Elder Chase Millett: 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