It's okay...I can't read Chinese either! ;)...Too bad I am in TAIWAN!!! 台灣!!!!! I am loving it more and more out here! Yes things do get harder and harder but that is what makes you love every second of the work! We literally can not waste a single second! This week has been a little more crazy so I have a lot to share! :) I hope I can all get it out in time! :)
I'll start out first with...SUMMER VACATION!! You know what that means? More time to write your favorite missionaries! I don't want to throw anyone under the bus for not writing but I would love to hear from you all **cough...CHASE...cough cough** :) haha. Just kidding. But really, Summer vacation is here which means all my favorite investigators go back home far away and Taiwan gets SUPER hot haha. I thought it was hot before...well wait till the day after a mini Typhoon when its about a BILLION DEGREES OUTSIDE!!! Haha.
So it is going to be a really fun next 6 weeks. I am still down in good old XiaoGang! I have been here forever! I am loving it! I killed off good old Elder Baxter. Elder Pudding (as the Taiwanese like to call him). I am going to miss that Elder. But life goes on and ELDER FURMER COMES IN! YEAH! Can you guess where he is from! You get one guess...Kentucky? No....UTAH! :) haha. He is super awesome! His Chinese is also really good which is going to be great! I am really excited to work with him! I will let you know all the miracles that we see together! :) So today is a crazy day! Not only does Elder Baxter leave me but Gary also takes off! UGH! He is going to Intern up in Taibei! That stinker! I sure will miss those two.
So some happy news! Elder Baxter and I were able to see some cool miracles in this last week because of our dedication even in the depths of Trunkiness haha. We found two amazing families! One of which used to attend the temple regularly and then because of Ward relations left the church! But they invited us in and we are now working to bring them back and remind them of the happiness that they used to experience! Another is this dad that used to work SUPER hard to make money but because he never saw his kids he decided to quit and just take care of his children. I can see his sincere love for his family and his desire to do what is right is incredible! We are excited to be able to serve and help this family find the happiness in a family that only this gospel can bring! The truth of Eternal Families is the one truth that I treasure more than anything! The fact that our Savior suffered for us so that I could be with my amazing brothres (Chase, Gage, Dane...Ryker? :)) And with my INCREDIBLY AMAZING FANTASTIC PARENTS (Wonderwoman and SuperMan :)) forever is the very best ever!!
So I was pondering some things lately about missions. I had a close friend talk to me recently about debating going on a mission or not (uh-oh...Elder Gish..not again...no listen!!! :)). I was thinking about it and it was brought up that this person might reject their mission call.....WHAT!?!? REJECT A MISSION CALL!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! For those of you who don't know this is how it works. We freely submit our name and one of the 12 apostles will take our name and prayer over us SPECIFICALLY! THEN after sincere prayer by the Lord and his servant (one of the 12 APOSTLES) we are sent to a place where the Lord has prepared people for us specifically (YES THIS IS TRUE!). How can you turn that down? No matter what is waiting for you on the other, no amount of money would keep me from serving this mission! NOTHING could EVER STOP ME from serving my Lord and my God. Not after all that he has done for me. And then to turn down a mission call is just to tell the Lord that you know better. I trust in my Lord as should everyone. I will tell you what...there will be times when you just have to take that next step totally blind or where you just have to jump. But as his servant I am telling you...just jump. Trust him. He WILL NOT LET YOU FALL.You may even feel like you are falling for a second. But then you land. On your feet, and if you start to stumble our savior puts his arm out to steady us. It is kind of like that demonstration I love where you blind fold someone and have them stand on a plank and lift them about two feet of the ground but they feel like they are SUPER HIGH. Sometimes we just have to jump :). Now trust me when I say....jump! This is all true. I know it is true and I can not deny it. I know it enough to leave behind everything else that I loved and to come out to Taiwan to share it with every person, every stranger that I see!
Really....I have to get this time thing worked out..this is a struggle haha. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!!!
I love you all so very much! ADD OIL! (Thats what we say in chinese ;)) haha
Ge Sheng Long ZhangLao
葛勝龍長老
