Taiwan January 2014

Well howdy,            Jan12,  2014

    Fine week, don't you say? I was thinking perhaps it was a bit

cold.... you know, over there in America haha ;) Everyone we meet on the

street is like "You're american?? wow, it's really cold over there right

now!!" bahaha, who needs to watch news when you can talk to people and hear

all the exaggerated stories :D It's great!!!! love it!! Halla!!!!!

    But really, lets get down to business, this week started out kind

of.... meh. But then became a great week!!!! yay great weeks!!!!!!

Basically because I remembered the fact that I'm out here to do work, and

not worry about what other people think of me :D Isn't that just an amazing

realization!? I do say so, it is my dear chap!!! :

    Family!! And love!!! Love is what brings us together today!!!! Tell

the family I say hi :D And I want to know if Karen is planning on coming to

Taiwan for vacation haha!!!! It would be fun to know :D Missionary

efforts.... fun/hard times :D

So...... How am I? hmm........ Well Good, and were teaching about 20

lessons a week now, so I"m super happy about that!!!!!!!!!! We have one

investigator with a super strong baptismal goal, so pray for him and for us

that we can help him!!!! Success wise.... well.... I feel super blessed,

because here in Dou Liu, me and Elder long have about 4 or 5 investigators,

and the other companion ships have none right now. I feel super blessed

that we have people to teach, and It makes me want to help them as much as

possible :D God has given me this responsibility to help them, and so that

will keep me going :D Mandarin is super good!!! I feel pretty ok with it :D

I mean obviously if we're talking about like muscular diseases then I don't

understand, but basic stuff I'm doing good :D Speaking it, I still sound

super funny haha, but that's ok, my accent will go away with time.....

hopefully.... :D

So!!!!! On to the week!!!!! So for each day, I'm trying to add in a funny

or spiritual story, but I just thought of this, so Next week I'll have one

for each day, but as for now, I'll just try to remember some :D

Monday: Hahha.... ha..... so dad.... this is how I started out my Journal

entry.... I think you'll enjoy it ;)  I said "So.... sometimes I think my

dad is weird, then I realize, I'm the same weird as him, and it's

awesome!!!" Bahahaha, Love you dad :D So last Monday we spent with one of

Elder Long's old investigator, who wanted to spend time and see him haha.

So we ate.... talked.... played ping pong.... and talked to him.... ya....

super fun!!! Funny story of this day is that The american's won in ping

pong, which overall is just ironic if you ask me haha :D

Tuesday: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppperrrrrrrr tired!!!!! Like, really tired

haha!!!!! We taught a ton of lessons, and had an amazing ZTM!!!!!!! I got

more language material, and we sprinted like 2 miles with 50 pounds of

books on our back haha!! Funny... but.... bruising on the shoulders haha.

Really fun story of the day has to do with one of our English

investigators! Last time we taught him about the Law of Chastity, and he

was like "Respect for the Church! that's awesome!!!" Then this time, he was

reviewing what the Law of Chastity prohibits, and somehow, he got in his

mind that "Flatulation" Was against it, and we were like oh no! You can

still fart. Promise. And he was like "Oh good, because if you couldn't, I

would never make it into the church!!" bahaha.... funny. awkward. love it.

Wednesday: English class day!!!! Gotta love English class, and this week

is English class party!! Super excited!!!! We're doing a Harry Potter

party, and we have wands we're giving everyone :D Super excited! Anyways,

last Wednesday was super good :D Met with a cool family :D And found

magnets, and then talked about extreme sports. yep.... story... umm.....

ya..... next day :D

Thursday: Wow.... so... tired... need... sleep.... You know I had a

realization, from a video we watched one day. I'm so tired. like every day.

But yet I feel so happy!!! Why is that??? who knows!!! First one to get the

answer will get a hug through the computer ;) Dad, Bryan, you can't play

because you already know the answer haha ;) Oh ya.... but this day, I will

not tell a lie, I wanted to kill Elder Long. But then we talked about it,

and it was all better :D We did a really cool spiritual share with a

candle. We lit the candle, and said it represented the light of Christ in

all of us. Then grabbed a cup which represented Satan, and put it over.

Satan will try to put out our light, but we always have the power to move

away from where he has power to put us out. Love it :D

Friday: We.... had a good day!!!!! I tried writing in my Journal in

Chinese and It went good!!!!! I want to try and write the scripture that I

wrote down here.... Ok, I'll try :D It's Mosiah 26:17, which says "你有福了,

因為你在人......." Ok I give up. Takes to long to type haha!!! I'll have to try

again later :D

Saturday: Everyone is treating us to dinner. Well, there goes my diet

haha :D That was the realization of the day haha!!!!

Sunday: It was a hard day. We had to experience a bit of heart ache as

someone we really care about and want to help doesn't want to talk to us,

and just wants to leave. It was hard, but we made things better :D

Yep... so that was the week!!!! And Now I'm sitting here babbling on....

and listening to some EFY music.... singing to myself... getting funny

looks.... ya all that good stuff :D I love you all at home, and don't

forget me!! That's a big no no!!! No forgetting Elder Danny Dawson, I still

live out here haha!!!! Love you all, and hope you have a great week :D Pray

for me!!!

CTR, (義)

Elder Dawson (陶長老)

P.S. Enjoy the Photos!!!

Family here who ate lunch with us :D

January 5  2014

Well harrow there everyone!!!!! 

     I hope you all had an amazing new years!!!!! Partied a lot..... drank sparkling cider.... partied.... without me..... *sniff* *sniff* bahaha, kidding, I'm having a party here :D 

     So, mission life is going really good!!!!!! Serving others, working hard, laughing, crying, and having the occasional mental breakdowns from Chinese haha! Yay!!!! New years day.... we didn't really do anything.... like at all haha!!! Just continue doing missionary work!! yay!!!!! Year of the horse..... good luck!!!!!!! So that young man and his mother that we were talking about last week are doing good!  His older brother just came back from China, so now its a happy family all together now!!! yay!!!! 

     So mom, sounds like you had an awesome new years!!!!!!! I will be praying for Miriam, and you all, and your family :D And Teaching Primary!!! Yay!!!! That's awesome!!! Good luck mom!!! Try not to spoil them too much ;) I'm super excited to have Chinese new year here!!!!!!! Although, it basically means that my diet is going out the window.... but hey, as of right now I'm at 205!!! yay!!!! That's an improvement haha :D 

Mom! Another Package! Ah! Super Expensive! ah!!! Haha, umm......just recipes to make stuff... a card.... smiles..... not too much candy haha (still trying to lose weight ;) and um..... pictures? I don't know! Ask bryan, he might know haha!!! :D 

Soooo.... This week!!!! Yay!!!!! Overall this week was pretty good :D A little hard at times, but overall pretty good!!! yay!!!! So.... 

Monday: I felt so good!!!!! It was a great day, and I felt super happy!!!! 

Tuesday: Had fun, and Met a really cool German family!!!!! They wanted to come and tour the Chapel, so were super excited!!!!! yay!!!! 

Wednesday: We literally contacted people like all day. Super tiring, but super worth it!! We found a lot of people to meet with, and basically, just hard work brings miracles :D 

Thursday: We met with a ton of less actives!!!! I love meeting with them, and getting to know who they are!! Super fun!!! yay!!!!! 

Friday: So..... got a little tired..... yes..... but that's ok, because I'm still having an amazing time being here!!!! yay!!!! and one of our investigators accepted a baptismal invite, and so now we're working with two people towards baptism!!! yay!!!! 

Saturday: I literally only wrote "Well, what a great day!! :)" Well.... what to do. 

Sunday: Super good!!! That mom I was talking about earlier, It's her birthday next week, so I'm making paper flowers for her! I'll send a picture when I'm done :D 

So to end, I would just love to say how amazing it is to have study times each morning :D Just having that time every morning to study the scriptures has helped so much in my life!!! It's something that I hope to keep doing my whole life :D I love you all!!!!! 

CTR, (義)

Elder Dawson (陶長老)