Well I'm super down because I just wrote a super good email but then it all got delete somehow....
It has been a long time since I wrote a long email or really an interesting email at all so I'll try my best today!
I have lived in Taibei for a year and half now, even though I moved areas and stuff, really it was all just the same city! I have grown to just love every part of Taibei and it is the only home I know away from home. But my time is up and I'm moving out.
I got to spend my last few weeks there super well though! My last Saturday I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Heaton and we went back up to Tianmu to attend the baptism of Kening who is the daughter of Zeng Jiemei that was baptized back when I was in Tianmu! She is just about to turn 9 and so cute. She normally is a shy and quiet girl but she got up and bore her testimony so well! She even talked about how her favorite part of church was the sacrament! ...Because the bread tastes good! Haha
After the baptism I came back to the office and had to pack all my stuff up into boxes to take home! It was actually really hard to say goodbye to all the good memories have there but the new Recorder came in on Sunday so it had to be ready for him.
He got here on Sunday night and we started right away because we only had 3 days to train and one of those was P-Day and the other two were transfers. It was a little crazy but he should be alright. The manual I wrote should be able to help him get through.
For my final P-Day we went to one of my favorite places on this island, the Taibei 101. It was really fun to go up and see my area all around me this time. I could recognize all the different places.
After finishing up all our meetings and getting all the new missionaries to their areas it was time for me to leave too! I have been called to 頭份 (Toufen)! It is a small rural area on the west side of Taiwan and it is a lot different than Taibei! Haha it is going to take me a little bit of time before I feel familiar here.
I rode on a hour and a half long train by myself through rice paddies to get here and that was quite a sight to see! My new companion is Elder Clyde and he actually will go home this transfer so we are both pretty used to the work and should be able to keep things pretty relaxed.
The chapel here is actually just the second floor of the bus station! That means we can't have a normal baptismal font so we actually just use a portable hot tub! It's awesome! And it's a good thing we had one because we had a baptism yesterday after church! A 14 year old young women was baptized by her older brother that was baptized last week!
This area is doing really well! We have incredible members and investigators! In fact, my first day here, we found a girl that has already set a baptismal date and came to church with us yesterday. She was so excited for her baptism that she was telling everyone in the ward about it!
On Saturday we had a member ask us to do some service for him and his family up at the restaurant. We ended up driving up into the mountains of Taiwan and it is beautiful up there! I hadn't seen pine trees in a long time!
I love the work here and I'm super excited for these next two transfers! God really watches over us and I love being able to help other people realize that too!
Love you, Elder Holderness!
I forgot to mention my best friend got called as AP and Zhao Jiemei makes the best food!
My bike is still in Taibei...
And just to show you what bathrooms are like in Taiwan.
