Saturday, January 30, 2010

Poop Story: Swallowing A Tooth on Its Sanitzation and Recovery

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 3:43 AM

It's week 6 of the transfer! That means next Preparation day is Monday, not Wednesday so you need to email me by Monday night. And I need everyone's phone numbers. I don't know them. And how it will work when I call. Like will you guys three way? I used to be the one to figure all that out, does anyone else know how? Who should I call first? Who will be together?

Monday, January 25, 2010

Status of Work in Danshui, Taiwan Taipei Mission

Pretty much all I have to say this week is that this area is going great.  Usually there are dramatic moments in every transfer, but there has been no drama this transfer and it is wonderful.

I've really gotten to see the Lord's hand in this work this transfer since we aren't teaching a million lessons, but our investigators that our progressing are doing really great! The Lord really has prepared people and it's amazing to be a part of his work. He will help us find, teach, and as they have been emphasizing so much lately, baptize.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Subway Tracking

Hi again. This week has gone pretty good. As a couple of you noticed, I passed through another birthday, becoming 22 years old. And in case you are wondering why that sentence is a little strange, I've started to directly translate Chinese at times, as I'm getting lazier. Whatever language I think in, that is what comes out, so the strange English is mostly direct translation problems...although it might partly be due to the fact that I haven't been writing a million and a half papers a week for a little over a year now, so I'm actually slightly worried about my English.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Adventures in Africa: Blog of the Month


I ran across a fascinating blog called Adventures in Africa.

It chronicles the happenings of President Mike and his wife Pam Headlee who are assigned as the second mission president in the Democratic Republic of the the Congo in Kinshasa.  The couple both served together after he retired from selling insurance as humanitarian missionaries in Africa prior to their call in 2009. 

Monday, January 11, 2010

New Cellphone Referral System

Sunday, January 10, 2010 8:00 PM

Hello again from Danshui (or technically I live in Zhuwei, but whatever).This week was quite the interesting week! This area is way different from my other areas, as that we do a LOT of traveling, so instead of finding ourselves booked at the church all day when we are busy, we find ourselves traveling the MRT from Shipai, to Danshui, to Beitou, etc. It's a new type of busy, and I'm getting way better at contacting.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Brazil Teresina Mission

Brazil Teresina Mission


Mission Website(s)


Missionary Site(s)

MissionSite.Net--Elder Rick J.Harris 2009-2011

MissionSite.Net--Elder Daniel Ashton  2009-2011




Christmas Parties

On Christmas Day I received the obligatory call from my daughter serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission.  She said that her mission wasn't doing anything mission-wide for Christmas but that her district might get together and have a small meal together.  I was a bit surprised that not much was happening since my other two daughters who had served in the Italy Rome Mission and the Korea Daejon Mission had some kind of mission party or activity.  In the Korea Daejon Mission the mission president's wife even coordinated our sending our presents to the home so that she could make sure every missionary got some small gift at a zone conference.  Perusing my missionary peeps on my sidebar I found out what missionaries do on Christmas varies greatly from mission to mission.

The True Meaning of Christmas: Building A Sustainable Future A Family at a Time

From time to time I run across something unique that some missionary shares on their blog and which I feel should be read by a greater audience.  One of the blogs I have been following is Sister Debra Andersen's La Piedra.  Sister Andersen and her companion Sister Downs have discovered the true meaning of Christmas.  I was really impressed by her actions and thoughts this past couple of weeks as they unselfishly looked out for a family they recently baptized.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Questioning Whether A Mission is Worthwhile

Monday, January 4, 2010 3:35 AM

This week was quite the week for me.  I have done some stupid things, but I think I've learned a lot.  I mean, learn from your mistakes right?  At least, I hope I'm learning.  Sometimes with all the talks I read such as "The Fourth Missionary" I wonder how useful it is to be on a mission.  I mean, it's hard to be exactly obedient and I haven't been good at it, I try to improve all the time and I feel like every transfer I get a little better, but I still just am so far from perfectly obedient, and it's hard because it says in that talk if you aren't perfectly obedient and have charity, your mission doesn't change you at all and it was pretty worthless.  Then I feel pretty crappy and wonder if I'll ever be the 4th missionary and my mission will be worth it at all.  I hope so, but right now I'm still figuring it all out. I kind of wish I hadn't read that talk.  It kind of upset me.  I wonder why. It doesn't sound like a false doctrine concept.  I guess it's just one hard to swallow, because it's not hard to come on a mission and come home in vain.  In fact, I can't promise I won't.  But, I'm trying to not.