HEY HEY HEY! I am finally here in Taiwan. Man it was a long long long ride let me tell you. Actually no lets skip ahead to Taiwan because that is where all of the fun stuff is! Taiwan is absolutely amazing! It is really hot and humid but I am slowly getting used to it. I sweat a ton. Gave up on any sorts of hairdos and make up. Yeah, there is no way.
The people here are so nice! I love that you can ride up next to someone on the road and talk to them and it is NOT weird. Maybe it is just because I am in a different country. But I don't think it is weird. And sometimes if I say hi to someone they will come up next to me on my bike and talk with me. Lights only last like 30 seconds here and so it is really hard to get information of others. But we have tracts that we hand out to people. I mean that is all we can do when we are on the road. Share a REALLY quick message and give them a mini piece of paper. I mean a lot of people probably wont even look at it again. It's the whole Buhao yisi thing. So they accept it but won't actually do anything about it.
So, fun story. While we were out tracting - we're finally let in to this old lady's house. She was so cute! We taught her how to pray. We asked her if we could come back and she said no but thanks for teaching her how to pray. We chatted a bit with cookies and hot water in mini tea cups. She told us that each member in her family had their own personal tea cups. I asked her if the one she gave me was my personal tea cup. I was totally joking ... but well ... she gave us tea cups so that we could have our own personal "pretty" tea cup. She was a total sweetheart!
Ok my companion is awesome! Her name is SIster Voss and she is from Navada. She is very comforting to me. She always tells me that everything is going to be ok. Not that I really need that right now but still. And she always asks me how she can help me with anything. This is her first time training too so she is really scared. Yes, I do have to go through training all over again .... bleh. Oh well. She is helping me out a lot. Even hough I have already done everything I still learn new things from rewatching the videos and rereading the scriptures. I mean, life in the Gospel or life anywhere - you have to kinda repeat things right? That is why we need to be spiritually fed everyday and go to church every Sunday. VERY important. Ok ... I'm getting off track here. Sister Voss ... yeah she is great. Guess what she says to me every morning! "Hey hop in the shower and I'll make breakfast" She is so sweet to me. Definitely my mama. And she is making a mission soooo much fun! She says "If you are not having fun then you are not doing it right." So true. I always thought that on a mission you have to go go go all the time. Like you hear the stories of those missionaries who are just so dead tired. And well I am tired but I do not want to kill myself. We actually had to go home early from a meeting so that I could lie down because I was just sooooooo dead. I need to get used to being tired all the time. Still trying to have energy and have fun :)
We live with one other companionship and we have so much fun together. In the mornings we do the Julian work outs which is so much fun! Actually one of the other sisters is leaving tomorrow to go home. So we have a new member of the quad. She is a little Taiwanese girl from Taipei. She doesn't speak any English. It will be fun having her around. But her new companion, Sister Hughes is so scared because she has only been here for a few months and doesn't know a lot of Chinese. I would be scared too. But it is a great opportunity to learn.
First P-day today and guess what! We are going to see a giant Buddha! He's the man! So excited!
Oh how could I forget to mention the Dan Jones experience! Ok, it was terrifying. I was fine with standing up on the box and screaming my testimony but it was the part where I had to hand out Book of Mormons to strangers that I was freaking out about. Most people were really nice and listened. You just had to keep it really short. There was this one couple that I talked to. They seemed the most interested. And I got their info and everything. So that was cool. Well, guess what! I SAW THEM AT CHURCH ON SUNDAY! Shen ma?? They faked the whole thing. We were talking and the young man said, "Have we met before? Maybe in mainland China?" At least that is what I thought he said. What jokesters! But they are such fun people :))
My Chinese is ... well ... I feel like it is still the same. I get a lot more practice here which is great! And Sister Voss is so patient with my Chinese and gives me a lot of opportunities to use it. Everyone that I talk to seem to understand what I am saying. But really it is hard to tell. What is hard is expressing my personality. So I have just been using a lot of hand gestures and smiles. I know that the language will come with time. I just need to love the people I am with for now. I can do that :)
I get 2 hours to email and such which is nice. :) I feel like some rules are more relaxed here but some are a little more strict. So my emails should be a lot longer than they used to be.
Well, love you all! Remember that the Savior is our anchor and through Him we can return to God's presence. This is a wonderful gift that we all can receive. And considering how big the prize is - the price is not big at all. Just living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, life is hard and we all go through challenges but it is all worth it. And it is not like you get the reward just after death. We get to live a happy and peaceful life. I love having the Gospel in my life and I love having that Hope. Whenever something comes up and I fear, I always have reason to rejoice. Always.
我愛台灣
The people here are so nice! I love that you can ride up next to someone on the road and talk to them and it is NOT weird. Maybe it is just because I am in a different country. But I don't think it is weird. And sometimes if I say hi to someone they will come up next to me on my bike and talk with me. Lights only last like 30 seconds here and so it is really hard to get information of others. But we have tracts that we hand out to people. I mean that is all we can do when we are on the road. Share a REALLY quick message and give them a mini piece of paper. I mean a lot of people probably wont even look at it again. It's the whole Buhao yisi thing. So they accept it but won't actually do anything about it.
So, fun story. While we were out tracting - we're finally let in to this old lady's house. She was so cute! We taught her how to pray. We asked her if we could come back and she said no but thanks for teaching her how to pray. We chatted a bit with cookies and hot water in mini tea cups. She told us that each member in her family had their own personal tea cups. I asked her if the one she gave me was my personal tea cup. I was totally joking ... but well ... she gave us tea cups so that we could have our own personal "pretty" tea cup. She was a total sweetheart!
Ok my companion is awesome! Her name is SIster Voss and she is from Navada. She is very comforting to me. She always tells me that everything is going to be ok. Not that I really need that right now but still. And she always asks me how she can help me with anything. This is her first time training too so she is really scared. Yes, I do have to go through training all over again .... bleh. Oh well. She is helping me out a lot. Even hough I have already done everything I still learn new things from rewatching the videos and rereading the scriptures. I mean, life in the Gospel or life anywhere - you have to kinda repeat things right? That is why we need to be spiritually fed everyday and go to church every Sunday. VERY important. Ok ... I'm getting off track here. Sister Voss ... yeah she is great. Guess what she says to me every morning! "Hey hop in the shower and I'll make breakfast" She is so sweet to me. Definitely my mama. And she is making a mission soooo much fun! She says "If you are not having fun then you are not doing it right." So true. I always thought that on a mission you have to go go go all the time. Like you hear the stories of those missionaries who are just so dead tired. And well I am tired but I do not want to kill myself. We actually had to go home early from a meeting so that I could lie down because I was just sooooooo dead. I need to get used to being tired all the time. Still trying to have energy and have fun :)
We live with one other companionship and we have so much fun together. In the mornings we do the Julian work outs which is so much fun! Actually one of the other sisters is leaving tomorrow to go home. So we have a new member of the quad. She is a little Taiwanese girl from Taipei. She doesn't speak any English. It will be fun having her around. But her new companion, Sister Hughes is so scared because she has only been here for a few months and doesn't know a lot of Chinese. I would be scared too. But it is a great opportunity to learn.
First P-day today and guess what! We are going to see a giant Buddha! He's the man! So excited!
Oh how could I forget to mention the Dan Jones experience! Ok, it was terrifying. I was fine with standing up on the box and screaming my testimony but it was the part where I had to hand out Book of Mormons to strangers that I was freaking out about. Most people were really nice and listened. You just had to keep it really short. There was this one couple that I talked to. They seemed the most interested. And I got their info and everything. So that was cool. Well, guess what! I SAW THEM AT CHURCH ON SUNDAY! Shen ma?? They faked the whole thing. We were talking and the young man said, "Have we met before? Maybe in mainland China?" At least that is what I thought he said. What jokesters! But they are such fun people :))
My Chinese is ... well ... I feel like it is still the same. I get a lot more practice here which is great! And Sister Voss is so patient with my Chinese and gives me a lot of opportunities to use it. Everyone that I talk to seem to understand what I am saying. But really it is hard to tell. What is hard is expressing my personality. So I have just been using a lot of hand gestures and smiles. I know that the language will come with time. I just need to love the people I am with for now. I can do that :)
I get 2 hours to email and such which is nice. :) I feel like some rules are more relaxed here but some are a little more strict. So my emails should be a lot longer than they used to be.
Well, love you all! Remember that the Savior is our anchor and through Him we can return to God's presence. This is a wonderful gift that we all can receive. And considering how big the prize is - the price is not big at all. Just living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, life is hard and we all go through challenges but it is all worth it. And it is not like you get the reward just after death. We get to live a happy and peaceful life. I love having the Gospel in my life and I love having that Hope. Whenever something comes up and I fear, I always have reason to rejoice. Always.
我愛台灣
“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast. --Ether 12:4
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹
-Sister Graham
桂姐妹