Dear family,
Hey howdy hey from Taidong! We got transfer announcements earlier this week, and... I'm staying. :) I'm hoping that my purpose in staying in Taidong for so long is to help Becky and Elain. Elain recently's been... well, alright, I guess. Becky's SO CLOSE! Keep praying! But anyway, most of the elders are leaving. We're all such a close family here in Taidong that it's always really sad when people move. But there are good parts too I guess because when new people move in this place really gets set on fire (spiritually). I always love that.
But anyway, this week was a good one! So so so many people at church yesterday. It was awesome. And so so so many progressing investigators. People are just coming out of the woodwork - I know that the Lord is preparing people here to hear His Gospel. It's so cool to be a part of it.
To tell you the truth, I had no idea that the typhoon was so serious until I read all of your emails. No, the only bad thing that happened here was that I forgot my poncho yesterday night and got so soaked that our member helping my lesson was worried that I'd catch a cold. :) I'm totally fine, though. And, weird truth: I kind of really like it when the weather's super-crazy or hard. It makes me feel like I'm... I don't know, a Christian soldier or something. :) Weird, but true. Speaking of catching colds, though, it was cold when we were riding here to Cyberdome this morning! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to put on a sweater and everything. Maybe I'm just turning Taiwanese and I'm starting to get cold really easily.
Apparently I am turning Taiwanese with my food tendencies. Last week we were treated to this seafood restaurant with like 75 courses - the food just kept coming out! Anyway, there was one dish with snails (still in the shells this time), and I just grabbed them out of their shells and started eating them, no big deal. But the thing that impressed the other missionaries the most was when the shrimp came out. They brought out this plate of like 7-inch long shrimp. Kind of terrifying. One elder just sat staring at them and the other picked it up and kept examining it like he was trying to figure out how it was all put together. I just grabbed it, ripped of its head and legs, and then started eating it. I didn't think it was a big deal at the time, but everyone afterwards was really impressed. And by the sound of things a little scared as well. Reading this paragraph it does seem like ripping off heads and legs is a little barbaric. But you know, I feel like as long as I stick to only doing it with dead things that I'm about to eat, I'll be okay.
I have an update with my favorite foods here, though. I've already talked about the random drink shops with squishy stuff you can put in your drinks. Well, they also have these fruit shops where they'll make juice for you. It's soooo good. My favorite before was banana milk, where it's, well, bananas and milk blended together. Mmmmmmmm.... But this week I went big and got mango and banana, add yogurt. That, my friends, is what heaven is going to be like. I was so happy as I sipped my mango banana yogurt drink that I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a long long time. Yum. There's also this breakfast food called zhuabing that's fantastic as well. It's an egg in this tortilla kind of thing with cheese. Then you dip it in this thick soy sauce. Heaven. I've also recently been developing an affinity for kimchi, which is this korean pickled cabbage stuff. I know, sounds weird, but it's actually really good. I think my favorite was when we went to this member's house and we made our own lettuce wraps with kimchi, a little meat, a little spicy sauce, and rice on the inside. I want to make that for my kids, it was so darn good.
Okay, miracle for this week: the Qiu girls. We were biking somewhere and we wanted to get there fast if possible but contacting was okay too. Anyway, I saw these two girls and yelled out, "Hello!" They kept biking and didn't look at me, which is my personal way of knowing whether or not I should go and talk to them - they didn't pass the test. But then one of the girls looked - not at me, but looked around, as if trying to figure out who had talked to her. First I thought, "No big deal, they didn't look at me," but then I began to wonder if maybe the Spirit was prompting her to look around for me. So I knew we had to go back. Unfortunately, with traffic it was hard for both me and Sister Marler to turn around. I was looking desparately at the corner where those girls had turned around, trying to figure out whether or not we should go after them. Then all of the sudden, they came back! I was already on the other side of the street, so I yelled for Sister Marler to "TALK TO THEM! IT'S THEM!" ...So she did. And she did great. She just rode up her bike next to them and started chatting. Then I rode up too and invited them for a chapel tour. They looked kind of uncertain, but then their other sister joined them. I invited them all once more, and the sister said, "Alright, let's go." It was incredible. I felt like we had a little parade, all five of us riding to the chapel together. Then the tour went so well. The Spirit was very strong, and the girls committed to be baptized. Then they came to the elders' baptismal service that night, and church the next day. SO PREPARED. When I meet people like that, I think, "How did they not meet the missionaries before?" Then I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father let me be the one missionary that they didmeet. I love my life.
Okay, I've got to go, but I just need to tell you all that the Gospel really is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is in charge. Have a wonderful day, everyone. I will, too - every person that we're meeting with tonight all has the same last name of Yang. Just imagining a missionary in the states meeting with a bunch of people all with the last name "Winters" makes me smile. Have a good one!
Love,
Sister Winters
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