MC alum turned missionaries in Taiwan together again

Hello,                                                                                                          June 1, 2015

This week was so great! And full of adventures! Monday through Friday had every afternoon packed full of meetings! So that was a little bit rough. But this week was our trainer trainee follow-up meeting. It was the biggest meeting ever! So many people. But it was such a blast to see so many missionaries. It's crazy how many people you get to know on a mission but then when you get transferred you basically never see them again except for meetings like this. But everyone was doing really well and we learned a lot on how we can improve.

MC alum serving in Taiwan! Great to meet  up with these friends!

 

This weekend was also our Stake Conference! It was really good and really long. They do things a little bit different here in Taiwan and have about 20 speakers for stake conference. Which was little fun to here everyone's different point of view and such but man, it made me tired. You really gotta focus during those meetings. Because when they are nervous they talk as fast as they can and not very clearly so you have to pay attention. I think I got more out of it than any other conference since I had to be so engaged haha. I guess God has a sense of humor. 

Anyway this week was rough when it came to meeting with our investigators. They were busy and so were we. But that left a lot of time for us to find. We met some really great people with potential. But I think the one that I am most excited for is Huang Li's mom! We went to their house to eat this week and as it turned out Huang Li wasn't even there, he was at work. I thought that was significant because she wanted to feed us even though the member wouldn't be there. So that shows she at least likes having us there.

 

 

My friend Gan ...love this guy!

 

 When I first came into the house she told me that she had been reading the BoM a little bit. She said since she had no religion, she was doing her research so that she could pick one! What!?!?!? Yeah that's what I like to hear! At the end of the night we talked to her about the book. And told her about what we need to do in order to know the truthfulness of the message. She was really interested, and she was really willing to do what she could to know for herself that the Church and what we share is true. I was so excited for her. I think she will really progress because before when I had brought up anything about the Church she would just kind of blow it off. But now it is her who wants to talk about it! What a miracle. 

Well I hope that you all have a great week. Keep the smiles on your faces and remember that God Loves you! 

Love Elder Roe

Go ahead and LAUGH!

禮拜一快樂!                                                                                                 May 25, 2015

Hello dear family and friends! This week was so great! Let me tell you why! 

We met with one of our investigators, one that I have not been able to get a read on. Just seems a little bit off. I mean he is a great guy and all but whenever we meet he just seemed really distracted and not there. The sisters were originally teaching him but later turned him over to us. This week however we kinda got him talking... and then he admitted that he liked one of the sisters. How cute is that? haha, Not really more just kind of annoying because at that point I was like, okay his desire towards the gospel is probably ZERO. But however we still met with him that night. But to my surprise, not only did he show up, but he proceeded to set a baptismal date and then came to church this week!!!! Teah I guess the lesson learned there was you can't judge a person based on who they like. Not sure if that is what I was suppose to learn but I guess that is one key principle right? 

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This week finished up my first full transfer with my son! Holy cows that went sooooo fast!!!!!!!!!!! A member asked me how long I have been in this ward and the automatic answer was like "oh like a month." Umm nope try like 2 1/2 months. I have loved this ward soooo much! I really feel like they are my family away from home. My RC's are so great, my companion is awesome, and life is so good. It makes me so sad to even think about next transfer probably getting moved. So say a prayer I won't! haha just kidding. I know that God's will is all that matters so I will be excited to see what he has in store! 

So tall!!!

One of my favorite moments this week was in Elder's Quorum. Huang Li was there sitting in the back. (This is the one with autism) and I was like in the middle of the classroom. During the lesson he whispers out a little loudly: Luo Zhanglao! (This is Porter's Chinese name)

 

  I turn around to look and him, once he saw that I had his attention he grabbed his bag, unzipped it and started searching for something. He then pulled out a stuffed whale and started making whale sounds then said, he wants to kiss you! Haha! I couldn't help but laugh. And then he was off looking for something else. I love him so much. It reminded me the importance of just laughing, and being happy. So everyone, do your best to find something that is joyous. And laugh a little. Remember, if you don't laugh, you cry. And crying gives you a headache! I love you all!

Elder Roe

When you least feel like it: PRAY

Hello all,                                                                                  May 18, 2015

How are all of you!? Happy Monday! It's a great day! Then only bad part is when I come to emails I draw a blank of what to tell you guys... I promise though that we are super busy and working hard. This week was really good and we were able to meet with a lot of people and help them continue to progress. We are starting to really see some miracles. Investigators who have been so busy are finally able to meet again and are keeping commitments. So things are looking up. The only trend that I wasn't a huge fan of was that we got "fanged" like crazy!!! We had a totally of 7 lessons that got stood up. Come on people! But what ya gonna do right? 

One actually turned out in a really tender way. Last night we had set up with a investigator and I had called him in the day to make sure for the 40th time that we were still good to meet. He was all like "oh, yeah yeah it will be no problem, no problem and all!" So we head over to the Church, and this guy is notorious for being late. So we wait, and we wait, and we wait, and he doesn't show up. I call  and call and call and he doesn't answer. I was, I guess you could say, not happy. I don't really like it when people waste our time. I mean really if you don't want to come just tell me so we can go find someone else who wants to hear what we have to say. Finally after much prayer he answered and told me he just got to 木柵.

Prayer changed my heart

 At that point, I should've just relaxed but I was, as they say, not happy. So I asked if he was still coming and he said sure, I responded that we would get on our bikes and meet him halfway. We started down the road and I was, as they say, not happy. Not really the best attitude going into a lesson. But we found him on the sidewalk and he didn't seem to care that much that he had stood us up for so long. Which didn't add to my happiness level. (Let me clarify, I wasn't angry. I just really would have liked it if he would have informed me a little earlier) Anyway we had some important things we wanted to share with him so right then and there on the side of the loud noisy street we started our lesson.

 To start out I asked if I could say a prayer, and as I said the prayer something miraculous happened. Peace, and comfort came over me. (<--wow that sounds cheesy) But really, all of the bitter feeling I had had up to this point left. I prayed more fervently that we would be able to have the Spirit with us as we spoke and guide our lesson. As we entered into the lesson the Spirit was so strongly felt. The investigator was focused and engaged. As we came to a close it came to the topic of baptism. And I asked him to choose a date that he felt he could achieve. And the tender mercy came as he said June 13th. I smiled, that's my birthday. And I couldn't think of a better birthday gift. I really hope that he can prepare by that date. Not for me of course, but I really know that this step of baptism and entering into a covenant with God can bring us closer to him than anything else. 

The power of prayer is real! At that time I have no idea why I offered to say the prayer, but I know that I needed to. I needed to let go of the things that were bothering me if we wanted to have any progress. It's so true that the times when we have the least desire to pray are the times that we most need to pray. I am so grateful that God gave us such a simple 方式 for us to communicate with him.

Our trusty bikes are a blessing

They work continues and this week we are going to be thrusting in our sickles with all of our might! I love you all and hope that you have a great day! Go get a Jamba Juice... that sounds really good. 加油!!!

Elder Roe

My Happy Mother's Day wish from 6,000 miles away

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!                                                                    May 12, 2015

 Who knows where the world would be without our incredible Mothers! I know that I for sure would not be where I am without mine. So I hope that everyone got the opportunity to celebrate and be around family. One of the most awesome things that I saw this week was the amazing members in Taiwan's desire to have their family with them. We had so many people come to our Mother's Day activity and even more to Church. There was a common trend among all of them. Many of the people that came was because they asked their Mom's what they wanted for Mother's Day and the response was that the most valuable gift that they could give to them is to come with them to Church and all be together there. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!?!?!? It really made me put things in perspective. What is really important in life? I was thinking if I was in that position I don't know that Church would have been my first response (I would hope it would) I probably would say something like, "well chocolate is pretty good." Yeah it was humbling.

My Superman, Porter and I hiking in Oregon in 2013

 Also talking with you guys was so much fun! Good to see no one has
really changed that much. Except for Beckett, he is growing up so fast!!

Our beautiful Beckett

This week we saw one huge miracle! One of our investigators who has not even picked up the phone for the past three weeks finally answered!!! And that day he went with us to an activity and then he came to Church the next day. Crazy! So that was a really great miracle. Except that day in POURED!!!! Yeah it was true tropical rain. It's so strong it like hurts and the humidity makes you soaked even when you have a umbrella. So that was the only downer.

HL fed us great pizza

Also another miracle. Is that our RC who has autism fed us dinner! (first miracle) And then after that he said that we were going to visit his friend. He took us over and met the greatest family ever the had THREE kids!!!!! Yeah rare in Taiwan. And he was super willing to listen to what we had to say and set up again. At the end he asked ME for MY cell phone number. I was like you for sure can have it! MIRACLES!!!

Well I am sorry but since I just talked to you all I am kind of out of things to say. I think I kind of told you everything so.... hopefully next week I will be full of more things to say! You are all great and I love you. Thanks for the endless support and love! 加油

Elder Roe

Yeah this is the rain....

Unending, humid, tropical downpour

One Awesome Investigator!

Howdy everyone,                                                                                      May 4, 2015

Sorry everyone this week is gonna have to be super fast. Basically not too much happened in the past 3 days. I feel like every time we have temple week that is kind of what happens. Other that just doing your every day to day missionary work nothing really happened.

We have a new investigator named HD he is super awesome! His brother is actually already a member in our ward. We have started meeting with him and I think that he is my favorite investigator I have ever taught because he asks more questions that anyone I have ever seen. And I'm not just talking about your average questions I am talking about some hard questions to answer. He says that currently he leans more to the atheist side. So I will be really interested to see how he progresses. He said that he will be willing to do this experiment and find out if God exists so it should be good.

My 1st Mango Smoothie of the season!!!! So stoked!!!

Also this week I ran into a really cool guy from Australia. Okay wow I didn't realize how hard it was to teach in English. I felt super choppy and it was hard to share. Luckily he was really nice and had a lot of interest with what we shared. But I am glad God sent me to Taiwan. I feel a lot more comfortable teaching in Chinese. Well basically that's about all I got today. The Church is true. God lives and Jesus is our Savior. We are truly so blessed to have been born in the times with the fullness of the gospel. I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Capt. America, Asian Style

Elder Roe 

Temple Day and taking faith to action!

Temple Day

Hello everybody!!!!                                                                               April 29, 2015

Today was a great day! We got to go to the Taipei temple and it was so incredible! It is the most incredible place on Earth. There is no other place on Earth that we can find greater peace and find answers to prayers. I LOVE THE TEMPLE! 

It is actually a little bit ironic that we went to the temple just because that really was a huge focus in our teaching this past week. We were able to talk to so many people about the temple, all with different perceptions and understanding. From those with NO IDEA, to those who were once worthy to be there and have forsaken their covenant, and to those that have a great understanding  that are still in the process of doing what they can to enter one day.

This week we really had a break through with W. The past month that I have been meeting with Him I have really not been able to figure out what we need to help him progress and make the adjustments needed to be able to go with his family to the temple and be sealed for all time and eternity. This week when we were teaching the Plan of Salvation we got to the part where we talked about those that pass away that have not had a opportunity in this life to hear the gospel will in the life to come. Which is why we have temples. He had lots of questions which we tried to answer to the best we good. Then we decided that we would teach the next lesson on the Temple and Eternal Families.

Taipei LDS Temple

 I also had a prompting to have his wife who has been a member for about 30 years do something really special for this lesson. I had her write a letter to him, explaining to him why she has a desire to marry him in the temple, what it would mean to her to have him join her and be married before God and become a family that can prevail through death. I have never been so stressed and scared in my entire life!!!! I was so nervous that this letter would cause him too much stress and that he would feel too pressured, that it would have the negative effect instead of the positive one. I prayed and prayed and then prayed some more. I still felt good about what we were about to do. So we decided that we would to it.

This is the greatest work on the Earth!

 We started out the lesson introducing the temple. I asked him if he had ever seen the inside of the temple where he responded that he could not enter, he knew that. I told him today we would see the inside of the temple. I took him to lds.org where we looked at the pictures of the new beautiful Payson Temple. He was stunned as he saw the beauty of the inside of the Lord's house. This was followed by more questions. We then progressed into the lesson, and then the time came.

 And I pulled out the red envelope. A little nervous I explained to him what I had done. I then invited him to read it, right then and there. I explained that he need not share the content but that he needed to ponder what the letter contained. After an agonizing 3-4 minutes he looked up. Something had changed. No longer was there a mere interest in what we were saying but a true desire to learn more. Later I challenged him to do the things necessary to go to the temple with his wife and children and become a Eternal Family. He was honest and said that he knew this would require a lot of change and wasn't about to give me a immediate answer. But I really believe that he made progress. He told me that he would commit to giving this his whole effort. He really wanted to know and I really hope that his heart will be softened and that he would come to know the truthfulness of the gospel.

Let's go to work!

I would encourage ya'll if you haven't been to the temple recently, GO! It won't to anything other than help, inspire, and uplift. It is never ever too late to make the changes necessary to go. God has his arms wide open to welcome you into a place of peace and happiness. I love you all and I love this gospel. Thanks for the examples you all have given me, the Church is true!

Elder Roe

A Christian in the Ice Place!!!

各位弟兄姐妹午安!!!!!                                                                                April 20, 2015

How are ya'll!? I hope that everyone is just having one of the best days they have ever had. No matter where you are. This week was super duper good and busy and all that great stuff. It is actually a little bit difficult to measure how this week went. Just because there was a lot of good stuff and then some not as good stuff. This week I was really trying to focus on one of the Key Indicators and did everything I could to accomplish it and set stuff up, and instead of the expected result of improvement, I got the worst result I have ever gotten on my mission... so still trying to figure that one out. Oh well at least I am trying right? But on the other hand we saw some great miracles. We met with some awesome people, and met some for the very first time. It's been awesome.

 

Got our bikes back!!!

Best news of the week is: WE FINALLY HAVE BIKES! My companions bike finally got here so we are no longer a walking/bus/MRT missionaries! yeah! For all those in walking missions, 辛苦你們. 

 

A random tender mercy this week. I wanted my companion to try cuabing it's shaved ice. So even though it was raining a little bit we went to get some. I looked in the place and there didn't look like there was a place to sit down so I just told the lady that we could do take-out. But then a man in the back was like "no it's alright we are almost done." So we walked in and walked to the back where he was. He didn't look like he was really that close to being done so I told him no rush we could wait.

Constantly Learning!

Then he asked me in English "Are you from Utah?" I told him I was, to which he responded that he went to school at USU. What!? I was flipping out. Then after that he moved to California and lived there for 32 years! Working as a chemical engineer. He said he came back to Taiwan because when you get old in America there is nothing to do haha. Which if your Taiwanese is really true! Every morning at like 6 am the old Ama's and Agong's are out doing Tai-qi so I see what he was saying. After he left we stayed a little bit to finish eating. When we went to pay the lady told me that I didn't need to pay. The man that was just there already paid for it. He said he was also a Christian and he was just happy he could meet us. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT NEVER HAPPENS IN TAIWAN!!!!!!!!!! Mostly because everyone is Buddhist. But I was really so touched, even though it wasn't much, it was a act of kindness that went beyond 50 kaui.

Happy Day!

 

It also started me thinking, what does it mean to be a "Christian." And how should it effect what we do, how we act and what we say? It means that we should be as a family. We should be looking out for others and we should be willing to help and serve and the drop of a dime. We should always be there and regardless of our background, culture, language, or even which Church we belong to, there should be a common love and comradery (sorry if thats not a word) But this is was it means to be a Christian 對我來說. 

So I hope that we can all try to follow Jesus Christ and try to become more like him every day. I love you all, I miss you and pray for you!

Much love,

Elder Roe

Feeling inspired and motivated!!!

Well howdy,                                                                                                April 13, 2015

 

Good morning West Coast! Hope all is well and that everyone woke up to a sunny day. That always makes it a little bit better for me.

 

Well this week was a little crazy. Mostly because I wasn't in my area for most of the week. Started off on Monday with a awesome P-day. We had to go to NeiHu to buy some stuff at Costco and then we just happened to stumble across a big farris wheel so we took that for a spin, I mean why not?

My new companion and I took a ride on this Farris wheel!

 

 And then that night we had the best dinner ever! A member wanted to feed us up at MaoKong which is in our area. It's a huge mountain top that over looks Taipei. And... It's beautiful!!! We took the Gondolas up the mountain which was super relaxing and incredibly beautiful. The food was super yummy and it was a great night.

My beautiful Taipei at night from the top of MaoKong!

 

 Then Tues-Wed. I was on exchanges in AnKang. Not much to say there other than it was fun. And then Thu/Fri we were at the BU getting trained for our new missionaries! The first night we took them out for a finding activity. I took Elder Lin. For the first time in over a year we had native elder's arrive in our mission! And we got three! They are super incredible! So I got the privilege to take on of the natives out for his first night. He did a great job and will be a great missionary! Then on Friday we got our missionaries! My new companion is names Elder Scovel from Kaysville, UT. He is super duper awesome and really willing to work hard so that makes my job really easy. It is weird to be on the trainer side of things now though. It's super fun the help them adjust and learn about his language and culture. I just feel like I am the one who needs to be trained. 

Love being a missionary.

 

We were also able to teach W D. Who finally set a baptismal date!!!!!! We are so stoked! So hopefully next month he will be getting baptized! So excited! We also got to watch General Conference. Okay, can I just say that is the most inspired meeting ever. I wanted to watch the entire thing over again! It's so good! I LOVED it!!!!!! After that we have just been trying to coordinate with our ward on meeting people and finding new investigators. So yeah probably not the most exciting email ever. But that's all I got for now. I love you guys so much! Thank you for all you do for me and the support you give me! The Church is true!!!!

 

Elder Roe

It's a Baby Boy

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                                           April 6, 2015

 I hope that you all had as good of a Easter as I did because it was amazing! This last transfer in 木柵 has been one of the funnest transfers of my whole mission. I can't believe that I have already been here for six weeks and that Elder Hawkins is going home this Friday. NUTS! We have had a blast and had some really great miracles.

The Happiest Day Ever!!!

For starters, last week went through super smooth! Both baptisms went great! And Elder W also had a baptism so we just combined and had 3 people baptized at the same service. It was incredible. The room was packed with support from our members and the spirit was so strong you could just drink it all up! I have never been more confident in these people getting baptized.

I support my Bishop!!! He is great!

 

 Afterward when they bore their testimonies, they just radiated. I think one of the best parts was X. She got up and just talked about how hard of a decision this was for her to make and how when she decided to do it she felt so good and knew it was right. But the most touching part was how she said she was nervous to talk to her family but because of encouragement from our members she invited them to her baptism and EVERY member of her family showed up in full support of her decision. I wish ya'll could understand how huge that is. Not only is it a different Church but a whole other religion from Buddhism to Christianity. It was so incredible. 

A great new member of our church!!!

 

 

For Easter we got to have our New Member/ Investigator fireside at the BU. Of course, Pres. Day and Sister Day spoke which was great but also our Stake President, 謝會長. He was so awesome! He just told it how it was. He shared stories about if we want the atonement in our lives we 必須要 have a change in our lives. We must let it change our actions, and our behavior. He told of a story when he had a meeting with a young man and how he wouldn't come to church but wanted to serve a mission. He said how can you teach people the sacredness of the sabbath day if you won't keep it. Every single missionary had a grin from ear to ear. The gospel is true, the commandments are just that: commandments they aren't guidelines. And the blessings are out of this world! 

This country is absolutely stunning

In closing I will address the subject line. Last night we got home and finished everything and I put on my stretchy clothes to relax. When I got a phone call... Yeah don't you hate it when that happens. I was then informed that I will be training a new missionary for the next two transfers... WHAT!? Yup, pretty much stoked and scared outta my mind!!!!! So pray for me. I will send Elder Hawkins home and bring home a "baby son." 

Well I hope ya'll have a great week. I love you all and am praying for you! 

Elder Roe