Dear Mom, Dad, Eric, Belle, and Coffee,
That was a wonderful email packed full of information, advice,
encouragement, and much more. Thank you for always being so diligent and
never running out of things to say in those wonderful emails of yours.
They truly are remarkable. I love being inspired to work harder (even if
there always seems to be some talk of coming home in each email). In all
honesty, hearing the countdown on days, etc. makes me work harder is all.
All I want to do is push through all of those messy things and come out on the
other side exhausted and regret less which is what I am thus far. I love
my mission so much. Actually, Elder Matthew Taylor is sitting right
behind me typing his emails right now. He has a Zone activity today so we
are here together sending emails. It's strange how things work out the
way they do.
Thank you for putting that money into my account. I doubt I need
that much, but I will take out some to work with for the next while. I
may buy a new pair of pants or tailor my old ones or both because all of my
pants are disgustingly huge on me now. I didn't realize how big I was
before I left. I weigh a lot less than dad does now. Needless to
say I used to weigh much more than dad. It's shocking how a little
cycling, daily exercising, and eating right can completely change your health
and appearance. It does become addicting. And now that I have a
body builder for a companion, I may be able to bulk up a little bit even though
I have little time or money to do so. He'll help me make my morning exercises
more effective at any rate.
I was shocked to hear about the bomb. It's disturbing to think
that anyone would do something so malicious and evil. It's honestly
terrible. Thank goodness for all of the talk at General Conference on
peace. I bet those talks seriously helped some of the people victimized
by the attacks. I love how the Lord's hand is in ALL things and we only
need to clear all of the worldly sludge away from our eyes and take a step back
to realize it. The Lord is over all of these things. It will be
fine as long as we're obedient.
I'm grateful that I have parents that work so hard at their jobs and do
their very best to be productive with their free time. You two are the
best a son could ask for. Thank you for putting your family and your God
before anything else. The sacrifices that are made by parents for their
families are tallied in heaven and treasures and blessings will be heaped upon
you in sheaves when the day of judgment comes. I'm confident that there
is no one who works as hard or for such a good of cause as parents.
I'm incredibly happy that Eric is doing so well. He is a wonderful
person. Keep doing family activities together. I have every
intention of spending as much free time as possible with all of you upon
return. Don't worry about me coming home right now, because I'll be fine
and you'll be sick of me saying "well, when I was in Taiwan..." when
I return. If I live at BYU, I will be home every single weekend that
first semester. If I live at home, you will see even more of me. I
love that we have such a small family that is so close. My brother, mom,
and dad are my three best friends in the entire world. I couldn't ask for
better ones. I have other friends to, some of which are far away from
here, but no matter what happens, you three will be my best of best. I
just love spending time with you all.
I've been praying about a major. I will minor in Chinese for
certain, but I seriously need some counseling with regards to picking a
major. I will be interviewing with president sometime in May and we will
discuss things in detail then. Directly following, I will report to
you. I would love some short synopses and opinions on each of those
majors. My passion is writing, but I'm afraid to pursue it fully to be
honest. I feel like I can do both perhaps. Any thoughts on
that? Also, please talk to a counselor from BYU on what I still need to
do to pass off all of my general education requirements. I want to dive
in and hopefully be graduated in two years, definitely no more than two and a
half. I want to focus on schooling and finish it fast. I will soon
have answers to many of those questions.
My time is growing short and although that countdown is only a friendly
reminder and an expression of your love for me, it does make me sad to think
that in only a few short months I will be returning home to you all. I
love it so much here. We just had a baptism the other day of a young man
who has overcome some intensive internal struggles to come to this point in his
life. You should have seen the smile on his face all day yesterday and
the day before. He was shining with light. He was so happy to be
baptized. He had two friends that showed up as well. One of which
was a recent convert in another ward and the other we just barely met and
hopefully will be baptized soon. What a wonderful situation.
Heavenly Father is blessing this young man. On top of it all, he will be
attending Taiwan National University, which is essentially the Harvard of
Taiwan. He's so excited to go.
Oh yes, I nearly forgot. I know I have mentioned his name many,
many, times on my mission, but Elder Erickson, one of my best friends in the
mission (if not my best friend) is the new assistant to President Bishop.
That is so exciting. It's great to see such a wonderful missionary to so
well and be put into a situation in which he can influence and bless the entire
mission. The other great thing, is that once again, for the third time on
my mission, we are in the same Zone (President Bishop and the Assistants are in
this Zone as well). We have been around each other for most of my
mission. He's such a wonderful missionary.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS:
1. My bike is fine. I got my bike fixed. I am too attached
to my original bike (you know me) to have taken another missionary's for too
long. Mine is doing well, but it definitely is getting old and struggling
due to negligence and disrepair. There just isn't the time or money to
take care of it.
2. I got used to the local food a year ago. It's great.
3. Do I eat American food? Not very often. It depends
on the companion or whether or not we are eating with members. I've had
companions that love McDonald's and therefore we eat there often. Right
now, not at all. We only eat Taiwanese food. There are so many
foods that I've forgotten about.
4. I don't really need any clothes. I should be fine on that
front, but I am considering buying a new pair of pants or tailoring my current
ones (as previously stated). My pants are huge. It's ridiculously
cheap to tailor things and buy Taiwanese made clothing here. I will
likely tailor my suits before I return. It would only be about $10 a
suit.
5. My watch is doing great. It's a little beat-up, but It works
like a charm and is always faithful. I wear it every single day without
any major problems.
6. Would I be comfortable jumping right back into math and
chemistry? I don't know. I think I would have to retake Calculus 1
or at least retake Calculus 2 before I could move forward I think.
Chemistry should be absolutely fine. My last class was relatively simple.
Thank you for the extensive email. I love this gospel more than
anything and I intend on putting everything into my mission these last few
months. I love you all and miss you so much. Don't worry about
me. I have the Lord.
- Elder Woolsey
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