Christmas in Taiwan

Getting ready for the festivities to begin

Well, nothing too much to share, I think we covered it all in the skype call :) heheh

The weekend was alright. It's getting colder. Elder Qiu keeps getting funnier. I'm taking him to play rugby today with some of the other boys and he's pretty pumped haha. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to work with this fellow. He's a great guy.

Our investigators are all doing pretty well. We have 4 people on date, one of them isn't answering their phone so that may go down to 3 by the end of the day. Unless we find more people on the street, which we will!! One of the invitations we have is to invite people to baptism on the street.

Taiwan-Taipei Missionaries get set
for an epic Christmas celebration

Not be baptized on the street, but ask them to be baptized, while you're standing on the street. Fun stuff. Some people look at us like we're crazy. But those that are prepared, who truly have an open heart and are looking for something more in their life, they'll hear the whispering's of the spirit and they will be moved. I love this work.

One of our less actives came to church yesterday and said he wants to duan chuan (serve a temporary mission whenever and wherever they need one on island). He's pretty dedicated to it, so it's been cool to see him sincerely apply the Atonement. People change, and it's awesome to be able to see it happen front row.

Christ is our Savior. He is the Son of the Living God. And because Heavenly Father loves us so dearly, he sent him to us. Sent Him FOR us. How grateful I am for this diving gift. Make EVERY day Christmas.


I love you all. Have such a blessed week
Elder Chase Matua

Poly Elders reunited

The Assistants ran up and said it would be awesome to
do the haka. We even got Pres. Jergensen to do it with us

I played one of the wise men in the nativity

With Pres. Jergensens' family

I took a picture in front of this structure with Elder Smith
nearly a year ago. Crazy!

New life in TianMu

Last day with Elder Jensen

Well I have tons to say, and I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll just say, I'm officially a trainer now. My new companions name is Elder Qiu and he is from Zhanghua. It's a city in the Taichung mission. He has actually been called to serve in the San Francisco mission, but due to visa problems (I guess it goes both ways) he's staying in the Taipei mission until it comes. He's a ball of fire. He hasn't gone to the MTC yet, so i'm starting from ground zero. It's interesting, but it's also super fun.

Amber got baptized on Saturday. It was a wonderful service. Tons of people there, and we also had another investigator, Brother Lin in attendance and he seems to like the idea of baptism. Amber did awesome though. She bore a powerfully of the Atonement and change in her first testimony as a member of the true Church of

Special day with Qiu and Amber at
her baptism

Jesus Christ.

Well, there's probably a lot more I can say, but I'll just wait for the call on Christmas! pretty pumped for that.

Have a great week. A blessed week.

AND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! What a special time to remember the birth of our Savior.



Love
Elder Chase Matua

Elder Tang and I outside the mission home
He's training too

Thanksgiving dinner with the Li family

Elder Qiu LOVED Thanksgiving dinner!

Week 6 in Tianmu?

This kid stopped us
on the street and asked
to take a picture with
us and sent it via email

I think it is week 6 in Tianmu hahah.

Last week it was pretty cold, today it feels like June 1. I thought Utah had some pretty crazy weather patterns. Taiwan is just as indecisive as Utah.

The week was super good. We are getting trained over and over again on making the mission vision our target: Baptize, Retain, and Reactivate. That sums up what the Lord's work is. And as missionaries, every single activity we do through out the day, must be aimed towards accomplishing one aspect of the vision. Simple. I love President Jergensen and the way he has been so inspired in leading our mission.

I've got some bad news, Elder Jensen is moving out! The curse continues, one transfer and we're done. I'll never understand why that happens to me. I know the Lord has something greater in store. Also, the assistants called us last night and asked if I would train a new missionary. So that counts as good news. And I'm pretty excited for the opportunity.

In front of the temple with friends and Amber (white coat)
who will be baptized soon

So Amber is getting baptized on Saturday. She'll be the very first new member in the North Taipei Stake that was created yesterday. Cool stuff.

The rest of our investigators are starting to get a little lost. It's getting super hard to get in contact with some of them.

Miracle of the week: Elder Jensen and I usually just go contacting out on the street, instead of just knocking. People have such an easier time rejecting us when they can't see our face, so street finding is a little bit more productive... most of the time. On Friday we decided to knocking. It started off rough, but soon proved to be just where the Lord needed us. In

Our friend Jonathan the cheerleader

Taiwan, most people live in apartments. You have the door bell on the outside and a speaker that the resident can communicate with who is standing at the door. Sometimes, they'll pop the door open with out even asking who it is. That's exactly what happened to us at one door.

We rang the doorbell for one of the basement level homes, the door popped open, and a lady was already standing at her door waiting to see who it was. We said Hello, and started talking with her... well, it was more like talking AT her because she would not say anything.  About a minute passes by and she finally says, well I'm Christian, turns around and slams her door. We head back up to the doorbells and ring the next one and the door flies open. This lady was waiting for us as well, but this one had a big smile on her face. ... and two super happy kids standing by her side. We started talking to her and found out that she has been waiting to go to church but no one has ever invited them so they've never been. A happy couple, and two awesome kids. They are seriously so Golden. We are excited to see the progression they make towards becoming converted in Christ.

Once again, i'm a little scattered. I hope you had a wonderful week. I love you guys tons.

Have a blessed week!
Elder Chase Matua

Working hard in TianMu

I just asked Elder Jensen, "What happened this week?"
He said, "umm.. on Monday we went and played basketball"
That feels like yesterday! Time is going by faster than ever.

We had another awesome week.

Elder Willes and I at Zone Conference
He leaves in two weeks!

On Tuesday we had our December Zone meeting. They asked me to give a training on how Obedience helps build Faith. I learned a bit about the two principles. The meeting went well. We have the second biggest zone on island with 16 companionships. We had a huge white elephant gift exchange which reminded me of all the priceless moments at the Matua family Christmas parties. Too fun.

On Thursday we saw some awesome miracles while finding. We saw this girl walking toward us, and we said hello. She pulled out her headphones and said, "I have work at 5:30" Elder Jensen and I looked at our watches, 5:30. Looked back at her, and she said, "but it's okay, what do you have to say?" Then we looked at each other and could almost hear the font being filled. No, she was super cool though. Living a pretty tough life. Her mother is hospitalized,

Eating with Aron

and her father passed away a little bit ago. She puts her whole family on her back and just goes to work. She was actually pretty inspiring. She said a prayer with us after we taught her how. Really interested in developing her relationship with God. We met with her again on Saturday and she set a goal to be baptized on January 9.

The rest of the week was also pretty good. Most of our investigators our progressing. Slowly buy surely. We've been seeing some miracles with less actives also.

Tian mu is such an awesome area. I get sad every time I'm leaving an area, but the next area always makes up for the loss. We live in the richest place on the Island of Taiwan. Lots of really fancy people. Surprisingly I've had more people talk to me here than in any other area. Lots of families.

At Bonnie's super fancy hotpot
restaurant

Lots of students, and LOTS of foreigners haha.

This last week we found people from Japan and from the Dominican Republic who both may have some potential. We also received a referral for someone who is from France. It's pretty interesting how wide a variety we have to work with.

The language remains a challenge, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. I'm heading to the office today to interview with President and attempt to pass off Phase 2. It's funny that you mention Longtan. Last night at a fireside I ran into Sister Liang from Longtan whom I haven't seen since June. She was one that Elder McClellan and I baptized in April. She seemed to be so happy and doing well. I love being a part of this work.

I hope you all have such a great week. Have a blessed week.


Center yourselves in Christ.
Elder Chase Matua

This is youzi - super tasty

These 7th Day Adventist came up to us and started singing
then gave us a pamphlet - stellar missionary work

Morning ball. I look fat but I promise I'm losing weight

This lovely family that Elder Stewart and I
found were all baptized on Saturday

Every Polynesian Elder in Taiwan is in my District LOL!

Another good week in TianMu

It was so cold I wore
a sweater!

We woke up to cloudy skies and rain. Still one of the greatest feelings ever. The weather has been cooling down big time over here. It was feeling nice, and then Friday hit and it was actually pretty cold. It's feeling good though, I love the cold weather haha!

Last Monday we went out to a youzi farm and picked some youzi. I'm not sure how to say youzi in English. They're super good though. They're pretty much like giant green oranges. Then we went out to have some fun at the beach. East and North, all I have left is to hit the West and South beaches.

On Tuesday, the entire mission came up to Taipei to listen to Elder Gary E. Stevenson speak to us. I kept forgetting to tell you all that that was happening. Well it happened and it was so great. EXACTLY what I needed. He's such a funny guy, and he's like best friends with President

Hangin' at the beach

Jergensen so they were joking around a ton. On top of that, he inspired all of us missionaries. His talk was great, but then he bore his testimony and the Spirit entered the room SO strong. There are no words to describe it. All I know is that we are lead by living Prophets and Apostles. God is in the details of our lives and it is frequently through his chosen servants.

Elder Jensen and I have been running into a lot of awesome people lately. Strangely, many of them have never heard of missionaries before. Up until this point in my mission I'd say about 98% of the people I've talked to know exactly who we are. Just recently, there have been many people who look at us and say, "WHO are you?" It's music to our ears. Perfect opportunity.

At McDonald's on Thanksgiving
with our buddy Aaron

Thursday night we were fed by some families in the English ward. They had American food like turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing. We joked that we must have gotten in an accident earlier that day because it felt like we were in the Celestial Kingdom. I had always heard of Christmas miracles, but that was indeed a Thanksgiving miracle.

Our investigators are moving right along. We continue to see miracles right and left with them.

Not much else I can think of right now. Time is going faster than it ever has before. It's super crazy. I can't believe we're coming up on Christmas again. That's going to be fun.

I hope you guys have a blessed week. Try to be like Jesus.


Love,
Elder Chase Matua