January 2, 2012 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,

Happy New Year! As you can imagine, my New Year was not very exciting. Haha! But Chinese New Year has not happened yet, its on the Lunar Calendar. So that should be interesting. We're looking to all of our numbers to take a severe drop, because EVERYONE will be out of town and on the highways. Basically everything, and I mean everything, will shut down for a week or two. So the members have already began to schedule meals for us, because we won't be able to eat on the streets for a few weeks. I'm gonna get fat.

I have made some New Years goals, actually. Interestingly enough, my New Year's goals are extremely convienent, because it is my last year as a missionary. I've definitely changed as a missionary, I've been able to make great progression in my life, but the thing that made me feel down was that I had not made as much progression as I know I should have. SO I've made some goals to help me to end my mission as the missionary that I want to be. Some of these goals are a little private, so I'll probably write them in a letter to you, as opposed to putting it in the email that you put on your blog. Haha!

I've cursed my Taiwanese companion. Every other word, Elder Wang says "like." Just like me! Zaogao! So we've set a goal to overcome this horrible habit, before it destroys us both!

So you know, I did write sister Hancock. I sent her a card and a picture. I also recieved Kayla's letter. Thank you. Today I should have more time, but thanks to the office, I recieved about 15 letters on the same day, so it might take a month to answer all of them. I'm grateful for all the love and support I recieve from family and friends, and from the ward of course. Question, how many people to we have in our ward every sunday on average? My biggest ward in Taiwan was in Tainan, we had over 100 every week. This ward in Zhanghua has about 70 a week, and the branch in Donggang had about 35. I hear from the missionaries who are from Alpine (there is a bunch,) and all their wards sound ridiculous. How the heck to they keep track of a ward with 500 or 600 active members?

When I went to the Taibei Temple, I spent a long time looking at the altar, and thinking about its purpose. I thought about the ancient Israelites, who would leave the blood and flesh of a sacrificial lamb on the altar. But because of the blood and flesh of our Savior, the Father asks for a sacrifice even greater, which is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I realized that it is not a sacrifice that I have made in my own life, yet. What do you think that means, a broken heart and a contrite spirit? How do we achieve that? I just wanted your feelings on the matter.

My companion has been learning American phrases that we use everyday, its really interesting. Its funny how we say things everyday that only a native speaker would understand. I spent five minutes explaining "see you later, Alligator," and "in a while, Crocodile," took a few more. Elder Wang had a difficult time understanding what and alligator had to do with anything. He's learned a few, not knowing their meanings, and I had to stop laughing to tell him that its not appropriate for a missionary to say things like that. Usually along the lines of something hitting the fan and such. And then he says something like "jing yi shi, zhang yi zhi," and then he spends 5 minutes explaining to me what it means. The phrases here are fun, there's one called "zhi shang tan bing," which means "on paper discuss army." There were two generals who were discussing how to fight a battle, and because they spent so much time talking, they ended up losing the battle. So its a phrase they use to say you're all talk and no action. There was a man who was selling a shield that could not be pierced by any weapon. He was also selling a spear that could pierce any shield. Someone walked by, and said, "hey, what happens if you use that spear to stab that shield?" So a "spear shield," or a "mao dun," means a contradiction. The Chinese language is just filled with stories, its really fun. The one I use all the time is " Ni shi wo duzi de huichong," Which means "you are the tapeworm of my stomach." It means, man, you really know me too well. Its a really good meaning. The Chinese word for High Priest literally translates to "Big Priest!" Its just a really fun language, and the people are very proud of it. I would be too if my language was 4000 years old.

I saw the cover of Time magazine and Newsweek, no one really seems impressed with the GOP candidates from what I saw. I have no idea what it said, obviously, because I'm not allowed to read it. But it will be fun to see how every thing turns out. I'll let you know how the Taiwanese elections go, their looking really close, they haven't been able to predict who will win. I have very little opinion on the matter, and all of the opinion that I do have can't be shared! But I do tell everyone that the Prophet says to vote. Its true. Someone wrote "the devil is a liberal" on the wall of my apartment above my ironing board, I greatly appreciate it.

I love you! I'll write you a letter in the next week or so. Have a great week!

Elder Travis Leatham