next week is my last one in this transfer! i can't believe it's already pretty much gone. i feel like i should have done more for ping dong. i have a feeling that i'm going to move but i'm not sure. part of me really wants to stay. ping dong is known for it's mangoes and mango season is just starting. but, part of me wants to go. ping dong is said to have two suns, and we all know how i feel about the sun.
since i wrote last it has rained every day almost all day. in some ways it's really fun... weekly planning with the background noise of thunder and raindrops was a blast and warm almond milk is always more enjoyable under a gray sky. but in most ways it's a nuisance. close your eyes and imagine. jade. no make up. curly, big hair in a ponytail. mid-calf length skirt. in a lavendar poncho that is almost as damp inside as it is outside, but the inside moisture is more salty than the outside (catch my drift). shoes soggy. skirt drenched. face dripping a mixture of polluted rain and sweat. i'm so cute in taiwan! the rain is supposed to stay until friday then stop for a bit before typhoon season hits. the nice part is that it has cooled down a lot thanks to the clouds and percipitation. that alone keeps me from complaining too much.
on saturday aki and monica were baptized! how cool is that! aki's baptism was so great. when she came to the church she said, "i couldn't sleep last night. i'm so excited!" the poor thing had to be dunked five times! she was funny about it. when the branch president was welcoming her into the big family of pingdong 1st branch he talked about going under 3 times. she said she was trying to break the record. i love her! i realized that one of the reasons that i like her so much is that she is like a mix of all of my little sisters in one. she has lauren's concern for others, chloe's little attitude, phoebe's affection and naomi's silly/crazy personality. i love being around her because it's kind of like being in the ozawa house, but not as wonderful. (i miss sumac ridge court so much!) aki already has a calling as the ysa representative. she's going to be so good at it! she's going to share her testimony with the whole of southern taiwan.
honestly, she amazes me. i didn't have the baptismal covenants memorized until this move (i don't know why, it's not like their hard). but she knows them all... CTR- follow the Commandments, Take on the name of christ, always Remember him. a lot of the time when we talk and things of the world come up, or she hears of unchristlike things that people in the church do, she says, "that is not representing christ very well. haven't they taken on his name?" i think she truly understands what it means to be a disciple and to strive to show it in your actions. she has taught me a lot about it through her actions. she testifies of how using christ's ways in her classroom has transformed her students. she says that kids that used to never do their homework now work hard. kids that used to hit and yell are kinder. kids that seemed apathetic are trying to earn praise. the church is true!
i'm not sure what else exciting is happening around here. so to list form we go:
-i started a new journal this week. exciting.
-lately i can't put down "our heritage". i definitely like "our search for happiness" more, but i love reading about how amazing the early saints of the church were. i'm grateful for their sacrifices.
-almost every person, non-member and member alike, when seeing our family pictures for the first time (the one of all of us but phoebe, who is more righteous and stayed at church, at my farewell and one of all of the girls when we out for sushi sometime in fall) say that we look like moviestars. they think chloe looks like ashlee simpson. everyone says that! it makes me laugh every time. they also say that mom and dad are really young. more than once i've been asked if dad is lauren's husband. um, a little gross.
-yesterday i saw the biggest snail in my life. seriously, it was the size of the snail on the neverending story. seriously! (i thought of lauren's kiss of death. ha)
-yesterday after my language pass-off, one of the elders gestured like he was going to deck my companion (it was kind of weird). sister juang said, "ni yao da wo ma?" (you want to hit me?) instantly the song "hit me" by the sounds popped into my head. it made me happy! chinese and english are becoming one.
-i finally had mango bing! a rite of passage really. it's like the mango shaved ice we get at tea planet, but better. the ice is shaved off of a block of frozen sweetened milk. straight from the celestial kingdom.
-i have wonderful friends. lately people write me about their spiritual experiences. i really like it. i'm sorry that i'm not equally spiritual in return. (and i'm sorry there are many i haven't written back yet, there is literally no time.)
-my favorite thing these days, beside spreading the glad tidings, is to play hard face. family, play it tonight. this is how you play- two people look each other in the face. one person starts by saying "hard face" then it goes back and forth each person saying one word in attempts to get the other to laugh. i like to play with elder chen. we're both horrible and end up laughing before we even say "hard face". elder mickelsen is the best. my goal is to get as good as him, i feel like it's imperative if i do in fact end up studying business. aki broke him though. he said "man" she said "hot" we all about died. try it!
-all of this last week we had a mission-wide SYL (speak your language) meaning we were supposed to speak only chinese from wednesday night until last night. i thought i was going to die, but it wasn't too bad. i was even able to tell sister juang the story of my first fake kiss (remember cuba? he's on a mission in canada) during an hour bike ride from a local university using only chinese! write that one in my book of accomplishments.
-lately in comp study we read a bit of proverbs each day. the whole thing seems to be about adultery! we definitely get the hint! "strange women" are not to be trusted. i think my favorite verse (so far) is one in chapter 7 "in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night" some of the best poetry i've read since january.
-the elders gave us my new favorite investigator. ke jiemei. she's an aborigine. she's beautiful but so humble. she has trouble walking and is really embarassed so she won't come to church. i have never met anyone with such kind eyes. we're going to help her, i hope. with her we also teach bao jiemei, the aborigine sister that took us to sandimen's aunt. when we met her she was drunk and kept yelling stuff and talking about how much she'll miss elder lancaster because he's so shuai (handsome). she had recently fallen and had a big bump on her head that she made each of us take a turn touching. hilarious and awkward.
-the cai jiating is so good. they ask the best questions. they are amazing for their ages (12 and 13). they totally get the plan of salvation and the principle of repentance. i really think they could be baptized soon, but we don't know how their parents feel about it. their mom encourages them to meet with us, but won't let us in their home. it's kind of awkward. parents, any suggestions about what we should do?
that's life in taiwan i guess. it's a happy, hot, green, asian place. it's good. i miss you all. thank you for being behind me and for being spectacular!
love love love,
sister jade l.o.
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