i'm in tainan and the world is wonderful. everything is looking up and i'm so happy for that.
glasses in taiwan are a lot less expensive and a lot cooler than in the us so i think
so, tainan. is. wonderful. i'm still getting the hang of it all, but so far it's amazing! sister fan is the greatest. get this--she listens to all of the ridiculous things that pour out of my mouth! we laugh a lot and my chinese seems to be getting better by the day. i love talking to her in mandarin because it seems to flow out lately, i don't have to stop and think as much as i used to. her english is improving too. we switch days. one day we speak only english, the next only chinese. she's from taipei area. she's 26 and was converted by her boyfriend who is serving a mission in california. she's adorable and has a cool deep voice.
our district is also great. the district leader knows scott. he's from mesa and went to mountain view, graduated '06. his name is christian richter and he's hilarious. his companion is from texas, elder snyder. elder kitterman from the mtc is with a taiwanese elder chen. OH MY GOSH! WANNABE BY THE SPICE GIRLS JUST CAME ON!!! IT IS GOING TO BE IN MY HEAD FOR THE NEXT MONTH. (MCKENSIE-THIS IS A SIGN THAT YOU NEED TO WRITE ME!) i think this move will be good. our district has a lot of love. and we laugh all the time. so good.
i want to share with you my testimony of the gift of tongues. so, this move i'm working as hard as i can to listen and identify the things i don't know. i'm working on characters and they're coming faster and faster. it's so cool to hear things and be able to guess their parts and what they mean. when i hear things i don't know i write them down and look them up that night. amazing things are happening. when i came to taiwan i didn't understand a lot but i couldn't pick out the parts i didn't know. as my language got better i understood the bigger part but still couldn't pick out pieces. the last few moves i understood stuff. it seems like as i learn new things i still understand what is being said, but can also pick up new things. i swear that before last move no one ever said "dang..." to describe a state of being, but as soon as i learned it everyone says it. so it is with many words and phrases. i swear the spirit has worked up to this point to put things that i would understand in my ears when they weren't exactly what was said. it's amazing. the church is true. and heavenly father loves his missionaries.
now, let me tell you about the best parts of tainan so far...
the first investigator i met was anna. she's from brazil, so her chinese is really hard to understand. but she loves when we visit her and cries when she prays. (then her husband says 'brazilians love to cry!') teaching her yesterday was interesting. we were using preach my gospel because it is so simple and clear and she has one in portuguese. there were three sets of scriptures and three pmgs on the table, in three languages. i got to be the bridge. my portuguese goes as far as css lyrics. but through english, french and spanish i could at least recognize the written words that were important and help her define and understand them. it was great. mom and dad, if you know anyone in our ward that speaks portuguese would you ask them to write their testimony of the restoration and christ and baptism and send it this way asap. i know gray does, but he's starting law school and probably super busy.
every tuesday afternoon we have service with our whole district. we sing at a hospital for accident victims and senior citizens that cannot take care of themselves. it is so fun and they are so cute. one of our ward mission coorelators runs the whole thing. guo baba. he's the funniest guy. he is missing some fingers. i'm not sure why. yesterday he told elder kitterman to give him 8 and put his hands up for a double high five. so funny. he plays the harmonica while we sing and teaches harmonica lessons at the church during the week. randomly he'll call on us to sing solos. yesterday i got to sing come thou fount on my own. one of our ward members, wu jiemei is there. her mind functions just as ours, but she was hit by a concrete truck and cannot control her body. it's so sad. it's hard to understand the things she says, and you know that there is so much more inside of her. here in taiwan, if a big truck hits someone and they don't die immediately, they will go back for a second and third time until the job is done because funerals are less expensive than hospital bills. so, she was hit twice but still lived. it's sad, but she's optimistic and has a strong testimony. i can't wait to see her at the resurrection. it will be so cool!
this week we met a miracle new investigator. her name is grace, and it fits her perfectly. sister fan and i were visiting less actives and it had been a long day. i forgot my water and was dying of thirst. i kept thinking to myself that i should tell sister fan taht i wanted to stop for a drink but didn't. then she asked if i was tired. i said, no, but thirsty. she said, let's stop now but we decided to go a bit further. we started up a big hill and i spotted a little drink stand. we went and immediately grace started asking us questions (she works there). we talked a bit and went the next day and taught the first lesson. she's really good. i think she's going to become a great investigator.
i only have five minutes. so next week i'll tell you more. we have some great investigators. this move we'll have two baptisms and next move two or three more! so great! (i've said great like 50 times this email huh? sorry.)
oh yeah- look up the typhoon we had last weekend. it was crazy. we had to spend two days inside, so we baked and made prayer rocks (i think you taught me that mom). the destruction in taizhong and taibei was supposedly pretty bad.
i love love love you all. thank you for being wonderful!!!! know that i miss you, but love this work!
muah!
sister jade.
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