Week 68 - 3 Nephi 5:13

大家好!

This week, has been such an amazing week. We were just running from one place to the next, which was such a blessing. And for the biggest miracle, just meeting so many of our goals this last week. At the beginning of the week, we weren't sure how we were going to do it, but it just seemed to all work out. We were able to have one of the best weeks of the transfer. We had four investigators and seven less actives at church, thirty lessons, and five awesome new investigators. So even with all the things that were going on in the week, we still were able to hit so many of our goals (1 Nephi 3:7).

Lion Head Mountain view.  This was taken, along with the other photos outside on Friday during outdoor zone conference with President Jergensen.  Super fun activity.

One of the big things we actually had this week was outdoor zone conference on Friday. The 竹南 (Zhunan) and 新竹 (Xinzhu) zones all went up to Lion Head Mountain, where we got to hike all day and receive training from our zone leaders, sister training leaders, Assistants, Sister Jergensen, and also President Jergensen. We got training about learning the language and being fishers of men, but the biggest part of the training was based on 3 Nephi 5:13. "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." We were challenged to ponder the meaning of this scripture and how we have all been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to declare his word among his people. The message that we are sharing is truly of so much importance, for it is the message of everlasting life. I truly am grateful for this time that I have been able to have to serve the Lord and am looking forward to the time that I still have to declare His word among His people. It truly is the biggest blessing of all to be able to share this message!

For the missionary work here in 香山 (Xiangshan), it is going amazing. Elder Heaps and I have been seeing so much success and are excited that this week we should be having another baptismal interview for the following week! The work really is moving forward here and we are both hoping that even with transfers coming this week, that we will get the opportunity to serve another transfer or two together!

As for our last week's P-day, Elder Heaps and I decided that we should go to the beach one last time before the real cold starts to hit. Recently it has been really nice here in Taiwan for weather, but that means that it is working its way down into the cooler temperature, which means winter is coming. So, that will most likely be one of the last times I get to go to the beach til spring. Generally for P-days we will go do stuff with the other missionaries in the area, like bowling, basketball, going to the beach, or members from other areas will see if we would be able to go with an activity with them. But this week, we are just looking at playing ping pong with some of the other elders in 新竹 (Xinzhu).

An update on Elder Heaps' hand, he is doing well. He is wearing a brace, but that is just to prevent it from hurting when he bikes. Other than that, his hand is doing really well. Here in a day or two, he will most likely stop wearing it as it has pretty much healed.

Also, want to explain where I am serving a little bit better. We live in an area of 新竹市 (Xinzhu city) which is called 香山 (Xiangshan), but are part of the 竹南 (Zhunan) zone which is part of 苗栗縣 (Miaoli Provence). So, we have to leave the 新竹縣 (Xinzhu Provence) for everything we do with our zone. As for the size of our area, it is really big, but that is because we have a lot of country side in our area along with some of the more city part of 新竹 (Xinzhu), which is were we find the most success at as there are a lot more people that live in that area.

For a cool experience we had this last week, was actually as we were finding in a less populated area of 香山 (Xiangshan). We ran into a 30 year old man who actually when we contacted him, started off thanking us for coming to share the truth with the Taiwanese people. To say the least, Elder Heaps and I have never actually had someone say that to us. As we began sharing the gospel with 廖明柏 (LiaoMingBo) on the street, it was one of the most powerful things ever. He told us about how he didn't like his work and how he just didn't know what to believe anymore. As we shared about God and his role in our lives, we could all feel the spirit so strong and were even able to set up another time with him. We are just both super excited to be able to help him find the joy that this gospel can bring into his life. As for an interesting side note, as we are contacting asking people what they do for work, they usually give very generic answers, but when we ask if they like their work, almost everyone says they hate their work, but they have to do it because they need the money.

Another cool blessing that we had was on Saturday night with 協調會 (Co-ordination meeting) with our ward mission leader. Just before meeting with 施弼仁弟兄 (Brother Shi), our ward mission leader, our Elder's Quorum President called up and asked if he could attend as well. It was so nice to have even more of the ward support as His work is moving forward in the 香山 (Xiangshan) area.

Over all, this week, really just has been sooo amazing. We have seen the Lord really moving the work forward in this area and just made so many things possible that we would never have thought would have been possible or even imagined to work out. So we are both super excited to see what else the Lord has in store for the area.

Well, my time is pretty much up, thanks for all the emails and prayers! We have really seen the result from them! Hope that you all have a great week!

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson 

Life on a train: Don't forget to duck!

An investigator wanted us to try out their exercise tool that they use to help them be taller.  Not sure how well it worked, but Elder Heaps and I tried it out.

Week 67 - Doing His Work

大家好!

It's cooling off.

This has been another amazing week. We have seen so many miracles, especially with meeting goals. During weekly planning session about a week and a half ago, we set some high goals, and this last week, we were able to hit or exceed most of them, which was such a miracle. It was again, one of those weeks, where it is hard to say how it all happened, but it just seemed to work out. Just goes to show that this isn't our work, but His work.

As for a little update on one of our investigators, Sister Hu looks like she should be getting baptized here in a week and a half, which we are super excited about. She was the first person that Elder Heaps and I contacted on the street together. She has been taught all the lessons, but is just needing to come to church once more and will be able to make that commitment with God, which we are both super excited for.

This week, we were also able to meet with a really awesome recent convert. It was one of the coolest lessons, even though it was at a McDonalds, it was most of the most spiritual lessons. By the end of the lesson, we were all in tears from how strong the spirit was there. The biggest thing I learned from that lesson though was about planning. During companionship study, we had planned one lesson, but as we were meeting with him, we both felt prompted to share about tithing and the blessing that come from it. So, it is important to make plans, but it is even more important to follow the spirit for the spirit is the real teacher.

We also had the opportunity this week to go out with the youth to do missionary work up in 竹北 (Zhubei) with the stake, which was super cool. We were able to find a good amount of success, which was super nice to be able to help the youth have that spiritual experience of seeing the gospel really helping people. With that being said though, we did have a little bit of rejection, but that didn't seem to get the youth down at all which was super cool.

As for two surprises that we had this week, was a member asking for a blessing in Chinese and having to give a talk at church. The bishops counselor called us up right before church and asked if we could both give a 5 to 7 minute talk. So, to say the least, we were put a little on the spot, but it was actually really cool. We didn't really talk to each other about what we were going to be saying, but both of out talks really work together. We both shared about faith and missionary work, especially with Saturday and the ward missionary activity three weeks ago, it really just seemed to work really well.

This week, we also had a good amount of finding time, but it was really good. We had some really cool lessons with people and even had the opportunity to send out a bunch of referrals, the coolest one being a guy that was from Japan and would be going back to Japan on Wednesday, so to have the missionaries back in Japan get in contact with him there.

Just to close up, just want to share how cool it is to see how miraculous the Lord is. Just when you have no clue how things are going to work out, the Lord is always able to help you find those prepared and also help you meet those inspired goals that you had set. 

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

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

Week 66 - On the Lord's Errand

大家好!

This truly has been a week full of blessings and miracles. As Elder Heaps and I were reporting on how the week went, we were just kind of in aw, as we couldn't really explain how everything worked out. So, to say the least, this week really has been amazing.

To start of my letter though, just want to say, I have the best companion in the mission. He really is a great worker and loves doing the work, which makes even the toughest parts of the week, the most fun part of the week. So, I am truly grateful for having such an amazing companion!

Elder Heaps

 Since this was the first week of the month, we had zone meeting which was super good. As for my favorite part of the training, it was actually seeing a training that was given to the mission presidents in the MTC at the new mission president seminar just this past summer. President Jergensen asked the Brethren (I am assuming when he said that, he meant Elder Holland since he is the Asia Area representative) if he could share it with all the missionaries in the mission, and was given permission. It was two return missionaries teaching Elder Cook and his wife (the Apostle) the Restoration in 4 minutes. It was truly the coolest thing to see the power that they were able to use as they shared the entire restoration in only 4 minutes with clarity and simplicity. And because of that, Elder Heaps and I have been doing it too with people on the street, and it is so cool to see how the spirit is able to enter into a contact that seems like it would be impossible because of loud motorcycles or speeding cars. And every time we do it, it really is amazing to see just how strong the spirit is present as we share the first vision. It is truly a powerful account given by Joseph Smith. 

竹南 (Zhunan) Zone

After wrapping up Zone Meeting, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Taulepa here in 香山 (Xiangshan), which was super fun. Elder Taulepa's first area was 新埔 (Xinpu), so we got to chat a lot about our previous area. My favorite part of the exchanges was actually getting to teach lessons with him. Things just worked out super well, as to the point that we just were teaching lessons the entire time we were on exchanges, which was super nice. In ways I wish I had gotten to have some more finding time with him, but it was super fun to see a ton of success while we were on exchanges. As we were finishing up the exchanges, Elder Taulepa made the comment about our area just being on fire, and it is true. We really have been feeling so blessed to be able to see so much success and praying that the Lord will continue to bless the 香山 (Xiangshan) area!

Finding this week was also super successful. We had the opportunity to go finding with a member as well, which was such a blessing as well because he got to see a ton of success too. It really feels like as we finish up one contacted, the next prepared person is walking right in front of us, so we will bike for only a moment and then start contacting that person, which is truly a blessing. So, it was both amazing to see the member have a great experience doing missionary work and also show some of the miracles that we as missionaries get to experience everyday! :D

This week, I also felt like I should share a little about some of our bigger investigators. Last week, I mentioned about Bell, who is really doing great right now. The biggest thing for her is getting her parents permission, but I am pretty sure the ward will be able to help out with that. Another person we are working a lot with is a 余弟兄 (Brother Yu) who is actually a Christian and knows the Bible super well, so we are working a lot with him on authority, so if you can pray for him to receive an answer, that would be great. Another person we have been working with is a 胡姊妹 (Sister Hu), who was actually the first person Elder Heaps and I found together. We have pretty much taught her everything, but the only thing that is keeping her from making a covenant with God is attending Church. She has to help her mom with work on the weekends, so it is hard for her to come to church, but she absolutely loves reading the Book of Mormon. We have been teaching her for 3 weeks now and she has already read to the end of Mosiah, which is super cool. She really is an awesome investigator. Lastly, is a 江同學 (Esther, that's her English name). Her brother was actually the one who went out with us to do missionary work this last week. His sister is kind of an eternal investigator because of parents opposition, but this last week we had an amazing lesson and she committed to prepare to be baptized and even come to church on Sunday, which was super cool. The biggest thing is just working with her to build up the courage to talk to her parents about getting baptized because she saw how much opposition her brother got before he got baptized. It took her brother, Jerry, about a year if I remember correct. So, if you could pray for her as well, that would be great!

Well, my time is pretty much up. Thanks for all the emails and prayers! Have a great week!

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Okeson

Week 65 - Tsunami

大家好!

This week, is just as the subject says: Tsunami Week! So, we were pretty busy. Just as a Tsunami is a big wave that comes crashing in, the use of Tsunami in missionaries terms is a wave of investigators filling our area book. So, we have been busy all week working with all the new investigators that we have and also just finding time to get in all of the investigators we had before the Tsunami. With it being a busy week, it still was amazing. We saw lots of miracles and blessings, and hope that again this week, I can share just some of them with you.

Elder Varney, Elder Wu, Elder Azua, me, Elder Heaps, Elder Rasmussen

From the photo of the Tsunami missionaries, you can see that we had four more missionaries, and they really are amazing. I don't know what I can really say about them all, but they truly brought even more miracles to the area, which was truly a blessing. Not to mention. They really found a whole bunch of new investigators this week. The Tsunami lasted from Monday night when we picked them up at the train station til Thursday night/Friday morning, so pretty much three days of finding. To say the least, we were averaging about 7 new investigators a day, so if you do the math, you can see we have a ton of people to be meeting with, including a really awesome family that Elder Wu and Azua knocked into as they were tracting over by one of the main universities in our area, which is super cool. So we are really excited to see what this next week has to bring with all of those new investigators to meet with.

As for one of the best activities from the week, it was Tuesday morning. We had a ward missionary activity, where we got permission for four sisters to come help us out as well. So, in total we had 10 missionaries in attendance and we were all on splits with members all over our area. It was a two hour finding experience for the members in the morning, and it was super successful. Along with giving the members an opportunity to go out find with the missionaries, we also received five member referrals, which we are currently meeting with. One of which, is super golden. Her name is Bell, who I will share a little about in a minute. As for how the activity went, we were asked to give a thirty minute training on how to do missionary work, and Elder Heaps and I came up with that idea of using the '5 W and 1 H'. (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) The training was super fun, and the best part was when we were sharing the 'Why'. We decided to share D&C 18:10-16, which has to do with the joy of being able to introduce someone to the gospel. As we were having a member read the passage, we looked up and saw the member that had introduced 陳怡如 (Chen yi ru) to the gospel in tears. For us as the missionaries, it was just a super cool experience to see the members truly seeing the 'why' we do missionary work and feel the joy that comes with it. D&C 18:15-16

As to introduce who Bell is quickly. She is an recent converts referral who actually decided to attend the ward missionary activity and go out to do missionary work with us. Bell is 17 and a senior in high school, but for her sophomore year she actually spent it in Idaho as an exchange student. If you remember from when I first moved to 香山 (Xiangshan), we met with an investigator that actually knew Brett, my roommate from BYU-I. Bell, was actually in Sugar City Idaho, which is where three of my roommates grew up (Alex, Spencer, Drew). However, when she first was saying where she was, she just said a small town by Rexburg, which I didn't think too much about, but as she was talking about her high school, it made me think of my roommates that were from Sugar City. So I asked her if she was in Sugar City, and that really surprised her because apparently no one knows where that is. That was another one of those moments when I thought about what a miracle it was that I roomed with those specific people at college. So, we got to chat a little about Sugar City a little and also found out that she knew of Spencer and Alex's younger siblings, but none of them were actually in her grade so she didn't really get to know them very well. So, for me, that was a pretty cool experience to see how things were all planned out even before I came on my mission and even for where and when I would be serving in the areas I have served in so far.

As for the food photo, I should probably explain it a little. On Sunday, Elder Heaps and I were running a little low on the food that we had bought for the week, so we decided to clean out the kitchen and use what we found. We made rice and then we found some cans of meat and fish. So, we decided to kind of throw it all together. Well, to say the least, it was interesting and quite the experience. Not sure how healthy it was though, but it was food and we had stuff to eat for lunch on Sunday. Elder Heaps and I call it the "Surprise Lunch" just because we weren't really sure what exactly it was and the smell was close to that of stinky toufu. So, this week, we are making sure to have plenty of food for the next week.

Elder Heaps cooking Surprise Lunch

Well, my time is pretty much up. Sorry about not being able to write a ton, things are pretty busy today. But with that being said, hope that you all have a great week!

我愛你們,

Love you,

柯長老

Elder Brinton is in 新竹 (Xinzhu) with us now (in a different ward though) and went bowling with him for P-day before the Tsunami missionaries came, which was pretty fun.

Elder Okeson