...The subject of this email is supposed to be sung to the theme of "Carmen SanDiego," in case you didn't get it. :) Hello family! Thank you for all of the emails and love and the pictures and the PACKAGE that came my way this week! I loved everything, and I really felt your love for me, too. I even feel your love when I don't get packages, but hey! It's nice to be surprised as well. Especially when that surprise involves pretzels and goldfish - neither of which are sold here and I've been craving. Thank you for reading my mind!
So, to answer the question in the subject of this email, I'm in... HUALIAN! And I'm going to TAROKO GORGE TODAY! Woohoo! I've wanted to go there since the MTC, so I'm super-excited that I have the chance to go. It's raining right now, so if all of you could pray that I have at least decent weather, that'd be great. It's been fun to travel more - the monkey place we went to last week was super-fun. The monkeys were so close! We'd hold out peanuts or bananas in our hand and they'd come up to us and take them from us. I've always loved my zoom lens on my camera, but last week it was a dream come true! :) I'll attach a few today. And Dad, I made a CD from some of the latest pictures (and by latest I mean last three months - sorry) and they'll be coming your way just in time for March 31!
In contacting news, I can inform you that this past week I finally got that bug in my mouth. Except it was when I was breathing - not when I was singing or "preaching the word," which was a little disappointing. And I didn't swallow it, so I'm not even sure that it counts. Some other fun contacting stories: my companion and I were in Hualien last week for a day because she had to go to Taipei for a meeting and it takes forever to get there so we needed to go to Hualien first and then to Taipei. Anyway, we were dropped off at the chapel, only to realize that we didn't have any bikes to get home! So we walked. And as we walked, we talked to people about the gospel. There was one lady we talked to and prayed with who was Christian already (not as common), and she would say "Amen" and "Hallelujah" while we were praying. Now, I'm from the South, so I've heard it before, no big deal, but when it's a Chinese person saying "Ah mun" and "Ha lee lu yaaahh," or "hun bang, hun bang," (awesome, awesome) it's really hard not to laugh. Also just a little example of the miracles we see every day: when we were walking back, I saw one of the meanest dogs in Hualien. It hates foreigners, and there has been many a time where I've had to pull up my legs on my bike frame as I've been racing past him for fear of having my legs bitten off. Well, we didn't have bikes this time - no chance of escape. Frankly, I was pretty terrified. So I asked my companion if we could pray. So I did, and pleaded that we would be safe. Well when we opened our eyes after the prayer, the dog was gone! Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. :)
Last thing I wanted to mention was something I've been thinking about lately - dilligence. The scriptures tell us of people who worked with "unwearied dilligence" when they were bringing people to Christ. I think that I'm pretty dilligent most of the time, but sometimes I'm guilty of having "wearied dilligence," or sometimes focusing on the fact that I'm tired or that I'm having a super-late dinner for the third day in a row instead of what really matters. The scriptures also talk about wearing our lives out in the service of God - that that's a good thing! And am I wearing my life out? Not quite yet. :) I'm working hard - I'm staying busy, with really good things, but I'm not quite at "wearing my life out" status - which means that I still have a way to go! So that's what I'm going to be working on some this week. Along with baptizing people and preaching the gospel and all of that jazz.
I wanted to spend the last 10 minutes of this email answering some questions that Mom sent... a looonnnggg time ago (sorry about the wait!). Hopefully they all make sense.
Is it harder to find restaurants there in Taitung? Nope. One reason that food is super-cheap down here is because almost everyone is in the food business. So I'm still paying about $2 for each meal that I eat out here... yes.
Are the members much different from Hualien? No, except fewer of them speak English. That's good - it's less of a crutch. :) I didn't rely on that too much in Hualien, but it's still better for me to practice my Chinese more! No, the members are fantastic in both places. The reason I'm actually here right now is because yesterday we had a district conference (instead of a stake conference) with the Hualien and Taitung members. It was awesome. And then on Tuesday we have a special missionary training meeting, so we were able to get permission to stay!
What did you take as a lesson you learned there? I'm assuming you mean in Hualien? I learned lots. But one of them is probably the importance of talking to EVERYONE. Everyone matters and everyone's a child of God. By talking to them, we're giving them a chance to change their lives for the better.
What are some things that you have discovered that have given you a little culture shock? Probably the people, honestly. I think I get along with most people pretty easily, but it's been a bit of a shock to only be around one culture (for example, instead of Jerusalem where I was still with a bunch of American kids in a new culture) and try and adjust to those changes.
What about the letters; how do you know where you are and where you are going? Ahh, the characters. :) Well, I follow my companion - she normally knows where we're going. But they also have English characters on most street signs at least. I think the hardest thing is food - my companion doesn't really read characters too well, so there have been times where we've had to guess about what we want to eat. :)
Have you heard the Guzheng or Erhu instruments? Yes, and I want to buy one for my main "souvenir." A girl in the Hualien branch is amazing at it.
What do you think of Chinese music? I love it. I don't know if I'll come back and just listen to Chinese music all the time, but it really does make me happy. :)
As for the Taiwanese people, what is their general disposition and temperament? They're really polite and nice - I get rejected every day by people, but they're usually super-nice about it.
What is hard to love about them? They're extremely blunt sometimes - which I find to be a little unsettling at times. I mean, I'm blunt, but there's no sugar-coating at all! It took a little getting used to. :)
What is easy to love about them? How nice and warm they are - they're also really willing to love people and serve them.
What do you admire in them? Their willingness to help! They are so good and are so selfless. They're always giving of their time, their food, their everything. It's really inspiring.
Well, that's about all I have time for this week. I love you all! Be good.
Love,
Becca
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