Happy Happy Grave Sweeping Day

Yep, it's another holiday weekend in Taiwan. Happy Grave Sweeping Day (Sao Mu Jie) to one and all. It's great to hear from most of you again. I can't believe yet another week has gone by so quickly.

There's not much to report this week. We met our really high goal for finding new investigators, but we got pitifully few sit down lessons and absolutely nobody at church. I feel terrible when that happens, because I'm in charge of the welfare of these people's souls. Granted, we worked our tails off, so just as Preach My Gospel promises, I'm not disappointed in myself. We're just going to have to work even harder in the coming week to make sure such a thing does not happen again. When people don't come to church, they don't get converted and baptized. It's just a fact. I know the Lord is with us. He helped us find lots of new investigators, and He will continue to support us in our trials. As it says in Mosiah 23:21, sometimes the Lord "trieth [our] patience and [our] faith." He wants to see if our faith is dependent on good results or if it's solidly grounded on the rock of our Redeemer. So I won't lose faith. I'll keep going forward.

Now to answer some of this treasure trove of questions! :D

* We normally teach investigators at the church, actually. Most people don't want us to come to their houses, so we have them come to the church and teach them there.

* I'm trying really hard to find families to teach, but yeah, just about everybody I teach has been a single man. We can't teach women unless there are no sisters in the area (and we've had sisters in all of my areas except Donggang) or unless it's the mom of a family and we teach the whole family together. I want so badly to baptize an entire family together and one day see them sealed in the temple.

* He's from Chico, California (in the north). He's actually doing really well with the culture and all. He's better than I ever was about all the new foods to get used to. He's got a very genuine personality, and even though at times he doesn't know all the words to say what he wants to say, investigators can feel the strength of his testimony. I love Elder Tony Mohr, and it's great to serve with him.

*Right now we have 4 Elders and 2 Sisters in our district. That's about the average size (that is, 2 Elder companionships and 1 Sister companionship).

skip a few...I'll answer them next week

* People occasionally comment about my hair. But I'm really not that much taller than the average Taiwanese person.

* My shoes are doing just fine, so far.

* I'm procrastinating buying a new suit. And I haven't really gained any weight. I don't miss it.

* I can actually read most of the Triple Combination in Chinese now. I know about 1100 of the most common characters in the Triple.

* Yeah, English is about the standard second language.

* We teach English every Wednesday for free (it's a finding tool...shhhh...)

I'm out of time! Sorry...I'll save the exciting conclusion for next week. :o)

I love you all so much. It's fun for me to get to talk to you and know you're doing well. Next week I'll try to save some time to give you some slightly more in depth answers.

Love,
Carter