Feb 27th Arrivals Dan Jones

This is the Dan Jones experience. Elder Millett appears at 8:00 minutes.

Thankful for modern technology!

Elder Millett's arrival in Taichung, Taiwan

President and Sister Blickenstaff

Eating lunch with new companions

Elder Millett with his first companion Elder Michael Kevin Watson to be serving in Taibao, Taiwan

New missionaries and their 1st companions ready to head to their first areas.

Orientation and Training

18 Missionaries for each Mission (Taichung and Taipei)

 
Early morning exercise followed by traditional Taiwanese breakfast with local fruit in the mission home.

Morning orientation

Break for lunch back at the mission home

Practicing contacting with the Ap's

After practicing, the new missionaries got to make contacts on the street walking to dinner.

Fearless duck brain eater 

Fish eye challenge

Sharing experiences after an evening of contacting

So it seems that Elder Millett has been immersed in the life of a missionary in Taiwan. My guess is that he is thrilled! We will wait anxiously for his first letter. We are so thankful to President and Sister Blickenstaff for this wonderful blog. We are so very thankful for the many prayers and fasting that took place on behalf of these missionaries in order to get their Visas.

2-25-15

New Arrivals Our Taiwan missionaries are finally here! Eighteen beautiful souls for each mission!
What a day for these missionaries! Long flight (14 hours) from San Francisco to Taipei, Taiwan, then a bus ride (2 hours) to Taichung, Taiwan

Last E-mail in 'Merica‏

So, The day has finally come. I am leaving for Taiwan tomorrow.

Tonight, my companions will drop me off at President Eaton's home at 8:30. We will stay the night. We will be getting dropped off at Sea-Tac at like 5:15 in the morning. Our plane leaves at 7:30 to San Francisco. We will get there at like 9:30 or so. We will fly out at 12:30 to Taipei, and 14 hours later, we will bus down to Taichung.

That is the plan. At least to my knowledge. That is what they told me. 

So, we have a few options. I don't know how long it will take to get through security and stuff. I could call from Sea-Tac early that morning. And/Or I could call from San Francisco at like 9:30-12:15 or so. You can tell me and say what works best.

Yup, weird stuff. It seems like it all happened so fast. 

I have had a good week though. We have talked to quite a few people. But it has been fun.

Love you guys so much!

Your Son, Brother, and Friend

Elder Chase J. Millett

雷長老

So we are so very excited for Elder Millett to finally be heading to Taichung, Taiwan after an almost 9 1/2 week Visa delay. He is in for the longest travel time ever..almost 24 hours of travel. But this is one happy momma who gets to talk to her son tomorrow..Sure hope I can sleep tonight!

The Time has Come

Well Family, the time has come. 

We got a call on Friday, I believe, informing us that my visa had been approved! All of the visa waiters are finally going to Taiwan!!! The mission is working out the travel arrangements as we speak and they are going to have us in Taiwan by the 25th, which is their next transfer day. My guess is that they will have us leave either the 23rd or the 24th, because of the time difference and layovers and stuff. But yeah, this is happening.

But aside from that little piece of news, this week has been pretty fun.

So, yesterday, we helped the native family clean up their garage and their yard and stuff for a while. And then we helped them move a hot tub into their backyard. Believe me when I say, you don't know heavy lifting until you have to get six people to carry a hot tub. Ridiculous. But it was fun. 

We had a Young Single Adult lesson yesterday before their FHE activity. It was a cool lesson about the "Prayer of Faith" and what it means to have meaningful prayer. That has been a big focus in our mission recently, praying with faith. It has been cool to see the change in my personal prayer as I have applied the things I learned. 

After the lesson, we joined the group for their FHE activity, which was volleyball! Normally, we wouldn't stay for an activity like that, but there were nonmembers there that we had the opportunity to connect with. So we stayed, played volleyball, and fulfilled our purpose.

We have been teaching this guy still. He is doing pretty good, but he just doesn't seem very determined to learn more. Well, after a lesson earlier this week, his fiance's dad, a member, came out and told us that he told G. that he had to take the missionary discussions and read the Book of Mormon to be able to marry his daughter. So, he may just be doing it to marry the girl, but tonight we are going to teach about Eternal Marriage and really see if he wants to make these changes. Gonna be a fun lesson, for sure.

Anyways, aside from that stuff, not much has gone on this week, pretty average I guess. But I look forward to hearing from you guys, and wish me luck in Taiwan!

Sincerely, Your Son, Brother, friend, 

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

February 9, 2014

Hi Family, I hope that things are going well.

This week has been pretty good. Pretty average week in the life of a missionary. But there has been some fun stuff going on too.

I'm going to start with this last Friday. So, our companionship covers the YSA ward. So our area is huge. We drive a lot. So, we go to Auburn once a week to visit YSA potentials and formers and stuff. And we get to go to institute. We cover the Green River Community College campus too. So, the institute "club" that they have invited us to help them run a booth on campus promoting the club and other things like FamilySearch and other things like that. So on Friday, we went and ran the booth along with the regular Auburn Elders, which includes Elder Quist. So, while Elder Odell and Elder Nielson ran the booth, Elder Quist and I went around Auburn a little bit contacting Mandarin speakers. It was cool to be able to spend some time with him again. It was pouring rain, so we didn't have much success, but it was fun and we talked to a few people. It was really nice to be able to talk to each other in Mandarin. We used very little English while we were together, which shows that language study is still thankfully paying off. The booth had some success as well. The club gave away a few pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon. 

We taught the native family again this week. She is having some difficulties. She feels like she's being pushed into it and she didn't realize how many changes to her life she was going to have to make. But her husband is fantastic. He is a less-active member and has been encouraging and testifying a lot to her. He actually came to church with their son yesterday, and he said that he would continue to come. But he said that we might not teach Dez for a little while. We are going to give her a little break and have the husband talk things through with her. But they are great.

We are teaching the Catholic guy at least twice a week at a members home in our ward. He loves and pretty much excepts everything that we teach. He feels that it is in line with his current beliefs. The member bore a strong, bold testimony last night basically telling him that he can't keep jumping around the different lessons trying to find what beliefs fit with his current ones. He said that it all comes down to whether the Book of Mormon is true or not. Either it is or it isn't. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet or he was a con-man. It was super cool and I think it really opened Greg's mind a little bit more.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon everyday this past week. I am more than halfway through it. I read like 10-12 chapters a day most days. So I was inspired to challenge you guys to read the Book of Mormon as a family everyday. It may not be as excessive as my current reading, but I would like it if you set aside some time, no matter when during the day, to read as a family and know that I am there reading with you. That is my challenge for the week.

I hope that things are going well. I hope that everyone is getting healthier. Know how much I love and miss you guys and that I am always thinking about you.

With lots of love, your brother, son, and friend,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

So proud of my Elder. He has been in Washington a little over 8 weeks. We are not sure when his Visa will come through. There have been many fasts and prayers said on behalf of these missionaries waiting to go to Taiwan. We did just hear that the group just ahead of Elder Millett's got word that they will head to Taiwan in about 2 weeks. So his group is next in line! :) I am so thankful for his service to our Heavenly Father and the people of Washington. We as a family see blessings everyday because of Elder Millett. No new pictures this week :(

Day 111

Here is the letter that was sent to Chase as a Visa Waiter:
January 30, 2015
Missionary Department
50 E North Temple ST 3WW
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-5400
Elder Chase Joseph Millett 23175 224th Pl SE Ste E
Maple Valley WA 98038
United States
Dear Elder Millett:
Visa Status
Thank you for your diligent service in the Washington Federal Way Mission. We know that, during this time of waiting, you have gained valuable experience in faith, knowledge, and perseverance that will help you feel the blessings of our Heavenly Father in your work. The people you are working with are truly blessed because of your service.
We continue to work through established procedures to obtain your visa to Taiwan. Church Travel tracks the progress of your visa, is in regular contact with the consulate of Taiwan, and receives on-going updates as to your visa status. Your current mission president will be notified as soon as your visa is granted.
May the Lord bless you as you continue to focus in your current assignment and strive to reach out to those who are seeking the truth.
Sincerely,
Eduardo Gavarret
Assistant Executive Director

Feb 3, 2015 Letter for the week:

Hi Family,

Today, we went to the Seattle Temple and did a session at 11:00 this morning. It is a cool looking temple. (I mean, all of them are, but it doesn't hurt to say so.) But I learn more and more every time I go and it was neat that I was able to go while I was still here. 

Afterwards, we went to Deseret Book and looked around, so that was fun. I got my Mandarin Triple Combination engraved with my name on it.

And now I'm emailing, we have to go shopping and stuff a little bit later.

This week was good, but kind of crazy. We have had to help resolve some concerns that the native family was having, about like certain kinds of "Indian Tea" and stuff. But it seems to be going well. We taught the Catholic guy again. He's marrying the member girl who introduced him in June. Let's see if we can't get him baptized before then!

One of our YSA converts has been having a rough week, but she is still so strong and she is starting to see the Lord's hand in her life.

On Sunday, Elder Odell was feeling really sick, so we didn't get to go to church. Elder Dold went on splits with a member though. We could kind of tell what was going on in the Super Bowl, only because when the Seahawks would score a touchdown, fireworks would go off, and when the Patriots did something good, our neighbor below our apartment would yell profanities. But it was kind of funny.

I continue to study the scriptures, mandarin, and all of that fun stuff.

And BTW, thanks for that fun package Ma. We have all been enjoying it.

Love all of you so much and know how much I miss you,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老