Week 105

REFLECTING ON THE PAST TWO YEARS
These past two years have been the greatest of my life! I was thinking about what would be the most appropriate thing to send home to help you guys understand how I have felt while on my mission and I have just decided to send out my reflection. At the end of our mission, we have the opportunity to give our reflection, which is about a five minute little speech reflecting how our missions have gone. We usually give our reflection during some sort of zone training meeting. I gave my reflection two weeks ago. Here is what I shared...

About a year ago, I had an experience that changed my mission. I was serving in a more rural area of the mission and I had put a lot of heart in the area where I was serving. I loved the people of that area. There was one particular investigator that was really important to me. He was the investigator I knew needed the gospel so much and who seemed ready and willing to receive it. However one day as we left our apartment, I found a bag sitting on my bike. The bag was filled with a white shirt and tie, which was the same white shirt and tie we had given to this investigator. We found out that because of some experiences he had had in his life, he decided he did not believe in God and he wanted nothing to do with us. That was a hard day. I remember I was consumed by feelings of sorrow and disappointment. I got to the point where I didn't feel like going out and proselyting. I decided to ask my companion for a priesthood blessing and that blessing is what changed my mission. While giving me the blessing, my companion used the words "God is grateful for the work you have done here."

That changed my mission. I was lifted up into joy when I received that blessing. I began to see all the great things that the Lord had given me on my mission as I thought of all the great experiences I had had while serving here. As I was thinking what I wanted to focus on during my reflection, I decided to focus on how my mission has been a joy. That is the one word I would use to describe it; it has been a JOY.

 

This is truly the greatest experience I have ever had in my life. I have had experiences that have changed me forever. I have met people that have changed me forever. I have been places that I have never dreamed I would go to. This has definitely been the most joyful experience of my life. I am so grateful that God has given me this opportunity.

 

So, I want you elders and sisters to know that this mission is going to be the most joyful experience you have ever had. You new missionaries get ready for some of the greatest experiences you have ever had. Yes, it will be hard sometimes and there will be a lot of trials and challenges, but just know that the miracles and the blessings always outweigh the bad.

 

Now, I would like to quote my mother. During one of the most difficult times of my mission, actually during one of the most difficult times of my life, my mother told me that "everything God gives us is a blessing."  I know that this is true. This mission has been a blessing.

 

That experience a year ago could have discouraged me for the rest of my mission. I could have focused on all the hard parts or all the trials I was having during that time on my mission. But in the priesthood blessing my companion gave me, the Spirit taught me to focus on the blessings. The Lord is grateful for the efforts we have made. He is filled with joy because of our missionary work. Let us follow him and also be filled with the joy of missionary work. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

I know that this is true! My mission has been the greatest! I am so sad that I have to leave this phase of my life. I have loved it.

 

Elder Quist

Week 104

TWO YEARS

Well, this last week was a big milestone in my mission, my two year mark! I can't believe I have now been out on my mission for over two years! It has definitely been the greatest adventure of my life. But, I will save that message for next week (the last time I will be sending an email home).

This last week was full of great experiences. We spent a good majority of the week contacting and tracting, because our investigator pool is pretty low.  But we had some fun times!  

Last week on Monday I was able to see Pony, Claire, and Kelly again! They are all from Zhanghua and they came up to eat lunch with me. It was nice to see them again and it was great to see how they are all progressing in the gospel.

Some miracles that happened last week:

We were biking from one of our cities to another city when we came to a red light. In Taiwan, we spend a lot of time talking to people at red lights in hopes of getting them to pull over and contact with us. So, I pulled up to this guy and began talking to him. Immediately, he asked me to pull over and after pulling over he told me how he had recently met missionaries. He told me he had seen missionaries about a month ago in Taichung talking to other people.  He told me he had quietly said a prayer hoping that the missionary would come talk to him. And the missionary did! They said a prayer together, the missionary wrote down his info, and then they separated. He then said he waited and waited for the missionary to contact him again, but the missionary never did. He told us how he wanted to learn more about our church. We learned he lived in our area and we got his info down. It was a testimony to me that there are people out there looking for the church!

Another cool miracle happened when we were heading to dinner. I was waiting at another red light when I heard a lady call out to me in the car behind me and ask for a tract. I turned around, handed her a tract (one I knew had our cellphone number on it) and the light turned green so she sped off. That night we got a call from her and she told us she really wanted to learn more about our church! I am loving all the miracles we have been seeing lately!

I will send you the best last email next week! 

Love you guys!

Elder Quist

Week 103

This last week I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. The Lord has blessed me a lot on my mission, but this last blessing was such a testimony to me of the mercy and love of the Lord. When I first got on the island, I served here in Shalu. About half way through my time here, I met an investigator by the name of Ke Jun Hong. He was very receptive to the gospel, however, he was already baptized in another christian church, so it was very hard for him to leave his old church. We taught him of the truths of the restoration, including the Book of Mormon and priesthood authority. I was very hopeful that I would be able to attend his baptismal service. But before he was ready to be baptized, I moved to my next area. It was sad, but I accepted the will of the Lord.

Now, I have been blessed to return to Shalu. Upon my return, I learned that Ke Jun Hong had still not been baptized, but he was getting close. My first Sunday back in Shalu, Ke Jun Hong told me he was ready for baptism and that he wanted to get baptized soon. We met with him and he told us he wished to be baptized on his birthday, October 8. We made the plans and on October 8 I was able to baptize him. I know it was a tender mercy of the Lord to be able to attend his baptism and even get to perform his baptism. I gained a testimony that all the efforts we do as missionaries have a positive influence, even if we don't immediately see what that influence is. 

It was truly a great week!  We also got to watch General Conference.  It was such a great conference weekend. I loved it!  We are also working with our other investigator, Lin You Ru, who has a goal to get baptized next week. Things are good here!

As part of going home, we are required to share a miracle story with the mission president. We are supposed to write it out and send it to the secretary. I decided to share the story of how I met Huang Pin Yi. I will copy and paste it so you guys can read it too. Here it is: 

I remember it as just a pretty normal day of contacting. We had decided to go to the 7-11 to make some calls. I was really focusing on talking to everyone that day, so while we were making calls at the 7, I had the chance to talk to five or six people who were sitting around the 7-11. However, it seemed that no one we were talking to that day had much interest. As the time came that we had to go to our next appointment, I saw a younger man enter the 7. He walked up to the drink section and started picking out something to drink (I think it was black tea :)). I decided I had time, so I went up and talked to him. I will be honest, I don't remember what I said, but I gave him a tract and he gave me his number. It was just a normal contact to me, as I had had at least hundreds of contacts that went like it. 

A couple days later, we were planning to go to a ward activity. As we were preparing, we decided we wanted to invite as many people as we could to come. One of the people we invited was the young man we had contacted at the 7-11. However, he rejected our request, but told us he could probably meet with us the following day at about 7 o'clock. 

So, the following day we planned on meeting with him. As we sat down and met with him at the church, the lesson started pretty normal.  In fact, I remember having a distinctive and pretty negative thought. While we were asking him why he wanted to meet with us, he told us that the main reason to meet with us was because he wanted to hang out with some foreigners and because he didn't have a lot of friends around here (since he was currently living here for an internship). We continued to ask him questions to check his interest and for the most part he seemed to have no real reason to meet with us. The thought I had was basically like this, "Not again. Not another person who just came because he was curious about foreigners and as soon as we try to teach him anything he will immediately shut off and we will never see him again." I remember being really frustrated, because it had been a time in my mission that we had met so many people, but could not find any people who wanted to progress in the gospel. However, I decided to press on anyway. After that I got out the first lesson pamphlet and read to him the first paragraph.  It talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. As soon as I began talking about this, the entire atmosphere of the room changed. All of a sudden Brother Huang's demeanor changed and he was listening very intently to our share. We invited him to pray and to meet with us again and he agreed. I left that lesson filled with the Spirit.

As the weeks went on, we continued to teach him and I am still absolutely amazed at how receptive he was to the gospel. Even though when I first met with him he seemed to have no reason for the gospel, as he learned more about it, he wanted more. I realized this was a chosen vessel of the Lord, the kind of person that Preach My Gospel says "doesn't recognize they were looking for the gospel until they have found it."

Eventually, I had the opportunity to baptize him (about 4 or 5 weeks after we met him). That day was filled with the Spirit. I was touched as he cried during our musical number and as he cried as he embraced us after. He told us it was one of the happiest days of his life and surely it was one of the happiest days of my life. This person I had contacted in the 7 had become one of my greatest friends.

The week after he got baptized, we informed the bishop that he would be a great candidate for any calling. The bishop told us he would counsel with the Lord and think about an appropriate calling for him. The next day during sacrament meeting, I was shocked when the bishop called him to be the new male young single adults representative. I knew that calling came from the Lord.

I often think about this experience and I learn much from it. One of the lessons I learned was how important it is for us to work hard and invite everyone. I could have easily left the 7-11 that first day. I didn't have to talk to him. Especially since I had already been rejected so much that day. It would have been easy to say that my efforts were useless and nobody had any real interest. But, that one contact changed his life forever and it also changed my life forever.

Another lesson I learned was to never judge a person's potential. When I first saw him I saw him as a person with no chance. I assumed he was just going to disappear, like some of the other investigators we had met. However, the Lord saw his potential. When I looked at him that first day and saw a man who was just meeting with us to find friends, the Lord saw the future young single adults representative of my ward. It was a testimony to me of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly, the gospel of Jesus Christ is able to awaken a dormant soul to the spiritual. The gospel of Jesus Christ is able to make saints out of the ordinary. That experience was a miracle to me, just as miraculous as parting a sea or healing the sick.

Elder Quist

Week 102

ANOTHER TYPHOON Well, this last week started off pretty interesting. First thing that happened was on Monday night. We decided to go visit our new investigator that the Primary president told us about. We had his house address so we started off and we kept riding and riding and riding and finally we realized that not only does he live a lot further than we thought he did, but he also lives in the other elders' area! But that's okay, we talked about it with the president and he told us just to do what the bishop thinks is best, which is to continue teaching him in the ward he is more comfortable in. So, we will have to travel out of our area a couple times a week to teach this investigator, but we are happy to do so.                                                                                       On Tuesday, everyone was telling us that a typhoon was coming for Taiwan, but from what I have experienced in Taiwan, a typhoon isn't always necessarily that bad. So, we didn't know what to expect. However, Tuesday morning the wind was really strong. We decided to go out that morning and buy some food for the night, just in case we weren't able to leave our house to buy dinner. So we walked to the nearest 7-11. As we were walking over there, the wind started to pick up a bit and I had to walk behind my companion (because I am a little smaller) so that if the wind blew too hard I wouldn't be blown over. So, we bought the food and quickly headed back to the house. After getting back to the house the weather started to get worse. The wind started to pick up even more and the power went out. Before we knew it, the wind was blowing so hard that our back door was beginning to blow in and we had to secure it.  It was a crazy day. We didn't leave the apartment all day and we didn't get power back until 11:30 that night.                                            Wednesday we were able to leave our house, which is good, because we saw miracles on Wednesday! We visited with some of our investigators and we were able to get a baptism goal for Praystone! He is planning to get baptized next week. I am so glad I got to come back in time to see his baptism. Wednesday we also met a new investigator. He is named Louis and he came to the church Wednesday. He came to the church asking us about what the church was all about and he told us he was really interested in learning more. We taught him that night and he expressed to us all the problems he has been facing in his life the last couple of months, including attempting suicide. He told us that he hoped we would be able to help him overcome his problems. We met with him on Thursday and Friday too and on Sunday he came to church. He is a really great guy and although he still has some problems to overcome, it is a tender mercy of the Lord that we were able to meet him.                                                                                                                                                         Besides that the rest of the week was pretty normal. We are working hard to get all our investigators progressing. Pray for us!                                                                                                     Love, Elder Quist