Dear everyone,

So for this week there are a number of things that happened which weren’t really out of the ordinary but i am definitely greatful for!

First, My companion… He is super legit! I can say that from him i have learned so much about much more than just missionary work! We have had such success together and seen many miracles! I have seen so many people as they have come to understand this gospel and gods love for them as individuals and as families, just change. This change is amazing! I get to be a part of it and i love that.

Second, The miracles. i kind of just said that in the last one but hey it deserves to be re-mentioned! Just as we go out and have fun with these people in Taiwan i get to see thier personalities and just have such a fun time with them! through all of this i also get to help them come to know the happiness of the gospel!

Third, quite honestly is just this gospel!

I love my mission! i have been humbled so much sense being out!

Story time:

This week for our english class we had an english party as we do every transfer! The theme was Minute to win it and we had to come up with some games for our part of the activity so me and my companion both came up with one! he came up with an "identity game" where you right your name then you shuffle the names and everyone gets one but they can’t look so they ask questions to figure out who they are. it was a super fun game! then i came up with a game where you have to knock over bottles with a ball thats in some nylons. now for the real story…. so we walk into a 7-11 because they have everything you will ever need! and we grab some water, candy, …and nylons. We walk up to the clerk and the whole way up there we are kind of arguing to see who is going to buy the nylons! so we decide alright we both buy one pair and we will just explain it to this teenager at the desk, great plan easy enough! so we go up and put our stuff down and she starts scanning everything and she gets to the nylons and stops for a second and just keeps going. so my companion, the all wise Elder Lindahl, decided to say something so she doesn’t make assumptions or anything so he says "oh don’t worry we are just buying these for a party we are having tonight!" at that point she doesn’t say anything just looks at us and looks really kind of worried! then we both realize how just strange that must have sounded. Two foreigners, buying nylons, having a party, which they don’t really have in Taiwan so she didn’t understand! after that we just walk out and start laughing at our selves! and that is my most awkward buy on my mission so far!! i say so far just to leave room for other things…. not planning anything i promise!

anyway love you all! the church is true, God loves you all, Repentance works!, and our life is ment to be enjoyed to its fullest so don’t let yourself get down 🙂

That kid you all used to know… 😉

Elder Miner

Hey everyone!

Alright so this week has been a great one! to start on Tuesday we had our Outdoor zone conference in a super beautiful place in Hua Lien. to be honest i forgot the name of it but its like taroca gorge or something like that! we woke up at 3 in the morning on tuesday and didn’t get back until about 10:30 that night! it was a long day but be had so much fun and it was a great day of trainings! ill add some pictures for sure don’t even worry about it!

Then we had a normal week up until saturday when we had to go back up to hua lien which is a 3 hour train ride by the way! we went up there for stake conference! they had a small meeting for the adults on saturday and then normal on sunday it was sweet! we have some amazing people in our stake down here in Taidong and Hualien! oh and last week i passed off phase 1!!! there are 3 phases in the language study thing. first is gospel chinese second is everday chinese then third is characters… so i took way longer than i would have liked on phase 1 but i am now studying harder than i have before!

Update on just the area in general because i know that i have missed the best parts in my emails im sure haha! so we have 3 baptismal date investigators! there is Tim 鄭 (zheng) he is super sick! i love this kid1 he is 16 and super prepared for the gospel! kind of quiet but he is sweet! then there is Travis 張 (zhang) he is super sweet also! when we contacted him he had already read the book of mormon all the way through and just told us straight up that he wants to get baptized when his mom says he can! super excited about him!! then its shoni who has such a great sense of humor its almost hard to teach her sometimes! haha:) they are all awesome!

Last thing that happened! so we taught a drunk guy! well we tried… haha we start talking to him and he just goes off on such random things! haha super funny, then he started to ask us if we could tickle him so that him laughing would take away his sins… it was a little strange not going to lie…. and no we didn’t tickle him…. but hey we are planning on going back when he’s a little more sober to see if we can help him!

that is it for this week! nothing super crazy! just another day as a deciple of christ! Hope all is going well back home! love you all!

Elder Miner

孟長老 (Elder Miner)

So this week we have seen some crazy miracles! we have started this thing its called the Project purification. Basically its we fast for things that we are doing or not doing that we could change to be more intune with the spirit and more successful as a missionary in general. we have been doing that and we have seen some crazy improvement! to start we had a miracle run in with this kid and it turns out that he has read through the book of mormon already and really wants to be baptized! only thing keeping him back is he has to be taught the lessons and that his mom wants him to be an adult which is 20 in Taiwan. (so yeah we aren’t adults and we kind of just do what we want 😉 )

Another thing! we have had two new baptismal commitments! which is zhang, and cai! they are sweet and im excited to see them progress! also we had a lesson with a monk1 it was super interesting but he was super willing to listen to what we had to share so i guess that works 🙂 this is the lords work and im glad im a part of it! 🙂 haha!

here are some pictures of the week with and LA and an investigator

some great chocolate from a member!

my ward mission leader and his super funny almost english shirt 🙂

From: Nathan Miner [mailto:nathan.miner@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2015 11:24 PM
To: NathanMissionary@thepickandshovel.com
Subject: [Elder Miner’s Missionary Mailing List] 大家好

So this week… yeah 🙂 It was a good week! had some really great moments! at the start of the week we had some really hard times not going to lie but that is expected. what i want to focus on was how the week ended and the blessings that we saw because of our efforts and just becuase God loves us 🙂

First, we had a day when we were just meeting so many prepared people! I finally have an experience you always here about from missions. I was biking down this road and i look down this little road off to our right and see this guy walking pretty far down the road with his umbrella (because it hasn’t stopped raining for a good while… its the best 🙂 im not joking! haha) anyway i see him and just thought “hey, i should go talk to him” so i just told my companion after we had already passed the road and biked my little heart out to catch up to him! so we catch up and he ends up being willing to listen to the whole first lesson and accepted a book of mormon! it was sick!

Second, That same day we went finding before we had a dinner appointment with this lin family! met this guy who told us that he actually just started to believe in christ and wants to learn a lot more! told us that he had no interest in the church until his boss just invited him to a church activity!! goes to show that every members a missionary! 🙂

Third, we had dinner with that lin family and they are soo funny!! i love them! they were making some kind of racist jokes about how black people would order coldstone which was super funny not going to lie! im sorry… but it was 🙂 haha!

Last, we have been teaching this investigator his name is deng zhi yuan and he is legit!! every assignment it the scriptures we give him he reads and makes notes and ask super legit questions…. i haven’t met someone that is searching more for the truth than he is! he so sweet! sad news… he said he is moving back up to Taipei because he is done with his military service… he already told us that he is planning on getting baptized though! he is so sick! i plan on writing him for sure though!

That was this week though! it was super good! heres some pictures!

From: Nathan Miner [mailto:nathan.miner@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2015 11:08 PM
To: NathanMissionary@thepickandshovel.com
Subject: [Elder Miner’s Missionary Mailing List] The week 🙂

So this week we have had some really good things happen! we met with our bishop and the auxilary leaders and set up a night we are pretty much going to train them how to be missionaries!! this ward is so proactive and im excited to see the growth. they have only been a ward for about a month and a half now! so excited to see the change and growth! 🙂

Then this week while finding/ knocking some doors there was this lady that quite honestly is the closest thing to a hippie i have seen in Taiwan! she wanted us to visit her "witch" friend who could help us clean our energy… we politely declined her generous offer.. 🙂 as we were leaving she said that i had "a rainbow light about me" …that is the spirit… all the spirit. then! we found this guy who set a baptismal date on the street!! super sick! he was about to get his glorious mane cut… it was kind of sad he had amazing hair!… but anyway… i can’t wait to see what happens with him!

This week was Elder Matua’s birthday! he is now 19 and he’s super sick! ill attach some pictures of our rice cooker birthday cake… haha 🙂 and our apartment is slowly breaking… the fans (which are necisary in such a hot place… we don’t stop sweating here! haha!), along with the lights and the washer… its super fun times 🙂 OH and the Typhoons that have come into Taiwan aren’t hitting us down here in Tai Dong. so theres no worries there!

Just want to say that i know christ is our savior and redeemer. He literally went through all the things we have gone through even the small ones… i can’t even comprehend that…. but i know he is there and will comfort and guide us in our lives. Rely on him and you cannot go wrong. Thank you for all the support and i hope you are all doing good! 🙂 love you all! until next week 🙂

Elder Miner

Hey everyone!

so surprise! i got a new companion!! wasn’t expecting that but hey what was i thinking im on a mission! 😉 haha its all good im really going to miss Elder Tang but Elder Lindahl is super funny and an awesome missionary for sure!! other than that nothing much.. im terrible at writing emails home when i dont’ have anything to respond to. haha im sorry! i hope that this is satisfactory though! haha 🙂 heres some pictures though!

hey everyone!

so this week was a good one! last p day we ended up going to get this shaved ice thing that was ment for 30-40 people!! good thing we are Americans and can eat a ton though! 😉 Then there was a typhoon that came in! from the sounds of it the entire mission except for us in taidong got hit pretty bad, we just had some strong winds and rain but im not complaining! 🙂 other than that it was just work as usual! just got so say that in the last transfer that ive been down here in Tai Dong ive learned a ton! I love the mission and all that i have learned from the time i have to serve! 🙂

Elder Miner

-Typhoon weather….

-my face describes it perfectly… haha!

Aloha!

So this week was great! got my first interview with the new mission president and i can tell you this he is legit! is is exactly what our mission needs! 🙂 other than that we didn’t have anything too crazy! Ive loved getting to know the members here and all they have to offer to the work. there are seriously some spiritual giants here in Tai Dong! you don’t have to be a member for a lifetime to be a spiritual giant either. just have to have the desire and the will to follow the savior! im glad to be out here and help the church grow out here. The church really is relatively young here in Taiwan and im glad to be apart of the growth 🙂 now… here’s some pictures 🙂

Elder Miner

A super good hot pot… i ate way too much!

From: Nathan Miner [mailto:nathan.miner@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2015 11:10 PM
To: NathanMissionary@thepickandshovel.com
Subject: [Elder Miner’s Missionary Mailing List] (no subject)

Been a crazy week once again! lots of hard work to make my mom proud, and just an overall great time! 🙂

First off new camera! my other camera is now kind of dead….

​This place is just so beautiful! biked up to fu shan this week! met some great people! i got to sing some hymns to a group of drunk people! they invited us over offered us some alcohol (i rejected it if you were wondering…) then we just sang like 2 hymns and i can say that the spirit really does work miracles! it calmed them all right down!

​Went to my first funeral on sunday morning! got permission from the president and it was an experience let me tell you! i was literally the only white person there and everyone knew it! it was so funny though! the culture here is actually really cool i love the people here. glad to be serving!

well till next week!

Elder Miner

Hello everyone!

so sorry i didn’t end up emailing the group last week i got distracted…. and forgot… haha but anyway i have a lot to tell this week!

First off- We got a new mission president and he is sweet! he actually has a website that he wants us to tell everyone about bit i haven’t seen it so you’ll have to tell me how it is… haha he is from Utah and has moved around quite a lot it sounds like.

Second- We had a two hour service activity of just pulling out these bushes in the rain and it was a blast! saw my first banana spider and it was massive! like the body was probably a solid 4-6 inches long… it was kind of creepy haha

Third- I just figured out that two of the investigators from my last area in xin zhuang have baptismal dates and are working toward baptism!!!! I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU HOW EXCITED THAT MAKES ME!!! i wish i could go up there but i doubt that would happen…. haha its all good Team Jesus 🙂

Fourth- I got to reset my pinky this week!! while playing Rugby in the rain i was running and slipped and just landed on my hand. i knew something was up before i looked down but when i did look down at my left hand i saw that my pinky was completely sideways! so before the real pain set in i grabbed it and just moved it back in place! it was so crazy! and sorry… i didn’t take pictures becuase my camera was broken that day…. 🙂

I just want to say that this area is great. saw my first investigator to church this sunday! it was great! we are seeing success and i see miracles everyday. i will be attaching some beautiful pictures at the end of this lovely email. so yeah other than that i don’t think i have a ton to say! love you all, church is true, and life is so much fun!

Elder Miner

oh here is that website to check out! keeps you updated!
taiwantaipeimission.com