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!)