As I got on the plane I was
practically giddy with excitement. I wanted nothing more than to start the next
two years of my life in the foreign land of Taiwan. The culture, language,
people, and religion of the Taiwanese people enthralled my imagination. It was
such an alien place to me I didn’t know what to expect.
Three months before this moment I
found myself entering the Missionary Training Center (MTC). During this time in
my life I was experiencing many firsts in my life—first time traveling on my
own, first time living away from my twin brother, first time living outside of
the United States, first time immersing myself in a new culture and language. I
had many reasons to be both excited and scared as I started my service as a
missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With no idea of
what the next two years had in store I was optimistic about my mission.
After an emotional goodbye with my
family and friends (my only contact being weekly emails and biannual phone
calls while I was in Taiwan) I endeavored to learn the Mandarin Chinese
language at the MTC. I may talk about this more in the future, but for now it
is enough to say that the MTC was fundamental to my future mission. I learned
the basics of Chinese, developed the necessary teaching skills, built lasting
friendships, and gained 15 lbs. Yes, it was quite the experience. After 12
weeks of arduous study and fun our travel plans came in. I was scheduled to
leave for Taiwan on Sept. 25th 2010.
It was at this point all my
emotions were coming to a climax. Both wonder and intrigue were mixed with
worry and nervousness. As I sat down in my chair my thoughts were on my family,
friends and future. Because the flight was a nonstop from SFO to TPE we boarded
a Taiwanese airline where all the stewardesses were Asian. We also notice they
would speak Chinese to the passengers and assumed they were native Taiwanese.
After three months of intense language study my fellow missionaries and I
thought we could, at least, order our breakfast in the language we had been
practicing. When asked what we wanted to eat we responded by asking to hear the
menu in Chinese. Upon hearing terribly broken Chinese and hesitating for a moment,
she answered our question in some foreign language I did not understand. At
first I thought she replied in Japanese or Korean or something, but when my confused
buddy asked her to repeat she attempted to tell us the menu again, but
noticeably slower. I’m sure all the native speakers around us found our
exchange humorous as we apprehensively ordered food—none of us knew what
exactly what we chose. I thought, “all plane food is nasty, right? How bad
could it be.” Even to this day I don’t know what it is I ate…
When I finally got to Taiwan I met
up with my mission president, President Bishop. He is in charge of all the
missionary work that goes on in the southern part of Taiwan for the Taiwan,
Taizhong mission, and led me through the good and the bad times I had while
serving the Lord. I love and respect Pres. Bishop so much. Anyway, he oriented
us on missionary work and introduced us to the beautiful country of Taiwan.
The basic unit of missionary work
is the companionship. Two missionaries, a senior and junior companion, are
responsible for all the work that goes on in their area. They find, teach, and
baptize people that come unto Christ and accept Him as their Savior. A
companionship will also find ways to help, serve, and support the church in
their assigned area. The next order of organization is the district. A district
is lead by a District Leader and is comprised of 2-4 companionships. Multiple
districts are lead by two Zone Leaders, and they oversee the missionary work
that goes on amongst the 3-5 districts in their zone. Finally, the whole
mission is comprised of 5-6 zones and lead by the Mission President, Pres.
Bishop, and the Assistants to the President (AP). All of these leadership
positions are held by normal missionaries age 18-21, with the exception of
Mission President. He is… more seasoned.
After a day or so of orientation
with Pres. Bishop, he assigned me my first companion known as my trainer,
Elder. Boshard, and my first area we were to work, NanTun. It was at that
moment my missionary service in Taiwan started.
In this blog I wish to
share with you my troubles, trials, experiences, successes, and miracles I saw
on my mission. I served in diverse places and with amazing people. From the
middle of Taiwan to the tops of the mountains I proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Because of the spiritual nature, I will share some of the spiritual
lessons I learned as well as some of the sacred miracles I saw as a missionary.
It truly was a time of self-discovery as I gave all that I had to serving
others. As Matthew eloquently put it, “whosoever shall lose his life for my
sake shall find it.” This time of my life was truly amazing and I can’t wait to
relive all the exciting details with you.
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