I've been out on the Island for a month now! It's gone by really slowly day by day, but the weeks go by so fast! It's amazing.

Yes, there is a big big hurricane in Taiwan, but Taipei's not seeing much of it, which is good. All we get is a little rain. We were called in yesterday right after church to stay in our apartments. But today they let us out. We'll see about tomorrow. I hear there's one in the US, too? I hope everyone's okay.

Yesterday we had a baptism for a lady named Grace Zhan. She was great -- she's been going to church for years, but she's never been baptized. And yet yesterday, she seemed so happy after she had performed the ordinance. She brings bread to all the missionaries, without fail, every week. And she always brings too much! We all love her, and her bread. She really is known around here for the lady who brings bread to church. I don't know where she gets it, but she's so willing to share and give of herself. She's a wonderful example.

We had so many meetings this week that it was hard to be productive missionary-wise. We had zone conference, district meetings, special training meeting, an English ward party, and so many other things taking our time. So number-wise it was hard, but I learned a lot. I"m ready to face next week with a brand new start. We've set a goal to get one new investigator per day, as opposed to the standard of 5 per week. Our "special training" was given by Elder Osgulthorpe, the Sunday School President. He talked about how a vision starts with the Leader, or the Mission President. Say maybe 400 new investigators. But then by adding other leaders, such as the Zone Leaders or the District leaders, that becomes more possible, and more likely. But it's only until you add every single person, including junior companions, can you reach a high goal. Elder Hubrich and I have also been talking about standard setting. And how we can't take the set standard to make our goals, but rather, we take faith and confidence and we make those are goals. Like in track, it was considered humanly impossible to break a 4 minute mile. But there was one man who finally worked hard enough to break it. Soon after, there were hundreds of people that flooded the sub-4 minute mark. And now under 4 minutes is the professional standard for mile running.

So this week, we're trying it. We're taking something that seems less possible, and testing it with full confidence. We're going to forget the standards, and start to fly. I know this week I'll see miracles. I'm ready to do everything it takes to reach my goals.

This past week we had a zone conference, in which our district did a musical number for it. I am so lucky to have my viola here -- I'm really bad now, but it's a big blessing to be able to play it. I really miss sharing my testimony and heart through music. I hope I'll be able to do it more in the future. We sang a medley of "I believe in Christ" and "There is a Green Hill Far Away." We found at that we can play the beginning and ending phrases of both hymns together at the same time and it makes a really nice harmony, so that's what we did. We had two groups sing both hymns at the same time. I don't know how it sounded in the audience, but I thought it was cool.

Right now I'm trying to improve most on contacting -- talking to random people to share the gospel. And it's hard! It's hard to rely on the Spirit to know what to do and say. It's hard to discern their needs right then and there. But I know that this is a learning process. I might not be very good at it right now, but I'll be improving day by day. I know by the end of the mission, I'll be miles ahead of where I was here. I'm grateful that I have the knowledge that the message really can help anyone no matter what their life is like.

So yes, last week I had a picture wearing a vest doing service. That was...an interesting use of time. It's called the "Clean up the World" Project, sponsored by 7-11 (oh yeah, they're really really big here). It's just a project to get to try to clean up Taiwan. The thing we went to was a 3 hour pep rally. Afterwhich we just cleaned gum off the floor of the metro station for 15 minutes and then were done. We were all a little frustrated that we didn't really do much for 3 hours, but I think we made a good impact on the people around us.

Right now we have some pretty amazing investigators. There are so many people here that are willing to seek truth and to live by it -- or at least give it a try. And I am really humbled by their willingness every time someone accepts a commitment. I always think, "whoa...they'll do it just like that? Just because we wanted them to?" They have such amazing faith, and they don't even know it yet. I"m blessed to be in Taiwan.

I love you!
-Elder Liu

P.S. Thank you all for your emails. They have really helped me.