Hao jiu bu jian! (long time no see). Today was an awesome preparation day. We went somewhere even cooler than Lu Gong called Ba Gua Shan. It has this massive huge buddha statue and temple that overlooks the entire city of Zhanghua which is my zone. We went with two RMs that served in Taipei, such amazing guys. They are local to Taiwan and their homeward is Xihu, which is awesome. They’re fluent in English because they spent 2 years with American companions so it is great to communicate with them when I see them (at church). One of them actually just got into BYU and will be going there next year. I hope to remain friends with him so when I come home he'll be there to be my local Taiwanese friend, someone I can speak the mission language with. Today we also ate at another chi dao bao, which translates to all you can eat (the literal translation is eat until full). We usually go to a chi dao bao with the zone every p-day which is always fun. They have all you can eat meat, noodles, ice cream, slushies, etc for like $8... amazing deal.
Elder Hall from our stake is coming home in 2 weeks. He was my assistant for 3 days and then became my zone leader so I have been on many exchanges with him and really have gotten to know him. He’s such a cool guy and friend. One of the nicest guys here and very cool to me (we always joke around we have a Connectection- Connecticut connection). He’s coming home and giving his homecoming talk on June 13 at the Newtown chapel. I’d really like it for you and dad to go hear his talk. He’s a great guy and great speaker. I told him I would tell you and dad to go hear him and meet him.
We baptized another guy two nights ago. We met him our first night in Xihu. It is so amazing to see how 3 weeks ago this man was smoking 2 packs a day, chewing beetlenut like crazy, and basically having no direction in his life, and now 3 weeks later he’s overcome his drug addictions, been baptized, and knows God's plan for him on earth. I absolutely love seeing the progression he made. I love meeting people and helping change their lives like this. Next week we will be baptizing two more people. One of them is a 25 year old girl I met while teaching English. I teach intermediate English by myself, and every class is an hour of English with 30 minutes of a Chinese spiritual message at the end. After I gave the spiritual message she was dying to hear more and meet with us. We taught her a few times, got her to church twice and now she is being baptized next Sunday. So awesome. The other guy we met 2 weeks ago and just accepts everything we teach him. The first time we taught him about tithing we were worried because most Taiwanese people have a problem with this law because they aren’t the most well off but he totally agreed and on the spot was like, "can I start paying now?" we were like wow, actually no, you have to wait to be baptized but we love your enthusiasm. So that was pretty cool. I’m excited to baptize them next week. Yes, the ward here is so solid. My ward is actually known for its amazing members. Such good people to fellowship these new members. Okay I gotta go. I love you and much and miss you guys. I can’t wait to hear from you next week.
Love, Jeremy
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