October 20, 2013
Hey Mom and Dad!
So it's only been a few days since I
last emailed you, but oh gosh, I feel like so much has happened! (Even
though it hasn't, haha, I'm just more tired, but that's alright!)
Well, the biking is coming along. I
just keep in mind that it's just better exercise and that it's faster and
cheaper, haha. And it's actually kinda fun, haha, at least when the hills aren't
the steepest thing I could imagine. And I always wear a helmet :) It's
pretty much missionary illegal to ride one without it, and I don't even want to
try. I don't know if the streets aren't as busy as they were in Shanghai, or if
I'm just used to it or don't notice, but it doesn't seem as bad. Of course we
hardly ever go on the freeway like area. We did one day because we were totally
lost trying to find out where a less active lived, but luckily it was down hill
so I didn't feel like I was dying too much. There is a super steep hill when
we're riding back from the MRT (tram/subway) station, that always gets me, but
I don't mind it. I've just accepted the fact that no matter the weather, I will
undoubtedly sweat every single day, haha.
Well I don't actually know where we
were for that baptism, but it wasn't by the ocean, it was just a river.
It was actually where the first ever baptism was in Taiwan, so that was pretty
cool! We have a member who lives near the ocean though, so we're visiting her later this week, and apparently it's like the prettiest
place ever, so I'm excited, haha. Sorry I don't have more pictures this week! I have a few though.
I'll explain about them when I email them.
I didn't take any more pictures of my apartment, but I will for next week. And the weather is actually like, perfect right now. I got here at the ideal time. Plus there's typhoon weather, apparently one is in the ocean somewhere, so that helps a lot too. It was actually a little chilly last night riding our bikes home, so I love it. Not at all cold, at least for me, but not hot either. It's still humid though of course, so my hair still goes crazy, hah, but all the people here still make a huge deal about it because they love it so much, so I'm ok with it. I haven't used my blowdryer or straightener once, haha, there's no point yet, haha.
P-day today we're just running
around getting a lot of things. I need to buy spray paint to spray paint my
bike, haha, so people don't steal it, and we need some more food, and then we're
getting some stamps and other little things. I'm going to try and write you a
letter today and hopefully get it in the mail within the next couple days, so I
don't know when you'll get it, haha, but it'll be sometime in the near future.
In a couple weeks though we're
meeting up with a few other sisters, and we're going to do something together on P-day. And I
know our district generally plans something fun to do, so I'm sure it'll be
good. P-days are so crazy here though, like, we still have studies till 11, and
then they end at 6. But for example today, we have an appointment at 6, so we
actually have to leave the house by like 5, so they fly by.
Well, this week has been good! Haha,
it's been really fun and tiring. It seems like it's been forever since I wrote
you, but looking at my planner not much has actually happened, hah. We've still
been teaching those 2 investigators, and we met with another one that I hadn't
met yet and she's awesome. She works at a hospital a little bit
away, so we always meet there, but the first time we taught her together was
amazing. I could understand everything and even better, could actually talk
quite a bit back! Haha, I've realized that I'm a lot better at understanding
things, than I am at really trying to speak back, which is a goal I have now. I
need to make more of an effort to talk to people, one so I can meet them and
share a message, haha, and two so I can get better at Chinese speaking. I don't
really know for sure, because it's hard to measure, but I feel like I'm better
than I was in High School already, just with tones and words and everything.
I said in my last email that they
give us these phases to work through Chinese, and Phase 1 consists of all the
lessons in Chinese, and I'm already almost done with Lesson 1. I really just
need to work on tones and more vocab words now. But everyone always says how
impressed they are with my Chinese, and that makes me feel good. I just need to
speak more! Haha.
We've also been meeting with the investigator I told you about last week still, who has a baptism date already, and I led the first lesson! Haha,
that pretty much just means I take the lead and guide us into the new topics,
but it went really well! I could understand her, and I could speak! Sometimes I
think how cool it is that I'm actually speaking Chinese ALL the time. Even with
my companion we try to talk as much Chinese as we can, obviously sometimes we
have a random English word here and there, but it's cool to think about.
Whenever we meet a 'Wai Guo Ren' (foreigner) and talk to them it feels so weird to be
speaking English! Haha, I love it though, it means I'm getting used to the
Chinese and getting better!
Yesterday was SO FUN too! We had
stake conference, and we were a little worried because we didn't have any
set-ups for after, but some members found us after and invited us over to have
pizza! And it turned out that like 5 families were there, and I got to meet
them all, which I had been wanting to do, and we got to set up with some of
them for later this week. It was so fun. That's what some of the pictures are
from. By the way, if you get an email or a friend request from some sisters who
live in Taipei, haha they're in the ward. They wanted your information to send
you the pictures and stuff if I can't get it :) They're so nice. Sometimes I
can't always understand them, which frustrates me because I feel like I should understand everything, haha, but I just
keep it in perspective. Like I've just been here over a week and I can
understand MOST of everything, so I just think about that and it makes me feel
better, haha.
 |
| Making pizzas with some of the Ward members! |
I've come to the realization that once you just accept the fact that you won't find the same stuff as you could in America, and you won't have the same food, or be around the same type of people, or have the same lifestyle, it's so much better! Once you just kind of, become part of the culture here, it's so fun! Half the time I have to remind myself that I'm not actually Taiwanese, haha, when I look around and realize that just me and my companion are the blonde ones, but no one else seems to care or even notice, it's really fun. I love being completely immersed in the culture like this.
So yeah, I'm doing good! Sometimes I'll get really tired, and in those times it gets kind of hard, because when I'm that tired I tend to get grumpy, haha, but I never don't want to be here. I realized yesterday that even when I'm completely exhausted and just want to sleep, I never regret coming and doing this work, which I love!
I sometimes have to remind myself
that I'm actually doing this, haha. I'm no longer just preparing, and I'm no
longer just in the MTC, like, I'm here! This is it! Haha, everytime I get down
I remind myself of that and it gives me more motivation. I have to remind
myself how fast time is going to go too. That makes me want to work the hardest
I can. I just love it here, haha, this is the best mission ever in my own mind.
And the people are amazing, everyone is so nice and willing to listen, even if
they aren't actually interested. I could live here forever, haha. I probably
won't, but I could, haha.
Well, I should go
but I'll be sending more pictures at the end of this email session, so you'll
have some of those :) I love and miss you! And thanks for getting together that
package! It's awesome :)
-Qiao Jie Mei
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