Email Excerpts 2/29/2016

Well, it's been another week in Heng Chun, and things are going well. :) We had power cleaning on Monday, so we didn't really do anything fun for Pday. The week was pretty normal, up to Friday. Every Friday, we go visit an old folk's home and sing for a bunch of ama's (grandmas). One of us sings while the other one of us claps our hands and tries to get the amas to clap as well to get some blood flowing. Well, as I was clapping, one of the amas asked me to close the door because she was getting cold (even though it's like a billion degrees here), so I close the door, but as I do so, it came off its track! So as Elder Hanna is singing, he watched me as this door breaks off into my hands! :o I felt super bad that I just broke their door! No one seemed to notice though, so I just leaned it back up where it was and kept clapping. Not long afterwards, a breeze came through and made the door fall over, and I watched as the door fell over right on top of an ama's head! There were some gasps from all the ama's over the excitement--that definitely got their blood flowing--and the staff rushed over to help the ama out. I felt so bad, that I kept messing up the song when it was my turn to sing! :o I was mortified! She seemed ok though, and they put some ice on it, so she's probably still alive. ;) I hope that by the time we go back there to sing to them again that they all forgot. ;) 

It was stake conference this week because PingDong just got made into a stake! :D Super awesome, and hopefully it will bring us closer to getting another temple in Taiwan! We had the night session of stake conference on Saturday night and since we live super far away, we had to take a bus at 3 to make it in time for the 7 pm meeting. :o The cool thing was we got there about an hour early, and got to eat dinner with our mission president! :D He's so awesome. :) Then because we live really far away, we got to spend the night with the zone leaders because they live in the area. :) It was pretty sweet and my first missionary sleep over I've had! 

On Sunday we came back with some members of our branch, proselyted and now I'm here. :) 

It was a good stake conference. :) I've been to stake conference in every area I've served in so far, including, somehow, California. :) Yeah, the one week I was in California it was stake conference. :) It's kind of cool, honestly and really fun to see all the members and missionaries. :) 

Also, our investigator passed his baptismal interview, so he should be set for baptism around 3/11 or 3/12! :D We are super excited for him!! :D 

I might be on the mission blog a little less because I'm so far away from everyone. I might be on it next week for zone conference, though. :) 

I think it's really cool how (especially on a mission) that we have experiences that help us and our testimonies and shape us into better people. :) I am grateful that I can be here and I hope that I'll be able to remember these experiences (the good ones, at least) for the rest of my life. :) I like the talk--I can't remember who says it or when--but they say "if we only have one convert on our mission, hopefully it's yourself" or something like that. No matter how I do in helping others, I really hope that I can become more converted to the Lord over these two years and I hope that I can serve Him well. :)

Love you guys and hope you had a good week this week. :) 

--

Elder Fleming

These pictures are of our secondary area, which is super beautiful, so I took a bunch of pictures of that, also our branch with about all the active members in it, including President Blickenstaff and his wife who joined in the picture. :) and another random dude in the front. :) 

Aquarium photos!! :D 

Taiwan Taichung Mission Blog Post

Elder Fleming was spotted in pictures on the mission blog. Here is the link Taiwan Taichung Mission

Here are the pictures and what was said:
The Pingtung Stake Conference was held on February 27-28 for the recently created stake. Elder Zeno Chow, Asia Area Seventy presided over both meetings. The Saturday evening session focused on the topic of self-reliance, with the scriptures 1 Kings 17:9-16 (widow of Zarephath) and D & C 42:42.Sr. Blickenstaff delivered a message on the widow of Zarephath's son being raised from the dead, and the freedom to be with families together forever made possible through the restored gospel and temple ordinances. President's talk focused on the prophet Nephi and the ability he had to accomplish all the Lord's purposes through prayer and diligence (1 Nephi 7, 17, 18). Elder Chow's remarks expounded on the parable of the marriage of the king's son found in Matthew 22. He likened our missionaries to the king's servants in verse 10, as they invite all to come unto Christ. 

Members and missionaries of the Hengchun branch. 

Emails 2/22/16

I'm  amazed that Tyler only has 4 transfers left! :o I didn't realize he was that close to being done! That's super awesome that Emma and Leah got accepted to BYU! I hope Becca goes to BYU Idaho, so she will be close to us and we can visit her or she can visit us sometimes. :)

Power week went well, and I'm so grateful for all your prayers this week! I felt the power of them and we saw some awesome miracles this week! I am pretty tired, and I feel like Frodo in Lord of the Rings as he's laying there after they destroyed the ring and he looks at Sam and says "it's over" and he's really relieved. :) That's how I feel right now. :) 

Thanks for what you said about challenging myself. :) It reminds me of a Mormon Message about our potential. it talks about a guy who goes on a cruise; I don't know if you've seen it or not, but I think it's called "our divine potential" or something like that. :) I do need to challenge myself a little more than I have been lately. :) 

I love you lots and I'll tell you more about power week in a bit. :)

Well, it was power week. It was hard. I am tired. :) It was really good though. :) The schedule for power week is: out the door at 9am. No time for meals; we eat on the go, and back indoors around 9pm. It was super rough! In power week, as a mission we are given these goals, and if we accomplish them, we get to call President and say we did it, which is pretty awesome! :) 

Day 1 was Monday. We were supposed to tract into 2 lessons. We had from 6 to 9 to do so, but we had a lesson at 8, so we only had 2 hours. We ended up pulling it off, which was awesome! :D We kind of forced a lesson for our second one, but that's the point of power week. :) We got to call President on Monday! :D 

Tuesday was power contacting day. We were supposed to get 10 "adds" which means we meet someone on the side of the road, talk to them and set up a time to meet. We didn't hit that goal, but we got a good amount and met some pretty cool people. :) We were exhausted after Tuesday, because we were out on the road all day. 

Wednesday was intense, too. Our goal was to give out 13 Books of Mormon and exchange information with the people we gave them to. Wednesday was pretty rough, because we didn't even get a single copy passed out. :/ It was a huge bummer. People just weren't as willing to talk with us that day. Oh well, it happens sometimes. So, after 2 days of straight street contacting in a row came Thursday, where we were supposed to get 3 new investigators (meet with someone and set up a time to meet again). We also had to give 2 baptismal goals. We didn't hit this goal either, because one of the people we met with was strange. His name was Mr. Chen and he couldn't move his legs. He seemed nice and we met with him and listened to us, although he was kind of strange. He just didn't really talk much. We met with another potential investigator who ended up being cool.

Friday was confirm 15 people for church. It's strange here, because we can confirm people for church and they'll say they'll come, but then they don't show up. :) So we hit that goal and got to call President, which was pretty sweet. :) Then Saturday our goal was to talk to 20 families about coming to church. 

On Sunday, we had to get four investigators at church but only got 3. We were close, but oh well. :) We tried hard and saw some awesome miracles, which was pretty cool. :) 

 Sorry, I'm running out of time. :/  I think that's all.

Thanks for your prayers, they really did help! :D I love you all lots!! :D 

Love you all so much!!! 

--

Elder Fleming

We went to see the beach in Kending, about 30min away from Hengchun on Monday last week. It was cool, but windy and kind of cold. :/ Also, a super funny little girl of an LA we're meeting with who was playing with tape. :) Also, a dog with a saddle which was super funny so I took a picture of it and a sign with some funny English.