Serving in Taiwan: Week 34

你好!

Well, this week has been quite the change for me. On Friday, we had transfers, and I was one of the people moving. To put it simply, it was quite the change for me. I went from one of the most rural parts of our mission to, as my companion has told me, one of the most densely populated areas in the Taipei area. So, there has been a lot of changes that have happened. So, as for where I am now at, I am in 新埔 (Xin Pu), which is part of 板橋 (Ban qiao) in New Taipei City.

As for my new companion, it is Elder Robinson (羅長老). He is one generation younger than me, so we actually know each other pretty well in the MTC because he was in the same zone as me. So, if you look back to the big group photos of the zone back in the MTC, you should be able to pick him out of a couple of photos. The other thing about being his companion too, is that I am actually his breaker because he just finished being trained. He was one of the lucky visa waiters that served in the states in Portland Oregon for about half a transfer before coming to Taiwan. So, for a little bit about him, he is from Bountiful, Utah and just graduated from high school, so he is one of the 18 year old missionaries in the mission. He has one sister who is still in high school. He is a pretty big fan of snow skiing.

As for a little bit about my new area, it is awesome. I am still trying to get use to a couple of things, but it will probably take some time. Probably the biggest one, actually has to do with contacting on the street. In Preach My Gospel, it talks about contacting everyone on the street. Well, in 苗栗, that was a pretty realistic thing because there were not as many people, but here, it's like... where do I even start contacting because there are so many people. We will go to a less active places because those people are a lot easier and more willing to stop and chat with us. So, it really has been a change. One of the best parts about the area is the ward. Coming from 苗栗 (Miaoli), where the ward relationship was good, this new ward just kind of blows them out of the water. They are super supportive of everything in missionary work. We have been working with a couple of investigators recently, and the ward has just been such a blessing with helping them feel welcomed and finding friends. So, I am sure over the next couple of weeks, you will be hearing a lot about the ward and my new area because it is just so awesome! :)

As for this past week and a half, things have been really good. Elder Ure and I had our last week together in 苗栗 (Miaoli) just working on getting every last minute thing done. We had a ton of less active visits, which was amazing and a good number of member visits too. It really was a good week in 苗栗 (Miaoli). Over all, I felt like my time in 苗栗 (Miaoli) was amazing. I learned so much and will sure miss a good number from things from there.

Also, since it was the last week of the transfer, we had our English party which was playing one big game of Clue. Pretty much, it is like a live version of the board game Clue, but people must go around ask everyone else in the room what their evidence was, so that they could find out who the murderer was, the room that Mr. Black (imaginary person who was murdered) was killed in and what was used to kill him. The only rule though was that for the entire game, they must speak English. In some part, this did create a challenge for them, but overall, it really seemed like they had a good time.

As for a few miracle that happened this week, it actually had to do with contacting and English class. For the English class, in 苗栗 (Miaoli) we never saw success through English boarding, but yesterday we actually had someone come up to us and ask us about the English class that we provide each week. It was a super cool to see how here, people are actually really interested to talk with us, because in 苗栗 (Miaoli), it was not even close to that. Everyone would avoid us. The other really cool miracle was actually three different contacts. One was finding someone who had meet with the missionaries about two years ago and said he would come to church this week. And the other two were just random, quick contacts that were interested to meet with us just because we were sharing a message about happiness. So for me, I felt like it was such a blessing. A lot of time, I always thought that it was hard to do missionary work, but when God gives you a miracle, it just makes it feel so much more worth it and so much easier.

Lastly, for a blessing before my time is up, I finally got my bike this morning. For the past five days, we have been walking everywhere to meet with people. Because of walking, things have always been a little tight for time. Just the other night we were pushing it to get home on time because our lesson was about an hour and a half walk from our home, so having a bike on a mission has its benefits and blessing. So, I really am grateful that my bike finally made it to Taipei safely.

Well, my time is about up. Thanks for all the prayers and letters! :)

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson