January 29, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Well this week was actually super awesome! Lately, the work has been really hard to do just because of the Chinese New Year. No one will set up with us to meet, and there's almost no one out on the streets. All they do for Chinese New Year is get work off and sit inside eating food! Hahaha!

But because the members are so awesome, we haven't had to buy food since last Thursday and won't have to until this Thursday! They handed us a schedule a couple weeks ago with Lunch and Dinner appointments for a whole week! It has been super delicious but mostly just awesome to have the opportunity to get to know them better! The Taiwanese members are truly amazing!

Last week for P-Day we got to leave our area and go hiking again! It was a super cool hike and the area was beautiful! You could see almost all of my last area (TaoYuan 桃園) from up there and it made me miss it a little but not too much! Because I get to go back to TaoYuan this week for baptisms! Two of the people I taught there are getting baptized on Saturday and they invited me to attend! I am super excited!

A lot of you already heard this but last week, (For Taiwan it was Friday but I'm not sure when it actually happened) the Church released another World Wide Missionary Broadcast. The training was truly amazing and I am so thankful for their instruction. However, the real excitement came when they announced the missionary schedule change! We now do planning in the morning rather than at night, we only do personal study and planning at home then we have to head out the door. From there we can decide when and where we want to do companion study and language study. At night we don't have to do anything so we can write in our journal for a half an hour and then choose what time we want to sleep within a one hour window. (For us it's wake up at 7, choose to go to sleep anywhere from 10:00-11:00)! It was super unexpected but it is going to really help us get the work done I think! I am super excited for the future of both my mission and the church's as whole. They really trust us missionaries right now.

Funny story about that though. We didn't know what the training was on before we saw it, so, naturally, the mission had a million rumors! The most popular was that we were going to get iPads though. And when we got there, they had laid "Safeguards for Using Technology" packets on everyone's chairs. Everyone freaked out cause we thought that meant for sure we were getting them! But then President stood up and laughed a little bit as he told us "We are not getting iPads" Hahaha! Everyone was a little disappointed but mostly just laughing. (I think we will get them this summer though)

Well now that Chinese New Year is almost over and with these new changes to the mission, I really think the work is going to start going well! We have a lot of new investigators and families that said they would meet with us after the New Year so hopefully we can really start to teach them and help them learn about Jesus Christ. I am really looking forward to everything and love being a missionary!

Love you all so much!

Elder Holderness

January 22, 2017

Hey Everyone!

Well, this week was pretty short because of P-Day being on Wednesday last week so I don't have too much to write about!

We had a great week this last week in regards to the work! We actually got quite a few new investigators this week from both our own finding and the members referring us. It was great! Some of our investigators kind of stopped progressing but that is alright, we just keep on going!

The temple last week was great! I was so grateful that I could go and do some ordinances and really feel the peace that comes with the temple! I am really lucky that there is a temple so close to us and in our area!

This week we have really seen how much people love to use Chinese New Year as an excuse. They don't even really do anything but sit inside almost all day but they still love to tell us they are "Too busy to meet with us." This Thursday is the start of Chinese New Year and it goes till next Wednesday. I don't know how much actual missionary work is going to get down but we are going to meet with the members a lot the whole week and have the best relationship we can have with them! The members in Taiwan are super awesome!

Right now it's a little difficult to write about our investigators just because most of them won't be able to meet again until after the new year is over. But our area is doing well! Actually yesterday, after church we were meeting with a less active member that we had never met before. When we got to his house he had us come in really quietly because his family really opposes the church so he didn't want us to bother them too much. He told us how he used to be a super active member and had gone through the temple but had eventually gone back to Buddhism because of his family. But as soon as we shared and talked with him for a little bit, he gave us all his tea and his Buddhism idols and told us to get rid of them for him. It was one of the weirdest moments of my entire life and I didn't expect it to happen at all! He really was one of the weirdest but most humble people I have ever met.

I am doing really well! I am starting to really love Taiwan and I am really starting to love the Chinese language. Last night we were accompanying our investigator to a Single's activity. (My first ever single's activity hahahaha) We just played a lot of card games but we were playing Bang and it was really hard to try and explain and then play the game in Chinese but it was super fun! I should be able to finally start learning characters next week!

I know the church is true and that heavenly father loves all of us. He really is our father and we really are his children. When we pray we really can communicate with him and it is the best! So do it!

Elder Holderness

January 17, 2017

Well, it's been 10 days and I still don't have much to write about! Whoops!

This week was awesome! Chen Ba got baptized! It is so awesome to have gotten to know him! His wife still hasn't gotten baptized but should be able to within the next month! He is going to be an awesome member and has prepared himself so well! So the story behind this baptism... His son is a member and has been since he was 13. He went on a mission and is currently the ward mission leader of a different ward. His parents were never interested but my companion, trying to call the son, accidentally called their home phone. But he took the opportunity to ask if they wanted to meet with the missionaries and they actually said yes! Then through a lot of lessons and giving up a lot of things like tea and smoking, he totally prepared!

We started a second English Class this week and it did pretty well! We just had a lot of little kids and their parents there so hopefully it will help us start teaching families! I am starting to enjoy English teaching a little bit but it is still really hard! As my Chinese improves, my English kind of goes down because either I speak all Chinese when we are contacting or teaching or Chinglish with the other missionaries! Hahaha!

I still have a pretty hard time finding/contacting people but I actually don't worry about Chinese at all anymore. I feel like I can teach pretty well now and I am about to finish up the next section of the language program so I will finally be able to start learning Characters! I am so excited! Our area is doing really well, we just need to find some new investigators as ours are either getting baptized or not progressing much. But that shouldn't be too bad! I am excited!

Oh! And last Monday we got to go to Chaing Kai Sheck Memorial (I don't know how to spell it in English) It was really cool! Just a really big plaza with palaces and the Taiwan version of Abraham Lincoln!

Well, sorry the email is a little short and disorganized, but the church is true and the gospel is amazing! Love you all!

Elder Holderness

January 8, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Week two here in BanQiao! This week was really good! We didn't have anything too adventurous or fun this week but the work is going really well here!

This week they took down all the Christmas decorations here but there was a super cool building here in across the street from the train station that had 25 giant projectors make the side of their building like a giant screen. It was really cool!

Well this Monday I was still trying to get adjusted to BanQiao so we went to Costco with the District and bought a lot of food for this month. I also bought winter clothes but I am really glad that I didn't buy a lot because this winter has not really even existed. I am still wearing short sleeves everyday. I am not looking forward to how hot this summer is going to be!

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and we had some really good training. We watched the "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" broadcast from the Church because most of our mission hadn't seen it yet even though that is our mission's motto.

This week we had a couple of problems with people fang'ing us. (Not coming to our appointments that we scheduled) But other than that we have had a really good week! That Chen family passed their interview so their are getting baptized this Saturday! That is awesome! Also a new family came to church yesterday! We had 5 people at sacrament meeting! Our investigators are progressing pretty well too! We are just having a harder time as the Chinese New Year approaches. Lots of people are busy for the rest of the month so it may be a little bit harder until February!

This transfer is going by pretty quickly! I really love the area and the district! We are working hard but not forgetting to have fun too! I really love this gospel. I have seen so much change in my own life and in the lives of the members and recent converts here! I know that this message is a happy message. The most important thing really is repentance. You can always change and improve yourself and your life!

I do not have Cap'n's email address but I want to thank the whole young mens! I received your letters this week and I am so thankful for them. Our ward's young mens program is truly amazing! I know that it recently just had a big change in leadership so I want to thank all the leaders that helped me through the last 6 years and more especially the 2 years ahead of me! I can't help but take pride in being able to say I am a member of the Cascade 6th ward. It truly is the greatest ward in the world! To all the young men, keep working hard and keep having fun. Those years of young men's go by too quickly and they are an amazing way to prepare for both your mission and your future! I also wish the new leaders good luck! Your example will leave lasting impressions, just like the last ones did on me! Love you all in the Cascade 6th ward!

Sorry this email is short, the week went by pretty quickly! Love you all!

Elder Holderness

January 1, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I didn't email last week! I didn't do a big email just because of the Christmas season and stuff! Well, I will start off where with Christmas here I guess! We had a very fun time leading up to Christmas! We did caroling with our ward and then switched to the neighboring ward for theirs too because they invited us to come and help them! Their party was crazy! They had everything from ballroom dancing to Star Wars costumes so that was a really interesting Christmas Party! Hahaha!

Christmas Day itself wasn't really that good for me here. My companion really had no interest in it even though he got more presents than anyone else! Hahaha. (He always told members he didn't get any and all us Americans did. So besides his family and ward sending him some he also got about half the ward here to give him one too) I woke up early and opened presents really quick by myself and then left for church. The meeting was great and then we got to eat with the Bishop's family so it was great! The rest of the day was mostly just finding so I was a little down.

But everything changed the next day! We had P-Day and I got to Skype with my incredible family! We spent the rest of the day just playing games and having fun with the other missionaries here!

The rest of the week went by pretty well too! It's transfers week so during district meeting we did a Moving Call Madness (Just like March Madness but for transfers) We all made brackets guessing where everyone would go! It was really fun and we got a lot of them right!

BUT I ENDED UP BEING THE UPSET! That's right! I am no longer in Tao Yuan! I will miss that area so much and I loved being able to serve there! I grew to really love the ward! But now I am in an area called BanQiao! It is New Taipei City, west of Taipei. I LOVE IT HERE! The area is awesome! The ward is awesome! And my new companion is great! His name is Elder Taylor! (I'll send a picture later, we still don't have one.)  I am super super excited for this coming transfer! We are going to have lots of fun and do lots of work!

BanQiao is actually the second most condensed population in the mission! So we have a lot of people that we can contact all the time and we have some really solid investigators already! One family is actually doing their interview right now! The Chen Family. I am really happy and excited!

Well that's about it for this week! Love you all! I'll let you know more next week!

Elder Holderness