MEET A PROPHET OF GOD!

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, pictured here, is Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He, along with the church's President Thomas S. Monson and First Counselor Henry D. Eyring, along with the current Twelve Apostles make up the governing leadership of the church. Like the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ during His ministery on earth, these good and righteous men were also called by Priesthood authority and ordained to those high and holy callings by the power of God and by the laying on of hands and are revered and sustained by the fourteen million members of the church world-wide. Talks by these, and other Prophets of decades past can be found by logging onto the Church web site at
http://www.lds.org/. Find Gospel Library and click on General Conference. You can then select the language that you would like to hear or read the talk in. It is also recorded as a video for those wishing to see the person speaking. After selecting the language you desire it will then make available for you to access General Conference talks by year, topic and the name of the General Authority speaking. I testify that God's words and desires are voiced through these modern-day Prophets today as they were 2000 years ago through the original Disciples of Christ. We know from ancient and modern-day Prophets of our life before our birth, why we came to earth and our eternal life after this mortal existence and that knowledge and assurance is available to you too.

President and Sister Uchtdorf, in two seperate missionary conferences, met with, taught and counseled approximately 300 missionaries in the Taichung and Taipei, Taiwan Missions. Sunday evening they brought a wonderful spirit to a special members' conference in the sports arena in Taipei attended by over 6,000 faithful Taiwan church members and friends who were inspired by the messages shared and the beautiful uplifting music provided by a choir of about 300, accompanied by violins.

President Uchtdorf with his grandsons and a few of the office missionary staff.

Sister Greene and I had the wonderful opportunity of talking with and experiencing the kind and loving spirit of a Prophet of God and we testify that he is in fact one of God's Prophets on earth today.

THE GOSPEL REACHES ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN

One of our missionaries finished his mission about ten days ago and while traveling home he continued serving as a missionary by teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those he met. From one of the cities where he had a layover he called in a number of contacts, through the missionary referral network. One young man was Chinese and spoke only Mandarin and was on his way to Iceland, which is part of the Denmark Mission. With only 12 missionaries in Iceland, and none able to speak Mandarin, two of our missionaries, Elder Porter and Elder Chuang, have been teaching him using "Skype" on the Internet. It is exciting to watch them teaching, thousands of miles from each other, with their scriptures in front of them while looking at each other on the monitor. This is truly a "You Ban Fa" "There is a way" experience.

Here in Taichung there are dozens of these mechanical men, motorized manikins, waving their flags up and down with both "hands"at the oncoming traffic. The first time I saw one in the middle of the street I had to take a quick second look because it looked very human. Sister Greene was a good sport and agreed to pose with the good looking guy in a yellow rain coat.

The people here in Taichung are some of the most friendly and caring people that we have ever seen. This couple, with their handicapped daughter, park their food truck on the street near the mission office where they cook breakfast hamburgers, with a fried egg in them. They always call out to us with a happy greeting and are genuine in their feelings toward us.

Each day, as we cross the same busy intersection on our way to the office, we see this little man who supports himself by selling flowers from one basket and gum from the other to people stopped at the traffic light. He has no arms below his elbows but he works hard at selling his wares to the people at the stop light waiting for it to change. I quite often buy a flower or a pack of gum, and even though he doesn't speak English and I speak very little Mandarin, he has become a dear friend. He was gone for a couple of weeks and we were worried that perhaps something had happened to him. A few days ago we came to the intersection and saw him on the sidewalk across the street. I waved one hand at him and he lit up like a Christmas tree, putting down both baskets he started waving at us with both arms in the air. This is another example of a true "You Ban Fa" "there is a way," man who hasn't let adversity stop him.

These two men are brothers and they own a taxi cab. They park on a main street across from the mission home near the hospital, along with about a dozen other cabs, and wait for customers. They like to practice their English with us and always call out "good morning, how are you?" The older brother brings a chair and a portable radio in his trunk and they sit at the same spot, under the same tree each morning. These people and the many shop keepers near our apartment brighten each new day. The taxi drivers even asked for copies of their pictures. We so often remember the words to the well know hymn---"As I have loved you love one another. This new commandment love one another. By this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Our hearts are full of love for these, the Lord's children in Taiwan.

WHAT A CELEBRATION ON SUNDAY,THE 4TH OF JULY!

What a wonderful way to celebrate the 4th of July. Alvin Chong Chen chose this day to be baptized, and in-as-much as I have known him since he was in our English class four or five months ago, and have carried on a weekly email conversation with him, sending him General Conference talks and the lds.org web site, he asked me to baptize and confirm him. His English is very good and he reads everything he can about the church, including "Jesus the Christ." The two Assistants to the mission president, Elders Oldham and Taylor taught the majority of the lessons, with me sitting in helping and sharing my testimony during the sessions.

For the past few months, without an official calling, he has taken it upon himself to be the official hymn book custodian for our small English speaking branch, handing out the hymn books before the meetings and collecting them after the meetings. Sister Greene has developed a special relationship with him and often shares scriptures and conference talks with him. She was asked to speak at his baptism and gave a beautifully inspiring talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Our wonderful eleven English teachers will be leaving this week and a new group has already arrived to replace them. ` Our Gospel Doctrine teacher, Susan Butterfield and our Relief Society president Megan Gaian will be greatly missed. These bright and dedicated young LDS women, with the majority of the eleven being college graduates, come on six-month contracts and provide a great service while they are in Taichung. Other English teachers served as the Primary President, the Young Woman's President, the Ward chorister and counselors in various ward organizations.

Susan Williams, Carly Ostler and Candice Gonsalves are happy to be going home after their life-changing experience teaching in Taichung, Taiwan.

NEW TAIWAN, TAICHUNG MISSION PRESIDENT ARRIVES

Sisters Ramsey and Kilgore, along with about 24 missionaries from the Taichung Zone, await the arrival of President and Sister Bishop, the New Taiwan, Taichung Mission President. President Bishop and his wife were escorted to Taichung from Taipei early Wednesday morning June 30, 2010 by Michael and Laurie Hoer, the departing mission president.

Missionaries anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new president. Each missionary had a red long- stem rose to present to the president and his wife.

The final farewell to President and Sister Hoer before they leave the mission. They will be missed.

President Bishop greeting Sister Greene, the mission office secretary.

President and Sister Clark T. Bishop from Orem, Utah.

OFF TO ANOTHER MEETING

Hurry up guys, we'll be late for the meeting.

SUMMER HEAT AND DAILY RAIN STORMS

This little 80+ year-old lady lives in our apartment complex and she sits near the elevator all day every day and greets us with a toothless grin. She is so crippled that to walk she has to bend over and hold on to a short little stool and scoots it in front of her as she hobbles around. I'm sure that it must be very painful for her. She speaks Taiwanese so few of the missionaries can understand her. The gospel of Jesus Christ would be such a blessing to this little Buddhist woman. I tell her in Mandarin that "I love her" and with a twinkle in her eyes she grins, laughs and shakes her head and hands back and forth while talking rapidly, and even though I can't understand a word that she is saying, I can almost hear her saying "oh don't be silly, I am an old crippled woman, how could you love me?" She really enjoys the attention that Sister Greene and I give her and waves to us even before we get to her. She brightens our day and hopefully we do the same for her.

Hurray, we finally arrived. This is the gathering of the king-size snails. I wonder if they had an opening hymn and a prayer before starting their meeting.

President and Sister Hoer raised these two turtles, along with five very large gold fish, in the small pond in the mission home back yard. They were about the size of a half-a-dollar when they put them in the pond about three years ago. When they bend over the pond to feed them the turtles come over and poke their heads out of the water as if to say, "ok, ok, now give us the food." They are fun to watch and I believe that the Hoer's will really miss them.

FAREWELL TO A GREAT MISSION PRESIDENT

President Hoer, wearing a traditional Mandrin coat, with some of the office missionaries; Elders Greene, Canann, Porter and Chuang.

This picture of the Savior, presented to President and Sister Hoer in behalf of the 164 missionaries in the mission, was created from over 1,500 pictures of mission baptisms conducted over the past year or so. They will be greatly missed by the missionaries and by the members in the Taiwan, Taichung Mission, but the mission"Youbanfa" "There is a way" attitude will live on.

Elder and Sister Greene with President and Sister Hoer at their final zone conference before
leaving the mission field on July 1, 2010.

This is the building of the Mission Arch at the zone conference with President Hoer helping place the "Keystone" of our religion, the "Book of Mormon" into its proper place.

The Arch in place provides an excellent backdrop for these missionaries who make up the Taizhong District of the Zone. Elder and Sister Greene at the right side, and the office staff, Elders Chuang,Taylor,Oldham,Porter and Canann kneeling on the front row.

SERVICE TO OTHERS BRINGS GREAT JOY!

Taiwan is known for the giant Banana Spiders. We came upon this one as we hiked up a mountain trail just east of Taichung during a little time away from the office. They are called banana spiders because of the size and shape of their bodies. This one was rather small, about the size of your open hand.

These two wonderful sister missionaries taught a rather large, ok a very large, woman and she was baptized but had nothing to wear for the confirmation in the sacrament meeting. These sisters went to a store and purchased two identical skirts, borrowed our sewing machine and spent the time to completely reconstruct the two skirts into one extra-large skirt which would fit the woman. These sisters are a perfect example of our mission slogan, "youbanfa" which translated into English means "there is a way!"

This is Sister Greene with brother Lin. He is a very nice man who teaches English and we have gotten to know him very well and have taught him the gospel. His father was in the hospital for a few weeks after choking on some food and did not breathe for a long time which caused brain damage. We went to see him in the hospital and assisted his son-in-law in giving brother Lin's father a blessing. His wife has been a member of the church for thirty-five years and their son and daughter are members and have both served missions for the church, married returned missionaries and have five children between the two of them. Brother Lin's father died and Sister Greene and I were invited to the Buddhist funeral for him. It was very different from those we are familar with but we were very impressed with the way the extended family of this man were honored and respected and they even recognized Elder Greene as a minister of the Church of Jesus Christ and had him come up and show his respect to the family.

The day after the funeral we were picked up at the mission office by brother Lin's son and we spent about an hour-and-a-half at their home teaching about the state of the spirit after it leaves the mortal body. We used many of the scriptures from the 40th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon. After our visit in their home we were taken to a very nice out-door restaurant for a family dinner. At the dinner was brother and sister Lin, her mother, their son Nelson with his wife and two children. We had a wonderful time together and we have invited brother and sister Lin to our apartment this friday evening for a Mexican dinner and a lesson on the Lord's "plan of happiness." He and I have a lot in common. He likes to garden and makes great home-made bread and my father and his father died with in about two months of each other. Needless to say he and I get along quite well.

Chinese children are beautiful and I think in the pre-existance I must have been partly Chinese.

ANOTHER AMAZING FUNERAL PARADE

At the head of this parade was the female band leader and two flower tossers with their baskets of flowers followed by the young woman's band playing hymns. What the women wear in these parades never fails to amaze me.

I have never learned the meaning of the men decorated like devils in attire that would be appropriate for an American Halloween parade.

These characters are fairly common in parades here. There were four or five in this parade.

All of the funeral parades have drum trucks followed by huge drums on wheels which are beat upon by walking drumers

Sister Greene is never far from her desk especially when new missionaries are scheduled to arrive or when missionaries are preparing to go home. We had seventeen new missionaries arrive two days ago and she did all of the paperwork to get them here legally along with countless letters to the missionaries, parents, bishops and stake presidents long before they even enter the Missionary Training Centers, either in Provo, UT. for foreign missionaries or in the Phillipines for the local Taiwan missionaries. Five days after these missionaries arrived we have fourteen missionaries completing their missions and returning to their homes, and Sister Greene has to have all of their exit packets, missionary travel tickets and documents completed and in their hands and everyone mentioned above notified by mail weeks before they are scheduled to leave. As for Elder Greene, I have to have all of their financial paperwork completed for their arrival and later for their departure, plus getting their monthly money to them during their mission and in my spare time I pay all of their rent, utility, travel and other expenses related to the missionaries and the mission home..

A TRIP TO THE TAIPEI TEMPLE

Last Saturday some of us in our small LDS Branch went to the Taipei, Taiwan Temple. The Girls in this picture are the English teachers who came to Taichung to spend six months to a year teaching English to young children at two different private schools. In all we have ten LDS young women who are all university graduates and they give our little English speaking Branch a great deal of support. Our Relief Society President, Primary President and Young woman's President all come from this group of young women.

This young member, and a close friend of ours, is applying to attend BYU-Idaho and is hoping to be accepted for the Fall 2010 semester. Her name is Geena Li and she served a mission here in Taiwan.

These are some of the members, meeting outside of the temple, who made the three-hour trip to the temple with us. Some made it a family outing and brought their children.

This is just a small Portion of the huge Taichung Cemetery where thousands of mostly Buddhist Chinese are buried. The giant pagoda is a focal point on the edge of the cemetery and from the various floors you can see the whole cemetery

Today is Monday, April 5, in Taichung, Taiwan and is the annual Qing Ming Festival or better known in the USA as Memorial Day. We left early, about 8:30, for the cemetery with forty two Sisters and Elders to participate in a large service project involving the cleaning, sweeping and bagging of trash that had collected since last year. We all wore the church "Helping Hands" shirts and were very visible among the hundreds of Chinese there to clean up the tombs and graves of their departed loved ones. On many occasions, as Sister Greene and I picked up empty food containers and other trash, people would come up to us and thank us for cleaning their cemetery. They were surprised and very pleased at what we were doing and often people would bring their trash to us rather than throwing it on the ground. There were TV camera crews and reporters there and some of us will be on the evening news report, although none of us will see it. This kind of service project is very good public relations for the church.

Elder and Sister Greene cleaning a few of the grave sites in this predominantly Buddhist cemetery. A number of graves were in disrepair with no family members to attend to them.

Sister Infanger (from Idaho) on the left and Sister Weinheimer (Ivins, UT) on the right.

When we finished we hiked a short distance to a coverd pavillion, with President Hoer and Sister Infanger carrying the water, to eat a lunch that the city government had provided for us. It was a full morning effort that was well appreciated by the government and all of the Chinese families who were visiting the grave sites and we missionaries really enjoyed giving a morning of service. The weather was overcast and cool during the work but as we finished and gathered together to eat, the heavens opened and we had a heavy rain which lasted until we had finished eating and were ready to head back to the mission office.