Sep 9, 2013 - letter to Mom

Well hello again from Taiwan!

So I guess first to address about your interest in our miracle scooter guy. Not good.... :( We called him Tuesday night to set up to meet with him and he told us that he feels its not something he needs right now in his life and that he really appreciated talking with us though. That's what he told me and then Elder Dailey talked with him and told him that he is studying for some big like law and government tests. Elder Dailey bore powerful testimony to him and told him that as important as the tests are, our message we are sharing is the most important and will impact and affect his life so much more than the tests could. We told him that we weren't even expecting to use up all of his time to meet only wishing to be able to meet for 30 minutes at a time. But sadly he just said that he feels its not what he needs right now and that he is busy with these tests.

So it sounds like you had a pretty busy week. Just getting thrown right into the fray. Sadly also this last week had one of my hardest days. Last Saturday I was just lacking confidence and feeling anxiety, nervousness, worrying over contacting and finding. I was finding it very difficult to even contact at all or talk. Even though I had an awful attitude and outlook, Elder Dailey at least helped to push us through and that I was at least trying some to contact. Contacting is one of my greatest weaknesses and that I am pleading with the Lord to help me turn it into a strength. I guess to be more specific its just talking with people really or going up to complete strangers and just talking with them is where I struggle. I am comfortable with teaching doctrinal points or bearing my testimony. It's just hard because my personality, character, and nature has never been one of going up to people and just talking with them. Like if people talk to me I will totally talk with them and everything. I never really have been one to initiate things though. So its really outside of who I am and my bubble of comfort. So I am really praying hard for Heavenly Father to help and what I can do each day to take one step at a time of turning this weakness into a strength. 

I love teaching though. I love having a plan made for our investigator that has been pondered, prayed, and studied over to help them and to help their needs. I love being able to do that and to then teach them and share with them doctrinal points as well as bearing my testimony to them. Many times other missionaries have remarked at how powerful my testimony is and how sincere I am and really care for those we teach. It's helped me to feel good.

Some more uplifting things from the week though has been that our ward has really been good over the last couple weeks about attending church and being on time to church as well. Normally we have been maybe having like 55 or 60 people maybe. But the last couple weeks we have had about 80 people each time. It's been such a blessing and am so thankful for it. Especially since they also come on time at 9, which was something that really had been a struggle when we first got here.

On Thursday night we had a ward activity lined up to go find and teach less actives. Sadly only our Elders Quorum President showed up (which he is a way awesome guy and I just love him, he is married and has I believe 3 kids). But it was still good going around Feng Shan for the night with the EQP to find less actives. Sadly we didn't get any lessons with less actives, but we did find out some good information. One of the families we went to visit found out they had moved to Ping Dong and that she is a member as well as her 2 sons but the father isn't. We found out though that her younger son who is 17 had been in a scooter/car accident and is paralyzed now. We don't know how long ago this happened. But the EQP asked if she would like missionaries to come over to give a blessing for her son and she said yes. So we got in touch with the Ping Dong Elders and passed this along to them.

Another great thing was that we had Xu as well as Wayne come to church yesterday. Xu stayed for 2 hours and Wayne only for one hour. Wayne had promised his mom that he would be back at 10:30 (who by the way when we taught Wayne the night before at his family's restaurant we always teach him there (we had asked his mom if she could let Wayne come to church for an hour and she said yes) and it was already 10:10 but the last speaker was still going. So I got up with him because he needed to leave and went out into the foyer. I asked him what his thoughts were and he said that he can tell everyone has a very strong faith and belief in the church and in Christ. I told him that they all really do and that they all have done what he is doing right now, that is praying sincerely and with real intent as well as studying the scriptures. So I just recommitted and urged him again to read and pray with sincerity and real intent. We will be meeting with him on Saturday again. It's hard to meet with him during the week because he has school and many kids, including him, have bu xi ban which is essentially cram school. They go to this at night to pretty much get tutored more on what they are taught in school. It's a little silly though. But Wayne is really great. He is open to hearing our message and being taught. So he isn't straight up rejecting us. But he also doesn't just blindly accept. He really wants to know for himself. Right now he has a baptismal goal of September 28. It might need to be pushed back though.

We also were blessed with last night a referral from the San Ming ward. He is Christian and has believed in Christ over the last 2 years. But he is really interested and wants to learn. He came to FHE last night, that's where we met him for the first time. So we have good hopes for him as well.

I as well passed off my lesson 1 on the Restoration evaluation this past week and plan to pass off lesson 2 this week. It's also crazy to think that new missionaries come this week! Wah! Then I will have my first zone conference next week. Oh and also it is Elder Dailey's birthday tomorrow. So I have given him some presents as well as he got a small package from home with some east coast pastries. Needless to say, they were really good. I got him a little lego guy, a Ford F150 Hotwheels car (he likes trucks, which we don't see very often here, but I have seen a couple Fords and then the rare one being a Dodge Ram the other day. Really cool though was on our way to church we saw a guy washing a Porche 911 Turbo S, so a way expensive nice Porche. We didn't have time to stop and talk though :( ), and I got him a little lego set that is a coast guard truck with a little zodiac. Speaking of Legos make sure Dad gets the ultimate collector series Star Wars legos. I know there is a X-Wing that is coming out this year and I am sure there will be one next year. So yeah....get them.

I have a few pictures to send today as well but I will have more next week. We are going golfing today though! It will be way fun. Sorry Dad, I really miss golfing with you. But now I can say I have golfed in Taiwan (at least hitting at a driving range).

Another few things is that could you actually send some pictures that are from the time when I was home between MTC 1st time and MTC 2nd time. I would like some pictures printed off from those times. Also really people think that you are an older sister in the pictures. They say you look so young and look like sisters to me, Allaina, and Allisa. Then also really an idea for something to send for Christmas package is maybe a few CD's. Like I really want a CD that is music from Zelda. I doubt I will find one here though.

But so that is some of my week.

Love ya so much!!!!!!!

Elder Dayley

Sep 2, 2013 - letter to Dad

Dad,

Yeah I am sure it is nice to be not so busy and overloaded. I have been praying for you and included you in my fast yesterday.

You with your hair like a horseshoe would fit in with many of the old guys over here. Also, while it is on my mind.... first off, tell Mom many of the people I teach I show my family pictures and they say that she can be one of my sisters. They say she looks so young and looks like Allaina or Allisa. Also, send some more recent pictures if you can from right before I left or over the year from when I came home from the MTC until I left again.

I definitely miss being able to teaching the 11-year old boys in our ward. That was a great calling.

So as for language, it is coming along. Elder Dailey says my language is amazing. That my comprehension and listening are extremely good and that my grammar is amazing as well. He says there are even some missionaries that are older that he says I can speak better than. But so the mission has a whole language study system set up. Right now I am on Phase 1. I have phrases, vocabulary, grammar patterns, baptismal interview questions, commitments, promised blessings, definitions of key terms, as well as the whole PMG sections written out in English, Pinyin, and characters for Lessons 1,2,3,4, and 5. I have evaluations for Lessons 1, 2, 3, 1-3, 4, 5, and 1-5. I have to make a lesson plan for each lesson and then pass these off to the District Leader. I am planning to pass of the first one later this week and my goal is to get Phase 1 done by the end of my training. Then Phase 2 is flash cards that deal with more day to day language. And Phase 3 is even more advanced and focuses more working with and learning the characters. Yes people write characters on their hands. Yes I will be learning characters. But right now my language focus is being able to teach all of the PMG lessons by myself in Chinese.

Yeah well this last couple of weeks must have been splits weeks because last Thursday was a meeting for all the trainers and trainees in East Gaoxiong, West Gaoxiong, and Jiayi. So we met over in west Gaoxiongs chapel and had a meeting with President Blickenstaff and his wife. They are so nice and so great. But so the AP's were with them and we had gotten a call that morning from AP Limpansriphong that he would go on exchanges with Elder Dailey and I from Thursday night to Friday morning. Needless to say, it was great and great to have him help with better contacting and learning from him. Also, this last week has been the rain that never stops. So literally no joke from Wednesday morning to Saturday night when we went to sleep it rained the whole time. We never saw the sun. It was awful and got bothersome coming home 4 nights in a row being wet. But so Elder Dailey and I prayed Saturday night that it wouldn't rain Sunday because then a lot of investigators and members wouldn't come to church. It didn't rain Sunday so that was great. Yeah, the Taiwanese people no joke are afraid of the rain. They think you will get sick if you are out in it at all. So many times we have appointments cancel if it rains or if it rains Sunday then not many people show up to church.

Love ya and miss you.

Elder Dayley

Sep 2, 2013 - letter to Mom

Mom,

You were asking about my comp...well, he is great! We get along really well. He goes home right at the end of October. We are looking at going and hitting golf balls at a driving range one of our P-days. He has definitely been helpful.

Also, America still does not have as much Hello Kitty as there is here.

Ok, so first off the words for I Am A Child of God:

wo3 shi4 shen2 di hai2zi, ta1 chai2 wo3 lai2 ci3 ci4, ci4 wo3 yi2 ge shi4shang4 jia1ting2, you3 qin1ai4 di shuang1 qin1. ling3 wo3, dao3 wo3, yu3 wo3 tong2 zai4, zhu4 wo3 xing2 zheng4lu4. jiao1 wo3 suo3 you3 ying1 zuo4 shi4, ta1 ri4 yu3 shen2 tong2 zhu4.

That's the first verse. I can maybe over the next couple weeks get the other verses for times sake.

So that's awesome that Jeff and Ryan came over, sharing their thoughts and feelings about Taiwan. So my jacket is fine that I wear it when it is heavy rain, but for the light stuff it's not even a bother. I'm jealous Jeff can take cat naps during the day though. I have yet to sleep a full night through. On good nights I wake up once in the night. On not so good nights I wake up several times throughout the night. I don't know what is causing me to wake up during the night though. So it's hard now during the afternoons that always around 2 or 3 I get really tired and nod like if we are teaching or in a setting where we are just sitting down. I really wish they could let us missionaries take naps. It makes sometimes hard to do strengthening and workouts in the morning right at 6 (yes, Elder Dailey and I wake up at 6 so we can have an hour of language study rather than just half an hour in the morning) because I am so tired and still haven't woken up or anything.

Yeah we can get copies of the Ensign or Liahona in English or Chinese. We haven't gotten the last couple months though. It might be something we have to tell the office elders about. But yeah we can read them. I have been reading the May issue a lot on all the conference talks. I just looked at the calendar last night and saw that one of the last things Elder Dailey and I will do together before he goes home is watch General Conference together.

I think Elder Vandiford actually might have gotten the psychology test idea from Elder Allen or one of the office Elders.

That is definitely something I miss a lot is watching the RSL games. One of my t-shirts I have with me is my RSL shirt actually. That is sweet though that there season is going really well with having the whole change up a lot of players this year. So to answer one of Dad's questions about the soccer is no I don't really get a chance or anything to play soccer or do anything soccer wise. Soccer is not big at all here, like literally no one really plays it. It's all either Basketball or Baseball. Like you would be surprised actually at how many people I see wearing NBA Basketball jerseys here. Also, you would be surprised at how much English people here actually know. I will share an experience a little later on that happened last night about something like that.

Sounds like a busy Sunday. My Sunday yesterday consisted of going to church at 9 till 12, then afterwards we had ward correlation till about 1:15. Then at 2 we had an investigator come to the church that we taught (went a little over on time with him) then at 4 we met these two kids at the Feng Shan West station for the MRT (the subway) and taught them till about 4:45. Went home then finally to eat, since it was fast sunday. I have never liked fasting a whole lot, but I still do it. Then at 6:30 we had an appointment with a less active that when we showed up his daughter was there but said he wasn't. We got his cell phone number from her since we only had the home phone number and tried calling him. He didn't answer so we started going down the road to tract and call the APR (our Active Progress Record, people we call that are investigators or potentials as well as some less actives we are working with). We looked back down the road and saw a man walking and went walking right up to the house where the less active lives and realized that was the less active we set up to meet with. So we went back to meet with him and met till about 7:15. Then this is where we had a miracle happen. Every Sunday night there is Family Home Evening for the young adults as well as us missionaries invite investigators to it. We as missionaries never go to it unless we have an investigator going or a recent convert. We had called our one investigator Sam or Brother Shang and he had told us he would go, but after meeting with the less active we called him again (we wanted to make sure he was for sure going because its a 25 minute bike ride to the church from our apartment and the less active lived right by our apartment) and he said he was out eating with his family. So he was not going. Another investigator Charlie (who also knows English really well and when we even talk Chinese to him he replies back in English) said he would go but not get there until 8. The FHE starts at 7. So we were already planning to be late. But so we left the less actives home and after about a minute Elder Dailey and I stopped. We didn't know if we should go to the church or not since that is a lot of travel time or if our efforts could be put to better use somewhere else. We were thinking this because Charlie on multiple times because he is busy with school and working for one of his professors has fanged our gezi's (literally Chinese is fang women de gezi which means literally placing pigeons, pretty much getting stood up), so we didn't know if Charlie would actually show up. We called him again and he said he would go. So then we decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father for guidance. After the prayer we both had feelings that either choice we would make would be beneficial that it was something the Lord was leaving up to us to choose. So we decided to go the church because we wanted to meet with Charlie and had faith he would be there. As we were riding along and contacting with people we were stopped at the intersection of Kaixuan Lu (lu means road) and Xingfu Lu. Elder Dailey was talking to one man who right when the light turned green zoomed off on his scooter. But so we both just start pedaling along and all of a sudden a man on a scooter driving next to us was telling us in English that he wants to talk to us. So we pull over to the side of the road and start talking with him. His name is Sean and knows English really well (he majored in English) and right off the bat he said he wants to find peace for the soul. He had tried finding happiness in money and things before but he told us he just wasn't happy. He had investigated churches before, including ours, and was unsure between deciding between Buddhism or Christianity. But so Elder Dailey and I talked to him and testified to him about Eternal Peace and Blessings compared to short term happiness. We even shared a scripture with him, and gave him a Book of Mormon. There are a lot of things he agreed with us on, but also some things he was direct about not agreeing with (he is studying to be a lawyer). But both Elder Dailey and I bore powerful witness and testimony to him about God as our Heavenly Father, the blessings and hope that believing in God bring, and how the Book of Mormon teaches and blesses our lives personally and individually. I invited him to read the introduction last night on his own and told him the promise the book brings of teaching how to obtain eternal peace and happiness. We tried to set up a time to meet then and there, but he was busy tonight with an interview, so we will be calling him either tonight or tomorrow to set up and meet with him. We have to meet with him quickly though because he starts classes on the 10 and will be super busy with those. But so this was our miracle that happened. We were being faithful, obedient, diligent, and fulfilling our calling. And we have someone who wants to talk to us, someone who knows English really well that I am able to bear powerful testimony to making it really personal to him. Very rarely do you have someone who comes and wants to talk to you or is on a scooter and wants to talk to you.

I definitely miss all of your food though. There is no way for me to make cookies here in Taiwan because none of the kitchens have ovens. So I settle for getting Oreo's each week. Also you would be proud of me, I get my protein each day. Pretty much every meal at least has eggs, meat, or both. Like one of my favorites to eat is dong bao fan. It's fried rice (which has meat in it) that they then wrap scrambled/fried eggs around and put ketchup on top. It's so good. Or like yesterday for dinner I had two chua bings (Chinese pancakes) with two scrambled eggs on top of each with ketchup. So I get my protein. But I have a actually lost 5 pounds since coming from the MTC and being here in Taiwan.

I love you very much and miss your food and being home to share life with you and Dad!

Love Ya!

Elder Dayley