Happy New Year to America!

Hello to all!                                                                                                                  12/28/14

Well as predicted last week went so crazy fast! On Christmas Even the outer Zones went to Taipei and had out Zone Conference! It was such a blast! There were some very good and comical trainings! One was on Guo Nian, Chinese New Year.  I don't think I have laughed that hard for a little while!

 The Native Taiwanese missionaries talked to us on how we need to approach it so that we are able to be effective missionaries, they were very creative and gave us some really good advice. That will be a very interesting week, but unlike our new year this week, Guo Nian isn't until February. So we have a little while to wait.

Pres Day's awesome gift to me!

 After that we had Christmas Dinner!!! Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how much I missed good American food! Turkey, cookies, salad, sweet potato, mashed potato, fruit, the works. Needless to say we were all extremely thankful to Sister Day and all those in the English ward who came out to give us a great Christmas meal.

 Lastly, before we left President Day gave us his gift to us: Character, pinyin, English New Testament!!! How  awesome is that!?!?!? Last year he did the Pearl of Great price and D&C. It is so much work, he and native missionaries and those with super lihai Chinese translated it! It will be a super useful tool for us!

After that of course I got the Christmas Skype, which was so fun. It was great to hear how all of you are doing! Glad to see everyone is happy and healthy. 

All together for Christmas :)

This Sunday however was a little disappointing, our golden investigator who let us into his house last week is acting very different now. We called and asked him if he would like to come to Church, he was pretty quick to say no. Later he said he didn't have interest anymore in learning about our Church, our Jesus Christ. MY HEART SHATTERED. I've been through the occasional heart break of losing a race or what not, but this hurts more than anything. To see these people who are so close to getting to know their Heavenly Father and discover his true Church and then they turn their back and walk away. You feel really helpless when there isn't anything you can really do to change their mind without taking away their agency. We can only to what is in our power, but ultimately they have to choose. I know this was what we all signed up for, but I didn't know it could hurt this much.

Christmas Orange

My yummy Christmas Breakfast!

 Then our other investigator who had said all week would come to Church also didn't come. So that was a double whammy. We are hoping that we are able to help our investigators see the importance of Church, because if they aren't able to develop their own testimony they won't be able to progress to the waters of baptism. We just gotta put our heads down and push a little bit harder. 

Well that's about all. I feel like I told ya'll everything in the Skype so I can't really think of anything else to really write haha. I love you all and hope that you guys have a great week. And a great start to your new year! I love you all,

Elder Roe

Merry Christmas from Taiwan!!

First of all: 聖誕節快樂!!!!!                                                  Dec 22, 2014

I hope that everyone has a very very merry Christmas this week! This week is full of fun and is just going to fly by! From our Missionary Christmas Zone Meeting on Wednesday, Ward party on Thursday and then Skype on Friday it is going to go so fast! But anyway we can give a report of the week, so without further adieu,

Merry Christmas from Taiwan

This week we went on exchanges which means for me I got to go out to Zhunan with my buddy Elder Humphries!!!! Oh my heck we had such a blast! At they beginning we were thinking it was going to be a rough night since we are both so new and weren't too sure our Chinese was up to par for us to have much success. But we quickly found out that when we just put our faith in God he will provide a way. We also got to go English boarding, where we go to the train station and just hand out English Tracks.

 I found some super awesome people had a lesson with this girl who I think has a lot of potential! I was thinking how fun it is going to be to meet with her again and then remembered that this wasn't my area... so that was a bit of a bummer. Anyway, we had a really good time together and I learned a lot.

Thanks Mom for the crazy singing Santa hat!

 After the exchanged we met back in Xin Zhu and me and Elder Illu were ready to work! We went up the mountain to some apartments and SUPER RICH HOUSES. We got off our bikes and were just pumped, I don't know what it was but we just had something that night that was really special, we were gonna get work done. We saw a man outside and walked over and just talked to him for a while. It was like that picture perfect moment that you are always hoping for. Our Chinese was good, our hand offs were super smooth and it was awesome. We slid right into asking if we could come inside and share a message with him. He said YES! We tried to stay cool, but as we followed him we looked at each other and shared our excitement/shock. We shared a little bit with him about our religion, and answered a concern that 99% of Taiwanese people have about being able to worship their ancestors. After that he said he really had interest in learning about Jesus Christ. We took down his number and invited him to come to Church and gave him the address.

Pretty Asian Gardens

 Yesterday we called him in the morning to see if he would come, he said he probably could but wasn't certain. When we got to church we started to look around and sure enough, he came! And he also brought his daughter!!! It was a perfect day to come to church because it was also the primary Christmas Program.

 It was the most cute, heart melting thing I think I have every seen. They all gave these little talks which I didn't understand hardly at all but the important stuff I got like: I know I am a Child of God, and I love my family. The man said that he really enjoyed Church and he loved how family centered it was. We asked when we could meet again and he gave us the best response ever!: "Wednesday is when me and my wife are home at the same time, so it will have to be then." This Church blesses families so much and people that come to see this Church always can see that there is a special family element about it. It is so neat!

I hope that everyone has a great week and that they have a super incredible Christmas! Remember to keep sharing the gift with everyone that you meet! I love you all and can't wait to see you this week! 加油!

Elder Roe

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Greetings from Taiwan,                                                                                     Dec 15, 2014

Hoping as usual, your week was awesome! I am also really praying that you guys get some snow cause that would really stink if there isn't any. My week was so crazy, the days were very long and the week went so so so fast!

 

 Last Monday we had a dinner appointment up at one of the colleges in our area called Zhong Hua, we started biking up this HUGE hill. Like in all honesty if I was anything but a missionary you couldn't pay me enough money to bike up that thing it is straight up. We finally get to the top and stop around Huang MaMa's house. Then I ask my companion how much further it is and he was like, "Oh, it's about 20 minutes more that way" and "that way" just happened to entail going further up the mountain. Oh my gosh my legs were burning haha, there is no way I will get fat on the mission just because of these hills. I guess I should be thankful right?

 

Hey I got my humongous Christmas box!!!!

 

 Anyway there is a point to this story, the trip was totally worth it because we met with the member and he brought two friends. We did intros and they were both from Dalu! (mainland china)  I love meeting with them so much because 1. their Chinese is always more clear and easier to understand, Taiwanese accent is a little different 2. THEY ARE SO PREPARED!!!!!!!! Every time I have met a mainland Chinese person they have been so accepted of the gospel and our values. I hope we will get to continue to meet with them.

 

Arrived early and locked out

 We actually taught a Chinese boy for a couple of weeks and then he took his Book of Mormon to class and a professor say it and just "ma'ed" him out about it. And told him he couldn't meet with us or be baptized because China doesn't support our Church and he wasn't allowed to join our Church. (which is false, when they come on the study abroad it is their own choice at that point but we don't want to step on any toes) When he called us to tell us this he was really heartbroken, but said he was going to continue to read the Book of Mormon everyday! I know that when China finally opens to our religion he will be one of the first to come and join the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ! After that I was once again reminded with how blessed I am to grow up where I was able to have this in my life!

This week we also had the opportunity to go and help our Bishop move! I always thought it was fun to help people move but it turned out to be a really really comical day. This isn't a bad thing it is just one of the cultural differences between America and Taiwan. But here when you get married you stay in your house and  your spouse moves in with you and when your kids get married they stay too. So you usually have 3 generations living in the same house their entire lives. So since that is the way it is here, they very rarely move because there is no need. So they whole time they were looking at the fridge and TV trying to figure out how on earth they were going to lift it and move it. Me and Elder Illu just walked it and picked up the fridge and took it down 5 flights of stairs and put it in the truck. It was the funniest thing ever, they were all in shock! They whole day and at church the next day they just kept saying, we can't figure out how you two moved that all on your own! I'm just thinking, well you just pick it up and go.... It's all good just a funny cultural difference. 

We got quiged Pizza! Delicious!!!

Last of all, our investigator Lin JM is going to get baptized on the 27th! we are so excited for her! She is so rock solid and really wants this gospel to change her life and affect her family. She is actually only in Xin Zhu for a little while going to physical therapy but lives in Taipei. So she will actually be their baptism but we are teaching her. It doesn't matter though who gets the number we are just so happy to see her make this decision and become a very strong member in the Church! She is so diligent! Every time we teach she goes through the BoM with all these great questions, I wish I had her work ethic!

Well that's about it! I love you all and miss you all! A huge shout out to my Mom this week HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I hope all your wildest dreams come true! Thanks for everything!

Port and me in Seattle last Spring. 

Elder Roe

My White Christmas!!!

Hello everyone!                                                                                                    Dec 8, 2014

Well what a very crazy week it has been! As many of you know, transfers were this week and me and Elder Illu...... are staying here! Yup! But they threw us a curve ball and transferred out Elder Edmunds and Griffin out and combined our areas! So now it is just me and Elder Illu in the apartment with the two areas. Yeah so talk about a big change. Seeing both of them pack up and leave was really really hard and sad. I'm gonna miss both of them so much they are like my brothers. But they are both in the Taipei Central Zone now so they are gonna do a ton of work. I am excited for them! 

My white Christmas!!!

Yesterday was a great  great great day!!!! We had two people be confirmed and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and a baby blessing! So Church was super full of awesome stuff yesterday.

 On Saturday we had Zhong DX's baptism. The church isn't in our area so me and Elder Illu left really early to get there and start the font to be sure there would be enough water. We started it and then had a meeting and did some other things. About an hour later we came back to check it and looked in and there was only like 3 inches of water!!!! We were freaking out so bad! The baptism was in about 35 minutes. A member then was like "Oh yeah! Because we haven't had a lot of rain all of Taoyuan and Hsinchu have dropped the water pressure so that they can conserve it!" I was like this is not happening. So we went into the next room and prayed. I had no idea what to say other than to just ask God for a miracle. I knew he could do anything, help us find a way to make this work!

 Right when we finished we walked out the door and in comes Elder Nixon. We told him about our situation and he told us, no problem you just turn up the water pressure that is what they did last time. He took us out back to a shed and cranked up the water. We walked back in to see water just spewing into the font. And it was completely ready in time for the baptism with no problem!!! God answers prayers!!! We were so thankful that God was able to provide a way for this to go smoothly. After the baptism we asked Zhong DX how he felt, he told us he couldn't explain how he felt all he could say was he was flying. It was an incredible think to witness. 

Also yesterday Angel was able to come and receive the Holy Ghost. Before the meeting started she told me this had been the longest two weeks of her life to have to wait for this day. After she was confirmed she just had the biggest smile on her face she looked like she was floating. It was the most rewarding thing to see the two of them take the sacrament for the first time as member's of the restored church of Jesus Christ.

Our District

As Christmas season is here we get an awesome awesome opportunity to "Share the Gift" if you  haven't had the opportunity to go to mormon.org and see the video go and do so immediately!

 It is so good. In all of our lessons we have been asking people if they know what the meaning of Christmas is. The answers are all the same, mostly give gifts. Then we start pointing things out like Christmas trees and ask them why there is a star on top of the tree, or what candy canes represent. They are so shocked when they find out that it is all symbolic of Jesus Christ. We are then able to share with them the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus Christ. That God gave us the greatest gift of all, his son. 

I am so thankful for this time we have to celebrate his life. Let us all do our part to share about Christ and bring him into the lives of others! I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Roe

A Thanksgiving Orange

Hello all,                                                                                                        Dec. 1, 2014

Well I hope that everyone had a really good week! And that all of your bellies are full to the brim!!! In my opinion there is really no greater holiday. Even we celebrated it in our own little way! We started off the day with some (really terrible) singing of: "The Star Spangled banner" "America the Beautiful" and one more.... that I can't remember. But yeah it was pretty patriotic. Good to be from America.

Man, I just love this work!

 Then that night we went to see a woman by the name of Huang Mamma. I don't know if I have told ya'll about her though so I'll do a quick intro. She is 81 years old, her husband is 87 and is pretty sick so he stays at the hospital. She is VERY wealthy she has three houses on her property that are American style which is crazy. In Taiwan that's a couple million dollars.

 And I'm basically her favorite, well.... maybe not. But she does like us. We will go up and do service for her sometimes. Anyway so we went up there and knocked on the door just to see how she was doing. She was happy to see us and told us to go sit down out side and a table thing she has on her patio.

 She went back inside and then when she came out she had 2 oranges! She gave them to us and then we all talked for a while, looked and the stars and ate oranges. We talked to her for a while, she told us stories of her life. Someone with that much time on them has some pretty awesome experiences. So even though I didn't get to be with my family, eat a turkey, or home made rolls, or ham, or have slush, or pie. It was ok. Because while I was sitting there one the patio over looking beautiful Taiwan, looking at stars, and chilling with Huang Mama it was just as good as all of that. Because I got to spend Thanksgiving with someone else who is lonely and family is far away. I pray that one day she will let us actually teach her a lesson though!

Huang Mama who gave me an orange on Thanksgiving!!!

 

A couple days later we had a Thanksgiving dinner with our ward! And they did such a good job!!! They cooked Chicken and had a lot of food there, including some tasty rolls and salad. It was actually super tasty and was a lot like America. I think the reason they have the party is mostly for the missionaries so that was really nice of them. It was a blast to get to talk with the members for a while and meet some new people! 

This week is going to be a really great week because our investigator Zhong DX is getting baptized! I am so happy that he had made this decision and is going to follow through and enter in to this amazing covenant. I know that it will bless his life immensely! Well that's about all I have for this week! 

Triple Scoop....life is good!

The Church is true. It will bless your life more than anything else!!! Trust in God in all things and you will never be disappointed! I love you all and miss you. Praying for you always!

Elder Roe