Christmas Magic!!!!

This week was full of Christmas Magic... the worst kind. FIRST THING TO DISAPPEAR: MY HAIR!!! I got a haircut last monday hehe. I got it at a bus stop barbershop... not the most approved place, but how often do you get to have a 78 year old Taiwanese woman with a straight razor to your neck haha. For science. SECOND THING TO DISAPPEAR from Christmas magic... INVESTIGATORS... EVERYONE IS GONE. we have about 2 investigators right now, one is out of town and the other is in the hospital in another city... The first actual ACT was that my companion and I performed in our Christmas Zone conference! we sang a parody of a song that my companion and I wrote. it was super hilarious. if I get a copy of the video I'll send it to you all as soon as I can haha. DISAPPEARING ACT 3: MONEY I am done broke haha I'm now living off of personal funds, we have just been traveling so much lately that I'm just done broke... yaaaayyyy. DISAPPEARING ACT 4: FINAL ACT: MY BIKE!!! my bike was stolen in the night and on Sunday morning I woke up to the end of a very hard week expecting to bike the half an hour up a mountain to go to church, and all we see is my companion's bike.... we start searching around... and well, we found nothing... I was just kinda devestated at that point because it had just been a bitter cold rainy unsuccessful week and to end it outsunday morning my bike gets stolen... so we hopped on a bus with all the pennies i could find in our couch and headed up to church late... we went to church without any investigators and half of my RC's are in the hospital and the other is stuck at work... so I just sat next to my comp in an empty row... no one sat by us. so we had a small miracle, the one member in our area saw us and offered us a ride home. once we got home my comp ate lunch (I was fasting for success in finding) so he ate and we headed out the door for another cold rainy day of finding. we were walking since my lack of a bike, and at the top of the first hill I look at the ground and what do I see? MY BIKE HANDLES! but no bike. so we picked 'em up and headed on into our area. so half an hour of trudging through water and super cold windy rain we made it to our area. we went and visited an old friend of ours (he's 88?) who just loves talking english to us, we shared about the book of mormon with him, he's pretty great, so we left and started walking down the street... and I look to my right and, "THATS MY BIKE!!!!!"  I scared my companion and myself a little! but it really was my bike just right there. my helmet and my umbrella were gone, but those are both much easier to replace, but my fast was answered in not quite the way I was expecting. so I stole my bike back from whoever took it from me haha. that bike never left my sight from the time I found it to the time I went back home that night. so thats kinda my week... no applause neccessary... and they're really just hoping the next play(week) goes a little bit smoother haha. I love you all and miracles will happen in the ways you're least expecting.

Postcard from Quinn 8/14

Quinn sent home an awesome postcard and the writing starts at a good size and then when he starts to run out of room it gets smaller and smaller and smaller.  I will type what he says here and add a picture of the postcard below so you can see what I mean.

to:  My Family
this is a postcard drawn and manufactured by one of the recent converts in ????  Yes, he has the same last name as us!  He is a very good artist and an amazing member.  He already has the Melchizadek priesthood and is a very active member.  I miss you all a whole bunch.  I pray for you all, morning and night.  I've been gone almost 6 whole months already and it fells like the time has flown by.  Mom, I love you.  Dad, thanks and I love you.  MerylAnne, I think we can finally be friends.  Miles, dud I miss you a bumch.  You're my first brother and my only by blood, I hope we can be friends for a very long time.  P.S. Keep up the languages too.  Emma, your're really smart and someday you'll be smarter than me (that's not too far away).  Kitty - don't kill my kitten.  Puppers, don't be stupid.  Nala- I miss you sleeping in my arms every night.  To all my friends and family, I pray for you all by name morning and night.  Be safe, stay strong and the Lord ever be with you.

Much love,
Elder Dexter

Quinn is transferred!

I MOVED!!! I'm now in the county of Tao yuan. I got another companion and he's super cool. he's from Utah and he is Elder Mckay from Utah. I love it here its so much like back home. I moved far away from the city. I live in an apartment complex that is full of aborigional Taiwanese called Ke jia ren. theyre pretty funny, they're all really dark, and they're all drunk like allllll the time, and every weekend they sing karyoke in chinese its ka li o.k. Ok is a word in chinese here haha its really funny to here them use it in a full chinese sentence. we've already seen a lot of miracles here in Da Xi. its super fun here, and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures this transfer, last night while meeting with one of our investigators one of his co workers handed me a python trying to scare me, but I just laughed and played around with it while teaching him the Word of Wisdom. anyways I'm having a lot of fun here in my new area and I'll be sending lots of pictures this place is soooo beautiful. 

this old man is the happiest old man I've ever met he was 74 years old and as giggly as a school girl. he was so much fun to talk to. then those others are of the python, and my 2 recent converts and our golden investigator. I'm loving my mission and I cant believe that its already 1/4th over. I'll send loads of pictures next week as well. good bye, and I love you all.

Elder Dexter

Pigs feet a jiggly!

On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Luther Edward Quinn Dexter <luther.dexter@myldsmail.net> wrote:

transfers havent happened yet, they happen on the 20th ba. I had pigs feet last night for dinner, all I can say is its jiggly, suuuuper tender, and lots of small bones.  ( Quinn is truly embracing the culture in Taiwan because I know that he would never, ever have tried pigs feet unless he loved the people he is serving!)

one thing that has impressed me this week is the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ. no matter our faults, no matter our sins, he will always welcome us home no matter how many times we relapse, no matter what we've done or who we've become. he will always welcome us with open arms and love us(:

 I didnt get to take like any pictures this week at all because 4 days were almost 100% meetings. it was a pretty long week haha. but I love it here still. remember that ukelele? I drew on it and now I figured out a way to make it flicker and glow haha its pretty cool to play after 9:30 before bed. life is rough as a missionary. riding in the dark across a bridge in pooring down rain isnt the most fun thing to do, but I do enjoy shouting hymns at the tempest haha. one recent favorite is battle hymn of the republic haha its gotten me through a few pretty bad storms. I've accepted that I am truely going to be soaked for the next year and a half... i'm almost 5 months in. Its going by so fast. I'm going to work as hard as I can every chance I get. today I'm sending out the package and I hope you get my letters soon. I love you all and hope you're not having too much fun without me haha. be safe, be happy, and I love yous.

much love,

Elder Dexter

Better late than never . . . .

 Ok, so here's the funny thing. . . . I had worked on this post two weeks ago and apparently got distracted and forgot to publish it!  So here goes the publishing. Sorry Quinn!

something I've found hilarious is that Taiwanese cannot handle american sour candy haha this is my ward mission leader he is half taiwanese half japanese his name is Cai, but his japanese name is Taco, it means octopus, and I gave him a sour icebreaker the purple kind that aunt heather sent me in the MTC and this was his face, I was in the middle of a meeting but I had to get  a picture of his face, it was priceless!!

i've been drawing while i'm traveling in the MRT (subway) so heres a couple things i've drawn, the smaller one it says heaven and it has the three kingdoms of glory and the big one took me 2 weeks and i started out with only that circle in the middle. I traced my ring and started from there.

LOOK AT OPERATION FREEDOM! AND THE SIZE OF THIS CORNDOG!!!!

Rain has stopped and replaced with Hot Hot Sun! 5/25/14

Everyone sounds like they're doing well.  Miles is just gettin work done, he knows how to do it. mom, signal mountain is the safest place for roads anywhere in the world. trust me. I'm riding between cars and scooters and stuff daily I get within inches of wrecks and death constantly.  I just wrote you a letter this morning and I'll send it soon this week and I've got a package soon to be. I love you. the rain has stopped, but it has been replaced by the hot hot sun. cool I love getting all these drawings ahaha. this week has been awesome we have quite a few people ready to be baptized its just getting them to church thats the problem. things here are hot, and sweaty, but theres no other way to work(: yeah, I have like 8 investigatores. yeah, I'm still in Xin Zhuang right now. and i went to a FHE with a couple investigators and a couple less actives and we had spaghetti and it was awesome we are really good friends, I'll try and get some of those pictures sent to you. they might have sent them to my facebook and one of my investigators Gamelin (gameleen is how its pronounced) he sent a friend request, his english is pretty good you should get miles to chat with him haha that'd be really cool.  I miss you all and I love you mom.

Much loves,

Elder Dexter

Hurray, Hurray for Mother's Day Skyping with Elder Dexter!!!

Quinn was able to Skype us on Mother's Day and we were all so excited to see him!!! He and his companion went to a church member's home to call us and we got to talk to him for about 45 minutes.  He is having an amazing time in Taiwan and has an excellent companion to keep him in line.  He is loving the people there and is learning to teach the gospel lessons on his own.  Quinn says that everyday you take your life in your hands while biking along with the cars.  He has almost been sideswiped many times.

I've got a few more pictuers to send, just not much to say about this week, except I taught like 8 people on the street on my own which has been super awesome. I loved talking to you guys and I miss you a bunch.  Love you a whole lot. 

P.S. we found Jurrassic Park...

                                         Quinn bought a ukelele and has been learning to play it.        

                                             This gives a new definition to the phrase, "sack lunch".

Graffitti

Sacrament meeting art. 

All in all, Quinn is well and would love to hear from you!!