January 22, 2012 - Week 1 of Transfer 8

Hello friends and family, 

Another fantastic week here from TaoYuan. I'm really excited for what this transfer has in store, I think it will be a great transfer of learning and consecrating myself to the Lord. My new companion, Elder Workman, a Viewmont grad, is amazing. I'm learning so much from him and we're seeing success and miracles. It's so great, and I look forward to continuing to work with him and working together to help the TaoYuan zone continue to progress.

The highlight of this week, hands down, was Chen Hao Yun's baptism. He was go great, and I'm so excited for him. Really an amazing person who is committed to following the example of his Savior. Repentance has played a big part in his life and in his conversion process and he shared a bit of that in his testimony after his baptism. He talked about how he almost didn't come and meet with us after we had initially found him, but he had a feeling he should, and just a month later he is a baptized member of our church with the gift of the Holy Ghost as he moves forward in his life. Another cool sidenote, he's a Kevin Garnett fan. You can't go wrong with someone who likes Kevin Garnett.

Here in Taiwan it's Christmas, or at least their equivalent of Christmas: Chinese New Year. It's by far their biggest holiday and they're excited for it. Everyone says it's a buzzkill in the work, but I'm in Taiwan, there are millions of people, and I don't believe the Lord will be taking Chinese New Year off. And I know myself and Elder Workman definitely won't, so we're going to go out and continue to invite people to come unto Christ, and trust the Lord will put those prepared in our path.

This week we found some amazing new people. I would like to share one experience. Every day as we leave the apartment we drive our bikes out of the underground parking garage and turn right, because that's heading into the heart of our tiny area, and if we turn left on the road we immediately hit the border of our area. However while planning Tuesday night, I said I wanted to go out the door and turn left. And so that's what we did. I pleaded with the Lord that night to put those prepared out on that street. As we went and spoke to everyone, in the most literal sense, I met a young man named Edward Zhen. As I began talking to Edward about the Book of Mormon, he said he knows that book. It's named after the last prophet, Moroni's, dad who abridged it. I was taken back and then began talking more to Edward. His family had met with missionaries before, for a while, to the point of coming to church several times. He believed in Joseph Smith's experience. He had a testimony. We set up a time to meet with him the following day. I was away on an exchange but my companion told me how amazing and knowledgeable he was. He wouldn't commit to be baptized because he thought it would be restrictive and tie him down, but we will continue to work with him and help him gain a stronger testimony and resolve his concerns. It was a prepared person the Lord knew by name, knew where he'd be, and gave us missionaries promptings in planning to go there to meet him. It was great.

This week was full of miracles just like that. I love this work and gospel with all my heart. It's beginning to mean absolutely everything to me. I regret not embracing the gospel more and making the most of the wonderful learning opportunities provided to LDS teens growing up, but I can say I know that this gospel means everything to me. I love studying it, I love applying it, but most of all I love sharing it. The Lord continues to bless me far beyond what I deserve. I'm being blessed in every aspect of the work. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and the Lord's hand in my life. 

I'm thankful for all your love and support.

Elder White

January 15, 2012 - Let Transfer 8 Begin

 Elder Erickson and me on his birthday.

 Bowling on P-day

 A couple of pictures of my planner this month. Notice the picture of me and Guo. (On the phone he told us he had planned to do a Christmas card but transfers made it so he couldn't. This would have been a good one.)

 My birthday meal, courtesy of Sister Lin in DanShui, a great investigator that spent way to much money on us.

It's move call days, and I'm staying in TaoYuan. I'm pretty excited about that, and I'm even more excited about my next companion. I finally have a fellow Utahn. I had to wait until my 8th companion to get one. My new companion is an Elder Workman, from Centerville or Farmington. He went to Viewmont high school. I'm pretty pumped because the way he does missionary work is fitting to his name. He's an absolute workhorse and a real all star in the mission. It's going to be great. I can't wait for all the miracles we're going to see.

Speaking of miracles this week had its fair share. One tops them all. Chen Hao Yun. I can't remember if I told you last week, but we taught keeping the Sabbath day holy, and he said he was willing, but he has work every Sunday. We asked if he would be willing to ask his boss for Sunday off. He said he would. That's already a huge miracle--few Taiwanese people are willing to do that. The best part is that his boss agreed!!! No one in Taiwan gives work off on account of Sabbath worship!!! It's amazing! So Hao Yun can come to church every Sunday now. Saturday we were teaching him tithing. He committed to keep the commandment. After we taught that we had taught him all the lessons. He was keeping his commitments and had come to church 3 times. His baptismal date was for February 4th, but he was so prepared. We asked him if he wanted to get baptized in 1 week (this upcoming Saturday), and he agreed. Yesterday he passed his interview!!! I'm so excited!!!!

The Lord's hand has played such a strong part in our process with Chen Hao Yun. One night before going to bed we were trying to straighten up our apartment and organize some of the papers. I was going through a stack of hundreds of old teaching records, sorting which ones were in our area and which ones weren't. When I found Chen Hao Yun's record I had a prompting to set it aside. I did so and continued sorting, then I told my companion we should go find this Chen Hao Yun. Well we did, and found out the reason he hadn't been baptized before was because his parents opposed it and he was 19. In Taiwan you must be 20 to be baptized without parental consent. Now 3 years later and 22 years old he can do it!!! 

Another way we saw the Lord's hand in this was by developing a bit of a relationship with his boss, before we even knew Chen Hao Yun or that he worked where he does. He works at a small cafe called Morning Burger, and one day my companion and I were in that neighborhood and decided to eat there. The food is amazing and cheap so we began eating there 2 to 3 times a week. The boss there loved us, and saw us always eating there. Then we found out Hao Yun works there, and it all worked out perfect. I'm just so excited to see him make this covenant this coming Saturday!!!

The rest of the week was fantastic as well. Taiwan's political elections were this week and so there were lots of rallies, concerts, and fireworks going on all the time. Lots of trucks advertising the candidates cruising the streets with loud,annoying messages playing on repeat until the wee hours of the morning. But that's over and the candidate I was secretly pulling for won.

I look forward to this next transfer, I think this is going to be one that I grow a lot. Elder Workman is going to be great, our zone got some great missionaries coming in, so I look forward to working with and exchanging with them.

Everyone have a great Chinese New Year

Also, Add Oil!!!!

Elder White

January 8, 2012

 Visiting Jiang Kai Shek Memorial. Cool Place. Some pictures of Dan Shui. An exhibit we went to on P-day

 about the future.

Hello friends and family,

I have been on a mission for 1 year. 1 year, 7 transfers, 7 companions, 5 areas, 5 bicycles. You may have noticed that bicycle statistic is up one from last week. Yes, my last bike (an old dinosaur from a missionary that went home) gave in and the repairs were going to be unbelievably expensive. So I decided that I'm done with all these bike troubles, I'm going to buy a new bike that I know will last me the last year of my mission, stress free. So I did it, and it's awesome... because it's a road bike. Now I'm the fastest missionary in all of Taiwan. I'm faster than half the scooters. It's beautiful.

This Sunday was wonderful!!! Having to attend 2 full blocks of church because Elder Miller is with us can be very tiring, however, the miracles were awesome!! A couple walked in during our church block saying that they had a Mormon friend and they wanted to learn more. We were able to share a message with them after church and they set baptismal dates! Then that night we were heading to the church, when right out the gate we were self contacted by a man, and his girlfriend. We were able to show them the church and they said they wanted to be baptized. Amazing miracles right at the last minute of the week. I know that the Lord blesses us when we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and sometimes he waits right until the end to bless us, after the trial of our faith and patience. It was great. The better part was the last couple actually live in our area!!! Our area is absolutely awesome, but it is so small, and we're always finding and teaching great people that end up living in the other wards in TaoYuan. It's a real bummer giving over absolutely golden people, but I know the Lord is putting them in our path because he knows we'll talk to them and give them an opportunity to hear the gospel.

Looking back on this last year, it has been nothing but amazing. I've learned so much, about myself, the gospel, about life, and I picked up Chinese a bit on the side. I'm enjoying the language more than I had before, and I can now read most of the Book of Mormon in Chinese. 

I got a Christmas/thank you package and gift from Edward Liang up in DanShui. It made me so happy!! Also, another cool thing is Elder Gist, my last companion from DanShui, is coming down to be Elder Miller's new companion, so I'll get to talk to him today more about DanShui. I love that place so much!

I hope we can all make 2012 the best 2012 we'll ever have. I love being a Taipei missionary, I love serving under my mission president, President Grimley. I testify that He lives. I know the Church is true and that CTR is a really good saying. Because when we CTR there is safety and peace.

Love Elder White

January 1, 2012

Another week gone by. I'm approaching 1 year on my mission this week. Quite astonishing. I'm about half way. It's been great so far. I don't like how fast time is flying by though. I want to make this next year even better than the first.

It's great rolling in the new year, as well. Great time to make some resolutions of how I can be better as a missionary and a person. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in 2012, but I know that as long as I'm doing my part, the future looks extremely bright.

This week is very interesting due to the fact that Elder Miller is still living with us. It's been a lot of fun. I really like having Elder Miller around, but taking on an extra missionary and another area is really hectic along with our already hectic zone leader schedule. The Lord is blessing us to be able to continue to help both areas and make everything work and still see miracles. It just gives me a constantly unrooted feeling, which is really different. It looks like he'll be here with us the rest of this transfer, so It should be very interesting. We'll have to continue to rely on the Lord for help in taking this extra responsibility. I know it will be great, and we'll continue to have a lot of fun.

The highlight of this week was brother Chih, a.k.a. Charlie entering into the waters of baptism, no matter how chilly the water was due to the fact that the building's water heater was off. It was great to see him get baptized and confirmed. I have no doubt that he will continue to be an amazing member of this church. His desire to follow Christ is amazing and I'm so grateful that through the spirit we were able to resolve his long-time concern, and help him prepare to take this important step.

Today I made an important decision. I bought a ping pong paddle. It was an investment but I had to spend a little birthday money somewhere. This paddle is amazing. I customized it out to the point that it would be illegal to use in regulation tourneyment. It's a classic butterfly blade that I then put red pimple out skin on both sides, with a white custom hand grip. It looks great. I'll have to take a picture before the grip gets too dirty from my hands. It was great playing it today. Quite the paddle.

The TaoYuan Zone is doing great as a whole. I'm really liking it here. I continue to look forward to doing the Lord's work in this great area. Speaking of great areas.... DANSHUI!!! Edward was baptized this last week. He and his family sent me a Christmas gift and a great card. It really made my day. I'm so happy for him and it's so rewarding. If you can't remember, I saw him at 8:55 one night. It would have been easy to just go home because it was about time, but I decided to try to talk to him for 30 second and get a phone number because he was with his family. Such a miracle--called him, set him up, now a couple months later, he's baptized. I couldn't be happier.

I look forward to a great 2012 and second half of my mission

Love you all.

Elder White

December 25, 2011

What an absolutely amazing week! I don't know where to begin... I guess just MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! My Christmas was just great. It was so great to hear your voices this week family. Nice talking to you and hearing you exercise your vocal chords to give me messages of glad tidings, support, and encouragement.

This week's English class had to be great, it being Christmas and all, so come Wednesday night I was really feeling the pressure. What could I do to make it great? I did what anyone put in that situation would do. I taught them all how to sing George Michael's "Last Christmas." Then I made each member of the class do solos to make sure they had really got it down. It was a big success. 

Speaking of English class... a real miracle happened 2 weeks ago. In the last 30 minutes of class we have an opportunity to share a gospel message. 2 weeks ago our message led into the Book of Mormon. I bore testimony of the book and promised the class that if they were willing to read it, it would bless their lives and that through us missionaries they can obtain a copy and learn more about the book and the church. After class a college-aged girl in the class named Nami came up and said she wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon. Now she's attending church and church activities, and has a baptismal date with the sister missionaries. It was sweet!!!

Last Monday night our mission president called my companion and me and informed us of an emergency situation. One of the Elders in our zone had to go home immediately. And so we had to pack our bags and go over to their apartment for the night. Then the elder going home and my companion went up to Taibei to go to the temple and the airport the next day and me and the other missionary stayed back and worked our areas. It was a tiring night. We didn't get over to the apartment until very late in the night, then we had to help the missionary pack, then I slept on a tiny, tiny loveseat. On Tuesday mornings zone leaders have to wake up early to do a bunch of faxes and follow up with all the district leaders, and so I was having to do that at a convenience store away from our area and stuff by myself because my companion was heading up to Taipei. It was really tiring and hectic. Since then, the leaving missionary's companion, Elder Miller has been in a 3-some with us. It's been a blast. I love Elder Miller. He's hilarious!!!! He's from Atlanta Georgia, and he walks around telling people he's our secretary. It's been absolutely great.

Speaking of secretary, the word in Chinese is MiShu. It sounds a lot like the word for Pastor which is MuShi, MiShu, Mushi, anyways... I called a guy that we had set up the other day and a young female answered. I proceeded to ask her if she was his MuShi, or in English if she was his pastor. I then corrected myself but we had a good laugh.

Great News from DanShui. Edward Liang, the awesome dad from Canada, is being baptized this Tuesday. He's really excited and I can't wait. It was such a miracle finding him, and there is nothing better than having someone you found, taught all the lessons to, and helped quit smoking get baptized. I couldn't be happier!!

About baptism... This Saturday a man name Brother Chih is being baptized!!! He's been meeting with missionaries 6 months but wouldn't commit to being baptized because he didn't want to leave his other church. He attends his other church in the morning and ours in the afternoon. Next year our church is changing to the morning and he said he would come here 2 weeks and there 2 weeks. He's never been willing to commit and was just an eternal investigator. I asked my companion 2 weeks ago if I could take over the teaching of Charlie, and give him a fresh look. My companion reluctantly agreed. This week I finally got to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time but my companion never would let me. I was on exchanges so I had the chance, and that is to go into the lesson without any lesson plan, and just ask questions to resolve concerns. It's something I started doing in DanShui if I had investigators that seemed stuck. I did it Saturday with Brother Chih and the spirit completely guided the lesson. We were guided to scriptures and really asked some questions that came straight from heaven. Then I felt the spirit really strongly and invited him to be baptized NEXT week, be confirmed on January 1st of 2012 and start next year a member of our church, with the Holy Ghost, and continue to come every week after. He was hit with the spirit and said he gets it now. He committed and passed his interview yesterday. It was a huge miracle. I'm so excited!

Another great miracle happened this week while I was contacting on the street. I began talking with a younger man. I asked him where he was going and he informed me he was headed to the pub. I asked him how old he was and he said he was 18. I said "WAIT RIGHT THERE, TALK TO ME." He was going to the pub to drink by himself because he was sad. He said it's something he's been doing in the last few months because he wasn't happy. I asked him if it's made him happier and he said no. I said we have a message that will bring him the joy he's been looking for. I then grabbed my companions who were making phone calls and told them we're walking to the chapel. So we walked with this young man to the chapel and prayed with him. The spirit was so strong. I told him he has a choice to make. He can drink his life away or with a little effort and a lot of change find the joy he's been looking for. He committed to give it a shot and try God's way. It was a great miracle. When we finished I asked him where he's going and he said back home. I really believe God placed one of his children who really needed help right in my path that night. It was great.

This week was absolutely great. Saturday we had a missionary performance on a stage in front of the Tao Yuan train station in front of 500+ people as well as many passersby. I got to give a talk as well as play the ukulele and sing. It was pretty fun.

I also got to return to Zhubei for the first time in months this week for a special training meeting down at that chapel. It felt like going home and reminded me of the area where I first gained a love for hard work, a love for serving the Lord, and an area where my testimony grew so much. It made me miss Elder Erickson and I'm just so thankful for all the areas that the Lord has placed me in and all the people I've been able to work with.

This week should be crazy. With the Elder Miller joining us ordeal, we got behind schedule on a couple of companion exchanges we're supposed to conduct. So this week I'll hit the road hard. I will probably go 3 days straight without setting foot in my area or seeing my companion, with a total of 5 days outside of my area. It will be crazy. Wish me luck.

I love you all and I love being a missionary.

May we all have the best Christmas ever and remember our Savior at this time of the Year.

Oh by the way... The Church is True

I love you all,

Love Elder White

December 18, 2011

Hello.

I don't remember much of what happened this week. I turned 20 at some point in there. Actually on the day I turned 20 I was in the very southern part of my zone on exchanges with the Frank's nephew, Elder Benson. It was wonderful. He is an all star missionary. 

My typing is getting bad... and here is why. In Taiwan some of the older people will grow out one fingernail (usually the pinky) really long. It's supposedly a sign of respect or something. At the beginning of last transfer, about 8 weeks ago, Elder Erickson (my trainer) pitched the idea that we do it, only on our ring finger. We were going to do it until he goes home, but then he was diagnosed with Chrones disease and had to go home the end of that transfer. I still haven't cut the fingernail as a way to pay respect to him. I think I'm going to grow it out until the day he would have normally gone home. Needless to say it's getting pretty long and influencing my typing skills. WPM is really taking a hit.

This week was great as can be. The work was mighty fine, just as it always is. The Mission is focusing on Christ-like Attributes this month, and this week's big emphasis was charity. It was really great and they gave us studies and invitations to make us more charitable. It was pretty good but I feel like I finally LEARNED what charity is and how to apply it to missionary work Saturday night in my personal prayer. It was revelatory and hard to explain, but it was one of the greatest prayers ever, so edifying.

Taiwan is COLD!!! I didn't know that before I actually came to Taiwan. I sent scarves and sweaters home from the MTC because I thought Taiwan was a tropical climate. Well it is, but it's a tropical climate that gets freezing cold. So it's a super wet cold, not anything like what I'm accustomed to back in the wonderful desert of Utah. This cold gets down to your bone. It's pretty intense.
 

I came down with a bit of a cold and sore throat this week. I'm taking medicine and getting better so that's OK. I really need to get better before today ends because tomorrow I'm back on the road visiting companionships and exchanging with them all throughout our zone. 

To answer you're question mom, I do not travel alone to exchanges, one companion from the companionship will come to my area and work with my companion as well so we will find a meet-up point and switch there.

This work is absolutely fabulous! I love continuing to see miracles. I'm sorry I've forgotten so much of this week, but know that I couldn't be happier. It's weird to me that Christmas is 6 days away. It doesn't feel like it at all. Not much celebrating happening in Taiwan. But I know I'm exactly where the Lord needs me to be right now. A young man from our ward got his mission call yesterday, and because it's all in English we read it for him. There is such power in a mission call and as I read it the Lord reconfirmed that my call was from Him and that I'm where he needs me to be.

I'm learning so much and growing so much in the work and the gospel. This is such an amazing experience this mission. Recently I have had the opportunity to cast out a devil in a priesthood blessing. It was one of the most terrifying, yet powerful, and testimony building experiences of my life. There is no doubt that the power of God far outweighs the power of the adversary. I came out of that experience with a firm testimony of the power of this priesthood.

I hope everyone has nothing but the greatest of Christmases. Let us remember our Savior and Redeemer at this magical time of the year.

Merry Christmas, Love you all

Elder White

December 11, 2011

Well another week is in the books. This week was very interesting. It felt like it went by very slowly, but not in a bad way. It was actually a pretty good week. My new companion's name is Elder Smith. He is from Beaverton Oregon. It's a lot of fun working with him. He's a great Elder and it's fun serving as zone leader with him. He has been out on his mission for a year and a half. It's weird starting to work with these older elders. Every single one of my companions has been so young at the time I was with them. 

 Elder Bruce White

Arnold Vosloo

I really like my new area. It's so much cleaner and newer than your average part of Taiwan. The chapel here is also amazing! The crazy thing is I won't be in my area a whole lot this transfer. Part of my new calling is going on exchanges with every member of the zone, and all district leaders twice. We've decided I will be on the road for all of these exchanges. So I will be living out of a backpack for this transfer. It should be a great experience. It's so great to get to know all of these different missionaries with their different backgrounds and stories, and learn from them, and observe how they interact with the people. I've already learned so much and I've only been on a couple exchanges. Saturday I got to travel basically the entire distance of my zone doing baptismal interviews along the way. It was really good to do the interviews but it was also nice to get a feel for what my zone is like and the different areas.

Before I forget, I had an awful haircut last week, so in attempts to save my hair, I had to do a really, really short buzz. When I do this buzz cut I get people telling me I look like someone famous. I ask who? and after they think about it a bit, they say "The bad guy from the movie The Mummy." I don't know if I've seen that movie. If I have it's been years. However I got that twice earlier on my mission as well when my hair was a bit shorter. If you could look up the bad guy from the mummy movie and send me a picture that would be much appreciated. I'm really curious as to who this man is that I apparently look identical to.

Also I will be calling home for Christmas in the near future. I would like it if you could email me our phone number so I know what number to call.

The TaoYuan zone had a really good week in finding new investigators! Which is great because I feel like that's what I was called down here to do. I was really happy about that. This week I saw a great miracle finding as well. We were out on the street riding our bikes around and talking to everyone. I began talking to this guy who said he didn't have any time, then I asked if he wanted to meet with missionaries, and he said he really didn't have time. As he began crossing the crosswalk, I asked if we could call him tomorrow and see if he had time. He allowed and I wrote down his number. The next day we called him, set him up, and he came to the church that night... with a Book of Mormon!!! He had met with missionaries three years before in GaoHsiung. He said he had always felt bad about standing them up at one of their scheduled meetings so that's why he was willing to give me his number. But then he said he had been wanting to run into missionaries in the last three years in TaoYuan, and the Lord finally gave him that chance Tuesday night!! He now has a baptismal date and is reading and praying from the Book of Mormon.

This week we also got to attend Zone Leader Council! A meeting with the mission President and all Zone Leaders and Assistants. The best part is after the meeting we get to go eat amazing food. A new senior sister made homemade lasagna!! WHOA! I haven't had a meal like that since being on island. It was great.

Keep my trainer Elder Erickson in your prayers.

Read the Scriptures and CTR

Elder White