ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #54 -- JUNE 1, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #54

JUNE 1, 2014

Last Monday, Wu Mama took us on an adventure. She rented a car and a driver for the day and took us to a bunch of places! First we went to Jiu fen, which is a really famous market street up on the north coast of Taiwan, some pictures (and hopefully a video) are attached! We'll have to go back there when we come back to visit Taiwan! There were some really beautiful paintings that I want to go back and buy. That's what the video is. Hopefully it works!

We also saw this yellow waterfall from eroding iron or copper deposits.

Then she took us to Ye liu, which is a spot where there are a bunch of rocks with weird shapes because of erosion. We saw some cool rocks and some cooler cockroaches. It was neat to be on the coast. Sometimes I forget that I'm on an island!

Then we drove around the coast to get to Danshui. We walked around on a bridge there. Then we were out of time and had to go home. All of the pictures are attached.

There's a thing in this mission called a "pocket puke." Because all of the elders here carry around tracts or pamphlets in the front shirt pocket, sometimes you lean over too far or something and all of the tracts fall onto the ground.

There was a partially deaf guy who came to English class, but we couldn't really understand him because his speaking was not very clear and he tried communicating to us with sign language, but we had no idea what he was saying. So mostly we communicated with him by writing on the chalkboard, which didn't work super well. I really respect Melissa for learning all of the sign language, because we were completely lost! But he did teach us how to sign "I can't do sign language," so I at least know that much!

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival! We can't really go see any of the events or things, but it did mean that on Sunday we got gifted a bunch of zong4zi which are seaweed wraps of rice and meat and other stuff. We have a lot in our fridge that we need to eat now!

Occasionally, we'll be in the middle of a lesson and while listening to the investigator and I'll think of something that I think I need to say. But the cool part is when my companion says exactly what I was thinking before a get the chance! That's true companionship unity, and it means that we're both listening to the Spirit!

Two weeks ago I mentioned our investigator Brother Hou. He's progressing really well, and he feels the Spirit when he meets with us. The problem is that he's pretty old, so he forgets stuff occasionally. He's not very good at remembering what day of the week it is. We usually have to remind him when we see him. He really wants to come to church, but the last two weeks, he forgot what day it was, and his phone was turned off so the few times we called him he didn't answer. But he really has a great desire to learn the gospel! We just hope his forgetfulness doesn't keep getting in the way!

Last week, he told us that the first time he met us was like "曙光“ (shu3 guang1) which means the first light of the day at sunrise. And everytime we see him, we ask him how he's doing and he always says "Better now that I'm with you two." 

We are really sad about our other investigator Brother Liang. He has a HUGE desire to get baptized, and he's so ready! But the problem is that his dad thinks that getting baptized now would be "too fast." Brother Liang is 18, but in Taiwan, he has to be twenty in order to not need parental permission. We fasted with him yesterday about his situation, and we are all praying for a miracle that will allow him to be baptized. He really is a great guy, and he's committed to living the commandments, and he's got a lot of good friends in the ward, so we hope to keep meeting with him and strengthening him until he can get baptized.

We had a LOT of people come to church the past two weeks. As long as I've been a missionary, it's been really difficult to get people to church. But a lot of people have accepted our invitations to come to church, and they've all received blessings for it! We just hope to keep them coming and help them keep learning and growing their faith!

Last night, just like every fast sunday, there was a fireside for investigators and recent converts in the chapel next to the temple. This time, the assistants asked my companion and I to translate the Chinese fireside into English for the people there who don't speak Chinese. It was my first time doing translation, and it was pretty difficult. It was perfect, but hopefully those investigators got the main idea and at least felt the Spirit there! Now I know how Melissa felt when translating into sign language for church in Florida!

That was all this week. Today, if it is clear, we will be going up the Taibei 101!

Add oil!

Elder Richardson

任長老