Oct 1, 2012
Dearest family and friends,
I love you all so much. I know I say that right away
almost every time, but I feel it is the first thing that comes to mind, and the
first thing I want you to read. I just hope you know this is no vain
repetition, but straight form the heart every week.
Here is my letter to president,
Hey President,
This week was great. The key indicators for my area are
still not set up so I will just tell you in the order listed in our planners
004135315415 and our goals next week are 00647440753. We were also able to
visit 5 active families this week and our goal is the same next week. Hopefully
next week you can get it set up.
This week was great. We saw many miracles. I was so
happy. The miracles we saw include after one day of finding hard all day with
no new investigators found, our zone leaders said that they found two new
investigators for us. Another great experience was we went to a member’s house
and shared a message, and asked for a referral and they told us about a family
they think is prepared and have plans to introduce them to us, then I felt to
be as PMG directs and ask, "if there is anyone else?" and they gave
me another family and another friend who they think were interested. It was amazing. Also once at a stoplight I
had a really good feeling toward a mother with a toddler boy, but had already
engaged another man, so I told my companion to talk to her and told him,
"I feel great about her." So he did and she pulled over at her
family’s bakery and gave us moon cakes and
milk and said she is really interested in Christianity. We were able to
have a prayer with her and in the end she said, " I want to learn more
about this." and set up for the next day. I have never really worked with
members before and am seeing the help it can be. Having visited 5 families
really helped at church to feel more welcomed. I feel both wards are totally
willing to support us. I am so excited for this new area and honestly believe
it will be thriving in a few weeks.
Anyways about my
companion, Elder Thornley's, progress--he is doing well. He is starting to talk
to people without me telling him to and he is starting to understand more. We
are working on contacting together, and are getting used to the area and each
other so things are going better all around.
He is still having a hard time talking to strangers and often doesn't
know what to say in contacting or in a lesson. I think that is because he’s
never had a father, he is a little different than most missionaries and is
having different problems than most. But his heart is pure and his faith strong.
I think he will be a great missionary. Our relationship is getting better I
believe.
I am studying the
New Testament which is so great. I am loving it. Thanks for the invite.
My language is
still coming along. I hope to pass phase 3 soon.
Thanks for everything, Elder Sabey
So yeah, things are going well. My trainee is very open
with me which is so great. His personality is more introverted, and he has a
hard time doing some missionary things but is a great guy and working hard to
overcome the natural man.
This week was so cool, I am starting to find by the
spirit better. This week there were two people when I saw them I felt like I
had to talk to them, one of them I talked about in the above letter the other
seemed hihao (fine) but in the end when I asked for his number he gave it to
me. So we will see what happens. This week we visited both the bishops and they
both gave me a list of names to go visit. Yesterday we went to visit the names
and took a wrong turn, saw a family BBQing and contacted them, and the dad
invited us to eat some shrimp, then I was able to share a simple message and
set him up for Tuesday. Then found the right place and met a less active who
hasn't been to church or prayed or read scriptures for a year, and set him up,
then ran into a lady with a husky on the way to the next person’s home, and she
committed to come to English class. Then we made it to another less active
family and they were super excited to see us and we also set them up. Then went
to visit the other bishop and told him about this experience and so he went and
gave me a much better list of people to contact. I am so excited. Visiting the
bishops was an invite from the president and working with members was also
another invite. It was cool to see the miracles of following his invites.
Spiritual thought of the week: When Christ died the veil
of the temple was rent from top to bottom. I never realized that if there were
no rips from top to bottom we could not go through the veil and enter into the
celestial presence of god. Only in and through the atonement of Christ is it
possible. I am so thankful for temples and the truth they bring to our minds
and joy they bring to our lives. In nearly every letter I received you all
talked about temples. In my study notebook I have a "Church/Temple"
section and the weird thing is most of the entries are on the temple. I thought
it would be the other way around. I am so glad to have a church that has
temples.
Love you all,
Elder Sabey
Oct 21, 2012
Loved ones!
Nimen zenma yang? This week was so incredible; I am so
excited to tell you about it. But first I will answer your questions.
How is your companion doing? He is awesome. I enjoy being
with him and helping him to overcome some of his fears. He is willing to do
almost anything I tell him to do. He is also being more and more open with me.
Are you enjoying Chinese? YES! I love it. I passed off phase three this week,
which is exciting. I still don't have incredible Chinese like the other three
senior companions in my district, but
they all are seriously geniuses. I feel fine about my
Chinese. I just need to keep learning, man man lai. What about the culture? The
culture is also great. The food is amazing especially during cooler
times of the year. Also the culture is great for
missionary work. We rarely if ever get yelled at. It makes me so happy. Their
method of rejecting you most the time is saying “thank you, thank you” tons of
times while backing away. It is hilarious. The best part is probably the
Taiwanese focus on family. I love it. Almost all families love close to each
other including grandparents, brothers and sisters. If not the
child of the grandparent will take his family to visit
his parents weekly. It is so cool. But also the reason for the heartbreak we
had this week. Our golden investigator we found, Zhou jiemie went to visit
her mom in Gaoxiong, and was gone for a week. While there
her family had an intervention with her and she promised them she would never
pray to our god again, and would support the family beliefs. It was so sad when
she told us, and my heart literally felt like it plummeted to the ground. But
enough on that. Mom said "I want to hear about successes this week."
Which is perfect because we had a ton.
This week on Monday we went on exchanges and I was with
Elder Johnson, my companion in AnKang. We went visiting LA's addresses and one
I must have read wrong and went to 23 hao, when it was 2 hao 3rd floor so we went to the wrong place
and there was no one home so Elder Johnson rang the doorbell below and they let
us in without even asking who we were. SO we went up and lo and behold there
was a family. They were so nice and let us in and we got to share a simple
message with
them, and are meeting again with them tonight. So a total
miracle. Then on Friday we went on exchanges again and I was with Elder
Kattleman who lives with us and is also a first transfer missionary. We went to
an appointment at a "family mart" and our investigator wasn't there
on time, but there was a guy sitting alone inside of it so we went and started
sharing with him about the gospel, and while sharing with him 2 Pilipino women
walked in and one said "Elder, I am so glad to see you." So I talked
with them while my companion continued sharing with the other guy. Then went on
to explain she was a member, and had been in Taiwan for a year and hadn't found
the church yet and
really wanted to come. But turned out this Sunday she was
meeting with her sister and had not time. Also she is a lu4chi3, so next week
we will take her from the family mart to church. The other Pilipino is
a catholic and said she might come next week to so
totally crazy, then they left and almost immediately the actual investigator
came in and I taught him while my companion taught the other guy. Then as we
left the family mart we saw a lady knock a bike over and went to help her pick
it up and she turned out to be an extremely less active member who was willing
to come back (or so she said, but on Sunday she didn't come, but we will see).
Then we went and did family picture contacting (our plan) and we got a set up for the next
day which went through and he is also a new investigator, It was so incredible.
I don't know if I have seen so many miracles in such a short period of time. I
also think it was no coincidence this all happened the day after we got the sad
news from Zhou Jiemei. We also had two less active families that we have been
working with come to church. That felt great and one of our investigators
shanged wan ke, and got the feeling that god said he could choose if he was ready
and he said he was so he will be having a baptismal interview this week! Then
last night after church we went to
a referrals house and all we knew was that he might be
divorced because his daughter lives in Taoyuan. But it turned out that he was
married and his wife was there and we asked her to join in our lesson and
she did and they set a baptismal date!
It was so great. We are now teaching 3 complete families! God has blessed us so
much. This is my letter to president
Hey President,
Thanks for such a great training. I love finding
families, and it has really helped me enjoy finding them even more. This week
we found 2 full families and one mother who brought her 2 kids. It was so
amazing. Your training worked. I will attach a part of my
letter to my family about the miracles I saw.
This week on Monday we went on exchanges and I was with
Elder Johnson, my companion in AnKang. We went visiting LA's addresses and one
I must have read wrong and went to 23 hao, when it was 2 hao 3rd floor so we
went to the wrong place and there was no one home so elderJohnson rang the
doorbell below and they let us in without even asking who we were. SO we went
up and lo and behold there was a family. They were so nice and let us in and we
got to share a simple message with them, and are meeting again with them
tonight. So a total miracle. Then on Friday we went on exchanges again and I
was with Elder Kattleman who live with us and is also a first transfer
missionary. We went to an appointment at a "family mart" and our
investigator wasn't there on time, but there was a guy sitting alone inside of
it so we went and started sharing with him about the gospel, and while sharing
with him 2 Filipino women walked in and one said
"Elder, I am so glad to see you." SO I talked with them while my
companion continued sharing with the other guy. Then went on to explain she was
a member,
and had been in Taiwan for a year and hasn't found the
church yet and really wanted to come. But turned out this Sunday she was
meeting with her sister and had not time. Also She is a lu4chi3, so next week
we will take her from the family mart to church. The other Filipino is a
catholic and said she might come next week to so totally crazy, then they left
and almost immediately the actual investigator came in and I taught him while
my companion taught the other guy. Then as we left the family mart we saw a
lady knock a bike over and went to help her pick it us and she turned out to be
an extremely less active member who was willing to come back (or so she said,
but on Sunday she didn't come, but we will see). Then we went and did family
picture contacting (our plan) and we got
a set up for the next day which went through and he is also a new investigator,
It was so incredible. I don't know if I have seen so many miracles in such a
short period of time. I also think it was no coincidence this all happened the
day after we got the sad news from Zhou Jiemei. We also had two of the three
less active families that we have been working came to church which felt great! Especially because we only had one
investigator to church. That one
investigator shanged wan ke, and got the feeling that god said he
could choose if he was ready and he said he was so he
will be having a baptismal interview this week! I am so excited. Then last
night after church we went to a referrals house and all we knew was that he
might be divorced because his daughter lives in Taoyuan. But it turned out that
he was married and his wife was there and we asked her to join in our lesson
and she did and they set a baptismal date! It was so great. We are now teaching
3 complete families! God has blessed us so much. As far as my relationship with my companion,
it's great and is getting better and better. We are communicating better and i
am getting better at learning how to give him advice. I think we are
becoming a powerful tool in the lords hand. I feel like
our area is getting to become nearly as good as a normal area and better then
some, and to think that 4-5 weeks ago we had one investigator is
amazing, we are slowly but surely seeing this area grow
into a fountain of success unto the lord. I can testify it is the lord and not
us doing this work. I feel like I am
still learning so much from this experience, from the extra hours of studying
and opening this area. I am learning about
virtue and patience and faith a lot. As far as language development, I passed
Phase 3 with you. Yeah! I
am so happy. I am still just going through the cards and
am focusing on characters still. I felt when translating I had a few things
I wasn't able to translate directly but
felt I got the message across at
least. Thanks for inviting me to translate.
Love you, Elder
Sabey
So spiritual thought for the week,
In the temple it talks about how they desire all to
partake and then
give a simple invite, "arise." I think that is
literally the invite
for everyone. The higher we rise the ore we can partake
of. I hope to
continually rise. I know that is what god wants us all to
do, it is
his desire. I love 2 Nephi 26:25. God will not invite
anyone to depart
and go down, only to arise. Rise up over this worldly
self and be born
again in Christ. A-men!
Well love you all and am excited to hear more from you.
Elder Sabey
Oct. 28, 2012
Hey everyone, Love you!
What is your favorite Chinese food? My favorite Chinese
food might be
liang mien=cool noodles. It is noodles in a sesame sauce.
MMMMMM. Also
dragon fruit.
What do you do for a workout? Because of my knee I
generally just do
pushups and sit ups but if there is a game of soccer or
basketball
going on I can't resist the temptation. Just got to play.
Anyways I am
going to the hospital again today and will probably
arrange a time for
my knee surgery. It is supper simple and totally not
dangerous and is
nothing to worry about as far as I have heard because for
the third
time my knee has ballooned out because my bursa is full
of blood
and water.
Anyways about this week and the crazy miracle we have
been seeing
This week was great, like always. I am not moving!
Staying training.
I am so glad. I love being with two companionships in an
apartment.
I love seeing the area grow; we just barely missed golden
standards
this week, which is so cool. Hopefully next week we will
be able to hit
it. What a miracle that would be. From starting an area
with just one
investigator to a golden standard area in one transfer. I
just stand
all amazed. The ward is so great and supportive, and is
really helping
us out. The biggest miracle this week was on Friday we
went to visit a
Ye family who had a 9 year old daughter not yet baptized
because she
likes milk tea too much. We had no number but did have an
address so
just went and when we got there the older already
baptized daughter
came down and answered and we told her why we came and
she was fine
but not to helpful. Then the mom was coming down the
street and she
was so glad to see us and said we could come back the
next day, and
said her older daughter didn't like church/young women’s,
and said she
felt she really needed the missionaries help. I also
invited them to
bring friends to the meeting the next day. Then the next
day we went
and they had invited a 15 year old friend named Wang Bo
Lun to the
discussion. It turns out the dad was less active (which
we had no
idea) because of work, so we had a 2 potential investigators,
a
daughter who didn't like church, a less active dad and a
mother trying
to keep her family spiritually alight and who felt
overwhelmed with the
responsibility all in one discussion. We shared President
Ucthdorf’s
"The merciful shall obtain mercy" talk and then
invited the two
potentials for baptism. They both set dates and committed
to church
the next day. It was incredible.
Spiritual thought for the week:
I was reading in john and Christ heals a leper and tells
him not to
tell everyone and he goes and tells it to everyone. I was
like, “Are you
kidding me, how dumb can you be? I just don't
understand.” Then I
realized that it was so much like us, how often do we
repent and
Christ tells us he does not condemn us and to go our way
and sin no
more, and we just go and do the same sin. I certainly
hope and believe
that the woman who was caught committing adultery and
saved from stoning
didn't go and commit adultery again, but I admit I doubt
she went and
sinned no more. I don't want to be all gloomy, but
realistic. I
believe that when we repent he gives us the same invite
and maybe our
spirits’ are willing but our flesh is weak and we sin
again like Peter who
slept when Christ most need comfort. Who are we to judge
these so
called idiots? But I realized that the lord giveth no
commandment that
can't be followed. I believe that as we overcome the
natural man we
can become perfetc. Maybe not in this life but we can do
it. We can go
our way and sin no more. Christ never said you dummy why
did you go
and do that thing I told you not to do. He also never
said let leprosy
come back upon you for you idoiousy. He loves us and is
willing to
forgive us as many times as we repent. Like he did Peter.
(Thanks
Brian for the letter.)
Here’s my letter my president:
Hey President,
Thanks for your time and sacrifice. I don't have as much
time this
week to write so it will be quick.
Favorite BOM Scripture: 2 Nephi 26: 5 Christ will not
give up on
anyone and invites all to come unto him. What is more
powerful or
true. I also love Alma 7 11-13, Christ understands us and
our
weaknesses.
As far as on the street goes, Ether 12:4- Help people
know how
believing in god can bring a better life.
Miracles-
This week was great, like always. I am not moving!
Staying training.
I am so glad. I love being with two companionships in an
apartment. I
love seeing the area grow, we just barely missed golden
standards this
week, which is so cool. Hopefully next week we will be
able to hit it.
What a miracle that would be. From starting an area with
just one
investigator to a golden standard area in one transfer. I
just stand
all amazed. The ward is so great and supportive, and is
really helping
us out. The biggest miracle this week was on Friday we
went to visit a
Ye family who had a 9 year old daughter not yet baptized
because she
likes milk tea too much. We had no number but did have an
address so
just went and when we got there the older already
baptized daughter
came down and answered and we told her why we came and
she was fine
but not to helpful. Then the mom was coming down the
street and she
was so glad to see us and said we could come back the
next day, and
said her older daughter didn't like church/young women’s,
and said she
felt she really needed the missionaries help. I also
invited them to
bring friends to the meeting the next day. Then the next
day we went
and they had invited a 15 year old friend named Wang Bo
Lun to the
discussion. It turns out the dad was less active (which
we had no
idea) because of work, so we had a 2 potential
investigators, a
daughter who didn't like church, a less active dad and a
mother trying
to keep her family spiritually alight and who felt
overwhelmed with
the responsibility all in one discussion. We shared President
Uchtdorf’s
"The merciful shall obtain mercy" talk and then
invited the two
potentials for baptism. They both set dates and committed
to church
the next day. It was inedible.
Relationship = good. My companion had a hard time on
Friday, and cried
for 30 minutes while I made calls. I don't really know
why and he says
he doesn't either but I am trying my best to love and
help him adjust.
I am still learning a lot as a missionary and as far as
Chinese goes.
Thanks
Elder Sabey
I love you all
Elder Sabey
PS tell Dia I am excited for her to become my sister then
I can email her.
To answer your questions
I sent your mail ballot to the mission home so you can
vote, so please
send it back ASAP. Mom said she sent you money. Was it
enough or
should we send more? It was not nearly enough, try like
1000 off. LOL.
The money was plenty, thanks so much.
About voting, I don't think the ballot will get back in
time, I here
it must get back by June 7th for it to count. Also I am
pretty sure I
would need my social security number or license, all of
which I lost in
my mind or literally.
Nov. 4, 2012
We are Family!!!!!!!
I love you all. If I didn't I wouldn't get up at 5 to email you.
To answer questions
Question: Tell me
about how you work and talk with your companion:.
Answer: I am very
honest with him but always compliment his strengths. He is super unstable in
his self-confidence and communication skills (mostly eye contact), and I try
and help him. I think mostly by example.
Q: What are his
strengths and what becomes better because you two are together?
A: His Chinese is
really quite good. Twice this last week
he told me a word I didn't know that he had learned. He has a giant love for
his mom, and is easily emotional, which has helped me to lose some of the
hardness I have and realize the importance of love and the power it has on
others. I also realized the importance of gaining the trust of others because
he trusts me he has much less of a problem talking with me.
Q: What about your
investigators?
A: My
investigators are great. I have a few families I am teaching. We had one come
to church and next week will have another. There aren't any that are
progressing superfast or stand out to me other than one this week that I wrote
about in my letter to president and the Lu family. They are so great and the
dad has read through 2 Nephi 25 and really understands what he reads and when
we share something he read about he gets excited and says something like,
"Yeah, Nephi said that when he was building the boat." He is great
and the wife is humble. The boy is crazy active and hard to teach.
You said "Someone you met wrote me an email that
vanished, just like the one you sent us 2 weeks ago." It was the Liao
family. Liao wen2 li4 or Henry Liao. Did they send the picture of you on a
mission? I will tell them to email you it again.
Here is my letter
to president--
President Day,
Thanks so much
for your example. I love hearing about you from other people, everyone just
loves you. I had a great week again. Su Shun Jie got baptized and he asked me
to baptize him. I was honored. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I have
ever attended. I love that man and am so happy that I was able to help him come
unto Christ. He was married to a member who was able to attend and they are
both working hard for an eternal marriage. He meet with missionaries once in
High school, and invited them back but they never came back when he was home.
Then he meet his wife 10 years ago and periodically would meet with the
missionaries so had been taught most everything multiple times. I am so glad I
got to reap the reward of others’ hard work of his wife’s and many missionaries
before me. This man is truly converted and committed to enduring to the end. I love
him and learned much from him. He has already been a help in missionary work by
peike-ing (accompanying with me.) I
just am so happy I can't explain it.
Anyways miracles
this week- When visiting a family we felt to visit, the Liao family, we found
out that the dad was the branch president of Zhongli when my mom was there and
the mom was her companion for a week. The mom went to the backroom and pulled
out a picture of my mom while on her mission. I have never seen a picture of my
mom on a mission. Looking at it was weird almost electrifying. Something in my
soul stirred and gave me a huge desire to be a great missionary. I hope that I
can make enough of a difference that when my son comes on a mission here the
people I knew will remember me and be able to show him a picture of me chuaning
jiao (proselyting). I also had a few
temple tour miracles. We had one
potential set up for a temple tour and in the temple tour he confessed that he
had a dream where he was a member of the church and set a baptismal date and
everything. I am so excited for him. His name is Chen Si Han. Talk about
prepared. Also we took a Pilipino member who has been in Taiwan for a year and
4 months and never found our church, but then she met us and talked with us and
came to church then we were able to take her to the temple to find out where
the English ward meets. She said ever since she had been in Taiwan she has
dreamed of going to the temple, and that day her dream came true. What a
privilege to help others’ dreams come true. I am so happy right now!
As far as the
relationship with my companion, it is going good. I love him, but feel he is
super reliant on me and doesn't know what to do without me. He hates it if I am
not right by him to support him, or take the lead if the contact goes bad. I
feel like he has to learn how to contact if he was on his own but I also know
that we are supposed to contact together. So I don't know what to do. I think the revelation I received is give him
a lot more responsibility. I don't think he will like it, but it will be good
for him. I am really trying hard to help him and he knows that. He just isn't
developing as fast as I would like. He still has a hard time talking to people
and hasn't finished lesson 1 in phase 1. Also he doesn't know what to say. (His
Chinese is great, he learns a lot from on the street and his grammar is great.
I think that learning from a book is hard for him though.) I think maybe I have been pulling too much
and need to let him do more. Any advice?
I think I am
still developing a lot as a missionary. I am learning the importance of
balancing time wisely. I feel if I wanted I could find excuses to teach a lot
and only have traveling time and no real time for finding. But by keeping
lessons within 40 minutes and then not talking long after the lesson, we could
have a lot more finding time so that is my goal. MY Chinese is coming. I feel
if I took phase 3 now it would have gone a lot smoother.
Thanks again, love
you,
Elder Sabey
Spiritual thought
for the week: In the end of John it says that if all the things Christ did were
written the world couldn't hold them. I thought wow! That’s a lot, and I
thought the bible was big. I can't imagine what beautiful stories there would
be. From how he created the lillies of the field, to how he has helped me. I
loved David’s talk about recognizing the mercies of the Lord in our lives. I
think John was wrong in saying that the world couldn't hold it all, the world
is his story and if it were put into a book it wouldn't fit in this cosmos. His
atonement is everlasting and eternal, words can't describe. I love him so much.
What he has done for me is too great, I don't know if that would even fit in
this world.
I love you all so
much.
Elder Sabey
March 18, 2012
This week I got letters from everyone except Daniel and
Rachel, please write me. Thanks for all the advice. I am so glad that I can
always count on you. I was once having not so good feelings toward my companion
and got a letter from mom talking about how she believes I am already known for
loving, serving, and complimenting my companions no matter who they are. I
realized I hadn't been complimenting him much so am trying to do that. It seems
to have been having a good effetc. Also in the tract we hand out and in preach
my gospel it talks about how the Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul.
One that had a reference was "how can I improve my relationship with my
spouse?" I looked it up and was truly humbled when the scripture was take
the beam out of your eye before you take the mote out of your brothers. That
hurt, but then all of you seem to suggest that loving your companion is
important. I write this as my companion is on lds.org, which is against the
rules. In some ways I want to tell the mission President, but I think I will
just try and love him.
Anyways here’s the
letter to my President
Hey President,
Thanks for everything. I am learning so much from the
mission, especially humility. I am working with getting unity and I read the
reference under "how to improve my relationship with my spouse?" In
preach my gospel and it told me to take the beam out of my eye, so I have been
trying to do that. I think I am making progress because we have an investigator
who has told me a few times about how my Chinese is bad, and it hurt every
time, but this last time it didn't. I actually think my relationship with Elder
Kemp is starting to have unity now and I am hopeful for the future.
I am thankful for
the opportunity to learn from Elder Binkinuan. I learned a lot, especially
about loving no matter what. He is full of charity and that is what I am
striving for. Sorry for any stress I ever caused you.
Thanks, Elder Sabey
PS The white handbook asks us to ask you for suggestions,
which I have done most every week, but you have never responded? Should I
continue? Any suggestions? (lol)
So weird experience, we were at the park and meet a lady
who was Christian, and we started talking about how we have a modern day
prophet, and she said completely seriously. "Well actually the leader we
follow is actually the body of Christ, so you have a prophet but we have the
body of Christ." He was going to be there in the park we were at that day.
So sad I missed him. I reminded me of the mouth of Sauron from Lord of the
Rings, and thought it was a fitting comparison.
Spiritual thought for the week, In 1 Nephi 3 vs 2-3 I
thing it talks about the lord commanded them to get the brass plats not because
they were scripture but because they were their family’s genealogy. I never
realized getting your genealogy was actually a commandment.
Well love you all, Elder Sabey
Feb.
10, 2013
Beloved Hey my family and friends!
I love you guys
too much. Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Anyway this week
was sweet. To answer Dads question, yes they are super adorable! I do get
semi-close to some. There was a little boy in zhonghe who was named Ryan and he
just loved me, maybe because I have given him many balloon animal or something,
but I felt like a big brother to him and his two older sisters. So far at
Tucheng there aren't any. To answer
mom’s questions the hardest part is being the example. We had interviews with
President and he told me to be perfect because that is what Christ asked us to
be. He asked is that too high and I said yes. I can strive though. He said I am
the zones example and rarely will a member of a zone reach higher than a zone
leader but as I do more they will to. I feel I have to strive to be the best I
can be because it will affect many people because so many more people are now
looking to me as the example.
About my
companion, he is from Utah, a family of 9 kids! 11 members! He is great and
loves to serve, joke and work! So he is my example. Here is my letter to President:
Dear President Day!
Thanks so much
for the interview. It really helped me know how what I need to improve with and
recently because of that I feel like my personal studies are going better.
Every day I am reading from the faith scriptures under faith in the CLA
section. I am reading from how to recognize the spirit daily and I am working
hard on the D&C. I love it. Also thanks for just listening; I felt I could
be totally honest with you. Lastly
thanks for responding to my email again. I feel you actually care about me and my
investigators, not just the mission as a whole.
You told us to
tell you the desire of our hearts for the time here in Taiwan. My desire is to
lose myself in the service and in Christ. I want to overcome the natural man
and not focus on myself but on others. I want to help others come unto Christ
through faith in Jesus Christ and in his atonement repentance, baptism,
receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end, so that they can
receive the blessings of the restored gospel. I want to be a preach my gospel
missionary. I want to be perfetc. I desire my own salvation and the salvation
of others. I want to always remember Christ and develop a huge testimony of him
and this work. This is what I desire.
I went on
exchanges with Elder Li this last week and it went well. We had a huge miracle.
One of our set ups brought his less active friend to meet with us. It was this
student, nian hui huang's first time meeting and we used the baptismal planner
and he set a date 3/30. I hope that through meeting with them we can get him
baptized and help his friend came back to activity. We reviewed the district
leader responsibilities with him and he set some goals to start seeing how
Elder Chens training is coming and also make a plan for his district. Also he
likes a sister in our district but has not flirted or anything with her as far
as I know. I told him as far as I know having feelings isn't wrong, just taking
action is, like flirting. Like with homosexuality same principle. Is that
right? I think he can still be a good district leader and stay focused. I feel
like he is a great missionary. He seemed to love the work and was really good
at contacting and teaching.
Elder Huang and
Beck have a little problem we will exchange with them on Tuesday. I will say
more when I know more. Me and my
companion are doing great. I totally love being around him and working with
him. I am happy with the invites from
our zone vision. Getting investigators into members’ houses. Using the Planner
and following up with Church. I think this zone will do the invites and will
see the blessings. Lastly Miracles: On
Sunday we found 2 families! One was from Thialand, and they came to church and
loved it. Their Chinese and English isn't very good, but they felt the spirit
and loved it. Then explaining prayer was hard but they got it in the end and
have every Wednesday off and every Sunday! A Huge miracle. Then the other were
formers whom we called and they set up a Father, Mother and 2 daughters! I was
so happy!
Love you,
Elder Sabey
Spiritual thought: The time I feel like our family was
together most was at times the church told s to be together. Dinners, church,
praying, and FHE. I don't regret anytime I spent with you all. The church is
true and will help any family. 3 Nephi 22:13 Is true.
Love you all.
Elder Matt Sabey
Thank for all you do! Feb.
17, 2013
I don't know if you'll believe it but I am again happier
than ever before! This week was Chinese New Year!!!!!!!! We got to eat so much
food and see so many miracles! I just read all your letters and it made me
really happy! Also our house is clean and that feels great and we get to go
play Basketball today! But most of all I
am so happy serving the lord. Many missionaries get trunky, but I got to go to
a reception and I saw so many people I loved there and I was just so sad that
someday (not for another 6 months!!!) I will have to leave them and go home.
But don't worry, I still love you all.
Tell us about your week--what lessons did you teach this
week? This week we taught some first lessons and many simple, do missionary
work lessons. We t aught one that was cool, because President asked me to be
perfect, so I had studied that and was able to share it with another member,
pretty much Elder Hales talk on what type of Christian are we, with 3 Nephi 12:
48 and 27:27. As we were leaving she was so happy because she said "We
filled the home with the spirit." What are some of the common questions
asked by your investigators and what is the most unusual question one ever
asked you? Good question. Most common
asked is "Where are you from?" Which is interesting because there are
many answers but they all do say something about me. The most unusual I have
been asked was ... I can't think of it. What service have you done for your
companion this week? Made him breakfast and dinner. He made lunch.
Letter to President:
Dearest President Day!
I am so excited
to report today. This Guonian week was just great. We were able to go on 2
exchanges and they both were timely. We went on one with Elder Beck and Elder
Huang, partly because they were not having the greatest unity. I went with
Elder Huang and we saw some cool miracles. At night when we were contacting
home we ran into a man who was from Malaysia but lived in Taiwan for 24 years.
This Chen Dixiong was divorced and only got to see his children on the weekends
when he was off work, and was supper lonely. WE set him up for the next day and
he came and when we were teaching about baptism his eyes lit up at the idea of
a new life. It was beautiful and he set a date. Then we meet with a former who
is a member’s friend and told the friend he wanted to be baptized, so his
friend called us and set up a meeting. The formers name is Yu Qing Wei and he
got to the meeting late because he thought he was actually getting baptized
that day. LOL. The lesson went well and
he also set a date! I was do happy. AS
far as Elder Huang goes he seems to be pretty enthusiastic about the work and a
little proud about being so young and on a mission. He was a good support. When
I asked about his relation with his companion he said they were good most the
time. I invited him to think about what he could do to better keep his
baptismal covenant and make some goals. I will follow up this next week.
As far as Elder
Papritz goes, we still saw miracles. One was just that this exchange provided
me a way to get you my planner. (Which is missing a week because I lost a
planner about 3 transfers ago and so had to start a new one in the middle of
the transfer so the planners kept on lapping over one week until this transfer
I decided to start a-new.)
Also we had a
Sister in the ward invite us to bring a friend who set up for that night! But
the friend is moving to TiaNan so maybe that is why he still had no new
investigators this week. We also found another boy who set up for that day but
with the Shilin Elders. Then at the reception we got to help Cai Jeimeis mom
get her daughter a package and also we were able to help her out. SO I was happy
with that whole situation. I also got to see many Friends I have meet during
the mission which is such a happy thing. As in Alma 17:2. Anyways as for Elder
Papritz, I wasn't as impressed. He was super trunky. He talked about how his
mom misses him so much and how trunky he was. I was a little shocked. It would
be hard having a family that wants you to come home though. When we were
working he worked hard but I felt he wasn't giving his all. I reviewed with him
ways to find and I reviewed with him his responsibilities as a district leader,
and invited him to come up with a vision for his district, and focus on making
good plans because when we were there the first night I felt like there was no
plan and then during planning session he failed to make plans for after the
exchange that night. So we are going to go on exchanges again with them soon.
Invites are going
well. Our Zone is all following up with church, using the baptismal planner and
finding friends for the progressing investigators, the only thing that hasn't
happened enough is getting the investigators in the members’ homes for lessons.
We will focus on that this week because we first have to be the example. We
were able to teach someone baptism every day I believe. Maybe missed one day. As for how my invites
from our interview are going I have finished the Liahona and am in Alma 13. I
am working on the faith attribute right now.
Last Miracle! One
day as we were coming back from a dinner I talked to a mother and a daughter on
a scooter and shared the family track "renhe chenggong..." and she
said yes that's right. I invited them to pull over and they did and me and my
companion taught them and learned that the father and mother were divorced, and
that they had gone to multiple churches, Presbyterian, JW's and Taoist one and
she was like there are so many different churches how can we know which one is
true." This kinda rang a bell and we were able to tell her quickly about
Joseph Smith. She set up for Saturday with the sisters. Then She and her daughter
both went to church and it turns out the Bishops wife was her friend. They both
loved church and seemed so happy there! What a miracle.
Thanks for all
your work! I am so happy right now!
Love you,
Elder Sabey
Spiritual thought:
Nephi is awesome. He made it to a land of bountiful,
which was a great place to live, but he knew it wasn't where the lord wanted
him to live. (Maybe because his posterity wouldn't have land to multiply in. So
he built a ship and after shocking his brothers they helped him but he finished
it. Then they went across the sea, and made it to the promised land. I know
that as we endure to the end and do as the lord commands it may seem hard of
impossible but we will make it to a better place than the comfort zone we are
in now. Love you all so much and pray
for you daily. E. Sabey
Feb. 24, 2013
Greatest family in the world, I love you all.
This week was
great. I want to first answer questions.
You are in a
Taipei ward? Yes, I am in Tucheng city,
a suburb of Taibei. How many people come and are you in a church building or a
high rise? I am in a really nice church building. People sometimes come here
and not to where they are supposed to go because of how pretty the building is.
It is 3 levels. The first is a parking lot though, then the buildings above it
and the top floor is the chapel and kitchen. Generally 100 people come to
church weekly. Tell me about different ways that you track--street, buildings,
parks? We try to mix it up. Sometimes we try park contacting, knocking doors,
riding bikes and randomly pulling over on the street to people we want to
contact, or going to a less busy area and contracting (both contacting and
tracting), ask members and others for referrals, visit former investigators,
and call potential lists. But then where you really get freedom is the approach
which could be the Book of Mormon or and doctrine, but not just that. WE can do
games, or go balloon contacting, compliment contacting (start by complimenting
them), or English contacting (speak English). What do you do as a zone? We meet together
monthly and have a zone meeting and then every transfer we have a different
kind of meeting. We all also have the same invites (which me and my companion
made) and Tell me about your zone
meetings.
We had 2 General Authorities come and train us. Which was
really cool. They talked about faith
and love and keeping the language. I learned a lot.
Here is my letter
to President
President,
Thanks for all the
notes. I am just starting to realize the importance of covenants. They are
binding, but binding us to god. Also unlike Satan these cords are not to bind
us down but to bind us to heaven. They are easy to break if we wanted. But they
still have power to hold us up if we trust in them. Anyways as far as my suggestions for a
mission song: Spiritual: I believe in Christ, Practical: Bicycle by Queen. I loved this week. We went on 3 exchanges.
The first I went with Elder Bennion and
we had some good miracles. One Lady gave us a green bean smoothie for free
which was really nice because I was thirsty but wanted to be a good example of
diligence to Elder Bennion so didn't go buy a drink when I could have. A Tender
Mercy. We also found a lot of prepared people and set them up. I felt like he
has been doing his duties really well and when we reviewed the district leader
responsibilities he took notes on where he wanted to improve. I was imPressed.
I invited him to also come up with a vision for his district. Then I went on
exchanges with Elder Peterson and we had a blast. We meet with a guy whose nick
name is big head. He looks like a thug and is covered in tattoos and smokes. He
is a Christian and talked about how Christ has helped him change his attitude
and accepted the baptismal invite. It was cool to see Christ preparing people.
The next day we got to meet with a Qian Dixiong in a member’s home. We had done
the invite and prayed about who could be his friend and thought of this member.
The lesson was so great. The member and him were perfect for each other. The
member struggled with the same things Qian DX is struggling with, and another
miracle, they live just down the road from each other. God does answer prayers.
We also had 2 other lessons which were also great but just not as great. He
seems to be doing well and working hard. His Chinese is good and he seems to be
enjoying the mission. Then I went on exchanges with Elder Allred and we also
saw miracles. We had 2 lessons right away that we just read the Book of Mormon
with them. Then he had set someone up for us that night and so he was able to
be there for a smoother transition. The guy he set up was golden and also
accepted a baptismal invite. The next day we also got a new investigator and
had some finding and the 3 people we talked to were all willing to listen and
gave numbers. It was a great experience. He seems to be doing great as a
trainer and missionary. I loved being with him.
I felt like I was
able to learn a lot from the zone this week, as well as Elder Evans and Watson.
I have recently been so happy. Partly because I am getting used to my
responsibilities now.
So finding this
week was great. Invites are working well and our zone had 4 Baptisms this week.
Also I got to go and baptize a former investigator in Zhonghe and while there I
got to see the other 2 people I helped get baptized while I was there. It was a
huge tender Mercy. I was so happy. I love the church!
Thanks and love
you,
Elder Sabey
I need to go so no spiritual thought but all things of
value took time to make. Our testimony is of great value, we need to take time
and make it of value to us. The Mona Lisa wasn't drawn in 2 minutes.
I love you so
much.
Elder Sabey
Dearest Family, March
3, 2013
Thanks for all your letters and everything! I love you
all so much. I realize I have been so blessed on my mission. God has really
protected my family. There is a sister in my district whose father has a heart
disease and she found out last week. I feel bad for her. The last year I have just
been hearing glad news. I am so blessed. Thank god for your health and
grandpa’s health. I Think I will see him again! Anyways just love hearing from
you all. Dad of course I want long letters. That just means my letters to you
will be shorter, but that’s fine. To
answer moms questions:
How is the
weather? The weather is weird now. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes cold.
Sometimes sunny. Sometimes rainy. Today is sunny and cool. So I am going to go
to101 and go to the top and take pictures.
2. What was your
highlight of the week? The highlight of the week was finding a prepared guy in
a struggling companionships area. They really needed new ones and we found a
great new one. That exchange just was a cool miracle that helped this
companionship a lot. I also loved Zone leader Council where we got trained on
how to teach people not lessons and how to better invite and follow up. Then we
got Chilli for lunch which I haven't had since before the MTC. It was so good.
Also we got to celebrate my companions 5 1/4 B-Day (Feb 29). Which was fun.
Lastly we had an investigator who was really close to baptism have some
questions about tithing and so I studied and got the bishop to peike and the
lesson went well and his problem was overcome. The bad thing was that night he
went home and talked with his family about baptism and they were supper mad, so
he didn't come to church, and probably won't get baptized next week, but his
goal is the 30th which I think he will make.
3. What is your
goal for the following week?
My goals this
next week: Read 2 chapters of the BOM a day in Chinese, Develop more faith,
write in study and normal journal daily and workout harder.
4. Tell us about
your zone.
My Zone is great. There are no companionships that are
having a hard time relationship wise. This week all the struggling
companionships improved a lot. It is fun being a Zoneleader and trying to help
a zone. I love seeing how it works. We are having a Zone Training meeting
tomorow, where it is just us and the zone and we run a three hour training. It
is a cool new meeting that is new since President Day came. We train along with
the district leaders and coordinating sisters. It would be hard to find many
places where you put a bunch of 19 year olds in a room for 3 hours and tell
them to learn from each other and they actually do it. It is so cool. My Zone
has 9 companionships and 3 districts.
Letter to Pres:
Dear President,
This week went
well. My mom asked me these questions and I felt you would like to see these
parts.
Q: Tell us about
your zone. A: My Zone is great. There are no companionships
that are having a hard time relationship wise. This week all the struggling
companionships improved a lot. It is fun being a Zone leader and trying to help
a zone. I love seeing how it works. We are having a Zone Training meeting
tomorow, where it is just us and the zone and we run a three hour training. It
is a cool new meeting that is new since President Day came. We train along with
the district leaders and coordinating sisters. It would be hard to find many
places where you put a bunch of 19 year olds in a room for 3 hours and tell
them to learn from each other and they actually do it. It is so cool. My Zone
has 9 companionships and 3 districts.
Q: What was your highlight of the week? A: The highlight of the week was finding a
prepared guy in a struggling companionships area. They really needed new ones
and we found a great new one. That exchange just was a cool miracle that helped
this companionship a lot. I also loved Zone leader Council where we got trained
on how to teach people not lessons and how to better invite and follow up. Then
we got Chilli for lunch which I haven't had since before the MTC. It was so
good. Also we got to celebrate my companions 5 1/4 B-Day (Feb 29). Which was
fun. Lastly we had an investigator who was really close to baptism have some
questions about tithing and so I studied and got the bishop to peike and the
lesson went well and his problem was overcome. The bad thing was that night he
went home and talked with his family about baptism and they were supper mad, so
he didn't come to church, and probably won't get baptized next week, but his
goal is the 30th which I think he will make.
This week I went
on Exchanges with Elder Zeng and Kunz. I went to Elder Kunz area and you heard
me tell Elder Devisser about the guy we found. So I will report on the other
parts. We meet with a member and asked for a referral and got one! We meet with
an investigator and helped him get a good baptismal plan and fixed time to meet
and assigned reading all on the planner! Also he gained a lot of confidence in
his area because he got us to all the places he needed to. I trained him a
little on how to find and he made a goal of finding 3 new investigators and get
10 numbers. So that was great.
With Elder Zeng I
trained on listening and helped him learn how to learn a language. He hadn't
ever used chapter 7 until then. So I just read it with him all except the plan
and told him to go and make a language study plan which included all the
principles we read that day. He was easily distracted during studies to. But
when we did the other studies he seemed ok.
The last thing I invited him to do was to work on asking better
questions because he asked one pretty bad one which I had to clean up. But
other than that it was great. He just
seems really pure and innocent. We were able to have some great lessons and
find some good people. It was way cool.
Invites went well
this week. I love studying for investigators or the zone. It helps me focus. I
didn't have as much language study this week because of exchanges and Sundays
studies got cut a little short so I am only at Alma 35.
Thanks for the
training, we will be using the widow and the well training as you suggested. I
am excited.
Love you,
Elder Sabey
Spiritual thought:
Christ asked the
woman at the well to go an bring her husband there so they could drink the
everlasting water. My companion asked me why would he ask this question if he
already knew the answer? I think it was a nonintrusive way to help her realize
she wasn't perfect/see her weaknesses and help her realize he was a prophet.
Questions are so powerful. Why do you think that is?
I love you all so
much
Elder Sabey
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