Chinese New Year Coming

Good morning! I guess that I should say Good Evening. Oh well, "Hello!"

Today I am emailing early because we, my companion and I with the sisters, are going to spend the day with a member and we all want to go out to hukou, and have lunch and then go do something. I'm not sure what yet because the member won't tell us... it is going to be way fun, anyway so I get to email you early.

Well, it has happened! Last week I passed my six month mark! It is crazy. I started thinking about what has happened in the last six months and there is a lot! I'll list some of them: The biggest is I got a new baby sister!! Sophia, and she looks so good! Nice job Mom! We bought a building and are in the process of remodeling it. Liesl went on her first date last week. Christmas that was a month ago crazy. Then I hear of a lot happening with the US Government and I'm not sure exactly what is up there but sounds like some crazy stuff that is affecting the world in a big way. There is a lot that has happened and I'm glad that I get to know great people like you all to look up to for examples.

Where did another week go? It went by so fast and yet so slow. Slow in that everyone in Taiwan seems to be going, or has gone back to home for the Chinese New Year: hence they don't have time to hear our message, or because they don't have time they don't have interest.... Well we will keep going and doing our best. That is all that we can do right? So we will keep working and putting our shoulder to the wheel and working.

Last Monday I bought a Basketball! We went to the church to play and had a great time. It was so much fun to get out and work and have fun and have a basketball in my hands.

OK, so I have some photos today. One is of my district and the little white board characters that where drawn by JJ the Jet plane (Elder Haughter). He did it before English class and so we needed a photo of everyone that was on the white board. Next is my first snake sighting in Taiwan. It was on the street and looks like it had a hard life but ya it was cool to see, and think about all the things that I have seen back home.







Well, what has happened there? I hear that we got a new four wheeler? Cool I got a letter from Grandma Kathryn and she said something about it. If so sweet! How is the weather there? Is there still a lot of rain or has it warmed up or cooled down? Do you have got more snow than usual? People here in Taiwan think that it is so cold and that they need to wear big puffy warm down coats, it is funny! I joke with my companion, it looks like he or she is going to hike Everest. We have a good time with it.

I know that this Church is the Church of God and is lead and Guided by Him through President Monsen. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. I will come to Taiwan and work and walk the streets contacting people trying to share this message with everyone because I know that it is true! If they would only listen and apply what we tell them to their lives they would change. They would have a happier life and have a purpose to live for. I will do this so that I can help with our Heavenly Fathers work and our Older brother's work, even Jesus Christ.

Love you,

Elder Harr

Exotic Meal with members

Hello:

Wow, another week went by already, it's been crazy here. Thank you for the photos, I have 4 of them right now, I'm sorry I don't have any photos this week I haven't taken any. How are you? It's cool to hear that the building is moving along fast, and that it is going to be beautiful. I loved the photos from last week that you sent of the construction!! You all are so awesome!!

I'm doing well. But it sounds like you all, well I guess that it is that half of the world is getting a ton of snow and rain. Crazy. We went to an investigators house last night that has three sons. The sons where complaining that it was so cold, and the dad was telling them that they where lucky! He said the most of South America is flooding and that there was only two states without snow. Also that in Italy there are two volcanoes going off. Crazy, how is it in St George? Raining a lot?

Work here is going well, slower but well. It is getting slower because Chinese New Year is coming in a couple of weeks and everyone is going back to the family farm or back to where they where born, to be with their family. We are still here and doing work!!!

Julian, you asked how he is doing... well he went to church and didn't really ask his parents if he could go. His mom doesn't really care if he goes to church or not, but his dad.. When his dad found out, his dad said that he can either not go to church and live at home, or he can go to church and be baptized and leave..... This is a big blow! He loves his dad and wants to please him, but he knows that the church is true. It is tough. So right now we are just meeting with him, answering questions and helping him understand. We are praying for his dad to let him be baptized.... it's hard. He is 19, just a little younger than me, so I can see kind of where he is coming from. So ya while he is in Taiwan he won't be baptized for a while, because in Taiwan if you are under 21 you must have your parents permission to be baptized. So he has time to wait. He wants to go to America to college at BYU, and there he can be baptized. It is 18 in America and he won't be living at home anyway..... so ya hard. He is the oldest and here the oldest is the one in charge of Bie-bie-ing when the parents have died. This is to worship them when they die.. hard. It is the Chinese history of families. So we have alot of people like this, people who are older 40+ and won't join the church even though they know it is true because the parents do not want their children to join.

Anyway ya so I have a cool story to tell you. I am sorry that I am slow writing about this since is happened about two weeks ago...

We have a family in our ward that invited us to go to dinner with them. They said that this place was one of their favourites because is was am all you can eat lamb place. Well we got their thinking that this was going to be a way nice, cool place. Well we got their and we found these big bins filled with bones, weird. Well we get eating and the the dad of the family then went and got a plate full of bones. My companion and I thought, "What is he doing? There is not any meat on that bone." Well he put it in the hot pot to cook it and then he showed us how to eat the bone marrow from the inside with a straw...! Yup! So I am healthy. My stomach does not have any holes in it and I am alive to tell about the other thing that I had that night..... This family has two little children one is a little girl about 4 and a boy that is 5. Their favorite thing to eat is Pig Blood, it is like dou4fu2 of toufu??? Anyway guess what I got to eat... yup, pig blood with rice mixed in.. It was interesting. I don't plan a on eating any more of it, not that it was bad, but because... it is pig's blood!

Well I got to go. I Know this church is true. I know that Jesus is our Savior and that we all can return to live with God again through Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

Love you,
Elder Harr

Singing in the Mountains

Hey awesome family wow what a week!

It is so good to hear that you all are doing so well. I love the photos of you all working hard and wish that I could be there working with you all. I have so many memories working together, and building memories with you all. Thank you all for your example and hard work. You really are amazing.

I thought about you all a lot this last week. Last Saturday we went to a place called to guan1xi1. It is up in the mountains. It is my area but we don't really go there because it is an hour and a half bike ride one way and there are not a lot of people up there because it is all farms. Anyway we went up there because a member requested that we go up to sing some songs for a friend whop had just died. We thought that it was going to be at a service of some kind, but we were wrong. People here are bie4bie4, which part of the belief is ancestor worship. So we got up there and we found that we were going to his house to sing to him, or his picture. It was weird. His wife and mother came out after and we got to talk to them for a minute but other that, a quick thank you, we left. Weird, how are we supposed to build the trust of the ward and do work, but not become a free choir? It was interesting. Something that I won't forget. Weird. Anyway so after we went to the members work, he works at a golf course up in the mountains, close to where his friend lives. Anyway Elder Barlow and I where very excited; because we were in the mountains! I added some photos so you could see the mountain part of Taiwan! I also included a photo of the people that went with us to sing.









You all are so awesome. I am glad that you got my package. I'm sorry that I didn't get it out earlier. I sent it the week of Christmas and I was hoping that it would get there faster than it did. I'm glad that it got there. I tried to find something that is Chinese like a paper lantern, but I couldn't find any. I hear that there will be a lot of them for sale later in the year.

I am doing great physically. I weighed myself last night and I was 232. I also have some weights that I bought, and I'm doing well. I go running every other morning and lift on the others. So I'm right about what I was when I left on the mission. My companion has a tape I think that I want to measure myself and keep track on how I am doing physically. I am eating. I am healthy:)

My companion is doing well. Today in his email he learned that he will get home at 9:30 on the _______ he is excited! We are working hard and seeing miracles! We are doing great. We have a goal of two baptisms this month. We have had one and it went great. She has friends and is looking great. We have two other people with baptism dates that we hope will get baptized this month. We are working hard but we are having a great time doing it.

I need to say think you to grandma and grandpa Harr. They sent me a package and some money, and I haven't thanked them. I I heard that their computer is or was down, could you sent their email to me? Thank you.

Well you all are awesome, I love you.

I know that our Father in Heaven lives. I know that I Jesus is our Savior. The Book of Mormon is true.

Love you,

Elder Harr

P-day just after Christmas

Hey:
How are you today?
I'm doing well. yesterday, didn't go quite as planned, they, my investigator couldn't come.... ya she is a 10 year old girl and her parents are not living together at the moment, and all of her clothes are at her mom's house. Well Saturday night, her mother didn't come to pick her up to take her home for the night, so she had no way of preparing for the baptism. She didn't have a change of clothes... ya so we got a phone call 10 min before church needs to start from her Dad saying that they couldn't come... and that it would need to happen next week. So we didn't get one yesterday, but we will get one next week... we hope and have faith that she will come through, just not yesterday.
Christmas sounds like it was way fun!! I'm glad that you all are having fun and making memories. Christmas is such a great time, we bought some Christmas lights awhile ago and a cd player, so every night we get home and listen to Christmas cd's and have a fun time talking and watching the lights thinking of home and remembering fun times with our families!! You are all so awesome... So where are you today? Are you going up to Salt Lake? Or have you gone up there recently?
We are doing well, it finally feels like it might be Christmas time. It is still 60's here but it is a different kind of temp, because it is so wet! So the coats and everything that you put on, it helps but only to an extent.
Ok so here are some photos of Christmas.
This family is of the tian1 family, they have basically adopted us missionaries as family.


They have fed us so many times and invited us to so many things it is so cool!! Also there are some photos of the ward Christmas party.

They where so funny, and yet so much fun at the same time. The people here in Taiwan this is there only real fun...

Well you all are awesome, love you all
It was so good to hear from you yesterday, give Mom, and Dad a hug for me ok Sam:) Thanks.
I just wanted to say that I know that God lives and that our Father in Heaven loves us and knows you. He loves you and wants us to go back to him. His son Jesus Christ has made it possible so we can do it. I know that the Book of Mormon it true. I love you and I know that God loves you. I hope that we can become what God wants us to be together as we work together to get there. I am not away from home in a strange land, I am at home speaking a strange language yes, but we are all brothers and sisters we are all not at home. I miss you and I love you, I think about you everyday, and the things that we have done together. We all want to really go home and live with our Father in Heaven, to never leave, to have an never ending party!!!
Thank you for being you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, talk to you next week.

Love you, Elder Harr