Rebounding, miracles and more new years fun

Zone Conference with these
lovely, fun people

Miracles happen when you don't give up. Elder Qiu and I had a much better week. I'll share one of our coolest miracles from this week: The temple sisters called us with a referral earlier in the week. We got in touch with the contact and continued to keep in touch until Sunday night. We called him and invited him and his family to church. He let us know that he wouldn't get off work until 3:00. We encouraged him to come join us for the last little bit. Sacrament meeting comes around the next day and our phone starts buzzing. Elder Qiu looks at me, "It's him." We ran outside to greet a happy Mr. and Mrs. Lin. They were so awesome and really enjoyed church.

Another New Year's celebration

Chinese new years was nuts. I ate way too much food, and I'm getting even more fat.
Lots of other stuff happened that's helping us look onward and upward. Taiwan is doing good!

Elder Qiu and I had a much better week. Rebounded very well. Saw lots of miracles on the street. We have sort of a game plan given to us from the leadership of our mission. "Cloud - Bridge - Bang". It's a method we use on the street where we contact someone, say a prayer with them, teach them simple gospel truths, invite them to baptism, teach them how to pray,

We really have amazing food here

have them say a prayer, and set up a return appointment. All in 10-15 minutes. It's pretty interesting. Lessons vary, but the result is the same: a quick and effective way to separate those that are prepared and those that are not. The field is white already to harvest!

I think one of the biggest things I learned this week was something that my good friend Elder Huntsman shared with me. I must not be afraid to make a mistake. Making the small mistakes now will prepare me for the future. Obviously that doesn't mean I should go around making as many mistakes as possible, but it means I should do my best and let Christ and His masterful hands make my weaknesses become strengths.


I hope and pray that you guys have a wonderful week!
Elder Chase Matua

Having fun with good friends

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy New Year dinner with the Xie family

As I write this email, there are fellas all around me yelling and screaming about their League of Legends matches and what not. Bless their souls.

This week was a slow one. Elder Qiu and I are really struggling to find people to teach. He helped me to remember, "Just do your best, and Heavenly Father will take care of the rest." I realized I still over think things a little bit, and the importance of simplicity seems to slip my mind. This week, Elder Qiu and I are going to do our best, and ask Heavenly Father to give us strength to take care of the rest.

Lots and lots of delicious food

Chinese New Years is in full swing. We've already had a full week of members feeding us huge dinners. and this week is full of not only dinners but lunches as well. Chinese New Years is basically a week long of Thanksgiving meals. I'm sure it'll be fun.

The spirit hit me as I read some old conference talks. President Monson once encouraged us to learn what we should learn, do what we should do, and be what we should be. To learn, to do, to be. Heavenly Father gives us the things that are essential to everlasting happiness. It's our choice to accept and act on the counsel He has given to us through His holy prophets. He promises to bless us. Don't you think the creator of the heavens and the earth and stay true to his promise? Prove Him now herewith. Take that next step towards deepening your conversion in Christ.

I love you all. Keep being great examples. Shine so that others can see Christ through you.

Have a blessed week,

Elder CHase Matua

Zone Meeting and seeing dear friends

My friends Leo and Sis Lin
from Taidong

We had a pretty good week.

Monday had a super fun zone party at a members home. Tuesday we watched the "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" broadcast. I learned a lot, but one of the greatest things that stuck to me was the spirit's role in conversion. I thought I already understood what that meant. Before I thought of it as, the spirit is our greatest tool in teaching. No, WE are the SPIRIT's greatest tool in converting souls. SO cool! Wednesday we had a rather successful English party. It worked out a lot better than we thought it would. Elder Qiu and I even found an awesome family that said they were really moved by our spiritual share. This week we're planning on meeting with them and helping them start on the path to conversion!

We had zone conference in
the mountains

Thursday and Friday were pretty solid, but the coolest thing happened on Saturday. We took Amber and Brother Lin to do a temple tour which went pretty good. Before the tour, I saw two of my good friends from Taidong.  After the tour, we were standing in the court yard when I heard someone say, "好巧" (Which basically means, WOW, we didn't set an appointment to see each other, but we're here at the same time, amazing! There may actually be an English word for that, I just can't think of it hahah). It was sister liang from Longtan! She had just finished doing baptisms for the dead. She started to shard with me how well things are going for her, and how excited she is to go through the temple to do her endowments in march. She's almost been a member for a year! It was SO cool to see how much she's changed and how she's growing in the Gospel. Another one of my buddies from longtan just got his mission call and he's going to New Zealand. After I finished talking to them, I heard Elder Taulepa call my name. He was pointing at some guy. I walked towards them and realized it was Harry from Taidong! Another one of my great

friends. It was just a whole day of reunions. To top it all of, we set up for 30,000 homeless people to eat food.

Yeah, good week. Full of the spirit. Elder Qiu and I are really looking forward to this week. We are going to see lots of miracles. Serving the Lord has brought me some of the greatest joys I've ever felt. Having front row seats to watching people change their hearts and become great is such an honor and blessing.

I hope you all have a blessed week. Get caught doing something good, preferably the work of the Lord, because we all know how important that is! Surround yourself with greatness!

Love you all
Elder Chase Matua

Best district in the world

Brother Hou and Sister Liang from Longtan

We love service!

Harvesting, Finding, Investigators and truth seekers

Ice with Aaron and Zora

Don't have tons of time today, but I'll try my best to give a quick overview of the week. It was a good one!

Monday- We went with Aaron and Zora to the Shilin market. One of the biggest markets in Taiwan. I finally bought some new pants. Had some good xue hua bing (Taiwanese shaved ice). Later on Monday we were knocking and a brother named Ben let us in! He was really nice to us, but wasn't willing to meet with us again.

Tuesday- Our District has 3 companionships. Us, the zone leaders, and a sister comp. Our sisters called in telling us they were sick and that they weren't going to be able to make it to district meeting. The Zone leaders were heading up to the Beitou district meeting so they weren't going to make our district meeting either. Having district meeting with only one companionship doesn't really doesn't work too well, so the zone leaders had us tag along with them to Beitou district meeting. Tuesday night we had our first

Our trip to Danshui

meeting with Kenton. 18 yr old guy from Michigan. He's on a foreign exchange program at a school right near the temple. He ran into the missionaries on the MRT and they got us in contact with him. Super awesome kid. Very humble and I consider him an honest seeker of truth.

Wednesday- Had a lesson with our buddy Reinaldo. Haven't seen him for a while so it was nice to sit down and talk with him. He went back to Brazil over Christmas. He told us how he had the chance to visit his mother's grave. While he was there he felt inspired that he really needs to get his life and his family's life in order. They're putting in extra effort to get their priorities straight and come back to Church. It was cool to see the excitement as well as Christ's countenance oh his face. We told him we'd come back to his pizza shop for dinner. Well, right before we went back one of the crazy people we met on the street recognized us and followed us in. He decided to have dinner with us... and asked us to pay for him. We ended up paying for him, had some super good pizza, and the crazy guy calls us every day to let us know how his day went. English class was great and through it we found a new investigator, Peter.

Having dinner with a member family

Thursday- We met with Kenton again. He let us know his doubts about Joseph Smith. We encouraged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He committed to do so. He's such a great guy. He told us that one of his greatest desires is to help people come unto Christ. I said, "me too."

Friday- We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. Both of us went into the area to proselyte. Had a good time, and learned some new things.

Saturday- We met with Peter, our new investigator. Really nice, humble guy. We shared our purpose as missionaries and set a baptismal date with him. He seems pretty excited about learning more. Prepared Peter. We had a long day of street contacting. The usual: crazy people, people who act like we don't exist, people who act like only their phones exist, dogs in strollers, me tripping over my feet every five minutes because I somehow forgot how to walk, and lots of miracles, big and small to fill in the space. We ran into a mom and her son who were willing to pray with us. They said they would ask the father if they could meet with us. We're praying they can. Also met a kid whose family goes to a Christian Church, but wants to meet with us to know more.

Meeting up with our friend Kenton

Sunday- The Sabbath. I love the Sabbath. What made it even better is I woke up to rain. And it never stopped. Heavenly Father was really looking out for me. Church services were great. We had a lesson with Betty Huang afterwards. Shared more about the Book of Mormon.

That kind of wraps it up!

Atonement Highlight of the week:
"A true faith in Christ is more than just knowing about Him or even believing He is divine. It is knowing that His Atonement is real, that it's purpose is to transform us, and that it will be available as long as that perfecting process takes. We have a Savior who covers us, a Redeemer who changes us, and a Good Shepherd who is willing to go in search of us again and again---continuously." -Brad Wilcox
I believe that Heavenly Father rejoices with every happy decision we make. But He knows we can always do better. I don't think he looks at us for who we were, but instead he looks at us for who we can become. He knows our potential and is willing to help us achieve it. So He has sent His Son to cover us, and change us. And if we happen to get lost, He will come in search of us.

"REMEMBER who you are." -Mufasa

You are a child of God, never forget it.

Have a blessed week!

Harvesting, McGyver and contacting

Our happy zone

Harvest.

That word has never stuck out in my mind so much as it has recently. With some changes world wide, "HARVEST" continues to be the responsibility and blessing of being a missionary, but in an even more emphasized manner. I love it.

We had zone meeting this past Tuesday and it was focused on "Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Convert". We are helping people that don't know who God is have an experience with the divine. Through helping them change their lives and truly repent of their sins, they have the that burning desire to "sing the song of redeeming love" that has been brought to us by our Savior, Jesus Christ. It leads them to lasting conversion, beginning with: BAPTISM. They have trained us to have quick and powerful lessons on the street. When I say quick, most contacts last for about 5-10 minutes. They are powerful and full of the spirit. Our entire mission has been seeing miracle after miracle. This direction from the brethren is indeed helping us find those that are prepared. We're HARVESTING!

Elder Qiu and I had a pretty good week. The majority of our time was spent on the streets, but it was fun.

My mind is pretty scattered right now (as always). I'm sure I'll have more cool stories to share next week. I'll also probably forget them by then, but I know you guys will forgive me!

Consider this: Alma 5:26
if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

We had about 3 hours total of sit down lessons for the entire week, the rest was out side on the streets. we met a lot of really awesome people.

The spirit did something pretty cool for me this week. One Wednesday night English class back in my days in Long Tan I met a guy named Mcgyver. One night, that's all. I never saw him again. I thought he was pretty cool, and that he might come back another time. Time passed until saturday. Elder Qiu and I were contacting down a busy street, when a group of about six people walked past. I noticed a man in the back wearing sunglasses, and before I could even think, I heard myself say "Mcgyver"! He stopped, took his sunglasses off and said, "who are you?" we continued to talk and we made the connection. He was pretty amazed at what happened. I was too. He told me how his life was going and the struggles he was facing. I asked him if he ever actually sat down with the missionaries and learned about God. He said that he did over 20 years ago. I bore my testimony of Heavenly Father and the relationship we have with him. I encouraged him to meet with the missionaries again  in Longtan, and he said he would. It was a pretty cool experience and a testimony builder that God will work through us in special ways.


Love you all,
Elder Chase Matua