Jade's First Week in Taiwan

what? i'm in freaking taiwan! it's amazing. i'm in love. seriously. i can't believe no one told me it would be this wonderful. i mean, they told me but i didn't really comprehend. so, it's been a week, and already i've had a baptism, a funeral, eaten REAL TAIWANESE BOBA, eaten pig ear, completely embarrassed myself in front of members and become best friends with my companion. so good. my mission is so good. (so good is something all of the missionaries here say all the time, i've already picked it up which is kind of annoying.) i'll give you a rundown of my week so far then tell you some about taiwan. (i have an hour to email here! bang!)
so, the flights were long but good. sister mcintosh and i tried to make the most of our last moments together. when we got to kaohsiung and got our luggage we were met by the aps, 2 other office missionaries and president hsu and his wife. they were all so nice! they had our names memorized by our pictures and welcomed us warmly. we dropped our stuff off at the mission home then went to a bank to get an account. my second off-shore account. rad! i'm going to keep it post-mission for my drug money. then we went to some office to get the equivalent of green card. oh my! my picture is so gross. it is a good thing that i'm certain i'm not meeting the future mr. ozawa on my mission, because i am NASTY here. for real. i feel gross. we were all so tired, i think all of our pictures for the cards were pretty bad. next we went to the mission office and met the missionaries that work there. we had a brief orientation and ate lunch, a typical taiwanese fast food lunch called bian dan (i think) it's rice with a piece of meat on top and then little compartments with vegatables. then we went to the mission home and had more orientation. then... we were allowed to take naps! i was the first to meet with the president one-on-one, which means my nap was the longest! yeah! president hsu is amazing! i know he is led by the spirit. everything he said was right. amazing. next we to dinner. delicious. some type of soup and a bunch of side dishes. i told myself that i'd try everything. one of the dishes was tofu with this little skinny fishes. i think i was the only new missionary to eat a little fish. it wasn't good. then we walked back to the home and had more orientation then went to bed.
the next day i met my COMPANION. she's wonderful. we get along really well. i'm grateful to have her. saying goodbye to sister mcintosh wasn't easy but we're going to stay in touch. i'll write her today. after being picked up by my companion we went to our apartment and dropped off my stuff. our apartment is pretty big. we both have our own bathrooms. there is one bedroom, a room for clothes (i have none! i sent them all home, so i'm going to have to buy some here.) and an office. it's great. we then went to lunch and a district meeting then i met my first investigator. jia zheng! she's awesome. she got baptized on saturday night. i'm so happy for her. i'll send pictures. after teaching her (my companion taught and i tried to listen, i don't understand ANYTHING! that's an exaggeration, but most of what the natives say goes over my little caucasian head.) we bought my bike! it was beautiful and white but the next day we spray painted it so that it won't get stolen. it still looks so good. the cutest bike in the mission, i'm sure. it's silver and gold. bling! i'll send photos. that night we visited a member, feng ma. she's older (50s) and her husband isn't a member and works in vietnam. she was so nice and patient with my lacking chinese. we asked her where we could find some lotion (the store we tried didn't have any) and she gave me some bath and body works stuff she got in america.they are so generous and kind here. everytime we visit a member they feed us fruit! oh my gosh! they most delicious fruit in the world! i've eaten: dragonfruit, starfruit, buddha's head (my favorite, look it up), grapes, apples, pineapple, mango, papaya, guava, kiwi, banana and more. it's amazing.
i'll slow down on the details, i'm sure they aren't exciting. on friday i set my first appointment over the phone. i was so scared. i'm sure the member was laughing inside at my poor grammar and pronounciation. oh well, already i can tell that i understand more and can say more. heavenly father is blessing me. that night we went to the cutest bakery to get some dinner. we started talking to the store owner. she loved us! we're going to go more and try to get her to take lessons.
saturday morning we ran. president hsu has a rule that every missionary has to run for at least 20 minutes every morning so that we don't get depressed. i love it. we live across the street from love river which runs down the middle of the city. so we run around it. it's beautiful. a lot of the time there are old men fishing in the morning, so cool. that afternoon at lunch i tried pig ear. it was good but the texture was a bit weird. that night was the baptism. a family was baptized and jia zheng. it was really neat to see the members' support and to see the new members glow after the ordinance. the gospel changes lives. it's so cool!
sunday was crazy. church was good but i didn't understand a thing which was frustrating. elder petersen (cowles' cousin) is in the same ward. we introduced ourselves in sacrament. i was so nervous! but everyone is so welcoming and warm. sunday night sister angulo and her comp spent the night at our house. that morning their apartment caught on fire! an electrical fire in one of the bathrooms. it was so fun to have them over. i love kelli. i hope we stay friends. we will.
monday was good and busy, we had a lot of appointments with members. in two weeks we are having a ward activity that is going to be huge! we're asking all members to pray to have Heavenly Father help them know what friend to invite. so, we're visiting all members. we have a list of 20 single or part-member family sisters to see. they are so kind.
yesterday was the same. in the morning and afternoon we did some service. in the morning we taught english at a police station. it's so fun. they are all so eager to learn. i feel so smart as i answer their questions. in the afternoon we worked at a library, organizing books. i love organizing! i think i could be a librarian and like it. in the night we visited the hong family. the mom got baptized about 2 weeks ago with her 11 year old son and her 14 year old son (adorable. chloe can marry him) got baptized 7 months ago. they are the coolest family. the dad is taking discussions and is slowly coming around. sister hong is my taiwanese mom. i'm in good hands. she gave me some clothes that don't fit her daughter. a sequin mickey mouse shirt! a sleeveless jean jacket! and some dress shirts that i'm going to use for sure. last night she helped my comp and i come up with a mini weight loss plan. she's so funny. we were all at a table laughing and laughing as they all worked together to teach us fruit names. they helped me with my mandarin a ton. so as were were leaving i was comparing them to families in the u.s. i told them they were bi jiao hao (better) and bi jiao pang (fatter)! i meant to say bi jiao bang (more awesome) but said pang! oh my! i felt so bad. i know i turned so red. they all started laughing so hard. the dad was cracking up. i haven't seen a taiwanese man laugh so hard! i begged for forgiveness and they continued to laugh. it felt good to feel connected to them, you know. so awesome.
this morning was the funeral! a member's husband died last week of cancer. listen to how weird this is (ps the internet cafe is playing avril lavigne girlfriend. babylon!)... all of last week she used to go visit his body and touch it and stuff. the members didn't think it was weird. they said she was strong and brave. gross! the funeral was just like an american one. there were flowers and we sang. the different thing... they gave out gifts to everyone that came. little boxes of pastries and towels. weird. now we're emailing then we're going to run errands.
i love it here family. it's so cool. i'm working on being more obedient and having the spirit. already teaching has gone well. we taught a less active that suffers from low self-esteem and i think that she and i connected. she said we could meet with her again.
i can't email friends or get emails from them,
the next email will be less scattered and i'll tell you all about details of taiwan. today i'll take a lot of pictures and send them asap. i miss you all but i'm really happy. i love it here! i love being a missionary. it's not the easiest thing but it's happy. how cool is it that i get to go from house to house testifying and working to invite the spirit! it's a once in a lifetime opportunity!
love you all!
sister jade o.