More rain, working hard and a happy surprise

With Sis Ma

Wow, yet another week. I love being a missionary!

The week went by SO fast I can hardly remember what happened.

The work continues to be a battle. It always will be. We've met some great people this week. We're hoping to help them make some good progress.

I've decided that Taiwan is just a very interesting place. Every. Single. Day. is an adventure. I've never felt a day repeat itself. It's great.

Lots and lots of rain

Miracle of the week: We had an investigator show up to Church yesterday..and she liked it! Her name is Sister Zheng. She's been coming to our English class every Wednesday. We actually met her on the top of a mountain. We biked all the way up to this village we found on the map. Great place. We've been inviting them to come to English class and Church. We were also teaching the brother. This past Wednesday, she told us that her parents don't want us to come to their home anymore. We thought that she was gonna stop coming to class, then She shows up to Church on Sunday. She said she'll be back next week! We're excited for that.

Buddha fruit

This week we have zone conference, Pretty pumped for that. It's pretty crazy how fast time flies, we have General Conference in five weeks!

Two of my buddies from my Chinese class back in Lehi emailed me this week letting me know they got called to this mission. Super happy for them. That's 3 more people I know from Lehi coming out here.

Well, I wish I could remember more of what happened. hahaha I love being a missionary. Taiwan is a wonderful place. And I guess I'm a big fan of Tofu now. Weird. hahaha Taiwan has the best food in the world. I hope you all have a blessed week.


Love each of you.
Elder Chase Matua

Six months on island....

Zone Leaders surprised us with a
birthday breakfast treat

Aaaannnndd I still feel like I entered the MTC last week. Time is going by super fast.
Things in Taidong are good! Even though time is going by pretty fast, the work is still a little slow. And it seems to be getting slower every single day.

This past week we had zero new investigators. We have zero progressing investigators. We have zero investigators with a baptismal date. Zero lessons with investigators with a member present. Lots of zeroes. I sort of feel like I'm in the biggest rut of my life. But it's okay! All we have room for is improvement. This week is going to be a great one! Time to rebuild!

Elder Lindahl made me a birthday
cake using the rice cooker. Genius!

We met a lot of great people, had a lot of good talks on the street. Most of our area is just doors. We don't have a real city center where we can walk around talking to people. SO we knock a lot of doors. We find a lot of interesting people, most of which don't have too much interest in learning about Jesus Christ. But it's okay! They will one day. This is the Lord's work. I'm trying my hardest to do it His way, and He's shaping me into who He wants me to be. It's good stuff!

I had the great opportunity to have my first birthday on my mission. The things about mission birthdays is it's NOT about you. It's about everyone else around you! I absolutely loved it.

We saw this dog guarding a piglet
Only in Taiwan

Fortunately I have some pretty awesome Elders around me. Those goofballs helped me have a fun day!

Apart from all the things I'm complaining about, Elder Stephens and I see miracles every day. Small and big. Our ward is doing great. Our relationships with the members is getting good. I've found some really awesome friends down here.

I love being a missionary. I love serving people. I love meeting and talking with new friends. I love Heavenly Father and everything He does for me, even when I fall short in the simplest of things. I am so humbled to be His servant.

Again, I KNOW this is His work. I'm so honored to be learning from the Master himself each and every day through doing this work. He is my Captain.

Sorry the email is all over the place this week. It's kind of how my brain has been working lately haha. I hope you each have a blessed week this week!


Much Love!
Elder Chase Matua

Birthday dinner Round 1

When it rains in Taiwan, everyone BBQ's

Sorry dad, but I had to send a pic of this amazing shrimp

Birthday dinner Round 2

Our Ward Mission Leader has become a great friend to me

Transfers, parties, farewells and trees

Great week.

Our area is moving. Slowly, but it's moving. Our ward is doing great. We have a lot of people who are STRIVING, and it's great help towards the work of the Lord.

Last monday our Stake President had all the missionaries over for lunch. It was really great, every missionary was asked to bear their testimony and why they were out serving a mission. It was good to take a step out of things and consider why I'm out here in a foreign land doing the things I'm doing. Good stuff.

Tuesday we had district meeting. Last district meeting with Elder Tang because he moved on Friday! Him and Elder Chand both moved out of our area. Sad time, but they'll do great things in their' new areas. And we've had some pretty great missionaries come down here. It's gonna be a good transfer.

The Samoan in me came out

Wednesday night we had our English party. Played a lot of games. Elder Stephens and I set up a huge game of musical chairs with Enya playing. It was pretty funny, they had a blast playing.

The rest of the week was a blur. On Saturday, Elder Love and Elder Lindahl (my previous companion) made their way down here to taidong. Both awesome missionaries.

Sunday morning was pretty sad. Sat night, Our friend Gao Yu Chen told us he was gonna come to church with us on Sunday. He hasn't been for quite some time, so we got pretty excited about that. Sunday morning before church we rode out to his house to get him. We got there and his mom told us he went out to play soccer with his friends. We were so sad. We have time set up this week to meet with him. Hopefully he'll be willing to keep on moving forward.

This poor Fijian helped me out

Yeah this week was pretty good. Changes all over the mission due to the transfer. It's gonna be a good 6 weeks.

That's all for today. Don't worry, I feel a good email coming on in the near future.. hopefully haha. I love you all. Thanks for the love and support. Have a blessed week!


Much love!
Elder Chase Matua

Said goodbye to awesome friends this week

Culture moment: Remove your shoes...

...and put on some slippers

My new flower pillow... growin like a boss

Last District meeting with Elder Tang before transfers

From the top of our Stake Presidents home

Good times in Tai Dong

Post typhoon and feeling the spirit

My Zone - awesome!

Well it was a pretty interesting week. To be honest, it was probably among the roughest of weeks I've had so far on my mission. There were a couple of days this week when I sort of just felt like I was absolutely alone. God always provides. I logged onto my email today and noticed I have received some awesome emails from some great friends. All helping me understand, I'm the exact opposite of alone. Instead I have so much love and support that is given to me. The love that God has for each of us is amazing. Simply amazing.

I was SUPER excited to be in my first typhoon!.. and it didn't effect Taidong at all. Thank you to all of those awesome people praying for the missionaries, we were all protected! i did hear it hit a little harder for other places, but we're all good. We got some pretty bad wind, and a tiny bit of rain. Nothing too serious.

Before "Super Typhoon Souledor" -
yeah, nothing serious

Work has been super slow lately. There's so many things that we're trying to fix and adjust that we're just tripping over ourselves. It's super hard, but I know it'll never get to hard. THIS is GOD'S work.

I love being a missionary. I love the way God is shaping me. Love you all!

Hope each of you has a blessed week!


Much love,
Elder Chase Matua

This shave ice is meant for 30 people...
there were seven of us

This is a Peanut Butter burger

I thought Kingston would like this Hawaiian Restaurant
called "Maharo" LOL

Me and the Ward Mission Leader - great man!

Another week of ups and downs!

Pres. Jergensen loves BYU rugby

First off, President Jergensen is the greatest! We had interviews with him on Tuesday and man was it such a good experience. It was really one of my highlights of my mission so far. He's such a loving man, and he's SO fired up about the work. So honored and blessed to have the opportunity to serve with him!

The work is going a little hence the "downs". This area is so huge. It's so hard finding that ONE that is just so ready to receive the gospel, specifically from Elder Stephens and I. Slowly but surely. This week we're going to have a do or die (he's not really going to die if it doesn't work out!) lesson with one of our investigators, Gao Yu Chen. He is super great, we're just not exactly sure if now is there right time to make a serious covenant with our Father in Heaven. He hasn't been able to make it to church for a while

Being silly on p-day

because of soccer practice. Keep him in your prayers. He's too great.

We're really trying to define our ward mission plan. We have been counseled over and over to really focus on strengthening our ward and working through them. Working through the members is the most efficient way to find and teach prepared souls! I mean knocking on doors for hours on end is fun and all. But the Lord as well as every one else knows there's a better way! So that's coming along well and hopefully we can refine it and put it to work!

With the best zone ever!

We've been visiting a member's husband at the hospital every night for the past couple of days. It's been neat seeing the member's testimony of prayer and to learn from that.

Funny story: We ran into a Jehovah's Witness the other day. Wow, what an experience. I won't say to much besides that, it was actually really frustrating.

Nothing else too crazy happened, at least not that I can remember. I'm still loving this work. I'm loving the way it's shaping me, and I'm loving the things that I'm learning. My relationship with my Father in Heaven and with our Savior Jesus Christ continues to grow, and it's great! Gotta love it!


Have a blessed week ya'll!
Elder Chase Matua

I decided to be a model on this rock lol!

Kids in Taiwan are super funny

I was waiting for my food when the woman behind the counter
said, 'You come cook it'. So much fun.

Biking is awesome