Pictures, No letter

We exchanged a few emails today. Very short. Elder Henderson and his companion went to visit a small island off the coast of Taiwan. I'm sure that is why he never got back to us today! They must have been gone longer than expected!!

 This is The Last Zone Conference with President Teh, He goes home in July!

 Elder Henderson has LOVED Elder Teh!! He has been a wonderful mission president and will be greatly missed!

 Elder Henderson met Elder Call in the MTC and they have been great friends ever since! Its time for Elder Call to go home.

 A fellow Bingham Brother, who is also going home!

His caption on these pictures was, "My Pals are going home"

Constant Blessings and Rain Fall

Great week! We have had a pretty eventful last seven days, in which we have had pretty much had 72 hours of straight rain. 

Every Saturday morning we play basketball with investigators and members here. It's super fun! This past Saturday as Elder Richards was playing, he rolled his ankle pretty good which resulted in us taking a trip to the emergency room! Everything turned out okay, He just needs to rest it for a couple of days. Since Saturday I have been pushing him in a wheel chair all over the town of Pingdong to church, lessons, and finding. hahah I am sure you can just picture a big foreigner pushing another big foreigner in a wheel chair across a city in south Taiwan in which no one not of Taiwanese decent lives. haha pretty funny.

We have a member of our ward that is a teacher at a local cram school. (A cram school is literally another school that every Taiwanese kid goes to for multiple hours after their normal day of school, to study and take additional classes, super rough.) We started working with one of her students who just graduated high school and is preparing to go to college this upcoming school year. She is soo great! We have now met with her twice now and this past week she expressed her desire to be baptized! We had a very spiritual lesson about the Restoration and how each of us can learn much from the example of Joseph Smith. We each can ask God personally which way to turn! She felt a special connection to this principle and is willing to keep working towards bigger goals.

Elder Richards has been telling me a lot about his best friend from high school who is not a member of the church and how much he wants to share the Gospel with him.  Well, this week his dream came true and we were able to skype and teach him the restoration of the Gospel!  It was an experience that i'll never forget, to see the friendship that these two have, and my comps desire to help him learn of this beautiful message was inspiring! I came to love his friend after like 10 minutes of talking to him!

One anspect of the message of the Gospel that has had a profound impact on my life is what we can learn from the prophet Joseph Smith and his experience at the age of 14 in the sacred grove. The concept that God exists and is willing to answer our prayers is very foreign to most of the world. But as we study the scriptures and try it out, truly ask God, This belief/idea becomes a REALITY. Just like Joseph Smith we can each receive answers from a loving Heavenly Father who is more than willing to provide the help we need. Obviously, our experience will be different from everyone else. Our relationship with God is personal. But the concept is the same, if we are struggling to know what to do in life, if we lack knowledge, if we need comfort, if we want to know if the gospel and the Book of Mormon's teaching are the true way to pure happiness in this life and the next, ASK! From my experience, I know that he lives and loves us.  I have had too many experiences not to believe and I have seen others have the same things happen.

Moroni 10:3-5

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elder Henderson said that it has been raining straight for 3 days. His companion rolled his ankle playing basketball last Saturday...so he is pushing him in a wheel chair ALL over Ping dong!! He said there is not one foreigner living in Ping Dong , but them and it must be funny to see 2 Large Foreigners walking all over town with one in a wheel chair!! l He said that they have been soaking wet for days!! lol 

 Taiwanese Aborigines Wall

 Bingham Brothers!!

 A member feeding us fruit

 Smallest crab I've ever seen

 Waterfall we went to

Great Week - New Companion!

Great week! Elder R is great and I'm excited to be with him. We saw a lot of great miracles happen. Starting off with the  B family. Sorry last week I didn't send an email, but the baptism went great. Brother B gave a very heart felt testimony that was really touching to his wife. One of the coolest parts of this family is that Brother B over the years tried multiple times to get his wife to go to church with him. He went in and out of activity through out his life because his wife never really had interest in religion.

Until two missionaries knocked on their door and she started to read the book of Mormon. He explained it in his share at the baptism as an amazing process to see his wife gain this HUGE desire to have their family become religious and join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She went from not having any interest in religion to hoping and working diligently toward receiving the blessing the restored gospel provides. 

We met with them a couple days ago and Brother B and Her decided that through prayer they will make goals and plans for when and how she will be baptized. (Work schedule)

A couple weeks ago Elder W and I talked to a lady on the street out in front of her breakfast shop she owns and she has now come to English class twice and last night we were able to sit down and share the restoration of the gospel message with Her, Her husband, and their 2 little kids (10&3). They are such an amazing family and have a great desire to learn more. The Bishop was able to come with us to the lesson and it worked out great, their children are about the same ages.

We also met a very very humble 21 year old kid who is genuinely looking for some guidance in his life. His desire to develop a relationship with God is so big. He was willing to start taking steps towards baptism and set a goal!

We have a 16 year old investigator who is soo solid, his desire to be baptized is so big but has ran into some family opposition. He truly believes that after sharing some of the teaching and standards of the church with family members they will be inderstamding. So, this past week we set some goals with him start sharing the gospel with his family. 

After church yesterday we had a devotional with two Brothers in our ward that got home from their missions last week. It was very powerful, they shared some experiences and suggestions for how to prepare. After the fireside , our investigator Brother L came up to us and said "I want to go on a mission so bad!"

 It was so awesome to hear this 16 year old investigator have such a strong desire to serve the Savior that he has only recently come to know. The power of the gospel is real!

Pingdong is an amazing place!

The Gospel is not just an average religion or something to make us feel good. It is a way of life and the way to develop a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father in preparation to return to him. Treat it as it is!

Love you all!!

Elder Henderson 

 My New Companion Elder R from Arizona

 These next several pictures are taken in the Soutnern Mountains of Taiwan. A ward member took them there sight seeing on their Pday!

This is a school in the mountains!

Brother B Got Baptised!!

It was a Wonder and Powerfully Spiritual Day, Brother B was Baptised! They are an Amazing Family!!

 We did some Service at a Members Farm and were rewarded with Papya Ice Cream. Shaved ice underneath, Papaya on to with Sweetened condensed cream on top!! Yummy!!