Dear family,
Lei hou (Taiwanese) from the big city! No, not NYC - Taipei! That's right, my prediction from last week was correct: I am now serving in two areas (Tianmu and Shilin) located smack dab in the middle of Taipei. I'm not gonna lie - it does feel a little bit like I've come to Taiwan all over again and I'm experiencing a little bit of culture shock. :) But no problem, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" - I just feel like I'm going to need as much strengthening as possible sometimes. :) Anyway, my move is a big enough event that I think that's all I'm going to talk about today. As you can see from the subject of this email, I think I'm going to talk about "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" of Taipei.
The Good
First of all, I left things off great in Taidong. On Wednesday we had a lot of time to go out and FIND people to teach - nobody really listened on the street, but we followed a lot of promptings and hoped for the best. Because of that, we had a really great feeling of the Spirit the whole day, which was lovely. Plus that night we had the best English class activity yet - a Halloween festival! We had a cakewalk (listened to creepy Mormon Tabernacle Choir music and won a pumpkin Trader Jo-Jo if you pronounced the word you were standing on correctly) and also did a great Trick-or-Treat roleplay. Then we finished it off with some "Shiqing shi zheyang de" ("And it came to pass"), so it was great. But then the best part that finished off the night was meeting with four girls after English class who all became our new investigators and set baptismal dates! I felt like I was leaving Taidong in a good state, and I know I'm leaving Taidong in good hands (Sister Marler's amazing), so I feel very good about that.
As far as Taipei goes, I've been pleasantly surprised at how many good things there are about this place. My new companion is a total example of that - Sister Briggs. She was a theatre major at BYU and is about 5'10". :) She's very energetic and sweet (and shows her love by making food for people, a definite bonus), and as long as we don't scare everyone away in this city by our height we're going to make a great pair.
The food here is, of course, a definite part of "The Good." Food in Taidong was great (and cheap), but food here is also very good - and there are more options! Plus, they have a Costco here and a member in one of the wards is buying me some muffins and a huge box of goldfish from there today. Life is sweet.
The activities. Last night we got to go to a new member fireside - something they have in central Taipei every month. It was great! The Spirit was so strong, and there were so many missionaries there! I saw almost all of my friends from the MTC, sisters whom I had served as their coordinating sister on the east coast, people from old districts and zones, and a bunch of people that I've never met before. It was so much fun. Plus President Day went up to me afterwards and informed me that they're having a Christmas program starting at the end of this month and asked for my help music-wise. So now we have practices every P-day for an hour where I get to see almost all of my friends and practice my violin! As long as that isn't the only reason President moved me here, I'm happy.
The last thing, of course, is people. There are so many people here! And I get to share the Gospel with them! I'm still not quite sure how to contact people in such a different environment, but I think that I'm just going to try the same ways that I know and adapt it as best as I can for Taipei. After all, I know that I was moved here to this place for a reason - me, not anyone else - so that makes me feel like my talents and my way of doing things are what this place needs. Obviously I'll need some humility with that too - I'm sure that I'll change while I'm here as well.
The Bad
I miss Taidong! And it's a little rough being lost all of the time - please keep praying for me!
The Ugly
Well, there ARE a lot more Americans here... Just kidding. I don't think that Americans are ugly, and neither do the Taiwanese. One perk about moving to a new place is that people aren't used to seeing me so I had a lot of comments from the members about how I'm beautiful and look like a famous model whose name I can't quite recall. But I think she's from Australia? Maybe. Anyway, this place is actually surprisingly beautiful. I've been really impressed with how clean Taipei is. There are millions and millions of people in this city, and yet the Taiwanese are able to make it beautiful. There's a lovely mixture of tall skyscrapers and streets, etc. along with parks and trees and flowers. I'm a big fan.
Alright, that is it for this week! I guess it was a little shorter than normal, sorry. But I'm sure there will be lots to tell next week about the transition from a country girl to classy city girl! We'll see how it goes. Thank you for your prayers! Please keep them coming. Pray that I can get used to this area quickly. Pray that we can find prepared people to teach. Pray that we'll keep having the gift of tongues. Pray that I won't get hit by cars. And pray that I see miracles. I know that I will!
Have a great week, everyone.
Love,
Sister Winters
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