Hi Everyone!!

Hi everyone!

This week was packed with us meeting with members.  We have visited every leader of the ward in hopes to gain their trust and work with them to strengthen each organization of the ward. Starting from the inside (the ward we have) and working out! It has opened up our eyes and the eyes of the members of the ward as to how we can work together to bring more people into the Jiayi 1st ward and also strengthened the members. Saturday we held a training for the Young Men and Young Women in the ward to see what we need to do to bring their once active friends back to church and how to make church a more welcoming atmosphere for their classmates. We have also met with the Bishop and ward mission leader a couple of times and under their direction made a Vision, Goals, and Plans for our ward. It is exciting to see the ward getting excited about strengthening each other and putting these action plans in place!

When Elder Stevenson and the other members of the 70 were here a couple weeks ago, Elder Christenson of the presidency of the 70 invited us to read or listen to every single one of President Russell M. Nelson's conference addresses. I have started doing it and my testimony of him being foreordained and chosen to be our prophet by God has been strengthened.  I am excited to hear from the prophet and apostles and church leaders!

The work is going good, You can never fail on the Lord's errand!

Love you all!

Elder Henderson

何長老

哩賀哩賀哩賀！

Sorry it's been a while since I have actually written one of these emails, I promise to be better. First week with my new companion Elder Tsai and it went great. He's a hard worker with a lot of great ideas about how to develop better relationships with the ward and become more effective.

Our zone has changed a lot, Of the 7 other companionships besides us. 4 started training this week and 2 will start next week!  Lot's of young missionaries are out here in Jiayi! It has been super cool to meet all these new missionaries as they are starting up in their first area!

Elder Tsai and a new sister missionary in our ward have brought some great new ideas to the area that we really think can help the work.  We have been working hard this past week to meet with all the leaders of the ward and try to put together some goals and plans to strengthen each member of the ward personally and each of the new people that get brought in. The goal is to be a lot more active in our role of working with the ward and the people the Lord has called to serve as leaders here in the Jiayi 1st ward.  We want to get away from the way that missionary work has been done in Taiwan in the past, missionaries do their thing and the ward does theirs. We are all part of the same great work and we are trying to stressing that.

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week I came across the verse 2 Nephi 2:30 right before Lehi was about to pass away He said to his family "I have no other object save it be the welfare of your souls." Because this was His desire, He taught them the simple truths of the plan of salvation. I thought that was so fitting, as he was thinking about the last words he could share with his family, He decided to teach them about how they could be together forever. As I read this I thought "when I teach the plan of salvation, can they tell by the way I share this message that I KNOW it is true, and that I am concerned for the welfare of their souls?" I have made an extended effort to increase my knowledge and testimony of this wonderful plan. 

What I have come to realize through this proccess is that God really does exist, and He loves us, He wants us to be happy in this life and in eternity. Through Jesus Christ and His Gospel, He provides the means by which this happiness and satisfaction can be obtained. Often as we teach people this message we share about how everyone's life is not perfect, we all encounter setbacks and challenges, but they are all for our benefit, to help us to learn and to grow. To learn how to trust in God, and have hope for eternity. But I know from experience, the best way to overcome these problems, to find peace in this life and in the next life, and to truly understand the purpose of our life, is to come to know the Plan of Salvation our Father in heaven has created for us is true.  And that can be found and studied in the Book of Mormon. As we ask sincerely if it true, God answers us. He allows us to know it is true. I loved this quote by our beloved Prophet Russell M. Nelson: the purpose of the Gospel "is to enoble Us and enable us to eventually dwell with Him again forever. This is HIS DEVINE DESIRE. He wants His children to return to Him! How logical is that? What else would expect from a loving Heavenly Father?"  A knowledge of the plan of salvation can influence every aspect of our daily life. Relationships with friends, family, co-workers, people on the street can improve. Our life changes for the better when we understand the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us! Death and Challenges still hurt, but the pain is swallowed up in Christ. He is the center of it all! He can calm our soul, and comfort us in the hardest of times. Rely on Him and He can lift us through the hardest of trials.

I love you all and I love this great work that our Heavenly Father has allowed me to participate in.

Elder Henderson

Visit from Elder Stephenson

Hi, how's it going everybody? This is Elder Henderson we are sitting
around on March 11th Sunday evening and had a little extra time tonight
so decided to make a voice recording. I'm sorry I have been so bad
sending emails home and sending voice recordings, I don't know why
I'm so bad at it? Okay, we have had an awesome awesome week.
So, how do I start last Monday Elder Warner my previous companion
was visiting Taiwan he goes home today. He was here from last Saturday
until today so on Monday we were able to go and eat some food with him
and few of our friends from the Ward in Fengyuan were with him. It was
fun to see him and the members of our Ward. I have definitely missed
him a lot, it's been 8 months since he's been home.  Monday, after that
we just chilled and prepared for the week. Tuesday, actually first and
foremost the most important thing this week was Leon our investigator
was baptized on Friday night and it was so cool. Super Super Awesome!
On Tuesday we met with him and we were talking about the priesthood
and finishing up about the organizations of the church and he expressed
a desire to go on a mission. Super super awesome he said he will prepare
to go on a mission, he's 19 years old and going to college. He definitely
has got time to go on a mission! He is a super super awesome guy.
On Wednesday we went on to exchanges with the Huay. It is over by
my last area Doolio. With Elder Huntsman, he has been in Taiwan 3
months less than me. So 15 months. He is super awesome. We went
over to the local college and made some contacts. We talked to some
super super cool people who they will be teaching this next week.
We also taught our free English class, which was fun. The next morning
I took the train back to Jiayi where I met up with Elder Densely again.
Right after that we had a district training meeting which was super good.
Then we started our next exchange with with our district leader. Elder
Farnsworth our district leader, he has been out the same amount of
time as me, we came to Taiwan together. It is super cool to be able to
serve around him this last few months and have him be our district
leader. Me and him got to go on exchanges over in our area. And so,
His companion and Elder Densley ended up going to a recent convert
clear over on the other side of our area. Super far away from the chapel.
We ended up meeting with one of their investigators, which was super
good, then we ended up meeting with one of our investigators Fritz.
He is doing pretty good, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation.
We didn't get through the whole lesson but we talked a great portion
about Jesus Christ and his part in the plan. The next morning we got
a referral. It was a member referral from Elder Farnsworth's Ward
Mission leader. She works and she lives in our area so we switched
off teaching her her. Her english name is Sarah, it was super
super awesome. We met her at McDonald's, she is 26 years old, she
is really really into wanting to know truth. She says each religion has
a lot of Truth in it but she wants to find the religion with the most truth.
She doesn't just want to join a random Church, she wants to figure it
out. At the the end of the lesson we shared with her a Mormon
Message That has recently come out by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called seeking
truth. It was super cool it tells the story of six blind people who are feeling
an elephant and they are blind so every time they rub the elephant they
feel something different so every time they rub the elephant they feel
they are touching a different object. But, when someone walks them around
and tells them what they are feeling they realize they are touching an elephant
and not some abstract object. And it is super cool it tells us how the word
of God and through prophets and Holy Ghost and through the scriptures
we can see the truth and it can teach us to help us understand who God
is and what kind of role he has in our life. It is super cool Mormon Message.
It was very powerful at the end of it Elder Farnsworth invited her to read
Moroni Chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 and invited her to say anytime it said
“you” in the verses he invited her to replace it with her name Sarah. As
she read it out loud it was very powerful and personal to her. She was
able to use her own name and make it more personal to her. Then,
Friday we went to Shining which is another area in our Zone. We met
with the district there and had a district training. We discussed how
their district schools are going. Then later on Friday Leon had his
baptism, it was super super spiritual and good. Elder Densely baptized
him. We had a couple of talks given by a ward missionary sister and
another member in the ward. At the end Leon bore his testimony and
told a story about the first night he met Elder Densely and Elder
Vandermeer who was the missionary before me. That day his phone
screen had broken and he was headed to get it fixed at a phone store.
When I left to go to the phone repair shop I never imagined that I
would meet the Elders who would change my life. These two young
men changed my life and helped me realize my purpose of life and
my relationship with God. It was super super spiritual. He realized
what a big change has made in his life and he is expecting and has
a desire to keep going and keep becoming more and more happy.
Apparently when he first met the missionaries he was super super
shy... He wouldn't talk to anyone. He wouldn't look anyone in the
eye he was so shy. Today he was at church he was talking to
everybody, he gave the closing prayer in gospel principles class.
He has opened up so much. The baptism went super well and
he gave an amazing testimony. The reason we had his baptism on
Friday was because we had a special meeting with the entire mission
in Taichung. Elder Gary E Stevenson was there and visited with us.
He brought with him Elder Craig C Christensen of the presidency of
the seventy and also Bishop Cousee the presiding Bishop of the
church. Elder Meers who is a member of the seventy from Australia.
And then also Elder Jung who is an area 70 in Taiwan. There were so
many members of the seventy there including Elder Teh. We got to sit
in a chapel with all of these people and all of the missionaries from
the mission. They were able to share with us their feelings about
missionary work and their missionary stories. It was super powerful
and a super spiritual experience. Elder Stevenson told a few stories
about when he was a mission president in Japan and also Craig C
Christensen shared about when he was a machine president in ?
They talked a lot about inviting. Instead of asking people to change
and stop doing things they focused more on inviting people to do
things that are in line with God's will. Invite people to do these good
things and their life falls into order with Jesus Christ. And they see the
blessings that living the gospel brings. He helped us to realize that it is
important for us to focus on inviting and then promising people blessings
as they keep their commitments to God. That meeting was on Saturday
and we spent our whole day in Taichung. It is super far away from
where we live. That is the first time in my whole mission that our
whole mission got together in one place at one time. It is the first time
that that has happened for president Teh also. Then Sunday came
along and we went to church this morning. Our new member Leon
was there and we confirmed him. Our Bishop confirmed him and
in it he talked about Eternal Marriage and going on a mission... It
was very powerful. We definitely knew that the spirit was involved
with his confirmation. Oh, I am getting a new companion today. He
is from Taiwan, my first companion from Taiwan. Elder Densely is being
transferred down to Gaosiong, where he will be the Zone leader there.
My new companions name is Elder Cai, he is from Gaosiong.
He's been out a little bit less than me and he has been a Zone leader
he and Elder Densely are trading places. He sounds like a really
really really great missionary! I am very excited. I hope you all have
a good week and I love you all!

 Elder Densley Baptised Leon On Friday Evening! Super Spiritual Baptism!

 Leon wants to serve a mission soon!

 Leon

 Elder Henderson, Leon and Elder Densley

 The Bishop's Beautiful Family!

 All the missionaries in the mission met together to hear Elder Stephenson and the Presiding Bishop and a few Seventies!! Elder Henderson said it was a wonderful meeting!!

 Each chair represents the months you have been on your mission!

 Elder Warner and some Friends from Fengyuan came to visit!!

Great Week!

No letter this week! One of Elder Henderson's previous companions came back to Taiwan for a visit and I think that took his time on Pday. I guess I will forgive him.......This is what he did send:

Hello! Yes, Elder Warner is coming to visit me in a couple hours with a couple good friends from fengyuan! President Teh was okay with him coming to say hi to me! Yes, it has been sooooo hot and humid lately lol! investigators are doing good, Leon our 19 year old investigator is getting baptized on Friday! he passed his baptismal interview on saturday. our zone is doing good, we are trying to find some new ways to strengthen our relationships with members, investigators, other missionaries, and the Lord. yes we went on two sets of splits this week. super fun and learned a lot! that's super awesome about sam, what a beast! I love the littles pals, i love that they are going to the rec to ball hahah!

 Last night we went tracting and a guy with a bunch of buddhist alters in his house let us in. We figured out pretty quick he didn't have interest but on the way out he gave us a ton of oranges! about twenty minutes later we left the area and are biking down the road when all of a sudden, he just pulls up to us on a scooter and is like "hey! some of those oranges have gone bad! so he gave us some dragon fruits and then went through the whole bag of oranges and anyone that was still good he just tossed it in my bike basket lol 

Buddhist/daoist parade