Goodbye Dragon Pool, hello East Side

Last P-Day with BaDe District

What an incredible week. Unfortunately there were a lot of good byes. Fortunately, there were many awesome hello's!

This past week was President Day's last as President. His departing testimony was awesome. He spoke a lot about the family we have as a Taiwan Taipei mission. He is a man of God. One of my favorite things he counseled us on in his testimony was our most important investigators being our own children. I feel a huge sense of urgency and importance in raising a generation of righteousness. All the things we do as missionaries prepare us to become the best parents we can be. I love President and Sister Day, they will be missed. As for our new mission president, I still haven't got the chance to meet him. I feel like it may be a while before I get to because the missionaries down here tend to stay

Peace out w/buddy Martin

down here for a while. I'm super excited about that though.

Oh yeah, I got transferred down to TAI DONG!!! I feel like a very lucky soul. It's every Taipei Missionary's dream to come down here. We are the smallest zone in the mission, but cover one of the biggest areas, I love it. I just feel like I'm a part of a big family down here. My new companion's name is Elder Stephens. He's from Farmington, UT. Great guy. He's only been on island for 2 transfers, so I'm only a bit older than him. We're gonna do some great work together. We live in a 4-man apartment, and we're all just so excited to be in the greatest place on earth. I've already made some awesome friends down here. It's so great. Life is great.

The ride to Tai Dong

I've learned so much these past couple of weeks. I'm actually on my mission. Sometimes I feel like I'm dreaming. It's so great. Sure it's rough sometimes. But I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. It's crazy to think how much Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us. There are times when I feel like I get caught up, I feel like I may be going too fast. Nothing helps more than the basics. I mean prayer and reading the word of God. He provides such perfect ways to feel of His love for us. It's ALWAYS there. Sometimes we have to do some work to find it. I'm glad I've had this chance to be out here to learn more about myself, My Savior, and My loving Father in Heaven.

I love you all and hope you have a blessed week!

Elder Chase Matua

On the train, headed to our new areas

My new comp, Elder Stephens

83kgs

Visited my bunny friends again

Uh..yeah. I've gained a whole kilogram over the past four weeks. After I made a goal to lose five. I am eating WAY too much fried rice.

Another awesome week. These emails are getting harder and harder because every week that goes by, the harder it is for me to remember what happened through out the week haha. I'll try me best!

We've found two new investigators. Peter is awesome. I actually met him the second day I was in Longtan, but never heard from him again until last Tuesday. I didn't realize that I have met him before until he said our closing prayer on the street. I feel like he's been praying on his own. He's way awesome. He actually lives in our apartment building. His family doesn't have any religious background, and he's very willing to open his heart and try the words and promises of the prophets. He's really great. He loves county music and I thought he was 25.. yeah, he's 16.

QQ is a young lady that our bishop's wife brought to church yesterday. Our Bishops wife baby sits her little boy. She was really quiet, but she had a lot of really good questions. We're excited to see the progression both Peter and her will make.

This week is the Last transfer meeting for President Day. So sad. But he's invited everybody in the entire mission to attend the transfer meeting, so it's going to be intense. There's a big possibility I get a new companion which it'll be really sad leaving Elder Lindahl. He's taught me a ton. He's such a champ.

Dragon Boat Festival was crazy!

Friday I went on an exchange with Elder Dorius from the MTC. He is definitely one of my best friends i've met on my mission. He's such a goofball. it was good catching up with him and grinding out some work.

We walked passed the pond during the Dragon Boat Festival. I'll just say the Taiwanese people now how to have a celebration.

We had some pretty great Less Active visits this week. With both of the families we're really working with, we decided to share the blessings and importance of the Temple. Heavenly Father loves us indeed. Everything else aside, the blessings and even the feelings you get as you enter one of God's many holy temples are so amazing. It brought so much happiness to my heart as I shared my feelings of the temple to those lost sheep. I hope and prayer that the spirit talked and is talking to them to make the temple a priority. I love the Temple.

The rest of the week was pretty great. Lots of good stuff.

Happy Father's Day Pops!
Man, every time I read your emails I get teary eyed. Then just motivated to continue to make you and mom proud. I had a cool moment yesterday with my companion. We were just talking about our families and I started talking about you. I realized how blessed I am to have a wonderful man of God as my father. A lot of memories came to my mind when I learned a ton from you. Dad I can't wait to come home and give you a big hug! Congratulations on the call to the bishopric. I know you'll do a lot for our humble ward. Good luck with all of that. I hope mom and the boys treated you well today! You're in my daily prayers. I love you so much Dad. Have a blessed week!

I hope you all have a blessed week!


Much Love,
Elder Chase Matua

P.S. I got this email today from one of the youth in the ward I served in Colorado Springs. He reminded me SO much of mica. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I love missionary work!

Hi, Elder Matua, it's Eddie. I've thought about you lately and decided finally to say hi. I am only 15 but I know that I need to start preparing myself for a mission. I what did you do when you started to get ready? What are you doing now while on a mission?

I also wanted to say again how thankful I was for love and spirit inspired letter you wrote to me. I read it a lot and get teary eyed every time. I am so thankful that you were worthy and so blessed to receive such insight from God to write to me. You were and are a great light and example to me and how I need to be a Christ like example. So thanks again. Tell me how your mission is going. I want to know the good experiences that you have had.

More work and a visit to Lanai

Aloha my friends!

Maui in the background en route to Lanai

Not to much new to say this week. Our ward was gone all week for a temple trip on the Big Island. All of our progressing investigators are doing great, still progressing.

We had interviews on Saturday so that's always nice. Got to see President and Sister Warner.

On Wednesday we got to go to Lanai for some exchanges. We were with my old friend Elder Talatau and his companion Elder Saludis.

Coming closer and closer to the end of the transfer. Just doing what I can with the time that I have left.

Here are some pics.


Nothin more to say really. Love you all!
Elder Kingston Matua

I don't know what to make of this

Getting goofy on P-Day

Enjoying the beauty of the islands

Mining for Gold...en investigators

Cool little turtle we found...
down by the baaay!
Just kidding, it was by the good ole
Dragon Pond

And we found one! His name is Pierce and he's super awesome. The only thing he's worried about is when he gets baptized, he's nervous his parents will be super disappointed in him when he can't go to do their Buddhist worship. Besides that, he's ready to go! We also have another investigator named George. When we first started meeting with him, he got really mad when we invited him to be baptized. He has already been baptized into another Christian Church, so he was really just confused why he has to get baptized again. Last week, we took him to a baptismal service in the next area over, and he said he felt something different. We

This is made of mangoes
from the Celestial Kingdom

met with him again on Sunday morning before church, and he is now willing to be baptized! He's on date for the 27th of this month. Super exciting.

We had a lot of really cool experiences on the street this week. We met a 20-year-old kid named Skater. He skates. cool huh? before we got into teaching him anything, he asked us a question about where we go when we die. We taught him about the plan of salvation, and it was like he already knew it. (Which he did, he just doesn't know he knew it hahaha). The next day he sends us a picture on Facebook. I guess his mom was sitting a ways off. She took a picture of him talking to us, and his caption was "I met two angels today". It was way cool.

View from above Long Tan

Unfortunately, he's going down to Gaoxiong for his military service, but he said he'll try to keep in touch. He also said he'll take the Book of Mormon and read it. Super great.

That along with all the other miracles just made this a super great week. Elder Lindahl and I are just surprised at the things we've been running in to. We meet so many great people on the streets. lots of crazy ones as well. For example: We met a guy who sincerely told us he's dying to become a Muslim. We tried talking to him about his beliefs about God and other things, but he repeatedly said, I just really want to be a Muslim. Finally I asked

One of the hills we bike up
This pic does not do it justice

him why and he said, " Because they can have four wives." He was a great guy.

Tthe work is moving right a long. We have transfers next week and we've heard one of us is moving. Which is super sad. Elder Lindahl is super great, we feel like we're working super good together. but now we might get split. Oh well. The will of the Lord. Come what may and love it!

My testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus

Crazy tiny wabbits!

Christ has been growing huge lately. I can tell you from the sincerity of my heart that we have a God of love. He truly is our FATHER in Heaven. He has provided perfect ways for us to develop our relationship with Him. What He requires most is our faith. With faith, anything is possible that is expedient in Him. I love the Lord and the guidance He has given me through his Holy Prophets. Yes the ones that are living on the Earth today. I love the Book of Mormon now more than ever. And Prayer has taken on a brand new meaning in my life. These things were all made possible because a young boy named Joseph Smith humbled himself and sought truth. I know that no matter who you are, you can do the same exact thing. Isn't

Our crazy funny LA

that a God of love? He loves us so much that he will provide for us ways to find truth for ourselves, through the spirit of God. I love Heavenly Father and my Saviour Jesus Christ.

I hope each and every one of you has such a blessed week! Love one another! Hold to the Rod!


Elder Chase Matua

More aloha!

With a family friend
visiting Maui from Utah

Another great week is in the books! We were able to meet and teach a new investigator....well she's kinda new. She has lots of family in our ward and has been coming to church almost every Sunday since I've been in Makawao. She actually came to us last Sunday and told us that she wanted to take the lessons. We will be teaching all the lessons as Pres. Takitaki's house, her uncle. As part of the first lesson she told us that she is planning on getting baptized!! So I'm pretty pumped for this next week, hopefully we can get her to commit to a date and start getting ready.

Lots of good potential coming up this week and we can't wait to see how everything goes. All of our other investigators and less-actives are doing great and are making some good progress. Hope all is well for all of you at home and all my fellow missionaries in the field. Keep on keeping on folks!


Love,
Elder Kingston Matua

Yet another amazing week

Sometimes reading "Jesus the Christ"
(Talmage) is too intense

Long Tan is truly a place where you see miracles.

Elder Lindahl and I are just going crazy out here. Our finding time has been so great. The spirit leads us to one after the other. So many great people. Many of them don't live in our area, but Team Jesus you know?

I've decided there were just way too many miracles that have happened this week, so I'll share probably one of my favorite moments I've had on my mission. We were walking around the pond, speaking to every one. We sat down by a man on his phone and started sharing about the "Because He Lives" video. We watched it with him, but he didn't have very much interest. Out of the corner of my eye, I see 2 guys sitting a couple of feet away from us.

With our awesome Filipino friends

So as soon as The other man ran off, we turned around and walked over to the other 2 who seemed really curious about what we were saying. Turns out they were from the Philippines. There are tons of people from the Philippines that come here to Taiwan for work. We usually don't get the chance to talk to many because they're usually working ALL day long. But these two were sitting out under the trees eating some food together, celebrating one of the guys birthday. We just started talking to them about the usually stuff. The one who's birthday it was told us they were actually christian. We asked them if they heard about the "Because He Lives" video. They said no, so we watched it with them. One of them just started bawling. After the video was over he bore to us his testimony of Jesus Christ. Before we left, we asked him if he didn't mind saying a prayer in Tagalog for us. In the middle of his prayer he started crying again. The spirit was SO strong. He told us he would never forget the moment, and I told him neither would I. I love having the opportunity to feel of God's love for all of His children.

With some old friends from the MTC

It's so amazing.

Yeah, it was also a pretty busy week as well. Zone meeting and Zone conference in one week, two exchanges. One with Elder Dorius, my good buddy from the MTC, and one with our Zone Leader, Elder Miller. Another thing I've been so grateful for is the wonderful friends I have made while one my mission. It was a really great week, and looking forward to another great one. I hope each of you has an absolutely blessed week!

Another funny story - Just a short one,

At least 40 helicopters flying over
our apartment

Last night we were going on some less active visit's with our Elder's Quorum Presidency. We
actually visited the lady who I visited my first night here in Long Tan. The Elder's Quorum President asked her if she remembered me. She looked at me for a second then said, "OH yeah. You've gotten more fat."

Taiwanese people are straight up. They really don't like beating around the bush. Don't worry, I'm trying to lose weight hahah. Might be a Prop when I get home!



Love you all
Elder Chase Matua

Aloha my friends

First off, Happy Birthday pops! Looks like you guys had some fun for the day.

A little sad to hear about Elder L. Tom Perry. Always tough for us to see an amazing leader and Apostle of the Lord leave us, but since we have the restored gospel we truly understand that he is in a better place and we will see him again.

This week was pretty awesome! We were able to see our new friend Lani that we gave a Book of Mormon to last week and guess what...she did some good reading. Awesome lady. Read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and even looked for the scriptures in the back (which doesn't usually happen). She loved it and asked why we shorted her one of the books. She was asking where she was suppose to find the scriptures marked D&C. haha! Good stuff!

So she will have a full set of scriptures next week when we go see here and hopefully we can make some good progress with her.

There have been some tragedies lately over here in the ward, loosing loved ones and things like that. But through all those trials nothing can help more than the gospel, so hopefully we can be lead to the people who have had their hearts softened. But good week for the most part, planning on having an even better one this week!


Love you all!
Elder Kingston Matua!  

Awesome week

A serious pic in the elevator

This week was full of miracles. Probably one of my favorite weeks in Taiwan so far.

The weather was pretty crazy. The first couple of days were just notstop rain. the last half of the week was SUUPPERR hot! I couldn't stop sweating it was soo hot! It was good though.

We had a good amount of lessons this week, all of which were solid.

Monday night we were out knocking doors near the chapel. We
ran into this man who was standing outside of his house. We asked him what his name was and right aways he said, "When I have time, I will talk to you guys." ..Buut we just kept talking to him. He was an older man, told us his name was John Kai. He told us he was a little busy and that we could come back the next night. So we did! We had a lesson with him and it turned out he already had a Book of Mormon and that he was baptized over 30 years ago in a different city. We learned he really loved reading the Book of Mormon, but for one reason or another he slowly started fading away from the Gospel. We told him we were gonna help get back of the path. We are hoping and praying that we can help him do so.

And a goofy elevator pic

Another miracle this week:
We are trying to figure out what to do with our investigator Martin. He's been investigating for over 3 months now and we've been hitting that same wall each and every week: his parents won't let him get baptized. So my companion and I decided to try his faith a little bit. We asked him if he believes that God could help his parents understand that being baptized is a good thing. He said, "Of Course!" So we invited him to talk to his parents one more time, to see if they would allow him to be baptized this coming Saturday. In the middle of my sentence as I was asking him, my companion hits me in the back and says, "Can you hear the song playing?" We were having this lesson in a 7-11 and there was music quietly playing over the speakers. I almost fell off of my chair when I heard what song was playing. There we were, in the middle of Taiwan, on the outskirts of this little city, just sitting in a 7-11 and "Be Still My Soul" was playing on their speakers, in English! My companion and I were speechless, and Martin was SO confused. Surely it was a miracle. It was a good thing Martin could understand English. He loved the song. I believe Heavenly Father was trying to tell him to be still, or be confident in the power of the Lord. I think God was also trying to tell me that regardless of what happens, even if his parents don't let him get baptized, my soul needs to be still. In the Lord's time, all things are made right.

This little guy fell on my bike

Just a week full of miracles. So many to write down.

We just straight up had a fun and successful week. I raced my bike with some kids, and when I smoked them and turned around to see where they were, they were gone. Vanished into thin air. That was pretty funny. We met a LOT of crazy people. The usual. And a lot of amazing people. The blessings.

I love you all and hope you have a blessed week.


Much love!
Elder Chase Matua

P.S.

This little guy is not actually a member. He is the step brother of one of the ward missionaries. While he was waiting for his brother to get out of a meeting, I showed him this picture of our family and he was just like, "Woah! Why are they ALL missionaries!?" I started busting up laughing.