Sorry last week's email didn't work out. I did write one. It just got destroyed in the internet somewhere and never got sent and now it's deleted on my phone too!
Short highlights from last week:
Went to the theme park, Liufoo Village, on p-day. It's my second time going and it was a ton of fun. Had a great time with the Zone Leaders.
Made a fun video with the Zone Leaders on using the Book of Mormon tract on the street with people.
Had an impromptu skit about the Revolutionary War and America's Independence for our 4th of July English class party.
Had a fun exchange with Elder Anderson and learned a lot about how to have fun contacting people on the street.
Exchanges came out and I moved to Hualian!
So that is the big news from this week. I moved out of Xinzhu after 3 transfers and headed to the south east side of the Island to a city called Hualian. It's a pretty rural place, much different from any of my past areas. Lots of farm land and mountains for a large portion of it. That means a LOT of biking, but its a lot of fun and it's one of the prettiest parts of Taiwan!
My new companion is named Elder Berges. He is a little younger than me in terms of mission age which makes me the old companion for the first time! It's a weird change. Suddenly I am the one who gets looked at by the younger missionary when people say weird stuff in Chinese!
Its been a fun few days in this new area. We live in a three story house with one other companioship which is really different than living in a 4 man apartment. Since each companionship lives on a different floor it sort of feels like the others disappear most of the time. It's nice to have a lot of space and stuff though.
Elder Berges and I have been trying really hard at street contacting and stuff this week. We even when door knocking the other day which is not common in Taiwan. I think the last time I went knocking legitimately was during my visa wait in Washington. I do think it's a fun way to try and find people to teach though. You never know who is going to come answer a door! This time around we talked to one guy who said he has met missionaries before and even believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God but, also wasnt willing to meet with us again. It was a pretty funny contact!
Well that's pretty much it for now. Talk to you all next week!
Elder Neilson
Hualian, Week 2...
Hey Friends,
P-day was fun-we went on a hike early in the morning and then had all day to chill and play games, email, get food and get other stuff done. I got to buy a bunch of cleaning supplies to help manage the new apartment!
Wednesday was my first Wednesday English class in Hualian (Don't remember if I mentioned in my last email but in Hualian we teach two English classes a week. One on Wednesday night and one saturday morning) It went really well. We talked about helping people and then shared the video "Lift" about the elders quorum or whoever that help out the wheel chair bound lady by going to her house and lifting her into bed every night for 7+ years. Its a good one for english class too because it is about 10 minutes and takes a lot of time!
Thursday we had a Zone Council. First meeting with the new Zone. It was a lot of fun. Got some good thoughts going around about how to have success and acheive goals this transfer. All the missionaries in this part of Taiwan seem pretty chill but I don't know really any of them so it will take some getting used to.
We also had a good lesson on Thursday with a dad who comes to English class every once in a while. We taught the Restoration and it was perfect because he had a lot of questions and was genuinely interested in haveing a discussion and not just being lectured too. I love it when that happens in lessons. It is so much more fun and rewarding and people learn so much better that way. It was a good lesson and we have a lot of hope that he will progress.
On Friday we had a basketball activity with some youths. Aparetly the missionaries here used to have a big basketball activity at the church every Friday but it has been fizzling out recently. It was a fun time though with just Elder Ransbottom's and I and a few other people. The only problem is the church won't let us turn on the AC so it gets really really hot. I don't remember ever sweating that much before!
We had one new friend this week who came to church this week which was sweet! We even had a big discussion with a member afterwards about the Holy Ghost and then a bunch of other topics. It was awesome because the member could actually understand him and talk about Buddhist and Daoism stuff we never would have been able to address. After the whole discussion the friend told us he really just wants us to teach him how to feel the Spirit!
Well that was pretty much the week. It was a good first full week in hualian. Excited for the next one.
Elder Neilson
 |
| Elder Ransbottom and I went to the bike race track again as part of our last P-day in xinzhu |
 |
| Xinzhu district after district council |
 |
| Me riding one of taiwan's U-Bikes which is their public bike program thing. All the bikes are really small though and kind of make you look like a gorilla riding a tricycle if you are over 5ft 10 |
 |
| Zone Leaders and Elder Ransbottom dropping me off at the xinzhu train station |
 |
| arriving in hualian (Elder Berges is the one standing to my right [or the one standing between me and Elder Merrill for those who recognize my old companion from zhong he]) |
 |
| Picture of the mountains in hualian |
 |
| part of the hike was a fun tunnel |
 |
| The destination of our hike on p-day |
 |
| A random house named the Lemuel House |
 |
| Taiwan missionary dream fashion |
 |
| some of the hualian missionaries |
 |
| the hualian zone |
