December 31, 2017

Hello my amazing family!

Well it was so much fun to be able to call you last week and I can't believe I only get to do that one more time!

I didn't write you last week so I'll try to catch up on some of the stuff we did the last two weeks.

These last two weeks are what are know as the holidays in good ole America but here in Taiwan it's pretty much just a couple decorations and activities put together by some of the Christians here! That includes us in! We held some pretty big events in our mission. The week before Christmas we held two conferences so that all the mission got a chance to come to Taibei and receive training/have a small Christmas party. The training the Jergensen's did was really amazing about how we can use our personal scripture study to continuously add oil to the lamp of our lives like the parable of the 10 virgins. That story is really amazing and I learned a lot from their training!

Another thing I learned about that story is that it is incredibly hard to translate some of those terms and the different analogies everyone was making! Hahaha! President got us a couple of notes the day before the meeting and we stayed in the office until around 2 am just translating all the slides for their presentation. We didn't get any preparation for the actual live translation of what they were going to be saying! Hahaha! Even more unlucky, the next day my companion woke up sick with food poisoning so he laid in the back of the Chapel and tried to sleep for the two conferences! I felt so bad for him, it lasted about 5 days of just pain and stomach problems.

Christmas Eve we had sacrament meeting only just like everyone else in the world and that night we held our mission's annual Christmas Nativity Concert. It went so well and the spirit was so strong in the room! The confirmation that Jesus Christ is our Savior that I received while listening to all the Christmas songs was truly incredible. I loved being able to commemorate Christmas that way.

Christmas morning was fun opening presents with the AP's and the Zone Leaders. The rest of the day we didn't do very much but relaxed and talked with other missionaries. President and his wife held a waffle brunch for anyone that wanted to come.

Every year the 101 does a crazy firework show for the New Year, so last night we held a Book of Mormon finding activity nearby it! We started around 8:30 and the streets were already filled with people! It was a lot of fun and I think it went pretty well! Sadly the fireworks are at midnight so you can't watch them as missionaries. (Unless you're stuck in the office doing weekly reporting until that time.)

I am super excited for the new year but I really can't believe that 2017 is already over! A whole year of my time on this amazing island in this incredible work is over! I am so grateful for this opportunity and wouldn't trade it for anything. The Lord is truly leading the work along in its progression and he is truly at the head of this church. If we just humbly follow our leaders and do what is right we will do what is needed and what is best for us and others we can influence for good! Make sure to consult with our loving Heavenly Father as you make your goals for the New Year, only he knows our true potential.

I love you all!

Elder Holderness 洪長老

December 24, 2017

Brian did not write due to calling for Christmas.  It was so awesome to see him and see the environment of where he is living and working currently.  He's loving it all!!

December 10, 2017

Hey everyone! I hope your week was great like mine! Mine was a little crazy because we ended up having 4 meetings for different groups of missionaries and all the new missionaries arrive all at the same time. As it turned out the AP's and my companion went to MLC and I took the new missionaries around to do everything they needed to do. Including exchanging currency, ensuring their missionary debit cards worked and buying their smartphones. It was a little stressful and took way longer than planned but it was pretty good for our first time ever buying phones for new missionaries.

Last Monday for P-Day we had choir practice and then a lot of us went to the shops by the 101 and ate lunch together. The rest of the week was just making sure all bikes and luggage got taken around to their new areas.

Our new ward has the strongest YSA group in the whole mission (maybe the only one) and last night we had a big FHE with all of them. It was super fun and we were really able to meet all the members pretty well! They had so much fun with us 6 missionaries! I love this area a lot!

December 3, 2017

Well this week really wasn't the most interesting week ever for all of you but it was crazy for me! I am in charge of all transfers now and it is very stressful. Have you ever tried to move around 50 people through public transportation in about 3 hours? All while never letting them or the person they are leaving behind be alone for longer than 3 minutes? It takes quite a lot of time to figure out that puzzle! Hahaha

For P-Day we went to a really awesome part of Northern Taiwan called Elephant Nose Rock it was really fun to just run around and be with all the other missionaries that came with us.

Monday and Tuesday I was just getting it all sorted out and typing everyone's instructions. On Wednesday we woke up to a call from President and a message that none of the new missionaries were going to make it because of Visa problems. I then had to go back and change all the plans I had before and redo them so that I could send all the instructions off by noon.

We also had to shove a lot of bikes in the Van so we could ship them around the island!

This week was also really fun though! I love Elder Qiu, my new companion! He is the best and we have a lot of fun! Yesterday was my first time translating for our Recent Convert Fireside and I was nervous at first but we made it fun the whole time and it went pretty well!

Taiwan is beautiful and I love it here so much! I love my mission here!

Love you all!

Elder Holderness

November 26, 2017

Hey Everybody!

Well for the most part I was just in the office all week so there isn't too much for me to actually talk about! I really do love this ward though! We had a delicious and awesome Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday night! It was pretty much your typical American Thanksgiving food but we also had extra stuff like Pot Stickers and Curry Rice! It was so good!

Another fun story happened last night when a companionship didn't call in that they were home so us and the AP's all had to walk back to the mission office and hop in the van to drive down to the other area. We got to there house at about midnight and then used the spare key to break in and found them sleeping peacefully with their phones on silent. That's alright we stopped by and got some breakfast because it wasn't the Sabbath anymore!

We get fed all the time in this area, mostly by less active members or non-members so it is a little weird but we still love it! Not too much is going on  for me that is interesting enough to write in an email! Love you all though!

November 19, 2017

Well everyone don't expect much from my emails for the rest of my mission pretty much. This week I got quite the surprise on Wednesday night. We were just about to start our English Class when I got a call from President Jergensen who asked me to be our mission's recorder.  So I packed up all my stuff that night and moved into the very heart of Taibei on Thursday. I am serving in our mission office now and for the most part, don't have a lot of time to do any normal missionary work, especially with all the changes to our mission that the smartphones brought.

Elder Lee is now going to finish his transfer in a tripanionship in Danshui with the Zone Leaders and I am being trained on how to do everything that I need to do now for the next 2 weeks. So far I have enjoyed it a lot but there really is a lot to remember how to do everything that we need to do here.

I love the new ward here now though! We serve in the same ward as the AP's and I live with them too so there is never a boring second at home! Yesterday at church I was able to meet some of the members of this new ward and I am really excited to serve here!

There' s not a lot to talk about in my emails now though because I don't really spent anytime out finding or teaching and as of right now we are to busy so we don't have any investigators. Hopefully we can get caught up in some of our work and figure out these phones so that I can teach at least some people!

Love you all, Elder Holderness

Note:  We asked Brian what exactly he will be doing as the "recorder".  This was his reply for what he and his companion will be doing...

There are only two elders at the office in our mission, recorder and operations. So my companion is Elder Qiu, a Taiwanese person. He is in charge of taking care of apartments and stuff, I am in charge of all the mission statistics, records and stuff but for the most part anytime any missionary has any problems at all they call me and I end up doing just about everything. My companion and I are also in charge of all translations for the mission.

November 12, 2017

Hey everyone!

Well to be honest this week was a boring one. We don't have any investigators still so for the most part every single day we were out on the streets or trying to find some type of effective activity to do. This week I translated some of the things for the upcoming #LightTheWorld activity, such as the calendar they made. I invite everyone to prepare to #光照世人!

Last P-Day we went up early in the morning to email and have lunch with Elder Kimmel, Cooper, Balmforth and Wetzel. Then the six of us went back into Taibei for choir practice. Elder Kimmel got a solo when we all jokingly told the director to give him one! (Pretty much we are living the old Footnotes choir days again.)

The rest of the week we were outside or sitting down trying to find new investigators. This area has always been a pretty hard area for that over the last couple years but lately it seems I can't get anyone to talk long enough to even invite them to learn more. We are hopefully for a huge Christmas activity we are doing next month! That should be able to get some people very interested!

A Recent Convert from out area recently referred his friend who doesn't live in our area but he works in our area at building with a ferris wheel and merry-go-round so we stopped by on Saturday to see how he was doing. He is progressing very well now and even asked his friends if they were interested too! None of them live in our area though so that was a bummer. (His name is Kevin and he has the buzz cut)

Love you all!

Elder Holderness

November 5, 2017

Why is it so hard to write an email sometimes?

This week was pretty uneventful for missionary work! Elder Lee and I really don't have any investigators so we have been trying to find new ones but it is hard sometimes to find new people!

Crazy news for this week, Taiwan is one of 9 foreign missions that has been approved for smartphones. So now we are going to be able to get a hold of our investigators finally! We are excited to finally use Line. (Really the only way Taiwanese people use their phones now.) You wouldn't believe how many people stopped investigating just because they didn't want to use normal text messages. Hahaha This is going to change everything!

The weather is getting cold here and me, who hates the cold is freezing already! I wear sweats and sweaters the second I get up and get home! Hahaha

We are doing well and having fun even if not much is happening!

Elder Holderness

October 29, 2017

To be honest not too much happened this week so it's going to be short! Last P-Day we kind of just went shopping to buy all the things that Elder Lee needed for Taiwan.

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders! I was with Elder Kimmel this time and I just want to say it is really fun to go on exchanges with your classmate! We had so much fun and got some good work done, even if his bike tire popped and he ended up running up the mountain! Hahaha

Wednesday we finished exchanges and went to English class for the night and I had a lot of fun teaching all of them some riddles but we are more excited for next week because they asked us to prepare a lesson on "American Culture". I don't actually know any but it's going to be a great lesson that will probably involve everything we do for the fourth of July!

We have been finding on the streets everyday for the last four days because we have no investigators anymore but we haven't found anyone new either. I have been studying a lot about finding and just praying hard!

Love you all, Elder Holderness

October 22, 2017

Hey Everybody!

Well this last week was transfers and it was honestly the craziest week this mission has seen in awhile!

I am now training! My companion is Elder Lee from Cedar Hills Utah! He is awesome and already knows Chinese and already served in California for a transfer and already has lived in Taiwan before so it really doesn't feel like I am training him but it's still fun! He is actually part of the reason this week was so crazy!

Last week with transfers on the way president and the AP's were getting everything ready and we were expecting no new missionaries due to VISA problems. However, on Sunday night the mission department called and said all the problems were unexpectedly solved and they were sending the missionaries. So they changed all the transfers and found trainers for them. Then on Wednesday, they called and said there was another missionary coming as well. (Elder Lee). He was the only one coming on time and the others would get there on the weekend. He was born in Taiwan but adopted so he had dual citizenship. In order to come back to Taiwan they were going to make him do military service so he gave up his Taiwanese citizenship and came anyway. So on Thursday I got an unexpected call and got my new companion about 3 days earlier than I expected! That is okay he is awesome!

When President went to the Airport to pick up the others on Saturday night he found only 2 of the 14 waiting there and discovered the others had all been delayed and wouldn't get in till about 1:00 am so it was a late night for them and an early morning as they had to do all the training that morning!

During the time waiting for the others Elder Lee and I were in a different area with another missionary called to be a trainer. Now we are back in our area and ready to go! This weekend Zeng Jiemei was confirmed so she is official a member of the church! Other then her we have no investigators though so we are going to be finding a lot! It isn't the most fun thing ever but oh well.

Fun things this week! I got my companion and we got to eat some real steak cooked by our president on the roof of the mission home yesterday!

Before Elder Huang left last Monday we all went Laser Tag in Taibei! It was super fun!

Love you all!

October 15, 2017

He famiily! Well not too much happened this week for us! It has been raining none stop for about 5 days now so we really can't find too many people willing to stop for more than 5 seconds when they see that we are missionaries!

On Saturday we were supposed to have a baptismal interview with our invetigator but he didn't show up so that was really disappointing and really annoying to ask the Zone Leaders to come although down from their area to do the interview all for nothing! We just went and ate dinner with them afterward. And we really don't have too many other investigators to talk about.

Yesterday we had Stake Conference for the North Taibei Stake but because the English Ward is part of this stake there were many talks in English including our mission presidents wife! It was really quite a cool experience to hear all the talks in both English and Chinese. The topic of the conference was "The Joy of the Gospel in your Life".

Transfers are this week so we will see what happens! Last week we spent our P-Day with a recent convert in our ward and a returned missionary from GaoXiong that was visiting Taibei.

Love you all!

October 8, 2017

Hello everyone!

Well I'll just start with the best news of all! Last night, we had a fantastic baptismal service for Zeng Jiemei! It was really awesome to see her stand up to bear her testimony after the baptism and say very clearly to her daughter that she thought baptism was an incredible gift and encouraged her to prepare for her birthday which is in about 3 weeks! Zeng Jiemei's husband passed away about 6 years ago so she has raised her daughter on her own since she was just a year old. I am so glad that I could meet them! I have really come to love both of them!

The second best thing of this week was the amazing General Conference that we were able to watch! I have been looking forward to it all week! It goes by faster every time though! I laughed really hard at Elder Anderson's comment about being the last speaker of the last session because I remember very well having that feeling "When is this going to end?" But now I find myself wanting it to keep going. Their talks were so incredible and I was glad to be able to hear them all. I don't know if I have a favorite yet because I prefer to really study them from the Liahona but there were many that stuck out to me.

Besides this weekend, the week was pretty usual and boring. We don't have too many other investigators really progressing any more. Huang Yu Xiang's phone probably broke so we haven't been able to talk to him in a week. Hopefully we can meet with him again soon and decide when he wants to baptized.

Love you all! Elder Holderness

October 1, 2017

Hey everyone! It was another pretty normal week here in TianMu for Elder Huang and I! Last week for P-Day we just went up to DanShui and spent the day with our Zone Leaders, Elder Cooper and Elder Kimmel. We just played basketball and then board games. (Because we couldn't take our bikes with us we just had to catch a ride on the back of theirs! I thought Elder Huang and Elder Kimmel weren't going to make it! Hahaha

The rest of the week was pretty normal for us! But the Sisters in our area had a baptism last Sunday and she asked me to baptize her so we were pretty involved with the service! Too bad I got eye infection for the fourth time in a year so I couldn't even open my eyes for the pictures... Oh well! Hahaha

Speaking of baptisms, we are going to have one next Sunday! 曾姊妹 (Zeng JieMei) is all ready and we have the whole service planned! We are super excited for her!

We also hope that 黃昱翔 (Huang Yu Xiang) will be able to be baptized at the same time because his original date is set for Saturday, but we haven't gotten in touch with him for the last three days so we aren't sure yet.

Other than that it was normal here! Still loving it though! Just read the Book of Mormon and live works out. That's what I've learned.

Elder Holderness

September 24, 2017

Hey Everyone it was a short week this week so this isn't too long.

Well, after emailing last week, we went straight into Taibei to the temple to do our session. It was great as always! Right after we finished we went to the mission office to finish up some stuff and then went to another escape house with our Zone Leaders and the Office Elders. It was a lot of fun.

On Thursday we went up to DanShui for exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Cooper again! Yeah he's my Zone Leader now, not my companion. And Elder Huang was with Elder Kimmel! The Elder Kimmel, he's my Zone Leader now too! It's crazy! The whole day was super fun and we got lots of work done for their area!

Friday morning was our Zone Conference so it was back to Taibei and we had great training with President and Sister Jergensen. They just taught us on the importance of faith in Christ and extending invitations to our investigators. This training really helped me know how to prepare well for our lessons so it will help a lot!

Saturday we had lessons scheduled but they all ended up falling through so we were left with an empty day. We took some of the time to make some cookies for our investigators and ward members but mostly we were just finding on the streets again!

Sunday we didn't have very many people at church which was a disappointment because our investigator didn't come again and now we haven't talked to him in over a week since he didn't pass his interview.

All the others are doing pretty well and we should see some baptisms in the coming two weeks!

Love you all, Elder Holderness

Sorry, no pictures this time cause I am still waiting for the others to send them to me!

September 17, 2017

Well wasn't this week just swell!

Last P-Day we mostly went shopping for the food we need this month so we didn't have too much time left to do a lot of fun stuff. We ended up going to a really cool museum in our area! After we got there we realized we didn't want to go in because it was too expensive. Cool pictures though.

On Tuesday we didn't have anything planned for our day so we just ended up going finding the whole day after district meeting.

Wednesday was about the same as Tuesday except we had English class at night and I found Poptarts while we were finding. Haven't seen those in a while.

Most of Thursday I had to go to Taibei for meetings so I left Elder Huang with another Elder in our area.

Friday was a little bit sadder for us because our investigator 黃士哲 (Huang Shi Zhe) didn't pass his baptism interview because he wasn't quite sure about Thomas S. Monson as a prophet. After the interview we reviewed with him and he was feeling pretty good about it. But I don't know what happened because on Sunday he didn't come to church and told us that he doesn't want to get baptized until after he reads all of the Book of Mormon. We are still trying to find a time to meet with him.

On Saturday we did the second week of Frisbee in the morning which is super fun! I haven't had much of an opportunity to go outside and exercise with Elder Huang as my companion so I enjoy it as much as I can! That night we went out finding again for the whole night but it was ok!

Sunday was the best! I got to go to two primary programs! It was so fun to see all the little kids do their performances. I don't know why but during the second meeting I had a very strong feeling of the spirit and was told again very clearly that this church is true! I really love the things that the church teaches us. It is incredible to see how strong the testimony of these little kids are.

The last few days we haven't done very much either. Our investigators are doing pretty well and we still have lots of hope in the coming weeks! 黃士哲 (Huang Shi Zhe) had that interview problem but hopefully it won't change too much.

Jason finally talked to his parents about him investigating and they really don't agree so now he is trying to figure out how to help them understand. He is an adult so he doesn't need their permission but he also doesn't want to have a lot of contention with them either.

黃昱翔 (Huang Yu Xiang) was able to come to church again yesterday and it was great! He is now progressing really well for his baptismal date on the 7th.

So is 曾姐妹 (Zeng JieMei)! She is completely ready for her baptism now! We are just going to try and figure out how to help her daughter prepare now! The primary program really helped both of them have great feelings towards the church!

That's about it for me! Sorry it's a little scattered and early! I just wanted to email before we go to the temple today!

Elder Holderness

September 10, 2017

Hey Everyone!

Surprise! Transfers happened but actually nothing happened! Elder Huang and I are going together for another transfer and we are so excited! We have some awesome investigators here and I love being able to serve here!

Our investigator 洪肇駿 (Hong Zhao Jun) sadly has not been able to quit smoking yet so he was not able to be baptized last week but we decided it would be best for us to just wait for him to give us a baptismal date so it is something he will really work for. He did promise us that Elder Huang would be able to see it so he is planning within the next month!

黃士哲 (Huang Shi Zhe) is doing fantastic! He has come to church every week for the last month and has his baptismal interview this Friday! He should be able to pass without a problem and get baptized next week! He is awesome and rides a super cool motorcycle to church every week! Haha

曾姐妹 (Zeng Jiemei) and her daughter 可甯 (Ke Ning) are doing so well! Her mom should get baptized at the start of October and then she turns 8 in the middle of October so I really hope she will want to be baptized too! She is the cutest little girl!

The 17 year old basketball player, 黃昱翔 (Huang Yu Xiang) sadly didn't come to church yesterday so we are still waiting for him another week. He really likes the gospel and has a strong testimony but he has to come to church if he wants to be baptized so we are just trying to help him get there!

This last week we had a fantastic P-Day at the Mission Office/Stake Center because a lot of missionaries were going home so we played some farewell basketball and got all you can eat Hot Pot! It was delicious and super fun but sadly I didn't take any pictures and no one has sent me any yet!

The other day when we were in Coordination meeting, the ward missionary leader asked me and my companion if we knew the sisters' investigator. My companion quickly said "Yes! I met her, shook her hand and introduced myself... Just like the apostles!" Hahahaha (He was referring to the time Elder Cook came to our mission)

Love you all! Elder Holderness

September 3, 2017

大家好！

This week was fantastic for missionary work! Our investigator 黃士哲 (Huang Shi Zhe) is awesome! We have pretty much finished all the lessons with him and his testimony is really strong! So we talked to him about his baptismal date and he said the sooner the better. He has come to church for the last three weeks and now he took work off on the 23rd so he should be getting baptized in just a couple of weeks! I am super excited for him!

曾姊妹 (Zeng Jiemei) is doing amazing too! We met with her and talked a little about the baptismal interview questions and she has one of the best testimonies I have ever heard from investigators! She said that a couple months ago she felt like she didn't understand Jesus Christ very well so she decided to read about Him as much as she could in the Book of Mormon and watched videos about him. It is really incredible how much a person can learn from the Book of Mormon!

洪肇駿 (Hong Zhao Jun) is supposed to get baptized this week but he still hasn't given up smoking so we are working with him but it is looking like he will need some more time and it will probably just be up to him when he really makes the decision that he wants to quit. Not just trying to make us happy.

Last P-Day we went to watch another one of the College Olympic events. We watched Mexico vs. France in baseball! It was really fun to just sit right behind home plate because for some reason no one else was sitting there! Elder Huang loves baseball too so it was super fun!

Yesterday we had the usual Recent Convert Fireside in Taibei! My companion was asked the night before to sing in Taiyu (The Taiwanese Language that all the old people speak in Taiwan). I don't understand a word of it. But surprise! They asked me to sing with them too! So last night I ended up singing I am a Child of God to the lyrics that I just made up in about 20 minutes before the meeting started! Hahaha

Love you all! Elder Holderness

(Snagged this picture from the mission Facebook page!)

August 27, 2017

Hey Everyone! Well this week was great on this little island of Taiwan! Right now Taiwan is hosting some big world wide college Olympics thing so we went and watched some of the basketball games there. Hong Kong versus Japan was a pretty good game but the game that I never thought I would ever see in my entire life was Ukraine versus Mozambique! The game was a little boring but it was really fun to see those two teams against each other!

This week was a little bit harder on us. We have some awesome people who are doing really well progressing towards baptism! We are just trying to make sure we are always finding new people to teach! We have a new investigator from last week named 黃士哲 Huang Shi Zhe he met the church while he was working/traveling outside of Taiwan and now is looking for a church here. He came to church this week and last week and is really a miracle investigator. He should be getting baptized soon.

This week we also worked with 洪肇駿 Hong Zhao Jun with his smoking problems. His baptismal date is next Saturday and he should be completely down with smoking this week and I think he will be able to pass his interview and be baptized!

We are still working with 曾姐妹 Zeng JieMei and her super cute daughter 可甯 Ke Ning. Her date is set for October and she is still coming to church and doing great! She just wants to wait till then to get baptized to make sure! I'm not worried about her though!

This Friday and Saturday the air quality was amazing in Taiwan! It made our area look like a completely different place and the view of Taibei was amazing! But the best part was Saturday night! BYU's soccer team is the soccer team from America for the Olympics! So they did a Face To Face activity for the single adults here in Taibei! We got to take our 18 year old basketball player investigator! It went really well and was a really fun, relaxed activity!

Yesterday's church meetings went really well! We had six investigators attend! But that also means that we have to go to both ward meetings so we sat in the chapel for about 8 hours total yesterday! It was a little long...

That's about it for here! Love you all!

Elder Holderness

Also, the problem of this week... My wallet is doomed because I found out this is in our area...

August 20, 2017

Hey Everyone!

Well this week was super awesome! Elder Huang and I are loving it here in TianMu! This week was super good for our area! Hong Zhao Jun, was able to fast for about 16 hours yesterday, he didn't make it to 24 but this was the longest he has gone without cigarettes for a long time. Other than that though we had quite a few new investigators and I am not quite sure who to talk about really. Most of them are pretty new so I'm not sure how they are doing really. We had some really cool miracles happen which brought us new investigators this week!

Our mission baptism goal for the year is 600. At the last Mission Leadership Conference they told us that we are a little behind on our goal and in order to hit it every companionship needs to get four more baptisms this year. I know that Elder Huang and I can do it! We have some awesome investigators here! We pray for it every day and the lord has let us see so many cool miracles. I really know he is helping the work here. Sometimes I feel like I'm not actually doing anything but sitting back and watching God do miracles.

Last week Elder Huang and I went on a hike last week with some of the missionaries from YongHe! It was pretty fun and I got to wear some normal clothes so I was happy!

We went on a exchanges with the zone leaders last week too so we got to go up to DanShui and spend the night which is always fun! The stake here is doing a big Christmas play this year and they have already started making the set for it so we got to go and do some service which was pretty fun!

I got into the dentist today and got my tooth all taken care of! Which pretty much means most of it is fake now... hmmmmm... still kind of suspicious of the dentistry that happened but whatever! Hahahaha

Love you all! Elder Holderness

This email was a little scattered sorry!

August 13, 2017

Hey everyone!

Well this week was just a normal one here in TianMu! I love it here! It is a really expensive area and the people are hard to get talking but it is great! Elder Huang and I are pretty much the best friends in the whole mission. Probably. Hahaha! I have been trying to help him pronounce Ward, Word and World lately and it makes me laugh everyday! He wasn't feeling too good on Saturday so he laid down for a second... sadly he heard the camera turning on...

This week was good! The progress is just coming along pretty well and a little slowly! We are still trying to help 洪肇駿 (Hong Zhao Jun) quit smoking! He should still be able to hit his baptismal date of September 9th though!

Monday my companion wanted to go tour some not very convenient place for missionaries so we walked a very long way... It was hot but we made it fun!

On Wednesday night we have English class and because finding on the streets hasn't been going super well for us, I decided that it would be good for me to really take the time to plan a good English class and spiritual message at the end. I decided to use an analogy with a bowl of water and some clear little balls used as air freshener. When you put the clear balls in the water. You can't see them at all. People have to feel the water to know they are there. I used it to teach them about faith and understanding god. They can't just see god, they have to take action so they can feel god. It worked great! I got three new people to set up with me and two of them are a family with a 6 year old son! It was an incredible miracle for us!

On Friday we had our zone conference and we talked about the Book of Mormon the whole time. Right now we are trying to figure out all the different ways we can get people to read the Book of Mormon so that it can do the missionary work for us! It was training Elder Christopherson gave to new mission presidents this summer. It has been working pretty well these last couple days and I am excited to see how it can affect our investigators!

Having two areas means two wards and having two wards means 6 hours of church! So that was pretty much our entire day yesterday! I also had to give a talk about missionary work so that's three weeks in a row that I have been on the program here! Hahaha

Love you all and I love the Lord,

Elder Holderness

August 6, 2017

Hey everyone!

Well this week was great! I am loving it here in TianMu! I love my companion Elder Huang! And our district!

This week's highlight was the baptism of one of the investigators they were teaching last transfer before I got here! His name is Patrick! He is going to need a lot of help and support from the ward so I am glad that I get the chance to know him and help teach him the Recent Convert lessons!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful! We just have been trying to find new investigators but haven't had too much success! It is a lot harder to find new investigators in Taibei than it was in LinKou because people won't stop to talk even 15 seconds here! Hahaha it doesn't help that missionaries have been here forever and the American school is here too so they are super used to both Americans and Missionaries.

Yesterday we got to go to the New Member Fireside in Taibei with our investigator 曾姊妹 (Zeng Jiemei) and her 7 year old daughter (費可甯)! It was great and they should be baptized in October! We also have an investigator named Enix who is just working on his word of wisdom problems but he should be baptized in September!

I also got an update on LinKou yesterday and found out that a lot of the investigators we were teaching are starting to really do well now! Abbie and her mom went to church yesterday which is incredible! I didn't expect that kind of news! Also 張庭瑜 should be baptized on Saturday! 

I am doing well and loving the mission, Taiwan and Chinese.

Elder Holderness

July 30, 2017

Hello everyone! Well! This week has now been a year on my mission and I really can't believe how fast it has gone by! I love Taiwan so much!

This week was a pretty crazy one too! On Monday we went with some of the members from all over the island on a hike! It was super fun and a great view of all of Taibei!

Then on Tuesday night we got the surprise (not really) call that Elder Kelemen is going to be training next transfer which also meant that I was going to move! He and I went to go get some delicious Mango CuaBing to say goodbye! Most of the investigators there are doing well though so I am not too worried and should be able to go back in a couple weeks for 張庭瑜's baptism!

And now I am in 天母 (TianMu)! I am so excited to be here! My new companion is 黃長老 (Elder Huang) from TaiZhong, Taiwan! He is so awesome! He has been a member for almost two years now but he has an incredible testimony and I love him! We should be pretty good friends and definitely will be able to work well together! He also loved the American candy that you sent mom! Hahaha! He said you are welcome to send more anytime and that it is a good thing he wasn't born in America or he would be super fat! Hahaha

TianMu is pretty good! We were supposed to have a baptism last Saturday but it was my first Typhoon! So they canceled a lot of baptisms and they even canceled church in most places! (Ours got canceled but then they just moved it to the afternoon) I am really excited to start working here, we have some good investigators already but we also need new ones! It is really hard to be back in Taibei again! No one has time and no one wants to talk to missionaries here! I am still trying to find out the best way to find new investigators!

That's about it! Love you!

Elder Holderness

July 23, 2017

Well this week was pretty short because I just wrote last Wednesday!

Temple day was great! I love being able to go to the temple here and this time I got to do the whole session in Chinese! It was awesome and I hope I can do it again next time! The rest of the day we just relaxed and got ready for our English Class that night!

Thursday we had our district meeting so we got to go biking down the mountain again! (We are going to get our whole district to do it with us today too!) But after district meeting we just kind of started finding again!

The area is doing well but for the most part we are just out on the streets every night talking to anyone that we think we should! Hahaha! Abbie and Andy are doing well! They hopefully will be able to set a date for their baptism this week! 張庭瑜 is doing super well too! She fasted with us this week because she had to ask her parents for permission to get baptized last Saturday! But then she surprised us and told us that she was going back down south to visit so she was going to just ask in person! Her mom said yes, but she had to delay it one week because of her tests so August 5th is the date!

Yesterday we got investigators to church! That is awesome living up here where we have to go down for church! Sadly none of them were our real progressing investigators but it was nice to have a couple new people there for their first time!

That's about it for this week! And sadly, I don't have any pictures to send so here's a nice picture of the Taibei 101 I took awhile ago! Enjoy!

Elder Holderness