First Days in Taiwan and Pictures!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow!! I am in Taiwan! hahaha! I LOVE IT HERE!! I am so grateful for the Savior and my sacred call as a missionary and the opportunity I have to share this message with the beautiful people of Taiwan.  Wow!! haha these last few days have been crazy, so I will do my best to answer questions and catch you all up to par! :) All of my MTC District received their visas so we’re here together!!!

Arrival at the Tapei Airport

The flight over was good!  I actually sat by this guy on my way to Tokyo who was from Taiwan.  Wow, he was so nice!!!  His english was awesome, because he has been studying in the U.S.! I got to talk to him a for like 4 hours straight.  I also got the opportunity to share about the Book of Mormon with him.  He actually is Christian... which is super rare.  It was really neat, and I also got to swap info with him... and I told him that if he was ever in Utah that he could stay with you guys... haha.  So... I hope that is okay!! hahaha! ;)  Anyways, when we got to Tokyo we had like a 4 hr layover and our whole MTC district met up and it was awesome!! We went and had noodles and shared stories! So great!! haha!  Then we got on the plane to Taiwan, and that was when I really felt immersed in the language! haha everyone spoke chinese.. and I had no idea what they were saying!!

With President and Sister Blickenstaff

We got off the plane and got our stuff and met mission president and his wife.  Crazy... haha the smell here was so different.  I am used to it now and LOVE it, but at the time it was so weird. We got on the bus and traveled like 2 hrs to Taicheng which is a big city, and we had a small devotional.  It was great!  I was so tired though. 

Elder Redding - 1st Morning in Taiwan at Mission Office

I stayed at the AP's home with Elder Varvel-MTC Companion.  That was super fun, and in the morning at like 6:30 he gets me up and is shaking me. haha, we didn't have to get up till 7 because we didn't get back till like 1, haha and he was like "Elder Redding, lets go running." haha that was fun.

I don't have a lot of time to go through all the details of everything, so I will tell the highlights.  The next two days were orientation type days.  We got to go out to eat and the food is different.  There are some things that I love!  other things that I will need to get used to.

The night before we met our trainers we went to dinner and they literally eat everyting..  haha Whole fish with scales and all!  haha and the chicken... head and all!! haha!  After dinner President got up and told us about Dan Jones, a missionary in the church.  He talked about him standing on a soap box... I thought uh oh.. haha so we went to the night market!  We all gathered around in the middle of everyone... It is packed of people everywhere and we sang a hymn and then we got up and shouted our testimony to everyone around!!! haha It was crazy!!  I got up and shouted it and got down and then this missionary ran up and grabbed me to go and start contacting people.  haha it felt so sureal!! It was so Awesome!!!!  I loved it.  We talked to people and I didn't understand a whole lot, but the Elder I was with was super nice and would tell me, share about the book of mormon, or share about prophets.  It was really neat. 

That night we got back and I fell asleep in my suit and all!! haha I was exhausted.

Lunch with New Trainers Just Prior to Heading to New Area

The next day we got our trainers!!  We went up to the very front and got a red envelope with our area and our trainers name in it.  I opened it and it said I would serve in DaKeng with Elder Munger!! Then he came up and gave me a hug.  After we went to lunch and then we were off!!  Elder Munger is great.  He is a stud... that is all I can say.  haha.  He is so obedient and is so patient with me.  haha he also is an animal with his workouts.  He is the most fit person I have ever met.  He is crazy... haha we get up at 6 and he wears a backpack with weights in it while he runs and does everything... haha and he also wears a gas mask!!! haha yes, a gas mask!! It makes it so its harder for him to breathe!! haha He is awesome! 

In DaKeng with Elder Munger and One of His New Coverts

We had lessons immediately and over the last two days we helped 3 people set baptismal dates.  I just love it here.  haha.  I don't know what else to say.  I love the people, the food, the smell, the gospel.  Everything. 

I am sorry this is such a crazy email, but I am trying to help you guys know what I am experiencing. 

The roads are crazy... haha there arent lanes and there a millions of scooters and cars going everywhere, haha and we just weave in and out of cars.  Its crazy.  We go full speed right by cars and reach our arms our and touch them... haha.  There really arent a whole lot of rules for traffic.  The one thing that I have learned is you cant hesitate.  haha You just keep going and scooters will get out of the way and cars will wait.  When you hesitate, bad things happen! haha.  I just wish you could experience it.  Its like nothing you could even imagine.  When we get to a red light we just pull up to a scooter and literally have 30 seconds to get them to pull over to the side.  It is so hard... especially when you have no clue what they are saying... hahah!

Church was great, we had 4 investigators at church.  I also got to bear my testimony. 

Last night we went to a members house for what they call hotpot.  you just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and eat it.  I don't understand a lot of chinese, but I can feel their love.

This morning we went and played basketball with two members... haha the Taiwanese are so funny!! haha and of course to get our exercise in we ran there.  2 miles... and Elder Munger flew!!! haha! I was so tired!

I love it here guys.  I really do. I know that the Lord will help me with the language.  He already has.  I can feel it.  I am horrible at Chinese, but I know he will help.  I love you all so much and am so grateful for you all.  Keep up the good work.

I read in 1st Nephi 8 today about the iron rod and the mists of darkness that surround us.  The mists of darkness will never allow us to grasp them.  They will never guide and direct us.  You cannot grab mist. When we make a real effort to "cling" onto the iron rod we will always be able to feel the direction of the Lord in our lives.  The Gospel is what allows us to progress.  If we aren't "clinging" then we aren't progressing.  Love you all.

Love,

Elder Redding

Breakfast the First Morning - After a Very Short Night's Rest!

Dinner - Night Before Receiving First Assignement in Taiwan

Lunch Break

First Day - Pres. Blickenstaff Leading us in Buddha Pose After Mile Run

New Missionaries with New Trainers

Visa Has Arrived!!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well everyone!! I got my visa!! Crazy!! I can't believe the day is finally here. I leave for Taiwan tomorrow!! I am sooo excited and so nervous at the same time.  It has been a good experience here for me in Portland.  I said goodbye yesterday to some people that I am really going to miss!!!  Right before sacrament started the first councilor in the bishopric asked us to give talks because the speaker didn't show up... Haha so we were scrambling to get our thoughts together. Then when we were up on the stand I got a note that we only needed me to bear my testimony... I thought that it was so fitting because it was the last time I would see these people.  It was nice.  After the meeting the ward was so kind to me. I let them know I was leaving and was so grateful to serve with them. They were so nice to me.  The church is true in every part of the world.  It is full of people who have normal lives and try to do the best every day to come closer to Christ.  It is amazing. 

I am super grateful for the opportunity I had to serve in Portland! The people here were so kind to me and I love President Ballard and his family. I love all of you guys! I hopefully will call you tomorrow from a layover!! 

Love always,

Elder Redding

We Are All Known to Heavenly Father

Dear Family and Friends, 

Wow!  It has been a super great week!! I still don't have any word on the visa, but I have a feeling it's coming this week... I dunno though.  This last week went by super fast, I will try to remember some of details.

Wednesday was amazing.  I loved it so much!! There was an emergency splits, so I went with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Barrow and Elder Plessinger went with Elder Cooper. We got two new investigators in our area... And we taught like 3 lessons, and we saw like 4 other families.  It was really cool because we talked to this girl who was new to taking lessons as well. I really enjoyed it because we just worked super hard. He has a really positive attitude and that in my opinion makes all the difference in missionary work and life.  A good buddy of mine... AKA the green machines heart and soul, Elder Hawks often says, "attitude is half the battle" it is so true.  When we surround ourselves with people who make us happy and strive to be happy themselves I truly think that is when we see miracles.  Elder Barrow and I saw this one girl who hasn't been to church or a YSA activity in years a looooonnng time.  We met with her on the porch and talked to her about some of her favorite T.V. Shows.  She was really enjoying it.  We then read a scripture with her from the Book of Mormon and I invited her to come to FHE on Monday and she said she would, then we set up our next visit with her on Monday right before FHE so we could all go down together.  That was super cool, and when we left Elder Barrow told me that he had never seen her so happy before. That was neat. 

Friday was really neat, we went and saw Grandma D and took Sister T with us.  It was really cool, we talked to D about the temple and about her parents who she always talks about. We talked to her about working towards going through the temple herself and then for her parents.  We helped her understand why temples are so important for families. 

On the way home Friday night, I had this impression out of the blue to go and visit this lady named K Who is never home because she works a ton!! She has a little girl and is divorced with her husband.  It's really hard on her and we hadn't seen her in weeks.  I just felt like we should go over.  So we walk up to her apartment and sure enough, no answer.  We went back to our car and there she was with her little girl. She had just pulled in.  We told her that we were looking for her.  After we just kind of said that we wanted to make sure she was doing okay and if there was anything that we could do for her.  Right then she broke down and cried and asked for a blessing.  Her divorced husband has just disappeared and now her little girl has absolutely no father figure. Plus she has two jobs and always took the little girl to the dads... She just was really scared and worried.  It made me so sad to see the little girl who has no idea what is happening and this mother who is working so hard to make ends meet.  We gave her the blessing.  I really felt that it was so neat that we were able to be there. The prompting from the spirit to go see her was so quiet that I will be honest... I didn't recognize it at first. I just felt we needed to. I think that this is mostly how we feel the spirit.  There are always those times when we feel it super strong, but a lot of times it really is a still small voice.  The more we act on those small promptings the more we will begin to recognize them.  I think a lot of this life is learning how to listen to the spirit.  This is something I am working on every day.  I am so grateful that I was able to have that experience.  

Saturday was crazy! Haha... We had a FHE lesson with these two older couple and I brought cards from a members house and taught them Russian Rummy! Haha! That was way fun and we had cookies and crackers and cheese! After we went to this guys house and I got to play his 2300$ guitar! He plugged it into the amp and man... IT WAS AWESOME!! it made me miss playing the guitar.  

Sunday was stake conference and was super fun! :) stake conference was awesome! We heard from Elder Anderson and President Monson.  One of the messages from the 70s was super good too! He talked about how especially in Portland it rains every day.  How we need to seek out the light.  There are always going to be storms in our lives big or small they will always be there.  Instead of sitting back during those storms we need to seek out the sunlight.  Or as my big bro would say, we need to make it happen.  When we show our Heavenly Father that we are willing to seek him out he will help us.  I really like the analogy of the rain every day.  It's so true.  

I am reading in the scriptures about the 2000 stripping warriors.  As I read it this time I really felt Helaman's love for those boys.  He even called them his sons.  I really thought that it was amazing how they kept fleeing from the Lamanites, and finally had to face them.  It made me realize how much Helaman cared for them.  Immediately after, he numbered his people and none were lost.  It made me feel so grateful that we are all numbered as well.  That during our trials Heavenly Father is mindful of us.  When we are in the service of our god we will never be lost.  

I love you all so much! Have a great week and keep the faith!! 

Elder Redding

Great Friends - Examples of Great Service

Dear Family and Friends,

The month has flown by! I can't believe that October is already almost over.  This week we got to go to the temple! That was really awesome. It made me think of when we went to the Portland Temple. It made me feel a lot of joy because I realized again how lucky I am to have the amazing family that I have. You are my best friends. I feel so blessed with the knowledge that we have the opportunity of spending eternity together. It gave me so much peace and joy. Just think, we get to hear mom tell me to take my vitamins for eternity! ;) hahaha! Just teasing Mom, I love you. Truly I feel so blessed to have you guys. 

We are getting into the winter season here, it's getting a lot colder. It's not near as cold as Utah, but it rains every day. This week it rained like crazy! I was so happy I was in a car this week haha. Next week we will get our turn with the bikes! 

On Thursday it was raining like crazy! We showed up at H's house and got to spend time with him. We talked to him about changing and becoming better. I told him that now was the time to make changes. Not just for him, but for all of us.  I related it to wrestling for him, because he was a wrestler when he was young. I related his matches that went 3 rounds and how tough they were but how much joy he felt after - related that to the atonement and changing. I tried to help him see that the decisions he needed to make weren't going to be easy, but they would be worth it. In the end they would make his best memories and be something that he will always remember and be grateful for. He said that he knew he needed to go to church. We kindly agreed haha. He can't right now because of his foot. He has them all cut up because of diabetes and is in a wheelchair, but as soon as they got healed he would come. We are going to try and get him a ride before then.

Friday was the Temple with our Zone! And after H had us try and help him figure out some paperwork. We helped him interpret the paperwork and explained how to fill it out, so he appreciated that a ton. He is so funny! He calls us his boys.  He will be on the phone when we go over and he will straight up tell anyone he is on with, "hey gotta go, my boys are here! Yeah, the Mormon boys." 

As I was reading this week I read in Alma 38 about when Alma the younger was giving his son Shiblon council.  I read vs: 3 and 4 which say:

"3 I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering among the people of the Zoramites. 

4 For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee."

When I read this I thought of Sam. I was completely overcome with Sam's experience but more importantly Sam's response. To realize then that he may have suffered quite a bit of pain and the time but to completely direct it outward and be thankful for our Savior and for Joseph Smith is a testimony of Sam's dedication to The Lord and this work. It is very natural for us to look inward when we have things go wrong, or get drilled in the head by a rock. That is the natural man, that is not Sam. Sam has always been a great example to me as a friend and continues to be an example to me in this great work. I love what Alma says to his son. He tells him the he has had great joy in Shiblon because of his hard work and patience. I can say the same thing about Sam. I know that our Heavenly Father is proud of him and his hard work and patience. I know that he is proud of all of my great friends and their great service. I am so grateful for the great friends I have who are amazing examples to me! 

Well, family I love you guys so much! Please keep up the great work and know that I love you all so much and pray for all of you! 

Love, 

Elder Redding

"It Feels Like Home, Doesn't It?"

Dear Family and Friends, 

It's been another great week in the field. Another bike week under my belt. It was super rainy this week though! People here just say it is going to rain every day. It's funny! Haha. Cuz most days it does. Most of the time though it's just a constant light rain! Like in Utah if it rains it seems to rain pretty hard for a short time. It just rains all the time very lightly. We have had some good, sunny days too, which I guess is very unusual for this time of year here. Winter here they say is just cloudy and foggy and you don't see the sun much and it just rains. Haha but there were some gorgeous days this week. It's gonna start getting pretty overcast though these next couple weeks! Dad, you would love the weather here. Morning runs are absolute bliss. Haha... It's cool, but not too cold right now. It's foggy and wet and beautiful! It's amazing.  

This week had a lot of great things happen.  So like I said, starting with last Monday we went on a gorgeous  Pday hike. The hike we went on half the time didn't even look like we were in real places they were so beautiful. They were all pictures you would find in a calendar. It was sweet! We went on that with our ward mission leader and the Zone Leaders! 

PDay Hike - 10/13/14

PDay Hike - October 13, 2014

Elder Plessinger, Brother Graham (ward mission leader), Elder Redding

Waterfall on PDay Hike - October 13,2014

Saturday was great and I thought it would be a great idea to go see "D" Saturday night and get her to commit to coming to church so that she wouldn't have a day to cancel on us again. It was great. She is so awesome. She is 77 years old and I don't know how long it has been since she has been to church. That night we called Sister Doty the relief society president to ask her to pick "D" up for church the next day and she said they would be greet and she said that she was kind of surprised that she said yes. She said it has been over 30 years since she has been to church and she has tried multiple times to get her to come. Haha she said that she flat out slammed the door on her. Haha.  I told sister doty my feelings about "D"coming. I really wanted her to come because right now in her life, she lives alone in a trailer park with her cat and doesn't have a car or anything and has to be lonely. She told us that every Thursday she takes the bus to the store and it only costs her 4$ haha steal of a deal huh? ;) haha but by the sounds of it that really is the highlight other week. I knew that she was scared the weeks before and that is why she canceled, but I knew if we could get her to come once this would be something she looked forward to each week like the bus ride to the store.  

Sunday morning rolls around and she actually showed up!! Haha it was a miracle. I had fully expected Sister Doty to show up and "D" to just tell her she wasn't coming. She came!!! Haha I sat with "D" and just talked. Sister Doty introduced her to some people and we just talked. We have a really good relationship and she feels really comfortable around me. We introduced her to others and she seemed to really enjoy it.  During the middle of the meeting I leaned over to her and nudged her and said, feels like home doesn't it? She looked at me and smiled and said. "Yes, yes it does." A couple minutes passed by after that and then she nudged me and said, "thank you." That made my whole day. The talks were about tithing. I didn't know if she really understood, because she hasn't been in who knows how long and kinda has a little bit of issues with memory. But after when Sister D took her home she asked to go and get a tithing slip, she then told sister doty she was coming next week. It was exactly what I was hoping for. I think it is something she will look forward to every week.  That made me really think, we all should look forward to sacrament every week. It is an opportunity to start fresh and clean. It's a fresh new start for the week. It is a chance to improve. Great Sunday. 

After on Sunday I saw my friend C! She came to church too. It's hard though cuz she doesn't understand a ton in English... Well anything. Haha but we went over to the Mcdonalds after and I brought the "finding faith in Christ" video. We played it in Chinese. And after she asked me, how do I know that Christ was resurrected and lived again. It was super deep, she asked about why we call ourselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And she never has really asked that much about it. It was really powerful. She also read 8 chapters this week in the Book of Mormon. It has been another great week. 

PDay Hike - Mt. Hood

PDay Hike - Mt. Hood with Zone Leaders and Comp

PDay Hike Mt. Hood

Ty and Elder Redding

This week I was reading about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and it really came to me that they were not just a people that had a super strong testimony of The Lord, but they were converted. As Elder Bednar says, "having a testimony is not enough."  I think that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies are a a great example for all of us.  I can't imagine burying my weapons of war and letting people come and kill me without fighting back.  This made me think, what are my weapons of war that I need to promise to never dig up.  Sometimes when life gets hard we have a tendency to dig up old habits or pleasures or coping methods to deal with the problem or stressor at the time.  It seems to be a natural thing.  However, I know that once we can have those tough challenges in our life and keep our weapons of war buried and trust in The Lord, we to will have been converted unto The Lord. In the end of the story, the people who died without fighting back did not die in vain.  It also said that the Lamanites actually stopped killing them and there were more Lamanites converted than the number if Anti-Nephi-Lehies killed.  What are the weapons of war in our lives that are holding us back from being the best we can be？ I love you all. 

Love you guys, 

Elder Redding

Teaching Great People!

Hello family and friends! 

Sorry, we went on a sweet hike all day today for PDay with our ward mission leader! He is so cool! We just got back and I don't have very long to email before we have to get back to the grind! Haha. I will try to send some pics from this week! Also... Jay, our ward mission leader is putting a bunch of pics on FB of us! He will tag me in a bunch so you can get some there! 

Meet the Mormons was great. We watched it Zone Conference! I really liked the first one too! President Ballard bore his testimony at the end about testimony. He talked about finding your testimony on the mission. He said, if you feel like you don't have one, hold on. He is aware of your needs and is anxious to help you. That was a really powerful moment when he talked about that. I just felt the spirit when he did. 

Elder Redding with 2nd Cousin, Elder Cantrell
at Zone Conference

Zone Conference Outing

Elder Redding at Zone Conference Outing

Elder Redding and Elder Plessinger - Zone Conference Outing

Also, I met a kid who is 18 years old and is from China. He came to church this week. That was really neat. So I went up and bore my testimony, first in English and then in Chinese for him. ...he is very shy, and don't think he has a bunch of friends at high school. It was nice. We are taking him out for ice cream this week with "C...") (our other Chinese investigator) 

Then after church we went to the McDonald's, they are sweet. I love them. This is the family that "C..."is living with. I talked to her, and it went really well. I asked her to be honest with me about the church and her interest. Because a lot of times they will just tell you what you want to hear. The Chinese don't want to disappoint. She took it well and told me that she thinks it is a good thing, but needs more time. I told her that that was great. I told her that it took me time too. I told her that it deserves time. She committed to reading the whole Book of Mormon. .... Wow. Haha. She is amazing. 

This is going to be a great week. I love you guys so much.

I will send a bunch of pics!! Hahaha ... And the video is of me with a new member.

Love,

Elder Redding

Another Great Week!

Family and Friends, 

This has been another great week!  We have some great opportunities this week!  I am very excited for it.  Also this week we have Zone Conference, and for Zone Conference we are watching Meet the Mormons.  We get to see it before it even comes out.  President Ballard has it already.  We are going to watch it on Thursday! 

This last week we got to meet up with Mary again.  We were able to share a message about prayer with her.  She was really happy and really appreciated us coming to see her.  I am hoping that this week we can get her to come to church.  We have a few investigators that we are hoping will come to church this week.  

 This week was the first week on a bike for me.  I LOVED it!!!!! It was so fun... It was tiring at times, haha but I loved it.  We are in a car again this week... I wish that we were always on the bike!!  On Thursday we got a call right in the middle of Companion study from the sisters in our zone and they were at the hospital because one of them got their finger stuck in a blender! Dont ask me why she put her hand in the blender while it was going.. haha but she did.  She was at the emergency room and wanted a blessing!! So we were rushing as fast as we could  and the hospital was all the way by the clackamas town center!!! And we took a wrong turn... haha!!!  It was interesting though... I was so tired, I was biking as hard as I could and as we were there were people yelling at us and swearing at us... That always kinda happens... but it was even more that day.  It made me realize how amazing and powerful the priesthood is.  It made me realize how important it is. Anyways, we got to the hospital, I tried to talk to a lady... haha she began telling me that us mormons worship on the wrong day, I politely asked her if she would like a book of mormon.. she said no.  She already had one... then started telling me again how us mormons were wrong I just shook her hand and told her my name and told her that it was nice to meet her.  We didn't have a lot of time because we were still on the way to the blessing! Then we got there and were able to give it.  It turned out that it wasn't that bad at all, but it was still a great opportunity.  There is a statue at the MTC, it’s of two missionaries on bikes and they are booking it! That is how I felt.  The work is hastening and we are on the Lords call.  It isn't a matter we should take lightly.

There were two instances this week where people came up to us and asked us for help.  It was so crazy!! The first was when we had just got home and this guy came up to us and asked if we were Mormons.  We said yes and he asked us if we could meet again!  haha we were like... uhh.... YEAH!!!!!  its just funny because most people want nothing to do with us!  We set up an appointment the following day and taught him the restoration.  I shared the mormon message about the testimony of the book of mormon with Elder Holland.  We asked him to Read the book of Mormon and Pray about it.  He said he would. He asked about Joseph Smith.  We told him about the restoration and taught him about prophets and that we have a living Prophet today.  After the lesson you could just tell that he was in deep thought. I think that he was really thinking about what we said. 

The members here are so great!  They take care of us so much.  I love the members here!

General Conference was awesome!! I loved the way Elder Holland spoke.  It reminded me of King Benjamin when he was talking to the people and telling them that he was no different then them.  Elder Holland told everyone that he doesn't know how it feels to be poor, he doesn't know how to tell people who are to handle it, but he knows that Lord knows.  Our savior Jesus Christ who suffered for all of us was homeless.  He knows.  I just loved how Elder Holland would come out and admit that he doesn't know how that feels.  Then after he so boldly testified how the Lord knows.  It really showed to me how humble President Holland is.  I could feel the spirit working through him.  It touched my heart.  

I love you all and keep up the great work.  

Love always, 

Elder Redding