Elder Jordan Chatman: Week 12- July 15, 2012

Dear Family,

On Wednesday, a couple from the ward here in Bade drove us in their van to Taipei for the temple trip. A temple trip happens once every 12 weeks. Driving here is crazy. We didn’t even have seatbelts in the van we were in. Driving laws are never followed here and they aren’t enforced so people go whatever speed they want, they run lights, they honk at you if you’re in their way and pass slower cars all of the time. It’s crazy. But we made it to the Taipei temple safely. It takes about 45 minutes to get there by car. We went to the temple for a couple hours then came back home. Then later that night, we had an hour and a half English class we teach every week. I teach the intermediate level English. This week I taught them body parts and colors and then talked about the Book of Mormon.

Every day, we have studies for 4 hours. I actually really like studies. My favorite part is personal study. I usually read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes, the Preach my Gospel booklet, and a book called Our Search for Happiness (by M. Russell Ballard, one of the Church Leaders).

Right now we are teaching a girl named Jan Wen Wen. She is getting really close to getting baptized. She’s been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and knows that this church is true. The only problem is that she works on Sunday so she can’t come to church. We have to resolve that problem and then she'll be able to be baptized. She also has a younger sister that is close to getting baptized but she has the same problem as well. Their older sister got baptized a few months ago and is strong in the Church, so it would be great if they all would be able to get baptized.

My favorite investigator is a lady from the Philippines. She is a care taker here in Taiwan. I like her lessons because they are in English. So I can say a lot more...she has been keeping commitments like not having coffee and keeping the commandments but is having a hard time accepting baptism because her mom from the Philippines doesn’t want her to be baptized.

We had a baptism Saturday and then on Friday we had a miracle lesson. We’ve been meeting with a guy here who is really busy because he works in insurance. He has been struggling with faith. So in the lesson we were like, you gotta make up your mind. We believe you believe in the things, you need them in your life, so take that leap of faith and be baptized. He said yes and will be baptized in 2 Saturdays! So that was awesome.

Then there is an older lady that used to be Buddhist but she felt it wasn’t right. She found our church and knows that is true. We asked her to be baptized and she was like yeah of course. She is awesome and wants these things so badly in her life because she knows they are from God. She will be baptized in 3 Saturdays.

One Friday, me and my companion got to go to Taipei again! It took us 2 hours to get there. We take the bus and then the train. Wow, I never knew so many people could fit in a subway. I literally had people up against me from all sides. You seriously couldn’t fit any more people in the subway. Then right when I think that, at the next stop, more people come in and shove people out the way and squeeze in. It is wild. We went to Taipei because the mission president had a training conference with all of the trainers (missionaries teaching us new missionaries) and the district and zone leaders. That was cool because I saw all of my buddies from the MTC. I haven’t seen them since the plane ride here. It was cool to talk with them and see how they are doing. The only people I didn’t see was an Elder from Australia that I’m friends with and one of my companions from the MTC. They are on like the east coast and down south, almost by the southern tip of Taiwan. It would take them about 5 hours to get to Taipei so they didn’t get to come. I hope I get the chance to serve part of my mission down where they are at for a bit.

Love,

Jordan

A bug trap that they set in their kitchen. It is full of cock roaches.

This is part of the area where they bike on their mission.

This is Jordan's trainer with Penny, a member, whose sister was an investigator and the other sister got baptized. Penny herself was a recent convert of less than a year.