Taiwan Taichung Mission Gathering

All of the missionaries in the Taiwan Taichung Mission were able to get together and be taught by Elder Stevenson. Elder Stevenson's son served his mission in Taichung and was at the end of his 2 years. His parents came over to pick him up and speak with the entire mission. How wonderful that must have been!

Mission Blog page

Emails 11/23/15

I think of the song "One week" by BNL when I do emails sometimes. :) This week was alright. We're still alive. :) This week we had a bunch of meetings; one on Wednesday, one on Friday. The Friday one was the meeting for new senior companions or for people who are going senior soon. I'm glad I finally got to attend that meeting! :) It was mostly a review for me at this point, but it was nice to review and learn some new things. We also have an Apostle, Elder Stevenson coming because his son is in this mission and is ending his mission, so he is going to pick him up and talk to us on Friday!! :D I'm sooo excited!!! XD 

Then on the 10th is our mission Christmas party, where I heard we might go to Sun Moon Lake which is supposed to be super beautiful! :D the whole mission is getting together for Elder Stevenson's visit and the Christmas party on December 10th. I'm super excited for it!!!!! :D Then Christmas Skype afterwards! :D 

I'm glad to hear Grandma is doing well. :) Sorry about the cold. It's starting to get a little chilly in the mornings; about 70 degrees or so. ;) I'm glad it's warm year-round here. We won't really celebrate Thanksgiving too much besides a ward activity that we are doing (I think, unless they changed the date).

How's the Mazda doing? 

Are you going to do anything fun for Christmas vacation? 

Was Hunger games good? :) 

Love you, too! I pray for you guys all the time, too! :)

--

Elder Fleming

 Last pictures with Sister Lemon before she moved. Two sisters are moving in our district (Sister Lemon and Sister Olsen) and Elder Chen is done with his mission and going back home to Tai Bei. :o

Sunset Pictures

 MTC district pictures (except Elder Booth wasn't there because he went to the one they did for the south)

 English class activity

More Pictures on the Mission Blog

Original Mission Blog Post

11-20-15 Specialized Training-North

Every six months, specialized training is held to prepare missionaries about to, or have just become senior companions. (Elder Fleming has been a senior companion for the past 6 weeks and will continue as a senior companion for another 6 weeks)

( The back row, far right is the back of Elder Fleming's head.)

(2nd row of elders, 3rd from right is Elder Fleming. You can only see part of his head :)

They are instructed on various leadership skills, including time management, companionship unity, ministering to each other, teaching, and the importance of diligence.

Discussing situations that cause stress in missionary life:

Looking forward to leadership opportunities!

Mission Blog Post

Elder Fleming made it on the Taiwan Taichung Mission Blog once again. Latest post

 Using one word to describe the past 6 weeks of training.

No longer the newest missionaries on the island. They are about to finish their first transfer in Taiwan!

A great transfer deserves a yummy cinnamon roll.

Emails 11/16/15

I got a haircut and the person cut it super short. :/ It's alright, but the bangs are all messed up, so I won't be able to stick my bangs up like I've been doing lately for a while.  It's actually sunny here, which is super nice! :D We don't have much planned for today. We have to clean every move call and get some brakes for Elder Anderson's bike, but other than that, we're just relaxing and hanging out. :) 

Woo! That will be so awesome to see Grandma, too! :D 

Our Christian investigator is hopefully ok. He's in school and said he can't meet for a week or so because of tests. 

The English class is good. Thanks for the ideas! I'll try to incorporate some of those ideas in class! :D

Since I've started my mission, I've been trying extra hard with the language I use. I've been trying really hard not to say negative things, especially about others and I think it's made a pretty big difference in my life. :)

The Primary Program is pretty fun. :) We have a Primary, but it's much smaller than in Utah. :) They had their primary program a couple weeks ago. The kids were cute and really funny. :) I'm used to not hearing a lot of English, and it's funny to hear people saying things like "woa, white guys" and stuff in Chinese and being able to understand it. :) It's even better when they say something like that and I turn around and say, "No, I'm Taiwanese!" or something like that. :) Seeing their faces when they realize I speak Chinese is always pretty funny. :) The language is coming well, and I can get by and everything, but no matter how hard I try, it's not going to be where I want it to be. :) Oh yeah, after almost a year as a missionary and over 8 months on island, it's pretty ingrained and it's fine to go out and do the work all day. :) 

I hope I get to train again. I think people usually train once, but sometimes twice and I think every once in a while, maybe even more than that. I usually hear people usually train once, though. I hope I can train again though, that would be awesome! :D My companion's doing alright, I just hope I'm teaching him well enough and stuff and that I'm helping him out. 12 weeks is too short to try to teach Elder Anderson everything I know. :/ I'll be bummed when training ends, because training's pretty cool! :) It's a great review and refresher to learn all the basics of missionary work again. :) I agree, I think that there is definitely a huge maturity gap between 18 and 19 year-olds. I remember in the MTC, I could almost always tell, based on maturity, who was 18 and who was older. It's been a big adjustment for him, but he seems to be doing well. Sometimes it seems like he is a little disheartened in the work and in himself. I wish I could help him more, but all I can do is try to get him excited for the work and stuff and let him develop that fire for the work himself. I'm glad for the Lord's examples, too. :) We are super lucky. :) 

Love you lots and hope you're all doing well! I miss you!! :D

-- 

Elder Fleming

 Visited a family, and their dog went nuts licking my hand. :) 

 This is how we fill up our washer because it's kind of broken. Yep, that's a shower hose that we stick out the window to fill up the washer with water. :) 

 Firework show at the baseball stadium the other night! :D 

 Awesome Taiwanese night market-style activity that the ward put on Saturday. It was super cool and there were games for the kids to play and food for the adults to eat. :) 

Emails 11/19/15

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'( Not the mini! :( It's going to be a rough day for me, too. I heard about the Mini Cooper. I think I almost cried. I'll be honest, I'm pretty bummed that the Mini's gone. :/

One good thing about emailing at internet cafe's is that sometimes people are listening to good music. ;) I just heard "Take me to church" by Hosier. I don't know if you remember that song, but I do and it's super good! ;) Love you! More emails in just a minute... :) 

I'm glad that Grandma is taking things so well and that Becca is doing alright. I've been praying A LOT for everyone and I feel like everyone seems to be doing well. :) My companion's well and alive. :) I just hope that I'm doing a good job at being a trainer for him. Yeah, we had mission tour on Wednesday, which was super fun and awesome! :D I feel like I was able to learn a lot of cool new insights and stuff about serving a mission. We are still teaching the kid's English class and they are still crazy but funny and cute. :) That is awesome and exciting that Grandma will be there for Skype time! :D That will be really good to see her. :) 

I started my 11th month the other day! We went to Taizhong on Monday with one of our investigators where we ate peanut butter burgers which are super good, by the way! :D Wednesday was mission tour, Sunday we had church. It was kind of a standard week. There wasn't anything too special besides mission tour and seeing a couple of my old companions, Elder Sales and Elder Ludwig. :) The district is good, everyone's alive, one of the zone leaders (they're in our district) is about to go home, because this is his last transfer. The sisters are doing really well, too! 

I'm good. I wish I could do even better than right now. I'm looking at what I had wanted to do by my year-mark and I've seen the things that I have done ok and the things that I still need to improve on. I feel like I'm not where I want to be or need to be sometimes. We have a few new potential investigators set up for this week and a new investigator yesterday. He's Christian and he seems pretty cool. It's weird teaching someone with a Christian background. :) 

Interesting people... We have a person in our ward who has some mental issues. He shared his testimony in sacrament meeting on Sunday. I didn't understand all of it, but he started crying saying he needed to repent I think for doing something with a $500 bill. I was trying hard not to laugh, because the way he did it was funny. :) 

The ward is awesome! I love them so much and they love missionaries and missionary work! they have a list of the month where the members will come out with us to do missionary work! They're pretty on top of things and are super great! :D My companion seems to be adjusting well. He seems pretty used to the life and doing alright here. :) 

Mosiah and Alma are where I've been reading lately. , I like what you talked about trials. It reminded me of the stories in Mosiah, where the Lamanites put King Noah's people in bondage and then put Alma's people in bondage. There's a scripture that I read this time through the Book of Mormon, it's in Mosiah 23, and it talks about how even though we might be righteous and trust in the Lord, He will still give us trials. It goes on to talk about that He will give us trials to strengthen us and to help us and He will be with us through our trials. I really like how it goes on to talk about how Alma's people's burdens were "made light" and that they were able to bear their burdens with ease and still found happiness. I feel like that is one of the greatest blessings of this Gospel; despite trials, we are strengthened and can find happiness. I love that example and the contrast between the people of Alma and Noah (it ends up being King Limhi after Noah dies). 

As for miracles, I see them all the time, whether they're bigger or smaller. Sometimes it's simple things, like a lesson goes well or we find a member to help us out with something. Sometimes it's bigger, like investigators wanting to be baptized and stuff. 

Anyway, yeah, I'm lucky to have such a wonderful sister and family! :D I love you lots and hope everyone's doing alright! Love you! :) time's up. love you all. :)  

--

Elder Fleming

Mission Blog Post

Elder Fleming was seen briefly on the Taiwan Taichung Mission Blog once again.

The Taiwan Taichung Mission "was honored to have Elder and Sister Wong of the Asia Area Presidency preside at [their] 2015 Mission Tour." The pictures below are from the leadership training with zone leaders, district leaders, and sister training leaders.

Emails 11/2/15

Hey, I hope everyone's doing ok. President Blickinstaff called me and told me Grandpa died. It was a bummer and a little hard to hear, but I'm glad that he's not in pain anymore and that he can rest. I hope that you're all doing alright--especially Grandma Franklin. Bummer you're missing out on Halloween. :/ I hope that Dad and Nicole are also doing well and handling the news ok. Are you doing alright, too? I am also really grateful for the Gospel and that we know that families are forever and where Grandpa is and that we will be with him again someday. :)

Thanks for the email! That's super cool of President Blickenstaff to send you an email. I don't know how often he's thanked for what he does, but I don't think it's enough, so thank you. :) The email he sent was really cool. :) It was weird getting the call from him (I think for us it was Tuesday morning, because we are a day ahead) or maybe it was Wednesday. Anyway, I've been handling things ok. Reading the emails has actually been the hardest part so far! I'm glad Grandpa's service went well and that Grandma is being taken care of by family and by the ward. It's super sweet that the  ward has been so helpful with Grandma. She said that they've stopped by a lot and dropped stuff off for her and done a lot to help her out. I hope that the grand kids and Tyler are doing alright. Love you lots, I'll probably email more in a minute. :) Thanks for the emails and the updates. :) 

Hope things go back to normal for you soon. :) Hope you got some cool ties for me. ;)

In Taiwan, the (air) quality gets pretty bad sometimes, but the sky looks alright sometimes. :)

I'm good, the week was alright. I wish I could do more to help the people, the district and my companion. There were a few bummers in the week, but the joy of the work outweighs all of the hard things. I'm so glad I get to be on a mission. It's a huge blessing. :) I don't like having to have patience with my personal weaknesses. Hopefully I'll be able to turn them into strengths, though. :)  

My companion is still alive. ;) So am I. ;) We are having a good time together and he's pretty cool. :) he's 18 and it's crazy that even though we're only 2 years apart that there's a big difference! (Not a bad difference, just a difference). :)Training's been really cool! There are some things about him that remind me of myself. :) He is a little shy about spreading the gospel, just like I was, but he's super great and he works super hard! He's excited to be here and I'm excited to be able to train him! I have noticed that he says "swag" sometimes, but no one's perfect. ;) I feel like he's my trainer for when I have a kid, to be honest. I need to always be thinking about him, what I can or need to do to help him, set a good example, and help him to learn and not just do everything for him. So far I feel like I haven't done as well as I should be doing. I hope that I can keep learning and that I will know how to help him out more.  

Sorry you missed Halloween. :/ We both get to miss it together this year. :) The ward did a cool Halloween activity though, which was pretty fun. It wasn't like Halloween back home, but it was close enough. :)

I'm glad to hear that both LA and KC are out of the playoffs!!! :D Woohoo! :) I guess I'm cheering for Portland to win, now. :) It's still a bummer that RSL isn't in it, though. :/ Yeah, bummer about Halloween, but yeah family is more important. :) 

I love you and I've been praying for you a lot extra lately. :) I am doing well, but I've been worried about you, Mom, Nicole the cousins and Grandma. I'm glad to hear that they're doing well. :) I love you so much and I've been praying for all of you tons. :) 

-- 

Elder Fleming

 He Di Xiong got baptized! :D My companion got to baptize him, too haha I don't know who was more nervous; He Di Xiong to get dipped in the water or my companion who baptized him! :) 

Sister Lemon giving the district a vivid description of her and Sister Liu's story from that morning right before district meeting. :) Something happened to Sister Liu's eye that day, I guess. :) 

 Baseball stadium in our area that we went to last P-day. :)