Email Excerpts 12/13/15

(in explanation for the picture above) The district leaders all had to get up and write their averages for the district numbers on the board and usually share a strength and something we want to improve. yeah, it was just a training for the zone; we do it once a month. :) Afterwards, the district leaders do a meeting and talk about our districts and stuff. :) Haha I didn't feel like throwing up with President Blickenstaff there, but the zone leaders looked pretty nervous at first. I don't blame them! :) I also hadn't eaten 2 hamburgers and 2 chocolate milks like when they showed up to my district meeting. :) I think that the tie I was wearing was the swirly one that's red and blue-ish color. It's one of the ones that we got at the missionary store before I left. 50's is nice. :) I'm super excited to Skype you and Grandma! :D Oh also, we got the Skype email today! We can Skype here on the 25th or the 26th, so the 24th or the 25th for you. I'll have about 45 minutes to Skype. :) When would you want to Skype? I'm guessing the church would be good, (to Skype) but we have an awesome member that owns a shop that's closer, and he might have Skype equipment we can use. :) I'm not sure yet.  I'll also have to ask Elder Anderson and see what he wants to do. :) 

(missionary Christmas activity) It was an awesome day!! :D The building was super cool! It took almost an hour to set up the picture. :| It looks nice, though. :) I'm on the right side of the picture behind the first wall. :)  Sun Moon Lake was super fun and we actually went to the Yuan Lin church afterwards to do our Christmas zone conference! :D I was able to see a couple of the members and friends from there before and afterwards! It was awesome!!! :D 

Next transfer is January 4th. It's coming up quick and right before my year mark. :o 

Good luck in the winter storm! :o 

Mom seems really excited that Grandma is coming out to visit. :) I'd be excited too! I'm sorry to hear about Uncle Jack. :( I hope that Grandpa Kip is doing alright and that Uncle Jack is doing well in the Spirit world. 

Things are well here. The ward here is amazing! So far, all the wards I've been in have been super great and I love them so much!! I hope that keeps happening through out my mission! :) It's hard work here but the work isn't hard. ...except for sometimes. ;) Finding has been pretty slow lately. :/ Things are good though and I hope I go somewhere cool and have a good ward and a good companion. :) Elder Anderson is doing well and he gets better and better every day at the work, the language, etc. It's super cool to see how far he's come and in such a short time! :) The language is good. :) I feel fluent in most conversations that I usually have, but if it gets more complicated, it's a little harder. It's alright though, and it's coming. :) I love and miss you too!! :) I pray for you all every day! 

-- 

Elder Fleming

Pretty sunset :) 

Me with Yi Wei, a member from Yuan Lin and more sunset picture.

The investigators I was working with back in the Yuan Lin 2nd ward who got baptized after I left! It was super awesome to see their pictures and I miss them so much!! :) 

MTC district plus more, I think I don't know, I didn't get a good look at the picture. :) That's us at the chi dao bao. :) Also it's the people from Lehi (minus a few of us--really, there are like 5 or 6 people in the mission from Lehi right now!) at Sun Moon Lake. :)

Sun Moon Lake pictures. SOO pretty!! :D 
Elder Anderson and I :) Elder Lin and I (he was in my district in Yuan Lin) :) 

Cool bird :)

My new scarf I'm bringing to RSL games. :D It's even the same colors! :D 
view at sun moon lakeThe view and also a sunset. :) 
Cool street at night with pretty red lanterns. :) 
A majestic goat statue we found in TaiZhong last p-day. :) 

Taichung Mission Christmas Activity

The entire Taiwan Taichung Mission of 200 Elders and Sisters got together for a Christmas activity. You can read more about it on the mission blog by clicking here.

They went to Sun Moon Lake

Ci En Pagoda

Chian Kai Shek builty this pagoda in honor of his mother. 

The pictures with Elder Fleming are below:

Where's Waldo?

A picture of someone taking a picture of Elder Fleming's MTC district. 

Mission Blog Post: 12-3-15 Zone Training Meeting - Taichung West Zone

Original Mission Blog Post

Elder Fleming is on the Taiwan Taichung Mission Blog once again. There are no words, but some nice photos. :)

Emails 12/7/15

Woohoo!!! :D Go Timbers!!! :D That's awesome Dawson bore his testimony! That must have been awesome! :) 

That's really cool that the BYU players came to your class and talk to your kids. I bet they loved that! :) That's funny that your kids wanted hugs and autographs. :) I remember when I was younger, a couple BYU football players came and talked to us for a devotional or something. I remember that I thought it was sooo cool! :)

Things are going well here. I also had a dream that I came home last week, actually. :) I haven't had many of those dreams lately. It was cool. I had a dream I came home and it was my first day after getting back. I came downstairs and you asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to hang out with you. So you put in a Christmas movie and we watched it together. :) 

I had a good week. I don't know exactly what to say. More of the same, which isn't bad. :) I'm getting excited for Christmas! I'm super excited to talk to you guys and Grandma over Skype! :D We went to the temple on Wednesday which was super fun. :) We've been talking about "real intent" a lot lately as a mission and talking about helping people and not being so focused on numbers. I don't really think that I have too much of a problem with it. I am interested in my numbers and I want to do things to improve those numbers, but it's because I want to be helping others come unto Christ, not for number's sake. :) I also think that if we use numbers well to see where we can improve, then they can be useful. 

Anyway, enough rambling. My companion and I were teaching an investigator and I wasn't really feeling in the zone. I also felt like we were really confusing him, too. I said a prayer to help the Spirit come in and testify to him. I got a different answer than I expected. A few minutes later, I had this thought: "I would be way more effective right now on the road talking to people than here." I realized that was my answer. Instead of finishing the lesson, which would have gone until about 9 and just heading home afterward, we ended and did some contacting. I was glad that we ended there, because we probably would have confused our investigator more and while we were on the road, we were able to meet a pretty cool guy who had interest in coming to church! Even though he didn't come to church and he didn't give us his contact information, I felt that I did the right thing and was glad that I followed the Spirit. Hopefully, I'll be able to see more of the blessings that came from that decision in the near future. :) If not, oh well, it will be a good model for me to follow in the future. :) 

Woohoo Christmas songs! I love that! (After Thanksgiving.) :) We sang a bunch of Christmas songs in church yesterday, too. :) It was awesome! :D Yeah, I'm excited for Christmas! We've got the mission Christmas activity coming up on the 10th, I get to Skype you on Christmas and it's a great time to have hump day! I've been wondering with the transfer cycle if I'll be going home before Christmas next year. :o It's a great time to reflect, I agree and to re-evaluate my goals and set some new ones and stuff. Love you and I'm glad everyone seems to be doing well! :D Love you lots and I miss you and I'm excited to Skype you on Christmas! :D
-- 

Elder Fleming

This is the only new picture I have this week, sorry. :/ Sister Liu and Sister Kuang stole my camera. :) 

Temple Trip Picture

Picture of the missionaries on the temple trip from the Taiwan Taichung Mission Blog. 

Double Emails 11/30/15 and 12/2/15

11/30/15

It was kind of weird not to be home for Thanksgiving, but it was never really my favorite holiday. I was more bummed I was missing Halloween! :) Thanksgiving was good, we at a teppenyaki which is super good here! :D They don't flip random food like shrimp into your mouth like in the States, which is nice. :) I really like it here, and you'll have to try it if we all come back as a family. :)

They don't have daylight savings here, which I find pretty annoying, because in the Spring, summer and fall the sun is up at like 5:40. :/ It's still pretty warm here, though. :) I haven't needed a jacket yet, but I've had to wear my long-sleeve shirt a couple times though. :) I'm becoming one of those people we make fun of that think it's cold when it's in the 70's. :o 

yay Christmas! I love Christmas and that will be weird not to be there for it. It doesn't really feel like Christmas here though besides some decorations in some of the stationary stores, so it's not making me miss home too much which is good. :) 

The week was good and it's really good to see the Christmas decorations! :D ...and carpet! They don't really have carpet here. :/ I hope Portland wins! :) 

The visit from Elder Stevenson was awesome and was a huge spiritual boost! I felt like I was able to learn a lot from him and I was also able to just relax and enjoy what they had to say. :) it was super cool to have the whole mission together. :) I was able to see my old companions (except Elder Bak), and MTC district. :) It was really cool! It's really rare that we have the entire mission together; I think the Christmas party is usually the only time the entire mission gets together at once.  

That will be really cool to have Emma Leah and Becca all there in Utah--and also Tyler, too when I get home! That's awesome! :D 

We actually changed this transfer. I'm teaching the intermediate class, now (English class). It's kind of a bummer that we aren't teaching the kids anymore, but at the same time it's nice not to hear my students being loud and dealing with some of the mom-drama. (They want their kids to learn different things and stuff; I'm guessing you know all about that.) ;) Yeah, they combined on the 5th Sunday here too, there are just a few less people to combine than Utah. :) 

I'm not sure when we Skype. I just know that our Christmas activity is on the 10th. I'm really excited because it's temple trip this week! :D If I go down south, it might be one of my last for a while. :( I only have about an hour today, and then I get to email for an hour on Wednesday! :D 

Simple Christmas is always nice. :) I think I'm going to go to Taiwan for Christmas this year... oh wait, I'm already here. ;) Oh yeah.

--

Elder Fleming

12/2/15

 I miss Christmas music. It's a bummer not to be able to listen to it, especially now that Thanksgiving is over.

I think one of my favorite scriptures now is Alma 12:5. I like how it says that according to our faith, we can change ourselves and I feel like on my mission, I've developed faith and, in turn, I have seen changes in myself. I hope that I can continue to develop my faith throughout my life in order to make good changes in myself. :)  

-- 

Elder Fleming

My MTC district at the Elder Sevenson thingy! :D 

Awesome RC's feeding us after church on Sunday :) 

Proof I don't look good in glasses :) 

Temple sign :) 

Temple :) 

More temple and also My son and I (that's what we call our trainees on the mission) :) 

More picture of my son and I and also those trees are actually not palm trees; they're a tree that they make a drug called Bing Lang (beetle nut) it's like tobacco but grosser because it turns red and when people spit it out it looks like blood and it's super nasty. :) I thought it was hilarious that they were growing on the temple grounds. (At least I'm 95% sure it's beetle nut, it might not be but I'm pretty sure it is). :) So it's like the equivalent of a tobacco plant on the Salt Lake Temple grounds. :)  

Lake and a park from the bus. :) 

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