Sister Amie George's Mission in Taiwan: Week 1 in Taiwan!

October 15, 2013

A few pictures Amie sent of her last night in the MTC
before leaving for Taiwan the next day

Hi Mom and Dad!

Well, I'm here! It's been a crazy week, but I love it. So normally my P-days will be Monday still, but we get to go to the temple today so yay! So you'll be getting another email from me Monday, which I think is Sunday night your time, so just make sure you email me so I have something to respond to, haha.

I don't even know where to start! Haha, well first of all, I absolutely love Taiwan so far. Some things remind me so much of Shanghai and then other things are completely different. My area is Dan Shui, and it's about an hour and 15 minute bus/MRT (mass rapid transit) ride to Taipei, so we get to go there a lot. Which is nice because that's where the mail goes. (So yes, for any mail, just send it to the mission home, letters, packages and all). My companion is Sister Edwards, and she's training me. She's so awesome, I'm really lucky to have her. She's been here just 4 months but her Chinese is amazing, so she helps me with tones and I help her with characters, haha, it works.

The orientation in Taiwan was actually really fun! We stayed at the Temple annex housing thing, and we took care of some business, like getting our debit card and paying for our bikes and everything, and we actually went to an outside baptism our first day! It was so cool! That's what the pictures are from, not the baptism itself obviously, but the area. It was so pretty. The next day was the transfer meeting, which was when we met our new companions, and that was way fun. It was definitely an adventure getting all my luggage to our apartment on the bus and MRT, but there were a few kind souls who helped us out, haha, and we got there fine. My apartment is way nice too! There are some pictures of that too. Apparently our apartment is one of the nicest, so I guess I shouldn't get used to it, haha, but I'll be here for 12 weeks, so I'm good for now.

The Taipei Taiwan Temple

The site where Amie was able to attend an outdoor baptism
on her first day in Taiwan

As for the missionary work, it's hard, I'm not going to lie. I kind of feel like I'm going to die sometimes on my bike with the hills that are here, it's rough, and the first few days were especially rough just because of jetlag and it being so different than MTC life, but now I'm doing great! Haha, I'm definitely exhausted by the time 9:30 comes around, but at least until that point I've got enough energy, haha.

We've gotten 2 new investigators since I've been here so far, and they've both set up baptism dates, so that was amazing. One girl, Xie JieMei, we contacted at a university nearby, and she met with us the next day, and she's meeting with us Friday, and then the other girl we met with last night in Zhubei (like a 15 minute MRT ride away) and she set up a baptism date for early December, so that was amazing. It's so cool to be here and witnessing this. Like in the MTC we would teach fake investigators, but being here and actually seeing the gospel touch these people's hearts is amazing, probably my favorite part so far.

Amie with her companion, maybe riding the MRT?

The food is seriously amazing. Dad wasn't kidding about that passion fruit. And it's great because both my companion and I are up to try just about anything, so pretty much everyday is a new adventure with food, and I haven't had a bad experience yet, haha.

Looks delicious! I think the food must go with the picture of the restaurant above :)

The ward (congregation) here is amazing too. Seriously, pretty much all Saturday, well from about 1-7:30 we did service in a parade with the ward, and I love them all! Haha, I'm really excited. It's interesting to see how big a part the ward really does play, they emphasized that in the MTC, but I guess I didn't really think it would be a big deal, but it is and I'm lucky to have the ward I do. I think I'll attach some pictures from that parade, but it was pretty amazing. The ward went all out and we got a couple referrals on the road, and it was so fun. I didn't really know what was going on because I was still a little loopy from jetlag, haha, but it was fun! I'm glad jetlag is over.

The mission president and his wife are amazing too. Apparently Sister Day always makes brownies on temple days, so we'll get that later, and overall they're just really nice. I haven't spent a ton of time with them, but I love them.

I've pretty much given up on my hair and makeup (It's SO HUMID HERE!) Haha, I should take a picture of my hair sometime, it's just a ringlety curly mess, but all the Taiwan people here love it and think it's amazing, so I guess that's good, hah. So there's really no need to send the hair stuff, if I need it later I'll let you know, haha. Thank you so much! And of course, if you would like to send any candy or anything :) But the food here is actually really good, so I'm ok, haha.

All the Elders and Sisters in this mission are really nice, during the transfer meeting and stuff we talked to a ton and they were all really nice, so I'm glad. My district is also really amazing. We have a district meeting every Tuesday so that was yesterday, and they're all amazing. It's also nice because they give us Phases to help us learn our Chinese, and Phase 1 is just learning all the lessons and church vocab, so that's been really helpful with my tones. It's funny though, everytime I tell people I haven't even been here a week yet they think it's crazy, haha. Then of course I explain how I lived in Shanghai for 4 years, and then they say "Oh, that's why your Chinese is so good!" Haha, so that makes me feel good.

Well, sorry this email has been a little scattered, haha. There's just so much to tell! Tomorrow is specialized training in Taipei, so we're going there again, and then just the normal week again. But I can email again on Monday, so I'll be able to tell you about the temple and my first P day and everything. I love it here! It's hard and I'm exhausted, but I love it!

Love and miss you! Tell everyone I say hi!

Love you!

Qiao Jie Mei