Aug 12, 2008 Email

hello base camp!

Taiwan is so nuts i love it! two days ago there was a massive idol worship session that went on in from of our apartment building. they closed down the street and put up tents with insense and fire and stuff burning every where. then they had all these tables with food that they wanted to give there ancestors. me and my companion came home during the worship part. where they all grab incense and mumble and bow a thousand towns to this scary looking statue thingy. well since we live in that apartment building. he had to wade through this crowd of idol worshippers. obviously they know we are Christian missionaries so needless to say it was a little awkward. not for me, but for them. i felt great. i just smiled and said hello to as many people as i could. hahaha oh gosh it was funny, a little creepy but funny. i think they felt awkward because some of them know that it is a little ridiculous, but they just do it out of tradition. anyways, good times. if you can just picture these two white missionaries wading though this crowd of idol worshipping taiwanese people that should bring a smile to your face. it made me laugh!

well we have been meeting with a really nice man named Hong bao ju. he is so cool! before we could even find a time to meet with him he had already come to church 3 sundays in a row. his friend brought him. doing work through the members is really the best way to do it. i am not sure who said it, but they said "missionaries should be full time teachers, and members should be full time finders." i think most church members think that missionaries are out there knocking on doors most of the time. actually we try and to that as least as possible. especially in a prodominitely non christian society, the chances of running into someone that wants to learn about Jesus Christ are very slim.

anyways, Brother Hong has a baptismal date for september 6th. Carson Brown, my good friends birthday. it is also the last day i will be in Ping Dong. I will probably move, im not sure, but i think i will move. i might get assigned to somewhere up north. this hong guy is so cool, he reads his scriptures everday and prays and is just awesome. he is a really humble quiet guy. we also have another really awesome investigator named Yang. he is a stud. about 26 and is a teacher. his english is pretty good. we still teach him in chinese cuz its not that good. hahaha.

i have got to tell you though. that idol worship ceremony thing was pretty intense to walk through. it felt completely void of any love or charity, it actually seemed really scary and irreverent. i didnt bug me cuz we only walked through it, i felt bad for the poor little kids though that were there.

well of course i have another spider story! on friday we had a lesson at the church during lunch. so we went there and got the chairs set up and went to turn on the AC. the AC is in this closet and you have to go flip a switch to turn it on. my companion went into the closet and was about to hit the switch and i yelled at him "DON'T MOVE!" he frooze. on the back side of the switch was a spider the size of my hand. at first he thought i was kidding, but then his eyes adjusted to the dark of the closet and he saw it and about flipped. we quickly evacuated the closet. our investigator Hong showed up and we told him about it. he is a vet so he is used to dealing with crazy stuff, so he grabbed a box and a newspaper and went and forced the spider into the box. then we went and let it go outside. i figured if we killed it he might be offended so we just let it go. a little later that night we told some members about it and they were like "What were you thinking?!" "You should have brought it home and put it inside your house to keep bugs away." i thought they were kidding at first, but then i realized they were serious. there is no way in heck i am putting some giant arachna in the place were i sleep. i could care less if its poisonous or not, when a spider is as big as a McDonalds big mac, there is no way i am putting that thing in my house. they are crazy! if i wanted a pet id buy a dog!

love ya all,

Elder Anderson