October 17, 2011 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,

If you could send the ballot overnight, that would be great! And then I will send it back ASAP! I am so excited!

Let me answer some of your questions!

Holidays! To be honest, American holidays are alot more interesting than holidays in Taiwan. They'll tell me, "hey, today is the Moon Lantern Festival!" "Cool! What do you do?" "Burn incense, blow up firecrackers, and eat food!" "Ohh...isn't that what you did on National Day? And Barbeque Day? And The Dragon Boat Festival?" "No no no, its not the same! This time, we eat rice dumplings, instead of rice cakes!" "Oh...hao." I'm exaggerating a little, but not a lot. I think its hilarious, I really love the Taiwanese culture. Halloween is not very exciting over here, I forgot about it until I went to McDonald's last week, and they had put up some decorations. There likely will not be any trick or treating of any sort.

I have had a crazy movecall. Overview! Three weeks with Elder Sapayan, 3 days with the Zone Leaders, A week with Li Sheng Xin, and now I'll have a week and a half with Brother Zhou, followed by a new companion. I was reading Mosiah Chapter 23 today, about how the Lord will test the righteous of their faith and patience. I feel like that, but I feel as if I've grown a lot from it. I'm generally very happy.

Brother Zhou is pretty great. Do you remember Elder Tate, my MTC companion? Brother Zhou is his Recent Convert. He has been baptized just over 3 months, so he's really new in the church. Interestingly, he has a pretty strong testimony and a good understanding for a new member. I've had a lot of opportunities to teach him some of the deeper levels of the Gospel, as he is preparing to be made an Elder and go to the temple. He's doing so great, and he's really dilligent, which makes training him a whole lot easier.

Christmas? Hmm...that's a good question. I haven't really thought about it. Keep sending pics, that'd be great. Haha! I could really use pictures of Utah, like the mountains and the National Parks and the University of Utah. Other than that, I don't know if I need anything. Oh, I might need to buy a new pair of slacks, I've shredded one pair. Yay!

We do not eat at members a lot, ba. Everytime we visit someone at home, they almost always will give us fruit, candy, or a drink. Its usually impolite not to. Sometimes they invite us to eat, especially on holidays. October 10 is their national holiday, so the 2nd Ward bishop invited some of the missionaries over to have BBQ with his family. Man, Taiwanese food is really good. I've learned how to cook seafood, its really easy.

I rarely play the piano, I've had more chances to play the guitar. They really like music, especially at church.

Ah, I speak everytime I move to a new area or leave an area. Sometimes they will invite us to speak on other days, or have missionary activities. The church here is really different, because they depend a lot more on the missionaries. They know who the mission president is, they know who is zone leader, district leader, its crazy. They announce things from the mission president or the assistants in church. We update the ward lists, visit the less actives, and when needed, take leadership positions in the ward. But things are improving. The wards are learning more about how to build the church and expound their callings. Its really cool watching the change. I spend a lot of time lately visiting members, active, less active, new members, just about everyone.

Speaking of politics, a woman in the Taiwanese Independence Party is running for president, and she seems really popular. And I saw her!!! We were riding our bikes home, and we got caught in a mob of people. I asked Elder Vernon, my Zone Leader, what the heck is going on? They had people yelling and chanting, waving all sorts of signs. Then we saw her waving, and jump into a van. The end.

Time is up. Love you!