12-9-2013

12-9-2013

Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 15:44:02 +0800
Subject: Move call and the goodbye's
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello Family and friends!

This week has been a good one full of people to meet, places to see and big changes. so lets just dive right in =)

First because this week was the last one before move call the English class that we teach had a party to celebrate the occasion and to allow a lot of the English student's as well as some ward members to just come and say goodbye.  So we went down to Douliu, had a good time, talked with a lot of people and kind of said some good byes because we didn't know who was going where.  After that I had the chance to go on transfers with the Zone Leaders here which was really awesome, its always good to be with new missionaries and see how they do the missionary work, how they teach and how I can improve the way I teach and find through them.  During the exchange I had the chance to meet with one of our coolest investigators named Sister Zhang.  I have mentioned her before but we came and tried to help her translate the name of some random agriculture machinery because her husband sells that kind of stuff.  It was kinda fun and we had a really good spiritual share right after that talking about scriptures and the importance of them.

Later that week I also had the chance to go on exchanges with the District leader here which is in Douliu, so I was with a Taiwanese person named Elder Yeh for a day and while we were talking he told me about his conversion story, which was really cool but after he told me about it I noticed something interesting while we were out proselyting, which is this, everybody, no matter who they are or where they come from has a part of the gospel that they really love, be it the plan of salvation, the missionaries, the Book of Mormon or anything else, they all have one, and while Elder Yeh was telling me about his conversion story he said that the first thing that the missionaries said to him was "Hey are you happy today?"  and that is what really struck home with him, so while we were out preaching the gospel that is how he would start every conversation or every contact.  and so I realized that the way people do missionary work is a real reflection on what they like about the gospel, what they think of it and what part they like about it. Kind of interesting

Well Finally the biggest piece of news this week is that after 3 move calls hanging out in Huwei the time has come that I get a new companion!..  His name is Elder Stratford, he comes from Salt Lake City, the only thing that I really knew about him before I met him was that he is able to read and write in Elvish (from Lord of the Rings) and after meeting him I have learned that he's a really chill guy.  So I'm really excited to start working with him and seeing how the work goes with a new companion!

Well thats about it for this week.  Hope that you all have a good one and are able to keep smiling and stay happy!!

Until next week

Elder Heaton

Still hanging in Huwei

何長老

12-2-2013

12-2-2013

Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2013 11:24:12 +0800
Subject: Young Men's and Mr. Soup
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello Family and friends!

Things are going good here in the land of Huwei and as the temperature cools down we have been starting to wear jackets and buy warmer foods for snacks.  All in all everything is going good and we are enjoying our time here, meeting with some cool people and just having a good time.

So as far as food things go I think the thing that I want to mention is a little thing called buo ba (bwoah bah) which are little black balls, about the size of a marble, really soft and you add them to your drinks for something extra to suck up in or straw... or just because they taste good, either way.  they have a smaller version called zhen zhu which means pearl, but its usually about 5-10 NT which is about 1 quarter, to add to a drink and its really good.  Also another interesting thing that I want to note is just that here, when its cold out everything you drink is going to be warm... thats just the way it is, and so as you go visit people's houses they will give you warm/hot water and normally when you buy stuff from a tea stand people will ask if you want it warm. Kind of a different thing, but it makes sense when you think about it... so yeah I've been drinking a lot of warm things lately.

So beyond that as far as the work goes, we have noticed lately that our young men's and young women's program here in huwei... doesn't really exist, yesterday in sacrament we had a grand total of zero people in either class, it was a little interesting so see seeing as how my young men's class had like 20 people in it and there just always seemed to have people.  So this week, because we sometimes have some young investigators that we would want to go to that class, we have talked with the leaders here to see if there were any people we could work with and try to get them back to church.  So this week we will probably talk with some of them and see if we can get them up and running.

I think the final thing I want to talk about is that we had mission tour this week, and for it we had Elder Randy Funk come (He spoke in this last Conference) and we talked a lot about making sure people are converted and just making sure that we were teaching all the doctrine in a simple, direct way that the spirit could testify to.  It was good and I was able to see a lot of people from my MTC district there.

Well that was pretty much my week, things are going well and this week is move call and so next week I might be going somewhere else, or I might stay longer in Huwei, only time will tell, but I know that wherever I go it will be according to where the lord needs me and where I can be of the most service.  Know I'm doing well and that the people are treating me nice =)

Until Next week

Elder Heaton

何長老

11-25-2013

11-25-2013

Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:47:44 +0800
Subject: The Hunt for space, and a a new location
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello the Family and everyone else!

This week has been a good one full of actually a lot of lessons and being able to meet a bunch of cool people, so without further adieu lets just jump right in.

So this week food wise there wasn't much interesting here but I think one intersting thing I ate, at least interesting for being here in Taiwan is Pizza!! So pizza here is really expensive, and by expensive I mean about the same price that it is in America if your not getting the cheep $5 pizza, so we normally don't have enough money to buy pizza and Taiwanese people just don't normally eat pizza so yeah.  But one of the members here got a coupon to get a pizza for $150 NT which is 5 dollars about, and he wanted to share it with us, so we went out and got a pizza and it was awesome, he actually ended up buying 2 pizzas one was a Hawaiian and the other was I think squid or octopus flavor.  Both were really good and the member asked us which was better, I told him that the Hawaiian tasted like American food and the squid one tasted like Taiwanese food, and he went off on a little tangent saying that it was Japanese flavor, fun stuff.

So beyond that the biggest event that happened is that the chapel here in Huwei which was about a 30 second walk from our missionary apartment has finally closed down, people had been talking about this chapel closing from the moment that I got here in Huwei and I didn't think much of it but now that it's closed its weird to think that it is gone, now the closest chapel to us in about a 50 minute bike ride from our house.  So we are working to try and find a new location to hold lessons and things like that here in Huwei.

This week we also had a bunch of parties to say farewell to the chapel, the first one happened this Wednesday with our last English class for now here in Huwei where we had a pot luck and played a few games, it went really well and it was fun, and afterwards we had a lot of food in our fridge to sustain us for the rest of the week or so so that was nice =) Later that week the only american family that lives in the ward here decided to have a little Thanksgiving party because they don't celebrate that here.  So they went out and found a Turkey and some yams and pie, just a bunch of traditional thanksgiving food that they don't really eat here and had a fun thanksgiving party.  It was really fun and they invited some foreign exchange students to come and enjoy the food as well, so that was pretty fun.

Finally the weirdest experience that I had this week happened in church yesterday.  So we were in church during the 3rd hour, doing to priesthood part which they were holding in the chapel,and some guy comes and knocks on the chapel doors, asking to be let in.  the odd thing is that I dont think that the doors were locked or anything like that.  Anyway he comes and sits down, and while the speaker is talking I think he said something like "We can feel the spirit as we read the scriptures" and this guy just yells as loud as he could "WRONG!!" pretty much for no reason whatsoever... so they continue and he just keeps yelling WRONG a couple more times and some people tell him to be quiet or leave, really nicely and the guy kinda flips out and just starts yelling.  Eventually he left but it was kinda strange...  So yeah I met a crazy guy this week.

Well that's just about it for this week, things are going well here and we are meeting a lot of new people who seem really interested in the church and are really willing to meet with us so hopefully we see some things from that

Well until next week

Elder Heaton

何長老

11-18-2013

11-18-2013

Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:36:07 +0800
Subject: Chilling out in Huwei
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello the Family and others!

Hello everybody, how are you all doing, things are going good down here in Huwei, the weather is starting to get relatively colder here in Huwei actually making me want to wear a jacket, which is an interesting change of pace.  But beyond that there's not really much change in things here.

So this after this week the chapel that we have been going to which is in Huwei will close, it was in a large office building and the rent was too expensive and so starting this next Sunday we will have to go to Douliu for church which will be an interesting change of pace and a bit of a challenge for us I think trying to get investigators to a church building that's about a 45 minute bike ride from where I live.  But that's thats just me thinking out loud.

Our investigator pool, however, is actually seeming to grow a lot more, we have spent a lot more time working on contacting more people, trying to make sure we meet 2 people that are willing to wit with us every day and its starting to pay off and I think that right now is the most investigators that I have had so far while on my mission.  Little blessings just come everywhere.  But as far as people working to get baptized there's only 1-2 that have a baptismal goal. One is named Sister Zhang, shes really cool and has two little girls that are tons of fun, so its always fun just to sit with her.  Right now she just has a small word of wisdom problem but I think that she can overcome it as her testimony grows and she really sees why she needs to follow it.

Beyond that I just want to mention the weather again, just because I think its so weird.  So as you might have guessed they use Celsius here and during my whole stay here in Taiwan it has been at a hot but sometimes comfortable 30 degrees.  But this week the temperature actually dropped down to a chilling 20!  which is about 68 degrees, but I think that is so funny thinking about it because if I was at home 68 degrees would be nice and warm, and I wouldn't think of wearing a jacket, but because I have been here for awhile and gotten used to the warm weather, 68 is actually really cold...  But that's something to think about.

Well that's just about it for this week.  I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are all able to enjoy the rest of this month, its almost thanksgiving! which they don't really celebrate here but, there's a family here from the US and they are throwing a thanksgiving party so know that I will be well fed =)

I love you all and hope for the best, Taiwan is awesome and the people are nice.  Can't imagine serving anywhere else in the world, talking to people about church.

Until next week

Elder Heaton

何長老

11-11-2013

11-11-2013

Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:14:34 +0800
Subject: Meetings and interviews
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello the family and the people

This week has been a little different of a week, as we have had the chance to do a few extra meetings which means a little less proselyting but a little more time with other missionaries.  Its nice to have a change sometimes.

So this week was interviews with the mission president, which meant that most of our Tuesday was taken up trying to fit in the interview schedule, and that took up most of the day but it was nice and we got to go to Chiayi city for it which is a cool place.  Then because we had interviews on Tuesday we has our ZTM on Wednesday which took up a lot of that time, but also on Wednesday's we have a free English class so with ZTM and English there was just nothing going on for the first half of the week. =/

But as far as food goes I think that the most interesting thing that I have eaten this week is probably just Sushi.  Not really exciting but I dont think I ever really ate sushi while I was in America.  But its not really the most amazing stuff, kinda boring really.

Also today I had the chance to go to Costco, which is apparently a really big thing here for the missionaries because you can buy a lot of things in bulk and they have a lot of american food, so that was kinda fun, but its pretty much exactly the same thing as Sams Club so that just reminded me of all the fun times that I had going shopping with my mom on Saturdays (at least the times that I went with her =) )

Well thats just about all the news for this week, there really wasn't much that happened this week, My Chinese is slowly picking up and I can slowly understand more and more of what people are saying.  Here for language learning they have a language study plan that they just call Phase 1, 2, and 3.  Phase 1 is just preach my gospel chapter 3 and key words and phrases that are useful in teaching the missionary lessons.  After you finish that your free to do what ever language study you like but they also offer the phase 2 and 3.  Phase 2 is just a ton of flash cards with random vocabulary words on them with an example sentence which is nice.  And finally Phase 3 is a bunch of flash cards with every single character that they use in the Book of Mormon... which is a lot, and so I got the phase 3 because they were out of phase 2 when I had the chance to get them, so my language is slowly picking up.

Well thats just about it, Taiwan is going good, its still really hot here with little to no signs of cooling off yet, the food is still good, the people are nice and we are meeting with some nice people.

Until Next week

Elder Heaton 

何長老

11-4-2013

11-4-2013

Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2013 16:26:18 +0800
Subject: Contacting till the earth shakes
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello family how are you!!!!

So this week has been going well, full of traveling to not too far but far enough that it still takes a little bit to get there, kind of an interesting mix but it happens... But enough about that, onto the news

So this week I had the chance to eat at a... breakfast shop ( that's what their really called) like 5 times this week, and a lot of the time it wasn't even for breakfast.  So breakfast in Taiwan is very similar to breakfast in America... if your not eating cereal, or drinking milk.  its actually an interesting thing about Taiwan is that nobody here drinks cow milk, its all soy milk or bust.   So that makes buying normal milk really expensive ( I think a 1.5 liter bottle is about 3.50 compared to soymilk which would be about 1.50) But the things they eat for breakfast in a breakfast shop is normally a crepe like thing with egg and bacon in it or something like that or a Dan bao which is like a hamburger with ham instead of a patty... interesting.

 Well as far as the whole subject goes there's a cool story to go with that, so we were on our way to meet with Brother Chen (the one I was talking about in the last e-mail I think) and we contacted this guy who was waiting outside a hospital for his wife and kid or something like that.  We got to talking with him and introduced the church and he had heard of Mormons before but he was wondering why we were called that.  So we brought out a Book of Mormon and was going to have him read the introduction to it and from that we were going to talk about it with him.  But right before he read the first character... an earthquake hit!!  I was totally excited because I have never felt one before, it was a really small one, just a little shaking but it totally happened, however after that, he had closed the book, the contact was kinda ruined and we just left with his number... so that was kinda interesting.

Well beyond that things are going well, I am enjoying my time here and the work is moving along, The people we are working with are all really cool and we are working on trying to find at least 2 new people that set up a time to meet with us in the next day or two, really fun.

Well I hope everybody is doing well back at home.  Its still hot as ever here in Taiwan and I'm happily sporting my short-sleeve shirts still, life is going good and Taiwanese people are all really cool.  Hope that you are all enjoying to cool weather and just finding enjoyment in school, work, play and other what ever that may be.  I know that the work I'm doing here is good, and that this church really has blessed my life in ways that I probably don't even realize yet, but also in many ways that become more apparent every day.  Hope you are all doing well =)

Until next week

Elder Heaton

何長老

10-28-2013

10-28-2013

Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 11:36:00 +0800
Subject: Leading the area and move call madness
From: eric.heaton@myldsmail.net
To: heatonjudy@hotmail.com

Hello family and friends!

This week has been a good one, full of fun things, meeting new people and preparing for transfers and seeing who might be going where.

So there's not much talk about on the food front.  I went to a night market for dinner once this week and got a steak, the cool thing about the night market stake though it that it comes with noodles, an egg and a lot of some mystery sauce that I don't really know what it is but it tastes good, the cool thing though it that when they bring you your plate, the sauce and all the food is still boiling hot and so when they hand it to you its still bubbling, steaming and just has a great presentation. yum

Well beyond that, this week I went on exchanges with the Douliu elders this week and had the chance to lead the area in Huwei, which actually kinda stressed me out for the first little bit because I for the most part am still totally lost when i'm wandering the streets here, but it turned out ok, I was able to find the people I needed to find, and we had a lot of fun going around talking to people.

Later in the week the sisters in our district had a baptism, her name was Sister Wang, she had investigated the church for a LONG time and had wanted to be baptized for a while but her parents opposed it and so she couldn't, but this Saturday was her birthday and she told her parents that all she wanted for her birthday was to get baptized... an amazing story and in the end they allowed her to do that.  It was a great story to hear.  And we got one of our investigators to go to the baptism so we were able to attend it, lots of fun.

Now for a little bit of a funny story.  So we are meeting with this less active member, his name is Brother Chen, hes a really cool guy, really smart but has a few mental problems, anyway we had decided to reteach him the missionary lessons because he had forgotten a lot of the basics, so in this lesson we taught him the plan of salvation.  While we were teaching it we would ask him some question or maybe make a comment like "So this is the plan of salvation..." and whenever he wanted to say something or make a comment he would start with "Bu shi" or like that's incorrect, or thats not right.  It happened so much that by the end of the lesson it was hard not to laugh when he said it.  we would say something like "So that's what the atonement can do for us." then he would say "No the atonement is..."  it was actually really fun, I love that guy.

And finally the part that you have all been waiting for, This was the last week of tansfers so we got movecall this last Saturday night, it was really suspenseful because after training you are almost guaranteed to be split up from your trainer, so we were waiting to get the call, and all of last week Elder Raley was practically convinced that he was moving so he told everybody that this was his last week here and that they should come to church to hear his farewell talk.  So we got the call and learned that neither of us are leaving Huwei right now!  We both get to stay here for at least one more move call!  So that's the exciting news for the month, I haven't moved yet.

Well that's all the news that I have this week, I hope that you all have a great week, learn something from the scriptures and are able to liken the scriptures to yourselves, this church really has brought a lot of happiness to my life and I hope that I can share that with a lot of people here in Taiwan

This is Elder Heaton, until next week, Later!

  何長老