GROUP EMAIL 11-19-2018 LAWS IN TAIWAN

So first of all, before I forget to tell you all. Next week I will not be emailing you all next Monday. We are going to the temple next week on Wednesday so my P-day will be then! I'm super pumped for the temple, it'll be in English so don't bother asking (;

Anyways! This week was pretty good! 陳 JM had her baptismal Interview and will be getting baptized this Saturday! We are super pumped for that. There's one bad thing with that though, that day is election day. Apparently you have to go to your home town in order to vote? We aren't entirely sure on the logistics of all that, but election day is huge here. Politics are also huge. I'm not sure on all the rules regarding campaigning, so that might explain some of this, but there are posters everywhere! There are literally cars that drive around with people's faces on them and play prerecorded messages over and over and over again. In fact, when I was on exchanges we were walking around and this parade for just this one person went by. It's hard to explain and I didn't have my phone on me at the time so I didn't take pictires of it, but I'll try to take some pictures of it this week, I bet it'll just get crazier this week.

Alright now we're to the main part of my email, the reason for the subject. So laws here are pretty normal for the most part, but there's this one law that I have decided I hated. So first of all, driving is crazy here. If you want to become a defensive driver, come to Taiwan lol. It's so much fun though on a bike. Anyways, we were riding back to our house and we were getting over cuz we had to turn left. As we are getting over, there's this one scooter that was try to pass a car (totally normal, the scooters always go way faster than the cars) but he was going to the car's left while I was moving in front of this car. So I'm not entirely sure exactly what happened, but I think this guy wasn't expecting me and hit the breaks super fast and in the end, he fell over. Well I hear the skid and I turn and see he's down. So I stop my bike and am running over to help him when Elder Bateman says, "don't help him!" I thought he said go so I kept going then he kept yelling. I registered what he was actually saying and like turned back. Anyways, basically here in Taiwan they don't have the law that protects people from being sued if they help someone who's hurt. And if you do help them, you'll get sued. So yeah, nobody helped this guy and kept riding past him and yeah. It was super weird and I felt super bad. But yeah.

Anyways! Those are pretty much the highlights from this week! It was a great week in Taiwan, as always. I just want to leave you all with a spiritual thought. This past week I've been thinking a lot about the importance of CPR, Church, prayer, and reading the scriptures. It is so important to do these things in order to keep your testimony and to be protected from bad influences of the world. I can also promise you if you feel like you don't have a testimony or have a weak testimony, that by doing these things you WILL gain a testimony. Without a doubt. I can also stress the importance of all three. In my life I was always good at the first one, going to church. A lot because of my parents. But it wasn't until I did the second two that I actually gained a strong testimony. And as I did the last two, I enjoyed church so much more and got so much more out of it. I know these three things seem super small, but they are so important. Just remember the words of Alma to his son Helaman in Alma 37:6 "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." Small things bring about great things. I challenge you all starting today, to read the scriptures every day, say your prayers morning and night, and go to church each week. I promise that if you do this, you will find your testimony growing. You will also find so much more joy and peace. 你們願意嗎？

Love and miss you all! The mission is great! Taiwan is great! 

Elder Vander Linden

林長老