Launching our hopes and dreams

Hello all,                                                                                                    Mar. 30, 2015

Hey everybody in the western hemisphere! Hope all is well, and that you have smiled at least 7 times today! If not, start. This week was the best week ever! Mostly because it was just super busy and full of lessons! Which is a great thing but makes it feel like I didn't even sleep just non-stop going. But I like it that way.

Yummy Mr. Fish!!!

 This week my companion went to the temple with his generation to the temple. So I got assigned to another companionship for the night. And guess who I got to go with? Elder Jensen who came out with me!!!! Holy moly we were SO stoked! It was a really fun night, we got to attend a baptismal service for a 8 year old and then just did some missionary work while catching up on the past 6 months, oh so good! :)

Shout out to you Mom and Dad!

Last week we had a pretty fun adventure. We had a member who wanted to come and take us out to do something but we weren't sure exactly what we would be doing. Also, last week it was pouring rain like cats and dogs and so it was pretty cold! But we decided to go up to PingXi and 放天燈 (put lantern's in sky? I don't really know how to translate that sorry) So even though it was raining we wrote our hopes and dreams on it and put it up in the air. To be honest I think that the rain made it a little more fun. And surprisingly enough there was a lot of people up there doing it. Then we went on a little hike, so wet and so awesome. Then we went to a 老街 (alley with lot's of 東西) and we ate stinky tofu... Yeah it stunk pretty bad 沒錯 but the taste wasn't that bad hahaha. It was a fun experience.

Missionaries launching their lanterns to the sky!

Our Awesome Hike

The best part of this week was: Y and X both passed their interviews!! So that means that this next week we will have 2 baptisms! We are so stoked! And luckily God wants  to work in our favor, so we are having it on Friday which is a national holiday here in Taiwan so that means EVERYONE is off work and can come to see and support them. We are really looking forward to it. They are both super duper awesome.

 Keep them in your prayers that everything goes really smoothly. 

This week since the Because He Lives video came out we have been really pushing it in our contacting and teaching. It has been so neat to be able to explain to people that because Jesus Christ died for us we too can conquer death! The more that I learn about it the more grateful I am for our Savior. I hope that everyone goes and follows the prophets invitation by "liking" the video and sharing it to as many people as possible. The Church is true! And Jesus Christ lives, what joy this sweet sentence gives!

I love you all, have a great week, and I hope we can all grow closer to Christ as we go through this amazing Easter week! I am pretty excited! Sending as much love from Asia as possible!

Elder Roe

Love is the Motive

Howdy everybody!

Guess what!? The week went fast again! I bet nobody thought I would ever start an e-mail with that sentence, I know big shocker! But this week was full of awesome good events.

An old pic! One of my favorites cuz you can see the joy and excitement and the Light in their faces!

My favorite part of this past week was by far the Zone Conference. President Day is such an inspired man. They covered EVERYTHING I needed to hear. Our President has asked us to be fluent in three languages. First in the language of the spirit. If we can follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and be "led in all things" we will be successful and effective missionaries. We even had time set apart for us to just pray and ponder how we can be better at following the promptings of the Spirit. After that we focused on the second language which is the language of love. We need to develop a sincere love for our Members, Companions, and for the people of Taiwan. In the words of Pres. Faust "love is the motive" which is so true! And lastly the Language of Taiwan. Mandarin Chinese. We had really great trainings on how we can better improve our ability which included teaching our members and then having them help us with our pronunciation and grammar. 

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Well this week is gonna have to be a little bit short cause we are heading out on a adventure. I love you all and are praying for all of you! 

Also:  We got visa waiters! Over 20 new missionaries have arrived! Thanks for the prayers!

I love you!

Elder Roe

Bold Faith

Hello all,                                                                                                             March 16, 2015

Starting an email I feel like is the hardest part. So I hope that ya'll have just had the greatest week that you could have because life is awesome! My week was super duper awesome! For lots of reasons but one reason has to to definitely be because I got my bike this week :) Yeah baby, that's what I'm talking about. There is just nothing like riding your own bike.

One of my awesome friends!

 Although I would be lying if I said I didn't miss my car. As great as a invention as bikes are, cars are the way to go. Especially when it is raining. Which as it turning out is something that Taibei loves to do! RAIN! And we aren't talking about just cold uncomfortable rain, we are talking about little devils talking water out of the glaciers of Antarctica and then pouring it out of buckets onto your body rain. Halfway through the night I just yelled to my companion while we were riding "I thought this Island was suppose to be tropical!!!!"

 I wore my white shirt, sweater, huge coat, and poncho but somehow it still got pretty cold. I think it's probably mostly because of the humidity. I dunno, but the good news is that at the of the week the rain subsided. And it was the absolutely most perfect weather on Earth. I think it was a huge tender mercy because I was starting to not love this place haha. But seriously, it was so green and blue skies, and absolutely perfect. I love Taiwan, when it's nice to me that is.

Birthday party

Other than the weather update we actually did do work this week. All of our investigators are really progressing and doing really well, our less- actives are taking small but sure steps of improvement and that is really exciting as well. I think one of my favorite parts of the week was HL. He is our RC, and he is the best guy ever! If you can understand everything he says you have incredible Chinese. He has autism and is the sweetest guy ever. But because of this it causes his to switch subjects and topics faster than I have ever seen. I love him so much! The first time we met he was focused on three things. 1. Sports scores 2. Crocodiles 3. Taiwan's Birth rate. So yeah definitely one of my more interesting conversations I have had. Yesterday it was his 29th Birthday so we went over to his house for cake. He was so happy that we came. At Church during sacrament meeting in the middle of the talk he would get up and run from pew to pew and tell them that it was his Birthday haha. So great. His birthday wish was to have a better salary so ditto to that! 

He is the best sweet potato frier here!

Lastly, yesterday night we had our "missionary fireside" with our ward. We had our ward mission leader, then us, and then ward missionary speak. We were a little bit nervous because we knew that this could be a huge turning moment for our ward. If we could get them pumped up about missionary work then we would be able to really get the work progressing in MuZha. Our part went really well, we had a great discussion, and the spirit was really there. We have already gotten 2 referrals! So we are really excited. The best part is something me and my companion decided to do... it's pretty scary too. We showed them our schedule for the next week, then said tell us a time you can help us teach someone, for example wed. @3:00, and if we don't already have a lesson there then we will go out on the street and we will find someone for you to help us teach. The ward was really taken aback at such a bold statement but it really got them stoked! So... I hope that we have enough faith to do what we said! 

Well that about sums it up, I love you all and hope you guys all have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder Roe

A first time PRAYER

This week was full of amazing food. Not really even for any reason either haha. The members here are just really great and love the missionaries. I am really liking being in Taipei, there is so much stuff here its a lot of fun. Last night we had dinner with our Stake President, he is INCREDIBLE!  Last week I talked about how we met with him and Pres. Day. Then last night he invited us and the Zone Leaders over to eat with him and his family. I would love to go into detail of all the food but I don't think you would really understand just how good it was. That's okay though haha. Afterward he showed us all the statistics of the wards and the areas he wants help in. He is really good at wanting the wards and missionaries to work together. He  know that if we want success we will have to work hand in hand. I think he is the best stake president in Taiwan right now. I am so amazed with him!

These members taught us how to make wrap dumplings!!! SO GREAT!!!

Also speaking of food. While I was on exchanges this week in XinDian we went to a steak house (which is nothing like American Stake houses by the way) And the waitress asked how we wanted our steaks we told her Medium well. Just for the sake of safety it was said in Chinese and English so there was NO CONFUSION. But I'm pretty sure the only time it spent on the grill was when they cut it of the cow and slid it across the stove to the waitress so she could walk it out to us. There was so much blood and it was so raw. Luckily they were willing to take it back and actually cook it this time haha. Maybe we Americans are just picky with our meat cause the member that was with us didn't think it was that bad haha.

The biggest miracle for this week was a man by the name of W. His wife is a member and was actually a missionary in Taizhong. She raised their children in the Church and he met with missionaries one 20 years ago but never really had a desire to join the Church. However she got talking with him and she committed him to be baptized next month and he accepted! We started meeting with him and the first time he didn't really have much to say to us and was really hesitant to do anything.

 Ok so I LOVE the food!!! Kind of obsessed with it!

 

 But the second  time we went we took some time to just really get to know him and talk with him. Even though there wasn't a ton of gospel principles shared he could feel our love for him. And at the end of the lesson we asked him to say the prayer, and even though he hesitated he accepted! I am sure that his family has tried to get him to pray for the last 40 years but hasn't ever had much success. He said an AMAZING prayer! And we found out later that that was the first prayer he has ever said since he was born! It was so awesome! It is such a great experience to see someone say their first prayer even when they are 60+ years old. It just goes to show that it is NEVER too late to accept the gospel, Jesus Christ, and his teachings.

I love you all and hope that you have a super great week full of miracles! 

Elder Roe

My first Transfer!!!

大家好!                                                                                                   Mar 2, 2015

Happy day to all those out there in the western hemisphere! I hope it's a little bit warmer for you than for me ;) So first things first. I got transferred!!!! :) :( <-- it's a lot of mixed emotions. This last week I went on exchanges with Elder Bake so that we could have our interview for 柯弟兄 and he passed!!!!!!! It was awesome and he was so happy! I am waiting to see if the service went through...

 

Awesome family who got up super early to feed me and wanted to drive me clear to Taipei but Jason wanted to ride the bus with me so that's what we did. They are terrific!!!

 

Then another crazy thing happened. We went to eat dinner and then we ran into TWO formers. One actually set up again to start meeting with the missionaries. So that was a little awesome and strange. Then we headed back to ZhuNan to drop Elder Bake off and ended up helping them move apartments. It turned out to be in our benefit because while we were moving we got THE FAX. Ya know, that one with the transfer info. Oh man it was a excited moment. Every companionship in our zone was having a change except for one. I was super sad because I had so many people I love back in XiangShan and because I had a baptism on Saturday and next week that I won't be able to see. But God has a plan and I felt really good. Once 吳 D and J had gotten baptized I felt like what I was meant to do in XiangShan had been accomplished. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone but I was also looking forward to the next adventure.

One Funny Cat!

Gonna miss these guys!!!

 

 We got to the BU and the best part of the meeting was NEW MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so awesome to see them there, they are so great and I think that they felt very welcomed. There was lots of hugs from strangers haha, but we have been really praying for them to get here so it's great to have them arrive!

Chinese New Year Decor

 

 I have been transferred to the Taipei South Zone which is actually new, we just created it. Kind of ironic because when I went to ZhuNan zone that was when they created that one too. I am now in 木柵, serving with Elder Hawkins from Mesa Arizona. He is super awesome! And it's super sad too cause this is his last transfer so we will only be together for 6 weeks :( But we are gonna work hard! The ward here is so great! I really haven't felt so welcomed as I have here. The were so kind and they are really wanting to see some progress in their ward. Our Stake President is also incredible! Yesterday was insane. It went something like this: 

7:30- Ward council

9:00- Church (Where I had to bear my testimony, and it just so happened Pres. and Sis. Day attended our meeting so no pressure)

12:00- Lesson

12:45- co-ordination meeting 

1:30-4:00 -meeting with stake president, stake council, and President Day

then normal missionary stuff

7:00- RC Investigator fireside at the BU 

 

My first convert. I'll always remember him.

 

So yeah it was a pretty long tiring day. I hope that you all have a great week! I love you guys and I hope that you smile and laugh and lot! 

Elder Roe