#6 retirement dinner

Week #63

 Well this week was another good one for Elder Durrant and I. I think that sometimes I just want everything to be done so quickly, like we find someone and then baptize them 4 weeks later. But although we don't really have anyone that is ready to be baptized soon, the Lord has blessed us so much this past transfer. We started out with completely nothing, and then looking back at all the progress we have made is very exciting.
   On Monday we contacted this lady (Mrs. Li), and it pretty much just started out like any other contact. She was telling us about how a couple of years ago she was looking for a church that her kids could go to, but she felt like it wasn't destiny and that the timing wasn't right. And when we told her where our church was she got really excited. And it turns out that she lives in the same apartment complex as the senior couple in our district, the Fergusons. (Also the Fergusons are the best senior couple ever, they woke up at 4 in the morning so that we could watch the retirement ceremony). But anyways apparently she had already talked to them about bringing her kids to our church, but then never had time. So she felt that meeting us was destiny, and she set up to meet with us on Saturday. Now let me fast forward to Saturday, because nothing else really happened the rest of the week but Saturday was crazy.
   So on Saturday we met with Mrs. Li, and her 2 kids (12 & 8). And we gave them a church tour, and had a really good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. The Fergusons were present at that Lesson and they bore great testimonies about how the gospel has blessed their family. Overall it was just a really great lesson, and they set up again for the next week.
   Then as soon as we got out of that lesson there was just some guy in the hallway who came to the church by himself. And he had met with missionaries a couple of years ago. And he is a member of another Christian church, but he really loves The Restoration, and Joseph Smith, and he believes that everything in the Book of Mormon is true. And he wants a 3 in 1 scripture set thing, and a hymn book and he just really loves our church. And he really wants to come here and get baptized, but he is afraid that his family will oppose him coming to our church. But he is super golden and that is pretty much his only obstacle, so hopefully we can help him overcome that.
   Then right after that lesson we started contacting 7-11s and Family Marts, and in a 7-11 some guy from the Marshall Islands just comes up to us and tells us that his girlfriend is Mormon, and his parents work at the Mormon school in the Marshall Islands, and he wants to know where our church was. His phone didn't have a SIM card and he had to leaves very quickly, but we gave him our number and our church address so hopefully he could find it. So Saturday was just packed full of miracles!
   Now I want to share with you one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:41 41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. There are so many things in this world that are unfair and confusing. But if we can just consider how happy we will be if we are always keeping the commandments of God, we will always have peace. And the Lord will surely bless us, if not in this life, then tremendously in the next!

--
博長老 Elder Bosco
Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

 ice with the zone leaders

 mango ice

 Brother Lai

ice with the district

Week #62

1 baby

2 weddings

1 jersey retirement

1 trip to Disneyland

I am excited to see how much more my family can do in 10 months... 加油！

   Well this week was pretty "fang"tastic. If you have read previous emails you might know that a fang is when you set up with somebody, and then they just don't show up. And most of you are probably pronouncing it like faYng, but it is actually like faWng. And it happen to Elder Durrant and I about 10 times this week. But like other than that it was still a pretty solid week. Things are only looking up.

  

 Jian could not meet with us this week because he had 腸胃炎, which our phone dictionary translates to gastroenteritis, but basically it is just a stomach problem. But he said he has been praying so hopefully we will be able to meet with him next week. 

  

 This week we have been able to have a lot more success finding, but it has been a little bit harder for us to meet with people more than once and really help them progress. For instance we found this really cool guy named Mr. Yang and we were able to teach him about the Restoration and set up another time to meet with him. Then the day after he texted us saying that his life wasn't going great right now and he didn't have a job and he was wondering is we had anything that could help him. But then he didn't show up to his lesson, and when we called him he said that he was at a job interview and couldn't come... So hopefully he will set up with us again. We also met this really cool guy named Chris this week, and he set up with us for next Wednesday. 

  

 I have recently just really been enjoying the mission lately. Honestly the work hasn't really gotten any easier, and we still have a lot of setbacks, but I love working with Elder Durrant and I have realized how easy it is just to choose to be happy and continue to share the gospel with as many people as I can. Love you all! Have a good week!

    

   

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Week #61

 This week was a super good week! We were able to see so many miracles. Elder Durrant is just amazing me with his willingness to talk to people, a lot more willing then I was when I got out here. And his Chinese is just straight fire right now! 

Before I came out on the mission I always thought I would have a lot of experiences where I would just be going somewhere, and then I would have a distinct thought to go to some random place, and then when I got there I would find some super golden person the wanted to get baptized. But that is not what it is like at all (at least for me). But what I have noticed this week is that when you show the Lord that you are willing to talk to all of the people that he puts in your path, he will continue to put more prepared people in your path, and he will help you know what to say in order to help them. 

   

We started off this week by going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was able to go with Elder Fear. He taught me so much about working hard and being a consecrated missionary. During our exchange we set a goal that we wanted to get 2 adds during a 30 minute block of contacting, but then as Elder Fear was praying, he felt that we should pray for a new investigator. So we went to work and we couldn't find anybody, and then pretty much at the end of the 30 minutes, I start talking to this guy outside of a family mart. And he was really interested in the Book of Mormon and asked if we could give him one.  And then that night I had a similar experience with Elder Durrant, where we were able to talk to a high school student about God and prayer, at the very end of the day when we had not found a new investigator yet. Elder Durrant and I have been working really hard to hit the mission standard of 1 new investigator a day, and things are definitely heading in the right direction. 

  

 We had to super cool experiences this week, where we were able to just ask people if we could meet with them right on the spot. We were able to teach the Restoration to a Mr. Jin and on a different occasion a Ms. Li. And they both said the would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. They didn't know when they could meet again, but the both seemed really interested. 

  

 Huang and Zhong stopped answering our phone calls this week. But we were able to meet with a really cool guy named brother Jian. At first when we walked into the church he was sitting on the couch, and he was pretty confused because he thought we had invited him to an activity and there was nobody there. And he kept asking why we wanted to meet with him, and he didn't seem too interested, but as we sat down and talked to him for a while, he started to become more interested, and as we taught the Restoration he had a lot of good questions and understood it pretty well. He committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and we are meeting with him again on Thursday!

   

We had a really cool experience with a member this week. We were eating dinner at her restaurant. And it was just us and another couple in the restaurant. During the meal, the member just went up to the other couple and told them about us missionaries and about how we were sharing a message that could really bless their family. It was awesome to see a member just so willing to share the gospel with complete strangers. 

   

 Well that is all from me this week. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and I am so glad I have 10 more months to share that message in Taiwan!

   

 Also two of my favorite missionaries, Elder Griffin and Elder Huang, both have birthdays this week, so Happy Birthday to both of them. Also shout out to my dad who is getting his jersey retired this week. Love you!

 

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

"​sorry just some food and a huge fire"
(yes, that is the caption he sent with the pictures)

Week #60

 Well it's going pretty good here in ZuoYing. We didn't find a ton of new people this week, but we are working really hard and starting to see the blessings. We got stood up a couple of times this week, like people will set up with us, and then they just won't show up.

On Tuesday, we were biking down this road that we had planned to go on and there wasn't really anybody there, but then as we were coming back up we stopped to talk to this guy on the side of the road. We shared a little bit about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, and he said he was super interested and said he wanted to learn more so he set up for that Thursday, and then he didn't show up. Then we got a referral and when we called him he set up with us for the next day... and the he just didn't show up. Its pretty sad because they probably think that they are just ditching a couple of 19 year olds, but really they are missing the opportunity of a lifetime to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

   

We were not able to meet with the students this week, because school just started so they have been pretty busy. Their names by the way are Huang and Zhong. But I have been calling them this week and they have been praying and reading the Book of Mormon. And Huang told me that he believes the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and Zhong said the his day went really really good because he prayed at the beginning of it. And they both should be able to at least come to church this week. 

  

 This Pday I finally got to see my boy Elder Zeyer.... it has been too long. And we had zone conference this week so I got to see him there too. We had a really good Zone Conference this week. When talking about missionary work (specifically contacting) and the problems that we all face, President Teh said "Don't fake it, FIX it!". Contacting is definitely not my favorite part of missionary work, and it is not super easy for me, but it is obviously one of the most important. So there are a lot of things that I am trying to change in order to become better every day. We also talked about becoming more like Shepherds, and less like Hirelings (refer to John 10). We talked about really developing love and charity for the people we talk to, and really caring for the sheep and laying down our lives for them. 

   

We sat down with a guy this week who had just gotten his wisdom teeth out that morning. He had no religion, but he sometimes prays because his friend taught him how to. So we talked about our relationship with God and the Book of Mormon. And he set up again to meet with us next Tuesday!

 

 One thing I love about the mission, is that even though there are a lot of tough days filled with rejection and things like that, you can still just be so happy. All that the Lord asks is that we are continually seeking to improve, and working our hardest to bring souls unto him. I love this work!

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Finally together- Provo High buddies and basketball friends
Elder Zeyer and Elder Bosco

Elders Bosco and Zeyer at zone conference

 me and Dustin who was one of our investigators when I was in Cui Hua