May 22, 2011 - Idol Worship & I got hit by a truck!

Hello family!
So this week was pretty good. Two days ago we had an investigator pass an interview. He is really good. His name is 林弟兄 and he is about 60 years old. He was a former investigator and everyone in the ward already knows him. His only problem is that he worships idols. He literally has an alter where there is three statues of "gods". He bows down to them every night and every morning. And in the past this had prevented him from getting baptized. But we kinda dug deeper and asked him WHY in the heck he "worships" these idols. He said that the only reason that he does it is because his sons who don't live at home actually believe that the idols can help them. And its a rule that the idols have to stay in the grandpa's house until the one of the sons gets a real house with at least 2 levels so that the idols can stay on the top floor. Or something weird like that, I don't know. But anyway, the only reason he does it is because his sons will get really mad if he doesn't bai bai everyday. He doesn't actually believe in the idols. He believes Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the only Gods that actually exist. So I talked to the mission president about it and he said that because he is doing it for his family and not for himself, he is allowed to be baptized. That was easy.... OK so the hard part was convincing lin dx that it is OK. So we brought over a member who is in the same situation. It was really cool. When we first got there we had no idea how we were going to tell him that he was allowed to be baptized. Then randomly a thought popped into my head to share the scripture in Mosiah 13:12 where Abinadi is explaining the ten commandments. Specifically the whole "don't worship idols" thing... Anyway. In English its not that cool. But in Chinese it fit perfectly for this situation. In English it says something like, "Do not make unto yourself any graven image". And in chinese it says "ni bu ke wei ziji...." Which basically means that you cant worship idols for your benefit. Kinda. I don't really know how to explain "wei" in English. Anyway. It was cool. Just know that.

I don't think I need glasses, I just think they look cool. Everyone here has glasses that they wear, even if you don't need them.
Oh yeah, last week I went to a special training meeting in Taizhong for district and zone leaders. It was really good.

OHHHHＹＥＡＨ. OK so this morning when we were going to play basketball at the church, and on the way there it was raining really hard. It was 6:10 in the morning, and there was basically nobody on the roads. (when it even sprinkles the Asians all get scared and hide inside their houses). And on the way there, I got HIT BY A TRUCK! yup you read that right, I finally got hit. It was freakin sweet. So the guy came whizzing around a corner and went flying onto the road that I was on and since it had been raining, his brakes were not good at all and he hit the back of my bike. I got knocked wayyyy off my bike. Like I went flying and I landed about 8-10 feet away from my bike (which also got knocked into the air). But luckily, because of my ninja skills, I landed cat-like on my feet... actually I wouldn't use the word "cat-like". You know when... OK when you are on a moving vehicle and you jump off, you have to take a few steps when you land or else you fall flat on your face. well that's more like what happened. And because we are in Taiwan, most people don't have insurance and don't want to get in any trouble so the guy picked up my bike said sorry in English and then drove off. I would have been mad except I wasn't even hurt. I had adrenaline running through my body for a few minutes but that is about it.

Good music would be nice. But I can only listen to Motab, EFY, and any hymns sung by anybody as long as it isn't like "singles ward" rock versions of hymns.
Don't worry about my laptop. Elder Graham can fix it when he gets home.
Elder Luck is 100% back in the game. He played basketball with us this morning.
We don't have that ensign yet. but there is a mission conference this Thursday.

Love,
Elder Graham
PS sorry for the lack of pictures.

See ya in a year,
桂長老
桂俊杰
Elder Graham

May 15, 2011 - Record number of investigators at church

Hi Family-

So this week was pretty good.
We went to see monkeys today... again.. haha
I have to go kinda fast. we have an hour and my computer keeps shutting down.....

This week was pretty good because we were plentifully blessed with investigators. At the beginning of sacrament meeting we only had three investigators. But then a couple who just got married came. It was cool because they also brought his dad, his mom, his sister, and his sister's kids. So we had a really big family at church and the ward had a record number of people in sacrament meeting. 101 people. When I first got here is was average like 75 or 80. But slowly we started working with less actives who are slowly coming back to church. It was really cool. And the bishop during priesthood stood up and made an announcement. He said that lately there have been more investigators at church (which is true, the missionaries here usually got 1 at most) so he made this big announcement like if you see someone that you don't know to go up to them and say hi and welcome them and ask them if they have met with missionaries yet. haha He is a really good bishop. He has only been a member for 6 years but he knows how to run the show. And he helps us teach as well. He loves to give out baptismal goals as well.

Yummy street food breakfast! ---->

See ya in a year,
桂長老
桂俊杰
Elder Graham

May 8, 2011 - Happy Mother's Day!

Hello family!

It was nice to talk to you guys! the next time I get to do that is in seven months...
Sorry I don't have many pictures. Today we had to email right out the door. So we haven't eaten yet. sorry.
Ummm so there isn't much to say right now. But I did find something cool during personal study a few days ago:

In Luke 2 Verse 52 it says "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man"
SO that is four things that Jesus worked on.
Wisdom = Intellectual
Stature = Physical
Favor with God = Spiritual
Favor with man = Social

So I decided to make goals for these four categories in my life. And those are the things I will probably work on when I get home as well.

Me and Frank at the Hot Pot last week.

Love,
Elder Graham

Ps I hope you get your Mother's Day package soon. Its nothing big...

May 1, 2011 - Mother's Day Call / Sisters are flying!

Hello Family-
OK so this week was pretty short because its only been like 5 days since i last emailed. But YES Elder Luck is out of the hospital and for the last few days he wasn't allowed to ride a bike so they have been walking to and from the church. About 15 minute walk. But as of this morning he is allowed to ride his bike and later we are going to an all-you-can-eat hot pot. So that should be good.

This last week I did two more interviews for the sisters. Holy cow. All of the interviews that I have done have been for the sisters. They are flying. I don't know how they do it. But yeah they are making this place sing with baptisms. Ever since I've been here there has been at least one baptism a week. Isn't that crazy? too bad Sister Clyde is going home from her mission in 7 days. And sister Pomeroy is brand new and may or may not know what is going on. But the sisters said that they have "set goals and made plans" to make sure that when Sister Pomeroy gets a new senior companion, that she will know the area.
Next week I will most likely also be getting a new companion.

So yeah we teach English in almost every area. Way to go Sisi for being president. Actually pops we go through the temple in English and the missionaries who only speak Chinese have headphones.

So lately I've been studying in the New Testament. Because we have two investigators who are already Christian and who already believe in the Bible and they were very surprised to find out that we also believe in the bible. And that is because their priest person said that we don't believe in the bible and that we only believe in the Book of Mormon. I've been learning some interesting stuff. And I am very confused about how people can believe in san1wei4 yi1ti3. The trinity. three people in one body. Its a good thing we have living prophets as well as the Book of Mormon to give us the correct answers.

So I will be calling on the 9th in the morning. So that is Mother's Day night for you guys.I'm not completely sure what time... like 6 in the morning here.
Yes that would be nice for you guys to try and apply for a few schools. I just want some good computer classes (sorry that's really broad) and chinese as well.

See ya in a year,
桂長老
桂俊杰
Elder Graham