Week 4 in Taiwan

Well I can now tell everyone that I have been to the tallest Buddha statue in the world! This week has been pretty fun.  Started off last week with going to a big Buddhist place.  It is so crazy to see how other religions work and what other people believe.  I've learned a lot about Asian religions and they are very interesting.

We had a cool experience on Wednesday this week.  We were sitting in a 7-11 (because they are everywhere), making calls to our investigators and an 18 year old walked up to us and just started talking.  She told us about how she has been a foreign exchange student in Italy for the last year and had a Mormon friend there.  She said that she went to church once with them and felt something that she had never felt before. She spoke perfect English, so it was really the first time I've testified and shared about the church in English! We told her we could meet up with and teach her more about our church.  It was soo cool.  She ended up living in a different area so we won't teach her. But it came at a time this week where I was feeling really down. We hadn't had too much success this week and this language is so hard.  I know God gave this to boost my confidence, and it definitely did.  She was such a cool girl, and I hope she can learn more about the church.

Teaching definitely slowed down this week but we have two investigators with baptismal dates right now that should be getting baptized this transfer so we are pumped about that and then a couple we are trying to set baptismal goals with this week. Right now we have like 6 progressing investigators; a couple are a little strange haha but some really cool people too. Teaching is hard cause I don't speak well but I try to testify and it feels soo good to do that. It's awesome.  Lessons have been some of my favorite things here so far.

Like I said, this week I came to the reality of how hard Chinese really is.  Haha it's definitely getting better but the mixture of tones, sentence structure, and how fast these people talk is crazy!  But it's all part of the experience and I love it! 

We have a program for learning the language that is split into three phases. Right now I'm on phase 1. There are like 1,000 flash cards all about the gospel and I have to pass off each of the 5 lessons to the zone leader.  Phase 2 is all day to day words and there are like 1,500, and then phase 3 is all characters.  After the phases I should be able to read the Book of Mormon in characters and most everything.  It's a pretty cool program. It takes between 3-5 months.

Elder Neuhaus is soo cool and is good at keeping my spirits high with the language. Every other missionary says he is one of the hardest working and has some of the best Chinese in the whole mission. He helps me to have some good study habits. Missionaries say it's easy to have bad Chinese if you don't have good study habits, so I'm trying to have real good study habits!

Our ward has 300 members. 60 active. 240 less actives it is pretty crazy!! So on a normal Sunday we have between 50 and 60 people. Most other wards have a set of sisters but we're the only missionaries in our ward.

The people here are soo nice and absolutely crazy haha most old ladies walk down the street hitting themselves for exercise or ride scooters with like 50 bags full of trash on them, and old men do tai kwan doe in the park.  It is sooo funny to just ride down the street and look at everybody.

I really feel like I'm starting to get adjusted to Taiwan but still can't speak haha.  This week for Thanksgiving we are going to an American couple's house for dinner so I'm pretty pumped about that!! Hope everyone has a good week, thanks for all the love and support! Congrats to my bro and friends on the Bingham football team for winning state! And happy birthday this week to my sister Ashton and her husband Bubba! I love you all!!!  And I heard Charlie did a great job with his farewell talk!! 

Love,

Elder Henderson

Gaoxiong!!

Dang another crazy week in Taiwan! It's kind of starting to cool down here, but still in the 80s and super humid! First off I heard about Trump getting elected because every single Taiwanese person I talk to asks me what I think about him haha.  These people here always want to talk about the most random stuff, but it makes it fun.  We bike a ton here, Our area is pretty big and me and comp were figuring it out and we ride around 20 miles on our bike everyday, so I'm getting in pretty good shape over here in Gaoxiong!

The people here are soo nice and always want to try and speak with me.  Hahah most of the time I don't what is going on but they are always understanding. My Chinese is definitely improving but has a ways to go!  A love truly grows for the people when I am trying so hard to speak their language.  The chance that I have to share the Gospel with these people, really pushes me to study even harder!  This last week we went to a place called Monkey Mountain that was super cool.  I sent a lot of pictures.  I finally got out of the city and saw really how pretty this place is!!

We had another lesson with the lady from my story in the first week I was on the Island.  She is really progressing and has a desire to understand the Gospel.  We shared about the importance of the Book of Mormon last night, and how it really can bless her life.  As I have been here, My understanding of the Book of Mormon grows everyday.  I truly know it is the word of God and I know that if you read it and sincerely pray about it, the holy ghost will testify of it's truthfulness. Joseph Smith said it is the most true book on Earth and if a man reads it he will come closer to God!  So my invitation is for everyone to do that!

Also, if you get a chance, read the words to the hymn "I stand all amazed".  It hit me how much the Savior actually did for each one of us and through him we can do so much. All you have to do is have faith in him!

Thanks for all the love and support!  Me and Elder Neuhaus are just out here trying to help everyone understand the Gospel better so it can bless their lives.  Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Mikey Henderson

On his Prep day last week Elder Henderson and His companion visited a place called Monkey Mountain. The other pictures are from the city he is in and some members of his ward their in Taiwan.

Week 2 in Taiwan

Wow it's been a crazy week! Filled with a ton of miracles, I can really tell Heavenly Father is looking out for us!  Started off last Tuesday, we found a random stack of phone numbers at our house and decided to call them.  The first number in the stack was a lady who wanted to meet with us! So we were pretty stoked about that.  A few days later we met with her and asked her why she agreed to meet.  She asked us first of all how we got her number, and we told her we found it.  She told us that she had met with missionaries 6 years ago and decided to stop.  When we called her, she felt like we a had a message she needed to hear.  So we taught her about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and prayer.  She was super receptive and wants to learn more.  This was a testimony to me of everyone is ready to hear the Gospel at different times.  She wasn't ready 6 years ago, but could be now!

We have found a cultural center where we are finding great contacting success.  Saturday night we just started talking to this random girl and ended up sharing the first lesson.  She does not live in our area so we are passing her on to some other Elders but she seemed very interested.  And then last night the same thing happened with another lady.  The more we teach together, the more we realize that just teaching simple doctrines about the restoration are the most effective.  People feel something when you speak the truth! It's powerful!

Taiwan is a crazy place.  Everyone smokes here, and everytime I ride bike (so everywhere I go) I feel like i'm going to get hit by a car hahaha but it is so fun.  I love being out here and I love the Taiwanese people. Being in the city we have met some weird people hahah but it makes it more fun!  There is about as many buddist temples like the one in the pic here as there are lds churches in Utah haha.  Everyone is Buddist here and it's pretty sketchy.  I thought worshipping Idols was a thing of the past, but definitely not!! Another thing,  the fruit is amazing here! Even tho it's not in season really, it is still so good.  

Thanks for all the love and support! Love you all!!!!!

Elder Mikey Henderson

I Made It To Taiwan!!!

Wow!! What in the world is going on?? haha I'm finally in Taiwan and it is so crazy!!  My companion's name is Brad Neuhaus from Tennessee and he is soo cool! He played basketball at BYU Hawaii and is a baller.  We get along awesome so this is going to be fun. He's been on the Island for 7 months, super young for a trainer in Chinese!!  I am in downtown Gaoxiong, which is three hours south of Taichung. It is the second biggest city in Taiwan behind Taipei.  It is so crazy,  people everywhere, speaking 900 mph, and I can't understand any of it! haha Everyone here drives scooters around and I feel like I'm in New York City and going to get hit every 2 seconds haha but I love it!!!!

The First night in Taiwan, before I met my comp we went proselyting.  Me and Elder Booth (One of the APs) were on splits together.  We walked up to a girl and started talking to her, she was super receptive and so we invited her to take a tour across the street at the church.  She agreed and we went.  As we were explaining everything, it just felt right. We asked her to say a prayer and she did.  The spirit was so strong and I know she felt it too.  She is in Taichung, so I hope the Elder's up there can keep teaching her!

The next day we took a three hour bus ride down to Gaoxiong.  This island is soo pretty!  It is sooo humid here and like 95 degrees, I haven't stopped sweating since i've been here!!  We taught a couple lessons Friday and Saturday and it was cool to see me actually speak Chinese (Lessons are the only time I kind of feel comfortable speaking lol).  But Sunday was the best day so far.  Started the day off with a half hour bike to church and it was hard!! Going through so much traffic with a broken bike.  When we got there everyone was trying to talk to me and I couldn't understand a thing haha needless to say I was pretty flustered.  We got into sacrament and I decided to say a prayer for comfort and assurance that Heaveny Father would help me through this.  Nothing happened at first and I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting, right after I finsished, a crazy member in our ward started clapping.  It was really funny.  After church a guy randomly walked into the Building want to speak English with the "American Missionaries".  We told him we only teach English on Wednesday's but we would love to share a lesson with him.  The lesson consisted of him speaking English and my comp speaking Chinese.  I was saying much because I can't speak Chinese very well lol.  But my comp gave me the opportunity to bare my testimony about Jesus Christ.  As I did,  the spirit came into the room like a huge wave over us all.  I have never felt the spirit that strong when bearing testimony.  I know he felt it and agreed to come to English on Wednesday and probably share another message.  This experience answered my prayer,  I know as long as I am here and working as hard as I can, Heavenly Father is there and he is willing to help me in everything I do.

Then another story from last night.  We were proselyting around a cultural center and trying to talk to as many people as possible.  No one was listening and we started getting down.  I asked if we could say a prayer for guidance on where to go.  As the prayer ended, I had a strong feeling we needed to talk to a lady standing about 20 feet away.  We went up and starting talking to her and she was very receptive.  As we were talking, her 3 kids and sister walked up.  They all listened and agreed to meet with us this next week!! I know Heavenly Father is guiding us to his Children who are prepared to received the Gospel and I lucky enough to be an instrument in his hands. 

Thank you for all the love and support!! Talk to you next week!

Love

Elder Henderson