Week 10 -Taiwan -July 1, 2012

I don’t even know where to start…… 

We arrived around 11pm in Taipei. Then our mission president and the APs (missionaries that are the assistant to the president) picked us up. As soon as I stepped out of the air conditioned airport I just started sweating. It is so hot, it is like you hit a wave of heat. I return every day to our apartment drenched in sweat and dead tired after biking around all day.

But anyways, we got to the mission home which is right across from the temple. Then we got our bags and went the temple patron rooms in the mission home building. We didn’t get to bed until 2am and then had to wake up at 5:30am. We woke up, got ready, and then went to a place called the Grand Hotel. You should look it up. It is really nice. There is a hill by it where Taiwan was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel. We went there and read the dedicatory prayer. Then we went back to the mission home and ate these weird egg meat sandwiches for breakfast. Then we did some orientation stuff and met our trainers at 12. After meeting with all of these trainers, they assigned us our areas and sent us on our way. It’s crazy! They just throw you right into the fire. I had like 2 min to pack some stuff into my backpack and then leave with my trainer. I had to leave my bags in the mission home and they transfer them to your apartment. I just got them on Saturday. So I had to live in the same clothes for a few days.

So we got called to an area called Bade/Taoyan. It took us 2 hours to get there but you could drive there in 45 min. It is south west of Taipei. So we walked to the train station, took an hour train ride and then an hour bus ride Bade. We got there and then immediately had to go teach a lesson at some investigators. We had to bike to their home thing. Biking is the craziest thing. Cars and motorcycles fly by you going 50 and they are crazy drivers. I thought I was going to die the first time biking. By now I’m use to it. You just gotta be careful. No problems so far. So anyways, we taught an investigator. The language is a nightmare. I don’t understand 95% of what the people are saying in the lessons. So my companion carries the load. I just bare my testimony and then we have members at all of our lessons. They are really helpful.

My companion is Elder Bowcutt from Florida. He is a stud. I’m so glad I got him. He is a great trainer. His Chinese is fantastic! He speaks fluently with the natives and he teaches really well.  He is really nice and helpful. He took Chinese for 3 years before the mission.

Fast Sunday, yesterday was crazy. A member was suppose to feed us dinner but forgot so we didn’t end up eating until 9pm last night. So I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and protein bar from your package for dinner. A little different than our normal Sunday barbeque chicken, eh?

We have stuff to do all day. We have teaching appointments from 12 - 8:30. We bike from place to place teaching and teaching. We’ve already asked like 4 people to be baptized. They all have said that if they get an answer they will. The Pilipino lady called us (and I talked to her because she knows English) and she said she wants to get baptized. But then she called in the morning and said her mom doesn’t want her too (she is like in her 30s and lives by herself, so I don’t know why her mom tells her what to do) so we are gonna talk to her again this week to tell her to keep praying and reading.

One crazy story- so last night we went to go teach a Indonesian lady and her sister at their home (which is a tiny place with two small rooms). We show up and there is like 5 people dressed up in blue uniforms there. They liked had their right arms raised and they were blessing house. They were doing these chants, then yelling, and hollering and shaking their hands. It was crazy. I had absolutely no idea what they were saying but then they left and we went in and talked to them about the Book of Mormon and prayer.

Anyway that is how things are going so far.

Love,

Jordan

This is all the incoming missionaries coming to Taiwan. On the left is Pres. Grimley and his wife who were leaving in three days.  This is at the Taiwan Dedicatory site.

All the trainers with their new missionaries.

Jordan with his first trainer, Elder Bowcutt.  He was a worker.

Jordan with President and Sister Grimley.  They were his Mission President for a week until the new one came, President and Sister Daye.