My new companion is an Elder Neal Darley. He is from Layton Utah. Only my second Utah companion! He's definitely an introverted, quiet guy. He's 21 years old and went to Weber State before his mission. He's on his 11th transfer. He's a hard worker and an obedient missionary. I think this week's been a bit stressful for him as he's still adjusting to being a zone leader. That's how it's been for all of my 1st time zone leader companions. But I hope that when he gets settled in and more comfortable he can loosen up a bit and just love the people of TuCheng.
Speaking of people in TuCheng that I love, there's my good friend Grandpa Guo. He is one of the funniest old grandpas you'll ever meet. He's the one that told me I was crazy the first time I taught him the Word of Wisdom. He even went and got out a bunch of his tea and tried to convince me to drink some of it. Now just a few weeks later, after getting an answer this wasn't Elder White's theories or doctrine, but actually a commandment from God, he's quit smoking and drinking tea and coffee. He passed his baptismal interview this last Saturday and will be baptized this week!! I couldn't be happier! He's the funniest old Taiwanese Grandpa.
We also had a Brother Yang pass his interview this week. He's a little bit of a socially awkward man. But he's got a big desire to have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to follow Christ. I'm looking forward the baptism of these two brothers this Saturday.
Our baptism from last week. Tom Xu, the 17 year old shy kid, helped us teach an investigator this week. We have a newer investigator and I felt like the 2 of them could be good friends, so we asked him to come be our member present at the lesson. At the end of the lesson our investigator talked about how he wanted to come to church, but was worried because his parents don't usually let him go out on Sundays. After the lesson I thanked Tom for helping us, and then he said the cutest thing in the world. He said "Hey, Elder White, I just really hope that Brother Li can come to church Sunday. Can we pray for him?" What a great kid. He loves art, and since being baptized he's drawn a couple pictures. One is of Jesus, and the other is of Joseph Smith. YEAH TOM!!!
In other great news, we've got a couple other younger kids. 2 brothers to be exact. One is 14 and the other 16. They are probably my favorite to teach, because they like fun lessons, and we like to make it fun for them. They're doing great, and if all goes according to our plan they will have their interview this Saturday. Pray for them. The one concern there would be parental guardian permission. They live with their grandma, who I've spoken with several times on the phone. She is very approving of them coming to the church, I just hope she'll approve of them being baptized.
My favorite investigator here is named Brother Andy Huang. He's a great guy. An eternal investigator, and missionaries before had stopped meeting with him. Prior to my coming he had met with missionaries twice in about 9 months, while still coming to church and every imaginable activity every week. My first night in TuCheng I felt impressed to meet with him. And we have been ever since. He's progressed so much in the last 2 months and is working toward his baptismal date of 9/12, his birthday. One of his biggest concerns is that if God loves him why does he have some of his current life trials. Last night he went up to Taipei with us and attended a musical fireside with a man named Michael Mclean, who's done a lot of music for church movies and other stuff. It was a really amazing meeting and everyone who attended felt the Spirit really strongly. The best part was when I looked over to Andy and saw him wiping tears from his eyes. He was feeling it. That's such a huge blessing for him to feel it. I believe he'll act on that feeling and make his 9/12 baptismal date. We're going to go out with him today for p-day as well as with some recent converts. I hope that he can continue to have that spirit with him.
I'm looking forward for what this transfer has in store for us. I really want to continue to baptize here in TuCheng. The Lord has definitely blessed us so far. I know he'll continue to bless us, if we do our part. There are so many magnificent people here that the Lord has prepared and is preparing. I hope that I can help them prepare to enter into the covenant of baptism with him.
I know this is HIS work. It's true.
Elder White
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