Week 35

This week was a great week in Taiwan! It is getting hotter and hotter, but everyone tells me it isn't even that hot up in Fengyuan compared to down south on the island. I am getting more and more used to this area and my companion... Things are going better and better. We have a lot of great people in our area and everyday we are seeing more and more miracles. 

This last week for PDAY we went out and went bowling and played pool with the rest of the Elders in our apartment. It was a good time and I think I finally learned how to bowl! Then I went out and got a new camera so I could show you some good pictures of our area. 

On Tuesday we got some interesting news. We learned that we now get a whole hour to eat dinner (we used to only get 30 minutes, because we can just eat out on the go). It is a weird change to the rules, and if we ever actually use the full hour we usually just do some extra language study. I also went on exchanges with the other Elders in our apartment. I went out with Elder Varvel, a great missionary from Connecticut. We saw a lot of miracles together, including a new investigator named Gavin! We met him on the side of the road and he has started meeting with us.

Wednesday we had some more English classes. I am teaching the kid class again and it is super crazy! They can never focus, but it is still fun.

Thursday we got to go out to our secondary area, Dongshi. It is a really beautiful bike ride there, so I took some pictures this time and I will make sure to send them out. When we were out there we had a member give us a great referral. The referral is a good guy and is really interested in learning more. He will probably get baptized because he is a member referral, and all member referrals get baptized! So make sure you are always good to missionaries in your town!

Then this last Friday we had yet another miracle day! We were able to meet with 6 people. It was a great day, because everyone we met with was super great and really progressing toward baptism.

And on Sunday we saw the biggest miracle of all. We only had one investigator at church, which was great and we were so happy, but as a mission we shoot to get 2 investigators at church every week. So I prayed SO HARD to get at least one of our other investigators to come to church. Then we saw our miracle! One of our investigators, who wasn't originally going to come, showed up for sacrament meeting! Her name is Ke Jiemei and she is super great! So we hit our mission standards this week and I learned that, as long as we do all that we can, the Lord is really willing to bless us!

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thank you so much for being such a great father to me! You are the world's best father!

Love you all,

Elder Quist

Week 34

First Week in Fengyuan

Well, I completed my first week in Fengyuan today and it was an interesting week!  It was kind of crazy and kind of hard to adjust to the new ward and everything, but I got through it. I am currently serving in the DongFeng branch, which is a huge area up by the mountains North of Taizhong. The main part of our area is a big city on the base of the mountains, but we have a few really mountainous secondary areas. We don't usually go to the secondary areas, because they are so far away and so high in the mountains.  But there is one secondary area we visit once a week. It is named Dongshi (That is the Dong in DongFeng). Dongshi is up in the mountains, and apparently has some of the cheapest and best fruit in Taiwan. They used to have missionaries up there, but because of the lack of missionaries lately, we are the only ones who ever go there now. 

We live on the 16th floor of an apartment building.  We have a super good view. I would take a picture and send you the view of it, but that leads me to another part of my week last week. Somewhere on my travels from Shalu to Fengyuan, I lost my camera. For the first half of last week we ran around looking for it, but we couldn't find it. I was pretty upset about it for a while, but I think I have come to peace with it.  It is pretty sad since the only pictures that are saved are pictures I have sent home or to my friends. I also had a lot of pictures of the baptism with Chen Jun Hong and of me leaving Shalu. And now those are all gone with the camera. Hopefully, some of my old companions can send me some that I have lost. 

We also had the chance to go up to the temple this last week. It was a great chance to have some peace and rest from my hectic week. It was also a super beautiful day when we drove up, so I got to see a lot of Taibei and the Taiwan country side.

Then I also got to meet a lot of cool new people this week. We are the only missionaries in our branch, so we get to teach anyone in our area (male or female). Right now we have a lot of good investigators, but some have been disappearing, so I think we will spend some good time finding new people. As my Chinese and people skills grow, finding new investigators becomes more and more fun. I used to hate contacting, but now I can go out and talk to everyone I see on the streets. It is just a great experience to meet that one person on the street who wants to talk to you. And then when you actually meet with them, it's a kind of happiness that is just super awesome.

Shalu was hard to say goodbye to. I had a lot of good friends in Shalu and it was sad to say goodbye to Elder Fox. I can still email them though, so it's okay. Oh and when we move we use a company to move all our stuff around. So I lived out of a suitcase for a few days and I used a bike with no seat. It was a rough couple of days, went by really slowly. 

This week was a lot of new and challenging experiences. I am excited and nervous for this new chance to serve in the DongFeng branch. My new companion is pretty quiet, so I have had the chance to go out and talk to a lot of people and open my mouth a lot more than I usually would have. This is a growing experience and I can't wait to see what I learn from it. 

It's hard, but I can do this. 

Love you all, 

Elder Quist

PS Happy Birthday Nate! You are almost 30 years old.. Wow you will be 30 when I get back.. Good luck 

Week 33

Believe it or not, I am going north

Wow! Pretty crazy, because I am not in Shalu right now! Rather, I am in Fengyuan, which is on the other side of Taizhong. And I know I told you all that Shalu was the most northern part of the mission, but this new area, the DongFeng branch, is actually technically more north, and it is even bigger than my old area. However, I cover a lot of mountains and far away places that we will likely never go to. My companion says we stay mainly in Fengyuan, a place that is a little more city than Shalu.  And I moved east towards the mountains and away from the beach. We live on the 16th floor of our apartment and if you look out you can see a bunch of beautiful mountains. I am excited for the chance to serve over in this new area!

My new companion is a missionary by the name of Elder McDougal. He has been out for a little while now, about 15 months. I am his first junior companion, and he says he is a little worried because this is the first time he is in a leadership position. But we will get to work hard together and we will work miracles. 

It was sad to leave Shalu this last week. I took a lot of pictures with a lot of people and I ate dinner twice on Sunday, because all the members wanted to feed me the last night. It was also a great ending to Shalu, because on Saturday I was able to baptize Chen Jun Hong. He was so ready for baptism and he is such an awesome guy. After his baptism he took us to the all you can eat, cook it yourself restaurant.

We also had the chance to go to a Japanese church concert with a couple of our investigators on Saturday. It was at the stake center and it was an award ceremony for a lot of famous people in Taiwan and also a concert where some famous Japanese members of the church, called Serenity, sang a bunch of Japanese songs. It was a great time, but also kind of boring.

I have more to say, but not enough time. We are going to the temple this Wednesday, so I only have an hour to email today, and probably an hour to email on Wednesday, but we will see. I also have a lot of pictures to send. I will make sure to send them as soon as I can. 

I love you all,

Elder Quist

Week 32

Last week in Shalu?
Another great week in Shalu! We had a lot of miracles this week, including the rain stopping (for themost part). Apparently the rain has been pretty strong lately, most people in my mission said it doesn't usually rain this much. I think it might be because we are up north, and the north is pretty rainy (the Taibei area). I hope it slows down and doesn't come back too much.. but I guess we will see.

This is the last week of the transfer! Kind of crazy that I have been in Shalu for 14 weeks! I have been here for a month longer that I ever was in Washington. It's crazy to think that.. If I had to guess I would say the time feels pretty equal.. Maybe even a little longer in Washington. But I think it's just because time is going faster and faster.. I have been out for almost a third of my mission... My mind is blown when I think about that. So the transfer is ending, that means I will almost definitely be switching things up next week. Either Elder Fox will leave or I will. We aren't really sure who is moving.  Elder Fox has been here for about 6 months, and any longer than 6 months in one area is pretty long, but at the same time he is going home after next transfer, and he really wants to stay in Shalu. So he has been trying to drop some hints to President Blickentstaff, and also the two APs in the office right now came to Taiwan with him, so he is really pushing to stay for his last transfer. I am pretty open to anything, so I guess we will see what happens.

I hear all great things about the new Payson Temple coming. Everyone tells me it is a really beautiful temple and people are coming from everywhere to see it. I feel bad for the people working at Dairy Queen for the last few weeks! DQ must be killing it lately. The dedication is next week, so you guys will all have to tell me how that is. I will make sure going there is one of the first things I do when I get back. 

Also, I heard about Elder Perry passing away. That is a sad thing, but at the same time I feel like Heaven must be pretty nice for an Apostle...I still remember when I met Elder Perry on Temple Square those years ago. I always thought that he would be the prophet one day. Besides President Hinckely, this is the first time I remember an apostle passing away, all the other ones I was too young to remember. So it is a weird thing for me. Do they just have 11 Apostles until the next conference? Or do they call one earlier and we sustain them in church?

We are having a baptism this week! It is for Charles (Or Chen Jun Hong, our investigator who's girlfriend is a member). I am nervous, because he said I could baptize him... I guess we will see how it goes. We also might have Jonas get baptized, but he still needs his parents signature, so I'm not sure.

This last week we had a cool bowling activity for the ward. We invited a bunch of less-actives and investigators, but only a few people came. It was still fun though. I didn't do so well... But I actually bowled a 106 my second time, which isn't bad for me!

Things are going well here and I am glad I get to serve in Shalu! I hope if I do move I don't go to far south, because apparently the south gets pretty hot and humid in the summer. 

Love you all!

Elder Quist

PS Congrats on the new baby Josh and Allie! Ember Grace Quist! I can't wait to meet her in a couple years!

Week 31

Rain

Another good week in Shalu! It rained so much this last week. From Wednesday to this morning, all we saw was rain, all day. However, we seem to have passed that little rain patch and I hope we can have a sunny week ahead.

I don't know if I have told you, but we have one of the youngest districts in the mission. Besides Elder Fox, no one in our district has hit their year mark yet. The two senior companions, besides Elder Fox, are both first-time senior companions, and they are both basically white washing the area, so there has been some stress in our district. However, over the last week we has seen so many miracles in Shalu, including people self-contacting us, asking us if they can come to church, and also people walking into our chapel to see "what kind of activities we have". We have also been receiving calls from less-actives asking us if they could "still come to church." It is basically a land of miracles!

Elder Fox and I have also seen our fair share of miracles in our companionship. We have been teaching a boy by the name of Jonas and it has been a very interesting situation. (I think I told you about him before, maybe?) We met him about a month ago. We were having family home evening with the ward, and after, while we were riding home, we got a call from the sisters. Basically they said they had a stalker, who was hanging out around the apartments where they lived. They told us he was at their house that night and they wanted us to come talk to him. So Elder Fox and I rode out and talked to this "stalker". His name is Jonas, and he is 13 years old. It turns out that he lives in that apartment complex, and he usually just hangs out outside. So we did what any missionary would do- we told him to stop following the sisters and we got his phone number and added him for Saturday! We usually don't teach kids, because we like to focus on getting the whole family involved instead, but we quickly learned that this kid didn't really have much of a family. His mother and father work until about 10 every night, and when they are home they are usually not the best influence on him. However, we were still cautious to teach him, because we didn't just want him to come because we were his friends.  So while teaching him, we asked what his motivation was in meeting with us. He then told us he really desired to change his life.  He (already) had had some really hard trials in his life and he was seeking the help of Jesus Christ. He then told us he wanted us to help him change his reputation, he didn't want to feel like a bad person anymore. So we continued to teach him. We got the ward involved as much as we could, trying to get adults to help us teach him. He is a good kid, with a great heart, but like any 13 year old, he can be pretty loud. We had to teach him to stop punching people in the arms as a joke and also to stop swearing in lessons. We also had to help him become well-behaved in Sacrament Meeting and to treat people with respect. It has been an interesting experience, but he has a spirit that you can just tell is great. Yesterday he came to church again. He doesn't have any church clothes, so this week Elder Fox and I went out and bought him a white shirt and some church pants. So he wore his new church clothes and he actually acted really obedient. Then after church there were a bunch of members who gave him some things, such as ties and shirts, and he had a short meeting with the bishop. He is really changing. It is an awesome privilege to get to work with God in the salvation of souls, especially the salvation of a soul like Jonas!

This is definitely the best thing I have experienced on my mission so far, being able to see the Atonement of Jesus Christ change someone's life.  The joy you feel when you see someone who once had no testimony, changing and trying to be an active member of the church is a feeling that I have never experienced before. 

The mission life is awesome! 

Love you all,

Elder Quist

Week 30

Miracles

This last week was a great week! We had the chance to see some miracles and also get spiritually uplifted by the mission president. 

Last Tuesday we had mission conference again, even though I felt like we just had it.  Time flies here.  (We had to leave the apartment at around 7:30 to get to Taizhong by 9. We got to the bus station and the bus pulled up as soon as we got there, Elder Fox didn't even have time to lock his bike! It was great for us, but the Qingshui Elders were about half a block behind us and they got stuck at a red light at the last minute, so we felt kind of bad as we watched them through the back window of the bus.) The zone conference was really great.  We talked all about becoming a more consecrated missionary. I also had the "opportunity" to give the opening prayer in Chinese. I just made it really short so no one could judge me. 

Then this last week we had an interesting experience with one of our investigators. His name is Prayerstone or Ke xiansheng. He has so much knowledge about the Bible and he really wants to receive the Holy Ghost, something he never got in the Christian church where he usually goes. However, while we were meeting with him last week, he told us he got an answer to his prayer and he believes our church and the other Christian church are the same, both with their own "grace". So the next time we went back we showed him the restoration video in Chinese and after that his whole attitude changed. He said he realized he had to pray for himself to find out if this church really was the only true church and he has to start reading the Book of Mormon more. However he told us he couldn't come to church this week, because he was going to the other Christian church. But on Sunday, while we were in sacrament meeting, we looked back and saw he was sitting in the back! When we asked what happened he told us that after the other church service he felt prompted he should come here. We told him it was the Holy Ghost.

Then we also met a super cool person last week. We were actually traveling to Ke's house and we stopped to get drinks and this lady who worked there told us she lived right next to our church. So we told her we could visit her sometime and show her our church. However, over the next few days she didn't answer her phone and we couldn't get a hold of her. It wasn't until we were biking yesterday in Longjing to visit a member, that we heard someone on the side of the road yell at us. We pulled over and realized it was her! She told us she wanted us to visit her family that night. So we went back over and met her husband and her kids! It was a miracle. 

Some of our other investigators progressing are Chen Jun Hong, a really good guy who just had his baptism interview and Liu DiDi. He is 13 years old and needs a lot of work before baptism... he needs to grow up a little bit.

That's about it for me this week. Love you all! Congrats Nate on graduating! 

Love,

Elder Quist

Week 29

Happy Mother's Day!

This week was another exhausting but great week. We had a lot of great experiences! Like last Tuesday we were able to go back to the hospital to visit our investigators there. However, we were having a problem with teaching him. The problem was we would go and teach him in his hospital bed, but it was really hard for him to interact with us in the lessons, because it is very painful for him to speak. We would teach him, but there was no way for him to interact in the lessons. Me and Elder Fox talked about it, and Elder Fox said he thought we should focus our lesson on his wife instead of him. So next lesson we focused on his wife, and it was a miracle! Originally we thought that she wasn't interested at all, and had absolutely no faith, but as we directed the lesson on her, and asked her questions, we realized that she had being reading the Book of Mormon and praying every night, and she also said that she had a little bit of faith, and she was really interested in increasing her faith. It really helped me see that we don't know who is ready for the gospel. Our job is to follow the Spirit and to invite others to come unto Christ.

This last week we also had Mother's day and my birthday! We had church and we had three investigators come, which was a great birthday gift. Then after church we had a feast for mother's day at the church. The men in the church were responsible for the food, so we had some pizzas and ice cream. It was nice to have some American food on my birthday! 

Then later that night we had dinner at a member's house, the Cai family. Sister Cai fed us so much great food and played some sort of Taiwanese instrument for us. Then we had cake that Elder Fox bought. It was a really great birthday and also a great mother's day! We also got to Skype our families this morning! All in all it was one of the best weeks of my mission! I can't believe I have been out for 7 months! Time flies!

Love,

Elder Quist