Tonight!

Rice fields on the way home from SK's house

One of our investigators got baptized on Saturday night! Yeah, it was random for me as well! His name is SK and he is the one that came to our ward on his own a couple of weeks ago. We have been able to teach all of the lessons and get him prepared by Saturday. His original date was for May 30, but because he felt so prepared, and we felt like he was prepared, we decided to move his date one week forward. We asked him, "What time next Saturday would be best for you?" He looked at us with a very confused look on his face, then we could almost see the light bulb go off above his head. "Tonight!" My companion and I looked at each other like what? Then we called the zone leaders, and they gave us the thumbs up. We got everything figured out. SK drove a couple of cities over for his baptismal interview, turned right around back to Long Tan and got baptized all before 8:00. It was a very crazy day. Miracles happen though!

The rest of the week was really great! I'm still kind of on a rush from talking to you guys last Monday. That was so great! The Temple was also amazing. Such a beautiful Temple. Taipei is such a busy place, and the Temple is sort of hidden in the center of it all. As soon as you step on the grounds of the temple, it's as if you're stepping into a bubble, away from the whole world. It is literally the happiest place on earth. Sorry Disneyland. It was such a refreshing feeling though. I hadn't been for over five months (since the MTC), so it was really nice to feel surounded by the spirit.

Taipei 101

After the Temple, we had the day in Taipei for our P-Day. We went and got lunch at this place called Cozy Burger. It was pretty cozy, and they sold burgers. Nice. It was pretty good. Then we went to Taipei 101. It has the fastest moving passenger elevator. We got to the 89th floor in about 20 sec. It was a really clear day, so we could see all of Taipei from the top. So awesome.

On Thursday, we were doing our weekly planning in a room on the main floor of our apartment building. We were discussing some of our goals and plans for the week when a lady walked in and said, "Will you please give me some information on your Church?" My companion and I immediately froze. Then we snapped out of it and shuffled through our papers looking for tracts to give her. We were so taken off gaurd. She mentioned to us that her husband had passed away last October and she has been looking for a church to join since then. We set up an appointment and we'll be meeting with her soon! As soon as she walked out of the room My companion and I said a prayer of thanks. It was very interesting that after a whole lot of finding and a whole lot of "no thank you", somebody found us! It really humbled me to know that the Lord keeps His promises and he will ALWAYS provide.

View from the top of Taipei 101

I've been rellying too much on myself lately, and not enough on the Lord. I conviced myself we were going to find somebody from doing everything on my own. When in reality, you must rely on the Lord. You must have Faith that His spirit will guide you to the perfect place, at the perfect time, to meet the prepared person. I'm grateful that the Lord is merciful, and even when I lose Faith, he allows me to repent and become better. I feel his hands every day in my life!

This is wife cake (?)

Yesterday was pretty awesome. Sunday's are always my favorite day of the week. Martin came back to church! It was so great to have him there with us. SK got
confirmed, and we also had our recent convert Sister Liang there, who hasn't been able to come for a while because of work. It was so awesome to see all of them at church. Last night, we went to a ward family night. It was super fun, but really exhausting because all of the little kids were jumping all over me!

Shout out to Mica and Dad for putting in some good work at the State and National tournaments. Sad to hear you guys didn't quite take the national title, but I am happy to hear you guys had loads of fun! I'm sure next year you guys will have a solid team. It's so weird to think the boys have one week left, then they're out for summer! It feels like only a few months ago I graduated from high school, now I'm on my mission! Time continues to fly.

I hope you guys all have a great week this week!


Love and miss you all!
Elder Chase Matua