Year Mark "on Island," All My Senior Comps are Dying, and Another Crazy Dude

大家午安，

所以，這個禮拜就代表我在臺灣一年多了！我自己覺得太誇張。我還記得我在臺灣第一天。時間真的太快啊！但是，我在臺灣有學習很多，還有，我也覺得我的中文進步了。。。吧。我現在就有八個月，就要回美國。這個讓我很難過！我不要離開！但是，我還有很多未來的經驗。差不多是這樣。

Secondly, all of my senior companions are dying!!! So, My trainer, Elder Watson went home last October if I remember correctly, and just this last week, my last senior companion, Elder Moore, also finished his mission!!! The only senior companion of mine that is still alive is Elder Yeh. He still has quite a while. He finishes a couple months before I do, so I will still see him. But yeah, just seeing all of these people finishing is starting to make me feel old. But yeah, I will miss all of them. I have learned a lot of things from every companion, and I have taken things from all of them as well. They have all had an influence on me and I am glad to have served around them. They really helped me get a good start on the adventure known as a mission. I thank all of them!

Photo bombing Elder Park and his MTC companion

Lastly, this week, we had another crazy dude come to the chapel. He came up and started talking to me and asked if the other Elders were there. At first he didn't seem that crazy. I thought he was an investigator waiting for an appointment or something. Well, after a minute, he comes outside and we start talking to him again. The other Elders weren't there and so we decided to try and get his info so that we could let them know. Well, after asking if he could give us his name and number, he started talking about how he wasn't comfortable giving his info to others. At first it was ok, a lot of people wouldn't just give their info to some random missionary! But then, after a minute or so, he opens his bag and he pulls out these cards with random English words written on them. And they weren't just words like "dog" or "church." No, these cards had words like "China," "Taiwanese TV Stations," "Secret Plan," "Danger." And other things like that. At this point I am really weirded out. But then he pulls out this map from his bag and starts talking in really fast Chinese that I couldn't quite understand. He said something about like China coming to war with Taiwan, and that it was dangerous if we knew and other things like that. Well, after trying to calm him down, he came really close to me and was like "Shhhh. You can't tell anybody that I told you this stuff. You are already in danger for knowing! God Bless You." And then he ran really fast to his scooter and took off. At that point, I was like "What just happened there?" But yeah, you will find crazy people like that all over Taiwan. It is kind of sad, but kind of funny at the same time. Yeah, he told us he was baptized like 5-6 years ago, but after his little display I didn't know whether to believe it or not. But, at least it was a funny memory. Good times.

Well, other than that, there wasn't a ton that went on this week. We went to JiaYi for the Trainer Follow-up Meeting. That was kind of neat. We talked about how training was going, what things have been easy, what's been difficult and other things of that nature. We discussed the 12 Weeks training program and how that was going. Training seems to be going ok right now. Can't complain. Seems weird that Elder Park and I only have like 4 weeks or so until we part ways. It seems strange to think about. I have no idea what's going to happen after training! But, I guess we will wait and see. Well, Elder Park and I are getting along great. We are working hard. We have a decent pool of people we are working with right now. We have seen some really cool finding miracles this week. We had a new investigator given to us by the Zone Leaders, and we are meeting with him this next week. So yeah, things are going pretty smooth. Yeah, "My life is good, really good....." Well, sorry for another picture-less email. I have been terrible about taking pictures again. But, I will get some this week. And I should have some fun ones from today. Apparently, today is a holiday in Taiwan, so we are going to celebrate P-Day with Ricky and the FHE group. We are going bowling I think, so should be fun! Except that I suck at bowling!!! Oh, well.

Love you guys! Hope to hear from you soon! The work goes on! Life continues! See ya in 8 short months!

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

Sent to mom with this message: "My name is *** and my son served in Taiwan. We are here visiting and met your son who is a beloved missionary here. He is doing a wonderful job representing the Lord and and your family. He is strong and happy. You should be proud!"

Power Week, 被放鴿子, and Some Area Exploring

大家好!

Hello Family,

This week has been pretty good. Not anything too exciting going on here. Pretty standard week. But we did have some fun things happen. So here we go.

So, this past week was Power Week. Power week is something they do once a year here in the mission. Essentially, they have this one week where they give the mission these RIDICULOUS goals for each day. It's supposed to help lift missionaries out of the Guo Nian slump. I will attach a copy of it here for you guys to read. It's pretty crazy!!!

But yeah, our power week was ok. We got pretty close to hitting most of the goals, but in the end, we always fell just a little short. But, we had a lot of success come out of it. We found some fun people to meet with and we really worked hard. And that is all that matters. Putting in your all for the Lord and for His children. So, all-in-all it was a pretty good week. (But I am kind of glad it's over, I am SO tired!!!! Lol.)

Well, this week, we were "fanged" quite a bit. To be fanged means to be stood up. We had a lot of people set up for this week who then never showed up. It was kind of frustrating. But there are some that felt really bad and rescheduled with us, while there were others that we just dropped. But, I think I have been fanged more times here than I have in any other place. But, it just goes to show how important confirming appointments multiple times is. But, this is just another part of the missionary life. But yeah, getting fanged doesn't feel good.....

Lastly, this week, we had a day that we were able to go out and explore our area a little bit more. Our area is actually pretty massive. We rode around for like 2-3 hours and we were still in our area! It was kind of cool though. We found some new places that we could try proselyting at, and we found some new restaurants to eat at in the future. If you are interested in looking it up, our area covers the South, Central/West, and AnPing districts of Tainan. Yeah, pretty big!

Well, sorry about the short letter. Not a whole lot changed this week, just some pants ripping! (Thanks bicycle.....) But yeah, it was a good, hard-working week. If you have any more questions, just let me know! Love you all and have an awesome week. 

P.S. sorry, no new pictures this week :(

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

Chinese New Year, and ummm........That's about it.....

大家好。新年快樂！

Hey guys! I hope that you have had an awesome week. I know that I have here. Happy Chinese New Year!!!! Probably not as big a deal there as it is here, but I hope you had a good time anyways. Yeah, that is pretty much all that happened for this week, but I guess I will say what I can. 

So, during the New Year, missionary work slows down quite a bit. Everyone is either at home with their families or they are going on vacation and playing and stuff, so it's kind of hard to set up with people. So, during this time of the year, missionaries will eat with members a lot. And during the New Year, we have a rule that we can be at a dinner appointment for 2 hours, because apparently it's disrespectful to stay for under an hour or so. So yeah, we ate with members a lot this week. Ate lots of good food.

Well, even though the week was kind of slow as far as the work goes, we have actually gotten a lot done. We were out finding and contacting for most of the day every day this week, and we have found a lot of really cool potential people. My street contacting skills are improving, so that is good. That is always something that I've struggled a bit with. But they have definitely gotten better this past week. Elder Park and I are getting along great. It seems weird that we only have one move call left together, but yeah, time flies when you're working hard. (I think that's how the saying goes.)

Well, yeah, not much else to report on. Oh yeah, after serving 3-4 transfers as a District Leader, President has assigned one of the other Elders in our District, Elder Lauti to take my place as district leader. He is a few move calls older than I am, and he is getting ready to train this coming move call. He is a great guy and will do an awesome job. It does seem weird not having that responsibility any more though. I really enjoyed it. And it really offered a neat opportunity to help lift and inspire other missionaries, one of my main goals here. So, while I am a little sad to have to leave the position, the Lord obviously needs me focusing on other things right now. The Lord will definitely put us where we are needed, and I know that is very true.

Well, I love you guys! This week has been awesome, and I have a feeling this week is also going to be awesome as well. Missions are just awesome! Taiwan is just awesome!!! My life is just awesome!!!! Love you guys and I will talk to you very soon. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask! See ya!

Sincerely,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老
So I asked Elder Millett if he was in need of anything in his next package, this was the reply; "the other Elders in our district have told me that more pepper jelly is a necessity at this point. They are addicted. And I am too! " So pepper jelly will be on its way shortly!

​One more Sushi picture!

Dinner at the 林 Family's house.

​Sushimi at this Japanese place with the Su Family. (And a big o' ball of wasabi!!!!)

Shake, Rattle, and Roll, 過年到了, 400 Year Old Building

Dear Friends and Family,

I very aware of what is probably running through your minds right now. I just want to tell you right now that Elder Park and I are ok. We were safe and not affected too badly. 

For those of you who don't know, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Taiwan 2-3 days ago at about 4:00 in the morning. Northern Gaoxiong and Tainan received the brunt of it. But the area that we live in was not affected as badly. There was a 17-Floor apartment complex that did collapse over in YongKang, about a 30 minute bike ride from here, but no missionaries were affected. But, unfortunately, as of the writing of this email, there were 18 people confirmed dead as a result of the quake. We will be praying for their families and friends as well as they go through this trial. All missionaries in the mission were safe and accounted for, even here in Tainan. There were also some buildings in GuiRen and a couple of other places that were damaged pretty heavily as well, but it seems like they've got things under control at this point.

Well, now for my personal perspective on what has happened. So, at about 4:00 in the morning, I suddenly woke up, just as the quake was getting going. It started pretty small, almost amusing, so I decided to wait it out and then go back to sleep. But as it kept going, it kept getting larger and larger. Our apartment complex was creaking and moving all over the place. Our building had to have been moving by the foot. We were shaking left to right, with a little bit of up and down motion as well. Eventually, I called to Elder Park who was still sleeping, and he woke up just as the quake was at its most intense. Our chairs were sliding around our study room (which doubles as our bedroom so we were watching the whole thing.) There was stuff falling from our desks and bookshelves and stuff, and it sounded like there was some glass and metal falling somewhere in our apartment. Well, after about a minute to 2 minutes, it seemed like things had stopped. We waited for a little bit to make sure it was through, and then we went to check on the apartment. The metal that I heard fall down was my wardrobe in my bedroom. It is pretty heavy, but it had toppled over, sending my clothes around the room.

We had a fan fall over as well as some other small stuff in the apartment. And we only had one casualty, a jar of my mother's precious pepper jelly had shattered on the ground, which, like Nephi, caused "mine eyes [to] water my pillow by night." After a little cleanup, we decided that we would finish when we woke up in a couple of hours. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well for the next 2 hours. I was checking up on the district members, answering calls from members asking if we were ok, preparing to text the Zone Leaders and other stuff. I got to sleep about an hour and a half or so after it happened. Then when we woke up, we finished cleanup and stuff. All of our water is good, although we are running off of our building's reserve tank. Apparently a main water line was damaged, and so all of Tainan's water is temporarily shut off, but it should be back up within the next day or two. So, we have water at our apartment, just not at the church. 

So yeah, like. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, but then I realized something when we down to get our bikes. So, we park our bikes in this little room on the side of the building. There are usually quite a few bikes there, so we weren't surprised when we found that most of the bikes had fallen over.......aside from ours'! Yeah, all of the other bikes had toppled over during the quake expect for mine and Elder Park's. It was definitely a testimony to me that the Lord is watching over and protecting his servants. Us missionaries are doing all we can to help those affected by the quake, and I personally believe that the Lord spared us for this very purpose, to be a light shining forth in the darkness of such a trial. So, onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus, going on before.

Well aside from that little incident, Happy Chinese New Year Everybody!!!! 新年快樂！ 恭喜發財!! Yep, the New Year is upon us. The dinner appointments are rolling in, the people are retiring to their homes with their families, and the red banners are going up. This is definitely a moment I've been waiting for for a long time now. When I got to Taiwan just about a year ago, I missed the New Year by just a week or two, so this will be my first and last Chinese New Year on my mission. And I am so excited for it. While the work tends to get a little tricky during this time of year, we are so stoked to be able to get to know the members and really just get immersed in the culture of the place here. It is definitely a time to start setting goals for the new year, as well goals for finishing out my mission strong. So, I can say that I am living the dream right now. We had our first New Year's meal with our FHE group.

Lastly, for our P-Day last week, we went to some building in our area that is like 400 years old. Apparently it was used by the Dutch or something when they first came to Taiwan. A member, Ricky, gave me the whole history of the place, but I have forgotten after a week, but enjoy a picture instead! (And there are more to come)

Well, that is about it for this week. Know that we are safe here and that we are enjoying a wonderful New Year! Can't wait to hear back from you! Stay safe, and GLHF!!

GGWP, Earthquake....

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老

**So far Elder Millett has experienced a very powerful typhoon, record breaking cold temperatures, and now an earthquake! Proof that the Lord is looking out for all of His missionaries!

2/6/16 Taiwan Earthquake

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14 dead after magnitude-6.4 earthquake shocks Taiwan  @CNN At least thirteen people were killed Saturday morning when a magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan, the country's Disaster Response Center says. 

"Dear Parents of Taiwan Taichung Missionaries,

As perhaps you are already aware, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern Taiwan early this morning. The epicenter was near Tainan.

All missionaries have been accounted for and are safe. There was no significant damage to any of our missionary apartments or mission property.

We appreciate your faith and prayers on behalf of our missionaries and all those who will be affected by this event.

Warm regards,

President Blickenstaff"

Elder Millett is currently serving in Tainan. 

洪弟兄's Baptism!!!, Coach James, and a Month of Training Down

Well, this week has been quite interesting. Kind of a strange week to be completely honest, but I'm alive. We survived the freezing, lengthy, 2-day Taiwan Winter. And we had a few other happenings that are worth mentioning.

So, this week, 洪弟兄 got baptized over in 永康! And not only that, we got permission to attend. And not only that......

The YongKang Elders asked if I would baptize him! So that was a special night. (Aside from the fact that his eye was swollen. We felt bad for him, but he was still willing to hold the baptism that night.)

洪弟兄 has had a pretty rough life. Both his parents died a few years ago, and both within a year of each other. He is only 18 years old. He lives by himself and works at a metal shop. When I met him for the first time, he was super excited to learn the Gospel. He was super willing to keep every commitment and to keep coming back for more. He was so prepared in fact, that at one point we were wondering if he was actually understanding what we were teaching him! But, after hearing him bear his testimony to us, we realized that we were very wrong. The Gospel, especially the doctrine of the Plan of Salvation as it relates to his life's circumstances, touched his heart and soul powerfully. He felt the truthfulness of the message and was willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary in order to receive it. This past week, I realized how good our friendship was. Although he is not in our ward, I will always have the memories of being able to teach him and help him progress. And I'm sure that we will continue to stay in touch, even into the eternities. I am so excited for him. He is going to be a very solid member, and who knows, maybe a mission will be something in his near future.

So, secondly, we have this guy who comes to our English Class every week. His name is James, and quite simply, he is one of the funniest people I've ever talked to in my life. His English is decent. He is a taxi driver. So, he's been coming without fail for like 3 months now, and he had shown interest in the Gospel, so we decided to set him up to meet. But, being a taxi driver, he said that most of his day was usually full with work. He has to work a TON if he wants to make anything he can live off of. So, we told him that maybe we could meet at our chapel in the morning to exercise with him. He said that he could do that. He had told us previously that he loved to play Ping-Pong, so we decided we would play with him. Well, he is INCREDIBLE at Ping-Pong. He told us that he has played for like 30 years or something like that. So, instead of us playing with him, he spent a lot of time coaching us in the "correct way" to play. It was awesome! And then we were able to give a Book of Mormon to him. He said that he could start reading. So, hopefully he will be able to progress.

Elder Park, (who is a pretty good player himself) going toe-to-toe with James, the Master himself.

And lastly, I have finished the first month of training. I went and picked Elder Park up a month ago yesterday! Wow, the time just seems to fly! Training has definitely been a humbling experience. But, I've noticed that I'm working harder and more diligently than I was before. I am loving more deeply the people here. And I am learning more and more the meaning of sincere prayer. Falling on your knees is never a sign of weakness, but of strength and of trust in a loving Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, whom I have the privilege of representing. All-in-all, training is just as President Blickenstaff said it was, an experience for learning and growing. I am definitely seeing that, in both Elder Park and myself.

Well, that is about it for the week. Hope you have an awesome week too! Don't freeze to death. GLHF Everybody. Talk to you soon! Going to a 400 year-old temple today, so that should be fun. I'll take pictures!

Love ya,

Elder Chase Joseph Millett

雷長老