One year in Taiwan!

Chris' letter from October 28th:

To all the ghosts, ghouls, monsters and zombies out there, I wish you a Happy Halloween from the land of Taiwan!

Every stinkin' week is going so fast! I don't understand how this is possible! Not only is this week over, but so is my 9th transfer; my 10th has begun. Here's the news for move call: My district had 2 sets of sisters in it, one for tainan 1st ward, and one for 2nd ward. Not a lot of new sister missionaries came on island this time, so one set of the sisters here is leaving and there will be one set between the two wards; one sister from 1st ward and one from 2nd are now companions who will share both areas. The other two sisters left to other areas. One of our Zone Leaders stepped down to train a new missionary in DouLiu (my last area!), so now DouLiu has a 4-man and a set of sisters.  I'm still district leader (which is weird; usually they give you one move call and then move you down for the next one before putting you back up again) and I'm still in DongQu with Elder W. We are the only companionship in my district to not change. Kinda crazy.

 

On Wednesday we had a Halloween party for English class (the last week of each transfer is when we do parties in English). It was really good and a lot of people came! We had a haunted maze, bobbing for apples, toilet paper mummies, face-painting, eating donuts off a string contest, etc etc. It was really good! 

This week we also were able to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie with a lot of investigators. A member in our ward translated the whole movie and added subtitles to it. He gave me a digital copy of it so I can show it to investigators and/or members when I need it. (his English is PERFECT).

The Zone leaders also needed help baking a cake, so I helped them yesterday and we tried mixing orange jell-o powder into the powdered sugar frosting and it turned out pretty good.

In random other news, I have decided that I want a motorcycle when I get home. I don't know too much about them, but my companion loves them, so I'm getting good information about them :) Anyone have any recommendations? 

I guess to end this week's letter, I want to give everybody an invitation. This will really only apply to adults (at least directly), but everyone will benefit from it. As a representative of the Lord, and knowing how important the work of salvation (including temple work and family history) is, I want to invite everybody able to make an effort to attend the temple TWO times in the month of November. For the most part, everyone has a temple close by and finding 3, maybe 4 hours in one month to do some temple work shouldn't be too hard and will benefit everybody so much. I promise that any trials, unhappiness, and confusion will leave and each of you will have peace, understanding, love and enlightenment replace it (among many other blessings). I've only been to the temple a dozen or so times, but my testimony of it is real and it undeniable. I love the temple and I also love all of you!

Thanks for all your love and support and encouragement. You are all in my thoughts and prayers! Have a great Halloween and a great week as well.

Letter from November 4th:

你好!

Well, it's November. I have been on this island for one year now. I have started my 10th transfer. I have lost all ability to sense time moving by. I can't believe it's been a week since I was sitting here last. 

I don't have a ton of news this week, but first I want to "follow up" on my invite to go to the temple. It's only the 4th (3rd for you all) of this month, but time will get away from you if you let it! To refresh your memories, the invite was to go to the temple 2 times in November. I highly encourage everyone to make an effort to go. You will NOT EVER regret taking a few short hours to give to the Lord and obtain countless blessings in return! 

Because it is a new transfer, the English teachers were rearranged a bit. I no longer need to ride 20 minutes to get to a different area to teach (the missionaries there are both Taiwanese) because I'm teaching in my own area this transfer. I'm teaching the beginning class; I have between 20-30 students each week, but they all participate, so it's really good. 

There was also a 6.? earthquake in north-east Taiwan this week and we felt it down here. We were in a lesson and we started swaying back-and-forth a bit. It was Elder W's first time in an earthquake and he loved it; Too bad we weren't at the epicenter :) It felt like maybe a 3.0 or 4.0 here. Just big enough to notice. 

Here's an excerpt from my weekly letter to President B this week:

   We received 4 member referrals yesterday at church! All of them seem pretty promising too! I'm looking forward to the coming days to see what happens with these souls! Our 3 progressing investigators are doing really well; one of them just needs to come to church in order to fulfill his HUGE desire to be baptized. He hasn't had a chance because of tennis matches and family visits, but I know he's really trying.
   I'm very proud of my district here in Tainan. Everyone is really working hard and is doing their best to find, teach, baptize, rescue, retain, serve and grow. I couldn't ask for a better district; I'm very happy to be here. My companion is wonderful and is a great example to me. I'm so lucky to be with him for a second transfer in this wonderful area and district. 
   I've learned a great deal about forgiveness, repentance, patience and humility on my mission. As was stated in General Conference, The Lord knows the difference between rebellion and weakness. Mistakes aren't rebellion, and God knows it; He knows us; I have learned that He is 100% ready and willing to forgive our weaknesses and help us grow. The prayer of faith is a powerful thing. Despite all the other changes I've had and the wonderful things I've learned, the biggest change and the most important thing I've learned is how to really pray. 

So I guess that's about it! I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the November weather!

Love you all!

What a handsome missionary!

Elder Wolf  

Elder Wolf and his awesome District