Less active and nonactive's

Well we have finally got some good system going in the area guys! We are seeing a ton of cool miracles from i new style of finding. Which is probably the simplest thing you can do on the mission. When you have an open block for contacting and finding. You get a ward list set according to street and pick a few streets in an area, and bike over there; then you if area permits start walking between addresses on the list, and talk to every person on the street and knock the neighbors of the LA's, and contact people. The Lord when he has a specific place to put people is really good and setting up so you meet a ton of good people! Yesterday from the morning looked like it was going to be rough, all finding. Instead in turned into a ton of fun! And within the night hours alone we set up 4 people for the next week to meet. As well as a few LA's. (any missionaries reading i highly recommend trying!)(thanks 莊長老 for the idea)

But this week was so cool! so we had the chance to meet with this man, he is extremely busy and very humble. He has a young daughter, and a wife. We haven't met the other 2 yet. But after sharing the plan of salvation with him, he said he believes everything we have shared, and would like to join the church however the next couple years of his life are going to be very busy. So he is only willing to set a baptism date for 4 years out. We will work with him on that, but it is cool to see people recieve a witness of the truth of what we share. I have no doubt that the blessings of an eternal family will come into this man's life, and that he can become so much stronger than he is now because of this gorpel. I know that this gospel is the only true gorpel and church, and that God is our father and is watching over us.

Also we are continuing to teach that english class in the school, there are 20 small children and 2 or 3 members there that we need to impress and create fun things for. If any of you have ideas for teaching english in games songs or any form let me know. However our members are very impressed with how well we handle them. They had onememberreport this sunday and he said "even though those kids are insane and crazy they missionaries taught them and helped them have fun" So i think the members think we are doing a good job, but really we just play fun kid games that need to use english. However the kids are a ton of fun! it kinda reminds me of family reunions or even a big lake powell trip everyone is crazy and talking and doing stuff and you just kinda direct traffic.😂😂

Thats the way the cookie crumbles 就是這樣子

孔長老

愛你們！！

I can see clearly now the rain is… Back!

DWell it has been quite the enjoyable time here in taiwan! The past 2 weeks have been straight rain, a day break then it comes back with a vengence😂😂 I didn't make you stop you just ran out of water. why are you getting mad at me?

However this week was sooooo dope! for starters we have met some super cool people! ironically we met 4 people over the weekend which were all super cool, none of which we can teach... so we will be happy to give them to other missionaries. But we have seen cool things in our area as well! first things first, we met with Jeremiah again. The flaming red beard from california, who is probably the most confusing man ever. A jew by birth(secretly) but grew up a catholic. believes the bible to be incorrectly translated so he reads several languages of bible to help him get the "real" meaning. He told us he would read the book of mormon through in 2 days. Ill txt him tonight about that and meeting again. He liked the idea of the bom as long as it doesn't replace the bible. he is pretty fun to talk with.

Also we got the english class started!!! inside of the elementary school! We are now weekly teaching 20 kids around the age of 10 give or take. And the class is an hour and a half. So we are in dear need of ideas all the time because we have to make it fun so when the see us and their with their parents they want to talk to us, but they need to learn so their parents like us. However the bishop and his wife helped us by being there so we could do split group activities i think they really liked how it went, they're really trusting us a lot. as far as we know this is the first time this has happened in taiwan, and there is only a 4 month trial period to see if maybe we will spread it out, or continue it here. There is a lot of pressure from the ward and president to succeed..

We also saw a sick miracle we met a guy on the street and we set him up to come to church and he came! he was super cool, when he first got there he kinda seemed like he didn't expect anything from it, but he was respectful and nice, and when he left, he set up to let us share about the restoration with him! we are excited about that! also in this week we met 3 people above the age of 60 more likely 70 that all agreed to come to church with us. (none came 2 have good reasons) but they were all so funny! And it is so rare to find old people even kind of willing to change like that! Most of them here they choose something and don't even think abouyt thinking about ever changing and they are very clear about it. And usually heavily influence children and family members so it was awesome!

I just want every one to know my simple testimony, i know and love christ. I strive to understand all that he has done. But i do know he died for me and for you, and that he is always extending a hand opf love to us, we just have to turn to him and allow him to help. Heavenly Father knows you, and he loves you, and wants to talk with you, start a conversation ask him if you does know you. He will answer

Elder Conover!  孔長老

Back in the swing of things

I AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEE MMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!! This week has been super fun guys!! And it has been full of miracles!!! To start off we are starting to get our area to where it needs to be! We have had a lot of time on the streets and a lot of time to try to build our investigators! But we are starting to get some cool people to teach!

I want to start off by talking about 王國鼎 Wang Guo Ding, he is a sick new investigator we have started teaching this week. He studied A little about our church on line, and thinks we've got some cool things to talk about. However he is a devout christian to his church. But at the age of 27 (more or less) he is so devouted to finding real truth. He told us that he has been praying for an answer but none came. We talked to him about church and reading and said he hasn't done it. So we told him if you are lacking in effort why would god answer you, He responded very powerfully he would start reading. 

We also had the chance to go to a basketball tournament with a ton of elders during p day. Which was super sick! We played for like 3 hours straight and my dad showed up, which was really fun. Totally roasted him;) love you Elder Facer. 

We have done some mini exchnages with the zoneleaders this week for a couple reasons but one of the biggest things is just that they are helping us find more people! And we were out on the streets walking around with a broken bike to fix (mine) when all of the sudden we hear "hi, guys how are you?!" Me and Elder Anderson turn to find a very white man, with a large ginger beard, and longish hair and a baseball cap biking towards us. We had quite the conversation with him, which ended up with him saying "well it would be really cool to find sometime and discuss with you guys, lets trade numbers." Gladly we accepted and later that week about 2 or 3 days, we get a text that says, "hey lets find a time to meet. I want to discuss truth ONLY from the bible though." So he knows a litttle about us.

There is a ton of stuff going on still but i really dont want to write about it, 加油 love you guys

Elder Conover 孔長老

So I'm a little rusty

HAhaha this title mostly has to do with our last P-day, we went to a TRAMPOLINE place! It was so nice to be there! Man im such a wimp now, i was having trouble trying anything new or cool! However i did refresh all the things i haven't done for about a year or more on the tramp! We had a ton of missionaries there it was so fun! 

But this week was super fun! because we had the chance to start having set-ups and things fill up our schedule! Luckily because this week has been constant rain the past 4 or more days, its gotten a little bit cold and we have to keep switching shoes by the heater so we can all have dry shoes to wear, and we wear full rain gear all day which can be a little annoying but better than being wet and cold:)

This week we also have been wroking alot with our bishop to get one of the ward's projects satrted to help us missionaries find more families to teach. We have been trying to start an english class in a school so we can meetthe families and another time when not in the class or on school grounds we would go and contact them, and since they already have had a postivie experience with us, and the kids will like us, they would have more of a desire to talk with us and hopefully learn the gospel! It has been really good chance to build realtionships and to also help this area really improve! 

Well i just want to share about the fact that God will push you to the very limit, just right to the edge literally to the point where you think you can't take it then he will show up like Gandalf with his eagles to swoop down and carry you away:) (hehe i still love LOTR)

孔長老 Love you guys!!!

What goes around comes around

Well isn't that nice to know! haha this week has been pretty full of some pretty dope stuff! For starters I know my area a little better! This place is really smalll so it is way easier to figure out where everything is! To like our furthest area it is like a 20 minute bike ride, if you start from the chapel (which is a little ways out of our area....) It does however have plenty of hills! I'm staying in the foothills and in the mountains:) super fun! 

But we had a lot of people at the house this week snice we live with the zone leaders and they need to go on exchnages with everyne we had 6 people in the house quie often. How ever we had some fun frisbee days. We also had a training with president this week! which is always so awesme!  especially since we do interviews with them! He is a very inspiring leader! 

We had a tn of time to be out on the srteets this week while we are trying to meet new people to teach! We have had the chance to meetsome really cool people, we haven't seen a ton of results yet, but they are coming! And it has been so fun with Elder Gibson because since he just got here smetimes he gets confused and it makes some pretty fun times. Like he was trying to tell a guy that he was awesome and actually told him he was a stick... We had a good lagh there. It brings back good memories of Elder Facer after a contact that i thought was awesome totally helped me realize i didn't understand it at all.

But we saw some really cool miracles, we have met quite a few really cool possible families to teach, and our bishop just gave us a referral to a nice husband and wife, who actually have a son in the church but there is a little confusion in the family, so basically our goal is to teach and baptize them and then that will solve alot of it. 

That is pretty much all psych, just a little taste

Love you guys!  -Elder Conover

I am a dad

WOW! I had a crazy week guys! For starters i have a baby now, and i moved to a new area. #whitewash (thats what that means you and your comp come into an area at the same time) That makes 2 in a row so far. At the beginning of the week we played moving madness which is a game where every missionary in your district guesses what is about to happen. Only one person thought i was moving. And for the record they guessed the place wrong. However past companions and other missionary friends called it. They told me the last little while I'd train and leave 鳳林 FengLin. 

I'm crazy sad to move, we started seeing some really cool success especially lately but i have full confidence in My old companion.:) So i went from the most rural area in our mission to a very city place that last year around august formed a ward. So very new area. It is in the south of New Taipei city. It is called BiTan 碧潭!! It has been nice to see people again. It is kind of wierd i have to re teach myself and my trainee how to street coontact...😂

This area is already incredible, it has had a little bit of struggles the past little bit, trying to get off the ground. But i have already met with a few members here, and gone around on the streets trying to learn my area and there is so much potential here!!! Our Bishop told us the biggest challenge in the ward is that no one knows how to do missionary work, but they are all willing to. Our Ward Mission Leader showed us some super solid plans for different phases of working between missionaries and members! I am crazy excited to be here!

NEW COMPANION--- Solid super chill man from Kaysville, Utah. He already is super solid with chinese. And has incredible desire to improve. His name is Elder Gibson. He is a little quiter but super funny! He is already doing a great job at being willing to try everything! It has been a fun move. We now live in a four-man apartment with the zone leaders. And I currently ride a tire with a completely flat tire because i don't want to fix it and mine should be here soon, and our area is tiny anyway!:) 

Last fun story, as we were trying to find out where our bishop lives, we didn't have bikes at that time. But we leaves about 10-15 minute bus ride away, so about 3 ish kilometers away. And he told us what bus to take and where to get off, however since i didn't know a single thing about our area, we got on the right bus wrong direction... However luckily before we got too far there was a stop that looked like the exact stop we needed, so we jumped off, in the other side of our area. So after some problem solving and question asking a lady helped us know where to go, jumped on the right bus right direction, and then she gave us the wrong stop to get off.... So we ran about 2 kilometers or so to our bishops house, and it took about 1 1/2 hours to get there. (about 10-15 minute bike) I love not knowing anything.

Love you guys a whole silly large amount.  -孔杰叡長老

Sir bikes a lot

First thought every time I get on, "what the heck did we even do?" Second thought, "How the flip am I gonna describe this stuff?" Third thought, "I'll just type randomly until it is long enough to give my mom something good to read." So in short my week has been super incredible.

We have seen some very different miracles this week. The last little while our most progressed people have stalled, but this week has turned that around. We just aren't sure how yet... To start off the awesome family the 王 Wang family, we went to visit them on tuesday, and we knock on the door and here the classic "哥哥來了" "big brothers came!!" Then the mom comes to the door, the 3 devious kids squeeze into the door way around her legs, and then run out to say hi. Elder Cheney starts laughing with them as i talk with the mom. Surprisingly what she said was this "let's not meet tonight, we will just go to your church and then you can meet with us." in other words she was kinda just saying no thanks. But after asking a little bit that is not what it was, Their little neighborhood area is all the same church, and long-time neighbors/relatives and they have been bagging on them for meeting with us, and have not been nice to the family. And she basically was saying we don't like what is happening here, so we can't meet here right now but when we come to church we can talk. Probably the strangest miracle of the week.

We also met a super awesome potential last week again, and began meeting with him for reals this week, he is probably one of the dopest people ever!!! He is this crazy cool dude with a young daughter. And he is just a quiet, respectful, kind man. We taught the restoration and invited to baptism, and he was loving it, but said no to baptism for the next 6 months because he is scared he won't measure up to god's expectations. We explained the atonement a little bit, and re-invited but he was still fearful. We came back later and taught plan of salvation and followed up on his reading and he literally said this. "Oh, yeah i have been reading not a ton though, i only read the first 10 chapters so far. And i don't completely understand everything that is happening but that book is definantly a good(not like the story is cool, like a good book) book. We looked at each other and nearly lost it laughing we were so happy. He is a champion!

For our P-day this week, on sunday our ward mission leader walks up to me and says, "what do you want to eat" utterly confused by the random question i asked "what? when?" and he said P-day ya siklly goose, and i guess everyone had planned to eat with him, and they told us just then. But we biked up here to Ji'An and then biked up past Mei Lun to a beack called 7 star beach. A very dangerous beach, really only meant for like wading and watching. 1- it is insanely windy 2- the waves are commonly huge 3- a short way away from shore is a deep drop off, with a strong downward current 4- just past that if you don't get pulled under and keep swimming there is very powerful riptides that if caught in, you would be to japan in 3 days 5- I am a missionary. However it was fun to throw rocks, and play around there. We threw bigs rocks, small rocks, rocks at each other, at other rocks, at the water. We stood in the water a little bit. We jumped off a ledge. All was fun!

Happy is truly a choice everyone, sometimes you can just bike through a down poor of rain, a little chilly, and have your body be utterly soaked head to toe, and just be singing christmas songs with your companion mid-febuary. And sometimes you can be biking on a gorgeous night with a slight breeze, and just be annoyed. It is up to you my friends please choose to be happy and do things that make you happy!

Love you all Elder conover!