April 11, 2011 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,

Man, conference was so great! I'll tell you, as a missionary, 10 hours was not nearly enough. I felt the spirit so strongly, and many of my prayers were answered. My favorite talk was probably by President Monson in Priesthood. Talk about a little pressure, I want to get married a month after I get home! I liked Elder Pratt's talk on tithing, it makes so much more sense to me now. Its not about money, its about faith. I missed the first few minutes of conference, we were still trying to set up the English. Where are they building the new temples? Did I tell you, there is talk of building a second temple in Taiwan, in Gaoxiong. Only if there are more members attending the temple here.
We're still having a lot of success, which blows my mind. I'm not nearly as diligent and spiritual as I should be. We've had a few adjustments with our progressing investigators, they'll get baptized on the 30th instead. But 2 are really solid, and we have another 2 who are doing pretty good. We also have an eternal investigator with some really interesting issues. He's met with missionaries on and off for about 3 years. He has a new plan, because he is afraid of family opposition, he wants to make sure he has found his wife before baptism so he can have an eternal family. So, he said he'll get baptized in a year from now, maybe. Ridiculous. He's asked us to show him a miracle (like, he literally asked us to show him a miracle) but he isn't willing to exercise faith. But you know, I have a lot of hope for him. I'm starting to realize, the longer we wait until we baptize, the more dangerous it is. The sooner they get in the water, the better.
I'm glad the Baird's are concerned for me, I know Richie was worried too. I'm definitely fine, the earthquake did not effect southern Taiwan at all.
I could send my pics on a card, but as for now, I only have one card. I might buy one, or you can send one, dou keyi. That, or I'll keep printing the ones I think are cool. Ooh, I found something cool today. We have a Christian bookstore in our area, and we took a look at it today. I picked up a New Testament that is Chinese and English side by side. Its pretty sick. I'd like to start using the New Testament more in my teaching.
We went bowling today, I bowled a 91 in my last game. Not too shabby. Set goals and make plans! I've also learned how to fry an egg. Mhmm.
Last week was pretty fun. I was in the Taiwanese newspaper! We had a gravesweeping activity, we went up to a cemetary as a zone and cleaned the graves. It was pretty fun. This week we have a busy schedule. I'll be in Gaoxiong, twice. Thursday, we have zone conference, for all the zones in the southern half of the mission. It'll be fun seeing all of my friends who are serving in the South. On saturday, 2 experts on church history are visiting the mission, so we get to question them for an hour. Pretty sweet.
Well, I hope you've had a great week. What do you both want for your birthdays? I love you, and I'll here from you soon.
-Elder Travis Leatham