Dan Jones (Again!), Senior Companion, and (Yet Another) 吃到飽‏

Well Family,

These last couple of days have been a little crazy, getting Elder Moore ready to leave and whatnot. Well, he's finally gone. He moved just a little ways away, to a city called 彰化, which is only like an hour away from here or so. Well, I had a good, fun-filled move call with him and I wish him the best and Good Luck!

Well, I got to have a really neat experience last night. Because there were a TON of new missionaries coming on island. They needed pretty much every companionship in Taichung to come and do the Dan Jones Experience with the new missionaries. So, I GOT TO BE A DAN JONES DADDY! I was so stoked! It was so much fun to go back and do it again. So, the Assistants told us that they would get a text when the new missionaries were on their way and that when they got there, we were supposed to cheer and clap and things like that to get them excited. Then we got to watch them get "up on the soapbox" and testify to the world. Then, the assistants would tell us which missionaries were "ours" and when they were finished testifying, we would take them through the night market and contact EVERYBODY we saw! It was super fun. My son was Elder Hatch, an elder from Kaysville, UT. He was really nervous about it, but we went out and rocked it! Man, doing the Dan Jones thing again really opened my eyes. It helped me see my progress in learning the language. It helped rekindle the excitement that comes from missionary work, and it gave me and opportunity to reunite with some friends. I got to see Elder Quist, my MTC companion there. I also got to see Elder Coleman, another elder who graduated from high school with me. And, one of the new elders that came on island was a guy that I remembered from high school, so that was pretty cool. All-in-all, I am sooooo glad that I was able to have that experience.

Well, in addition to Elder Moore leaving, there were also a couple of other changes this move call. Sister Liao, the native sister here in Dong Hai is also moving. She is moving WAY down south to an area called Ping Dong. So, she will be missed. But, this move call, I am going senior companion. I am definitely a little bit nervous about that. I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of responsibility yet. But, I guess if that's what the Lord has in mind for me, then he will make me equal to the responsibility.

My new companion, Elder Chen is a really cool guy. And I actually know him from my zone back in JiaYi. He is an ABC from San Diego. He is a really cool guy, super funny. And his Chinese is really good, so that eases my fears a little bit. Simply put, things have changed. I do hope that I can handle all of this, but I do my best and go on.

And, lastly, (kind of a random third thing), we went to another 吃到飽 yesterday. There is a member in Feng Jia that is apparently super super rich, and she is known for inviting missionaries to meals at super expensive restaurants. So, she invited all the missionaries in our district to this fancy buffet inside of a REALLY fancy hotel. And we ate until we couldn't eat no more. So that was fun. The member was SUPER nice to do that for us! So, thanks to her!

Well, that is about it for now. I won't be able to email next week, since we had 2 P-Days this week. So, I hope that all of you are safe and sound. Know that I am doing well and I hope to hear from you guys very soon! I love you all and take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

Elder Quist and Elder Millett (MTC companions, meet again)

My Dan Jones son, Elder Hatch

These missionaries all participated in their Dan Jones experience 6 months ago when they arrived on the island.

Last P-Day with Elder Moore, Dry, and 6 Months on Island‏

Well Family,

I hope that you have had a good week. Ours has been ok, not a whole lot of excitement though. Not too much to report on. But I guess I'll say what I can.

Well, that's right. We found out this week that Elder Moore will MOST LIKELY be moving on Friday. Since there are 30 missionaries getting to Taiwan this week, they are having to move a LOT of people around. So, the zone leaders called us and said that in our zone, President Blickenstaff told them that only people were probably moving, Elder Moore and Sister Liao, one of the Sisters here in Dong Hai. While they haven't actually "confirmed" that he's moving, we are pretty sure it's going to happen. So he has started packing his things and is preparing to leave. We will know where he's going on Thursday night. It has been a really fun transfer with him. I feel like the time has been too short. He has been one of my most fun companions though. I will definitely miss him. But thanks to modern technology, I'm sure we'll be in touch.

As for the "Dry" thing. Well, recently, we've been struggling to find new investigators recently. We go out and try to contact but it just seems that nobody is interested. But we are not discouraged, we just keep going out and doing what we can. We know that the Lord will provide. We have seen His tender mercies already. So, we keep on keeping on.

And lastly, come tomorrow, I will have been in Taiwan for 6 months. It won't be my year mark for my mission, but my 6 month mark for being "on island" as the missionaries here say. I have learned a lot from these people. I figured I'd share some of those things. 

Firstly, humility. The people of Taiwan are a very humble people. They don't brag themselves up or look down on others. They try and be decent towards each other and they treat you like royalty when you enter there homes. Having lived here for 6 months, I have learned that humility is what Christ expects of His servants. We cannot be prideful or there is no room for improvement.

Secondly, Patience. Patience plays a big role in missionary work, in a number of ways. The people of Taiwan are predominately Buddhist and Taoist. There are some Christians, but for the most part, peoples' understanding of Christ is very limited. That makes teaching very different than from in other places. We have to get back to the very fundamentals of the Gospel, the nature of God, Scriptures, who Christ is and things of that nature. And there are many times when we have to explain things multiple times to help them understand. When I first got here, it got kind of frustrating. But, eventually, you come to love seeing people's eyes light up when the Gospel touches them. It is incredible. 

These are only a couple of the things that I have learned here. But I thank God for the opportunity to serve here. 

 3 Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place, in theregions round about; and an effectual door shall be openedin the regions round about in this eastern land.

 4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come untothis place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvationof souls.

 5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices untothis people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into yourhearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;

 6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in thevery moment, what ye shall say.

 7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shalldeclare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, insolemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.

 8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as yedo this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing recordunto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

So, I love all of you. Thank you for all of the support and I will talk to you next week. Stay safe and have fun!

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

Winnie, 小鮮肉, and a Bye Bye Elder Watson‏

Hello Family,

I hope that your week has been stupendously fantastic. Ours has been ok. Can't complain too much. Well, might as well get right down to things.

First off. I want to introduce you to our friend Winnie. Winnie is an investigator who started coming to our Family Home Evening activities for a little while. She became very good friends with all of us. Well, we asked if she wanted to be baptized, and she said yes. Well, we had a little problem, she lived in the zone leaders' area and she didn't want to go to their ward because she didn't know anybody. Well, after some long discussions with her, she finally said, "Wait, I have a home in FengJia. Does that work?" And we were all like, yeah!!!!!!! So, she will be able to be baptized in FengJia's ward, which is our adjacent area. But, it's still our building and she has friends there. So we are very grateful for this blessing and she is super prepared! YAY! 

Winnie is the one in the back left corner.

Nextly, this week, I went on exchanges with Elder Nelson, the newest missionary in our district. If you were wondering what​​ 小鮮肉 means, it means "fresh meat." That is what we call him all the time. It's just kind of a joke. He really is a great missionary already though. He is WAY further ahead than I was at that stage in training. But, unfortunately, we had a little mishap whilst we were on this exchange. We had 2 lessons in a row. We were on the 2nd floor of a Starbucks. Well 2 lessons is about a 2 hour time period. Well, we went outside after those lessons to find that Elder Nelson's bike had been stolen. He had lost his lock a couple days before and had not had an opportunity to go buy a new one. So, he being new, his bike was also new. So it was stolen. Needless to say, we talked to the police. They said that they would do what they could, but that there were no guarantees of finding it. So, he is riding an old bike right now. So we definitely wish him the best. But we are trying to do what we can.

And lastly, today I will say goodbye to Elder Watson. Yup, the time has come for him to go home. He has become a very good friend of mine though and I'm sure we will stay in touch. We are going to the mission home to say goodbye to him today. He will be flying home on Wednesday. I am going to miss him, but I know that we will probably be friends for a very long time. Thanks for the fun times "Papa Watson!"

Well, that's about it for this week. The clean up (from the typhoon) goes ok. We haven't had to do a ton of it. The city has cleaned most of it up. But yeah, you can definitely tell that a VERY large typhoon came through here. And I heard that there are supposed to be 1 or 2 more on the way. So we are preparing for that. We are STILL trying to find new people to teach, but we have found a couple of really cool people this week that we are hoping will continue to meet. We met an American member who brought a friend from Morocco with him to Taiwan. He wants us to try and introduce the church to him. So we are super excited about that, but it is super weird teaching in English again. Anyways, love you all and I hope I hear from you soon. Anyways, I love you so much. I hope you have a good week. We are going bowling today and are going to Ikea for lunch! Yum, meatballs.

 Have a great week and stay awesome!

Sincerely,

雷長老

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

These were all random pictures that the members have sent to me.I laugh because they always seem to be eating! :)

I had a member send me several of these pictures, so I do not know the story behind why Elder Millett is playing a dijireedo (??) But it is something that he would love for sure!

P-day at Ikea

Typhoon Soudelor, Chess, and a Big Burger

Well Family,

I'm sure you've been following the news, so you will know what happened to me this week, but I hope that yours has been good. Let's get right to it, shall we?

So, yes, everyone, a very large and very serious typhoon DID touch down in Taiwan. Apparently its name is Soudelor, but we didn't know that until just this morning, so we've been calling it Charlie. But yes, Charlie was angry.

Typhoon Soudelor

So, on the day of the typhoon, it really wasn't bad. The clouds were a little dark, there was a slight breeze, but nothing major. Well, that night however, things started turning a little nasty. The wind picked up and got really, really strong, so we decided the best thing to do would be to go outside and enjoy it. So that's exactly what we did. While we were waiting for an appointment, we were outside, being blown around in the wind. Scooters and Motorcycles were falling, trees were being knocked over. (Elder Moore got hit in the head with a small branch, but he was ok.) We saw some guy run over a helmet that had blown into the street. We thought it was pretty bad. But that night, while we were sleeping, Charlie went crazy...

I woke up, about 4:00 or so, because of a loud thumping noise that I heard. Well, come to find out, it was the sound of Charlie's great winds trying to bust through our windows, and the thumping sound was the sound of the glass moving and bending. We heard massive trees collapse across the street and such, but we decided to wait it out until morning and then survey the damage. Well, 更好, the next morning happened to be when the eye of the storm was passing over Taichung, so it was pretty calm. We walked outside and looked down our street to find that trees had fallen on cars and scooters were blown halfway down the street and such. So, we spent the morning going and cleaning up the road and a local park nearby. Lots of people walked by, but nobody volunteered to help except one, very willing lady. We moved 2 feet thick trees that had fallen. We picked the motorcycles back up and then we went home and showered. Well, although our house was safe and no damage was done, our chapel is another story. 

Since our chapel is on the 19th floor, the wind up there was even crazier than it was near ground level. We were advised by the mission president that if the wind or rain got too bad, we had to walk instead of riding our bikes or take a break indoors if necessary. Well, we had an appointment at the chapel we were waiting for, but they ended up not coming because they didn't want to leave their house, which was probably the smart thing to do. Well, we noticed that the chapel had a lot of wind or air pressure changes going on, and we didn't know why. So we started exploring. Well, we went to a classroom across the hall and we saw that a few ceiling tiles had fallen and there was some insulation on the ground. Well, we thought, "Oh no, that's too bad!" But then we kept going. I stayed back to try and clean up a bit when I hear Elder Moore say, "Elder! Oh, shoot. You're gonna want to see this." Well, I walked to the room next door to discover this.

Yup, the room exploded. The windows on the left side had completely broken apart, the wind had come inside and blown down the wall, the ceiling, and the rain had started coming in and such. So, now there is a huge flipping hole in our chapel. It was because of Elder Moore and I that all the missionaries had to go home. We called him and told him about the chapel exploding, and he said, I guess this storm was a lot more serious than we thought it was, and then he sent out the text saying that all of the missionaries had to go home immediately.

But, aside from that little adventure, the typhoon was a lot of fun. I kind of enjoyed it. But it made missionary work pretty difficult. Nobody wants to stop and talk to you when the world is falling apart around you!

Well, now that that part is over, onto the second subject. Plain and simple, Elder Moore taught me how to play Chinese chess. It is quite different from regular chess, but it is just as competitive and just as fun!

​And lastly, we went up to a local night market to do some finding this week, when it came time to eat dinner. Elder Moore remembered that there is a really good burger place up the road a little ways, so we said what the heck. Well, he told me that I had to try there supersize big beef burger. So I said ok. Well, here is what they brought me.

This burger was the size of my head. Well, after much struggling, I was able to finish this beast. Yup, good times.

Well, that's about it for this week. Know that I am safe and that the storm has passed. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf. I hope that you have a good week and I hope to hear from you very soon.

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

Bethlehem, BPMF, and the Big Bing Bowl‏

Hello Family,

I hope that you had a wonderful week. Ours has been kind of crazy, but it's been fun living the city life. the city life is kind of fun. Things are so convenient. I don't have to bike 30 minutes to buy groceries! And we get to go to one of the biggest night markets in Taichung today. Well, I guess I will dive right into it.

So, for starters, I went on exchanges with my zone leader, Elder Smith, this week. He goes home in like 2 weeks, the same as my "papa" Elder Watson. But, I learned a lot from him. He is a very wise missionary. And after we got home, I spent an hour listening to him play guitar and we were singing alternative rock together. Ahh, it was awesome. But anyways, we kind of took a wrong turn when we were biking and we ended up in Bethlehem. Well, not really, but there is this really cool wall painting about 10 feet from our apartment that says "Welcome to Bethlehem." So, we took pictures. 

Next, BPMF. Let me explain. BPMF is the way people text here in Taiwan. They have different symbols that make different sounds, and you have to put them together to make the characters. It is super 複雜, or complicated. But I am currently in the process of learning it so that I can send texts to our investigators and others. I am still pretty slow, but I can at least send a basic text message. Some missionaries have told me that they didn't start learning BPMF until like a year into their missions, which means I must still be doing ok language-wise.

And last but not least, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the biggest bowl of shaved ice I've ever see

​Yup, this monster of a bowl was what we did for our P-Day last week. There is one bing shop here in Dong Hai, and we got a group of 9 people together to try and down this beast. Well, after about an hour or so, and after struggling through this behemoth, we finished it.

The one thing I can say I miss the most right now, being able to see a temple every day. And having the opportunity to pretty much go when I please. But at least I should be able to go next transfer. So, that will be awesome. I'm looking forward to it! 

Well, this week, I read a talk, again, by Elder Neal A Maxwell, entitled, "Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds.” It was a talk given in the April 1991 General Conference. In the talk, Elder Maxwell gives some advice to those who don't feel the influence of the spirit in their lives. And he also explains that even though trials will come, God will not abandon us. I feel that on my mission, I have experienced some times when the road seems too difficult to follow, or that there is a task to great to accomplish. But, as I have grown in my testimony, I can say that I stand in agreement with Elder Maxwell in saying that "Faith in God includes faith in His timing." I think that has been one of the biggest things I've learned on my mission.

Anyways, that is about it for this week. The work is going well. We have a few really solid people right now, and we are doing our best to continue to find more and more. God Bless all of you and I hope that you have a fantabulous week!

Sincerely, Brother, Friend, Son, Grandson, and so on

Stay safe! and last but not least, 加油!

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

7-30-15 Zone Conference

7-30-15 Zone Conference

Elder Moore, Elder Millett Wonderful Dinner

Elder Millett- this photo was sent to me by a sweet member in Taiwan