Week 47- March 17, 2013

Week 47

March 17, 2013

你們好!

This week, my companion Elder Powell got transferred and I got a sweet, new companion, Elder Wesemann. He is from Colorado and spent one year at the Air Force Academy. He has been on his mission about 7 months. I also became senior companion for the first time and District Leader. There are eight of us in the district: 4 sisters and 4 elders. As a district leader, I receive a report from the missionaries on Sunday nights about how their week went and then I conduct once a week district meetings. I try to motivate and support the district with their missionary work.

Right now, I’m in the Song Shan area. It is right in the heart of Taipei. Taipei 101 is in our area and there are probably around a million people in our area. (Actually I have no idea, but it’s a ton of people lol). Tons of people in the area, but the hard part is teaching them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We try to talk to everyone we see, but lately we've just been getting a hand in our face or the cold shoulder. It’s fun though and we are trying our best. My new companion was shocked at how hard it was to get people to talk to us. He has been out on the east coast of Taiwan his whole mission and people out there will talk to you. There is prepared people out there though and we are going find them. We are going to try to work a lot more with ward members now and see if they have any friends interested in learning this life changing message. That’s hard too because sometimes when we ask to visit some members they will say, "nahhh I’ll see you on Sunday, no need to come visit us.” Anyways, we are still doing it, trying to make something happen.

Now I want to teach you something cool about some Chinese characters and how they are related to the gospel. I didn’t make this up either. This is real, no joke.

So the character for Holy Spirit is 靈(Ling) (Sheng Ling means the Holy Ghost) and if you look at this character you have the 3 boxes which represent Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost: 3 separate beings. Then you have the 2 half triangles things under them which means people (人means person) so Heavenly Father and Jesus have 2 bodies. Then under them you have 1 line, representing that Heavenly, Jesus and the Holy Ghost have 1 person. So in all, this character is saying God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are separate beings, only God and Jesus have bodies, but God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost have the same purpose. Not sure if any of that made sense to you. Really neat stuff though! I’ll have another for you next week. Peace

Elder Chatman

Week 46- March 10, 2013

 Week 46

March 10, 2013

Hey everyone,

Tough week as far as success goes but we did a lot of work. Our best investigator stopped answering our calls and when we visited him, he wasn’t too interested in meeting with us again. It felt like we got stabbed in the heart!  I hate to see him go.

Tuesday, the bishop called us and said a less active member wanted our help. The less-active’s friend went to the Buddhist temple and did some stuff and now she felt spirits were following her. So we went over there and gave her a priesthood blessing. After that the spirits went away she said. The Melchizedek priesthood is real!

Also this week, I went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went to Xi-Zhi with Elder Phelps. He is so funny! I love his missionary style.

My new favorite scripture is Matthew 16:26.  It says- “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” How many dumb things do we do over what God would want us to do?

Anyways that’s a rap,

Elder Chatman

View from Jordan's apartment in Taipei.

A meal Jordan ate at a ward mission dinner at Tastys Restaurant.  The meat was a little raw..... :)

Jordan's companion, Elder Powell, pulling Jordan with a rope attached onto both of their bikes.

Another view from Jordan's apartment in Taipei.

Week 45- March 4, 2013

Week 45

March 4, 2013

Hi from Taipei!

Here a recap of last week:

Tuesday, we had district meeting (where all the missionaries in the area meet.) My companion is the district leader and then we have four other sisters and the zone leaders in our district. Tuesday night, we met with brother Huang, an investigator, and had a do or die lesson with him. We asked him what’s holding him back from being baptized and he basically said he doesn’t want to keep the commandments and isn’t really willing to change. So we basically told him that there isn’t much more we can do as missionaries and that were going stop meeting with him until he's ready to do his part. Wednesday, we met with a new investigator who we contacted through a referral from the Taichung missionaries who met him down there. We met with him and talked about God, Christ, and baptism. His concern was that he has to go worship his ancestors with his family and because he is the oldest son. (I guess he is responsible for passing on the tradition or something.) We told him about some ways he can know there is only one God and such and he seemed willing to try it out.

Thursday, we had two lessons setup but one of them cancelled. Then the other appointment didn’t even show up, but we had ward mission meeting and did some street contacting. Friday, my companion had a meeting at the stake center (my previous area’s chapel) and then later that afternoon, we did some more translating for a local member and a Philippine member trying to change her work. Then that night, we met with a solid investigator named David. He went to college at U of San Diego and grew up Christian. We shared about the restoration and had a great lesson. On Saturday, we went out to Xizhi, about 45 min away on bus and attended the sister’s baptismal service. The baptismal font was outside, it was raining, and the water was kind of cold. I felt bad for the 75+ year older lady getting baptized in that, but I’m sure she was warm on the inside. (aka Holy Ghost).

On Sunday, during sacrament, (church time when the members speak) the bishop invited me on the spot to go up and share my testimony being that I’m new in the ward. It went pretty good.  I cracked a joke about Taiwanese thinking I am like Obama and I got the congregation to laugh. lol

Anyways, that’s the scoop for this week.

-Elder Chatman

Week 44 -February 24, 2013

Week 44

February 24, 2013

Li ho! (Taiwanese for ni hao)

Quick recap of the week!

Monday, me and my companion went over to a member’s house and taught a lesson to one of the investigators, Mr. Huang. He has been meeting with missionaries for like one year now and has read the whole Book of Mormon all the way through.  But he says that he still didn’t know if it was true or not. So we went and taught him about the Spirit, how it works, and what kind of answer he might receive because he had no idea what answer he might get. He probably thought God was going to appear to him or light his pillow on fire (no joke, people have thought that before). So we helped him recognize how the Spirit might testify to him...

Tuesday, we had a training meeting with Elder Evans and Elder Watson with most of our mission in attendance (except for the missionaries on the south east coast which is like a 6 hour train ride away). It was a pretty good training meeting. They talked about faith and having joy in the work. Oh and on our way there, we were on the bus and a lady came a sat down in the seats facing us. She looked at our name tags and then started yelling at us. She said Jesus Christ is garbage but in stronger language lol. Then she went off in Taiwanese because she knew we probably couldn’t speak it. That’s was fun! Later that night, we met with a Mr. Wang. He's about 23 and we taught him about the restoration. He is pretty solid. He willingly listened and loved it all. My companion found him two weeks ago tracting with his last companion.

Thursday, we went on exchanges with the zone leaders (this is where you switch companions.) I went to Xi Zhi with Elder Gist from Nebraska. We taught the plan of salvation that night and then on Friday, we went to the library for an hour and did some service.  Then we walked around the streets of their area talking to the people. Not much success because it was raining, so not many people were out but we tried.

Then Saturday, we went and helped a member do some translating. He works for some labor organization that helps Philippine workers and their employers. So he needed our help talking with the Philippine sister who wanted to leave her current employer.  She said she was getting treated badly which is true. (The Philippines get treated really rudely here). So she spoke in English, then we'd translate to Chinese, and then the member brother would speak in Chinese and we would translate into English. We did that for about 2 hours. I’m proud of myself because most of it I could translate except for some weird words. I didn’t know like diaper or accumulate. lol

Sunday, we had to inform the bishop that an ordination (when they give the priesthood to a young man) that they did was done incorrectly. A young man was getting the Aaronic priesthood but they had kids in the office of teacher helping give it to him. (Bu xing)  Once the Bishop found out, he handled it.

Anyways, that’s pretty much what went on this week.

Take care!

Elder Chatman

This is when Elder David Evan's in the pink tie in the front. Elder Watson is in the blue tie.  He is the Asian Area President.

Week 43- February 17, 2013

Week 43

October 17, 2013

Hey everyone,

This was a crazy week. To start off on Monday night, I got a phone call from the assistants. They said on Thursday, I was moving to a new area in Taipei. So just like that, in the middle of the transfer, I got moved. The reason it happened was because my new companion’s previous companion was a local kid just helping out until he got his visa to Australia to go serve his mission. So he got his visa on Thursday and left for Australia, which is what sparked some of the moves. My previous companion got another Taiwanese to be with him to be in the English ward. Both of their English is isn’t too great, so that'll be fun for them trying to teach in English. My new companion is from Virginia, but born in Utah. We are the funniest looking companionship as he is about 5'7", weighs about a buck 15 and has glasses. Then I look like a giant to the locals. No wonder everyone stares at us wherever we go.

Then yesterday the head of the missionary department of the church (Elder David Evans) came and visited Taiwan and visited our ward! Elder Evans from the seventy (an important position in the church) and his wife and a member of the Asian area presidency, Elder Watson and his wife, all came to visit Taiwan for a few days. Not sure why they came to our ward of all wards but they came and stayed for the whole 3 hours. They talked in sacrament meeting and then Elder Evans taught the Sunday school and Aaronic priesthood lessons with the help of a translator. They are doing a mission wide meeting on Tuesday with all of us missionaries so that should be cool.

Have a good week!
Love, 
Jordan

A parade going on during Chinese New Year's week

More part of the parade going on....

A view of Taipei from a member's apartment, Bao Jiating.

Jordan eating at a member's home with the other missionary's in the ward (Jin Hua ward) - Sister Taylor, Sister Chen, Jordan, Elder Kang (his favorite companion), and Elder Graves

Jordan talking to Elder Watson, Asia Area president who visited their ward (Song Shan)

Sacrament meeting in SongShan ward with the head of the missionary department Elder Evans and Asia area president Elder Watson and their wives. On the front left is Elder and Sister Hill (senior couples in the mission), third from left Taipei Central Stake President, third from the right President Chiles from the stake presidency who was in the English Ward with Jordan, 2nd from right Bishop Shen3, far right President Hu also from the stake presidency

Week 42- February 11, 2013

Week 42 February 11, 2013

新年快樂

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is nothing like I expected it to be. I thought there was going to be crazy things going on - parades, fireworks, celebrations, etc – but not so.  All that really happens is just that everyone in Taipei leaves and reconnects with their families in the southern part of the island. It is about a week long Christmas day where absolutely nothing is open at all and hardly anyone is out on the streets. One tradition they have though is to eat! For this upcoming week, the members are feeding us every day. We have meals scheduled for lunch and dinner with members’ everyday for the next week. And it’s crazy how much food they bring out. I’m not a bigger eater.  I prefer to eat small sized meals every 2-3 hours, but the members meals are not small. They feed you until you literally can’t eat anymore. I’ll finish like 1 bowl of rice, but then they'll be like, "keep eating!" or "What? You are already full?" haha So I try to force a couple more bowls of rice and meat down! The meals are great though. Meat and rice is a great combo!   Don’t get me wrong, they'll bring some weird stuff out every now and then. I don’t even ask what it is anymore. I just eat and try to mix it in with the good tasting meat. This past Saturday, we had Miguel De Vinchi's baptism. It went really well and I was so happy to see him get baptized. He faced a couple of trials this week leading up to the baptism, but his faith was like a rock and nothing was going to stop him from getting baptized. My testimony in the converting power of the gospel was strengthened after seeing him get baptized. He had so many setbacks keeping him from baptism which I kind of expected would knock hold him back like it had for a bunch of our investigators. A bunch of our investigators are unwilling to keep the commandments or other things. But after reading, praying, coming to church, and actually living the commandments, he saw the power it had in his life and he wanted that change. Now I know the converting power of the gospel can have this effect on anyone.

Hope everyone is doing well!

莊長老

Elder Chatman

Escalator in Taiwan. The middle allows carts to go up to the next level of the building.

Elder Phelps, Miguel, and Jordan at Miguel's baptism

Some gangsters in Jordan's English class that he teaches on Wednesday nights.

Jordan tracting in the city of Taipei.

Jordan looking for investigators to teach.

Jordan knocking on doors.

Week 41 -February 3, 2013

大家好,

This past week my companion had to attend 2 training meetings because he is a new district leader which meant lots of study time for me. This is cool because now I’m almost done with this language program. We have to memorize 2000 words. I’m taking the test this week and if I pass it I can start learning Chinese characters. I already know around a hundred but I’ll start to learn more so that I’ll be able to read the Book of Mormon in Chinese. I also met this cool missionary from Utah that played HS football. This is his first week on the island and his companion is also a new district leader so we chatted while our companions attend their training meetings. It was cool to finally talk sports with someone again!

We met with Miguel a couple times this week and then he had his baptismal interview this week. It was really crazy actual. He had been living in this apartment thing with other people, but he hated living there. Then after teaching him the law of chastity he was like alright I’ll move out asap. So he had been looking to find a place to move to and we had been praying that it would work out. Then low and behold, earlier this week there was a disputation between him and the land lord and he had to move out. So now he's staying at a hotel while he looks for a place to live. 奇蹟! God works in mysterious ways! I am glad it worked out so now he's going to be getting baptized next Saturday! What is his last name? De Vincci! You can’t get more Italian than that.

Yesterday, we were at the church for almost 12 hours! We had ward council at 9am, a ward mission meeting at 10:30, English ward church meeting from 11-2, Chinese ward church meeting from 1:30-430, dinner at the church from about 5-6pm, and then there was a new member/investigator fireside from 7pm-8:15pm!  So we were there all day, but it was all good. Sundays is actually one of my favorite days!

Recently the mission has let us go on to Mormon.org to think about how we can use it to help our members and I came across this cool one that they did in Taipei. You should watch it - http://mormon.org/shi/ . The cool building and stuff right at the start are actually in my area.

Anyways, hope everyone is doing well! God lives and loves you. Do what he asks you to do and you'll be happy!

Elder Chatman

莊長老