Dear Family:
(Dad's editorial input)
Dad,
I've told a few of the Elders here that I don't mean to brag
but, my Dad is a mobster in the
Joseph Smith movie. And then they laugh. I've already seen
some of it because it has some scenes, or maybe all of them
almost in the new restoration video. The church has done such a
good job of making that video. It invites the spirit in the
room. Love you. I want to know my lineage in the church, and my
lineage of the priesthood it really helps to have these things
to tell people, how I can trace the priesthood I have to Jesus
Christ, its not bragging its just that the Chinese are very
logical people.
Laurel
(Spencer's Aunt - Greg's Sister),
good to hear from you. I was wondering if I was going to write
Lauren
(Laurel's
daughter just returned from teaching English in China for a few
months) in china or not. she would be the closest
relative besides my grandparents in Siberia
(Noni's
parents are serving in Siberia on a mission also).
love you.
James,
(James Spencer is Greg's 1st Cousin - Also went to Taipei on his
mission a few years ago) shin tian - I thought what
is that? Then I realized our new pinyin
(Romanized Chinese writing) is
xin dian. Sorry. I don't know if I'm alowed to tell anyone where
I live, probably its okay. I was thinking about something and
came to the conclusion that missionaries are just like CIA
agents except we do things that really matter. We get to watch
our Heavenly Father's work and just be there talking to people
and set up the connection. So not that doing some secret work in
a foreign country isn't important, but those things will pass
away... but the things we do won't. Not that you don't know
this, I'm just saying it because. So i think it would be
beneficial to the work here if I could tell you where my church
is and my city. I have an English map in my pouch. I'm
looking at my area I have some of the north part of "hsin tien
city" and in the north of my area is I think in "wun shan dist".
We always go to the "chingmei" market. I took a picture of it
that I will probably have to send sometime.
Grandma Olsen
(Greg's mom... has submitted her papers to serve another mission
this Spring!) I think that angels can minister unto
missionaries daily. Just a while ago I was in a rather dangerous
circumstance on the road. I don't know if they just push me one
way or the other gently, I haven't felt anything yet but I know
they do and can help so missionaries don't get hurt. I was
thinking if there was an angel that would be helping Jono
(Spencer's cousin - Laurel's son - Jonathan Bennett is
serving in Colorado. He comes home in May) and I on
our missions, it might be Grandpa
(Greg's dad, Dale, was killed by a drunk driver when Greg was 4
years old). I wonder if all the missionaries in the
spirit world look at the earth and think, if only they could see
what is going on here. Maybe they look down and say "they try."
Love you Grandma.To the Family:
I am really short on time I have thought of many people I would
like to email individually but our email is only limited to one
hour. which is good or I would be on here for half the day.
After becoming more converted to the Jesus Christ I realize
something that I have to repent of, and that is for my pride.
Because of my pride there would be times when I would not treat
you guys at all nice. and I want you guys to know that pride is
when you simply think of something negative toward somebody
else. It is the opposite of love. and so I'm sorry for those
times that I was mean.
(Be still my heart... wow! it is worth every penny having a son
on a mission!!!) I'm learning more and more that love
is something that you need as a missionary or you can't do the
work right. This week my senior companion said something to me,
and it was hard for me to take, and my pride got in the way for
a second. I felt this stinging pride inside against my
companion. and I prayed to have it go away, and it did in a
minute this bad feeling toward my companion I literally felt
dissolved, and I could continue talking to people on the street
with the spirit. I love you guys I didn't have time to read all
my letters next week sorry. bye.
(We have determined to send him shorter letters!)
____________________________________________________________________________
If you are really bored, you can read our letter to him:
Hey Spencer:
(from Greg)
I am having computer problems and my letter to you today
apparently didn't work... So you are probably getting this one a
week after I sent it...
Sorry!
I am sad you can't get pictures to us, but it is all good. I
will have to be patient. We went to Megan Ellison's
(Noni's cousin) wedding today in the Bountiful
temple.
It was good to see everyone. Molly
(Noni's cousin was at BYU-I when spencer was there, Megan's
sister) was there with her husband Jason. He said he
remembered you when he stayed in your apartment in Rexburg.
Well, the new Joseph movie is in the Joseph Smith Building. We
are going to see it Monday. People say they saw me in it
(didn't make it! Going next monday). Just a small
part, but it should be fun to see anyway. They had to cut out a
whole bunch of it, but that part got in.
We all made it through the Book of Mormon except Kyler... We
will have to work on him. Kelson stayed up till 11pm on New
Years Eve and listened to it on the computer for about 7+ hours.
I was proud of him.
Loved your letter. Gentry and I were just talking about
"bashing"
(Missionary slang for arguing with people from other religions)
and if it ever did any good. I told him the same thing you said
in your letter, that arguing never did any good. The spirit is
what converts, not words.
James Spencer read your letter and responded with the following:
"it is great to read Spencer's letters. I have
spent time on Google Earth searching out my old areas?it?s
pretty fun. The city he is in is written as Hsintian on Google
earth. When you find Taipei, you'll see Yongho to the east.
South and a bit west is Chongho. Hsintian is south and a bit
east of Chongho. I could not find min quan (pronounced 'mean
chwen') street, though. I have not had success typing in street
names in Taiwan. I have found the temple though. The coordinates
for the temple are 25 degrees 01'52.52' N, 121 degrees 31'40.33'
E. The big Zhang Kai Shek memorial is west a couple of blocks
from the temple. The grounds are absolutely huge.
There are two huge assembly halls on the same grounds at the
opposite end of the memorial. Ask Spencer to locate an English
map of his area?they will have the Romanized characters that are
standard for maps. Then you may be able to find his street. You
could always go to the land mark game too.
Spencer's two investigators have the last names of Liu and Bao.
Dixiong means "brother" as in Brother Liu and Brother Bao. As I
read Spencer's letters with Greg's editorial comments, it makes
me wonder what my letters were like. I'm sure my mom had to take
them to Chinatown to have them interpreted every now and then.
Love y'all, James.
I wanted to pass on a few notes from others: Lorin & Lina Hatch
(Lina is Grandpa Lowry's sister in AZ) wanted us to say hi. She
wrote:
"We just wanted to send a Christmas greeting
and then write periodically through the year. Our family letters
are probably too long to email him, but you can send any tidbits
you'd like. Mostly just tell him how proud we are of him and
wish him Heavenly Father's choicest blessings as he shares the
gospel in Taiwan. What a great missionary family we are! Love,
Lina"
Also Grandma Olsen told us to let you know she loves you and is
praying for you too.
Aunt Laurel wrote:"hey guys! The house is
empty!!!! It hasn't been that way for 2 weeks. Anyway, Loved
your christmas present and reading your website. We just got our
family picture taken and will be sending it to you and Spencer.
So nice to have the adress posted. So hope you enjoyed your very
mild Christmas.
Lauren is in Edmonton staying at Davids home. She starts on
Monday in
Bussiness Management. Hope she likes it Take care love Laurel"
An addition to my email:
Hey Spencer! Braedon is madly reading a book for school. It is
end of term and he is behind. I am sure he wished you well also.
Well, we have had a fun week. I am sure you are having a great
time there too. Randy and Deb gave us a great book on Taiwan...
a Coffee Table type book I look forward to reading it. I spoke
with Arlen today. He said that Lauren had a new appreciation as
to how many people there are in the world after being in China.
He said that once the Church enters China the membership of the
church would easily double overnight. I wonder what that would
be like. I hope we are ready for the work to progress that fast.
Sometimes we get too comfortable. Arlen also said that when he
was in Korea they had to do street contacting or they would only
teach women and children at home. The businessmen would be gone
from early in the morning to 10pm at night. If they wanted to
contact them they had to do it on the street. Do the Taiwan
businessmen do the same and work so late? Just curious. Well
they released Jeff Bullough after 5 years of being the Scout
leader. They called Kevin Tominey. He will do great. The Priests
are going to go to Kings Peak in August. I have to start getting
in shape to make the hike. Your last letter was very
interesting. The Pilipino guy was a very neat experience, I bet.
Look forward to hearing from you again. lots of love, Dad
Dad
____________________________________________________________________________
Kelson wrote:
Hi Elder Davies
We have been playing new card games lately. I went to Hailie
Haight's birthday party at Classic Skating last week, Saturday
the 7th. We got a little bit of snow but I am hoping for more.
I've been skating a lot with my new skates that I got for
Christmas. I finished the Book of Mormon just barely at 11:36! I
have been doing some science things with Hailie. She got a "lab
in a bag" present. It has vials and crystals to do experiments.
I gave her a soccer ball. The Lewis family from Nauvoo sent us "Nauvoopoly"
game with places from Nauvoo like the JSA and Brickyard. Instead
of jail it was to go to the hot stage. I have been listening to
John Bytheway. I think he has been helping me a lot. He is a
great speaker. I have been playing my gameboy. Russell Haight
let me use his Mario game. It is really fun. Britt Hatch - our
cousin from Arizona came and visited us. We played "Up and down
the river" with him. It was fun. He called it "Mormon Bridge."
Lauren Bennett came home from China and gave us "Polar Express"
DVD that she must have gotten cheap in China. It had Chinese
writing on it but it was in English. She also sent some yummy
pineapple gummy treats. The writing on that was all Chinese so
we didn't know what it was.
I love you, Kelson
____________________________________________________________________________
Kyler wrote:
Hi Spencer:
Kelson wasn't really sharing that Mario game that he borrowed
from Russell.
Whenever Hailie or other friends come over Kelson is mean. I got
a new game called "Kingdom Heart - Chain of memories" it has
Donald Duck & Goofy that are your advisors. It has "Final
Fantasy" mixed in with Disney characters.
You have a key blade that is like a sword.
Love Kyler
____________________________________________________________________________
Gentry wrote:
Hey Spencer:
how goes it!! we just got some sweet Chinese stuff from Lauren
who got me this awesome little key chain lookin... thing... with
a little flower thingy.. anyway it's sweet looking. I hope
stuff's going just grand for ya and I'm jealous I can't be out
there now too. I'm just trying to get ready for college and all
the scholarship deadlines and stuff... I decided if I apply for
like a billion then I can become a millionaire by going to
school while at the same time people get tax write-offs!!! good
plan eh... well....
I'll try for a couple anyway. haha well school is goin
alright... still school I guess. It's really funny having gordy
back, he was having a lot of trouble speaking English for the
first couple of weeks there... haha that will be interesting to
hear you when you get back. Well good luck, we're praying for ya,
cya
____________________________________________________________________________
Noni Wrote: January 3, 2005 6 PM
Dear Elder Spencer,
How are you? I hope you have had a fabulous week. We
love all the details you share. I am curious about what
you are eating, your apartment, and those you are
meeting. We have a map of your mission, so I we'd also
like to know what area of the city you are in.
Gentry, Greg, and Kelson had a great day skiing at
Brighton on Friday. Kelson is quite the "goer" and is
ready for another day on the slopes. We had a nice New
Year's at home. I just happened to see a few seconds of
the celebration fireworks in Taipei which was very cool
for me. We'd love to hear about the celebrations there
as we hear New Years and the week that follows is a big
deal.
Sunday we got to go to church at 9 AM! Yea! Most of us
left at 8:30 to set up chairs. I had fun cleaning out my
files on Monday. I found some of your old school
schedules. Some as old as middle school! I saved them
in case you want them later.
Today is Aunt Krista's birthday. Dad and I got to go to
Megan Ellison's wedding in the Bountiful Temple. It was
a beautiful ceremony and so wonderful to see her and
Neal so happy. It was wonderful to be reminded of the
wonderful blessings we receive there. I can't believe
you and Whitney and Megan are old enough to be doing
such things! We had a great visit with cousins and aunts
and uncles and even Grandpa Spencer at the wedding
breakfast...
Looking forward to reading from you. Did you ever get
the two letters we mailed you? Much love, Mom
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
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