A great week! (posted by mom)

This was a great week. Monday, as usual, was spent in the office. We picked up a big book of mormon that we had made for our investigator. This investigator is a Brother Ye. He has a hard time seeing, so we had a book of mormon printed large-size so he could read it.

Tuesday I exchanged over to Donghai where we had a fun day contacting and were able to sit down with a few members.

On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder X, an Elder from my MTC district. We are good friends and we had a fun day preaching the gospel together. He is just a really happy missionary, and I was grateful for his example. He loves this work. While I was with him we went and visited someone I helped get baptized in my second area (Taizhong Beitun). Her name is Sister Zhuang. She had cancer and is currently in the hospital. Her condition is really bad, and she is probably in the hospital for the extent. She was happy to see us and cried. It was a special moment to see them again (her and her husband). I was impressed by her positive attitude. She was still joking around with us, just as she always has. Her high spirits lifted me in our brief visit.

Thursday was Specialized training. (A training meeting for Trainers and Trainees at the end of their first movecall.) First we held it in the north and then went to the south. My companion and I got in some pretty slow traffic and were late to the meeting in the south. But the overall feeling of the meetings was good, and President Bishop masterfully taught us how to teach with discernment.

Friday was a fun day because I got to go back and visit my beloved land of douliu. While we were there we had weekly planning session. I went through old records and made them a list of all the former investigators who I thought had potential and made a list for them. The list was one page (front and back), I sure hope they can set up with some of those people and see them get baptized, especially Chen Baba. I called Chen baba while we were down there and he said that his dad is sick and dying. It is a sad thing, but I think this experience will soften Brother Chen's heart and prepare him to hear the gospel.

Saturday, we took a preparation day of sorts. We wanted to bike up Taiping mountains for our exercise. We called President Bishop for permission, and he said, where are you right now? can I go with you? So all three of us went up taiping mountains. It was a long, beautiful trail and for part of the time, it down-poured. At noon we went to my "leaving the office" lunch. I chose Subway. In the evening we had a baptism for the English branch. It wasn't a convert baptism, but we helped get the clothes and we helped fill up the font. There was something wrong with the water pressure in the church and so it took extra long to fill up the font...too long. We had to wait about 1/2 hour to start the service. In the end the water pressure returned to normal and we got the font filled. It was pretty miraculous. We resorted to using hoses and buckets. The water was really cold, but the kids were baptized anyway. It was a neat experience for the families involved.

Today we attended church. I helped translate for two stake high councilors who came to visit our branch. It was a fun experience, but there were a few times where I had to use my own words or just give the general idea of what they said. Our friend Verhilio has passed his baptismal interview and is scheduled to be baptized in the coming weeks.

I love each of you! Elder Spencer Harris

Standards of Excellence

Thank you for your birthday wishes! I did have a good birthday. Elder Gluch called me and wished me a happy birthday. (I called him today and wished him a happy birthday.) To celebrate we watched conference and went out and preached the gospel.

Each week is full of exciting events and changes. This past week we had zone leader council. We talked about where the mission is headed and things we can do to increase baptism as well as retention. President Bishop brought up the idea of setting standards of excellence. We discussed some standards that would challenge missionaries and raise their vision of the possiblities. President Bishop is still pondering and praying over this and he will send out an email tomorrow informing missionaries of these standards.

This last week I got to go on an exchange with my first trainee--Elder X. (He is training right now.) It was fun to take the passenger seat on the exchange and follow him. He is a really good missionary who is focused on his purpose. He loves this work, and he is very diligent. I am proud of the missionary he is and the missionary he is becoming.

We are trying something new this week for our exchanges. One of us goes to an area and we bring one of the missionaries from that area here to our area. It is easy to do for when the exchange is close by. It has been fun, and we have seen many miracles already. In a matter of a few days, we have found 8 new investigators! It has been a great blessing.

Our recent convert over in Jinmen is doing well. Yesterday when we video-messaged with him, he told us that he had been reading in the prestood lesson manual and saw a portion about priesthood line of authoritiy. He wanted to know if we could help him get a hold of his priesthood line of authority. What a solid recent convert!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Elder Spencer Harris

Zone Conference & Letters to Converts

Today was special, I got to meet with mom's Taiwanese friends--Sister Annie Jiang and the Cai family. They were so kind to me and gave me some cakes and other gifts. It was fun to be able to COMMUNICATE with them. haha. It was interesting to find out that the cai family is from jinmen. They were excited to hear about what we are doing with the the members and investigators there.

This past week was Zone conference. My companion and I taught on effective principles of contacting. President Bishop talked on the importance of covenants and what you can expect from your mission. There really is only one expectation that we can have, and that is to do our very best and trust that the Lord will fulfill his promises. President Bishop talked about how we can know we are a successful missionary from those things listed on Page 10 of Preach My Gospel.

This week I went on an exchanges to two areas. The first was in Nantou: there is a big mountain that they run up for exercise. It was quite the work-out. I had a fun day spent with them. They have some good investigators. Second exchange was in Xinying. That was also a fun exchange. I feel like I was able to help the elders there. We met with a Filipino investigator who is Catholic. He is such a humble man, and he has a great testimony in Jesus Christ. He is just a little hesitant to get baptized. We invited him to come up to Taizhong to attend church in English with us. So today he took a 2+ hour train ride up from Xinying to attend church with us. I think he had a really spiritual experience. I wish we would have invited him to be baptized on a specific date right after church was out. It would have been a great time!

My language study as of late is writing letters to my recent converts. I have a lot of motivation to get them done. I really want these people who I have taught, and who I love so much, to endure to the end and get sealed to their families in the temple. I figure a letter isn't much, but it conveys a lot of love and is a good way to invite someone to read the scriptures or pray.

Thank you for everything. Elder Spencer Harris

Brazen Serpents (posted by mom)

We had an incredibly regular week. It has been a long time since we've had a ordinary week. In fact, it is rather out of the ordinary.

No meetings, no trainings, no mid-night calls, no ground shaking changes to the mission. It made for a good week of exchanges, and that is what we did.

This week we went on 5 exchanges, Tuesday to Saturday. We spent our time in the south. We went to Ping Dong, Gaoxiong, and Tainan.

In Gaoxiong, I got to go on an exchange with Elder X. We had a lot of fun, and got a lot done. He and his companion work well together. He works hard and is really helping out his zone and the missionaries there.

Just last night I shared with some missionaries a story I love from the bible. It has to do with a brazen serpent. I like this story because I feel like it is very representative of missionary work. We truly carry a gospel of healing and salvation. If only people would but look and live. (Alma 33:19-22.) A lot of people do look and live, and it truly is a miracle.

I like this story because I feel like it portrays the urgency we should have towards this work. We should do all we can to help people accept this message and look. It should show in our faces, in what we do, in what we say, and we should be persistent about helping others know the truthfulness of these things. We all know someone out there who is dying spiritually and desperately needs the gospel. In fact, we are in a world of people who are dying spiritually and know not where to look for help.

So I resolved with the missionaries to be more urgent in helping people look to Christ and live.

I love this gospel and I know it is true. Elder Spencer Harris

24 New Missionaries! ...and becoming a principled people (posted by mom)

What a week! 24 new missionaries came to our mission. That is the largest group for as long as anyone here can remember. When we had our trainee/trainer meeting there were 50 plus people in the room. It quite nearly filled up our small chapel. These new missionaries are so much fun. As assistants we are with them the whole time, we run with them in the morning, we take them to all their trainings, we teach them, we eat with them, we contact with them. This group was a good group, there is a lot of fire and zeal to get out and do the work!

In president's welcome presentation, he has a slide show that his family put together for them. In part of his slideshow, there are pictures of him and quotes from letters he sent home. One of the quotes was, "I really groove on my mission." haha...

President Bishop did groove on his mission, and he still does. I do to: I really groove on my mission. (Someone will have to look that up on 60s 70s online slang dictionary and tell me the exact translation.)

When the new missionaries were about to arrive, we realized that we needed some more mission rule books. President Bishop told us that he had been pondering and praying about getting rid of the rule book for a while now, and mission presidents had been counseled to do so in a previous mission president's seminar. So in the end, this new missionary group does not have any mission rules. They only have a list of phone use guidelines that keep missionaries within our cell phone contract.

In a matter of two weeks, the mission has a whole new landscape. It is not the mission I knew growing up. But it's groovy, and I like it.

I guess when they re-did the mission handbook of instructions; they cut a lot out of it and emphasized principles. President Bishop wants us as missionaries to become a 'principled people' and be anxious to live the rules as we understand them.

The church is true. The mission is great. Love, Elder Spencer Harris

Two Big Changes and a Typhoon (posted by mom)

This next week we have 24 new missionaries coming to the mission. WOW! That is a lot of missionaries. We are having to make some changes to our plans to accomidate such a large group. We are really excited for all the fire and faith they will bring.

This week was a big week. We announced 2 big policy changes at zone leader council. I thought the zone leaders would be hesitant, but they all took it fine.

Change one: In the past our mission counted people from the street as added investigators. Now investigators need to have sat down with the missionaries once and accept a return appointment. President Bishop, also decided that we only count those who actually come to the church, or let us in their homes, to meet and accept a return apointment. Currently our mission adds over 2,000 investigators a month. Next month it will be a totaly different story. It will be interesting to see what happens. We are hoping that the change will help missionaries focus more on their purpose.

The second change: Our mission for as long as anyone can remember, has contacted on the street separately, as individual missionaries. It is actually very efficient, twice the work can get done. The rationale was that missionaries were still within sight and sound of each other. However, President Bishop has felt the need to change this also. From now on, we will be more align with the teaching of the scriptures and the missionary handbook in preaching the gospel two by two on the streets of Taiwan. It is a big change for a lot of missionaries, but it will be good.

President Bishop is a very obedient person. He does what he thinks is right. These two changes are pretty big, but he felt that these were things that the Lord wanted him to do and so he changed accordingly. I am very impressed by his willingness to submit to the will of God and his obedience regardless of the consequence. We are really glad that the zone leaders were positive in their feedback and excited about the changes.

This last week we got stuck on the freeway with no gas in a Typhoon. Luckily we were in Tainan where we know some very willing members who came and saved us. We plan to write them a "thank you" letter tomorrow. They really did help us out of a bind.

I am loving life, and I'm loving my mission! Elder Spencer Harris

Exchanges and Visiting Authorities (posted by mom)

I got a new companion on Monday. He is originally from Hong Kong, and more recently from Washington Utah. We get along really well. He works hard, is really humble and willing to sacrifice for the mission. He has attended BYU and is in the Utah Coast Guard.

We hit the streets hard this week, exchanging with missionaries every day except Friday. I enjoy talking with missionaries about what is going on in their work. Some missionaries really struggle and some really thrive. It is a special thing if we can have an open conversation about it, and I can offer suggestions as needed and requested by the missionaries.

Friday was a special day; Brother Adrian Ochoa came to the island for a island wide youth conference. He stopped by our mission and gave a talk in the north and in the south about what he feels successful missionaries do, and gave us seven points for future study and thought.

Be One with Christ
Be One with your companion
Be One with the bishop
Focus
Take responsibility
Listen
Develop Perfect Faith

His presentation in the north was very different from the one in the south, but all the same points were covered. I felt each was custom fit to the needs of the missionaries in the room. I knew missionaries in each group and some of the struggles they are going through and those struggles were touched on in the things that Brother Achoa said.

My companion and I ended up driving Brother Huang, an area 70, and Elder Jensen and his wife, the Area President, around the city to a few places they needed to go. It was kind of a scary thing, I am not that familiar with the city, and we ended up taking a few wrong turns, but we still made it in a timely manner.

It was a great week. Thank you for your prayers! Elder Spencer Harris