Week #76

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!! It literally does not feel like Christmas here at all, but I am glad to be hear spreading the gospel and helping people understand the true meaning of Christmas. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the blessing that he has been in my life. Because of him truly everything is possible, and our lives can be filled with true peace and happiness. 

   

This was actually a pretty successful week. We were able to find 7 new investigators this week, 4 of which are super solid. One of them is a family. Elder Brenchley and I contacted the dad last week, and then on Saturday he brought his wife and his daughter to meet with us. The mom really liked how our message really helped families. They have a daughter and a son, and the son is really rebellious, and so we had a good lesson with them about families and then they came to church the next day. 

   

Another investigator, Brother Wang, I think I have mentioned him before. Elder Brenchley first tracted into them before I got there, and it is mostly him that is interested, but he has been on and off with meeting with us. But we were able to meet with him twice this week and share about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. Also another Brother Wang that we have been teaching through video messaging is also in the same boat. They are both reading the Book of Mormon and praying for an answer. So pray for them that they can recieve their answer. 

  

 We did lots of caroling this week. On Friday we went to a Carrefour and caroled next to the checkout counters with the whole zone. That was super fun. And shoutout to high school Chinese for teaching me how to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in Chinese. Then on Saturday our district went caroling at the train station. Then on Sunday our ward and the ward next to ours went caroling at the train station. 

   

Well I love you all. Have a good Christmas!

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Week #75

Transfers are this week and I will be staying here in YuanLin. Elder Brenchley is moving to JiaYi. My new companion is Elder Loe. He is from Delta, Utah. He was Elder Durrant's MTC companion. This should be a super fun transfer!  

 

This week we were able to participate in our first video call lesson! It is super great to see how the Lord is hastening his work through technology and how it will continue to progress. We are still trying to think of lots of creative and effective ways to use the technology. It has been a little weird getting used to it, but they are super great!

   

We are able to meet with Nimia (the lady I talked about last week) twice this week. She is really open to learning. She is willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray, but a lot of her thoughts and beliefs contradict with the things that we teach, so it has been a little difficult in that sense. We are hoping to share with her a little more this week about the power and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

  

On Wednesday we went to a combined zone conference /Christmas devotional. Most of the zone conference was about how to use the phones and stuff. There is still lots of things that are just different about the phones, and sometimes the area book and Planner app sometimes just doesn't work, but it's still good. I had to sing a duet in the Christmas devotional. I love Christmas time and being able to remember the true meaning of it. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas than being fully immersed in the Lord's work.

   

We were not able to find any new people this week, but hopefully I will have some better news for you next week. Love you all. Merry Christmas! 

[mothers note- I am going to miss Elder Brenchley and his awesome pictures! Hopefully Collin starts using his new phone for more pics. Also, he sang a duet (Away in the Manger in English) with Elder Brooks at the Christmas Conference.]

Elders Bosco, Gibson, and Pilling. In between Elders Gibson and Pillings heads is Elder Zeyer.
Elders Bosco, Zeyer, and Pilling are all Provo High Alum!

Elders VanSlooten and Bosco

Week #74

  The phones are here! It is super awesome! Especially because everyone in this country uses an app called LINE. Its pretty much like Whatsapp. And it makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with everyone. I am so excited for this new phase in missionary work. Now for the other good things of this week. 

   

So there is this one girl that we have contacted before and she didn't really have any interest, then we saw her the other day and she said that next time that she sees us she would meet with us (This was all 2 weeks ago) And right after she said that we saw her like 30 minutes later and she gave us her number. Then on Monday we saw her again and she started asking us questions about us and the church. We were able to share with her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and she set up to meet with us tomorrow. Super cool!

   

The guy that I talked about last week that came to the Christmas activity (Brother Chen) is super awesome. We were able to meet with him twice this week and he set a baptismal goal for January 13th. He also came to church for all 3 hours. But sadly we found out he does not live in our area, but I am still super excited for him!

   

Also we were finally able to set a solid baptismal goal with Nick and his parents for January 20th, so keep praying for them!

   

Lately we have really good training meetings this month and 3 things that we are working on as a mission that are going to help the work are 1. Building the Kingdom through the ward 2. Having a Christlike attitude 3. Intelligent and inspired finding I am so grateful for our mission leaders and the revelation they receive on how to move the work forward. This truly is the Lord's work.

   

This week we had the opportunity to participate in the Stake 運動會. Which is basically just a giant track meet for the whole stake. it was super fun, but I haven't ran in a while so I am pretty sore. 

  

 I also finished the Book of Mormon this week both in English and Chinese. And the great thing is that it is true no matter what language you read it in. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the strength and guidance that it gives me. I am also very grateful for the chance I have to be in Taiwan and Learn Chinese. I love being a missionary! 

 

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

Brother Jiang (a member).
Sorry this week was so crazy I didn't take lots of pics.
But hopefully you got some from Elder Brenchleys mom and I will get some from him.
I am hoping that this phone will help me to take more pictures
[The other pics are from Elder Brenchley]

[I stole this one off facebook]
Santa (Elder Stroud) passing out their new phones! Merry Christmas!

Week #73

  It is truly starting to feel like Christmas, even in Taiwan! Even though we were greeted yesterday by fireworks, loud parades, and the smell of burning paper, I still love Taiwan and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here and serve these people. 

Also we have been doing #LighttheWorld and it has been super great. No better way to spend Christmas than by spreading the love of Christ! 

Also we got a new washing machine this week and we are getting our phones in a couple of days... so Merry Christmas!

  

 I got to go on exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Stroud this week. He taught me a lot about being confident in all of the goals, and not just working hard to hit them but expecting to hit them. We also taught Nick again. His mom still thinks that he is not prepared to be baptized, and when we called his dad to talk about what he wanted us to review with him, he said he wants to talk to his wife before we continue to meet with him... so we will see what happens.

   

This week we had mission tour and Elder Meurs of the seventy came and visited us. Some of the things that were emphasized were getting the ward more involved. Not just at the lesson because you asked them too, but helping them to feel how important they are in the conversion process of our investigators. They also emphasized thinking more about where we go to contact. Thinking about the type of people we are looking for, where they are, and when they would be there. It was a super great meeting and we were able to receive lots of revelation on how to improve our area. 

   

This week we met with the Xiao family, a husband and wife that we contacted a while ago. They own this super big sock company and they ship them to like Forever 21 and stuff like that. So I got to see how socks were made. We had a pretty good lesson with them, they are willing to meet with us but it does not seem like that have tons of desire, but they seem pretty willing to act so hopefully we can help them. 

   

Our Stake had an awesome Christmas party on Saturday. There was dinner and then a program where they acted out the story of Jesus' birth. It was awesome and there was a ton of people there. We texted everyone in our phone, and one person that we contacted a while back (who seemed pretty uninterested at the time) showed up. During the program he sat by our ward mission leader and then he set up to meet with us after! It was super awesome. 

Also that same day some lady pulled us over in front of a bakery and then bought us a huge cake and drinks and stuff (she spent 630 Taiwanese dollars about $20 ish) It was insanely nice of here. I love the people here. 

   

Well I really felt inspired this week as I read Moroni 7. I have really been trying to increase my faith, hope, and charity. Christlike attributes are by far the most important things that we can develop as a missionary, or just as a disciple of Christ in general. And I know that I will be able to see more miracles as I develop these things.

--

博長老 Elder Bosco

Taiwan Taichung Mission 16-18

 Brother Zhao (from QingShui)

fireworks

 Brother Li

sock machine

​Christmas party

cake

​ stuff that the lady bought us

our new washing machine

fireworks