It's...a boy!

What a week! So last week they told us that no new missionaries would be coming into the mission...but turns out there was 1 missionary that got his visa in time! Long story short, I'll be training a new missionary this transfer! There isn't anyone else training this transfer so my trainer meeting with the Mission President was basically just him and I chatting one on one for several hours of breakfast and lunch haha. It was awesome! I'll be training in the area I was already in, which means I'll be here for 5 transfers...which is pretty long. Normally the longest a missionary will go in one area is 4. It's pretty rare to go longer, so it'll be a ton of fun! We told all our investigators last week that I would be the one moving but now Elder Bates moved and I stayed! All our investigators were pretty surprised haha.

My trainee is Elder Rodriguez from the Philippines. He is 19 years old and the first person in his family to serve a mission! He has a huge fire and is ready to work hard! It's crazy, I feel like I was just being trained and now I'm the one training. The missionary who trained me when I first got to Taiwan just became an Assistant to the President this last week! So now I get to talk to him a ton.

We had a very busy and quick week. Thursday I went up to Taipei to pick up Elder Rodriguez and then by Thursday night we were back in ZhuBei. We watch General Conference this weekend too! It's a week later in Taiwan because we wait for the complete translation to come through. This General Conference was one my favorite ever! There are big changes going on and it's super special to be a missionary during them.

Last Wednesday we saw a super cool miracle. During English class two brothers, 9day and Slater, walked into the chapel and said they were just curious of what inside was like and what we believe in. Elder Bates and I took them on a chapel tour and got to know them. They have interest learning more about what we believe and we'll be meeting with them next week! 

We got to go to the beach with the Hong family this week. They've been extremely busy so they haven't been able to meet with us for a while for a lesson, so it was nice to see them this week.

We also finally met with our 14 year old Brother Dai. He's super awesome and loves to learn. It's hard to meet with him in person because of his parents but he's always texting us! He prays everyday and yesterday told me he believes the Book of Mormon is true. He's amazing!

We have a lot of potential in this area which is very exciting. I hope I can start my trainee's mission off well. I know that as we trust in the Lord all is possible!

Elder Smith 施德臻長老