believe how fast the time is flying by...... It's so crazy. Brigg and Gunner are turning 14 and are starting to go to Stake Dances! Oh man, I remember playing with you boys and making you run around the house and tripping you on the carpet of grandma and grandpa's house and you would just grin and laugh and run around again, and then I'd do it again!! :P It's really incredible :) So Happy Birthday to you two "shuai ge men" (handsome) guys :) And a Happy Anniversary to Rebekah and Jesse!! It was really good talking to Mom, Dad, Vicki, Christina, Jared and Lacy this week and just know that I love the rest of you just as much :) This week was awesome because our Investigator from Turkey and his wife set baptismal dates and are both working toward those dates!! :) Then there were three members who brought their friends and family to church :) So great!!! I really don't have too much time this week, but I just want to share with you my testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. There is nothing more that I am sure of than that. Even as I live I know that he is a real being and through Him we are able to return to the Father and be welcomed into His Kingdom. 3 Nephi 5:13. Love, Elder Westover (Jordan)

Xinzhu # 48

Happy Mothers Day!! To all of you wonderful women in my life... I love you and am so grateful for you. I won't be there to give you a rose and a hug or anything, but know that I love you and I know that because of our Savior Jesus Christ we can be together forever. Moms are my Heros. Especially my mom though :D I am loving the work here. We had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 6 month dry font for our area is over!!!!!!! Zhou Chang En will be great in the church. He has been ready for 6 months and is finally on the path!! I'm going to do the best that I can to make sure that he is going to get to the temple! Elder Willes is super good. I am so happy to work with him. He makes me better and keeps me accountable. I have actually been able to see the change that has happend in me and in my nature since I was trained... I remember just little things that my trainer would do that made me kinda mad, and i would occasionally get mad at him... now I have learned that I should love everyone and always remember that I can't control other people and the things they do, but I can decide whether I will just change myself to love the things they do. It makes things easier. :) I love it. Thank you so much for all of your prayers!! Love, Elder Westover I'll send pictures next week... I'm having some mishaps with the computer this week....