Soliders and penguins

Move day is fast approaching! in 2 days my move call will come. I am really excited and nervous. I am pretty sure i will be moving from Ping Dong. i have loved serving the Lord here and have thoroughly enjoyed all the friends i have made. i know this city like the back of my hand. serious, i can predict when things are going to happen. like when the old guy is going to walk by or when the lady with the handicapped dog is going to come home. its so weird! it is a huge city but there are still some small unique pieces that you could only learn about from having lived here for 4 months.

rick is getting baptized on saturday, my last saturday in Ping Dong. i am so excited for him and am so happy that Heavenly Father has allowed me to see this change and process occur. i will send you pictures if i can on monday.

Because of the move, i will be emailing you in 5 days on my monday. so if you want to email me before then that would be great.

Yesterday while we were looking for a member out in the boonies, we came across an army base. there were some soldiers standing at the gate guarding it. my companion thought it would be fun to go talk to them, so we went and chatted with them for a little while. they were pretty nice. after talking to them for a little while i became very thankful that the US does not have a compulsory military service for all our young men. what a pain in the butt that would be to stop your life to go stand at some scorching hot military gate for 1 year. then i realized thats probably what they are thinking when they see me. they probably think, 'wow, what a pain in the butt that must be to stop your life for 2 years to go ride your bike in some scorching hot country were no one really wants to listen to you.' one thing they probably will never understand is that i would give anything to be able to come on this mission. not only is it not a pain in the butt, but an honor and privilege to be able to serve the taiwanese people in a way that only a missionary can. doctors may heal physical wounds, and psychologists may heal emotional wounds, but only the Lord Jesus Christ is able to relieve us from our spiritual wounds. how awesome it is to be able to deliver this message to a people who are so scared by spiritual wounds. i love my mission!

general conference was so amazing! i love hearing the modern day prophets talk. it would be so difficult to face lifes challenges today without these inspired men giving us instruction. when sharing the gospel with the taiwanese people here, that is one of my favorite gospel principles to teach. that God is unchanging, 'he is the same yesterday today and forever.' because God is unchanging he has giving us prophets, just as he gave the people of olden times prophets like Moses and Abraham. several of our investigators came and watched the prophets talk, ALL of our investigators, after hearing them talk agreed that they were definitely God inspired men.

My favorite quote from general conference was by Elder Cook he said, "The rain falls on the just and the unjust." Even when we are living righteous lives we are still not free from the daily storms and battles that may blow our way. i think when some people come across a trial they see it as a curse or chastisment from God. That is not true! Even the righteous have to face battles, matter of fact sometimes it is the righteous and just that have to face the biggest battles. look at Job in the Bible for example. anyways, i just wanted to remind everyone that 'the rain falls on the just and the unjust.' Remember that when things just dont seem to be going your way.

well on a much more serious note i have a joke for you, it might not translate so well.

There was this scientist and he wanted to learn more about penguins so he flew down to Antartica and went to find penguins. the first penguin he found he asked "What is your favorite thing to do?" and the penguin said "kick stuff" the scientist tried to ask the penguin "what stuff?" but the penguin quickly ran away. So the scientist he found another penguin and he asked "what is your favorite thing to do?" and the 2nd penguin said "kick stuff." but before the scientist could ask what that meant the penguin scurried away. Finally the scientist came across another penguin and he went up to him and asked "Do you like to kick stuff?" and the penguin said "NOO!!!!" and the scientist asked "well, why not?" and the penguin said "Because I am Stuff." its a lot funnier in chinese. (if you dont get it the 3rd penguins name is stuff)

okay it was a lame joke just forget it. :)

love ya,
Elder Craig Anderson