Sister Amie George's Mission in Taiwan: January 18, 2015

Hi Mom and Dad!

Well, this past week has been crazy. I don't even know where to start.

I moved, and it was so hard! I don't think it has ever been harder to leave a place in my life. We found out I was leaving Wednesday night, so Thursday we got to meet with a lot of people. Then Sister K-- (she was moving too), I, and 4 elders from HuaLian left at 6 in the morning to get to the Transfer Meeting. And it was so miserable to get there. With six missionaries carrying all of their stuff, it was a group effort to get all of us there, and we were still 30 minutes late.

Well, we got to the meeting, and guess where I moved...the MIDDLE of Taipei. Seriously, haha. I was in shock. And, to make it more shocking, I'm WHITEWASHING! (AGAIN!) (Whitewashing is when both members of the companionship are new to an area - usually at least one has already been serving there and is familiar with the area) When I found that out, I just almost lost it. Not going to lie. I'm with Sister Branch, and luckily she is absolutely amazing, and we already get along great. We are the Sister Training Leaders here, both new to the area, this is her first time as an STL, and NEITHER of us have ever served in Taipei before. It's an adventure, that is for sure!

The place we're in is called Xin An, and it is literally like the most crowded place you could get in this mission. It's actually quite a small area, but it seems huge because this city is huge. We've already gotten lost a few times, but not too bad. I keep trying to look out for some landmarks that can help me have a sense of direction, but all the buildings are ridiculously tall and all the intersections are huge and look the same, haha. The only good landmark I've found so far has been the Taipei 101 building, haha. I've been studying the map though, so hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.

The famous 'Taipei 101' building

The majority of my mission I've been in places with hardly any people (ZhuNan, HuaLian) and now there's so many people I can't even hear myself think. But, the surprising thing of all of this, is that the more I am here, the more I like it. It's an adventure, and I think that's why I like it. With this being my last transfer, I'm excited and grateful that there will be absolutely NO room for me to get tired or slack off. I think if I had stayed in HuaLian, I would've loved it, and I would've been SO comfortable there, but I probably would not have worked nearly as hard as I'm going to have to work in this area.

Luckily, the Elders and the members are great. They know we're whitewashing, and they are all very understanding. And willing to help, so that's a blessing. The plan for this week is just for us to get to know the investigators, RC's and LA's. And visit as many members as possibly.

This place is SO incredibly different than ANYTHING I am used to on my mission. It reminds me a lot of Shanghai.

I'm still homesick for HuaLian, I miss the members and the RC's and missionaries I got so close to, but I believe that this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be right now. It's a party.

Riding bikes around is terrifying. But I just try to have the mindset that I'm in MarioKart, and it gets less stressful. You just have to be very alert all the time, very different than ZhuNan or HuaLian. The buses are super annoying, because they never stop for you, but it's ok. I'm being careful.

Some perks of being in Taipei, I get to see President and Sister Day all the time. I actually have a temple day next week! (So P-day will be Wednesday not Monday). When we come back this fall, I'll be more familiar with the big city area. Everything is really convenient to buy. Wu JeiMei can come visit us more often :)

I'm glad I get to have this chance to serve in a new area. It's going to force me to work ridiculously hard my last month as a missionary, haha, it'll be great.

I love you!

Love,

Sister George