April 1, 2012 - See you at the airport!

Well family,

Yes this is my last email. Next Monday I will definitely not have time. It might be a little short. Sorry in advance. Someone should tell Sarah that I'm sorry. She probably hasn't gotten any letters lately and probably won't until I get back. I wrote them and sent them! But some of them came back and they said I didn't put enough postage on them. Even though I went to the post office and had them weigh it and stuff. So that's my bad, but not really. She'll get them eventually.

OK there are just some little things that I need for when I get home. Like when I get home, I will only have one pair of garments, the ones I'm wearing. So yeah I'll need some of those, and just normal hygiene stuff. Toothpaste, toothbrush etc... And my warts have not fallen off yet, and I'm supposed to go see the doctor again on Thursday. So I get to watch general conference the Saturday and Sunday before I go home. So that should help me through personal revelation figure out what I want to do with my life.

Well I'm not sure what I want to talk on... Like I've learned a ton. I have two journals and two study journals full of all the stuff that I have learned. Like I would kinda like to talk about missionary work and all the miracles that can happen from that. Help the youngins have more of a desire to go on a mission. But I'm assuming I'll be asked to share with the youth or share in the mission prep class about that. And I could talk about anything, like any of the Christ-like attributes. or Setting goals and making plans. Or being a good example. Or true conversion. Or family history. Or the atonement.... or... ANYTHing. I'm not sure if there is one massive huge thing that I have learned. I have learned a lot ... a ton. Of a lot of different subjects. Over two years worth of studying for one hour by myself and one hour with my companion every single day. So yeah. Like you guys told me that they want me to pick a subject like two weeks ago. And I've been thinking about it and I still am not sure. Sorry.

Well. I'll see you guys on the other side. Sarah told me I might not get released until Wednesday night. What am I supposed to do all Wednesday? Go find the missionaries in K-town? haha. That would be kinda fun. I wonder what they do all day. hmmm,,, haha but yeah that would be not fun for Elder (soon to be Beau) Graham.

Something that has been kinda bothering me the last few days is during personal study a few days ago I was reading in Jacob and I read the scripture in chapter 6 verse 3: "And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard..." Like, have I given my absolute 100% best? Have I completed what I was sent to complete? Will I be among the"blessed" as stated in the scripture? I'm sure lots of missionaries have wondered the things I am wondering.

Well I love you guys and I will see you at the airport on Tuesday the 10th. Just a friendly reminder. smiley face. I am sad to leave. I do enjoy it here. Oh well it is time to move on.

Love Elder Graham

March 25, 2012 - See you in 2 weeks!

Well hello family, the ones not in Hawaii,
Well this week was interesting, on Monday we went to the Zone activity and made some kind of Taiwanese food that is kinda like a Mexican taco. Kinda.

Tuesday we met with 3 investigators and had DTM, normal stuff.

Wednesday was just English class. We had 3 new people which is the highest this area has seen in over a year.

Thursday I had my warts frozen off. Ouch painfulllllllllness. And they aren't blistering as fast as last time. zao gao. Riding a bike when you have two warts on the inside of your palm is not fun. Then that night we tracted into a pretty cool family. (that was the first time I had ever been tracting ... ever) It was the first door that we knocked on. And the mom answered the door and said she was too busy but that we could talk to her sons. So we did, gave them a Book of Mormon and set up another time to meet because we had a branch meeting right then.

Friday we went with our branch president to the farther places in our area. We had a good three lessons with him.
Saturday was Saturday. nothing really happened.
Sunday we had 2 investigators at church. Then later we met with the two kids we tracted into. And their dad. Their dad is a RELIGIONS professor at a local college. Wow. and he spent 8 years in Philadelphia getting his PHD in religion studies. Which at first scared the poo out of me. But he ended up being really cool and really open and he said he would be happy if his two sons joined the church. He said they were old enough to start making their own decisions as far as religion goes. He was really interested to hear what we had to say. His main question was why would God restore his one and only true church on the American continent, not among the Jews. Like why not in Jerusalem. Or at least in the middle east where Gods chosen people are. He had some interesting views. But we had to hurry and finish that lesson because we were supposed to be teaching at a family home evening that had already started that was a half hour bike ride away. So I gave him a talk by Tad Callister from the last general conference on the Book of Mormon. So hopefully he will like that. Then I gave his kids all their own copy of For the Strength of the Youth - and he really liked that... but unfortunately I wont ever see them again. They are going on a trip to Europe for two weeks. When do I go home? two weeks. Then at the family home evening, I lost the game that they were playing so my companion told them that I should have to sing a song for loosing. So they all made me sing "I need thee every hour" in English.
So yeah that was my week.

I do miss America, but I will miss Taiwan. I can already feel myself missing it here.
Well that's all for today. Next time will be the last time you guys hear from me until the airport.

See ya in a couple weeks,

桂長老桂俊杰

Elder Graham

March 18,2012 - My Miracle Story

Hello Family-

As you probably know, my two year mark has passed. Weird. On Saturday we went with that one dude who took us around in his car without knowing us at all ... remember him? yeah, well he took us out to an all you can eat hot pot. And I bought some Haagen dahz ice cream. yummy.

I want to tell you about my Miracle Story. It is that of a man named Chen Zheng Gong. When I first met him, his wife had been a member for a year and a half. She wanted us to teach him. When we first went over to his restaurant, he didn't seem comfortable with us there. He wouldn't let us pray, talk about the church or give him a Book of Mormon. We didn't visit him much after that. We would still pass by his restaurant and say hi once in a while, but that was it.
About one and a half move calls later, his wife called us right after a DTM. She was so excited.
"He wants a Book of Mormon!, he wants a Book of Mormon!"
That afternoon we went over and taught a really spiritual first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. He still wouldn't pray, but from that day on, he read a chapter a day out of the Book of Mormon. After about two weeks of teaching him, he finally prayed by himself for the first time. His wife cried. His simple heartfelt prayer was a big improvement. About a month later of meeting with us, he wanted to be baptized. But he still smoked, drank, gambled, and needed a second interview. After two weeks of not making any progress with his quit smoking plan, we felt like that for some reason we should put him in an interview. After the interview with the Zone leaders, he had enough faith to quit all of his bad habits. We aren't sure what changed in him, but he was determined to quit. To be baptized. Alcohol was easy... as was gambling. Smoking was harder. But a miracle happened. After ten days of struggling to quit, he was helping his mom move and some of the other people started smoking. He saw them smoking and smelled the cigarettes. He said it made him want to throw up. After that he stopped smoking 100%. Whenever he smelled smoke, he felt like he was going to throw up. When people would smoke around them, he would tell them to go away. His body couldn't handle it. Two weeks later he was baptized.
Because of the change that he made, his daughter, and his daughter's best friend, and her daughter were all baptized a month later. They saw the miracle that had happened in him and wanted to be as happy as he was and is.
Sometime after his baptism and before his daughter's baptism, he was once again helping his mother move. This time he found all of his family records for the last 900 years. All of the way past the very first Chen to ever come to Taiwan. For me it was wonderful to see a man with semi-anti feelings toward the church, turn into someone who is a strong member who has baptized his family. Immediate family as well as been baptized in the House of the Lord for his ancestors. He is taking the temple preparation classes, and will be sealed in the temple soon after I leave the island. It has made me happy to see the happiness that the gospel has brought to his family.
Love Elder Graham

See ya in a couple weeks,
桂長老桂俊杰
Elder Graham

March 11, 2012 - I don't know when I'm coming home!

Dear fam,

So I got an interesting email today check it out:

"Dear Sisters and Elders,
When you receive your returning packet letter, you will see that you have flight plans. I received information on Thursday evening that these were canceled and as of yet she has not been back to let me know when and what! So ignore your flight plans for now. I will send the new one with your “Leaving Itinerary Letter” in a couple of weeks. Please let your parents know on your p-day of the situation as they too received a travel itinerary. Travel now is becoming more difficult as they try to fill the planes to their limit. Never fear, we will get you home!!
Thanks for your hard work and great missionary service.
Love,
Sister Liston 劉姐妹"

Uh Oh! That's not good. So don't make any plans yet. They still don't know when I'm coming home! But most of the day emailing today I have to find pictures for them to make a going home video for all of us going home. So sorry about that.

So yesterday was pretty good. We had 4 investigators at church. And a big 39 people were at sacrament. Which in all reality isn't that much but in our small branch, its a lot. So that was good.
And this week with Lin Zan Dong he told us he believes in the atonement. I asked him if he believes Christ atoned for our sins, and he said "It doesn't matter what I believe, it really did happen." Meaning whether or not we believe it, the atonement of Jesus Christ happened. We still aren't sure why he doesn't want to be baptized. Sad face.

As for the people who came to church, two were formers, one comes every week but he won't quit smoking and drinking. And the other one was someone we met on the street two weeks ago, and he just randomly stumbled in. He has some mental problems and for some reason after church was over, he wouldn't leave. And even after his dad came to pick him up, he wouldn't leave. At first he wouldn't get out of his chair, then after he got out of his chair, he would walk to the door and just stop. Then he finally left but only because Elder Baxter told him to. He really likes Elder Baxter.

Well family, I'm sorry I don't have any new pictures.
But I need to go now.

See ya in a month or so..........................
Elder Graham