November 10, 2013 Feeling more and more like home!

Hey Mom and Dad!

Haha, well your Chinese is coming along great Mom! (I surprised Amie with a little Chinese in her letter today . . . decided I need to refresh what I've learned while she's gone!) It's funny, it's gotten to the point here that I'm just so used to Chinese that talking and having a conversation in English feels weird. So if I get home and I just keep responding in Chinese because English feels weird, I apologize in advance, haha.

I actually haven't heard anything about the Tsunami in the Philippines, but the weather has been a little weird. Raining a lot, and the wind has been HUGE! It makes riding a bike in a skirt even more fun, especially since you need both hands on your wheel so you don't swerve when the wind hits, but then you don't have a hand to keep down your skirt! But it's fun, haha, just more adventures. I'm slowly getting used to the weather, haha. The humidity and rain at least. I like the rain, it's fun. I've always liked the rain, so I don't mind it, although it's always fun when you're riding your bike in the rain and a huge bus goes by you and splashes all the water up at you, that's happened once or twice. But I've got the nifty rain coat, haha, so it's ok. It's just funny, haha. I feel like a lot of things that might normally make me annoyed are just funny these days, haha. Although I don't think I want green mold to start growing on my shoes, hahah. (Lloyd told Amie that when he was on his mission in Taiwan during the rainy season, there would be green mold on his shoes - yuck!)

District meetings are every week, and there's 8 in my district, 2 sets of Elders and 2 of Sisters. We have the DanShui Elders and Sisters, and then we have BeiTou Elders and Sisters. It's really fun, my district is great. And as for my area, it is HUGE! Haha, we've been talking about this lately with other missionaries and seriously, DanShui is one of the biggest areas with the most hills and most biking, haha, but I kinda like it now. I'd rather bike than walk that's for sure, and it is good exercise, especially since the food here is so good.

Well, this week has really flown by! I know I say that every week, but for some reason this week just went by REALLY fast, haha. And it's been a really good week overall! I've realized that I've never had any just fully bad days, the worst it gets is just having like, a bad hour here and there because I'm just exhausted and people keep canceling, but then it just goes away because something funny or good happens. Sister Edwards and I were talking about this in our Weekly Planning Session when we did companionship inventory, and she said one of my strengths was the ability to just laugh, and how when I laugh it just makes the annoying feelings go away. Haha, we talked a lot about the power of humor and how we're glad we both have it. It makes the work more enjoyable that's for sure.

With some of the wonderful members of the Ward!

 

We also had a lot of cool experiences this week too! One, when we were contacting at night at the University we met a girl from Shanghai! We had been talking for a while and finally asked where she was originally from, and she was a little hesitant at first but finally said Shanghai and I got so excited! Then when she found out we were there at the same time she got really excited, and we started talking about Shanghai and then brought it back to how there aren't any missionaries there and talked about the church and everything, and it was so fun! We got her number, but all the students have midterms coming up really soon, so they can't meet for a while (or that's just an excuse, we aren't really sure, haha) but she said to call her in a couple weeks, and she said "well I have you guy's number too, so we'll meet up." It was really fun.

Another cool experience was with our investigator. She's been an investigator for a while, since around July I think? But we met with her this week and just asked her some questions to see where she was at, and we actually went over the baptismal interview questions, and she did great! When we got to the Book of Mormon all she said was "Zhe shi zhen de" (this is true/real). It was so cool to see! We have her baptism set for 12/7, and we think she might actually make it! She knew all of it was true. Only thing is she didn't come to church, which she really needs to, but she's slowly coming. We're going to call her and remind her next week and set up the next time meeting, but that lesson was amazing. Both Sister Edwards and I were just looking at each other in awe, haha. It was great.

Another really cool experience was when we were contacting at a different University, and just handing out pamphlets and stuff, and one guy stopped us and basically, we ended up teaching the entire first lesson on the side of the road, haha. He just kept asking questions, and all the right ones, about prophets and Christ and the Book of Mormon, and it was great. Unfortunately since he's a guy, we don't get to teach him, but we gave his number to the Elders here, and at the end before we were leaving he said something along the lines of "I think I'm interested in this," which was really cool. When we were talking about it after we both agreed it was a miracle to find someone that prepared. It was really cool.

We also had Interviews with the President this past week, and that was actually really fun! We had like an entire day almost of training and interviews at Shilin (about an hour away) and it was so fun! It's always really fun when all the missionaries get together, it's just like a big family, and I'm learning that more and more, but it's really cool. And my Zone is amazing, so it's cool. The interviews went really well too! We talked a lot about goals, and some that I set were: to have the New Testament read by our next interview in February, so be on Phase 2 of the language program here, and to really talk to everyone I can all the time, not just in designated contacting time. So far they've been going well too! The New Testament is really cool! I'm in Matthew 10 right now I think, and I really like it. So I do that for about 15 minutes every morning, then the Book of Mormon for about 20, then I prepare for the lessons for the day in the rest, so I like it. And I just finished the Book of Mormon, so I'm about to start again. Another goal was to start a study journal from personal study, so I've started that and it's really actually cool! Haha, I should do it more often. It's been cool lately to see how much you really can get out of reading the scriptures and really think about what it's saying and how you can apply it. I've realized that the more you really try to get things out of it, the more you do. Of course that's because Heavenly Father is giving you more inspiration, but it's really cool. I actually enjoy the study time we have. And as for being on Phase 2 of the language study plan, at first my goal was to just be done with Phase 1, but President Day was like "Can I make a suggestion? Start Phase 2. You've been here just about a month, and are already done with Lesson 1, and part of Lesson 2 of Phase 1 (There's 5 lessons), so if you keep going at this rate, which I think you will, you'll be already started on Phase 2," so that's kinda cool. I'm excited to keep going with Chinese.

We also had famous 'baozi's' at Shilin, and they were SO GOOD!  (baozi's are steam filled pastries, with either meat or vegetables, and are so yummy!) They had one that literally tasted like cake batter. Of course I got that one twice, ha,it was like, 'niu huang bao' or something, milk yellow bread, but it was reallllly good, haha. Pretty much a desert. I also had hot soy milk for the first time, and that was SO GOOD too! Haha, we only drink soy milk here, so I haven't had real milk for a while, but it's so good now! I have a feeling I'm going to get back and still drink it, and still warm it up too because it's basically like a creamy frosting thing, it's really good. You guys should try it, haha.

I also might be playing the viola in the choir they have going for Christmas. I didn't think I would, because I seriously doubted anyone had a viola here, but there's an Elder that does! So when we meet later today we're going to look at Silent Night and see what we can do. I'll have to make up my own part, so we'll see how it goes, haha. I kind of miss playing the viola actually, I'm excited to do it again. I'll let you know next week how it goes.

We've been leaving lots of cards for members and less-actives, and that's been fun. I'm glad I get to be able to write characters. I know most of them that I need, and it's really cool. Every so often we'll think of something to say that I don't know how to write, and Sister Edwards has to look it up on the cell phone, and one time I was like, "Thank you!" And she was like, "are you kidding? Thank YOU! Can you imagine me trying to write these cards by myself?" Haha, so that was funny. Leaving notes for people is actually really fun. A couple of people have called to thank us and set up, so it's working too!

So yeah, this weeks been good! I've grown to love my bike. We have to take it in today to get fixed though, because a screw thingy popped out, but I still love riding it. We've started riding bikes back and forth to ZhuWei (about a 35-40 minute bike ride) instead of taking the MRT, and that's actually been really fun. Haha, we basically take the freeway road all the way there, which during rush hour can get a little crazy, but I've taken to just following all the other little scooters, and all the buses give you a little honk to let you know they're coming, so it's good, actually pretty fun. By the time we get there my legs feel like jello, especially after running for 30 minutes in the morning already (which I actually love ) and biking all day, but it's really fun. I'm convinced that everything is just in the attitude. If you let yourself get annoyed at the fact that you're exhausted and have to keep biking, or that you're constantly sweating no matter the weather (literally), then you'll just be annoyed all the time, but if you just enjoy it, accept it, and laugh at it, it's great, haha. So I'm doing good :)

I was SO glad she sent this picture and told us that they
wear these 'vests' whenever they ride their bikes at night! 
She also said this was taken 5 min. after she woke up
today to ride to the internet cafe and write us,
hence the sleepy eyes and p-day clothes, haha!
It was still dark outside!

 

That's about all I can think of for this week, other than I can't believe I've already been here a month! It's going by so fast! Anytime the days seem to last forever, I just remind myself of that fact, of how fast it's already going by and how it'll just keep speeding up. Haha, I feel like by the time comes for me to come home, I'll just want everyone to come here instead of me going home, haha.

Well I should go, but let me know if you want to know anything else. I'm going to try and write you guys a letter this week, so that should be there in the fairly soon future, haha.

I love you! And miss you! Tell everyone hi :)

-Qiao Jie Mei

Following are excerpts from an email Amie sent to her Dad.
 

Hi Dad!

Haha, I've actually heard of the sticky rice pig blood cake! I haven't tried it yet, but apparently my companion really wants me to. So I probably will sometime in the near future. It's funny with food here, I've stopped asking what is in it, haha, I just eat it and most of the time it's really good. Or I learn how to say what it is in Chinese, but I have no idea what is actually in it, haha, it's fun. Food is an adventure here, I like it.

She didn't tell us what this is, but I think it's some
 kind of food and it's cute!

 

Taiwan is feeling more and more like home, I'm figuring out more and more where things are and how to get to them, instead of just having to follow my trainer, haha, so that's good. Everything is just going good! I feel like I'm really getting into the swing of things, the daily routine and everything, which is nice. Feeling more like just normal life. But then I look around and remember where I am (kind of pinch myself) and just tend to start smiling, haha, I love it here. It's hard, but it's really fun. And the people are amazing. It really is just cool, haha.

Well I love and miss you!

-Qiao Jie Mei

I'll end this post with a few 'scary' pics Amie sent this week, haha.  She said it was a 'friend' they have at church, and that it was way too big for her liking!

YIKES!