Wo qinai de mama he baba,
Ni Hao! Would you like to hear something awesome? We had a baptism on Saturday. We were able to help sister Huang receive baptism and the Holy Ghost, she's the wife of a less active member. The best part is, the ward is really excited about her baptism, and want to help her two kids get baptized. Also, they want to help the father come back to church, so he can become an Elder and then take his family to be sealed in the temple. Its a big goal, but the ward is involved, and the mom is super awesome. Its definitely one of the greatest experiences of my mission.
New Year's was pretty fun. KILLED our numbers, but it was super fun nonetheless. Hahaha! Hai hao, I guess we baptized during New Year's, that's pretty good numbers. We ate with members just about every day of the week. We were able to meet a lot of families, which was great. Out of interest, the 2nd councilor in the Bishopric has two jobs: one is he is a cram school teacher, but he has a secret job as well. He delivers goat's milk! I have never seen a goat in this country, let alone heard of goat milk. Anyways, he gave us some for free, we added hot chocolate powder and it was really good. You would not believe how much Taiwanese people can eat! They would prepare this huge table of food, and when we ate it all, they brought out more! And then when we left, they gave us huge bags of food. We saved a lot of money on groceries this week. The best was Tuesday night. We found out this less active old man that we are working with would not have any family visiting him for New Year's. It broke my heart, the biggest reason of Chinese New Year's is getting together with your family. So on Tuesday night, we took him a bucket of KFC and fixed his washing machine. It was a lot better meal than the hot pot, Peking duck, or the mounds of seafood that we ate all week, because it was the meal that I feel like the Savior would have been in attendance. Out of interest, this man does not have a fridge, never has. He never has eaten a hamburger or pizza, and that was his first time eating KFC. Compared to him, I am super fat, wealthy, and prideful as sin. But a lot of the wonderful people I meet here remind me of that.
Morgan is engaged to Zach??? What the heck, Zach had a baby? And he's divorced? Where the heck have I been all this time? Oh yeah, I'm in Southeast Asia. I went to his first wedding reception, the second would be a little awkward. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary, it has helped me prepare to become a father and husband. For instance, I swept the floor today. Ehh? Ehh?? Nobody even asked me! Obviously that's not the biggest change or improvement, its hard to put it in words. Patience? Humility? Accountability, Responsibility, etc. I hope that I can use the next 10 months at really focusing on becoming more Christlike.
Speaking of 10 months, I have to choose my release date. I have 3 choices: November 6th, November 27th, and December 18th. If I stayed till December, we would need permission from the Quorum of the Seventy, because it would be over 30 days from the 2 year mark of me entering the MTC. November 6 would get me home before Thanksgiving, but it would leave me with 2 months before school starts. Maybe find a job or something? November 27th would be a week after Thanksgiving. Anyways, those are the options. I don't like the idea of Dec 18th, its between Nov 6th and Nov 27th in my mind. But I can't decide by myself, I need to discuss it with you. What is your preference? Do you want me home for Thanksgiving, or would you rather me spend 3 weeks in the field, or show up a few days before Christmas and cause a lot of paper work? Let me know, either way, its an honorable release.
Love you! Have a good week!
-Elder Travis Leatham
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