Week 13- July 22, 2012

Hey eveyone!

It’s amazing how fast the weeks go by. So this week we had 40 lessons, which is unheard of! The standard is like 20 lessons or something and we blew that away. They are so many people here that are interested in hearing the gospel, so we have been really busy trying to teach everyone.

This week I got to go on exchanges, which means you switch companions for the day. I went to a bigger city called Taoyan. I went with 2 of the missionary leader missionaries (a zone leader and assistant to the president). That was cool because both of them are from Taiwan. Their English was pretty good so it was awesome to work on my Chinese with them. I met a ward member while I was with them who is an Aborigine. This means his ancestors were one of the first people to live in Taiwan. So basically like a Native American in America. The Aborigines here look like Native Americans. He was a really cool guy and helped us teach an investigator.
So there is this older lady scheduled to be baptized next week. But she called us this week and said that she didn’t want to get baptized anymore because she has no friends at church and her body just can’t take going to Church (she is like in her upper 70's). So went over there and talked about how what really matters is the next life and how she needs baptism to be saved! Plus we said if she really believes that this is the true Church, then those others concerns shouldn’t matter. So she now is going to get baptized again and said she made up her mind that she wants baptism.
A lot of people hear smoke! My companion guessed probably about 65% of adults smoke! So we have been trying to help a few people give up their addictions. They have read the Book of Mormon and prayed so they know this church is true and want baptism. They just struggle to give up smoking in order to receive baptism! So we have been working with a few people on that!
People here are really poor compared to America. Some of the poorest people in America would be considered rich here! I haven’t seen any houses yet! People live in apartment type things and in really dirty living conditions. But they are some of the nicest people and are happy!  I have heard now 9 languages - English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Tag log, Spanish, and Indonesian.
Some cool things, if some says your name trying to get your attention, you can say "yo"!  It’s real Chinese so I like doing that! The fruit here is really good, especially the mangos! They have the things called fruit milks. It is milk that tastes like the fruit. So good! My favorite is probably the papaya milk!

We do personal study time for 4 hours each day. 

1 hour is personal study - Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, etc.

2 hours is companion study - role plays, plan lessons, etc.

1 hour is language study - study Chinese

We do that everyday for the first 12 weeks and then study time gets smaller

The ward is really friendly. We had 14 investigators at Church yesterday! We actually have 2 sets of missionaries in the ward...us and the 2 others we live with. The ward loves missionaries. There is a members in their early 20's that are single and not doing much, so they help us teach lessons.

We get some member referrals.

Anyways to close, I want to say. I know this Church is God's true. I know the Church was restored to the earth today through Joseph Smith. I know that the promise in the Book of Mormon is real! If you read and pray about the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart, you will receive an answer that it is a true book from God. Everyone that hears the message about the Book of Mormon and has sincerely done that, has received an answer! Those that didn’t really read or didn’t pray with a true desire, never received answers!

Elder Chatman

This is of me and the Taiwanese missionaries when I went on exchanges. The one on the left is the Assisant to the mission president, Elder Fang, and the one on the right is the zone leader, Elder Sheng. He is really dark and jokes saying he is black and my brother.

This is at the chapel after a rain storm. Jordan was soaked head to toe!! This happens often when you bike

 This is Maguire, a less active they were helping with great English. He loves the Elders