Sunday, July 24, 2016

The 3-Man Tag Team, John Legend's Birthday, Other Random Adventures

(Our 帥 Picture right before we left for the Train Station.)
Elder Millett and John


​Saying Goodbye to the Duany's

​Edison, a recently returned missionary in our ward. He served in Boston.


大家早安!

Well, it's been another superb week here in the 東英 Ward. We have had some awesome times this last  week, mostly thanks to Max, our short-term missionary. I'll talk more about him here in just a sec. But yeah, the work is going forward. We had kind of a slow week this week, with people just not being able to set up and what not, but we have been able to find some people with potential, so we are staying afloat. Yeah, the weather is pretty warm here right about now. My last Taiwanese summer, pretty weird. But, it'll be good for trying to slim up at least a little bit more before I go back. But, guess we'll have to see what happens.
At a FamilyMart eating delicious Honeydew flavored ice cream
Like I said, this last week, we got to have a 3 man companionship. We got to host Max (the English name we gave him), or 張弟兄, a short-term missionary from 南投 this last week. Their stake was doing an activity which would allow some of the youth and preparing missionaries to go have some field experience before they went on their actual missions. Max has already sent in his mission paperwork and is expecting his call to come in this month! We are super excited for him. He really really wants to go to Japan, so we will have to see what happens. Anyways, he is a fireball of a missionary. He has such a great testimony and was really willing to try anything. We saw so many miracles. And not only that, we had such a great time with him. We got so close. We were all pretty emotional when the time came to send him off at the train station again. But, it was an experience we will never forget.
America vs. Taiwan in Chinese Chess (And yeah, America won.)

​John helping to teach my English class.

John making his birthday wish



Also, this past week, we got to celebrate John Legend (King Young's) birthday! Yeah! It was super fun. It was the same night as our English class, so afterwards we surprised him with a cake and some other stuff. We sang happy birthday to him in English, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Spanish, and that was also lots of fun. I will send those pictures in a second. But yeah, he is 25 and getting ready for a mission of his own, and that is super exciting! Shout out to him. He has become one of my best friends here in Taiwan. We are super tight. Oh yeah, the day of his birthday, we went to this American steak place in our area called Mr. Steak. We got like a 7 oz. steak with all you can eat soup, fruit, and Mountain Dew on tap (so much for my weight loss). It was super super good. I will get you those pictures too. (I took lots of pictures this week.)

Lastly, some other random things that happened this week. There was one day when it literally started dumping rain on us in one of our "secondary" areas. I got a cool video. Also, last P-Day, we went and sat in Massage chairs for like an hour at the mall next to the mission home. That was exactly what the doctor ordered for me. I needed some relaxation! Yeah, life is good. Health is good. Loving being a missionary. Can't wait to hear from ya'll. Love love love ya!

Sincerely,
Elder Chase Joseph Millett
雷龘鬱長老




Sunday, July 17, 2016

English Class Miracles, Short Term Missionary, and Ballin' it Up With the AP's

Another wonderful week here in 東英. We were able to accomplish a ton this last week. The miracles came rolling in. And we've been able to have a lot of fun too! And it's lookin' like it's gonna be another fun week this week as well. 

Well, this last week, we managed to find 3 new investigators. Thanks for all the prayers in our behalf in that regard. And it was really neat because they all came from English! One of them, a lady named Amy was found calling English formers, people who came to English a long time ago. We added her to share the Gospel with her and she was super cool. She is still kind of in the mindset of all religions being right, but she accepted a Book of Mormon and was willing to keep meeting. So that was super dope. And then the other two were two friends who came to English class for the first time this past week. We talked to them afterward and they said they'd be willing to meet with us (probably just because we were foreigners, but that's ok. You know what they say, "They come for us and stay for Jesus.") Well, we met with them and at first it seemed like they really didn't have much Gospel interest. But, as the lesson progressed, the Spirit grew stronger and stronger, and so did these sisters' interest levels. Near the end, they were paying full attention to the lesson and not to my companion's 帥 face. They actually seemed super cool. And we may be meeting with them again tonight. So, English class really is a miracle worker. I love that I have the opportunity to give such a cool service to the people of Taiwan. And it's also a good opportunity to learn more Chinese from native speakers, so it's a win-win situation.

Secondly, something kind of cool going on. During this upcoming week, we will have a short term missionary with us. He is an 18 year old guy named Zhang. He is from Nantou. He is getting ready to serve a mission himself. His stake wanted to do an activity that would allow youth to go out with missionaries for a week, and our companionship was one of the ones chosen to host these youth. We are super excited to have him. We picked him up last night. Can't wait to work more with him!
In a member's car, picking up our Short-term missionaries. Sorry it's sideways.
(And yes, not the best picture I've ever taken of myself. But the next one is worse.)
​(I know, I was just trying to squeeze into the picture. Not really focusing on the face I was making. Sorry you had to see that.)

Well, lastly, this past week we started ballin' it up with the AP's and some other missionaries in the morning. We wake up at like 5:30 and bike over to the stadium by the mission home. We play soccer, rugby, football, ultimate frisbee, etc. Thanks to one of the senior missionaries in the office, I will forward you some pictures they sent me of one of our sports days. But, it's definitely giving me the cardio workout that I need. Running around a field in the sun and humid Taiwan weather can really do the body good. Dripping sweat is probably a good sign. Haha. Not to mention it's tons of fun. So yeah, got the exercise game goin. 

Well, that's about it for this week. Lookin' forward to hearin' from ya. Have an awesome week. Know that I love ya and pray for you daily!

Sincerely,
Elder Chase Joseph Millett
雷長老


















Sunday, July 10, 2016

Dawn of a New Teh," More FHE Fun, Miracles

This week was one full of surprises, as well as lots of fun and miracles! We had a really cool "Meet the President" meeting this last week, and it definitely brought some cool changes, but we will talk about that in a second. Elder Sagastegui and I are getting along great. He is such a funny dude. He loves to play soccer. He is great!

Well, like I said, President Teh's coming also brought some pretty big changes. So, while President Blickenstaff was here, he created a "Taichung Mission Clarifications Book" which clarifies the White Handbook specifically for this mission. Well, President Teh has done away with the clarifications book. So now we are going by the White Handbook only. So weird to me!!! I have gotten so used to going by the clarifications book. But, as President Teh put it, this is kind of like getting rid of the Law of Moses in place for the Higher Law. It puts more responsibility on us to go by the Spirit in making decisions as to what is and what isn't allowed. It's a really cool idea. That's what we did when I was back in Washington, but I haven't done it like that for a while now. But, it definitely shows that new mission presidents are able to receive the needed revelation for the mission. These changes are necessary. And it will be interesting to see what the consequences are going to be. But it will be neat to see what other changes will come over the next couple months. 

Well, this last week's FHE was another good time. I've decided to try and take more videos to give you an idea of what I'm doing. But, this last FHE we had quite a few people and played some fun games. We had some RC's and investigators come too! So that makes it all the better! I will put a video or two in this email for you to check out.

Lastly, we have seen quite a few miracles this week. We have been working hard to find some new people to teach, and this last week we got some. We found a really cool teenager from our English class that we set up to meet. And then our RC, Leo brought a friend to our basketball activity who we then got to meet! See, member referrals are the way to do it! Then another great miracle was the fact that 謝爸爸 came to church again. That's two weeks in a row! He is improving so well. It would be so neat to be able to baptize the 2nd Counselor's Father! We are hoping that he will feel the importance of baptism and take that step in his life. Needless to say, 東英 is picking up nicely. Thank you all for the prayers in our behalf. We definitely feel them.

Well, that's about it for this week. I'm loving the "Golden Days" of my mission. It has been a super good time. I feel I am at my prime recently. Just hoping to do what I can these last few months. Let's see, what else happened this week anyways.....Hmm..... Oh yeah, we went to the track over by the mission home, (the one where we exercise when we first get on island), this morning to play rugby and football with the Taizhong South ZL's and the AP's. It was tons of fun. And we are going back to play soccer tomorrow. Totally worth getting up at 5:40 and the 20 minute bike ride! Finally burning those calories. Haha. Yeah. Well. 差不多.

Love you guys! Hear from ya soon!
Sincerely,
Elder Chase Joseph Millett
雷長老

Yeah, the typhoon pretty much avoided us completely. The day of the typhoon was one of the calmest days we've had here. Pretty funny. The funny thing was that it was like 2-3 days later that we actually got a little bit of wind. But not a ton.


Sunday, July 3, 2016

First Week of the New Movecall, Goodbye President and Sister Blickenstaff, Welcome President and Sister Teh.


大家好!

This week has been quite the adventure thus far. New companion, new move call, new mission president. Everything is new! And that has made things really interesting over here. I don't know exactly what I'm going to talk about yet. I kinda come up with it as I go along. But, I'll think of something.

Well, the first week of the movecall has been a fun one, as well as one full of miracles. Elder Sagastegui (Sah-Gah-Steh-Gee) and I are ready to make some things happen here in DongYing. So, this last Sunday, or yesterday to be exact, we had two of our investigators come to church. Our friend Gary, who we've been meeting with for a little while now came to church for the first time. He liked it. He has been trying to find direction in his life and now he feels he's on the right track. We are just going to keep pushing forward with him. And secondly, one of the members of our Bishopric, 謝弟兄, has been having missionaries meet with his dad for sometime now to share the Gospel with him. He came to church again yesterday, showing us that he does have the desire. He is a little slow to understand, but we are going to continue to work with him. No doubt he will be baptized in the near future. This last week, 鄭弟兄 took us out to McDonald's to eat again. It was just as ridiculous as before. He buys so much food. I didn't eat as much as last time, which is good because it means I'm losing weight (I hope.). I only ate like 4 burgers, 5 ice creams, two fries, and two large cokes. (No, it's not that I ordered that, he orders that much for us. It's insane.) Here are some of the before and after pictures.
Well, those pictures about sum up this last week.

Lastly, it's official. President and Sister Blickenstaff have returned to America. Their 3 year mission is over. I really don't know what to say here. I have known them for the majority of my mission, and I won't lie and say that it wasn't a little emotional to see them go home. But, I am so thankful for their service and for all of the support they've given to me, and to the mission as a whole. They will be missed. I have a fun picture I took on President's last day. I will send it in a separate email. And yeah, that also means that we welcomed President and Sister Teh. We are excited to have them, and I'm sure I will tell you more about them as time goes on. But yeah, that's about it for the week. Not too much going on. You got any questions, just let me know!

Love ya,
Elder Chase Joseph Millett
雷長老
??? No words!!! Elder Sagastegui, Elder Millett, and King Young
Elder Sagastegui and I making calls at a 7-11. He's from Kentucky.

Before..all ready to go.....
After..all .ready to kill ourselves...

6-30-16 Welcome to the Greatest Mission: Presenting President Michael and Sister Grace Teh!

Elder Millett and King Young (Love the name tag!)

Selfie with President Blickenstaff
King Young, Elder Millett, Elder Duffing, Elder Wallner, and Elder Sagastegui



FHE