Elder Marble-ous

Oh wow!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I cannot believe that the time of year is come once again for me to talk to you. I am so excited to let you know of all the changes going on. I can't believe it is that time of year. I am way excited. Only two more weeks and I get to be spiritually pumped up by my family. Thanks for being so cool. I hope that I can sleep at night....;).

Well, the week is going great, it has been really eventful, and it is going by way way too fast. This transfer is already half over almost. I don't know what to do. Right now we have four people in the baptisimal pool that can be baptized this transfer. Not only do they have goals, but these are some of the most amazing people that I have ever taught on my mission. We have one who is the most humble man in the whole entire world. He sells tea leaves for a living, so that is obviously a problem, but he loves church, I mean loves church. We met with him right after last week and taught one of the most amazing lessons of my whole mission. It was actually our member that did most of the teaching, but this man has been a chain smoker since he was about twelve years old, meaning that he has smoked tons in these 15 years. But the spirit was strong in the lesson, and he commited to going cold turkey. I was in shock. He gave them up right on the spot because Elder Tarver and I asked him too. How amazing is that? Heavenly Father has really prepared this man to be a leader and a wonderful member of this church. Can you imagine when other investigators have smoking problems, they could talk to him and he will just tell them how its done. What an amazing guy.

Another one is a member referral. He uses his Book of Mormon with his friends testimony in it and everything. He is amazing and is almost done being taught. His biggest challenge so far is getting to church.

The third is having his baptisimal interview this week. I have watched an internal battle with him. He really is changing his mind set and watching his thoughts so that he can join this church. I have faith that he can do it as well. Keep praying for him.

The last is probably the hardest one right now, but he is great. It is a blessing to have so many wonderful people to work with. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and for His love for me and Elder Tarver and the Taipei 3rd ward. I really have never seen so many miracles, and I love it so much.

We sang in a nativity that the English ward put on, and it was really fun. It is so weird that last time I went I was still with Elder Miles, but this time, I was the one in charge. Oh man, how times have changed.

We also had a zone leader district leader training, and I learned a ton. I really learned about loving my Taiwanese brothers and sisters, and I will keep you updated on how that goes.

Anyways, time is almost up. I love you all thanks so much for all of your hard work and your prayers in my behalf. Have a good one, and talk to you soon!!! Love, Elder John Marble Shilin

From John in Taiwan

John in Taiwan sends the following:

Thanks so much for always taking the time out of your busy schedule to write to me and let me read of your love. It really means a lot to me, and the fact that I have such a good support system back home really makes me a better missionary everyday. Thanks so much! Wow. I cannot believe that it is already Thanksgiving. Time is flying. I remember when I had Thanksgiving dinner last year with Elder Miles and I had chicken nuggets from McDonalds. That was the closest thing that they had available for us. However, this year our ward is having a Thanksgiving party and because me and Elder Sewell make everyone laugh, they have asked us to take a part in it. I think we are gonna act out turkey hunting....haha. I love being able to serve close to Elder Sewell, he still cracks me up so much. Anyways, tonight in our English class we are going to be having a cooking competition. It will also be a Thanksgiving party. Everyone will be introducing their food and sharing how they made it using English, and than the missionaries get to test it all;) I love English class!!

*If you would like to read the rest of his letter, and receive them regularly, contact Aunt Helen. She is the best at missionary communication. I know this from personal experience and testify of its truth.

Mission Call!

Aunt Helen sends the following splendid news:

James received his mission call to Slovenia/Croatia. He will teach the gospel in Serbian. Who even knew that was a language?! He is really excited. He enters the MTC on his birthdate, Jan. 23.

Also, here are excerpts from a letter from John, followed by an excerpt from Jesse's last letter.

This week is going awesome, I am getting along with Elder Zhao, we have looked past our differences and are working harder than either of us have on our missions. Even though the area that we are serving in is not the most prepared area to boom with the gospel, we are seeing a ton of miracles and blessings.

I cannot believe that Christmas time is just right around the corner. Oh man. I remember that day like it was just yesterday. So we are receiving a lot of blessings, and not to mention the fact that I will be able to go to the temple today. James, I hope you know that I will be praying for you. Also, dear family, I appreciate all of your help and support, and especially your sacrifices. Thanks so much for all that you do!!! It is going to be a great week this week! Take care! Love, Elder John Marble ShiLin

And Jesse says:

We have a lot of hills here, which is another thing I'm not excited about for the winter. This week we had a twenty minute up hill bike ride to get home to have someone pick us up for dinner. There's not a whole lot of flatness in our area, and it's a pretty big area. I'm glad I did have Rathdrum, so I got a bit better at biking where it was flat before I had this challenge placed before me. Elder Morrison is a basketball player (meaning that he played everyday before his mission) and so he's in great shape. I guess I'll just blow someone's house down instead of knocking on their door, with all the huffing and puffing I'll be doing :)

I have to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency and High Council on Saturday Morning to coorelate how the work is going in my district. The Spanish District Leader comes too, and we have breakfast. You can imagine how ill-prepared I was this week, having only been here a few days. Well, guess who came along? First off, the High Council representative was Brother Neuenschwander, who's the son of Elder Neuenschwander, of the first Quorum of the Seventy. Well, guess who brought Dad along? Yep. So, the Spanish District Leader gave a pretty thorough report of his district, and I just gave him the few things that I knew of, which wasn't much. I guess the point is that I felt kinda stupid. I guess I better learn a lesson from it or something, or else it's likely to happen again.

I really liked the reference in Jesse's letter to the big bad wolf.

News from the North

Aunt Helen sends the following news:

James is waiting for his mission call. The status on his call is: "ready for assignment." He is excited about getting the call.

I hope you are all doing well. We have been busy at our house. We especially enjoyed the Fall Break on Monday and Tuesday of this week. We got a lot done in getting the yard ready for winter and getting rid of junk!

Liz has only two more months until she graduates from BYU with her BSN and will take her state test next year to be a full Registered Nurse.

Gordon is in his seventh year as the Bishop and continues to be a great Bishop. I am teaching the Marriage and Family Relations class in Sunday School. The past two months I've also been able to teach the Teachings for Our Time Relief Society Lesson.

At this time of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say thanks for being such wonderful friends and family. You help make life great! Thanks for all your prayers for our family and especially for our missionary and soon-to-be missionary.

Batch two of surprise party

Sara & her hubby Ryan. They were our partners in crime planning the whole surprise party.

Aunt Jane, looking sophisticated and sipping her homemade rootbeer.

Nancy, with her beautiful blonde hair and sparking smile.

Sammy, singing a special song that she wrote for the occasion.


There are still lots more pictures where these came from, but I'm working on several projects right now, so I'm not sure when I'll get to posting them.

Please leave comments for me if you have anything you would like to see on the blog, or email me if you have news or just something to say!

batch one of surprise party

Hello everyone! Here are the first batch of pictures from Mom and Dad's surprise party:

Here is sweetie pie nephew Brycen, wondering how he can get Uncle Alex to let him touch all of those interesting buttons.

Left to right: Dad, Pam & Lee Aston, Hugh Bangerter, who came all the way from Texas!

James and Dan Cook

Hugh, Dad, and Grandma Grace. Lee is giving dirt on Dad, hence the serious look on Grandma's face.

Kimmie, Spencer, Aaron, Samuel
James, Erica.

I'll be posting more pictures as soon as I can.

Happy October Birthdays

The following people will be celebrating their own birth in addition to Halloween this month:

11 Gordon M.
12 Connie B.
15 John B.
19 "Mack" (Mackay) B.
20 Miss Monica Y.
29 Melissa H. W.

Hope you all have a happy one!