BBQ, festivals and the work

Apartment picnic

Wow. This past week has been one of the best weeks of my mission. Tuesday, Elder Love (ZL) and I were on exchanges. Met some great people, had some incredible lessons. By the end of the day, I drop like a rock on my bed and I was just so exhausted. Up to this point, one of the most fulfilling days of my life! We worked super hard, and it felt good to feel like we put every last ounce of energy into the day. Good stuff!

Transfers weren't last week, they're this week! They had to change them due to visa problems. I guess a lot of people are moving, they just don't know who yet.

Yummy stuff!

We've been meeting a lot of awesome people. Meeting new friends is the best thing ever. Taiwanese people are the nicest. This weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival. A big thing that EVERYBODY does is kaorou (Barbecue)! Last night we were invited to plenty of barbecues as we biked along the road. The homes don't really have yards, or driveways, or sidewalks. So they pull out a small box put some coals in with a rack on top, and grill right there on the street. Families get together and it's just a huge party. So awesome. We ate with our investigator and his family and it was so great.

Elder Stephens, our friend Gao Yu Chen and me

I think one of the coolest things I've learned this week was from the Book of Mormon. So I've been studying how to become a better missionary. Interesting right? yeah, it's fun. Anyways, I was reading in the Book of Alma about one super powerful missionary companionship, Alma and Amulek. Missionary work is hard. We are rejected on an hourly basis. Seems discouraging right? Sometimes.. it is.

Alma and Amulek are a great example of why we shouldn't be discouraged, nervous, scared, or shy away from bearing testimony, even when others are sometimes openly rejecting it. A man named Zeezrom starts questioning them as they teach. Zeezrom's crazy because number one, he really doesn't care whether or not what these guys are saying is true. He's just trying to get them to cross their words, slip up, something. Alma and Amulek teach him by the spirit. Zeezrom feels the influence of the spirit and he has no idea what to say.

Later in in the 15th chapter, Zeezrom enters into a covenant with Heavenly Father and is Baptized. I

Our zone, having fun

just think that's so awesome. Zeezrom was "a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good" (Alma 11:21). How did Alma and Amulek do that? So cool. They sowed a seed that was quickly harvested. I've realized that as missionaries, we are here to HARVEST. BUT, there would be now way of harvesting if someone had not come earlier and sown a seed.

Let's sow some seeds this week! And look for opportunities to harvest! I love missionary work. Love you all. Keep staying strong. Stay true to the Faith. Have an awesome General Conference weekend!

You all get to watch it a week before me so have fun!


Have a blessed week!
Elder Chase Matua

Teaching, serving and loving the work

Bro Hou of our Stake Presidency

Pretty crazy, and super fast week! I don't even know where to begin.

Monday we had our second lesson with Glenda! She accepted baptism and is super ready to make covenants with God. The thing that's difficult with her is trying to find a member to come with us to visit her. We only have about 2 people that can kinda converse in English, and they're always really busy. Normally I pray every morning that I can have the gift of tongues. Lately I've been praying that our members can miraculously have the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues!

Me in my new 'ama' pants

Wednesday we did some pretty good service for Sister Ma. Awesome lady with a huge chunk of property up against the mountains. We helped her clear out some trees and a whole lot of weeds that were bigger than the trees. Our English class was super good. This little boy named Henry has been excited to say prayers for us in class. It's awesome because when he says prayers, he sounds like he's just talking to a friend. 3 Nephi 26:16. This guy is like nine-years-old and he teaches us something amazing about the gift and opportunity to speak with our Father in Heaven. It's just like talking to a friend.

My super long hair - don't worry
I'm getting a haircut today

On Saturday we went up to LuYe (about a 20 minute train ride north) for an FHE held at the home of one of our Less Active members, the Lin Family. Super big family. Although, they weren't all there, the majority of our ward was and it was really nice to see everybody together. We did an awesome activity with some really long rope. Everybody stood in a circle, then starting with our bishop, we passed the ball of rope around connecting everybody according to hobbies, interests, attributes, pretty much anything that we could think of. Of course it ended up being a huge web. We lowered it, and had some people lay in the center while the others lifted up. The point was that our ward is a family. We're all here helping each other. Lifting one another up. It was pretty cool.

The Sabbath was awesome as usual.

Super awesome FHE activity

Impactful experiences, many miracles, new friends, lots of hard work. It was a good week. I continue to love my mission experience. It's still super hard. Lately, it's been especially rough, but the Lord always provides. We have zone conference tomorrow and then stake conference on Saturday and Sunday, all up in Hualian, so I'm pumped for that!

I hope each of you have a very blessed week!


Love you tons!
Elder Chase Matua

Splits with Elder Lindahl

Saw this dog-lion-bear-Ewok thin and had to take a pic

Biking around LuYe

Life of a missionary - practicing lessons on inanimate objects

Scooter game is strong in this one

Can ye feel so now? Alma 5:26

What a great week it has been. We are continuing to see more and more miracles. This truly is the Lord's work, and I love being a part of it.

Elder Stephens and I have been running into a lot of great people as usual. The great people we've been running into lately have actually been sort of interested in the message we bring. The one we are expecting to see the most progress from is a lade named Glenda. She's from the Philippines. We were riding home one night when we decided that we needed to talk to ONE more person. We were riding down one street when we saw someone literally coming out of the shadows. It was a little sketchy, but we decided to talk to her. We started talking to her and she looked as if she saw a ghost. there was a little bit of silence and she said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak chinese." Later I figured out she was SO confused seeing Elder Stephens speaking Chinese to her. She's awesome. Mentioned to us that she's looking for a Church where she can "really feel it". Fill up the fonts right? She had work so she couldn't make it out to church yesterday, but she's really excited to come next week. We're excited for her as well.

Just miracle after miracle, and the Lord continues to provide. Almost a year out, and I continue to be in awe at how Loving our Heavenly Father is. I've thought about it a lot and the spirit has testified to me that He is truly my Father in Heaven. He has provided so much for me to learn and grow. I quote Alma 5 because the questions Alma asks are so powerful. Whatever point you're at in becoming truly converted to Jesus Christ, there will only be one thing that keeps you motivated to move forward: The Comfort of the Holy Spirit of God. Why do people choose to be baptized? It's because through the feelings of their hearts, the Holy Ghost has born testimony of the truthfulness of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do we choose to endure to the end after we have been baptized? It's because we feel promptings of the Holy Ghost to endure, to choose the right, to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. So lately I've been asking myself this question, What am I doing to help others feel the spirit? What I'm I doing to help others truly feel the love of God?  And I have been growing SO much.  "Can you feel so now?" I just think it's super powerful!

The rest of the week was pretty great. Zone meeting was awesome. Learned a lot from inspired leaders that have been called of God. Spoke with some good buddies I haven't seen in a while.
Are ward is doing great. They're all so awesome and striving to build the Kingdom of God. I had the chance to go on two exchanges this week. One with Elder Lindahl and one with Elder Nielson. Both super awesome guys.

The mission is great. I love being a servant of the Lord.
I hope you each have a blessed week.


Love you all!
Elder Chase Matua