"Go Hard or Go Home"

This week flew by super super fast. Each day we meet so many people from so many different backgrounds. Everyone has such an amazing story and so many special life experiences. The Taiwanese people are some of the most hard working and loving people I've ever met. However, because of that, a lot of times they're too nice to say no to our message. So that leads to a lot of lessons but not many investigators 'sticking'. 

Last P-Day we went on a super cool hike up on the top of some mountain. We drove about 2 hours or so to get there, and when we got out of the car it was just silent. It was such a weird feeling. Being in the center of the city means that it is super loud 24/7. I didn't realize how loud it always is until we were in the middle of nowhere. The hike was gorgeous and a good escape from the busy city.

When of our investigators, Chen Guan Yu, is 17 and his parents won't let him get baptized. However, they agreed to meet with some of the parents from our ward this week, so we are hoping that after they meet they'll be more willing to let their son bet baptized. This is a super common issue in Taiwan, especially since the kids have to be 20 here instead of 18 like in America. We have 5 investigators with baptismal dates but they aren't all super solid. Willy, who's been an investigator for a couple months now, is going back out to college in a different area at the start of next month. His baptismal date was for this week, but he's been having a difficult time with some of the commandments. We'll be passing him off to the missionaries in the area he's moving to. We met a Chef named Junior this week who's super cool. He's covered in tattoos and works from 7pm-7am at a restaurant in Taipei. From the outside he looks super rough, but he's super soft-spoken, kind, and thinks from deeply about things. We read with him about when Christ visited the Americas and asked him how he would feel if he were there, and he said, "It'd be like seeing an old friend again after a long time". It's tough to meet with him because of his schedule, but I really hope we're able to.

Our most progressing investigator, Wu Zhen Yuan, has been doing awesome. He is a construction worker and lives pretty close to us. He works out almost every night at a park right next to our home, so we go visit him every couple nights. He's been showing us some of his work-outs (so now I'm super sore), but we get to share with him scriptures for a couple minutes when we visit him as well. His English isn't amazing, but he knows some, and he always says the funniest things with his broken English. Every time we say bye, he says, "Don't be too strong". It's definitely one of my favorite phrases. He works almost everyday and his boss/co-workers put a lot of pressure on him to "do his part", so it's tough for him to get off for church. Yesterday he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it, but then he texts us about 30 minutes before and says he's on his way. We were so pumped! When he got there we tackled him and he said that he worked a super early morning shift so that he could come to Church. We kept telling him how awesome he was and then in broken English he said, "Go hard or go home". Now Elder Jorgensen and I say that to each other all the time. In Priesthood meeting (3rd hour of Church) Wu Zhen Yuan got up to introduce himself and he bore his testimony at the end. I've never seen such a change in the light someone gives off. His baptismal date is 9/9 and I'm almost positive he'll be baptized on that date. This Gospel really has brought him so much joy and his testimony and exploded this past week.

It's hard to always give 24/7 to others and the Lord, but as I see the effect this Gospel has on people and the joy that we can bring to others as missionaries, it's made it all worth it. Taiwan is amazing, though the language is tough, the amazing people, the Gospel, and the food (especially the food) makes it all better.

Elder Smith （施長老）