Week #68

  It is already the last week of training! Time is just flying. Training Elder Durrant has been so much fun, and I have learned a lot. I guess we will see what happens with transfers this next week! Well we weren't able to find anyone new this week but other than that it was a super solid week.

   

Something that has been really hard to find on the mission is service opportunities, because nobody here wants you to serve them. So I haven't done many of those, but recently President Teh has emphasized that we start looking for more of those. One thing he suggested is talking to all of the 里長 (li zhang) in the area. A Li Zhang is sort of like a mayor type guy but for all of the little villages that are in Taiwan. I guess like a modern day village chief or something like that. And I never knew anything about them until President Teh talked about them in Zone Conference. So we started looking for those this week, and if you ask anyone that lives in the area where the Li Zhang is they will automatically know... it's crazy. So we found like 4 of them this week and we left our phone number with them. And we were also able to find a weekly service activity in an old persons home thing, but its not for sure yet. Our title would be "cell phone consultant", but she said that is just a title, we would basically just be there talking to them and stuff like that. So hopefully that all works out. 

  

 Brother Zheng is doing super good! We were able to meet with him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and he came to church on Sunday. He says he likes meeting with us a lot because he likes that feeling, and it helps him not want to smoke and stuff like that. He is working really harding on keeping the Word of Wisdom. When we met him he was smoking 3 packs a day, and as of now he said he is smoking less than 1. He still has to give up tea and coffee too, but he is making a ton of progress. Also it is hard for him to understand a lot of the things that we teach him, so we teach very simply and review a lot, and he said he never liked to read books so sometimes he falls asleep while reading the Book of Mormon. But he tries and he showed up to church early to read for a little bit. But the members are really good at friend-shipping him, and everything is going good.

  

 Something that these past two transfers have taught me is having constant unwavering faith in the Lord. No matter what are circumstances, always trusting in the Lord and his plan. And doing whatever you can to be in line with his will. Its not always easy, but in the end it is always worth it to do what he wants you to do. Love you all!

   

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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Sisters Horner and Skidmore with the Lu family and Elders Bosco and Durrant

 Curry Rice

Ping Pong last Pday

Brother Feng (from YuanShan)

Week #67

 This week was a pretty good one. We were finally able to set a baptismal goal and get somebody to church! I will tell you about it later. Last Pday we went to the all you can eat restaurant call The Harbour. I took some pictures but they aren't very high quality. Also I would like to apologize for my not very detailed emails, lack of pictures, and ok journal writing. I am trying to get better. But a sister in my district to more pictures in like 30 minutes than I have in like 3 weeks. We also went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, I got to go with Elder Park. This is Elder Parks last transfer on his mission, so it was good to learn a lot from him. 

    

Nothing else really happened this week except we were able to find an awesome new investigator! His name is Brother Zheng. He is a 58 year old man that Elder Durrant contacted on the street. He is just super happy and very enthusiastic, but he is very open to learning about the Gospel. He is originally Buddhist, but has been to church and likes Christianity better. And his schedule is perfect for investigating the church. He does not work weekends, and he is free after 8 every day. And most people here are not willing to meet with you very often, but he is willing to meet with us almost everyday. And when he came to church on Sunday he stayed for all 3 hours, and for a baptismal service afterwards. He also really wants to give up smoking, and at church he was very happy to tell us that he hadn't smoked in 26 hours. He has a baptismal goal for November 18, so everybody pray for him. Love you all!
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博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

A suit he bought for 300 Taiwanese dollars ($10 USD) to bring home from his mission

Week #66

      Well we were able to get our AC fixed this week, so we are back to

sleeping in the room. Elder Durrant is feeling better, and so we are

going to an all you can eat restaurant today (that is how a lot of

people, especially elders, spend Pdays in Taiwan). But its nothing but

good times here in Taiwan.

  

We were able to have Zone Conference this week. One of my favorite

parts was how President Teh talked about vision. And like it says in

the scriptures, where there is no vision the people perish. One of the

things that he talked about to go along with that was the fact that

this is the Lord's work. We are automatically on the winning team.

Nobody/Nothing can stop this work from progressing. So as long as we

are doing our part, even if it doesn't seem like things are happening,

the work is still continuing to move forward. We also talked a lot

about following up, working with the ward, and servce (I have only

done about 5 service activities on my mission, but we are trying hard

to look for more).

 

 After we talked in Zone Conference about setting expectations and

following up, we were able to have a lesson that night. We were able

to apply a lot of what we talked about in Zone Conference, and I

honestly thought it was one of the best first lessons that I have ever

had. It was with a brother Zhang, he is a college student, and he had

talked with a friend about how prayer can bring you peace, so he

wanted to learn more about it. We were able to have a powerful lesson

with him and he said he was going to come to church. And we tried to

have really good follow ups with him, but then when we called him on

Saturday to confirm for church, he didn't seem to excited to talk to

us, and he didn't come on Sunday. But he is set to meet with us on

Wednesday so hopefully everything goes well.

  

On Friday we had a special meeting, with 3 members of the Quorum of

the 70 there. President Teh, Elder Funk (Area President), and Elder

Snow (Church Historian). They were in Taiwan getting some church

history information and so the stopped by real quick to talk to us.

They mostly just talked about church history, and how we are playing a

part of the church history here in Asia. One of my favorite parts was

when Sister Snow, quoting Sister Hinckley said "it's a great thing you

are doing, but it's the least you could do". 

The Lord has blessed me so much in my life, and the least I could do is sacrifice these 2

years to help others receive these same blessings. And although

missionary work is never easy, the Lord is continuing to bless me. I

can't believe I only have 9 months left! I just feel like there is so

much I still need to do. I love it! Love you all!

-- 

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Elder Jones and Elder Bosco

The District

face mask round 2

 rain day

 KFC egg tarts soooooooo good

Week #65

  Well I don't have a lot to write about because my companion was

pretty sick all week and all of our investigators disappeared. haha

yeah I can't really explain what happened but General Conference was

super great!

  As someone who is naturally hard on themselves, this week was

difficult for me, but I found great strength and hope in General

Conference. One of my favorite talks was Jeffrey R. Holland's talk

Saturday Morning. One of my favorite quotes was "I also know that, as

children of God, we should not demean or vilify ourselves, as if

beating up on ourselves is somehow going to make us the person God

wants us to become. No! With a willingness to repent and a desire for

increased righteousness always in our hearts, I would hope we could

pursue personal improvement in a way that doesn’t include getting

ulcers or anorexia, feeling depressed or demolishing our self-esteem.

That is not what the Lord wants for Primary children or anyone else

who honestly sings, “I’m trying to be like Jesus.”4"

  I think a lot of the time, I think of improving as a sign that I am

just not doing good enough. And now that I realize it, I never am

doing good enough, once I am like Jesus Christ than I will be doing

good enough. But like Elder Holland mentioned, that is impossible in

this life. I am just focusing on continuing to steadily improve,

increase my faith in the Lord and his plan. I can honestly say right I

am finding pure joy in sharing about Jesus Christ. I have been beyond

blessed to have this Gospel in my life. I am trying my best to be

faithful and work hard, and then rely on the Lord when it comes to

outcomes.

  But all I can say is that life is good. To quote W. Christoper

Waddell "In this mortal experience, we cannot control all that happens

to us, but we have absolute control over how we respond to the changes

in our lives. This does not imply that the challenges and trials we

face are of no consequence and easily handled or dealt with. It does

not imply that we will be free from pain or heartache. But it does

mean that there is cause for hope and that due to the Atonement of

Jesus Christ, we can move forward and find better days—even days full

of joy, light, and happiness.

  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and the this

is his true church on the earth today. I hope everyone has a great

week!

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

We went back to Buddha Mountain for Pday. 

 And we had to move our beds to the living room because the AC in our room broke!

  

Week #64

I have to apologize in advance this letter isn't going to be the longest, most exciting one. Last Pday we had a pretty American Pday. We had Coldstone, and Arkansas Diner, and Costco. So that was pretty good.

   

We met with Isaac again this week. He actually has quite a ways to go. He has a very hard time focusing and a harder time understanding. He wants to just come and have a secret baptism, and them continue going to his own church. So he still really wants to get baptized, but he still has a long way to go. 

   

And Mrs Lin from last week hasn't been answering our phone calls and she didn't show up to her appointment... so that was pretty sad. 

   

But this week I had the opportunity to baptize on of the sisters investigators. And so although I didn't teach him or anything, it was still an amazing experience. It is such an amazing blessing to be able to hold the priesthood, and perform these ordinances. 

   

Something I have really been focusing on this week is Charity. Especially because as a missionary it is really easy to question whether or not you are being successful. But I read something in the Liahona that really stood out to me. it said "I have felt His hand and His closeness in my service with our children when I prayed to know how to help them find the peace that only the gospel brings. At such moments, I cared less about being seen as a successful parent, but I cared deeply about the success and well-being of my children. It helped me to realize that when I am truly focused on others and helping them come unto Christ, I won't be worried about those kind of things. 

   

I hope everyone had a great conference. I am excited to watch it this week. Love you all!

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18