...in his own tongue, and in his own language

 Sister DeVictoria writing:

Another busy week in Taipei.  Once again we feel trepidation as we learn to do our duties, but I have felt the Lord's help each time I faced a difficult situation.  Each time I learn something well, I try to keep a record of what I learned.  I made a book with tabs for each subject.  Actually there is a book in the drawer that someone else had made, but it is so scrambled with no organization and little notes written all over the pages that it's hard for me to make sense of.  I write a step-by-step list or procedure for each thing.  Some tabs have things like: restaurants from which to order food for zone conference, contact info for the temple etc. 

It was the mission president's birthday this week.  He came into his office to find the missionaries had decorated it for him.

The missionaries love him, and from my first day here I could feel his love for them.  They posted the funniest pictures of him on our closed mission group on the Line app, here are a couple examples: 

I found a picture of Elder DeVictoria that I wanted to share.  This is a "Then and now" compilation.  He worked as an office elder for three months during his first mission :)

Then (around January 1983):

Now (April 2024):

We went to the temple with our English ward last night.  I can speak and understand Chinese, but I'm still getting used to the Taiwan accent again so don't always understand everything that is said.  I felt like for my own spiritual strengthening I wanted to attend the English ward.  And we also attended the English endowment session.  The Taiwan temple is so compact!  39 people fit in a session.  It was wonderful to be in the prayer circle and hear the prayer said in English by a Taiwanese temple worker who struggled to speak English.  He did a wonderful job and prayed with the spirit.  I believe that hearing the gospel in your own language brings a deeper meaning to the words.  That is why we strive to teach people in their own language.  We are in the process of being approved to serve in the Taipei Temple as part-time temple workers.  It's going to be a challenge to learn everything in Chinese.

We made our own Facebook ad for the mission this week.  The young missionaries were specifically asked to do that, but I really wanted to participate too.  The mission president was a little surprised we wanted to do it.  I immediately had an idea for what we would do.  But I forgot to include one aspect of the requirement, so I hope to go to the office today to fix that.  If the Church likes the ad, they will pay for it to be promoted on Facebook. :)  (We had to include one still picture, and one outlink.  I forgot to add the outlink).  The young missionaries are so good with technology, I always ask for their help.  Here is the photo we used for the still picture.  We included the text, "Have you ever prayed to God, our Heavenly Father before?" written in Chinese at the bottom of the pic (not shown in this example): 

This experience has made me want to do more videos!  I have been using social media for about 20 years and I'm hooked!  I hear so many people talk in church about the evils of social media.  It all depends on how you use it.  I believe the Lord gave us this technology to help spread the gospel throughout the world.  Anyone with a smart phone can access information about literally anything.  We need to make use of this new tool we have been given.

I can't finish my part of the blog without sharing a food pic.  lol  Out of convenience, Elder DeVictoria and I often eat food from 7-11 that is about 45 yards away from the front door of the office.  Here in Taiwan, 7-11 carries fresh pre-made biendang (bento box) type meals.  They cost around 79 Taiwan Dollars (about US$2.50).  The clerk can heat them up in the microwave for you.  She uses some napkins and a special piece of cardboard to hand it to you so that we don't get burned.  They also have a machine that can toast sandwiches for you.  They also have fresh sandwiches and other specialty bread items.  This biandang was a spicy pork with rice and green beans:

Elder DeVictoria writing:

The two office Elders with whom we work (in their temporary office assignments as "media specialists") reported during our mission-wide prayer meeting online yesterday, that they got a message from church headquarters that our mission Facebook ad campaign is the most successful one in the Asia Area (with the most baptisms resulting from an initial contact through Facebook).  So, what's happening is, people within the Taipei mission area see our ads, they click on the link, our missionaries contact them immediately, and they become friends and the teaching and conversion process begins.  It's quite simple, and genuine.  Yes the Lord is hastening his work through technology, yes it is real.  The church does have to pay Facebook a little bit of money for posting the ads.  But what a pleasure it is to just be a tiny part of it and to see it really happening before our very eyes.  There is actually some rudimentary programming skills required of the Elders, mainly for formatting the ads and for handling the links and referrals management etc. The young missionaries are so smart, and so accustomed to technology, they do a wonderful job.

Here is a pic of the office where we work.  The 2 "media" office elders sit in the desks closest to the front in this photo, and you can see Sis. DeVictoria hunched over her desk in the middle; my desk is opposite hers on the right.  In the background near the photocopier is an Elder who is a service missionary, he and his wife as companion help with the missionary housing, they do a fantastic job.

"For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ."  D.&C. 90:11