Last email home, farewell Songshan, farewell Taiwan

Yet another awesome week.

Things are going smoothly here in Songshan. The brothers that moved here from Gaoxiong last week are making some quick steps towards Christ. They're so happy all the time, and it's been fun growing with them.

It has been a huge honor wearing the name of Christ over my heart, and inviting others to come unto Him daily. Matthew 16:24-26. I'm grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with the opportunity to choose to follow my Savior. I have found that on the pathway of discipleship, much sacrifice is required, but much joys is found.

I know that my Redeemer lives.


I love you all,
Elder Chase Matua

Getting closer, friends and farewells

My good buddy
Jared

Great week in Songshan!

Miracle of the week:
A dude named Brother Lin moved from Gaoxiong up to Songshan and he came to our ward yesterday. He's a convert of about 3 years. What was way awesome is he brought his two roommates with him to church. They seem super prepared. Our ward has been picking up the missionary work and it really is one of the greatest joys as a missionary.

Don't have much to say today. Things are just going super good. We're having tons of fun right now in our area!

I had my exit interview with President Jergensen last week. It's been super fun serving with him, and that interview pretty much was the icing on the cake.

It's going to be a busy busy week, but Elder Seamons and I are so ready for it.

AP's, office Elders
and their investigators

I'm so excited for Utah winter. I have to sleep with the A/C pumping and a fan blowing on me. Although it's beginning to cool down a bit, I'm ready for some dry Utah! We've been hearing of another typhoon that's supposed to come in tomorrow. I'm not sure if I've fallen into the Taiwanese brace-yourself-for-the-end-of-the-world mentality, but I think this one actually might hit. Which will be a bummer because we have SO many appointments this week. People love to pull the weather card on us.

Last week was super awesome. Elder Seamons and I have been working our tails off, and feel like we haven't seen much success from it. Last week changed that up for us. Definitely built up our faith in the Lord and His hands. Things all seemed to just fall in place. We found lots of new people to teach and some of our current investigators seem to be taking a turn for the better. It's very exciting. I am however a little sad that I won't be seeing another baptism before I come home. I will be forever grateful for the many opportunities I've been given over the past two years. I love my mission dad.

I'm pumped to come home and see you guys. A little sad and nervous to leave my friends, but still so excited. This is my last Monday to Sunday week, and I'm planning to just kill it.


Have a good one!
Elder Matua

Exchanges with Elder Aiono

Aaron from my first area with some friends

Elder Seamons eating black spaghetti

With our investigator Austin (on the right)

Dinner with Elder Aiono and friends

Typhoons, Brother Lin and saying goodbye

One of my last p-day trips

Two "typhoons" came last week. The first was actually pretty severe for the south side of the island. The second one was just a fake. We're glad everyone is safe.

Pretty good week. We've been going around knocking on tons of less active members' doors. Some open, some don't. We contact people on the street as we travel from home to home. We've seen some miracles and just have lots of fun being out talking to people.

We got 放'd quite a bit last week. With 中秋節 and the ty-fakes we got a lot of excuses thrown at us, but it gave us more time out on the street finding the prepared.

We called Brother Lin on Friday. He told us that he had been trying to get a hold of us all day. He went over to the church called the bishop talked to our door man and just couldn't find us. His house down in Tainan got it's roof ripped off from the typhoon. He told us that he was leaving down there for 3 months to fix everything. So I had to say goodbye to him last week. Super sad to see him go, but

Exploring and having fun

the last thing he said to me was, "Goodbye, sweet brother!" with a huge smile on his face. I'm sure he'll get baptized here soon. He's been one of me favorite people I've worked with my entire mission. He's learning how to be obedient to the Lord, and even though he runs into challenges, he continues to tell us how great God is. I love him tons, he's been a great example to me.

Everything else is going great!

I love my mission in Taiwan!

But I can't wait to see you guys soon!


Love you guys,
Elder Chase Matua

Golfing with the boys

With the Xu family

Exchanges with Elder Zhou

Saying goodbye to dear Brother Lin

English class, drink shops and more miracles

Zone meeting

Pretty good week.

As always, I've forgotten what has happened this week. Just the usual rainy days, wet socks, crazy 臺灣人, prepared 臺灣人, noodles, rice, the Lord's work, and the countless times I felt my Savior's love to top it all off.

Saw a pretty cool miracle on Tuesday. We worked our butts off on the street and weren't seeing much. Then we ran into Grandpa Tseng. I sent a picture. Super humble and has lots of potential. He was going to a job interview and let us pray for him. Great guy.

Sometimes you'll just work so hard, not see anything happen all day long and the Lord will put those who are prepared right in your path. Although talking to Taiwanese people all day long is not an affliction, I've come to learn a tiny bit about bearing with patience my afflictions.

Exchange with Elder Deiner
teaching Sis Li

The Lord ALWAYS prepares and provides a way.

English class was fun. We've got some great people with interesting names like Chark. I love them all. They ask really good questions, most of them I don't know how to answer. However many of the most powerful spiritual experiences I've had are in English class. Sharing the Gospel comes in many different ways.

Another miracle: Taiwan has little drink shops all over. Very tasty. Thursday night we were buying drinks and started talking to the family in front of us. A dad, mom, and 18 yr old son. They were super nice to us. We invited them to the ward activity on Saturday night. They ended up coming and had a great time. We're pumped to work with them and bring the happiness of the Gospel into their family life.

We also had a super successful scripture study class on Friday night. We all read and shared our thoughts about receiving personal revelation through prayer. I learned a lot and have been learning a lot about personal revelation, especially as I've restarted the Book of Mormon recently. Those first few chapters in 1 Nephi are packed with it.

One of our investigators Bro Tseng

Our ward threw a fun party on Saturday night celebrating 中秋節。中秋節 in Taipei, is so different than 中秋節 in Taidong. Both super fun. They made me stand up and sing a Chinese pop song that I've never heard before. Good fun.

That's about all I got. Another week for the books. Super looking forward to this one.

Enjoy the tender mercies of the Lord! I know that if we're always trying to find the light in everyday, we will find it! Embracing the tender mercies of the Lord will strengthen our Faith in the Lord. It will bring us great power, even the power unto deliverance of the things that we are sick of being bound by. 1 Nephi 1:20.


I love you all,
Elder Chase Matua

Our door man Mr. Chen

Golfing for our most recent P-Day

Our recent Ward party

More from our Ward party

Pictures and a small miracle

Hi friends & family,

Short update this week and lots of pictures.

We saw a pretty cool miracle the other day. We walked out of the chapel and there was a couple trying to find the entrance of our church. Perfect timing. They were from mainland China, in Taiwan for a week or so, and happened to be walking past the building. The saw the sign, but had no idea how to go up. We gave them a tour, and taught them the restoration. Surprisingly enough, they were Christians and we surprised to hear our message. It's neat how God will put us in the right place at the right time.


Love you all,
Elder Chase Matua

My buddy Miles Shi

Exchanges with Elder Cheney,
brand new to Taiwan

This old guy walked up to us and started singing a song
about friends and blessings

Our investigator that we call Tarzan. He's a mixture
between uncle Darius and the Jungle Book bear

Mission conference, Bro Lin and snakes

Bro Lin!

Elder Seamons and I had a pretty good week. Songshan is such an awesome area. I have really enjoyed my time serving here and I'm super pumped that I get to finish out my last 6 weeks here.

At the beginning of the week, we had a lot of people set up, and we were very excited to be in a lot of teaching appointments. Unfortunately most of them canceled, so we spent a lot of time on the streets of Taipei. Found some awesome new friends.

When Elder Evans visited last week for mission conference, he encouraged us to ask for referrals from everyone. He promised us some sick blessings if we were to do so. We went out and asked nearly every single person we talked to if they knew of anyone we could teach....and nothing happened. We persisted, and saw a cool miracle the other day. We were meeting with a brother named Eric. At the close of the lesson, we asked him if he knew of anyone that would be willing to listen to this amazing message. Without hesitating, he started talking about how his mother has really been interesting in church and baptism. "Her chances of getting baptized are really high. Let me give you her number." is what he said. Yeah, that got me pretty happy. We'll probably be meeting with his mom and younger brother sometime next week!

Our most progressing investigator is Brother Lin. One of the FUNNIEST old guys I've ever met in my life. He speaks rather fluent English, and he likes too add his own little comments on everything we say. Our lessons with him are both super spiritual and funny. He came to church yesterday and he's getting excited for his baptism later on in September. He originally had a problem with drinking lots of coffee and alcohol, but after sharing the word of wisdom he's become determined to throw that all out the window. He's almost there!

Trying innovative ways to get new investigators

One of our investigator's grandmother got bit by a snake. He's pretty distraught about that and has been asking us to pray for her a lot. I'm thinking this just might be the trial of faith that turns him to God.

Our zone here in the East has changed dramatically. Every single companionship switched up except for Elder Seamons and I. 36 missionaries fresh from the MTC got here last week. 5 of them landed in our zone. We also had 2 new area's open up. I'm pumped for the new opportunities we'll have to serve others.

We're looking forward to a great week!


Much love,
Elder Chase Matua

Mission Conference, compassion and visiting friends

Elder Stewart came back for a
visit and took me to lunch for
my birthday!

Another week for the books! Time is flying.

Yesterday we had mission conference with Elder David F. Evans. Filled with the spirit. We all learned a lot and I am especially grateful for the Lord's hand in my life. It's been so cool over the course of my mission to learn from chosen servants of the Lord.

This past week was awesome. We had a lot of random people show up to church and that's always the best. Brother Lin, probably our most progressing investigator should be entering the waters of baptism in two weeks. He's such a funny old man. I'll send a picture of him next week.

I can't think of what happened last week hahah. I'm sorry.

Dinner with the Xu family

SOO I will just share with you what I've been studying lately. This morning I was reading about prayer and the power of personal revelation. In Alma 27 is a section of Ammon's interaction with some recent converts. These RC's start getting attacked by others, and because of Ammon and his brother's compassion towards them, they make a plan to save them from being completely destroyed. They present the plan to the king, but the king doubts it would work. in verse 7 Alma says to the king, "I will go and inquire of the Lord, and if he says unto us, go down unto our brethren, will ye go?" I've learned that as we put our trust in the Lord and ASK Him, he guides us with His hands. With a pure heart and sincere intent, our questions will be answered by the Lord himself. Go and inquire yourself.

I love you all, and I promise this week will be exciting! Stay true to the faith.


Much love,
Elder Chase Matua

Dinner with Bishop Li and his wife

Playing ball, Steph Curry style

This park had TONS of Pokemon Go players. So I
used my camera and acted like I was playing too

Exchanges, Zone fun and working

Elder Darger came back to visit

Super busy, super fun week.

We went on 3 exchanges this week. First with the APs on monday night. I was with Elder Hansen and we had one of the coolest experiences. The mission has been trying to figure out new and creative ways to do street contacting. Elder Hansen and I made a little poster that said "#????". We wanted to go around and ask if we could take pictures with people. Snap a picture then talk to them about the Book of Mormon. Right before we started finding, we started laughing as we talked about how cool it would be if we ran into someone who already had a Book of Mormon and was just waiting to learn more. We said a pray and biked over to a night market. I hopped off my bike and said, "hey can I take a picture with you?" to the first guy I saw. He looked at the sign, then at the book in my hand, then back to me and said, "oh, I already have one of those." He happily took a picture with me and then told us how he met with missionaries a while ago, and he's ready to start meeting with them again. The Lord knows who you are!

I
also had the opportunity to work with 3 other missionaries in our zone. I felt like there was someone different in our apartment every single night! I've loved going on so many exchanges, really great opportunity to get a feel of how different people are doing this same sacred work.

We had a special opportunity listening to David Archuleta bear testimony and sing. Great guy, wonderful music.

Me and Elder Seamons listening
to David Archuleta

We've been working with many people lately, trying to help them develop their faith and relationship with God. It's been kind of rough seeing many people give up. The Gospel is so simple, It is so powerful. But If you're not willing to give it a chance, if you have no hope, then it will have no effect on you. The line "Come unto Jesus" in our conversations with others has turned into "LET Jesus Come unto You!" Sometimes I can literally feel the Lord trying so hard to reach out to His children here, but they are just not willing to open their hearts and let Him in.

Sorry about that little rant. I am very grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord., and for all the many times that people will actually give it a try. People that actually have "hope for a better world".We have a new friend named Eric. Ran into him on the street about two weeks ago. He let us know that He isn't Christian and that religion isn't really that important to him. BUT he was willing to pray with us on the street. He was willing to learn a little bit more about the gospel. The other day, he called us and said, "I've been praying and reading the Book of Mormon. I'm busy this weekend, but I would like to meet with you guys next week, is that okay?" I told him of course. I know the Lord will always be there waiting for us to let Him in!

Things are all good!
I love Taiwan!
And I love you guys!


Elder Chase Matua

Baptism, testimonies and miracles

Wu Mama invited us over for lunch
after our Zone meeting

Awesome week.

Quick email today. We had a super busy week. Zone meeting, 2 exchanges, Lots of lessons, good stuff. Brother Xu got confirmed yesterday. He'll be such a great addition to the Songshan ward. He also came to the new member fireside last night with us.

I just wanted to share with you guys a pretty simple, yet powerful moment from my week. Every fast sunday, they do a new member fireside. Last night we went with Brother Xu and a 18 yr old kid named Rain. He was baptized nearly 2 years ago, but got busy soon after and didn't come to church. Recently, he has been coming to church and has really been trying to get things in order. At the fireside, one of the elders played "Jesus of Nazareth" for a musical number on the piano. I put my elbows down on my knees and just pondered. When I sat back, I saw Rain out of the corner of my eyes, bowing his head with his arms folded. I immediately thought of all the young Taiwanese kids I've met here. All the struggles they face. I thought of how Rain had humbly accepted the Gospel, and even after losing sight for a short while, is again sincerely trying to come unto the Savior and enjoy the blessings that

I buzzed my hair for the first time
since elementary school

follow.

I've feel so blessed to have this opportunity to serve a mission. To see people follow Jesus Christ with all of their hearts is indeed something that has brought me so much happiness!

Do you guys remember Sister Liang from Longtan? I also saw her last night and she told me that she had just opened her MISSION CALL early yesterday. She's serving in the Taichung mission! She'll be a great missionary.

That's pretty much it for this time. Sorry if my emails make no sense!


I love you all. Jesus Christ lives!
Elder Matua

Some of our investigators

Exchanges with the Yilan Elders

Elder Lindahl is heading home!

Us, Elder Lindahl and Sister Liang who just got
her mission call to Taiwan-Taichung

Baptism, volleyball, exchanges and more

Brother Xu De An
got baptized

Elder Seamons and I had a wonderful week here in Songshan. Biggest news: Brother Xu De An got baptized yesterday right after church! It was a great experience for us all. He stood and bore a powerful testimony. I'm happy for him and for the impact it had on all those in attendance.

We were super busy this week with exchanges, trainings, and a lot of lessons. Weeks like this past one always fly by sooo fast. On Friday we had MLC. This months training is on becoming a successful missionary. Most of it was based on effective work and teaching for conversion.

Again not much too report on, things are going real well.

FHE with Brother 徐

Monday our district leader wanted to go play volleyball. He's a goof ball. We showed up and he had no ball, and no net. So we started playing pacman on the basketball lines like we used to do in elementary school. Monday night went to 許爸's spiritually uplifting FHE with Brother 徐.

Tuesday, exchanges with the JiLong elders. Talked to a guy from Minnesota who is currently living in Japan. He was on a two day break so he came down to Taiwan. He was one of the most humble human beings I've ever met. We shared about the restoration, and he said it all makes sense. Great guy.

Saturday night we rode the train to Zhong Li. Elder Seamons just moved from that area, and we went back so he could baptize one of the investigators there. Met a new friend named Miles. One of the funniest Taiwanese kids I've ever met. We ate noodles after and now I have food poisoning.

Last night we were street contacting and we started talking to this lady. We asked her what her dogs

Dinner w/missionaries in Zhong Li

name was and she said, "Seven." Later on in the contact, I accidentally called the lady "Seven".

Things are all so good! I love my brothers and sisters out here in Taiwan. I continue to find myself laughing with them on a daily basis. Such great people. I've been feeling especially grateful to have the opportunity to serve and represent my Savior lately. The phrase "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ.." has really impacted me. I'm so honored to have His trust and His assistance as many around the world, including you and me, take part in the work of salvation!

I love you all

Thank you for your love and support!


Elder Matua

Our new friend Miles

Elder Reinjtes

I love Taiwan