The letter from Colby was brief this week:

" I have a new companion. His name is Elder L**. He's pretty awesome so far. He served and was trained in Chao Zhou. I'm really liking it so far. there are a lot of people to talk to and the apartment is really cool. Two floors! still small though."

"At the end of this last week, I was having a kind of hard time. A lot of things hitting together. I of course prayed. Then the next morning, in my morning studies, I grabbed a random Ensign. That act alone is a miracle because I try really hard to not just do random things too often. But I opened up to a talk given by President Eyring in 2008 October Priesthood session. It was an EXACT answer to my prayer, all about the priesthood. I read it and I loved it and I cried a little bit and I felt the love of the Lord."

So it sounds like he may be hitting one of those rough spots in the mission. (He's been out 11 months tomorrow, it was bound to happen sometime.) I remember all too well about rough spots. But he's doing the best thing by praying, recommitting and relying more fully on the Lord.

So please remember him in your prayers, and a letter to him might be just what he needs, too. His address is in the side bar-----> at the bottom. :D

I love Colby!!! (Lila, Clarents, WilliamPeterman, Whacki & Googlah)

As a parent one of the hardest things is knowing ones child is having a difficult time. I wish I could take the pain away--go through it FOR him..., but I find comfort in knowing that the pain will be eased as he passes through the trial, and he'll be that much more strong for having passed through it.

Labor Day

On Monday we had a fun thing happen. We were roasting hotdogs on our driveway in our fire ring, and the fire department--with a bright shiny red truck--came to visit. Apparently the Head Fire Chief from the Provo Fire Department received a text that we were having a bonfire of yard waste. Jeff and Logan were pulling dead branches from the tree to use in the fire. I'm wondering if the good soul who called us in was concerned about that? The firemen talked to Jeff and then one came over to see our fire. He saw that it was contained in a "commmercial pit", snickered and walked back towards the truck. They went on their way. I'm guessing they went back to the normal Firemen Labor Day activity of collecting money for MDA.

Later in the day I got an email from someone I didn't recognize. I also got a Facebook friend request from the same person. I was a bit leary. I looked further and realized that this person is a friend of Colby's, a recent convert to the Church (just a few weeks) in Taiwan. He sent a picture of Colby and his companion Elder Gardner with his family. This friend's non Chinese name is "Gene". How nice of him to contact our family!

We kept our fire going all day. Our new friends Brandon and Mary Reas came over. They wanted to play the piano and study . Mary played showtunes and Brandon studied (and sang falsetto to the tunes---multitasking! :D) for a few hours and then we had another hot dog roast, this time sharing with our friends. It is so wonderful when we find friends who love us as much as we love them. They are keepers for sure!

Wow. Taiwan week 37

Wow. Taiwan week 37.

It went like this:

Monday, Elder Gardner's bike fell apart, so that took alot of our time away. And we were recovering from a Typhoon that hit last weekend. We went and ate at Wang Shang Ming's house. He's the First in the Bishop Ric. Tuesday was exchanges in Ping Dong City. One and a half hour bike ride one way. It was a good experience though and we had some really amazing Curry and Vegtibles. We also met with a reall cool simple man that is progressing. Wednesay, we switched back and went back to work. Met with Sun Bei Bei which consists of reading a chapter of the Book of MOrmon with him and Eating Crackers. HE's a reall cool old old man who got baptized a few months ago and raises fish for a living. Thursday was a day of absolute miracles. We had many great opportunities to teach. Mr Xie from Taipei at his food shop. Tornado Chen who want's to help his family situation with the gospel. Which is totaly cool because that is exactaly what we can do. Booking it out to secondary and having a sitdown with Chen Mao Nan who really wants to come back to church. Friday, we found a few old formers. and had a good talk with a recent convert on the steps of the churhc. We also had a good time practicing contacting people two by two. On Saturday, we had ASSISTANT EXCHANGES. So yes, Elder Buenning came down from Tai Zhong and came around with us and had an absolute blast. We had a mass meeting of alot of people tha we got up and taught in front of. THen we had a really cool experience with one guy who completly rejected us at first and then came back and told us to pull into his home. We sat down with him and found out that he has had the worst few days and really just needed somebody to talk to. He's going to get baptised soon. Really great guy. Sunday, our goal of 100 people at church was completely destroyed. yeah. 117. yeah. Intense. We almost didn't have enough seats. So good to see the growth. ANd then today, we went out to Ping Dong and had lunch with the Elders there. It was at a pretty fancy place. It was fun to just talk to them though. I love doing missionary work.

SO yeah that was my week. I hope you liked that overview. not too much detail. sorry just a little pressed for time, we still have to get Elder Gardner's bike fixed today.

Thank-you for all of your help and love.

Love Ya!

-Elder Sanford

Happy Birthday Junie

happy birthday sweetie!!!

She's 13-a real live certifiable teenager.We love you so much June!

Taiwan 36

I've really liked that I get the chance to work out and run in the mornings and it is something that I will do for the rest of my life.

Yes I did get new shoes, but I really want to get my old ones resoled. Is that possible? I like the old ones alot more, not to mention that they are alot more comfortable and waterproof and awesome.

Wow, sounds like there is alot going on and alot of people are getting old. Man.

So yeah, one quick story. There is a kid on our convert action list that we haven't been able to track down ever since I've been here. I was thinking about how Iknew that he was out there somewhere. I remember saying a prayer to find him one night. His family all used to be investigators of the church, but weren't really ready to make the full commitment. The son was the only one, but without that backing, he quickly fell away. Elder Gardner pointed out who we thought the kid was yesterday at church on our bulletin board. His baptismal picture was still up. Standing next to him in a red shirt was his father. I only looked at his face for a matter of seconds. But later on the street, I recognized it as I was riding home quickly to get some food in before the baptism. I passed him and kept riding for about a block before I made the connection. I slammed on my brakes and biked back to him and started up a good conversation. We are going back to their place later this week. The Lord has been working on them for a while and now we're going to be going in for try two. I'm excited.

The coolest thing was that we have been working with a part member family and the oldest son got baptized yesterday. Yeah! The mother is really close behind him and the father expressed strong desire to follow in his son's footsteps as well. The younger brother is going to get baptised in January when he turns eight. So yeah, really great family, really great week. So yeah, the tall one is Zeng Di Xiong. BAPTIZED! party (even though it looks like I was photo shopped in, I was really there)

Thanks for all of the love from home! Tell everyone hello from me. I'm working hard out here! I hope that all is going well with school and stuff back there. Time for another good week of hard work!

-Elder Dib Sanford.

To St. George FAST!!!

It was a quick trip!

A week ago today I made a yummy dinner -- worthy of Sunday dinner status. Sister Carol Crilley and her friend with a granddaughter showed up. What a treat to have a decent meal to share (and the house was even clean--miracle!) They brought an ice cream cake for dessert. Delightful.

We then packed up the car and waited for Junie to get home from Young Womens. Mirielle, Esther, Junie, and I didn't have plans until Friday afternoon, so we were able to MAKE and execute super fun plans: a roadtrip to St. George to visit my sister Jonna, her husband Kimand as many of their children and grandchildren as we could see. Junie came home and it was about 9 p.m. before we could start the trip.

We headed off to my sis' house. When I am the "sole driver", I tend to get a little nervous. I can NOT get tired, well I CAN, but I MUSTN'T (that's a weird contraction!). SO I am glad that someone (I think it was Jonna) years ago told me about the miracle of the Sunflower seed. If you put the seed in your mouth, suck the salt off, crack the shell, careful--Don't swallow it, pull the shell out of your mouth, and eat the seed, you can drive for hours....The reason it's a miracle is I CAN do this and never get tired, not even in the least. I remain alert and functi

onal as a driver. YAHOOO!!!

We got to Jonna's at 1:30 a.m. Thursday. We got in the beds (--comfy!) and slept the night/early morn away. Rebekah had to get her Wisdom teeth extracted so Jonna didn't get home until after 10 a.m. Then Eliza and Elise came. Shortly after, Amelia, Lincoln and Sydnee came. I love my nieces and nephews and the grands, too. It was so good to see and hug them. Here's a pic of Sydnee and one of Grandma Jonna with Lincoln. I didn't get one of Elise. :(

Taiwan 35

So here are those wonderful pictures that I promised to send.

I hope that you all enjoy them alot.

There is also a picture of my companion ELDER GARDNER.

He is a beast. And an awesome missionary.

Then there is a picture with Zhuang Jia Rong and his family (minus the father)

and then a picture of Zou Jia Rong and a member that helped her a lot named Han Jie Mei and her little grandchild who likes to look different places and sing and dance on occasions

Then there is a picture of Huang Yu Fang who is was baptised not by me but by her boy friend who used to be a less active but now comes every week and was baptized on the same day as Zou Jia Rong (not Zhuang Jia Rong, I know they're close) which actually turns out to be the same day as a "How to Make Jam" Social that was taught by Zou Jia Rong... (not Zhuang Jia Rong, I know they're close).

Party.

So this past week, we had the chance to have Combined District Training Meeting. It was a really good experience. Each time we have CDTM, we have a chance to have a face to face interview with President Bishop. We talked a little about some of the recent converts in the area. When we were done, he said "Well enjoy Chao Zhou while you can, you may not be there for too much longer." So we'll see what happens. It is half way through the movecall and at the new movecall, there will be 25 new missionaries, maybe more, coming on island.

Wow that rush before school starts feeling came back for a second when I was reading your email. Well I hope that you all have a good time getting into the new school year.

-Elder Dib Sanford.