Week 39

你好!

Well, to begin the week off, Elder Robinson and I decided to take a crazy trip to a waterfall, 十分 (Shifen, or for the direct translation 'ten minutes'), for P-Day. The reason it was crazy was because it was a two hour train ride there and a two hour train ride back, so we barely made it back on time for our lessons, but it was really fun. If you ask anyone about the waterfall, they will know it. It is the biggest waterfall in Taiwan. So, even with it being crazy, it was a super fun P-Day.

As for the rest of the week, it would probably count as just more and more fun, with a missionary twist because we are missionaries. As in China, 過年 (Chinese New Year) is huge and everyone celebrates. Here in Taiwan, it was the exact same. So, every day starting about Tuesday til about the middle of this week, we have members inviting us over for dinner/情客 (Dinner invites). All I can say is that Elder Robinson and I are loving it. Only comment is that this next week will include a lot of exercising to make sure all that food doesn't turn into weight. :)

As for something other than lots of eating, we had also had a ton of success. As a companionship, Elder Robinson and I both come to the conclusion that this was the best week for us out of the transfer. We were able to meet a ton of members and actually got a good number of referrals too. One of our favorite referrals from the week was a Charlie Hong. He was baptized in Norway over the summer and never really found the church here in Taiwan when he came back. When we got the referral about and called him up, he also told us that he wanted us to teach his sister about the church, which was even better. We both were super excited and are looking forward to meeting with them again this week!

During 過年 (Chinese New Year), one of the biggest things is 紅包 (hong bao), which is a small red envelope with money in it. It is very common for close friends and family to give 紅包 (hong bao) to each other, but as for being missionaries, we did not really get any. But with that being said, we did get one from a politician (consisting of one TWD or about a nickles worth). So, nothing big, but we did get a 紅包 (hong bao) over Chinese New Year.

This week, we also had interviews with President Day, where we got to set new goals for the upcoming two transfers, as this next interview will be the last one we have with him. As for the easiest ones to measure, I am looking to finish up Phase 2 and have a box 1 of Phase 3 done as well, which is moving onto characters.

As for the week as a whole, it really was great. I can't really pin point the best part of the week or the harder part of the week, but as a whole, this really was a great week. As for a miracle that we saw this week was through inviting as many less actives as we could to the Chinese New Year party that the ward had on Sunday. One of the less actives was actually able to attend and had a great time, so it really is a blessing to have such a great ward that involves everyone that we bring.

Well, my time is about up. Sorry about the short letter, but I hope that the photos give you a good idea of what a great week this was! :)

我愛妳們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

Week 38

你好!

Well, to begin off, time truly does fly. It is week four of the transfer, but it feels like we just got put together, which is the craziest feeling. With that being said though, it probably is because we both have been having a good time doing missionary work and it was just made better by some amazing weather. For half of the week, we had sun shine and blue skies, which just makes the day so much easier and happier. We also were able to start the week off great with two amazing 情客 (Dinner invites) from two amazing investigators. They both took us out to an amazing 火鍋 (Hot pot), which was super good. Along with those two 情客 (Dinner invites), we also got a few other 情客 (Dinner invites) as well. So this week really was a pretty sweet week.

As for a couple things this week, we got to go on splits with a priest in the ward, which was really fun. He got baptized two years ago, and is now looking at going on a mission here in the next year or two. Because of that, he has been pretty on top of asking us about going on splits with him and this last week time finally worked out so that we could. We are also planning on doing it again here in the next week or two, but just have to see how 過年 (Chinese New Year) works out.

This week, Elder Robinson and I also got to go on splits with our district leader. This time I got to stay in 新埔 (Xinpu) with Elder Carbine (柯長老). So, if you picked up from my last time I went on splits, his companion was also 柯長老. So, in our district, three of the four elders are 柯長老 (Elder Ke). As for the exchanges itself, it was pretty fun. It is always interesting to see how different people do missionary work and to also learn from how they teach people on the street because everyone does it differently.

As I mentioned, we got two 情客 (Dinner invites) from investigators (Leon 丁 and Jackson 黃). Along with them, we got a 情客 (Dinner invite) from an American guy who will be here working for the next six weeks. Probably the coolest thing about this guy, Keith, is that he has some of the best Chinese I have ever heard from a westerner, which includes the actual accent he has when he talks. As for a side note, we actually asked a member that if they were to be talking to him over the phone, would they be able to tell that he is a foreigner, and they said no. His accent really is pretty good. Anyways, for dinner he took us to IKEA to eat, which has some really good western food. While we were at IKEA, he also started chatting with some people in 台語 (Taiwanese local language), which was pretty funny. Along with those, we had a couple of smaller 情客 (Dinner invites), but the funniest was that we got 情 (gave us as a gift) Mac and Cheese from the states. A college student came home for 過年 (Chinese New Year) and thought the missionaries would be a little home sick, so brought it all the way back from Los Angeles.

To keep with the food topic, this week for English Class, we were actually teaching about food, which was super fun. For the game, we had two teams and one person from each team drawing a food. It was pretty fun, especially when we were making it hard. Pry the hardest one that we had them do was draw 仙草 (Grass jelly). I am not really sure how to explain it, but if you Google it, you may be able to get an idea of what it looks like. Basically, it is a jelly that is black that they like to put in deserts. Even though it was hard, it really was pretty fun because they had to figure out how to draw it without saying anything about what they were actually drawing.

As for the big thing from the week, we got to do some amazing service. This last week, all of the 台北 (Taipei) missionaries got to go to 內湖 (Nei hu) and set up chairs and tables for a big 過年 (Chinese New Year) dinner provided for people that may be having some financial challenges and may not actually be able to have a 過年 (Chinese New Year) dinner. So, even though we did not actually get to participate in the actual serving dinner part, it was still super cool to be able to know that the work we were doing was helping thousands be able to have an enjoyable 過年 (Chinese New Year).

Service in 內湖 (Nei hu) setting up tables and chairs for the Chinese New Year Dinner, sponsored by companies for those who are homeless or in need of support.  I also saw my trainer there :)

Elder Robinson and Elder Okeson

Well, my time is pretty much up. Thanks for all the letters and prayers!

我愛妳們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

P.S. We are finally able to use Facebook for real now. Our accounts have been verified, so now we get to do more missionary work online, which should be great for those days when it is just raining all day! :)

Week 37

你好!

This week was quite the interesting week. Through out the week, all of our plans kept changing.  We had a lot of set up, but every night when we were double checking, they always seemed to have something else, which was a bit of a bummer, but seemed to give us plenty of time to find in the rain.  

As for things that happened this week, there were a couple of big things.  First one was actually a referral that we got from a member that lives in 新板 (Xinban).  We had been calling and trying to set up for about a week and a half, and we finally were able to find a time that worked for the both of us.  So, having it all worked out, we had our 陪課 (Member assisting in the lesson) meet with us at their home (楊姐妹的家庭). With it being in Taiwan though, and their road system is a little different, and we couldn't find their 弄 (Pretty much a very small alley, but impossible to find).  Eventually we did find it, and went up to apartment and were able to share with them a little about the gospel with them, but it was a lot harder than most referrals we had gotten because there were a lot of other things in play, including five incredibly crazy dogs. With that being said though, it still was a pretty cool/interesting experience.

As for investigators this week, we were able to take Wei Wei (Yes, that is her english name) to the temple for a temple tour, which was super cool.  We were able to show her the temple and then show her the 金華街 (JinHuaJie) Chapel, which was a super cool experience for her.  She even asked us what she had to do to go into the temple as well, which open up so much more we could talk to her about.  It really feels like she is progressing and we are hoping that over the next couple of weeks, we can help her over come the last few things so that she can be baptized!

As I mentioned last week, we now are Facebook missionaries, which is half true.  Elder Robinson and I have both made our Facebook accounts, but the only thing is that we actually are locked out of them because we have not been able to verify our email accounts because the mission has made a new Gmail account that is hooked up to our Facebook, so we have no way of verifying it until the recorder gets to it.  So for the aspect of doing missionary work on Facebook, it is still in the process of becoming a tool.

This week, we also had stake conference, which was great.  First of all, I found out Greg, a member that works in Suzhou half the time and here half the time, lives in the stake and actually in our district.  So, when ever I go on exchanges with the elders in our district, I will be staying just a few minutes away from where he lives.  So, it really is a small world.  As for the stake conference though, it was all about missionary work, which was great.  We are really hoping that the talks that were given helped boost the efforts of the members so that we can see the work push forward even faster.

As for one of my favorite parts of the week, it would have to have been English class.  Our class had 16 students, which was huge compared to the previous weeks I have been here.  I think it is partly from us being able to do English boarding because we were able to give out so many.  Between us and two other Elders that teach with us, we were able to give out around 500 fliers in the space of an hour, which was super cool because in 苗栗 (Miaoli) we were happy if we could give out 100 in an hour.  Also, with English boarding here, there are a ton of people interested in learning English too, so we get a good number of people that come up to us asking about our English class too, which is amazing.

As for big things that are coming up, 過年 (Chinese New Year).  So far, I have heard two rumors about what will happen at 過年 (Chinese New Year).  Either it will be a ghost town because everyone has gone to their home town or everyone will be celebrating in your area because that is their home town.  With that being said though, everything will be closed, so the ward is actually providing all of our lunches and dinners for 過年 (Chinese New Year).  So, Elder Robinson and I will be having a ton of member visits in the upcoming weeks along with eating a lot of food.  To say the least, Elder Robinson and I are both pretty excited about this part.

Well, sorry about the shorter letter, but I hope everything is going great back home.  Thanks for all the letters and prayers

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

Week 36

New Area

你好!

Well, this has been another fun week to say the least. We were pretty busy all through out the week, but by the looks of it, it will only be getting busier until 過年 (Chinese New Year) when things in 台北 (Taipei) will slow down because everyone is going home for the holidays. So contacting and tracting for that week will be really different.

As for just missionary work here in 台北 (Taipei), it is really pretty different than 苗栗 (Miaoli) because everyone lives in high rises and there are actually a billion people on the street. The first counselor in the bishopric actually told me that in 板橋 (Banqiao) there are over 500,000 people, and 新埔 (Xinpu) is just a part of 板橋 (Banqiao). So for different styles of sharing the gospel, it is different than before. As for contacting, there really are just a ton of people, so that is pretty easy. I really have enjoyed this part of missionary work because you never feel like there is no one to talk to. Generally, we are looking for less crowded areas of the city to go finding which is the complete opposite of 苗栗 (Miaoli). As for tracting here, we get to ring a lot of door bells and then walk up and down a lot of stairs because by law, you are not allowed to knock doors inside of a high rise. You must ring the door bell down on the first floor. So, this past week, we had the opportunity to climb a good number of stairs.

Also, for this last week, with the ward's wish, we have been working on getting a lot more 陪課 (Lessons with a member present). We were not able to do as well as they would have hoped, but during ward counsel on Sunday, it looks like it may be changing. Before, their understanding of a 陪課 (Lessons with a member present) was that a member helped with any type of lessons, but in reality, 陪課 (Lessons with a member present) are only lessons with a investigator. That kind of blew them all away, but I think they are finally understanding why it is hard for us to get it without the ward's help. As for just the teaching with a member present, it has been pretty good. There are some really strong member's that really are good with helping us 陪課 (Be a member at the lesson). As for a small world, one of the members that actually helped us out the other week is Stella's husband. Stella is on Mormon.org as one of Mormon.org videos. They are both from Hong Kong, but speak perfect Chinese and English too.

One of the other big differences with 台北 (Taipei) is that referrals are also really big here. Since areas are so small and everyone works all over 台北 (Taipei), you will get a lot of referrals from other missionaries and also send out a lot of referrals because people live outside of your area. So, referrals are also a big way that we do missionary work here in 台北 (Taipei).

As for the big thing of this week, we had Specialized Training, where they announced a new tool that we would be using for missionary work, which is Facebook. So as part of it, we have been asked to de-active our old Facebook so that we can make a new Facebook account for missionary work. So, for the next year and a half, my home Facebook account will be deactivated, but when I get home, I will reactive it. They are really wanting us to use Facebook as a tool to help our investigators and also be able to find our less actives in the ward and help bring them back, which really should be fun. The other big thing that they talked about at the training was giving out Book of Mormons. Sister Day actually shared her conversion story, which came from a Book of Mormon being placed in her family 25+ years before she became a member. They focused on the importance of how placing a Book of Mormon may not bring that specific person to the gospel, but how it will always affect someone in that family. It truly was an incredible story.

As for a miracle that Elder Robinson and I have seen recently was actually through our English class. Right now, some of our best investigators were found from them attending our English class. It really has been cool going from 苗栗 (Miaoli) to here because you are able to see success in so many different areas of the work.

Well, my time is pretty much up. Hope all of you have a great week, and thanks for all the emails and prayers!

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

P.S. Sorry about the shorter letter, but above is a photo of my current area. There has been a bit of a change from my last area to say the least.