I know I haven't been too active on this site, but I just have to share my excitement. I just received my mission call from my church, the LDS church, and I'm serving in Taiwan for two years and speaking Mandarin! If you haven't noticed, I'm incredibly ecstatic about this! I've already started searching everything I possibly can about Taiwan. I leave on June 16, only a few short months away!

Congratulations Eric...I'm so happy for you...be blessed...what a wonderful opportunity to minister...I'll definitely pray for you...

Here's a prayer that you are blessed and a blessing!

And a whopping congrats!!!!

awsome dude .....hey God is great.....send us some cyber taiwan food...

What an incredible opportunity! Praying for you!

Eric, great news. That kind of enthusiasm is sure to enlighten people there.

WAHOO!! That's so awesome!! So you know Mandarin I assume? Or will you be taking language classes there? What exactly will you be doing over there??

His
Latte

Eric,

As one of the few who can probably relate to exactly what you're going to be doing -- I can hardly contain my enthusiasm on your behalf.

I'll miss having and LDS ally around here, but you'll be put to better use in the mission field.

It's been over 10 years since I left on my mission to Norway and yet it seems like yesterday. I'm certain you'll be challenged by the language and the cultural barriers and I know we won't see you on this website for the next two years to get updates. you will undergo a life-changing experience -- let yourself be changed.

Also, I'm glad to know that the "bar has been raised" and you seem to know a thing or two about the gospel already. I'm in a Bishopric out here in Pittsburgh and the last missionary we sent out really was not quite over the bar. I'm happy to see there are others that are.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">--Joseph Smith Jr.

Thank you Joel. You are a great inspiration. In response to ThanksALatte's question, as of now I do not know a single word in Mandarin. I'll be in the MTC, which is the missionary training center, for three months, and I'll receive extensive training for the language. My mission will be a time fully (24/7) devoted to the Lord. Most of my time will be spent teaching the gospel to the people in Taiwan. Thank you for all your replies and concerns. You are all great people with great understanding.

I posted this a while back in the "Mormon" thread regarding missionaries.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mormons are eligible to serve missions upon turning 19 for boys and 21 for girls. Boys serve for 24 months and hopefully come home as men. Girls serve for 18 months and hopefully come home not totally irritated by all of the boys who don’t manage to become men, but did manage to become annoying.

Mormon missionaries are not highly trained in the doctrine of the church, some of them may have paid more attention in Sunday School or Seminary (a daily class provided by the church for scripture study in conjunction with your high school studies – normally attended early in the morning prior to the start of school) but most of them are about as bright as burned out light bulbs. A common saying in the LDS Church is “The Church has to be true or the missionaries would have destroyed it years ago.” Implying that most missionaries are blundering idiots. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit normally makes up for most missionaries deficiencies.

You don’t have to serve a mission. Less than half of the eligible Mormon boys and girls go – way more boys go than girls.

You only choose whether or not you want to go – not where you go. I was called to serve in the Oslo Norway Mission. I received two months of cursory language training and some religious training and I was on my way. Missionaries who don’t have to learn a language are only given three weeks of religious training. I really wanted to go to Africa, but after my two years I realized why the Lord had sent me to Norway and yes, it is too personal of a reason to share.

There’s a lot of rules a missionary must abide by in order to keep them safe – remember, we’re dealing with 19 year olds for the most part. Most 19 year olds are joining frats and binge drinking – these missionaries have chosen an alternate route to manhood and perhaps a better one. This doesn’t make it so that they aren’t vulnerable to the frailties of youth. Hence the rules. Many many rules.

For the most part LDS youth who choose to serve missions are pretty good kids by church standards. Mostly all of them will have no sexual experience whatsoever, very few of them will have ever tasted alcohol. They are pretty naïve, and yet people tend to entrust them with their spiritual lives. People in the midst of divorce look to these children for advice about their failing marriages and wayward kids. Once again, the Holy Spirit generally compensates for this woefully deficient Army of God and allows them to actually give scripturally based sound advice despite their lack of experience in the ways of the world.

However, the most important thing for you to know about a Mormon missionary is that the Jehova’s Witnesses (JW) give us a bad name. They use far more aggressive tactics when they go door to door and prefer arguing rather than stepping back and asking you to pray.

If you happen to meet an LDS missionary at your doorstep, I suggest you let them in, hear them out, and if you disagree with what they are saying, let them know that you are satisfied with your own faith and not interested in further visits. A few years later some missionaries may knock on your door again, but trust me, it is merely coincidence. The young missionaries aren’t so great at keeping track of past contacts. The smaller the town you live in, the more likely you are to be contacted more frequently. The worst the Missionaries will ever do is ask you to read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask God if what it holds is true. It’s really not such a bad, horrible or nefarious thing. Pretty simple really. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Eric seems really quite bright and well prepared enough to defend his faith and spread the gospel to those in need. So some of the above doesn't really apply to him.

Eric, you'll probably find out that the language training won't be as "extensive" as you might hope. My only advice is to put away your English scriptures as soon as possible and start reading the Mandarin ones and from day one at the good old MTC start praying in mandarin.

Also, when you head to the MTC take a screwdriver with you. For years missionaries have been hiding things (notes, namebadges, etc.) behind the switch plates on lights and electrical sockets in the dormatories.

Have fun.

Getting excited Eric?? Your journey is about to begin!!! I guess I'm a little excited for you!!

I am excited beyond belief! I finished getting about everything I need for it today, and I leave next Saturday to drive to Provo, where I'll be for 10 weeks before I leave for Taiwan. This week will be spent largely with family and friends. Probably more friends, since I'll have 24 hours in the car with my family.

During the 10 weeks in Provo will you still have access on-line? I don't want to say 'good bye' if you'll still be on-line. That would be just silly!

Eric, make the most of and enjoy to the max this wonderful time in your life. The best of luck and Bod Bless you.

yes eric may you be blessed by Bod him-self...lol

We'll miss you. And we better not see you posting around here for the next two years.

yeah that goes double for me....

Know that you'll be missed and prayed for too!!

Well, I leave early Saturday morning. So, in a way, this is my goodbye for a while post. Thank you for all the well-wishes. You all really are great, and I hope that when I come back in two years that everybody is still here and posting. My only worry is how much reading I'll have to catch up on after two years. Actually, not to hurt anybody's feelings, but I'll probably just skip reading most of it.

As you all know, I'm leaving for a two-year mission in Taiwan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know with all my heart that this church is true and that it contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which has been restored here in the latter-days to the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we have true and living prophets in this very day, and if we will give heed to their words, they will not lead us astray.

More than anything, however, I know that my Redeemer lives. I am more than ever thankful for him and for his great and ultimate sacrifice for you and me. I know that it is only through Christ that we may return to live with our Father in Heaven, and that makes me love him all the more. This is the first and most important truth of all. All truth is founded in God, and whatever is true will lead a man to God.

As one last favor, I'd like to ask only one thing. If a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints comes knocking on your door, allow him to come in. He bears a message of truth. I know for certain that I am not giving the next two years of my life for the service of a false truth. I am going because I have an undying testimony of the restoration of Christ's church. I strongly encourage everyone to look into it with an unbiased mind.

The one thing that God has given us that is actually ours is our free agency. Therefore, in return, that is the only thing that we can give back to him: our will to serve him.

(If anybody is ever in Taiwan please don't hesitate to look up Elder Eric Anderson. I'd be overjoyed to have a visit and even give you a Book of Mormon!)

God Bless you Eric and may He keep you in His protection.