Sister Amie George's Mission in Taiwan: January 5, 2014! A new year, and Amie has now been on her mission 5 months!

Hi Mom and Dad!

This week has been crazy! But the week that you guys had there also sounds pretty crazy! Haha, that's so exciting about Alexa's baptism! (Alexa is Amie's oldest niece) I'm looking forward to those pictures next week :) Oh and before I forget, WPS is just Weekly Planning Session :) Haha, we have it every Thursday from 1-4, and basically just plan for all our investigators and plan the next week out.

Well, before I wait any longer, the highlight of the week was TRANSFERS! Haha, so we found out Wednesday night who was moving, and it was ME! It was so up in the air, we had no idea who would go and who would stay. Sister Edwards had been in Dan Shui for quite a while, so everyone guessed she was going to leave and I was going to stay, but both of us felt like I was leaving and she was staying. Well, they called and told us that I was moving! It was pretty exciting. Also really made me kind of nervous, haha, not knowing where I was going or who was going to be my companion, but Friday's transfer meeting turned out really well. I am now in Zhu Nan (also spelled Chu Nan) with Sister Peay! And it's pretty awesome!

Packed up and ready to transfer to a new area!

Amie with her new companion

Zhu Nan is about an hour and 45 minute bus ride from Taipei, so more south. Looking at a map will probably explain it a lot better than I ever could, but it's really nice here! It's definitely different, a lot smaller. Not like Dan Shui at all. Not nearly as many people, and it's actually only been open for sister missionaries for about 6 months, so it's still fairly new too, but I'm getting used to it. And my companion is great! After this transfer she will only have 6 months left in Taiwan. It's definitely an adjustment, new place, new companion, new everything, but it's still really good. I only took a small bag with me to the transfer meeting, so Sister Edwards shipped the rest of my stuff (including my bike) to Zhu Nan, and hopefully I'll be getting that stuff today. The apartment is nice here! Not as nice as Dan Shui, but I'm pretty sure that's like the nicest apartment in the entire mission, so I'm not surprised. The apartment here is good though! I've only found a few cockroaches...haha, it's good though. I still have my own bathroom which is really nice, and it's got nice windows, and it's good! Probably either an average apartment for a missionary or a little nicer still. Unfortunately there is no gym, but there's a couple tracks near by, and we went running at one Saturday morning and that was nice.

It's definitely smaller here, which I am not fully used to yet, but I'm getting there. I kinda feel like when I went from Shanghai, China to Rexburg, Idaho, haha, just that adjustment. And it's lots of contacting. For example yesterday, we contacted from about 4-9...haha, surprisingly it wasn't too bad, although by the end we were both just a little exhausted to say the least, haha, but the people here are really nice! I feel like it'll be good for me. More contacting, kind of a slower moving city, and the ward was really nice yesterday. They're all super impressed with my Chinese, which makes me feel good, but I really want to keep up the learning and everything. Sister Edwards and I would always speak Chinese with each other, and I feel like her drive for learning the language really helped me, so I want to be sure not to lose that.

The view from her new apartment

So yeah! This week's been crazy! Haha, it feels like it's lasted forever just with everything going on, but at the same time I really can't remember much from last week before I moved. Saying good bye to some investigators, specifically A, was hard, she gave both Sister Edwards and I bracelets Wednesday night, because she knew we would find out that night who was moving. And then I called her Thursday, and also wrote her a little note that Sister Edwards is supposed to give her, so that was good. The investigators here are good though too! It was also hard to leave because a lot of our really good investigators in Dan Shui, Sister Edwards and I found together, so I kind of wanted to see them thru, and it's hard because I still don't really feel like I know the investigators a ton here, but I'm getting there. I'm excited to be here though! I think it'll be good :)

Something kind of fun from this week, I got told twice that I sound like a Taiwan person! Haha, I was so surprised. One was in Dan Shui, we found an LA and when we went to go meet her she was like, "Wait, who's the one who called me?" And I said it was me, and she was like "Wow, I'm surprised you're an American! You sounded like a Taiwan person on the phone!" And then another time in Zhu Nan, we were going to visit a recent convert and I said the opening prayer, and he was super impressed, he was like "Wow, you sound like a Taiwan person, you don't really have an American accent at all". So that was fun! It makes me feel good, haha, but I want to be sure to keep improving. I've been focusing a lot lately on mimicking other's Chinese, because I would love not to have an accent, hahah.

But yeah, so this week's been good! Crazy busy but good! I don't really know what else to update on, haha, I'm attaching some pictures, of Sister Edwards and I last day together, Sister Peay and I, and the apartment. I don't have my stuff yet, so it's still kind of bare and I'll send more once I'm unpacked next week, but yeah! I'm doing good here! Oh, and my district seems great here too! 2 elders stayed, so they're the same, and then one Elder came in, who actually served here about a year ago, it was his second area too, and his companion stayed here. So, it's Sister Peay and I, and 4 elders, and they all seem great. It's kind of interesting moving, haha, but I like it. I guess change is something you get even more used to on a mission. I'm excited to see how this transfer goes though.

Well, that's about it I think. I'm not going to be going to Taipei nearly as much this transfer, so I'll let you know soon if I do need anything, so when I do get to go to Taipei I'll be able to pick it up.

I love and miss you! I'm glad you all had a good New Years :) We heard the fireworks, but couldn't celebrate at all, haha, but that's ok. Sleep was way worth it, haha.

Love and miss you!

-Sister George