Hello!
So the new area I am in is 恆春 (hengchun) It is the
southernmost part of Taiwan so we are surrounded by the ocean on the east,
south and west. It is a supper beautiful place. Last p-day we went to a beach
with a few friends and there were a bunch of people surfing. My companion is
from southern California and loves surfing. He got me really excited about it
and now I have decided I need to try it out some day.
The last area I was in had about 80 people coming to church
when I left, one of the biggest wards in our mission. The branch I am in now
had about 15 active members, the smallest in all of the country. Because there
aren't very many I've already been able to meet most of them. There are a few pretty cool members but overall the
Branch is a little lacking in Faith, we are really going to be working hard on
helping the members get excited about missionary work this transfer. Last week
we had two baptisms so that should be a good start and hopefully got a few of
the members excited. One of the men that got baptized is 93 years old and
always has one of the biggest smiles ever. He is great.
On Wednesday we were on our way to lunch when a man pulled
us over and started talking to us. He said he knew the missionaries a while ago
and that he really needs help later in the night. So we set up to go visit him
as soon as we were done with our dinner. He is living in a hotel owned by his
brother so we talked to him for a few minuets in the lobby and then he asked if
we could go out back to the parking lot so he could show us something. He told
us that he made a promise a few years ago that he would help God build a church
and now he finally has all of the resources to do it. In the back parking lot
he had a huge pile of toys, remote control cars and boats mostly. He asked if
he could store the stuff in our church and he said that by selling these he
would be able to save up enough money to build the church. Before we could
respond he told us to follow him across the road to the land he bought to build
our new church. The land he "bought" was a public park in between a
bathroom and a Taoist temple. Next to the bathroom he had chained up a stray
dog to protect the area from tourists. He also said he needs our help because
he is spending all of his time maintaining and cleaning the bathroom so he
doesn't have any time to build our church. At this point we had to leave
because our English class was about to start and we told him we would talk to
him later. Then half way through English class he walked into the church with
his 200 pound dog because his dog really wants to learn English. I asked him if
the dog could wait outside which he wasn't to happy with but in the end did
agree. He came back in to class to learn and spent the entire time correcting
all of the other students, he said he has graduated from Harvard, Yale and
Stanford... At the end of class we asked if there were any volunteers to say
the closing prayer and he jumped up right away and said that he could do it.
Right before starting he told us that he is Taoist so he prays a little
differently. His "prayer" the consisted of him standing at the front
of the class yelling at everyone because our society has become a slave to
technology. He had to stop this rant twice to check his phone. Finally I was
able to calm him down and everyone else in the class basically ran to the door
as soon as class was over. We thought that would be the last time we would see
this man but just an hour or two ago he called me because these bad people have
locked him up in a mental hospital and he needs us to get him a bible.... I
might have more to report on this story by next week....
anyway, thank you for both taking the time to email me again
this week. i love you both and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Wills
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