Out of training, into breaking!

This week was transfers and I finished training! My trainer, Elder Jorgensen, got transferred to be Zone Leader in another area, and my new companion is Elder Read! He's only been on the Island for 3 more transfers than me, so we're both very new. It makes it super fun because we're both still learning how to be missionaries, haha. Being the missionary who has been in the area the longest, I've had to 'lead out'. At first I was scared that I wouldn't know the area or the members well enough to get around, but this past week has been amazing. I've really been able to see how much I've grown so far on my mission. I've been working on constantly opening my mouth and talking to everyone. I'm pretty sure I've talked more this week than I have in my entire life! I'm now uncomfortable when I'm NOT talking to someone. It's weird to go from preferring to not talk to preferring to talk! I get to talk to and meet a TON of people everyday. It's really opened my eyes to how different everyone is and how many different backgrounds/experiences everyone has. I've been talking so much Chinese lately, and it's really helped me language ability increase dramatically. My reflex language is starting to be Chinese, which makes it super weird when I meet people who speak English because I keep accidentally switching to Chinese while talking to them! 

This week we met with my recent convert, Braque, and had an amazing lesson. We assigned him beforehand to prepare scriptures from what he read in the Book of Mormon the past week to share with us and 'teach' us. It was astonishing to see his testimony of the Book of Mormon and feel the Holy Ghost teach through him. Last week I also asked him to help me choose my Chinese first name, as I previously only had a Chinese last name. This apparently is a big honor to them and so they make a big deal out of it. I wasn't expecting anything crazy, but after our next lesson, he asked me if I had a few minutes to discuss my name. He pulled out a piece of paper with my English name/meaning and then a list of Chinese names that sound slightly similar to my English name and he thought would describe me well. It was awesome to see how much time and thought he put into it. I ended up choosing 施德臻. Which essentially means someone who always sticks to their morals and is constantly trying to improve. It's so cool to have my Chinese name come from my first convert!

Transfers happened Thursday morning, and when my new companion got here, Elder Read, I found out he recently hurt his back so he can't ride a bike. Which means we're only on foot now! This was a big change from my previous companion, Elder Jorgensen, because he preferred to be on the bike all day. It at first was a weird adjustment, but now I love walking everywhere! It makes it so I can talk to so many more people and I've really gotten to know my area better. 

I had a super cool chance to go to one of Elder Read's old areas and attend a baptism of a 77 year old grandmother that he found and participated in the teaching of. She was the sweetest lady ever. Her story is amazing. She is the only member of her family in Taiwan right now, as the rest are in Thailand. Elder Read invited her to church one day on the street, and then Sunday come around and she actually showed up! She walked all the way from her house and was drenched in sweat. They weren't expecting her to come at all haha. It's super amazing to hear about her dedication and how much the Gospel has changed her life.

We had a ton of super cool miracles happen on Saturday. It started off on our 40 minute walk to our first lesson. We were walking down a street and I knew where we were going, but I was approaching a young man standing on the side of the road and I felt prompted to ask him if he knew where JiangZiCui station was (a near Metro station). I asked him just to break the ice and get to talk to him. He then offered to take us there! For about the next 20 minutes we walked and talked together and I found out that about 3 years ago he was going to church with the missionaries! He is a super cool 20 year old in college and we set him up to meet with us this week. Such a cool miracle. 

Throughout the rest of the day on Saturday we had 2 other amazing miracles. In between our lessons, we met two different people, Jaguar and Acer. We met Jaguar in the morning and he was willing to sit down for a lesson right then and talk with us! We taught him the first lesson and set up with him again for next week. We then met Jaguar later that night and the same thing happened! He was willing to sit down in a nearby Family Mart! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and prayer and he set up again for later in the week. It is amazing to see the blessings of God has he puts those in our path who are prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all we have to do is be willing to open our mouths and talk!

Elder Smith （施德臻長老）