Week 20: Yes, Piano Lessons Paid Off...Sort Of.

1) Did you eat anything strange and/or yummy this week? I basically cook for my self!!!

2) How are your investigators? They are progressing.

3) Have you met anyone from Vietnam yet? no one.

4) Does your ward have any fun activities that you have gone to? Well, they play basketball a lot.

5) What percentage of what they say in church do you understand? A lot. 

6) What are you doing for PDay today? ball

Ni hao everyone.  Sorry if this email is short.  We are going to an island. I've been running a lot to help with my sleeping. Mom, its like 5k ahahah but ya you would be proud.  Happy father's day!!! Nothing super exciting. It's cool hearing from everyone!!  Pray that Alex , Lin and mother accept the gospel cause I don't want to drop em. 

This is what I did this week: proselyting, cooking food which now I am super good at, tracting.  Oh, and  studying.  I bought a piano book to play songs. We can play whatever. There is no where here with sheet music so I can't get any of my Harry Potter,  Lord of the Rings, or  the River Flows in You 

But ya, its ok. I'm doing fine, working hard.  We have zone exchanges this week. Sleeping is really hard on me. I get an average of 4 hours a night but running helps.  I honestly feel closer to God  when I'm running. just cause its me and Him and no one else. 

Its been an uneventful week. The ward is awesome, honestly great. I  played at a baptism and everyone cried but ya, love you all.  There is honestly not a lot going on in Taiwan.  By the way there is this kid named Fred who is going to EFY in America and he is gonna call you mom to tell you i said "hi" in his broken, broken English.

Love you guys lots. nothing exciting has happened!!!

Elder Buhler

Week 19: Josh Gains a Testimony of Ropes and Meets the Taiwanese Hair Version of Mitt Romney

1. What was the items in your care package that you liked the most? I loved the fruit roll up stuff and American food but the book was pretty awesome.  It actually changed my out look on a lot of stuff about being Mormon. 

2. What did you like the least? there not being enough.....

3. Tell us what your area looks like? Is it a city, a town? Does it look like Salt Lake, Mapleton? Florida? Well, there is one area when you are biking down that is like coming out of Hobble Creek canyon. It's cool.

4. How are your mission clothes holding out? How do you do laundry there? ya i have worn the same pants for 2 months.

5. Do the members feed you? About as much as i would like....

6. Have you given a prayer or talk in church yet in Chinese?  I pray all the time, that's easy, but no, I haven't given a talk yet.

7. Send a missionary picture. I will send one. 

8. How much of your day do you spend speaking Chinese? 3/4th.

9. What are the grocery stores like? Are they inside markets or outside markets? Completely different from the us. I could walk in and by whiskey and pack of smokes and be age 13. 

10. Do you have a microwave, refrigerator? yes

11. What was the most spiritual/best experience of the week? We sang "I'm a child of God."

12. Who was the most interesting person you met this last week. Chinese Mitt Romney

Ni hao everyone!!! 

Well, Taiwan is still in the shape that Chinese left it!!! The kids populate the Internet cafes and smoke and do nothing with their lives while smart kids study away and get the best scores in the world only to go work at a 7-11. Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Taiwanese dream is still alive and running. This week has been interesting. We went to  a water fall. Pics will come. I fell like ten feet onto rocks because I was being dumb and now I have a testimony of ropes.  Ropes are good and should be held onto all the time. It was beautiful it looked like the forbidden pool off of Lord of the Rings. I did exchanges with Elder Limpanopol and that was actually super fun. He is awesome. Then I went to ztm and saw everyone from Elder Noll to a bunch of people you guys don't know, but it was fun none the less. President gave me these sleeping pills because i have the worst time sleeping at night. He said take half of one but i heard 2 so the next day I didn't wake up for a long time 17 hours. So yes, I have learned a lot of lessons. We are taking another approach. Elder Hoopes takes me to the track at like 9:15pm and has me run 3 miles.  Hence why mom I bought some running shoes. It's been kinda working.

We have an elder in our apartment who is almost as nerdy as I am.  Its kinda funny all the nerd stuff we discuss.  Yesterday we had this lesson with a Chinese man with the hair of Mitt Romney... and it gets better, his wife plays sax. After that she was hitting on me saying I should have a a lot of girl friends then she groped my comp.... so we sang "I'm a Child of God and left!! it was a wonderful day. Oh by the way, my English class loves the pictures of me mom, especially with Alexis.  They thought she was my girlfriend and ya know I just could resist a good laugh. I said she was my wife and they bought it. But ya, send me pics more from senior year through college if you could. 

That's pretty tight Jacob has a job.... of manual labor. I remember that one... not too fun.... and Jared quit getting hurt. Cassie I hear you are being awesome as usual and Caity,quit being sick. Dad, you asked how my bike is. Well it has a tendency to attract cars going really fast. I have been hit twice since Monday. Anyways love you all. Send pics and tell people I love to get mail. Tell everyone I love them. 

Love, 

Elder Buhler

Week 18: Earthquakes, Cockroaches and Other Fun Stuf

1.) What was the most exciting thing that happened this month?

Yesterday we had an earth quake so that was pretty scary. 

2) When does your companion go home?

In a move call I believe

3) What do you eat or drink there when it gets really hot?

Dong hua cha its like a graham cracker except liquid.

4) How is English class coming? 

Well its alright. We have been losing people because I guess our English class kind of sucks? i mean its not like we are professional at all, but its free.

5) Do you have air conditioner in your apartment?

Ya, its called lengqi  and there is never enough of it.

6) What are you doing for Pday today?

We are going hiking hence why the email today will be short.

7) Did you get your care package yet? not yet

8) What new things did you learn with the language this week?

oh ya, everyday things.  Mainly just everyday terms so people will talk to us.

Ni hao everyone!!! Yesterday there was an earth quake and we are on the highest floor.... so that was pretty interesting. I was cooking on a gas stove but I couldn't turn it off because well I was cooking chicken,  and I  didn't want to spoil it.... I mean come on.. but that was pretty funny ahahha.

As for baptisms,  Lin and Alex want to be baptized in July after testing. It's sad cause I will most likely be leaving this area by then. The Chinese is coming along.  This week we went bush whacking to find the aboriginals in Taiwan. Taiwan once you get away form all the pollution and computers is beautiful.

The spiders here are like Spartans. They would kick the crap out of any of our spiders.Its quite scary. Anyways I miss you guys a lot, not gonna lie. How is everything at home!! Congrats bear on making Rangers!!! I'm so proud of you Remember dude Miles wasn't good at the beginning.!!! And Jacob its all good, pro soccer is stupid besides college is more important!!! Cassie I hear you are tearing it up and Caity I miss you!! most!!! Thank you for all the info on Cody's funeral . i think its really cool all those people went and supported Cody he is def a hero. if i join up i would want to be like Cody. Love that kid, God Speed. Anyways, everyone send mail to grim  he might be dying in the MTC!!! I love everyone!! Congrats for Springville taking 3rd at the Ute shoot. I def miss those days but i know that i still have football waiting after my mish. I  just got to focus!!! Good luck to Jessi this week at the combines!!! 

And ya we have a roach problem. It got kinda of out of hand if you will... I will show pics anyways Love you all. Hey mom can you get me Taylor Redford's and Parker Young's email. I wanna talk to them. Love you all. 

In a separate email he wrote:

"Hey, I'm loving it out here. Don't worry!!! Trust me!!"

Week 17: A Hard Week in Taiwn

1. Did you get the care package I sent? Did you love it? I haven't got it yet but i am really looking forward to it!!!

2. Did you have your baptism? How did it turn out? Tell us everything about it. well they kinda fell through!!! but its OK!! He had testing

3. Can you send us some pictures? Your blog needs it.!!!! OK

4. What is tracting like in Taiwan? Really discouraging!!! aha ha we will go out all day and no one will want to talk to us.

5. How is your language coming along? How much do you understand? How much can you speak? i understand a lot but i just barely started learning normal speak which is so much better so its coming.

6. Has your favorite scripture changed? Ether 12:6 

Ni hao everyone!!!! Well Taiwan is hot as heck as usual !!! well we have been just plugging along! I switched it up from rice and bought some egg noodles and ya know its actually pretty good to be completely honest. Nothing really has changed much. We are still  tracting and going door to door every day. Really no one likes us ah aha say that brightens our day.we just do the same thing every morning and as for service we helped sign up a kid for EFY. i think I'm gonna buy a dinosaur egg mango which can cost up to 10 dollars but its totally worth it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jacob! Holy crap!!! dude you are 17 ESPN wants you and RSL loves you Congrats on Grim going into the MTC.  It seems likes yesterday we were both at EFY camp. That is insane.

Shout out to my girl Ash for serving the Lord!

Jared good luck at Ranger tryouts. I know you will kill it. and Caity, wow you are totally killing it I hear Cassie is going to VB. Congrats on getting 4.0s!!!  Well everyone here is too busy "studying" for school. They may get the highest grades but there is no Taiwanese dream at all. You study all your life and end up at a McDonald's It is ridiculous. So everyone is busy but it is all good. anyways.

Also everyone please keep the Towse and Grassely families in your prayers please. 

love ya'll.

Elder Buhler

WEEK 16: Tribute to Cody

1.What new things happened this week to you? Well I ate monkey and caterpillar !!! 

2. How do you find investigators? We mostly go tracting and street contacting. We sometimes use basketball or baseball as a way to talk to people but ya that's how we meet people.

3. What do you buy to eat for dinner on the streets? Pot stickers, hot cold ice, man tou.

4. How many miles do you bike a day? Do you have to bike uphill and down hill too? I would say 12 miles

5. What is your schedule like everyday? What time do you wake up? Leave your apartment? What do you do all day? When do you come back in? What time do you go to sleep? well  I wake up at 630, "exercise" till 7 (stare at wall) . We study for a couple hours leave at 10:30, go contact for like 7 hours come back at  9:30,  fall asleep at 1030.

6. Describe your apartment? Do you have air condition? Sleep in a bunk bed? Is it a big? Are there bugs there? We remodeled our room so it's like a loft but ya we do and ya there are loads of cock roaches.... it gets pretty bad sometimes... Elder Hoopes is  afraid of them. We set one on fire and then almost set the apartment on fire. It was running around on fire.... there's a lot of flammable stuff in the apartment.

7) Do you dream in Chinese yet? kind of.

Ni hao everyone!!! Well it was awesome talking to my whole fam bam!!! I got to go on splits with Elder Young linksprol from Springville !!! It was good but then the whole week kinda just went to downhill.  Have you ever had a day where you wake up and find out your investigator who gets baptized soon is gay, typhoon season decides to start 2 months earlier, the cockroaches hold a invasion on my bag of brown rice? That's kinda how my last week was. The splits with Elder Young was real fun. We also watched a baseball game,Yankees vs Mariners. It was awesome.  For 30 mins, we felt like normal guys. Alright enough about me.

So I just got the news today about Cody. I wasn't the closest person to Cody but I loved him nonetheless.  He was an amazing man and an amazing American. He didn't want to sit back and watch as the world go to hell He wanted to do his part to stop it. I have memories of Cody always trying to get me to be a man and not a woman. I remember before he shipped off to basic we sat behind Troy's house eating marshmallows. I remember long boarding down at his house after color festivals and talking video games with him. Cody was an amazing man.  He fought and died for his country. In short, Cody was a bad ass. My prayers are with the Grasseleys and Towses. There is a scripture in the Bible which talks about how greater love hath no man than he who would lay down his life for his friend. I like to think that in heaven there is a place where brave warriors go . Ya Cody is up there. Love you all.

Week 15: We have an investigator wanting to get baptized (a huge thing in Taiwan)!

Ni hao everyone !!! This week has been interesting!!! I had to go up to Taichung to go do Dan Jones. I saw Sister Peay... kinda cool seeing a familiar face ya know? Well one investigator is trying to get baptized so we are helping him work towards that!! Yep we got evicted this last week.  It was kinda of a pain but ya know I guess it had to happen ya know?  I'm eating brown rice for  breakfast and lunch. Its  straight brown rice to I can get in better shape and ya but dinner we always eat out. Its cheaper here.  Other than that this week is really not that eventful.  I am looking forward to talking to you guys tomorrow!!! (Josh is calling his Tuesday, our Monday night because they were helping with mission transfers and moves yesterday)

WEEK 14: Moving Apartments and Getting Dominoes Pizza

NOTE: As I was running a spell check, Caitlin was sitting next to me saying "wait how can he spell that wrong!" So funny. Joshy makes us laugh. I hope his Chinese is better than his written English. :)

Ni hao everyone!!! Greetings from little China!!! This week has been slow. We have quite a few investigators but the fact of the matter is most of them are girls who want to date us and they don't really understand that we are missionaries. But, you know, you get what you get.

Asian of the week has to go to the cross dressing stripper we met.... def... him ... 

Well we had to go to a different court.... some guy who just lifts upper body (we all know that guy) started to honestly try to fight me at basketball and I'm so proud I didn't even swear once!!!  

Elder Hoopes and I are getting evicted. It's awesome, apparently sisters are moving in. I feel like it will be a love- hate relationship.The Chinese is coming along. Its awesome to hear from my family and all my friends. I hope everything is great with everyone. We taught some lessons this week but a lot of the people here are so stuck to their ways of Taoism and math and calculators. 

English class was interesting. The whole class was just looking me up on face book (do you operate that mom?) and google and YouTube. They got a kick out of the some of the pics. 

I got some more rice and ketchup its great!!! 

1. What was the best experience of your week?

My best experience of the week I would have to say was these people we taught brought us Dominoes pizza.That definitely strengthened my testimony. I mean that I was praying for pizza. My other great experience was  I got to argue about America.

2. Do you have other elders in your apartment? 

Well we are getting evicted... so we now will..but Elder Hooopes isn't too happy cause that just means more horsing around but I look at it as a chance to .... share my political opinions.

3. Did you find any new investigators? 

Yes,  but they turned out not be in our area so we can't teach them.


4. Are you understanding Chinese any better? 

Ya i just can't speak it to save my life.

5. What do you eat everyday

rice and ketchup

So i realized lately I haven't been the best example with all my actions before and during the mish and I would just like to apologize to all my friends and fam. I need to be a better person and a man and a better American and I intend to do that. I love you all and I hope that you all have an amazing mother's day. i look forward to talking to my family. God bless you and God bless America.

Love, 

Elder Buhler