Well Family,
Happy Easter. Yesterday.
For me anyways... But that's beside the point. Happy Easter anyways!
So, this week has been
pretty fun. Lots going on. Lots of crazy things happened. So, I will try to
cover what I can.
So, as first mentioned,
Easter was yesterday. Easter is
not really a huge thing around here. People don't really know what it is. But
we have been sharing the church's new video with people. We didn't really
celebrate at all. In fact, we asked ourselves at one point during sacrament
meeting, "Hey Dude, isn't it like, Easter today?" "Yeah, I think
so." It was also Fast Sunday for us here. For the
first time, I got up and bore my testimony in Chinese. People said they could
understand it though, so that makes me feel better.
So, on Saturday we went and
did some 扫墓, or Grave Sweeping. There is a holiday here called 清明节, Qing Ming Jie, which is a holiday centered on this
grave-sweeping thing. It is all about honoring ancestors and showing them
respect. People will go and clean the graves of their loved ones every year.
But there are a lot of graves that are either nameless or have been neglected
for a very long time. That is where we missionaries come in! We got together as
a zone and went and cleaned graves that hadn't been cleaned in a long time. We
were hacking down 4-5 foot tall plants growing out of the ground by these
graves. (I used this weird, long, machete-like thing, so that was fun.) It was
super cool to see all of the old people come by and thank us for what we were
doing. It was fun to see them so happy. We got to see them smile and participate in a unique cultural atmosphere. It also helped to build my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and the fact that as we speak, these people are being taught the gospel. It was amazing! The only downside to the whole thing
was that it was flipping hot the whole day!!! It is starting to get super-hot
here. This summer is going to be brutal. But, I will get by somehow.
We have
been trying to find more people to teach recently. As for Ke Guo Lin and his
baptism, it is probably going to be next week. Because of Qing Ming Jie this
week and General Conference this coming weekend, he hasn't been available to
get baptized. So we are working on that. We gave a priesthood blessing to a
member's family in Pu Zi this week. That was neat.
Anyways, as for the old
friend part. In addition to our zone, there were a couple of other missionaries
who came down to help us because their companions were part of a new Mormon
message that they are filming here. I don't know if it is going to be a
world-wide Mormon message, or just specifically for Taiwan, but there is going
to be. Anyways, one of the missionaries that came down.................was
Elder Ben Lieske! I finally got to see him and catch up with him a little bit!!
It was super cool!!! He only has like 2 transfers left after this one, so it
was probably the only time that I will see him. But we had a blast cleaning
graves and talking it up.
Most important thing I've
learned this week, set goals!!
So, we have interviews
with President and Sister Blickenstaff this coming week, and we were asked to
prepare our Language Study Plans for the rest of our missions. Elder Watson
already has his done from a while ago, so he helped me for like an hour helping
me set goals and get the plan finished. Elder Watson is way focused on goal
setting and making plans, so he has been a big help. And having good plans and
goals for the coming day and week has been good for helping us use our time
wisely. So I have a new appreciation for planning and goal setting.
Our
recent convert You Jie Mei, invited us to her house last night for some 烤肉, or Barbeque!!!! And barbeque here is kind of different.
Their barbeque is like this little metal box with coals in it pretty low to the
ground. And they buy like 10 different kinds of meat and just keep throwing it
on the grill and giving you more and more. So last night was a meat fest!!! I
had everything from, Taiwanese Sausage to strips of steak to grilled prawns! It
was like, the best meal I've had here so far. Oh my gosh, it was so good!!!!!
Anyways, that is about it
for this week. It was fun. Love you so much.
Sincerely,
Elder Chase Joseph Millett
雷長老
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| Elder Millett and Elder Watson e-mailing on P-day. Elder Millett had no new pictures to send to me, so he quickly took these two because he knows his mom loves to get pictures! |
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