Emails 6/27/16

Transfers were today. :) I'm still with Elder Ward, and it's his last transfer here. He's working hard and really focused on the work. It's been good to learn from his example as well as Elder Bak's example when he died. They were both really focused on the work until the end. I have been watching Elder Ward and thinking about things I'm going to want to do the same/differently when my time's almost up. I still have a while, but it's good to know in advance so I can think of what I want to do to stay focused on the work as well as planning and preparing to go home. Also, Elder Anderson, my trainee is in my zone!! :D I'm super excited to have him here! We will probably go on exchanges pretty soon.... ;)

I agree, it's good to be on the other side of the farewells. :) I'm ok with only doing that once. It was really hard. It was ok afterwards, but it was super hard to say goodbye to you for two years.

I was talking with another missionary the other day and we couldn't figure out what the steering wheel on a boat was called (or if it had another name) I am guessing Grandpa Kip would know... ;)

This week was pretty alright. Well, it was super amazing! :) Difficult, but we saw some miracles!

Monday, we cleaned the apartment, and did a bunch of those little things that pile up for not doing them for the past 6 weeks because you've been out doing other fun stuff. :) Tuesday, we went to NanZi and exchanged with the Elders over there. They're doing alright, but we wanted to exchange with them and encourage them. We contacted people the whole exchange, which was pretty good. Not my favorite thing to do, but it was good to do it to help NanZi. Wednesday, we got back and exchanged back, so I was back with Elder Ward again, and did more contacting. It was kind of rough this week as far as contacting. Lots of people we talked to weren't interested and we weren't able to find any new investigators. Oh well, it was a good way to show faith and develop some patience. :) Friday was probably the hardest. We contacted people on the street from 1 to 5, and then if I remember right (I don't have my planner on me because I have a new one due to the new transfer and we switch planners every 6 weeks), at night we had a lesson with a family set up, then they cancelled. I was kind of upset about that because we were going to have to contact for about another hour and a half, then they called back and said that they could actually come! :D It was good, but I realized I also have to be careful for what I wish for, because since the family came a little late, we were pressed for time, and didn't end up getting back to the apartment until later, which threw off time for planning. Also, it was hard to have the Spirit with us because we were worried about getting back home on time and the dad talked a lot. :o It was all good, though. :)

Saturday, we also had a lot of time for contacting, but we also had some things set up, which was good. :) Then at night, we had a baptism! :D We've been working with Brother Huang for about 2 months or so, and he got baptized! Woohoo!! :D He's so solid, too! He shared his testimony and shared a scripture in 2 Nephi 33:3, one that we hadn't shared with him before, and bore his testimony about it! Then, in Sacrament meeting, he bore his testimony again! It was really awesome! :) We also were able to rescue a less active family. We helped them come back to church and they're looking really solid! :D It's been so awesome to see those miracles at the end of a long week! :)

Anyway, I love you all. I am praying for you! I hope you are all doing well.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention this, but President Blickenstaff leaves this week. :( He is leaving on Friday and will be replaced by President Teh. It will be exciting to have a change, but really sad to see the Blickenstaffs leave. :( I will miss them a lot and they've helped me so much and been amazing. I'll miss them. :(

That said, it will be really exciting and I'm really interested to see the kind of changes that are made and what happens. :)

Alright, time's about up. I love you. I'm SUPER lucky to have such a wonderful family! I love you all and thank you for being so amazing! :)

Love you!

--

Elder Fleming

Emails 6/20/16

Happy Father's Day!! :D 

Woohoo!!!! :D Go Cav's!! 

That's super cool that they came back from a 3-1! :D

Alright, here's the weekly email. :)

First, this week was FULL of miracles!!! :D It's been so amazing! This week was great!

Monday, we went to a small island (an island off of an island...) with a couple of investigator friends. :) That was pretty fun. Elder Ward and I are going to have to go back there. :) We are also looking forward to our first fairly relaxing Pday since I've been here. :) We are buying some stuff, then cleaning the apartment. That'll be nice and we are both looking forward to the short break. :)

Monday night we met with an investigator family, the Ye family. They are pretty good. We committed them to come to church on Sunday, and they came! :D It was awesome! They seemed to have a good time too, and the ward was great at helping them out! Tuesday morning there is a less active family we are working with who have been coming back, and we went to their son's graduation for about 30 minutes to see him graduate. They were SO excited to see us there! It seemed really good to help them and fellowship them. :) Then we went to the weekly district meeting, then went on exchanges with the missionaries in Gang Shan. They're doing really well! :D The Elder I went with is someone who went to Lehi high school with me! Elder Melior. :) We contacted, then met with an investigator that night. Wednesday was more contacting, then we exchanged back, so I was with Elder Ward again. We had a do-or-die lesson with an investigator. We dropped him because it wasn't his time yet, but he's a really good guy and we left knowing we did what we could and that we had given him a good impression of missionaries. That was good. :) Then English class at night. It was good. :)

Thursday, we met with an investigator. He was pretty cool. We went to another area to do a missionary's language pass-off, then contacted, ran into a less active member, which was pretty cool. Then we met with an investigator who's super cool! He didn't live in our area, so we gave him to the other missionaries. Then we contacted, then had a meeting with the stake presidency about the state of the stake and the direction they are heading and want to head. Then we met with our investigator with a baptismal goal.

Friday was good. Weekly planning, contacting, then dinner, then more contacting, then we met with the Cai family. Their improvement (especially these last couple of weeks when they've been reading the Book of Mormon together has been amazing!!) The're so awesome! :D The power of the Book of Mormon is real! It can really change our lives so much for the better, and it's amazing that God can help us so much through books like the Bible and the Book of Mormon!

Saturday, we met with our baptismal interview for lunch, then he had his baptismal interview, passed and will be ready for baptism on Saturday! :D We did a lot of contacting. It was a really happy day. Also, Bob, the investigator I was meeting with in HengChun got baptized!! :D I got permission to call him up and congratulate him! It was so great to hear from him! :D He said he is moving somewhere close to where I'm serving in August, so I can probably go out and visit him on pday! :D

Sunday was also incredible!! :D The Ye family came to church, we also had a few other investigators at church, and the less active family we're working with at church! It's been amazing!! :D

That's about it. :) Here's my email to President: :)

First, thank you so much for being my Mission President. I have really enjoyed serving here in Taiwan and serving with you and Sister Blickenstaff. It has been an amazing experience. I am sad that you will be going home, but I am ready to serve under President Teh. The Lord has called them to be the next Mission Presidents and it's His will, so I will continue to follow their direction. I will miss serving under you and Sister Blickenstaff. I hope that you have a good transition going back home. I will miss you and I want to thank you again for your service here. I love you and Sister Blickenstaff.

This week was really great. It's been amazing serving here with Elder Ward. I have learned so much from him and I have been able to stretch myself daily. I think that phrase is very appropriate. "Stretch" It doesn't always feel comfortable in the moment, but if you do it right, you will be able to push yourself further and further, and keep from regressing.

There were so many miracles this week. I have so much to be grateful for, so I'm going to be studying gratitude this week. I want to be better at being grateful and remembering and recognizing blessings the Lord has given me. One of the miracles has been to see a less active family come back to activity and their progression. We have also been able to be working with a couple of families these past weeks, which I'm grateful for as well, because we've been trying to focus on families. You get what you go for!

Thanks again for your service and all you do. You and Sister Blickenstaff will be missed.

I love you and I'm praying for all of you. :) I hope your week was good! :D 

-- 

Elder Fleming

Current Apartment

Emails 6/13/16

Happy Dragon Boat festival! :D 

Ok I'll try to sum up the week really fast. :) 

Monday was pday. Went to Fo Guang Shan with some friends. :) Afterwards, contacting, held FHE with a member family, then went home. Tuesday we had ztm, which went well and was pretty intense. The zone got pumped about finding new investigators, which is good and what we need. :) Afterwards, we exchanged. That was pretty fun! :) We contacted, Got a sit down lesson at a 7-- (they just say "7" here), met with our investigator and talked about getting baptized after he moved in July or August, but then he got determined to get baptized before he moved so that was a huge miracle, same night, the family we are working with, their kid accepted a baptismal goal for July and his dad to get ready to baptize him. (He's an LA member). Wednesday we switched back after contacting and teaching a lesson, visited some LA kids to confirm them for a basketball activity on Saturday, then dinner, then English. That was good. :) Also, a super prepared lady came to English class, loved it, and loved the Gospel and Spiritual share even more! She couldn't wait for us to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon! It was awesome! :D 

Thursday we contacted, lunch, had a lesson, contacted, ate dinner, contacted, then met with our baptismal goal investigator, Brother Huang. 

Friday we learned the importance of making a backup plan. We didn't make one for our lessons, and they both fell through. We figured they'd come and we didn't have time to plan it in, but we learned that we need to make backup plans anyway. 

Saturday was great! We had a basketball activity (approved by President, of course :) ) and got some less active young men there. they loved it, came to church the next day and loved that as well! :D HUGE miracles!! :D One of the young men got the priesthood and rescued another on Sunday! Super great!! :D Sunday night miracles, too! Another sit-down lesson with a guy who was pretty interested. Taught him the full first lesson! He doesn't live in our area, so we referred him over to other missionaries. It was an awesome week!! :D 

Anyway, I love you all so much!! :D I pray for you every day! :) 

Email to President: 

It was another great week with Elder Ward. I still have a lot to learn and do! I have been trying to learn from him and from the experiences we have together as much as I can. This week was filled with miracles. Around Thursday or Friday, I felt a little disappointed that the work wasn't going faster and that we weren't finding more people. I realized later that I was forgetting to be grateful. Almost immediately afterwards that night, I remembered all the blessings and miracles we had seen from the week that far, and I was able to see later that we had even more miracles on Saturday and Sunday. I wish I would have remembered gratitude sooner, but I'm glad I remembered it when I did, because I was able to see a lot of miracles the following couple days. 

This week I learned the importance of gratitude, and tried to focus on it more. I have been trying to be more grateful these past couple days, especially since Thursday and Friday. If we are grateful to the Lord about all our blessings, we will be so much more happier, because we won't be thinking about or even remember negative experiences. I also read in Alma 38 today. I really liked the things Alma said to his son, Shiblon and I thought it was interesting what Alma chose to say to each of his sons, and how much he decided to say to each of them. I want to go back the next couple days and read Alma 38 again and think more about it's meaning. It was interesting to see what Alma says to different sons who have different experiences.  

--

Elder Fleming

We went to fo guang shan, this place with a massive Buddha which was awesome. We went with our
Baptist minister friend :). I don't know if I've told you about him. I also saw a friend from my first
area, Trevor! :D He's awesome and it was great to see him!! :)

Emails 06/06/16

I'm glad the weather's been good. Glad RSL won. 

Yay graduations!

The week was good. :) Busy. I'm feeling better and more adjusted now. I still have a lot to learn and do, so that's 

a little intimidating sometimes.... :) Elder Ward is a good companion. We're getting along pretty well. I've 

learned a lot from him. He eats really healthy and this week I might try eating salads with him once a day... :)

It's alright being a zone leader. It's stressful! :) It's a lot more work than I thought it would be. :) It's been going
pretty well, though, :) We exchange a lot more as zone leaders and we've done a few interviews. :) It definitely
is different on the other side of the table!

So glad and blessed to have amazing parents. :) I love you lots. :) I pray for you all the time. :)

--

Elder Fleming