Week 12

Hello! We have two branches here in Taidong so as far as splits go, because my companion is the district leader, I will go with everyone in the district, but because the Zone leaders are also in my district I will also go with each of them. The past week I was on splits with Elder Sullivan's companion, Elder Keime. He's really cool, but it must be a little funny seeing us come down the street as he is like two heads shorter than me. He's from Miami, and we had a productive time. Because their companionship just got here they basically "opened" and area, so every day they are tracting and contacting. Made me really appreciate having current people investigating the Church to teach! 

My Companion Elder Allred

Taidong - Not Hawaii!

While I was on exchanges with him I fell for the first time…well more like a little stumble that caused like fumbling till I was on the ground. I keep my bag on the back of my bike, and it’s a little wider than the bike, so when I went on the bike path the weird bike entrance post grabbed hold of it, and one thing led to another, and I was on the ground! Really funny like in slow motion. I’m perfectly okay, I was going like 1 mph, and it was like I stumbled then the thing caught, so I couldn’t recover. Some people helped out though, not a bad way to contact!

No letters yet... Remember I'm not just in Taiwan, I’m in Taidong, the furthest point south in the mission, and possibly Taiwan. I could ride south 5 minutes until I hit water and it'd still be my area. It's going to take a long time to get here. Thank you for telling me you sent the pictures though, the culture here loves family pictures so I can use my own.

One of the Elders who are dying soon (going home) has a guitar, so I finally broke down and told him I'd take it off his hands, so I may be able to use this as a way to contact.

As far as mission work goes. I am exhausted. Biking all day, rejection all day, and hot sun, or windy rain, really takes it out of you. It’s pretty tough here. The hardest thing is the word of wisdom. We are in a rural area and so it’s really common for everyone to be drinking and smoking. There is also this stuff called Bin Lang (betel nut) - really nasty stuff, turns your teeth red.

Cool story though my first Sunday here we try and sit with the members in church, and my companion went and sat next to a brother as we later found out who isn’t a member. It was fast and testimony meeting, and one sister went up to talk about her daughters baptism the following Saturday. At the end of the meeting, the brother we sat next to talked with us and asked "Do you think I could be baptized this Saturday too?" Jaws hit the floor. Turns out he has met with missionaries before, so we met with him, set a date and he is getting baptized this coming Saturday. Though tragically he is in the other district's area so we had to pass him off but hey same team right? Hope all is well at home and that everything is okay! I hope you all enjoy fall for me! Love you all and miss you all very much!