THE LAST LETTER - January 21 2013

This is it... the last week of my mission. In 5 days I'll be boarding an airplane bound for Salt Lake City. I never thought the day would come. As I look back on the last 2 years, the best word to describe my feelings is "gratitude." I'm filled with gratitude for the opportunity I've had to come on a mission, especially here to Taiwan to serve my brothers and sisters here on this wonderful island. I love Taiwan so much, especially the people here. I'm grateful and eternally indebted to my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for His love, His sacrifice, the sanctifying power of His atonement. I'm thankful for His life, His teachings, His example. My favorite scripture regarding missionary work is in Jacob 5:72 "And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things." I know that this is truly His work. I've felt Him laboring with me every step of the way as long as I've been doing the work the way He wants me to do it. I'm thankful I could labor in His vineyard and see first-hand His gospel change the lives of those I've come to love. I'm thankful for the change His gospel has brought to my life in the last 2 years. I've been blessed with a lot of success and miracles on my mission, and I know that every slightest bit of good that has happened is all because of Him. I love my Savior. It has been a blessing and a privilege to represent Him.

This last week was absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for much more in a last full week on mission. I'm dead tired! I really feel like I don't have anything left. I literally feel like I've got about 5 days worth of energy left to give. This is definitely the most tired I've been my entire life, but it is all so worth it. This week we had a zone conference and I was thankfully asked to be the translator for the native missionaries. In the past when I've been asked to be the translator I haven't been too thrilled, but the reason I was thankful this time around was that I knew if I wasn't translating there would be no way I could stay awake in the meeting. It went well and a lot of the native missionaries really like me as the translator because I like to throw in a few "smarter" remarks to keep them on their toes and make sure they're awake.

Let me tell you about last Monday. Several of my converts from TaoYuan came and took me and my companion to an awesome little town in the mountains called Pingxi. We ate some good food and then we made sky lanterns? I think that's what they'd be called in English... like the things in the movie Tangled. It was super fun. You can write your wishes or whatever you want on the side and then send it to the sky. I'll send pictures. It was a great day. It was super good to see these recent converts now holding the Melchizedek  priesthood, holding good callings in the ward and a couple of them are preparing for eternal marriage!!! So COOL!!! I loved spending time with them and today for P-day we're heading down to TaoYuan to have a big meal with all of my converts, some members, and some former investigators. It should be a lot of fun. I'm so grateful for every single area I've been able to serve in. I know I was exactly where the Lord wanted me, serving with who He wanted me to be with, and meeting those whom He'd prepared me to meet.

On a tangent... our  mission has our "weekly announcements'' read in district meetings. The announcements are put together by the mission president, his wife, and some of the office elders. I've always had a dream of getting my catch phrase ("That's so PMG"... PMG meaning Preach My Gospel) in the announcements but no one has been bold enough to try to put it on. This week we got a new "recorder,'' the elder that is in the office and deals with the records. He's a good friend and he got it on the announcements. I can end my mission happily now. My catch phrase was in the announcements. Dreams do come true.

This week's miracles were so awesome. One of my favorites took place while I was on exchanges in our neighboring area. We were heading back to SanChong to exchange back when we hit a red light. I instinctively turned to contact the man on the scooter next to me at the light, when out the of corner of my eye I saw a man standing at the cross walk waiting. I felt a super strong impression I needed to talk to him so I rode my bike up onto the sidewalk and began talking to him. His name was Whitney. I was talking to Whitney a little bit about English and him name, when out of the blue he said "I'm a member of your church." It shocked me a bit and I found out he was baptized 20 years ago, was active for about 13 and then has been inactive for the last 7 years or so. I talked to him more and found out he really has a testimony and really does want to come back. I set up a time for the Elders in that area to visit him the very next day. They did and said it went well and they're going to keep working with him. It was a great miracle. I know that Whitney was who God wanted me to talk to at that intersection, and hopefully Whitney will come back to the fold. It was a great miracle.

Another great miracle this week was Chris. Last week we were coming home late one night and said hi to the man we passed. He replied with a "Yo, wassup?" which let me know that I would immediately be friends with him. We didn't have a lot of time but we introduced ourselves, invited him to our English class, and that was it. Then Wednesday at English class he came, and was super cool. After class he invited us to play basketball with him on Saturday. We weren't so sure if it would be the best use of time but we also recognized that Chris is a really good potential investigator. We prayed about it and decided to go play ball with Chris... it was the right decision. We found out Chris was married, and has a 2 year old son. We had no idea he has a family. We were able to share with him a lot about how the gospel blesses our family and we learned his family really needs this at this time in his life. I feel like he was someone who would have rejected us right away if the first time we met with him we just started sharing the gospel, but I know God had prepared Chris and had allowed us through English class and basketball to have an open door to share more with Chris and his family. By the time we were done Saturday Chris became our new investigator, committed to praying daily for his family, and said that after Chinese new year we can begin meeting with him and his wife and son!! We'd been praying to find families and we had no idea we'd find such an amazing young family through the guy that gave us a "Yo, wassup?" on the street. It was great miracle. Just one of so many.

Our investigator Brother Chen, a.k.a. "Kites" is still so amazing. He came to church again this week and prayed that he could get baptized. He's absolutely golden. We were able to get a lot of investigators at church this last week and we have a lot of people progressing to baptism. I'm really excited. We started with NOTHING 4 months ago when I arrived in SanChong with a trainee who didn't speak a lick of Chinese to open it up. Now we've been able to help a father, the last non-member of his family, to be baptized, get the priesthood and they're currently working for the temple. We've been able to reactivate several priesthood members, and I'm leaving the area with some great investigators. I wouldn't be surprised if SanChong had 4 baptisms next transfer. It definitely has been the hardest area of my mission. We started from scratch, and every time it felt like things were coming together or investigators were getting close to baptism something seemed to go wrong. It felt like for most my time in SanChong we were fighting an uphill battle. But I also feel like this is where God needed me to be. I feel like I've learned more these few months than I ever did during the times on my mission where we were baptizing every other week. I came to SanChong and it had a "reputation." As a matter of fact, it lived up to it's reputation. It's busy, dirty, ghetto, hard, there's a huge lack of priesthood in the ward, and I love it with all my heart. I'd be lying if I said it was my favorite area, but I do know that the lessons I learned here on the streets of SanChong are things I couldn't learn in any university or in any other way.

Saturday was one of my favorite days ever on my mission. After studies we went out to eat with a bunch of converts and members from TuCheng. They are all so great and they gave us amazing food. It was so great to spend time with them. After that they came to the chapel with us where Elder Davidson and I performed for them the song he wrote. Then we met with "Kites" and had an amazing, spiritual lesson. It was great, and the coolest part is my last convert in TuCheng stayed back and was the member present for our lesson. It was so great to see Andy, the eternal investigator who feared commitment and fully living the gospel share with my current investigator the blessings that have come into his life by living the gospel and being baptized. I was teary eyed during the lesson. After that we went and played basketball with Chris (see story above). then we had another free meal with a member at a sushi place. She gave us SO much sushi. My companion and I could barely get it all down. It was so good!!! Then we went back to the chapel and had  another great lesson with an investigator I began teaching when I first got here. He had disappeared for a while but he came back and set a new baptismal date and then came to church the next day. It was one of the best days ever. Tons of great miracles, really spiritual, really fun... pretty much sums up my entire mission! I love being a missionary!

Overall my last full week in Taiwan was great. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I lot of the cliche things of Taiwan happened as well. My last week included meeting with a Buddhist monk and teaching him the gospel, eating lots of stinky tofu, problems with Taiwanese girls liking us white missionaries too much, rain rain and more rain, and miracles miracles and miracles.

This is my last e-mail from Taiwan. It's bittersweet. I cannot wait to see you Saturday. In my planner for this week I wrote: Saturday afternoon "hug my family." I'm so excited. At the same time I don't want my mission to end. This truly has been an amazing two years. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for this mission. It means everything to me. Literally. I've given it my all, there's not much left to give. I've put in everything I've had to put it, and the Lord has done the rest. I love Him. I'm so thankful for Him. I can speak truthfully from my heart and say I have no regrets. That was the goal I had at the beginning of my mission, to be able to honestly say at the end that I have no regrets, and I don't. I love Taiwan, I love the gospel, and I love my Heavenly Father.

I love you all, and I will see you Saturday.

Elder White

January 13, 2013

 Doing the bus

 Taking the bus

 Taiwan

 Me and Jason, one of my converts and good friends from TuCheng

 A Taiwanese Elder I went on exchanges with... while on exchanges we went and got the sweet drink that I'm drinking in that pic

 Lunch with Su family

 Coldstone was buy one get one

 my comp sippin his sidra

Wassup y'all. I am emailing you for the 2nd to last time in Taiwan. 

WHAT??? 

This last week was one of my favorite weeks here in SanChong. We saw so many miracles. We had a lot of success and a lot of fun. One of the best parts of a mission winding to a close is I can call converts and friends from former areas. IT HAS BEEN GREAT. I love them all so much and I feel so blessed to have shared with them my testimony and helped them live the gospel. Today some members from TaoYuan are coming to take me and my companion to somewhere really fun for P-Day. Brother Tsai (the body guard), Brother Chen, and Brother You (who actually isn't "my convert" but I was the first TaoYuan missionary to contact him, then I taught him a lot on exchanges, and then did his baptismal interview) are all coming. All 3 of them now hold the Melchizedek priesthood. Nami, a female convert is also coming, and she is preparing to go on a mission. I'm so excited to see all of them, and I'm so excited to see that they are continuing to grow in the gospel.

This week one of my converts from TuCheng came and visited me during our weekly free English class. It was really fun and he was also interested in going on a mission and asked me lots of questions about missions. It was really great. I forced him to speak English to my family and recorded it on my camera. I'll show you it in a couple weeks. He's great.

Another cool thing was that my former companion from TuCheng Elder Su, now Brother Su came with his whole family to visit me and they took us out to eat. It was a lot of fun. His parents would not stop talking to me. They loved me because they are hardcore vegetarians and I told them I eat vegetarian most of the time on my mission. They wouldn't stop going off about it. They are great but I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Elder Su... haha. It was really funny.

This week was full of so many great miracles. One took place Monday night that I'd like to share. I was looking through our phone list of investigators and came across the name of Arty. I found Arty my first week in SanChong. He is a cool Filipino, but he stopped investigating and we hadn't contacted him in quite some time. I had a feeling I should call Arty. I didn't know why, but I acted. I called and talked to Arty a bit and checked to see if he was doing alright. I didn't really know what to say and I followed up a bit on whether or not he had read the Book of Mormon and whether or not he had been praying. Then all of a sudden he said he was with a friend right now who was a member of the Church. He said she wanted to talk to me. I talked to her a bit and found out she was baptized in the Philippines. She had since moved to Taiwan and used to have the English ward missionary's phone number, but had lost it. She had been wanting to know where and how to attend church in Taiwan. She had been looking for the missionaries for quite some time and so that night me calling was an answer to her prayers. It was really cool.

Another great miracle this week was that we were able to begin teaching one of the coolest people ever. His English name is Kites. Yes, I said Kites. He picked it because he likes to feel free, but knows that to feel most free you still need something to keep you grounded (like the string from the kite). I'm super ready to share an awesome string to gospel analogy. Anyways... he was a member from TaiChung's referral. He just got back from Vancouver Canada where he lived for one year. While there he met a Taiwanese girl studying there... a member of our church. They began dating and he came back and wanted to meet with missionaries. We met with him Saturday. Then Sunday he came to all 3 hours of church, loved it, and then stayed after to meet with us again. He set a baptismal date and wants to be baptized before he leaves for Japan in March. He's super golden, intelligent, cool, and will be a great asset to the church. I'm sad we started meeting with him this late in the transfer. He's so great, and I'm excited to meet with him and help him prepare as much as possible before I leave.

Another great miracle is that a less active member my trainee reactivated through his free English class he taught was called to be the Elder's quorum president this week. That's really cool. He was less active when my trainee started teaching the intermediate class, but my trainee invited him to church and started sharing some messages and he came back. Now he's an Elder's Quorum President. YEAH!

Our great investigator Jackie is still dealing with family opposition, but this week was really good. Last week we couldn't get ahold of him at all. He had disappeared. This week we were still having trouble getting ahold of him and on Wednesday we prayed really really hard just to have the chance to get ahold of him. Wednesday evening he called us. He said he let his friend borrow his phone the previous week and that's why he hadn't answered. It was so good to get back in contact with him.

Another great investigator, Brother Li, is making real progress. He's been praying and started looking for new work that will let him attend church on Sunday. He's been developing faith and after Chinese New Year he will be getting new work and be baptized as soon as possible after that. It's really exciting!

Overall this week was really fun, tiring, rewarding, and exciting. We found a lot of great new people with lots of potential. We had a lot of fire, which I really needed. I felt like the last little while I was too "busy'' making sure to do all the little things the mission wanted us to be doing, and I was forgetting what has helped me have the success that I've had on my mission. That being straight up hard work and focusing on my purpose as a missionary and my reason for coming on a mission. It felt good. I called it doing missionary work President Grimley style. Haha. It resulted in lots of awesome miracles and there is nothing more satisfying to come home DEAD tired after a long day's work, kneel down and give an accounting to the Lord of our day's doings.

This week also had its fair share of Taiwanese people doing funny things. I was on exchanges in another area this week and we went to a less active member lady's house for dinner. She was hilarious, a little crazy, and a great cook. At one point though I began talking to her about her fish because it was a Beta fish and I wanted to know how to say Beta fish in Chinese. She then mentioned in a joking manner that her fish hadn't been baptized, I told her it wouldn't be hard because he's already immersed in the water, then she asked me to baptize her fish. I, for obvious reasons, refused, but she persisted. When I continued to refuse she took it upon herself to baptize her fish. She stuck her finger in the water and touched the fish, then she put her other hand to the square and said "little blue fish..." and went on the say the baptism prayer. So borderline crazy less active member also baptized her fish this week. I wish I could count that in my key indicators, but "Little Blue Fish" hadn't had his baptismal interview so it didn't count.

I'm going to miss Taiwan and the people here SO MUCH. I love this place. I'm so thankful I was able to come here on a mission. I know it's exactly where I was supposed to be. I'm so grateful for missions. I'm especially grateful for grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends who all set an example to me by serving faithful missions. I absolutely love this gospel. I know the fullness including proper priesthood authority was restored by the Lord through His chosen latter-day prophet Joseph Smith... and it makes me excited! Families can be eternal, the fullness of the atonement can be used, salvation can be obtained!

It's wonderful and it's been an absolute privilege to share it.

I love you all.

Elder White

January 6, 2013

 Our Christmas card

 Our first attempt at egg nog.

This week we had meetings. Then we had more meetings. After those meetings were finished we had more meetings. I'm fairly confident that this week had less proselyting time than any other week on my entire mission. However, it was still a great week rendered in the service of my Lord.
 

This week's best meeting was most definitely the monthly fireside our mission does every Fast Sunday. I always enjoy attending these firesides for investigators and new converts. I feel like every time I go I hear some good news about someone I found or taught progressing in the gospel or being baptized, and this time around was no exception. Every fireside they have 2 to 3 new converts share their experiences. The first was a girl from TaoYuan. She was an investigator of the Elders in the ward adjacent to ours but we always met her and her family. I taught her multiple times on exchanges but never anticipated her getting baptized. She was only meeting because of her recent convert mother's manipulation. That said, the Spirit worked on her recently and I was shocked to see her baptized and sharing her experience at the fireside. It was great news. 

Another one of the speakers was a man from India who I taught back in DanShui but who had disappeared. He had gone back to India and then came back to Taiwan, was found by the English ward elders and was recently baptized. Really cool stories. No effort is wasted.

My favorite news from the fireside was regarding one of my old investigators in DanShui. I found Mitch Zhao on my second day in DanShui and began teaching him. He progressed and passed his baptism interview on a Friday night over a year ago. He needed a second interview with a member of the mission presidency (common in Taiwan because many people here will have abortions, often married couples). We set up the interview for Sunday at church and Mitch never came. I was devastated. I later found out he had been tempted to drink wine by some old friends that Saturday and had given in. He was too ashamed to come back to church and stopped investigating and meeting with us altogether. Then, last month, over a year after the last time I saw him, I was looking through my old missionary planners. I found his name in my old DanShui planner and felt prompted to send him as a referral to the DanShui Elders currently serving there. Long story short, as I was walking up to the chapel for the fireside last night I was greeted by a happy Mitch. He was excited to see me. He'd been meeting with missionaries and was progressing! I was thrilled. I always felt like he was one that slipped away. The fireside was filled with good news. I was super happy.

This week we had a leadership training meeting that was ALL DAY FRIDAY and ALL DAY SATURDAY. Wow... It was long. One nice thing about the meeting was that all the leaders in the mission came to Taipei and attended no matter where they were serving. It gave me the chance to see some good missionary friends for a couple days, and for what will probably be my last chance to see them before I go home. During the meeting I was asked to do a training with another Elder from the opposite side of the island. The training was on helping investigators receive revelation through church. We had about 40 minutes to come up with this 45 minute training. Needless to say it was a little bumpy, we never really got on the same page. There was one great part of the training, however. On the whiteboard I wrote, in huge letters, a quote to get people excited about our topic. I wrote "Go To Church" - Snoop Dogg. This is a real song. Then, no one used the whiteboard for another 3 hours, so the inspiring words of Snoop Dogg were up there for a long time. 

Another good part of the meeting took place during another companionship's training. They had us role play with another missionary sharing some teaching we enjoy from the gospel, and then invite that missionary to do something based on our teaching. I hate role plays, but I've recently found ways to make them bearable. I teamed up with a sister missionary and taught the Word of Wisdom, I convinced her that God doesn't want us to eat meat in our given circumstances and that she should be vegetarian. I committed her to be vegetarian for the remainder of the transfer. She said she would. As we were evaluating, she said she felt this was an answer to her prayers. I had to bite my tongue to keep from l laughing out loud. She makes the 5th sister missionary I've convinced to eat a vegetarian diet by making them re-think the teachings of the Word of Wisdom during a role play. It's lots of fun. It also hasn't gone over too well when some of the sisters I had previously convinced later saw me eating meat. Oh well.

This last week our best investigator didn't answer his phone. Not once. We're concerned that he finally told his parents he is meeting with missionaries (something we encouraged him to do) and they haven't let him talk to us since. The family opposition in Taiwan is really sad. I know it takes place all over the world, but it's always sad to me here in Taiwan because these traditional Chinese families see Christianity as something evil. It's sad to see the younger investigators become converted to the gospel and still be unable to fully follow Christ through baptism because they're unable to obtain parental permission. It's always hard for me to swallow.

Our other investigator close to baptism had a big breakthrough this week. Saturday night we met with him. I had just returned from Leadership Training and Elder Davidson had been in another area all day. We had no lesson plan. We prayed really hard right before going into the lesson and were especially focused on listening to the Spirit. We were guided and what resulted was the most spiritual lesson I've taught with Elder Davidson. I learned... a lot. As I shared about basic principles of the gospel I was being enlightened to see the importance of them in a new way and it also enlightened the investigator. We shared a little bit about Laman, Lemuel and Nephi as the Lord instructed them to get the plates. We talked about how Nephi didn't doubt... he just acted. That was really the only difference between him and his brothers. They were asked to do the same things, make the same sacrifices, and went through basically the same trials. The only difference was Nephi's faith to do. I then told Brother Li that I could picture 2 Brother Lis. They both are him, they both will have the same trials, challenges and experiences. These brother Lis only differences are that one has faith to act on God's will and one doesn't. I asked him which one he thought would have a better, happier life and future. HE GOT IT. It clicked for him. The spirit was strong and he developed greater faith to ask and the faith to act. It was a super duper lesson. I hope it results in him overcoming his last challenge before baptism.

This last week I also sent a box of some study materials, study journals, and Chinese study stuff home. They encourage us to do so to ensure our baggage won't be overweight. It was expensive!!! Other than those books I don't think I'll have too heavy of stuff to bring home so I should be good on my luggage weight.

This week we also were able to go to the temple. It was a great experience. I always feel like I learn something new. I'm excited to be able to go really often after my mission.

I've been on a mission 2 years and 2 days. I have 19 days left. WOW. I didn't know this time would come. It's been such an amazing journey. I want to finish out strong. I can't believe it has gone by so fast. It feels right though. I've given it my all. I will continue to do so for the last 3 weeks. I'm absolutely exhausted. I will probably hibernate the first 3 weeks home. I'm excited for what the Lord has in store in these last 3 weeks as well as in the future. I'm so thankful I could serve a mission. I'm thankful I could do so in Taiwan. I'm eternally grateful for my family support. I'm even more grateful I can represent my Savior. I'm thankful for His sacrifice.

I don't remember much more of what happened this week. Just lots of meetings. I can't wait to have some time to do the WORK this week.

Elder White

December 31, 2012

Again I find myself not knowing where to begin this week's email. You'd think that this late into my mission, after so many weekly emails, I'd have the art of starting a weekly letter down to a science. Nevertheless I don't.

The last time I emailed was last week, Tuesday, Christmas Day. Obviously the highlight of any missionary's Christmas is talking to their family. I love each of you and you all sounded so great. In the most undistracted and un-homesick way possible I say: I can't wait to see you all in a few short weeks!!! It was great to speak with you. 

We started Christmas day with big dreams and high hopes. The goal: to drink egg nog. We didn't know where to find this delicious seasonal beverage here in Taiwan but we had a goal, a vision, faith, and a Costco card. We were sure our Christmas dreams would come true. In the end there is literally NO egg nog in Taiwan. We came up short but a Costco pizza did provide a nice Christmas dinner as 6 missionaries huddled around a Costco indoor picnic table. It will be a Christmas I probably won't ever forget. That night we came back to our area and Christmas caroled while passing out flyers to the free English class we teach. It was a good day.

In other news our apartment is haunted and I think I saw the ghost this last week. There was an old man that died in there 2 weeks before we moved in. Taiwanese tradition says that because he died alone and with no one to watch for him, he'll often come back to the apartment he died in and continue to mourn. Then again, Taiwanese tradition also says Jesus isn't the Savior and Redeemer of the world, so I'm not sure how much I'm believing it. All I do know is I'm about 60 percent sure I saw a ghost.

One of the biggest highlights this week was continuing to work with Zhang Hao Ren, the young man that we reactivated who has been doing so great since we reactivated him. He celebrated his birthday with a little get together at his house that he invited us to. We stopped by to say hi and to give him a small gift and he said the most exciting thing about turning 14 was that he could be ordained a teacher in the priesthood and prepare sacrament. Great answer!! I wish that had been my answer at 14, but I don't think it was. Although you can't blame me, I lived in Idaho at 14, and that's the age you can start drivers ed.

Weeks ago in an interview with the mission president, he invited me to make cookies and take them to the less active members. The next day Elder Peterson and I went to the store and realized we don't know how to make cookies, nor did we want to spend the necessary time to make them. Last week I was feeling guilty about not having done the invite from the mission president so we decided to make cookies Saturday. Since neither me nor my companion knew how we called someone we thought would know how... the sister missionaries. To our dismay, no sister missionaries in our entire zone had a cookie recipe. I thought baking cookies was what sister missionaries do EVERY preparation day. I was without recipe, but what my companion and I did have was faith. We decided to move forward with our plans and make cookies from scratch. We went to the store and grabbed all of the premade cookies boxes (oreos, chips ahoy, etc.) and we looked at what ingredients make up those cookies to give us some idea what our cookies should have. Because several of the ingredients needed for cookies (sugar, eggs, milk) were also in the Egg Nog recipe we obtained Christmas Day we also decided that we would not be denied egg nog this holiday season and attempted to make some egg nog as well. The egg nog recipe was a 5 star recipe... and the egg nog we made was probably about 3.5 stars. Needless to say, we were very satisfied. We also were ready to begin making our cookies from scratch.

Somewhere we went wrong though. I think it was because we discovered my companion added 10 times the suggested amount of baking powder. The cookies... were... bitter. We put in a lot of effort (sugar) to try to save them and what resulted was a flavor phenomenon. The cookie we created would start out sweet, then get bitter, but then somehow return to being sweet, only to leave a bitter taste in the mouth when it was all said and done. Although we had no recipe and the cookies didn't taste especially good there was one ingredient that we used plenty of... LOVE. And although there were 2 people out of the 30 or so that ate the cookies who actually liked them, it was the thought that counted. It was a great adventure and probably the last time I ever try to make cookies from scratch.

Sunday was a great day. Our amazing investigator Jackie came to church again. He is GOLDEN. His only problem is his parents who are devout Buddhists. He's ready to be baptized, but he hasn't even told his parents he's meeting with missionaries because he say if he does he'll never be allowed to come back to church or to meet again. Pray for him.

We also have other great investigators with little obstacles that are holding them back in a big way. We need miracles. They need faith to see miracles. I hope we can continue to help them and that they can wisely use their agency.

Speaking of miracles we were coming home late Saturday night and realized we had no food for the next day. We needed a miracle. We went to church hopeful. When church ended and lunch time came, we found ourselves in the church kitchen. Of course the only thing the sister missionaries were willing to share from their bounteous feast was the cookies we made and gave to them... and I didn't want any of that. Just when I thought all hope was lost, in walked the Relief Society president saying she had a gift for us. She then opened a cupboard to reveal tortilla chips. We were wide eyed as she told us these were for us. My companion said that it was an answer to his prayers, and then she said she had another answer to his prayers. She opened the fridge to reveal SALSA. She gave us chips and salsa. Mexican food. That's hard to come by in these parts. It was so great. I haven't had salsa in..... well I've been in Taiwan for 2 years, so at least that long.

Yesterday we had our district meeting. This month's topic is finding and using the plan of salvation to focus on the family as we find. I had each member of my district share testimony of how the gospel has blessed their family and encouraged them to share that same testimony with those they meet on the street. The spirit was strong, but it made me even MORE grateful for my parents and my family. I know that success in the family takes effort, and I'm super thankful for the effort my parents have put into having a successful and happy marriage and family. You are great examples to me. I want to thank you for creating a loving and happy home to be raised in. Thank you for raising me in the gospel while still giving me agency and making sure I found my own testimony. Thank you for being fun, trusting, and laid back, while still ensuring we were living gospel standards and being decent people. Thank you for pushing me academically and in other activities while still allowing me to choose what I wanted to pursue and do extracurricularly (except a few years of early morning piano practice... that was manipulation.) I'm super thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what it has done for our family. I love each of you. See you soon;)

I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. This mission has without a doubt been the greatest experience of my life. I've learned so many things I don't feel I could have learned any other way. I'm not just talking about Chinese. This mission has shifted the way I view the world around me, has solidified my personal relationship with my Father in heaven, has given me a greater appreciation of life and the things in life that are important. I've been edified, enlightened, and uplifted constantly for 2 years and it's shaped me into the man the Lord wants me to become. I'm not there yet, but this mission has pointed me in the right direction. I know I couldn't do it without my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love Him. I know this is His church and His gospel. I know He is the way, the ONLY WAY. I'm so thankful I've been able serve Him and help others know Him.

Elder White

December 24, 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's Christmas morning here in Taipei! I don't know if anyone but me and my companion are aware that it's Christmas, but we're excited! I'm thankful for the opportunity to be serving the Lord this Christmas. I most definitely miss you all, but I know I'm where the Lord wants me to be today.

This last week was pretty good. Our area is doing really well. It doesn't feel anything like an area that was just opened 3 short months ago. It's now a very successful and fruitful area of the mission and there is no chance it will be closed down anytime soon (as many areas that are opened are then closed down a couple transfers later.) That was my biggest goal for opening this area, help SanChong become a strong area. It's crazy to think we started with nothing. Now we have an awesome recent convert, and we've got a solid pool of investigators. Right now we have 3 people that are basically ready for baptism, but they all have small things they need to overcome.

Brother Zhang is great. He lives the commandments. He reads, prays, comes to church. He's got a testimony. He desires eternal life, he desires the gift of the Holy Ghost, but every time we bring up baptism he gets really scared. The feeling in the room immediately changes. We've gone over what "baptism" is multiple times. We've talked about its importance. He's attended 2 baptismal services. But there is some concern there that we don't know about. We'll continue to work with him.

Brother Li is really great. He was baptized last year in TaiChung with his then wife, but they were never confirmed. They are since divorced, but still like a married couple? His ex-wife was recently baptized AND confirmed and then moved to SanChong. We meet with Brother Li often. He's reading and praying, he's living all the commandments and really wants to be baptized. He's willing to be baptized as soon as he can get work off on Sundays, but he's unable to do this until after February next year. We're encouraging him to quit his job and work for a few months for his father until he can find work that will allow him to take Sundays off. I really hope that he will take this path. I've prayed about it a lot and I feel like this is what the Lord wants him to do. We've encouraged him to pray about it and so now it's between him and God. We'll see how he uses his agency. Pray for him.

Brother Zhu is a 16 year old kid who is golden. He's an intelligent kid with great English and a great testimony. He really wants to follow Christ and really wants to be baptized. He's got one major problem. His family are all extremely devout Buddhist. The kind that have deep hatred toward Christianity. He hasn't told his parents he's meeting with us and coming to church. He's told us if he tells them it will result in him no longer being able to learn and come to church. We need his parent's permission for baptism, so we really need a miracle. He is an amazing investigator.

This week my stomach was having the same problems it had a few weeks ago. It actually never fully went away but it definitely came back in full swing this time around. It was really getting to me so I went to the doctor on Friday. This doctor seemed a million times better than the one I went to last time. Last time we had to spend about 3 hours in total traveling to and from the doctor and waiting to be seen, then the doctor saw me for about 60 seconds and gave me some drowsy tums-type medicine that didn't do much. It wasn't a pleasant experience but the mission president's wife refers everyone to that hospital because they all are able to speak English there. I didn't want to go through that kind of experience again so I decided I'd just go to the clinic by our house, because I speak Chinese anyway. The entire trip took a total of 15 minutes. I was able to find out what was actually wrong with my stomach, and I got medicine that was non-drowsy and actually worked. My stomach feels a lot better now so that was great!

This week our ward put on a Christmas party. It was really great. Lots of good food and fun. I invited the English class I teach on Wednesday night to come and a bunch of them unexpectedly did. It was really great. There were lots of non-members, investigators, and less active members there who were able to come and learn a bit more about this holiday. It was a great activity and I'm glad our ward puts in a lot of effort to have these ward parties. Although the ward is really small they help unite the ward. Plus nothing says Christmas dinner like steamed rice and tofu.

My current companion wrote a song in the MTC called "Perfect Love" This week I put piano to it. We then performed it at the ward Christmas party. It went so well we got asked to perform it at the other branch that uses our building's Christmas party as well. Then Monday we performed it in front of all the missionaries at the mission Christmas talent show. It's been fun. I remember as a kid always arguing with mom about how much I hated piano lessons, and then mom would tell me how I would use piano on my mission, and I argued that I wouldn't. Well I never did need it. I thought I had won the debate. But lately I've used it a bit and I've been asked to play at a baptism in our ward Friday night. Yikes. You win mom. I'll send you my companion's song lyrics, they're really great.

Yesterday was our Mission's "Christmas Party.'' The senior missionaries put in a ton of effort to provide an American style Christmas lunch. It was so great! Stuffing, Yams, Turkey (Which is a rarity in Taiwan, most Taiwanese people haven't eaten turkey before.) It was a great meal and senior missionaries are the best! My favorite part though was right at the end. After the lunch, talent show, and watching the missionary choir perform their Christmas program for what felt like the 30th time this month, President Day addressed us. He talked about the spirit of Christmas and just about some different things. It was such a powerful and moving talk. The spirit was so strong, and I received a spiritual confirmation that this is where I need to be right now. This Christmas away from home is so much harder than last year's, knowing that I could be there with you all right now had I not chosen to extend an extra transfer. But after yesterday there is no doubt I'm where the Lord intended me to be at this time. Therefore I also need to be doing the things the Lord wants me to do in these last few weeks. My gift to the Lord this year is going to be going all out this last month of my mission.

Yesterday our bishop had us over for dinner. It was great. There was a special spirit in his humble home as we played and visited with their family. His 4 kids are the greatest! They are so cute. They had us and an investigator family over for a family home evening and pizza. Then we sang hymns together around their piano. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow me, my companion, and bishop singing Silent Night in Chinese helped me feel the spirit of Christmas stronger than anything else this year. It was a special experience, and it was a really great way to spend Christmas Eve.

Being Elder Davidson's companion is great. Besides him being such a humble and loving person, and genuinely fun to be around, there are also some other perks. His step mother is Taiwanese and from Taipei, so many members know her. Because they know her they are especially good to Elder Davidson. Sometimes to the tune of giving him all kinds of Christmas gifts and food. This last week his mom's friends from another ward came and gave him all kinds of amazing food and snacks (including Costco muffins!!!) and as his companion I also get to reap the benefits of his step mother's Taiwaneseism!

I can't believe time is going by so fast. It's been a special blessing to serve in Taiwan and to serve the Lord. I'm so grateful we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, Redeemer, and King. Today for Christmas P-day an Elder Relyea and I are going to go all over Taipei on a day long quest to find and drink egg nog. We don't know where we can buy egg nog, but we won't stop til we've had Christmas egg nog.... unless it hits 6 p.m. because that's when p-day ends. We've secured a Costco card, though we've yet to find transportation to Costco, but things are looking up as far as the chances of drinking that amazing seasonal beverage. We made egg nog a key indicator in our planner today, set a goal, made plans to achieve the goal... I'll admit I haven't prayed for it, but minus the absence of prayer I've done everything Preach My Gospel tells me I must do to achieve this goal. Wish us luck.

I love you all! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love, Elder White

p.s. When I was with Elder Peterson, my trainee, we created a "prayer board" on which we would write specific things to pray for. It started working and so we started praying for even more things... all of which were happening, even the weirder ones. Then the unthinkable happened. The week before move calls we put up a bunch of move call specific things to pray for. We thought we'd really test it out. Then everything we prayed for happened at move calls. Including specific companions, missionaries in our district to stay that we all thought would move, and Elder Peterson to go to a specific area and serve around specific people. It all happened. We were shocked. Lately we added to the prayer list that we wanted the Mission President to approve the use of mormon.org and lds.org on p-day so we can go and listen to talks and use those things. Yesterday at the mission party President Day gave a sheet of instructions from the Brethren saying they want every missionary to become familiar with mormon.org and every week spend at least one hour on it. Also they approved the usage of lds.org. Elder Peterson and I went nuts. The prayer board is amazing. And Elder Davidson has really run away with the prayer board. He's added a lot of great stuff and at this rate, Tim Tebow will be baptized a member of our church. Look for it to happen... I'm serious.