Week #37 . Happy 19th Birthday!

[the first video is Elder Bosco eating a 1000 year old egg]

Hello everyone,

I would like to start out by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD! I love being able to share a birthday with my mom! 

This week not a ton happened, but we did have zone conference. I learned a lot about having more faith in the Savior and having more faith in myself as a missionary.

 Also this week the huge funeral with the tent and marching band (yes I said marching band) ended, and for some Buddhist celebration thing people are walking from Da Jia to Yuan Lin which takes 7 days. So yeah that has been happening this week.

   

This week has been another pretty hard week for finding. And all of the cool people we find happen to live in the other area. But one day I was thinking about the work, and a thought popped into my head "we do it for the one". Sometimes it is hard to go out everyday and do the work, especially when you are not having a lot of success. But you do it because you love the Lord and there might just be that one person that you find that you can bring back into his fold, and that truly makes it all worth it!

   

Yeah sorry there is not a lot to share this week. We did eat dinner at the Branch President's house and they made me a cake and gave me some gifts and stuff, so it was a really awesome birthday! One of my favorite parts about being a missionary is being able to meet all of the members. They are all truly so awesome and have so much faith. 

   

 

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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

The day he arrived in Taiwan (6 months ago)

on exchanges with Elder Moody (played lacrosse at BYU)

a gift for Collins birthday

his birthday cake

and party

Branch President's daughter painted these

birthday dinner

Week #36

  Hello everybody! I think I should start out this email with a funny story. So yesterday we were tracting, and we tracted into this super drunk guy. We start talking to him but he is having a hard time standing up so we just give him a card and tell him to call us later if he has interest. So we keep on tracting and after a couple more houses, the drunk guy comes walking out of his house. He comes up to us and tells us that he believes in the same things and that he insists on visiting people with us. Then later that night we tracted into another guy who was just chillin in his shirt and boxers. But he just lets us right in. And first of all he basically just has everything in his house that is against the Word of Wisdom. But anyway we start trying to teach him but he just keeps saying how he does not believe in this stuff. But anyway at the end he tells us that he also wants to come do missionary work with us and that he could help us find 5 new people. haha I wish everyone had the enthusiasm to do missionary work as these random people!

   

To be honest the work has not been great lately. But we are still working hard and praying for miracles. We did have one cool miracle this week. There is a member in our ward who is disabled. And he wanted to take us to visit one of his friends. So when got there come to find out that the friend also is a little bit handicapped and wanted absolutely nothing to do with us. But then his brother came in, and we were actually able to sit down with him and teach him a lesson so that was awesome. 

   

Also we were talking to this one kid in a 7-11. As we were talking to him he didn't really have any interest, so we left and started talking to this one guy outside. Then after talking to that guy, the kid in the 7-11 told us to come back in. He talked about how he was pretty stressed out because of a test, but when he started talking to us he felt warm and good inside. We were able to teach him about the Holy Ghost and it was a really good lesson. In the end he still didn't really want to set up with us. But it was an awesome experience of how the Holy Ghost can testify to others through us. It is such a great opportunity to be able to be the mouthpiece for the Holy Ghost to testify to people. There has never been one missionary that has ever converted somebody, only the Holy Ghost can do that.

   

This week I was reading in Ether about the Brother of Jared. It talks about how when they were on the water, the wind never stopped blowing. The waves never stopped crashing. But the whole time it was the Lord blowing them towards the promised land. I compare that to the trials we have in our own lives. Although at the time it just seems like the trials are unbearable, I know that the Lord will never give us more than we are able to bear. And all of the trials that we have in our lives are leading us to our "promised land". They are helping us to become the type of people that Christ wants us to become. And if we turn to him and depend on him, he will never let us down. Love you all! 加油

   

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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Week #35

  Well today marks the 1/3 point of my mission. I can't believe how crazy time flies. I celebrated by being sick with a cold. And was raining and cold for most of the week, but that does not stop the work from moving forward! I have been so blessed to be able to represent Christ as a missionary these last 8 months. It amazes me that although we should be serving missions just at least to say thanks for all Christ has given us. He still continues to bless us. and the blessings far outweigh the sacrifice that we have to give.

   

Well this week one of our investigators had her birthday. When I got here this investigator had already been taught all of the lessons, and she is basically already a member. But her mother will not give her permission to be baptized. she turned 19 this week, so she will be able to be baptized next year. We are praying for a miracle that she can get baptized before that, because I have never seen anyone with a greater desire to be baptized. 

   

This week we had the opportunity to meet with that referral that I talked about last week from Taipei. It took us a little while to find there house because it was kind of in the middle of nowhere. But they were super nice and welcoming to us. They wanted to know what our church feels about families and how the Gospel can bless their family. So we were able to share with them about the Plan of Salvation, and how Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to have eternal families. They liked it but they just were not to sure if it was true or not, so we invited them to pray about it. Hopefully they will. But this experience just made me so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families. Not only will I be able to see my family in 16 months, but I have the chance to be with them for eternity... like forever. It makes me just love them so much more, and it helps me to always want to be worthy to go to the temple. 

  

 I will leave you with a little spiritual share. I was reading in the Liahona about the Holy Ghost, and about how we can recognize the Holy Ghost without having to have a "burning in the bosom". Especially as a missionary I have noticed that if I am to preoccupied with waiting for a burning in the bosom, that I will miss the more quiet and peaceful feelings that come from the Spirit. If we are too focused on wordly things in our lives, we will not be aware of those small revelations that can truly bless our lives if we follow them. Well I love you all so much!

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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Elder Bosco's new apartment

Week #34

  I would like to start out by saying that it has been one year this week since I received my mission call. Being on a mission has blessed my life in so many ways. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but the Lord has turned me into a better person than I could have done by myself. Being in Taiwan has truly been such a great blessing.

Well it has been a good first week here in Qing Shui. this area is a lot bigger and a lot more rural than my last area so it has been a little different, but I love it here. It is always hard going somewhere new especially since I am not a big fan of change. Transitions are pretty hard for me (ex: Home-Mtc, Mtc-Taiwan, CuiHua-QingShui). But as I have gone to the Lord in prayer, I always don't immediately feel peace and comfort, but my prayers are always answered in one way or another. But the ward members here are super awesome and I am so excited to continue to get to know them.

  

 One of the coolest members I have met is a recent convert named Brother Huang. I have only met with him once but here is his story. He hasn't always had the best life (drinking smoking etc). And because of that his family left him. But when he met the missionaries he completely changed his life around. and next week when he goes up to the temple he is going to meet up with one of his daughters and try to make restitution. He just another example of how truly amazing this Gospel is and how it can change lives. 

   

Well nothing else really happened this week, but we did get a cool referral from a Taipei member. Apparently they were camping and doing a Family Home Evening, when this other family came by and noticed them. They started talking to them about what they were doing, and that led into a conversation about the Plan of Salvation. And now we are going to meet with them Saturday so hopefully that will be good. 

   Love you all!

 

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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Most of these are of the HUGE church building here.