[Editor's note: Sorry, I initially entered the correct subject then it was switched when I put in the email addresses.]
Dear family,
Amongst the brain-dead computer-addicts at this internet cafe, there is a bright-eyed, happy sister missionary just loving life. I have the best family and friends ever! Thank you for making my weeks even better than they already are. This week was pretty darn good, and we're determined that it's going to just keep getting better.
I think I'm first going to address the story with the subject line. I know that the Taiwanese people (either companions, district members, or church members, or all of the above) have gotten a kick out of watching white people (such as myself) trying to stomach weird/gross food such as chicken feet, pig's blood sausage, shrimp with guts all over them, etc. Well this week the white people got a chance to enjoy the fun. It all started a week ago when our district leader got his hands on some twizzlers (licorice) from home and decided to share them with everyone. We were all really excited, and the Taiwanese missionaries were all really curious. When the first one, Elder Lin, took a bite, all of the emotion drained out of his face and he slowly said, "This tastes like... how do you say... candle? Yeah, candle." It was so funny - especially when he kept eating it afterwards ("I don't know - there's nothing else to eat."). Next was Elder You. He had a big smile before he tried it, then took a bite and tried to keep smiling. Then he desperately looked at all of our faces and said: "Wait, wait, Wei Jiemei - do you actually like this?" I loved it. It was equally delightful to watch them eat "Fruit by the Foot" (a member visiting from the States gave us some), something that they had never tried before. They were so puzzled and intrigued as they tried to figure out how they would eat it - should I just take it bite by bite directly off of the wrapper? Should Ieat the wrapper? Should I see how long it is and try to stuff it in my mouth? They said it was really sweet and then asked why everything in America is so sweet, but I beg to disagree - I think the sweetest stuff I've ever had in my life has all been from Taiwan.
I've also enjoyed seeing some of the fashion statements that are common here in Taiwan. One of them that I particularly like is seen amongst the "less-classy" men of Taiwan - it's really hot here, so they'll wear their wife-beaters and some short shorts. But, because it's just too hot, they'll pull up their wife beaters so that their stomachs are bare and poking out. Another one that I sported myself this morning is the yuyi. You know those big yellow ponchos that they sell at Disney World that look like giant trash bags that nobody wants to wear? Well EVERYONE wears them here. They're called yuyis, and at the slightest sign of rain everyone brings them out. It's really great. And they don't want to get their shoes and socks wet in the rain, so they'll wear flip-flops as well. So you can all probably guess what I wore in this morning's thunderstorm on the way to the email place - an yuyi, complete with flip-flops. I'll try and remember to take a picture sometime.
Okay, one more thing about the Chinese and then I'll go to my spiritual thought for this week. The Chinese refer to the family all the time in the vocabulary they use to address people. For example, when they say, "I hope that everyone here has a great day," they'll say "Wo xiwang dajia hui you feichang hao de yi tian." The word "dajia" literally refers to "big family." So they hope everyone in this big family has a great day. :) Something else I've noticed is that they don't really use names very often. Instead, they'll just use words like "didi" (little brother - Mulan, anyone?), "meimei" (little sister). If they don't know my name (or even sometimes after they know my name), they'll tell their kids: "Can you tell Jiejie (big sister) 'hello?'" Or sometimes they'll use "aiyi" (aunt) to address me instead. At first I thought it was a little weird - his name isn't little brother, just use his name! - but now I really like it. The focus on family heiarchy is something that's really neat about the Chinese culture.
Spiritual: This past week we had a zone conference up in Hualian, and it was great. We studied Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel (a handbook for missionaries) on Relying on the Holy Ghost. That chapter is actually the first one I read from that book - a long time before my mission, when I wanted to learn more about how to recognize and rely on the Spirit. I loved that chapter then, but I love it even more now. I came out of the conference even more inspired to try and rely on the Spirit in every aspect of missionary work. Something that one of the assistants said that I really liked was that sometimes the Spirit will prompt us to do something that will pull us out of our comfort zones ("or else," as one of the other missionaries said, "he probably wouldn't have to prompt us to do something!"), but we'll always be better off when we follow. Heavenly Father gave me an opportunity to practice this principle really soon after the conference. This past Saturday was the infamous Chapel Tour time. And, as usual, nobody really set up. So we had to find the people who would [hopefully] have interest! We had a sister helping us, so she and I set off talking to everyone while Sister Rosander called some people and wrote a record she needed to finish. Anyway, Sister Zhang and I weren't really having too much success, but then at the intersection on the other side of the road was a lady and her two kids on a motorscooter. But the light for the street going through was green, so I couldn't go over. But when her light turned green, she would zoom off and I wouldn't get a chance to talk to her! Then I had a thought: "just use a really loud voice to talk to her." At first I thought, "well, that's really weird, and I don't want her to think that I'm really weird. That is so out of my comfort zone." But then I remembered what I learned at zone conference. :) So I yelled across the street, "HEY, have you been to church? No? Well do you want to come in for a chapel tour?" Well as soon as the light turned green, she slowly made her way over. And at first she said no, that she didn't have time, but eventually she agreed! And she and her kids really liked it, and she's meeting with us again this Wednesday! So my point is - miracles really do happen when we're willing to follow the Spirit. Although I would not normally recommend yelling at people across the street.
Well, that's about it for this week. Keep praying for me and the people here in Taidong - we need it! I love you all.
Until next week!
Love,
Sister Winters
[Editor's note: Rebecca promised to send her brother, Joseph, pictures of cool or creepy animals. I didn't include the HUGE picture of the creepy bug below. Joseph did, however, think it was the best picture that Rebecca has taken thus far!]
No comments:
Post a Comment