Another crazy week

Ward activity - Long bus ride!

I don't even know where to begin!

We had a lot of opportunity to do service, and that's always fun. On Tuesday we helped the 1st ward elders do service for one of their investigators, then on Friday, Brother Huang came with Elder Stewart and I WAY up in the mountains to do some service for brother Chen. It was at an old run down Scout Camp. It reminded me of Timberline and Tifie and all that stuff. I wanted to get out of there fast hahaha! It was fun though.

Yesterday we actually had an entire investigator family come to church! The Guo family. They are SO awesome. They have loved saying prayers together and reading the Book of Mormon together!

Taiwanese buses have karaoke!

On Saturday, we went up to Hualien for a ward activity. It was pretty fun, but most of it was just a bus ride. maybe 9 hours on a bus, 3 hours off.

Wednesday night English class was pretty sad. We had 9 kids in our class. During our personal share we asked who believed in God. They all got super mad at the question and immediately answered a big NO. That made me super bummed.

Our ward is so awesome. They continue to contribute to the work of the Lord. The work is going great. I might leave this week which would make me super sad!
Sorry this email was kinda lousy.

Love you all, have a blessed week!
Elder Chase Matua

Service at a Taiwan Scout camp

Scout camp reminded me of my days at Tifie and Timberline

This was fun and rewarding service

Feeling the spirit

Me and Elder Stewart trying
to be models

Do remember Sister Lin I told you about last week? Well They asked her to speak in sacrament yesterday. She bore a great testimony. A couple of days earlier she was telling us, "There is no way that God loves me. I have no Faith in Him". Yesterday, she stood and humbly proclaimed, "I know Heavenly Father loves me". I've never seen such a change of heart. She looked so happy.

I am so blessed to be here in this wonderful land of Taiwan, seeing the miracle of God's love take root in people's hearts. I've felt it in my own heart, and it is the greatest feeling ever. When was the last time you had a spiritual uplifting experience? Gotta love it.

The Zone

We've met some pretty solid people this past week. We're hoping, praying, and working hard with them to help them develop their relationships with Heavenly Father. What a great journey. Our Stake President  has asked Elder Stewart and I to go up to the further parts of our area to "plow the fields". He's planning on re-opening a branch in Luye. We're planning on working closely with our awesome members that live up there to rekindle the fire in some old friends as well as find some new friends! I'm getting nervous President Jergensen might move me up next week, pray that that doesn't happen. I love TAIDONG.

Dad, Your email just spoke to my spirit. Thank you for your words of wisdom. I've been trying to

Another day in the office

strengthen my prayers with Heavenly Father. As a matter of fact, prayers have tended to be one of the weakest points since I can remember. "Commune with the Father" was one of the invites extended to us during district meeting. Dad, when did you first learn the true power of prayer? How can i better apply this aspect to the details of my life?

Taiwan is the greatest place on Earth, right after our home. The ONLY thing that could ever get me off this island is the fact that I'd be returning to my home and my family. I love it here. Specifically here in Taidong. I will NEVER forget this place. My companion is awesome. I've learned a lot from him. He's an easy going guy and does the Lord's work in a humble way. I look up to him, it'll be sad to see him go. I try to smile as much as possible. It's good stuff.

I love you mom. There's seriously not much else I can say. One of my favorite things that has happened to me since being on a mission, is being able to take a step out of things and consider what matters most. I think of my loving family every single time. With two amazing parents at the head. Keep praying for me please.

I love being a missionary. The work is great. I'm trying to lose weight (unsuccessfully so far). And the Church is true!


I love you and have a blessed week
Elder Chase Matua

This is why everyone wants to be in this area - Beautiful

Miles and miles of rice fields

Cloudy, but always pretty

Train ride home

More miracles

With my little homie Sheng Jie

Another one for the books! Time continues to fly!

One of the greatest challenges I have is trying to remember things that happened during the week to share with you guys. What's worse is it's hard to get time to write in my journal. Oh well, I'm just banking on a miraculous remembrance of everything that happens once I get home.

We saw more miracles! I'd say the coolest one was with a less active member. Sister Wu set us up for dinner on Tuesday night.

Our favorite intersection - we ride
from corner to corner until people
stop to talk

When we showed up, she felt like she needed to invite Sister Lin
to eat with us. I guess Sister Lin didn't know we were gonna be over there. When we showed up she jumped. She was baptized last year, but went less active maybe around the end of 2014. On Tuesday night, she was pretty open about the way she feels. She really doesn't feel like Heavenly Father loves her, or if He even exists. She told us how before she got baptized, she had Faith that it would make her really happy, but nothing changed. We bore our testimonies to her, about the nature of God and how true Faith will give us desire to change. She was silent for the rest of the night. Well, she showed up to church on Sunday. The sisters in our ward talked to her, and she let them know that she has DECIDED to change her life, and be happy. She was smiling the entire time at Church. Super cool to see the spirit touch someone pretty hard.

My comp snapped this
pic of me after a 35-mile
bike ride for a visit

Saturday we went up to Guan Shan. Such a beautiful area. We met a LOT of crazy people. Ran into this Yi Guan Dao (the pervasive way?) convention and they were trying to convert us. I had an old lady holding my arm trying to push my towards their little party. She saw Jesus Christ on my name tag and she ran away. Still others were pretty persistent. Good people. Guan Shan is a good place.

Elder Stewart and I are still trying to work super hard, building our area up. We're having trouble trying to help people get to church. It's hard, but the Lord will provide. He always does.

I hope you all have a blessed week!


Much love from Taiwan!
Elder Chase Matua

Our visit to Guan Shan - beautiful area!

52 Weeks

Me and Elder Aiono crossed the
Tectonic Plates

Time goes by WAY fast. This past week was indeed the greatest week of my mission. I really mean it. Transfers were Thursday and not only do I get to stay in Taidong, but I got an awesome new companion, Elder Stewart. This next transfer is going to be great.

Monday we had another "Typhoon". It was TOO crazy. Cloudy skies, and a breeze. Man, I just really want to be in a real typhoon for once.

Last dinner with Elder Stephens

On Wednesday morning at 7:00 to head up to YuLi. Elder Stephens was heading up to Taipei, and Elder Aiono's companion was heading up to Taipei, so Elder Aiono and I got to be comps for two days. There area is the most rural area in the mission. It was the coolest thing ever. Wednesday night they had a baptism. We were putting together the font, told the sisters to watch it while it filled up, and left to go get dinner. The sisters called us and said the Church had water everywhere. So we spent the next 2 hours cleaning up. It was pretty fun.

Burned a shirt to celebrate a year
out on my mission

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all just days full of WORK. Good work. Met some great people.

Miracle of the week: Saturday night we were making some calls out to investigators and less actives inviting them to church. I called one of our new investigators Brother Chen. He told me his body wasn't feeling too great (He was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, super rough times lately). I asked him if he could try praying to Heavenly Father to help his body feel better. He said he'd try. Sunday morning rolls around, and he shows up. We had a lesson with him after church and he told us he prayed, immediately fell asleep, woke up and his body was feeling fine.
He's preparing to be baptized in November. Great guy.

Fast Sundays are always the greatest! We met with the Zheng family in our ward. Super funny. They live waayy up in the mountains. One of the sons came and picked us up or else it would have taken us like 3 hours to bike there! All of there children served missions, so they told us some pretty cool stories.

Steak dinner!

Life is so good. Being a missionary is the greatest. Our ward is doing awesome. We had ward council on Saturday night and we prayerfully set a goal to get three baptisms by the end of the year. The ward is pumped, Elder Stewart and I are grinding it out. Things are just good.

I hope you all have a blessed week.


I Love and miss you all!
Elder Chase Matua

Another 'tsunami' in the making - lame

Dinner with the Zheng family - great people

My new companion - Elder Stewart

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

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