August 5, 2018 - The Last Post!

Well everyone this last week was really great!

Elder Wetzel joined us in a tripanionship which was extremely fun and thankfully we were busy the whole week so we could make the most of it.

Our investigators are doing great. Charlotte had a change of heart this last week and surprised us by letting us know that she would like to be baptized as soon as possible and is now hoping to be baptized next week!

Sister Chen has had no problems and is looking forward to being baptized this weekend so she can be a member when she returns to China later this month.

Cynthia came to church again this week and to our ward activity on Saturday. Many of the members thought she was just a member from a different ward visiting because she looked so familiar and enjoyed the activity a lot! She is progressing so well and hopefully we can set a baptismal date with her this week!

I have loved my time here in Toufen! This ward is awesome!

Love you all, Elder Holderness

July 29, 2018

Hi everyone!

This last week was great! I don't actually remember what we did too much but I do know that Sister Chen from China is doing great! She met with us many times this week and is excited for her baptism before she goes back to China in August.

This week we also started teaching a girl names Cynthia who is best friends with a girl from my last ward in Taibei. They both came for her lesson and then Cynthia came to church on Sunday by herself. The really awesome thing about the ward here though is that before I could even stand up to welcome her. There were two members that beat me to it. I could barely talk to her at all the whole three hours because she was always busy talking to the members. This ward is truly incredible!

Other news this week... I found out I am a lot more allergic to dogs than I used to be. Elder Wetzel from the neighboring area is going to be our companion for the week which is super fun! Also, his bicycle got hit by a scooter and destroyed the front tire on his first night with us.

Love you all!

(Dog allergy story...One of our investigators has a dog and I played with it a little while we were teaching her with no problems. It itched a little bit on my arms and face but I quickly found anywhere I scratched would quickly enflame, have a rash and itch and hurt a lot. It spread to my arms and around my neck and chin. I took a picture or my elbow after it had calmed down a little.  You can't see it very well because of the lighting but I had those bumps from the elbow to about my forearm on both arms and my neck)

 

July 22, 2018

Well I talked to you all just a couple days ago because of the temple day changing my schedule! It was great to do a session again!

This week we didn't do a lot since I last talked to you to be honest! We had a lot of fun with our ward! Our ward had 4 families sealed in the last two months which is incredible so we held a wedding reception type activity for them. We were almost late home two days in a row just trying to set up the decorations and I found out how bad my cursive is when I had to write on the cake! Hahaha

Yesterday we met a really incredible investigator who lives in China right now but is from Taiwan. She is visiting for the month just to visit her family and also... To be baptized. She had been going to church actively there and wants to be baptized now. I am excited to start teaching her!

July 17, 2018

Good morning! I'm off to the temple right now so it's a little earlier than normal!

I hope your week was great because ours was as good as ever! We met a really awesome girl last week named Heidi who has really been reading the Book of Mormon and thinking about it! She even apologized that all of her questions were from first Nephi and that she hasn't started second Nephi. It's only been around 4 days though so it definitely wasn't a problem for us! She read more than anyone ever does!

We had interviews with our new misson president last week and I love him! He is truly inspired but also so excited to be back in Taiwan as a missionary. He is so ready to work and help the mission work here! He is going to do an incredible job!

This last week we had a lot of fun with the other Elders in the area and we got to visit some beautiful parts of Taiwan here.

July 8, 2018

Good morning everyone!

Well this last week was pretty good! On Tuesday we played basketball with some of the other missionaries in our zone and afterward went to eat barbecue for the 4th of July. Too bad there were no fireworks though!

Elder Park and I were having a hard time this week finding people that were willing to learn or meet with us, but surprisingly we had 3 people just show up to church yesterday for the first time and 2 of them were very interested! That was really fun and cool to see.

This week the rain started again and we decided to make some cookies for the ward so that we can bike around and deliver them rather than mindlessly biking around in the rain all day.

A recent convert from my last area came to our sacrament meeting yesterday and that was really fun to see him. It is incredible to me when I see how much living the gospel of Jesus Christ can change a person's life. Even if life was already going really well for them. We just need to do as Elder Uchtdorf recommends and simplify the gospel and enjoy it. It works. It works wonderfully.

Love you all!

July 2, 2018

Hi!

Well as it turns out my last companion is Elder Park from Korea! Didn't expect to be with a Korean companion when I started my mission but looking back now, of my 16 transfers on my mission only 6 of them were with a white person so I probably should've seen it coming. Haha

This week was pretty good! The other Elders in our area got closed because 30 missionaries went home last transfer and only 9 arrived. We are trying to start teaching all of their people but it really is proving to be kind of difficult to make it a smooth transition.

Elder Park just moved here from my old area in Banqiao so we got to go back to my second area last Saturday and attend the baptism of one of the people he was teaching there. It was really fun to go see those members and a fun trip through my good memories in that area/chapel.

We got to meet our new misson president yesterday and he is going to do great serving here! He seems to be very anxious and excited to be back in Taiwan where he served his mission.

The work is going well in Toufen and I love the ward!

Love ya, Elder Holderness

P.S. I know these pictures we have our eyes closed but it was really bright.

June 24, 2018

Hey family!

Well Saturday was great because Emily was baptized! She came to church yesterday and was confirmed and it was really awesome to see her change so quickly from the start of church to the end of church now that she is a member. After the baptism we held our own barbeque outside of our new apartment complex.

For Elder Cooper and Elder Clyde's last district meeting we held it in a Korean Barbeque store and just barbecued for two hours. I'm gonna miss those two but I'll see them soon enough so 沒關係.

We are holding transfers early because our mission president is going home this week. I'll be you know who my new companion is later.