Dear family,
I know that I say this every week, but I really can't describe how happy it makes me to hear how all of you are doing each week. Your examples, your love, your support, and your sheer wonderfulness inspire me so much to keep doing my best! Which I've been trying to give, every day. And we've seen some miracles from it, of course! Let me tell you all about it.
But first: Mom, you asked a few questions. Have I seen any "tiger moms in action" here? The answer is yes. One of the best examples I can think of is when we were on the train a couple of weeks ago and this little kid started crying so the mom picked her up and started yelling at her, "SLEEP! SLEEP!" ...Strangely enough, that didn't really seem to help. But it was really funny. There were four of us missionaries watching and we were cracking up. But, just like in the States, moms here have different personalities - I've definitely seen some tiger moms, but there are still quite a few who spoil their kids, and some who even ignore their kids. It just depends. You also asked about how often the Taiwanese go on vacation. I'd say that it's much less frequent here than it is in the States. I mean, you still see it occasionally, but the most important thing to everyone here is work, and they do a lot of it. So not as many vacations no. And last question: do I talk to the children a lot? Yes, I do! When I contact moms (one of my favorite hobbies here), I normally will ask their child whether or not they've gone to our English class, whether or not they've been inside the chapel, etc.. And it normally works out pretty well. The only thing is that 99.9789% of Taiwanese children are terribly shy, and sometimes the parents will rely on their children's answers (or, more frequently, their lack of answers) as a way of avoiding my invites or questions to them personally. To give an example, I'll ask the mom if I can say a prayer to bless her and her family, but then the mom, who probably wants to rejects me but doesn't want to be rude and do it openly, will look at her child for the child's answer... but the child is squirming and trying to get away. And then the mom looks at me and laughs nervously while I watch her expectantly for an answer, but still doesn't give one. So we just spend time awkwardly waiting for a small child's answer who isn't actually going to say anything. I've found some bold ways to overcome it, though - yesterday I put my foot in front of this five-year-old's bike tire so she wouldn't bike away (like she was previously doing) and thus allow her mom to leave without saying a closing prayer and exchanging information. :) Boldness. It hasn't served me wrong yet!
Okay, back to more stuff this week. Actually, this week we were gone a lot - I had meetings in Hualian and in Taipei this week. Although I was super-excited to go to Taipei (it was my first time going back there in about five months and was also the first time seeing other people in the mission besides my zone of 14 people for the past five months), it was really, really complicated to work everything out for us to go. The tickets we originally wanted were all sold out, so we had to call the assistants, President Day... basically everyone in order for us to work out a time when we could go. It was also confusing because we were doing a companion swap on the way - Elder Peterson's companion left at Yuli, and Sister Burton left in Hualian to go with the Hualian sisters and Elder Devisser came on the train at Hualian to be companions with Elder Peterson and me. Yes, I was a companion to two elders for a couple of days. A little weird. I guess it wasn't a whole two days (I spent the night and the next morning with the temple sisters), but it was a long time. Anyway, we realized that the reason everything was so darn complicated was because the meeting in Taipei was on Friday the 13th! So any weird or unfortunate thing that happened that week before that was just "helping prepare us for the events on Friday the 13th," as we would say. But, despite the superstitions behind that date, the meeting was super-great. I had a joyous reunion with Sister Christensen (my MTC companion who is now training - can't believe it!), ate some great food (including Coldstone creamery ice cream at the Taipei train station - my suggestion, of course), and just enjoyed being in a big, Westernized city. Taipei really is so much like big cities in the US - I almost felt like I was in NYC. Even the apartment I stayed in was like being in the States - I woke up wondering if I was somehow in American Fork, Utah. It was weird. The elders laughed at me when we were walking around the streets - I was just gaping at how big the buildings were and how many people there were! Wow. I felt like such a country bumpkin. I wonder if I'll ever get sent to serve there - I really can't imagine serving outside of the East Coast, but, then again, I've never served outside of the East Coast, so that's probably why. So Taipei was very fun, but when we finally got home (President Day told the elders like 16 times to take good care of me - he's such a Southern gentleman, I love it!), I was so happy to be there. This is Paradise!
Oh, one extremely important thing that happened in Taipei that I was so excited to talk about - when the meeting was over and we were talking to all of the missionaries, the missionary that I was talking to gestured for me to look behind me. I saw this short little Asian guy that I'd never seen before and was completely at a loss as to why he would want to talk to me. He said, "Sister Winters? I'm Elder Kim. I was your brother's..." And I completely cut him off and said, "YOU WERE DANIEL'S COMPANION!" Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it! Daniel's trainer - who isn't even from Taipei at all - was there in Taipei, at the same meeting (I guess he went to go see people?), as me - who normally serves in a place six hours south of Taipei. I couldn't believe it. I was so, so, so incredibly excited to talk to him. I asked him about Daniel, about his Chinese, about him as a missionary, etc. - he said that he was great, he was smart and picked things up quickly, all good things. I also remembered to be nice and ask him about himself as well. He was really nice, too - he said that Daniel had always said that my Chinese was really good, and now he knew that it was true. I'll pay you later, Daniel! Anyway, I just thought that that was a delightful ending to a long and stressful process to be in Taipei on Friday the 13th. Obviously, Heavenly Father knows us and knows what's going to happen way better than we do.
Last thought about this week. I completely agree with what Daniel said about following the Spirit when we're trying to be "good boys and good girls." I think that that's one way I've changed the most on my mission - I've leanred how to recognize and follow the Spirit on a whole different level. It's wonderful. But today I wanted to talk about Jesus Christ. This past week I've been taking five extra minutes in the morning to think about the Savior, His example, His atonement - basically everything that He's done for me. It says in PMG ch.1 that "as our understanding of the Atonement increases, our desires to share the Gospel will grow." It's been so true! And I feel like this week, as I've really tried to focus my desires completely on doing what the Savior would do, to try and 100% align my will with His, then that's when I've felt that I'm totally an instrument in His hands. It's the best feeling - I can't even describe it. All I know is that I'm so grateful to serve Him and to represent Him here in Taiwan.
That is it for this week. I love you all, and I pray for you all daily. Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Winters
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