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

Week 66

Surprises!

This last week was full of surprises. Probably the biggest one, happened on Saturday night. We were sitting in our apartment when the zone leaders called and told me I was moving on Monday! There isn't even a normal transfer this week!  It is just a mini transfer where, usually, only five or six missionaries move. I was a little upset about having to leave Heng Chun, but I am willing. I was told I am moving to Zhang Hua, which is a big city underneath Taizhong (I am moving all the way back up north again). I am serving in Zhang Hua city. 

Then the next surprise came on Sunday. We woke up and went outside and we were hit with a wall of cold! Even though I was serving in Heng Chun, the hottest place in Taiwan, it was freezing cold outside! Then all that Sunday and this morning we have had super cold weather! It is so crazy. Apparently it snowed in Taibei (the first time in forever, like 50 years or so). So everyone here is freaking out because they have never even seen snow before and then I was freaking out because I moved up to Zhang hua which is way more north and the more north you go the colder it gets. But I will endure. It still isn't as cold as a Utah winter.

Then the next surprise came when I got to Zhang Hua. My new companion is named Elder Gosser and one of the first things he said to me was "This isn't anything like a Payson winter."  I was like, "What did you just say?" and he was like "I am from Payson too."  I don't know how he found out I was from Payson, but apparently it is a pretty small world. He went to Salem High School, so we never met. But he does know a lot of people I know, including Nate Oliver. 

Another nice surprise is that Elder Jensen (who served in the same four man as me in Fengyuan) is also in this district! I am so excited to serve with him! I loved him when we served together in Fengyuan. So although this is a new place, I think I will get used to it in no time.

This last week in Heng Chun was a good one. We had 3 new investigators meet with us the night before I left and at least one of them seems like a golden investigator.  So I am a little sad about that, but I am excited to meet the people in Zhang Hua and learn how to be a missionary in a bigger city.

We also got to watch the mission broadcast this last week, where the missionary board members did a broadcast to all missionaries in the world. It was such an uplifting experience! I learned so many things I wish I would have known earlier in my mission! But I guess that is just how life works. 

I love you guys! 

Elder Quist

Week 65

Too Many Miracles

This last week was full of miracles! I have recently been focusing on seeing the hand of the Lord in our work. I know He guides us everyday, but sometimes it's hard to see Him when things aren't going well and you are getting rejected or when everything seems to go wrong. I remember there was a time in FengYuan a couple of months ago when we had 9 lessons scheduled in one day. However, every scheduled lesson fell through that day. I remember we decided to go to the 7-11 and make calls. While there, we met 4 high school students who all seemed to have real interest in the church and we even later found out that one of them was a missing less-active from our ward. I left the area soon after that experience, so I don't know what happened to those high school students, but I know the Lord wanted us to talk to them that day. It truly was His will for us to get stood up all day so that we could come across and meet those kids that day. Sometimes it's hard to see His hand in the work, but if we are obedient and try our best, we can have confidence that what does happen in our life is His will and everything will work out. I know this to be true.

This last week we had some similar experiences. While riding down the street on Saturday afternoon, we saw a mother and son walking down the street. As we rode past, we waved to them and they enthusiastically waved back (which usually doesn't happen), so as we rode us to the next red light, we acted like we were waiting for the light to turn as we waited for them to walk up behind us. As they came up to us, we started to talk to them and they invited us to their house to drink some water. We told them we were on our way to visit other people, but if it didn't go through (which it didn't) we would head over to their house. As we rode down to where they said their house was, we were surprised when we came across a mansion! We knocked on the door and sure enough the lady whom we had contacted on the street opened the door. She welcomed us in and we were able to meet her whole family! She has 3 kids, the youngest one is 17 years old. She told us we were welcome back whenever we wanted and we hope we can help this family come closer to Christ!

Also this week we had some more lessons that didn't go through. We were supposed to meet with 3 people out in our secondary area one day and instead of meeting with 3 of them when we went out there, we only met with one. The other two stood us up. So we road back early to Heng Chun, and as soon as we got there we were able to talk to a guy working at a bike shop on the side of the street. He told us he had met with Christians before and he was really interested in the things we taught. It was a miracle!

I learned this week that God knows a lot more than we do. If we do what we are supposed to, He will provide the path we are supposed to take (even if sometimes it seems like the wrong path or the less happy path or the path with more challenges). 

I love this mission and I love you guys, 

Elder Quist

Week 64

Adversity: The Best Teacher

This week we saw a lot of blessings, but, as always, we also saw a lot of trials. 

We have a lot of investigators progressively working towards baptism! However, there are also obstacles to overcome and trials that we must face. I recently read that your mission is like a "mini life."  And I do believe that the Lord lets you learn a lot of lessons on your mission in order to prepare you for tests that you will have to face throughout your life.

For example, our investigator, Larry, has not contacted us in about a week. Although this is pretty common for him (not contacting us), it has been an especially long amount of time. However, I keep feeling the urge to keep trying and to not give up on him.There is a big conflict I go through every time we try to get a hold of him or send him a text. I feel like we should stop trying and maybe give him time, but then I have a feeling that I should keep going and keep trying. A part of me feels like it is for nothing, but the other part of me has enough hope that I keep trying. I just always feel like there is something special about him, and it"s important that we keep trying with him. There is a chance that I will never see him again, but I think more important than that is if I am willing to follow the promptings I am receiving. I know the Lord has a plan for all of His children.

Another problem is Sister Lin. She is experiencing some opposition and has settled with getting baptized in half a year. However, from this experience I learned a different lesson. After she told us she wanted to wait, we invited her to simply continue to read and to pray and to come to church. After church yesterday, we approached her and asked her if she had any change of heart. Although she still wanted to wait, she told us that she has recently felt an increase of love and encouragement from God. She is starting to really desire to return and live in God's presence. A lesson I learned is that we are just missionaries; the person who does the real converting is the Holy Ghost. We do our part, then we need to have faith that God will do His part.

I don't think being a missionary is very easy. It is a fun time and it is a happy time, but it is also full of trials and lessons that must be learned. I am so grateful I was able to come out on my mission. This is like the MTC for the rest of my life. I feel like I have learned so much about the gospel and the importance of it, and also grown a lot myself. I have seen God change my very desires. I hope I can use the rest of the time I have on my mission to really help the people I serve here in Taiwan. 

Pray for me! Pray for the people of Taiwan! 

I love you guys!

Elder Quist

Week 63

I can't believe this is the last year of my mission! Time is going by too fast. I loved the year 2015. I experienced some of the greatest joy I have ever experienced, I also learned some of my life's most powerful lessons in the year 2015. I am excited for all the adventures and joys that I will find in the year 2016.

This last week was an exciting start to the year 2016. Because it was the new year, many people had work off, so many of our investigators left town for the weekend. So this last week was kind of slow, but we saw a lot of blessings.

One of the blessings is our investigator Xie, the worker for Sister Huang. He got a call last week that he is leaving for Taizhong this week in order to prepare to be a soldier. So this last week was the last time we got to meet with him. However, this last week he progressed so much! He came to church all three hours and he really felt the spirit. He will get baptized. I don't know when or where, but he will get baptized. We got President Blickenstaff's permission, that if everything works out, he can return here one weekend and be baptized in Heng Chun. That way Sister Huang and the rest of the branch members can attend his baptism. He will move back to Heng Chun in 4 months and work down here as a soldier.

Also, Sister Lin and Monica are getting closer and closer to their baptism dates. They have interviews set tomorrow with Elder Lin! Elder Lin is an elder who lived in my apartment with me in Shalu, so he is coming down here on exchanges with me and then we are going to have baptism interviews. Their baptism date is the 16th of January, so we hope everything goes well with that.

Larry is doing okay. We still haven't met with him, but he has been talking with us almost everyday. Pray that we can find time to meet with him in order to help him.

We still haven't found time to visit the Wang brothers. We went to visit them last weekend, while it was pouring rain, but they were busy and wouldn't let us inside. They also didn't come to church because of rain... 

We are encouraging all our investigators and praying that they find their way. We saw miracles last week, including a less active we had met recently. His name is Brother Dong and he is really willing to start reading, praying and coming to church again. He is also really eager to help us teach our investigators. Also, Sister Huang's daughter returned home from her mission this last week. She wants to come and be in every lesson and she is also super willing to help us in our work in Heng Chun. She is as awesome as her mom!

Things went well this last week. I am glad the holidays are over (for now, Chinese New Year is coming up) because people are always busy during the holidays. I am glad things are going to be back to normal this week.

Pray for the people of Heng Chun. They are a great people and I know with the Lord's help they can become a rock of the gospel of Jesus Christ here in Taiwan.

Love you all,

Elder Quist

We received an email today from an LDS family in California that spent the holidays in Taiwan. They attended services in the branch where Noah is serving and met him and his companion.  They sent this video and picture to us...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iswdxwmy26o72nw/2015-12-27%2012.24.46%20Elder%20Quist.mov?dl=0