Week 19 -September 2, 2012

Hey everyone,

This week was a little different. It was like ghost week or something to the Buddhist religion. So they believe these Buddhist ghosts come at night or something, I’m not really sure what it is. But anyways, so everyone gets these big tables and places food on them and they leave them out over time to feed the ghosts. So we would be riding around on our bikes and we would see everything from Pringles to skinned chickens sitting outside people’s houses. They also burn these paper things, so the city was filled with smoke.  It is so much so, that you can barely see while you are going around. Then earlier this week, we were walking down this alley and ran into a Buddhist celebration. They had a big king type chair and on it a dead pig that was dressed up with a crown and stuff on it. Then lying on top of the pig, there was a skinned goat.  Then they were all around with burning incense and bowing down to it. It was definitely different than I have ever seen. I wanted to film it but I am sure that would be disrespectful, so I didn’t.

This week, we got another companion who is from Taichung Taiwan. His companion isn’t here yet, so he was with me and my companion this week. It was cool having a native to practice Mandarin with 24/7. His English is really good though.

This week, like usual, we were crazy busy meeting with people. We have a baptism this upcoming Saturday, so we are excited about that. The sister being baptized is awesome. She just had some trouble getting to Church.  So that’s what took her so long to get baptized, because other than that she’s been prepared for a long time.

Another investigator is a kid named Lin Ren Shan. He is preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. We thought he was ready, but then we met with him this week. He was like “Yeah yesterday I got baptized in this other Christian Church, but I still want to be baptized in yours.” We were like, huh? I am not really sure why he did that. We had to explain again the restoration and talk about priesthood authority to baptize. I think he understands now.

Recently, we have been visiting a lot of less actives. Our mission president wanted the mission to pick up its efforts in that area. Yesterday, we visited with a father who hasn’t been to church in years. Most less active visits are good, but this man was a little different. He was like “yeah I don’t really think I want to come back to church.”  Then my new companion, Elder Shu, started bearing his testimony about how he knows this Church is true and the blessings we get from it. Then, the man just cuts him off. He says, "stop, just stop." (He said that in English too, which was weird). He was like, “I don’t want to hear it,  …..joining your church was a mistake.”  So that visit didn’t work out too well, but there was not much else good we could do.

This week, we had to teach a lot about why we live the commandments. A lot of people here struggle with things like drinking tea, smoking, pornography, or not keeping Sabbath day holy - those are the big ones. We focused on why we keep the commandments because like President Uchtdorf said, knowing the Why of living the gospel is what provides the motivation and courage to keep fighting and living the right way. My favorite scripture for teaching this is Mosiah 2:41. It says, "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ^ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are ^bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out ^cfaithful to the end, they are received into ^dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." This scripture is pretty much self-explanatory. If we are righteous, we are so much happier and are blessed now, spiritually and temporally, and we'll be able to live with God again. How cool is that!

Alright, that’s it for this week. I hope everybody is doing well.

Love,

Jordan Chatman

Jordan, some of the other missionaries, and investigators, at a Micheal McLean concert in Taiwan.