Here we are together...

Hello again everybody! I had a great spring break too! I spent it preaching the gospel. Actually, to tell you the truth, I'm a little sad this week because I'm starting to get "death threat" emails and letters from the mission office. Today they want me to send in a miracle story and pictures for my own "funeral/eulogy." (-_-) But no matter.

I hope to be able to see my converts and their posterity strong in the church years down the road. Several times during conference the speaker discussed whether or not it was really worth all that trouble to save just one soul. The answer is yes, not just because every soul is precious to God, but because one soul, after about four generations, becomes one thousand souls. It was truly a reminder to me that while yes, I still hope to baptize a whole family and I will still try to do so, I won't be too sad if it doesn't happen. In the long run, the single people I baptized or the part-member families I completed have the potential to be sealed in the temple and years later their righteous posterity will be strong members of the church in Taiwan. I was so grateful to get that reminder that the Lord has many great things in store for each individual I've helped to be baptized.

Well, it's been a great week. We've continued working with (name), President Bishop's convert, and his wife. This week she passed a baptismal interview and she is going to be baptized this week! It's been a really special experience to be able to work with them. President Bishop was starting to tear up at Branch Conference yesterday when he was telling us how grateful he is to the Lord and to us for helping Brother (name) come back and now to help his wife be baptized. I don't deserve any thanks, really. I think what really happened was the Spirit worked on him and he himself made the decision to humble himself and come back. We just happened to be the missionaries serving here when that happened. It's been so much fun working with this family, though. Brother (name) is really funny; he loves to practice his English on us and to make up songs to the tune of "How Firm a Foundation" about missionaries coming over to his house. He's 90 years old but still really active. He rides his bike over to a section of road by a bridge and voluntarily sweeps the road and plants flowers and generally beautifies the area. I still have a hard time believing he's really 90, but there you have it.

Another investigator, (name), is also progressing pretty well. He's a member referral, the one whose right leg and arm are recovering from paralysis. He came to church again this week and really enjoyed his experience. He's having a tough time remembering some of the things we teach him, like the premortal life. We taught it to him five times and then asked if he understood where we were before we were born. He said "Nobody knows. I might have lived in Japan or America or even Africa, I don't know." We taught it to him again. Anyway, he's doing well. He's very humble and willing to learn and keep commitments, so I have high hopes that he can be baptized. We hope to teach and baptize his whole family, actually.

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot left to report for the week. This week is zone conference, which I always look forward to. Zone conference really helps to charge me up and renew my fire to do missionary work. So I guess that's all for the week. I love you all and I pray for you. I know Heavenly Father is blessing you all so much. I'll talk to you again next week!

Love,
Carter