Well, I should just warn you up front this is going to be a long email. This has been probably the longest/craziest/awesome completely out of control week of my entire life and I can honestly think of something that quite compares. Right now I'm sitting at a small smoky hole in the wall internet cafe here in Zhanghua Xihu (my first area).So, starting all the way back last Tuesday in the MTC (which seems like it happened ages ago), we left rather uneventfully. It was pretty strange to be in the real world again with real people. Anyways flights to Taiwan were uneventful I got airsick after we landed in Tokyo the combination of no sleep, a long flight, time change and everything was just a little on rough side. Anyways so bottom line we got to Taibei safe and sound where we got our luggage and walk out and were greeted by our mission president, the AP's, and a big banner welcoming us to Taiwan. It was about 11pm by the time we left and we were greeted by a large multicolored light bus that took us to Taizhong city. On the bus we had orientation, we were taken to the AP's apartment where we got to sleep about 2:30 A.M. We got woken up at 6:30 and taken on a rather long run in which I pretty much dying and in the straggling behind in the back of the pack. I finally got to shower after 2 days and than we went to the mission home where president and sister Bishop had prepared a really nice Taiwanese breakfast for us. We basically spent the day doing some necessary preparations like getting us our bikes paid for and having orientation about our mission. We ate lunch at a hotpot place which is a restaurant where they have stoves built into the table and you pick a type of broth (mushroom,spicy, japanese) and you can choose whatever you want to put into your pot of boiling broth which cooks it and you than eat it with rice or dumplings. That evening we went to a regular Chinese restaurant with lots of various dishes in the middle, similar to how it was in Beijing. Was feeling pretty jet lagged by that time and all I really wanted to do was just go to sleep. The day was not over yet...immediately after dinner we went to have our "Dan Jones Night" which basically is this. You're taken to the Night Market in the middle of Taizhong where you get to stand on a stool by yourself and bear your testimony and wave a book of mormon at the Taiwanese people. Right after that some different more experienced missionary grabs you and you frantically run through the night market talking to people getting there information and telling them about the gospel. Honestly the night is a blurr of lights, yelling at people in Chinese, and the smell of Chou Doufu (smelly toufu which basically smelled like the sewer). However, there were a couple people who were genuinely interested and hopefully something results out of that. Anyways, next day once again woke up at 6:30 A.M given a time mile which I once again basically died. We went to the Church where we waited in a room for a few minutes until we were taken into the chapel where we got some more orientation and then were introduced to our trainers and told our assigned areas. My trainer is Elder Field from Bountiful Utah, he's a super nice guy who was described by the mission president as "diligent and considerate" which I found out to be true. He also kind of reminds me of Sid the Sloth just a little. So our MTC group had one last lunch together at TGI friday's (crazy huh), said our goodbye's, and were whisked off to our areas by our trainers. My area is Zhanghua Xihu which is about an hour away from main Taizhong. We took a train and a bus through the Taiwanese countryside and finally got to our area about 3pm. It is a really nice area and honestly seems like perfect training ground. It's definitely not quite as busy as Taizhong city which I was grateful for. Our apartment is a 4 man, wood floor apartment and is pretty big and spacious. Two of the missionaries are natives which will be really nice. That afternoon we went and visited some investigators where I basically stared blankly and tried to catch some words here and there. That night we had ward correlation meeting where I was introduced a few of the members. People consistently ask me where i'm from or comment on how I have black hair and when I say I'm from the US they then usually ask me if I have Chinese ancestors or what I am because my face "mei guo lian bu yiyang" is not american. They are always surprised and slightly um...disappointed maybe? that I don't speak Chinese well. Anyways, next day we went out and visited a newer member who is slightly not totally mentally sound he doesn't shower so convinced him to go shower and come to General Conference. He asked me if I was Taiwanese and after I explained to him that I wasn't and that my grandparents were from Hong Kong he pestered me with questions. We were leaving and his father invited us into his office where he gave us peanuts and cups of BOILING hot water. I was a little nervous to drink the water so I kind of quietly pushed it to the side and listened as he spoke rapid and slurred Chinese. My poor companion didn't understand either so basically I was completely and totally lost. The day was pretty "normal" and we spent the day street contacting which is kind of nerve racking and I feel like i'm going to scare people off with my bad Chinese rather than do any good. My companion is good at doing it so that's good. I'm not the kind of person who likes to bother other people so it really pushes me a bit out of my comfort zone to approach people especially not being able to communicate with them, but after my Chinese gets a little better i'm sure i'll get used to it. We again ran into the same member we had just visited, he was riding his bike and he proceeded to follow us around the rest of the day and talk to me in Chinese and asked the same questions again and again and again. That evening we went to the Church where we watched general conference and then we went home and collapsed in to a mild coma. I seriously have never slept more like a rock in my whole life, I'm pretty sure I could sleep on a cement floor and sleep as well. Sunday we went to Church watched general conference met some more of the members. After that we went home studied and then went tracting for the rest of the day. The most common response is "bu yong", "meiyou shijian", "meiyou kong" all of which basically mean not interested. For the most part Taiwanese people are extremely kind even when rejecting you which is really nice. We ran into a really nice 14 year old boy though who we talked to for like 15 minutes and hopefully we'll have a lesson with him tonight. Today is P-day, and so we woke up and went running around a nearby track. There are a lot of older Taiwanese people who do all kinds of funny exercises in the morning. So I ran around a track in the warm and humid Taiwanese morning listening to the sound of Chinese music (think about Hilary's buddha box) and watching people do Tai Chi. After which we went home had breakfast studied and came here.
Everything has happened so fast that there has scarcely been time to analyze what is going on, you just go go and go. I can't honestly describe Taiwan you just have to experience it, it does remind me a lot of China though. The humidity isn't that bad it just feel basically like Kansas in the spring-summer. I've settled on a couple goals I want to accomplish on my mission. 1-I want to find someone who I get to teach all the way through and baptize, 2- I would really love to have a family get baptized. Their are some many awesome Taiwanese people and I would really love for them to have the gospel in their lives. I hope that I as a person can find those people who I was called to Taiwan to find. Anyways family, the gospel is true and it sure has been the bedrock of our lives and has brought such great blessings to each and everyone of us. It has essentially shaped the people who we are and made us better, successful, and more prosperous and I know that other people can have that blessing too.
Anyways,
Take care have a wonderful week
Love Elder James
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