Week 70

MIRACLES!

This week I have been able to see the hand of the Lord in our missionary work. Elder Hampton has brought so many miracles!  The area I am serving in has recently had a lack of new and progressing investigators, so we needed a new missionary to come and bring all the miracles. 

This week was Power Week. Since Chinese New Year is such a slow time for missionary work, the week after we have something called Power Week. It is basically like working super hard and you only have 2 hours of study everyday and you have crazy goals to accomplish. It was a really fun week!  We saw a lot of new investigators!

I will focus on the miracles we experienced on the weekend. On Saturday, we had a day full of contacting. As we went out for the day we decided everyone we met we would invite to come to church the next day. We met a lot of cool people. Then in the middle of the day we had a lesson up on the top of a mountain. However, we got lost. As we got lost we talked to a guy on the side of the road for directions. He told us that he was a boy scout! That was the first boy scout I have ever met in Taiwan. He told us where we were supposed to go and then he added us on facebook. Then as we continued back towards the road we were "supposed" to be on, we got lost again. Then we asked someone else for directions. This person had recently moved into our area and he told us he would like to come see our church sometime! It was amazing to see that even though we were somewhere we originally did not plan on being,  God wanted us to be there. Even though we are imperfect missionaries who get lost and sometimes make mistakes, He uses us as we are and lets us see miracles. While on a mission I have learned that God is a merciful god. 

Then yesterday on Sunday, we saw even more miracles. Pony came to church yesterday (the guy who is studying in China that I talked about last week). Even though he can't get baptized here this week, I feel he will definitely get baptized in the future. Then also we had a lot of new investigators come to church yesterday. We had a member bring a friend to church and his friend is really willing to meet with us. Then also we had two people we contacted on the street come to church and they also said they would want to meet with us sometime. Also, that night we had family home evening and we had a new investigator come to family home evening. We were able to get 6 new investigators last week. The Lord gave us so many miracles! I have learned this week how willing the Lord is to bless us and how much He blesses us everyday of our lives!

I love you guys!

Elder Quist 

Week 69

A crazy week this last week! Full of miracles and a new missionary! 

I guess to start I will introduce my new companion to you guys. His name is Elder Hampton and he is from Odgen, Utah. He graduated in 2015 and he is still 18 years old. He is really excited about being in Taiwan and is so excited to share his testimony with everyone! Even though he doesn't always understand what people are saying, he is super willing to share what he knows. It has been a great time to lead him around Taiwan. It is a super fun experience!

Since he has come we have seen so many miracles. One of the miracles is named Pony. About a week ago, while we were leaving our apartment we came across a guy sitting on a scooter waiting for his friend. We talked to him for a little while and then his friend came outside and they got on their scooter and left. They left really quick, so we didn't have the chance to get their number or any contact info. Anyway, last week we were at an internet cafe one day using facebook to contact our investigators when the friend of the guy we contacted came up to us. He told us he met missionaries when he was young and always thought they were really cool. We asked if he wanted to meet with us another day and he said he could. So, we got his number and scheduled time to meet with him. 

Well, we met with Pony on Thursday and he was really interested in learning more. So, we met with him on Friday and then on Saturday too. He also came to a baptism service on Saturday night and told us how he felt a "burning in his bosom" when he saw the baptism. Then he came to church on Sunday and he also came to family home evening last night. The only problem is that he is currently going to school in China, so he will be returning to China in about 2 weeks. But he is awesome and he is proof to me that there are some people who are so prepared to accept the gospel.

I love this mission experience! We see so many miracles everyday. Even though last week was Chinese New Year and we spent a good amount of our time eating food with members, we still had the chance to meet with a lot of cool people. Chinese New Year was definitely a fun experience, though. I got to meet a lot of members and eat a lot of interesting food. However, I am ready to go out and get back to work! The people are back in town, so I am ready to go out and do it! 

I love you guys, 

Elder Quist 

Week 68

There was an Earthquake?

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese calendar, the year of the monkey. Last night we were able to celebrate with the other elders in our district at the other elders' bishop's house. It is pretty crazy... we have been given so much food to eat! Also, everyone wants to give us red envelopes, which are usually full of money. We have a rule that we have to take these cards, because in the Chinese New Years culture you have to take red envelopes no matter what. So Elder Gasser and I are not even going shopping today because we have so much food from the members. We also have a lot of dinner appointments this week. This last week we have already been fed 3 times and I have gained 6 pounds!

And the earthquake in Tainan... I actually felt it. I was sleeping and woke up because it felt like my companion was shaking me awake.  But then I realized it was just an earthquake and went back to sleep. (There are a lot of small earthquakes that happen all the time here!) Then we woke up the next morning and everyone was telling us that it was a pretty big earthquake down south. Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting, a lot of members talked about the earthquake. It must have been a big deal, because everyone is still talking about it. Nothing really happened here where I am though. 

Oh, there is one more big thing that happened last week... President Blickenstaff called and asked if I would train a new missionary next week. I guess I know now why I moved so quick from Heng Chun.  President wanted me to get to know this new area a little before I started training. But I am still pretty worried about it... I am really new to this area and I still have investigators and members I haven't met yet. Because of Chinese New Year, most people cannot meet with us until after, so there are a lot of people who I have never met that I am going have to get a hold of after the celebrations are over.  We will see what happens. It's exciting I get to train though! The trainee is getting here this week on Wednesday fresh from the MTC and I will go up to Taichung to pick him up on Friday.

This next week will be an interesting week. Missionary work kind of shuts down for a week. Nobody really wants to listen to the gospel because they are all with family. We have meals to eat with members everyday and we are supposed to stay at each house for about 2 hours, because supposedly leaving any earlier than an hour is really disrespectful during Chinese New Year.  So, this next week will be a new experience for me!

Then we also met a really cool family this last week. They are the Yao Family. We tracted into them. It is a husband and wife who are about 50 years old. They have one son who is Japan right now. There were such a humble couple. They offered us so much food and they kept telling us how great of young people they thought we were. And when we started sharing the gospel they turned off their TV and sat in front of us ready to learn. It was a miracle!

Today we are going to a tourist trap city near the ocean. 

This week will be an exciting one for me! 

I love you guys!

Elder Quist

Week 67

Zhang Hua First Ward

My first week in this new area has been very different from my last area. We live right next to a big university here and a big busy street full of tons of food for the students. If we wanted, we could walk outside and walk the whole day talking to people and we would still be within 10 minutes of our house all day. It's because there are so many people by the university that we could contact!  Also the church is right next door to the university, so we are always within this small area.

  

Our church building has 2 other wards that meet there. So we have six elders in our district and we all serve in different areas and wards. We got the best of it because our area is the area surrounding the church. One of the wards has members that live like 15 minutes away biking, so those elders have to bike a lot. Also, it seems our ward has a lot of people, and a lot of families. In my last area there was not a single family that came to church. They were all one parent that came with their kids or couples coming with no kids, no entire family. But here it is nice to serve again with a lot of families. I was sad to leave the people of Heng Chun, but I am excited to see a different side of missionary work in this new area.

We met a lot of people this last week and were able to talk to a lot of people. However, a big problem we're going to have the next couple weeks is Chinese New Year.  All the college students are on break and nobody wants to meet with us. Chinese New Year is a huge thing in Taiwan! Basically, nobody does anything for an entire week except for eating and spending time with family. Which means next week everything will be shut down. What missionaries do during Chinese New Year is go around to members' houses every day and eat food. That's really the most productive thing we can do. If you tract, people will yell at you and tell you to go home because it is a holiday. It is like Christmas day and a bunch of Jehovah Witnesses knocking on your door and asking to share a message. Nobody is going to let us in. But it's okay, because it is a great chance for me to meet all the ward members here. My companion has already been in this area for a long time, so he will probably be moving next movecall (which is in 2 weeks), so I have to hurry and get to know this area before he leaves.  I am exited to see what this area is like. I have already met a lot of cool investigators and members. I really like my companion.  It's fun to talk about good ole' P Town with him. 

Love you all and Happy Chinese New Year!

Elder Quist