September 9

Dear People that I love a tooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!!

Ni haooooooooooo!!! This week was so good. So many good things happened. Missions are the best. :) For real.

Mundayeeee, last P-day was so nice. Had Chubway here for the first time. It sucked. Haha. I got the Honey oat bread. The oats were so hard I thought they were bones from the Chicken (that's the norm here. You'll be eating chicken, oh, huge bone). We ate under this Gazebo thing. It was beautiful. Then we watched Toy Story 3. So good. Then after our Branch President had us over for din din. Guess what we had........ Gali. Aka Curry. But guess again, I actually liked it. It was super duper mild, but tasted nice. I didn't want to throw up everything I had eaten the past 24 hours. They have this little boy who is 2. His name is Dede. Cutest kid I've ever met. At Church, he'll run up to you and grab your leg. Haha. Makes me want to have a little asian even more.

Tuesdee, we went to Yuli for a Zone Conference. After the Conference I stayed in Yuli with Elder Bowler. Yuli is the smallest area in the whole mission. Rice fields as green as the underbelly of a sea turtle as far as the eye can see. SO beautiful. The stars there are so good. We met this ahma. Aka grandma. And she had the oldest copy of the Book of Mormon I've ever seen. Half the cover page was gone. It was about 6 inches thick from water damage. I think it was the very first Chinese translated B.o.M. I should have taken a picture! But I didn't.... Sorry. I ate pigs blood... It was in my Hot and sour soup. It wasn't bad(I actually couldn't even taste it). Today Eric had his Baptismal interview.... and he PASSED!!! "I.... Passed. I'M GONNA GRADUATE!" Name that movie.

Wednesday, we tried visiting an Investigator. Wu dixiong, but he was at work. We visited a potential family that lives right by his house. They are so great. They are 3 lil kids in this family. One is 9, cutest little girl. She has super short hair, but is so adorable. and then two sons. One is 11 and the other is like 15. They are so great. I want them to accept the Gospel. So bad. The mom is the one who is missing one of her front teeth. She is a straight up sweet heart. Then we went and sang at the Hospital. I love this service. Sometimes it makes me super sad to see some of these people in so much pain, but I know singing some happy tunes makes them feel better. Then we had English class! This week we talked all about dreams. Turns out, Taiwanese people have super boring dreams. Not one of them has ever had a flying dream. We talked all about Lucid Dreaming, of course I talked about Thatch Batch. :) Talked about how crazy Deja vu is. Haha. That was funny. After I met with Eric. We talked about him getting the priesthood! Ah! It was so sweet!

Thursday, we had WPS. Usually WPS is 3 hours. This week it was almost 4, because President wants us to go through tons of questions for each of our investigators. It was really good though. Super productive. Then we got wraps. :) It is Lai Dixiong's birthday this day. The one who isn't a member but his whole family is. And Lai jiemei wanted us to do a musical thing at the birthday party. So we practiced with the Seesters. We got his cake then went to his house. Such a great family party. Before he blew out his candles he told us his two goals/wishes(I guess they tell you here). He said, "I want to quit smoking and join the Church." .................. It was so cool! His oldest daughter who is 16 started crying. SO, we're going to start meeting with him!!! How sick is that! He'll be baptized. I know it. When we did our musical guy, we sang Love at Home. Lai dixiong's two brother's were there. The WHOLE time we were singing they had their iPhones in our faces. Taking so many pictures. Haha. It was funny. One of his brother's freaking loved me. We're best friends. He said he's going to find me in America and we'll eat Steak. I think that's what he said. :/ He asked me for my facebook information. Haha.

Fridai, for lunch we just cleaned our apartment. I'm becoming quite the work horse these days. Cleaned for 55 minutes ate for 5. PB&J. Of course. Classic me. Then we went on exchanges with Nan taidong. South Taidong. I was with You Zhanglao. He's from Taizhong. Haha. He's great. We tried to visit my best friend Hou dixiong (the one with no teeth). But he wasn't home. Don't worry, we left a note. Last week, Hou dixiong found a huge bees nest in his yard (he has a huge yard, he pretty much lives in a jungle of beautiful plants). He picked up the bee hive and a huge swarm of Tiger Head bees came out and attacked him. He said about thirty bees were just going to town on his body. WHAT?! How crazy is that! He could have Died! But, thankfully, he didn't. Best part about this experience, he feels God saved him. And that God still has things for him to do here on earth. So cool. He's the best man. I love him. I'll get a better picture of us. :)

Saturday, I was still with You zhanglao and the first and we went and visited Gou dx. The best part of this day was the night time. We were just finding. We met this kid right outside of his house named Jin dixiong (English name Simon... Kath). He was SO COOL! Super duper Christian. His faith was crazy. But he moves to Gaoxiong for College today. But he's willing to meet with the missionaries there. Then on our way home we saw this beautiful family about to go into their house. We talked to the dad and the lil meimei (little sister). She was ADORABLE. So shy, everytime we would say hi she would put her head on her dad's chest. This family was great. And, I think they have interest. We'll see. Pray.

Sundae, was great. We had 5 investies at Church. That was a miracle. After church we met with Eric and Kevin and watched Finding Faith in Christ. It was so great. They will be baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so STOKED FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!1

I LOVE YOU ALL! Seriously so much!

September 2

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

This week was nuts. So good. I literally can't believe how fast the time is going by. It is blowing my mind. Weeks feel like minutes. Haha.

Last monday we watched HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON! I was so stoked. It was so great. Being on a mission makes the simplest things better. Stupid jokes become super funny and good movies become the best movie you've ever seen in your life. It's pretty cool. Nothing really happened this night. We went tracting(knocking doors) and I realized it's just like trick-or-treating except we're giving the treat... The Gospel. :) Then we met with our investigator Yao dixiong. He's great. So flippin busy with work.

Tuesdee, I went to Yuli. It is pretty much the Vernal of Taiwan. There are no people. We would be riding our bikes on a street, not a single person on the road. So weird, because in Taidong, people are everywhere. The Elder who is there his name is Elder Liu aka Daniel. He hasn't even been baptized for a year, and he is a duanchuan. Which is just a member who is a temporary missionary. He is so cool. His testimony is amazing. Blows my mind. He's the one in the picture.

Wednesday, coming back to Taidong we took the wrong train. Haha. That was crazy. When we got back we had district meeting. Then we went to meet one of our investigators. He wasn't at his friends house where he usually is. We asked these Lil' Homies if they knew where he was, one said he would take us to where he was. Me and this lil guy raced on our bikes. Haha. He was a quick lil duffer. Our investie Wu dixiong was playin some B-ball. I got to show them how bad I am. But I made some 3's, so no worries. Thank you first two weeks in the MTC when I hadn't discovered Volleyball yet. Then we went and ate some fried rice at Didi's. The lady there is the biggest tianxin. She know's we can't drink tea, so she makes us a special drink everytime we go. She's so nice. Then we had English class... It was pretty boring this week. BUT, we read some sick stories. For example: The Parable of the Eagle. Look it up. It's SICK.

Thursday, we tried to meet with Guodx but he forgot. Had WPS. It wasn't too bad this week. Stayed awake the whole time which is always good. This night we met with the Elder's quorum president and his family. Had some more seafood pizza. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Super weird. Found out one has crab, shrimp, and squid. Haha. Delicious. They gave us a referral, one of their neighbors. Went and visited them, while Bi zhanglao was visiting them, I talked to this dad. He was super cool. Has two sons. He seemed super interested in our message. Then we met this little guy named Hank. He is sick. He's 9. We didn't ask for his number, then he was like, "here, i'll give you my dad's number." We were like... Sick.

Friday, I had my first dream in Chinese! We tried to meet with Guodx again but he forgot AGAIN. Our peike's family lives super close to Guodx's place. So he invited us to come and eat tons of food with him. The food was haihao(okay). Here they will just put whole pieces of chicken in soup. Skin, bone, errything. It's pretty gross. Then we went to Hualian. Which is a three hour train ride. It's not even half way to Taipei. That gives you an idea how far away from taipei we are. Haha. I love going to Hualian. Get to go on exchanges with my homie Eldah Wriaght! Ma Aussie frend! We slept at there house and stayed up SO late. Then guess what, the next morning had to get up at 5. Haha. That sucked. And we couldn't sleep on the train because we had to do studies... Worst thing trying to stay awake.

Saturday, we raked up some leaves today. And it was weird thinking in Utah it will be Fall soon. I love fall. Flanny skating weather. It's the BEST. We had tons of lessons today. We met with a Caidixiong and he was so cool. So happy. I invited to be baptized and I barely finished the invite when he said, "Yes!" I asked him why, and he said he feels like it's the right thing to do. He is already praying everyday! He's great. This day we went to a part member's house and did service for like an hour and a half. Cleaned outside their house. The dad is the only one in the family who isn't a member. And it was so awesome because he hasn't been willing to meet with the missionaries for over 6 months. They gave us din din. Ate some chicken stomach. It was so bad. So chewy... :/ We had a lesson with the family. This seriously was the best night. We were laughing the whole time. Haha. Such a cool experience. They had an 8 year old little girl. And her biggest wish is that her Dad can baptize her. She prays for her dad every single day. WHAT?! Can you think of a more innocent wish in the world? How cool would it be if we taught him until he got baptized. So cool.

Sundae, was a good day. When we got to church only one of our investigators was there. But after Sacrament started 3 more walked in. That was a miracle. We met with Eric after church (His brother Kevin didn't come), Eric is so close to baptism. Probably next week. He is so ready. Made a beautiful dinner this night. I'll send a picture. It was delicious. Then we went to go visit that Huang dixiong's family. They are SO great! But this time He wasn't as stoked on our message. I want to teach them so badly. Then we visited Hank and his family. Met his older sister named Mary. Talked to his dad, asked his dad if we could come back and visit his son. He said no. :( So sad. Hank and Mary are so cool. They said if we come back their dad might beat them. Sometimes I hate parents. Heavenly Father knows their situation. This night we met a man named Dragon Wildman. Haha. He speaks English, Spanish and of course Chinese. He was sick. Remember when I told you about Chuck? He is friends with Chuck.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love you give me. I'm so grateful for all of you! Know that I am so happy doing missionary work! I love talking to these people all day, everday! I love you! Have the best week of your lives!

August 26th

Hellooooooooooo beautiful people!!!!!!!! This week was nuts. "the bathrooms here are nuts."

Munday, was sweet. We went to a waterfall. It was pretty sweeeeet. When we went shopping we met a man from Fance who is also a missionary. For an Indian Religion. He was pretty cool. His name is Mark. This night we ate dinner with Nian dx. He took us to this super nice Steak house. It was a 5 course meal. Haha. Whoa. Yep, Monday was kind of boring...

Toosdee, we had Diqu huiyi. District meeting. I love my whole discrict. They are all so great. Then I had to take a language assesment thing for the MTC so we had to find a computer with a microphone. We went to a member's music store, and he's got a recording studio above the store. Haha. It was way too nice for what I was doing. Haha. There were drums, Dad gitahs, mum gitahs, I wanted to play all of them... But I didn't. We met with one of our investigators Cai dixiong. He's a 13 year old and has ADD for sure. No doubt about it. Haha. His mom is super loud. When we were leaving she was giving us high 5's and when we would high five she would say, "Yesu ai ni!" Aka Jesus loves you. Haha. It was funny.

Wednesday, we went to Hualian for Zone Conference... That lasted 6 hours. But it was all super good. One of our Assistants knows Colby Relyea. At this Zone Conference I got to say a lil talk for about two minutes. I talked about the importance of the Spirit in everything we do in Missionary work. My homie Elder Wright talked wright(haha) before me and told such an awesome story about following the Spirit to find a family. He's one of my besties I've met here. We were in the MTC together. We also got mail, the thing about being in Taidong is it's the farthest place away from Taipei. It's as South as you can get. So mail is Rare. and so nice. :) On the way home we met this guy from Kentucky. He was super cool. He is here for a Buddhist Program and then he was just traveling around Taiwan. We chatted about religion (of course), and he asked such simple questions. Like, "why do you guys believe in God?" It was so cool to think about this question. It really strengthened my testimony telling him why I do believe in God. Then when we got back we had English class. :) Nothing really awesome happened. Ted asked a question, "what is the difference between precious and cherish?" So we got all into Verbs, nouns, adjectives, it was crazy. I pretty much just winged it, so I don't know how much I taught them is correct. Haha.

Thursday, in the morning we went and visited an investigator Guo dixiong. He is so cool. We talked all about families. And then we had WPS. Man, WPS was rough this week. Haha. First 15 minutes, I was almost out. BUT, I pulled through. Towards the middle I feel like I was in the state between sleep and consciousness, weird thing is, I was still talking. After we went and met with one of our new investigators, Wu dixiong. He is this 17 year old. Super happy, super cool. We talked about prophets. Then we went and ate wraps, classic us. We pretty much go everyday. All the ladies there know us. Haha. They're tianxin's. This day was a complete vegetarian day. We were on our way to 7 to make calls when President called us and told us to go home because of the Typhoon. Went home, cleaned my bathroom that I KNOW hadn't been cleaned in at least 5 years. Wiped up all the mold/pubes/spider webs/spiders. That was fun. Haha. It looks nice now.

Friday we went to Luye. Which is about 20 minutes away. And met with our two investigators that will probably be baptized in a week or two!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!! I'm stoked. They are two brothers. Eric and Kevin. They've only missed church once in 3 months. What. How cool is that. I love them. We talked about President Monson.

Saturday, we met with Nian dixiong. He is an interesting man. I think he's meeting with us because he doesn't have any friends, not because he wants to learn the Gospel. Which is sad. The Sister's had a baptism today! It was awesome. The baptismal font here can only fill up like 3 feet deep. Haha. So when He was baptizing her it was super awkward. First her foot came out, and then he didn't get her head all the way under, then finally he got her all the way under. After the baptism we watched the Joseph Smith movie with Eric and Kevin. It was hilarious in Chinese. Haha.

Sundae, Church was awesome. That Wu dixiong I mentioned earlier came to church with one of his homies. We met with them Before church and set baptismal dates with both of them. It was siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. Okay. Yes, I'm almost out of time.


I love you all!!!!! So much. Go have the best week of your lives!

Love Elder Relyea.

 

August 19th... Nature poem!

Helloooooooooooo!!!!!!!

This week was so awesome. So awesome. Monday we had a picnic with the District. aka ate pb&j's on this path thing. It was nice. :) When we went shopping I found SHOE GLUE for my loafies!!! I was so STOKED! I will wear those until I literally can't wear them anymore. "At first they're constrictive, and then they become a part of you!" Those guys aren't just shoes anymore. We watched Lion King. Love that one. "Correction! I know yo fada." Monday night we met the nicest little lady. And when I say little lady I mean she was like 4'2. Haha. Such a sweet heart. Except we couldn't have a lesson with her because there wasn't another man in her house. :( She was so nice, and she seriously wanted to learn! We'll go back and teach her. She's so prepared.

Toosdee, we had WPS. And if you don't know what WPS is, you sit with your companion for 3 hours and plan the whole week... It's rough sometimes. Elder Relyea gets pretty sleepy. Haha. But this week it was great. Stayed awake the whole time! Then we met with our friend STEPHEN. He told us he had a test that day and before the test he prayed and asked for help to focus. He told us he could focus the whole time when he usually can't! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! And he read the whole 1st lesson Pamphlet. We gave him a Book of Mormon. Before the lesson he gave us chocolate marshmallow pies. :) He's so nice. Then we met with Nian DX. I feel like he is telling us he believes all of these things are true because it's what we want to hear and that he really doesn't know for himself. So, we really focused on him getting an answer. I bore my testimony that I know these things will make us the happiest. He's taking us out for steak tonight. He's a tianxin(sweet heart).

Wednesday, I love Wednesdays. This Wednesday we had District Meeting. Always a good time. Then on Wednesdays we meet with our Ward Mission leader and he owns this restaurant so we get free din din. And it is delicious. We get french toast and peanut butter toast. I discovered if you combine them, it's a nice treat. And then we have English Class! Haha. This week was awesome. Taught them Poetry. And we wrote a poem together as a class. It's called the Nature Poem. And it goes like this.

Nature Poem

Nature is like our mom,
so we call her Mother Nature.
Whatever you ask for, she will give you.
Change a lot, like a woman.
She feeds human beings,
like the way our Mom did.
All may change, but Jesus never.
So Jesus is like our Dad.

Haha. It's beautiful, huh.

Thursday, when we went running this morning there was the most glorious rainbow I've ever seen. It was even doubled for a minute. Great way to shart the day. Today we went and taught Guo dx the Word of Wisdom. He tolds us he has a Kidney stone. Oooooh, sorry homie. But they don't pee them out here, they either break them up, or do an operation... But he said whenever he needs something, we show up and tell him exactly what he needs to hear. He called us angels. So SWEET! Missions are the best. :) Then we found two lil homies. One is 17 and one is like 12. The 17 year old is Wu. He seemed sketchy at first, but he came to church yesterday. And guess what? Elder Peterson and I were doing two different lessons, so I was with a member and Wu dx. And I taught him baptism and he set a baptismal dayyyyeeeeeeeeeete! Yeahhhhhhhh! It was awesome. The Spirit was there for sure. He was so willing/stoked about baptism. So cool.

Fridee, we went to Luye which is about 25 minutes away to teach two investies that will be baptized super soon! We taught them the Law of Chastity. They are 15 and 17 year old broha's. There was one awkward part.... Haha. But it was fine. Then we got back and ate dinner at this....... Interesting place. It was a pick it yourself place. Nothing was really... good. My companion got this stuff with lil fishies in it... And I ate one. Oh, it was so bad. So bad. Like a whole rotten lake in my mouth. Haha.

Saturdee, ate some wrap guys for lunch. Love those. Had to take some surveys for the MTC..... Then Elder Peterson had to take one about me. While he was doing that I got so tyty. Haha. It's like if I sit down for more than 10 minutes my body thinks it's time to sleep. It's not good. After surveys we went finding! I met the coolest kid from Lithuania. Haha. His name was Ignac. Like Ignacio. What are you doing here? He's here for the Hot Air balloon festival. Taught him a little bit about the Gospel. And told him if he sees the missionaries in Lithuania he should go talk to them to learn more about the Book of Mormon.

Sundae, Sundae's are always really good. Church is great. I'm understanding more and more which is nice. After dinner we went finding. I love finding. We met the coolest Waiguoren. Aka foreigner. He is from California and he is here to surf and teach English. I was thinking if we could swim, he could teach us to surf and in return we would teach him the Gospel. While surfing. :) That would be great. What better way to learn the Gospel? Finding is becoming easier and easier. I love just being best friends with the people here. I'm understanding my Purpose more and more. And how vital invites are. If I don't invite them, then there is no way they can learn more about the Gospel.

I love this work. It is so HAPPY! It's awesome. I love this Gospel so much. Seeing how this Gospel makes people so much happier is the coolest thing to watch. I love you all. With my whole xin. Have the best week of your lives. :)

August 13

Herrrrrrrrrrooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!!

This week was a great time to be alive in Taidong! I love Taidong!!! We had move calls this week and........................................................................................................................................................................ I'm staying in Taidong with Elder Peterson! YEAHHHHHH!!! I'm stoked. Heavenly Father knows how much I love it here and all the people here. :)

Monday, was a very nice time. We watched Tangled...... It's so nice being able to take a break from reality for little bit. Pretend I'm Flynn Rider... :/ This day we met with Yao dixiong. (Dixiong is Brother in Chinese) He is so SICK! We taught him all about the Book of Mormon. He told us he really wants to come to church, but he has to get work off. Then we met with Brent. He told us he doesn't want to meet with us. :( BUT, everytime he uses his English name, who is he going to think of? The Missionaries! His lesson was really good though. I felt the Spirit super strong. I bore my testimony on the power of Prayer.

Toosdaiii, we went to Yuli for a district leader meeting. I got to chill with my Australian mate Eldah WRIGHT! Ahhhh, I love Eem! He vented to me about his companion the whole time. Made me so grateful for Elder Peterson. He also asked me a question I've never really thought about before. He asked, "Ye Zhanglao, why are you happy all the time?"....... Haha. I was stumped. I thought about the question all day. And I think I'm happy because I have so much to be happy about! I also came to the conclusion that there are infinite answers to this question. Something interesting to think about though. What makes us truly happy? This day we met with Nian dixiong, and he is so AWESOME! He is reading and praying every single day!

Wednesday we had to go to Yuli again for a Zone training guy. It was 3 hours..... I gave a spiritual thought about always being grateful and relying on the Lord all the time. I read from Alma 26, this is when Ammon glories in the Lord. Such a good Chapter! Go read it. The last verse talks about how Heavenly Father is mindfull of everyone of His children. I know this is true. :) This night we had English class. Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! We talked about personification... Again... I was asking for examples and this new guy Song was like, "The car is farting." Hahaha. I laughed way hard. We were the only ones laughing in the class. Haha. Then for the spiritual thought I taught them how to pray. I shared Enos' story. Then after this kid, Michael came up to me and said he was super confused. He had never really heard that God is our Father in Heaven. I had a lesson with him. Taught him all about Heavenly Father, Prayer, the Holy Ghost. And then he said his first prayer at the end! His english is good enough that I got to teach him in english. Which I've never done before. But it was awesome.

Thursday.... I can't really remember what happened.... We went on exchanges with the South elders. I was with Elder Slawson. He is a good Missionary. He is already graduated from College. What? I haven't even started College. Haha. He was a private school kid, so it makes sense. Haha.

Friday, I was still with Elder Slawson until 3. I ate spring rolls for lunch. We eat them like everyday. They are so good. Mom, I think of you everytime I eat them because you would LOVE them. I think they are vegitarian.... I honestly have no idea what is in them. But they are Hao chi (How chir) aka delicious. Then we get this fruit and vegatable one. It has sprouts, apple, guava, a raisen? maybe, cucumber, seaweed, carrot, I think. It is super good. We taught Nian dixiong again. This man is GOLD! We taught him the Plan of Salvation. Talked about families. It's super sad because he told us he really wants to find a wife. He lives alone, doesn't really have any friends. So sad. He's retired so he just chills all day, everyday. But he can read the B.o.M!!! He is a straight up tianxin (sweetheart). I love him.

Saturday, we exercised as a district. Sister Winters is Training a new missionary. She was in my younger genny in the MTC. She's a shy lil Q.tip. But her Chinese is Goooood. Way better than mine when I got on island. During lunch I met this kid named Stephen. We were eating in 7/11 and I could tell this guy needed a friend. Started talking to him. Turns out he really did. We had a lesson with him. He told us he has a hard time making friends. We taught him all about prayer. Invited him to church. He said he loves sleep. Haha. Well, so do I buddy.

Sundae, STEPHEN CAME TO CHURCH!!! And so did Nian dixiong. It was awesome! We met with Stephen after and said he felt really good at church like everyone really cared about him. So awesome.

I love you all so much!!!!!!! Peace out!! Have the best week of your lives!

August 4th

What's uuuuuuuuuup?!

This week was awesome! For real. So many ups and downs. But so good. :) Last P-day was SECK. We went to to this crazy bridge that goes to this island. It was so siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. It was ridiculously windy. We hiked to the very top of the island and the wind up there was NUTS. "The bathrooms here are nuts." Tried to take my shirt off like 8 times. Haha. When we got back we met with a guy named Yaodixiong. Super cool young guy. First question he asks after the prayer, "can you guys tell me about baptism?" Haha..... "What.... Uh, Yeah. yeah we can." We set a baptismal date and he told us, "Yeah, I really want to prepare for this. So I want to come to Church and meet with you guys regularly." This man is Awesome. After the lesson we went to a member's house for Dindin and Family Home Evening. They had Dominoes! Crab and Shrimp pizza! It wasn't bad. Their son (this chunky lil duffer) ate and drank so much and so fast. After he was done he threw up some liquid crap right on the floor. Hahaaaaaaa. They were so nonchalant about the whole thing. Just threw some tissues on the puke. Haha. It was crazy. I wanted to laugh so bad because I think throwing up is the funniest thing. Then I shared the Joseph Smith story. All in all, good night.

Tuesday Huangzhanglao and I went on X-changes. We were biking to my favourite man's house (Hou dixiong) and I met this man named Nian dixiong. I knew he was interesting because he was walking down the street with a helmet on.... Haha. I set him up for the next day. We were English Contacting (giving out tons of flyers for our English Class) and Huang ZL was contacting these two girls. He told me to go over there. They asked me how old I am. Me:19 Them:(ridiculous amount of giggles) Ni hen shuai! Aka you're very handsome. Haha. It's nice because here in Taiwan you are told you are handsome about 10 times a day. Confidence boost for sure. And you think it would lose it's meaning after a while... It hasn't. :)

Wednesday we met with Nian dixiong. He is a sweet heart. He poured us some Coconut Juice. My companion was convinced there was some special stuff in it.... There wasn't. We set a baptismal date with him. He told us he doesn't have any friends. :( We told him, "We're your friends!" This night there was a "Typhoon" in Taiwan. So we had to go home at 6:30. So no English Class. I was bummed. I said "typhoon" because the weather in Taidong was awesome.

Thursday there still was the "Typhoon" so we could have stayed in. But Elder Peterson called President Day and asked if our district could go out and work. He said Yes. I originally wanted to just chill all day(classic me) but I'm so happy we went out! We met this man named Pan dixiong. Super cool. I'm going to call him Peter. :) Then we had WPS (weekly planning session). Then we went and found! We talked to this guy Zhoudixiong. Really cool. I taught him all about prayer. Felt the Spirit super strong when I was explaining prayer and how he can receive answers. Then I talked to this lady Han jiemei. Straight up tianxin. Aka sweet heart. I understood almost everything she said!!!!!!!! She called us Shuai like 10 times. Haha. Then I talked to this kid. He didn't have an English name. So I named him Brent right there on the street. Haha. He kinda looked like Brent Shear. He was super cool. Finding is becoming my favourite thing! These people are so awesome! I love meeting tons of them everyday.

Friday was a great day. Started off playing frisbee with the District. It was sick. Dove twice. I have never been so itchy in my life. But I scored, so it was woooooooorth it. This night was an awesome finding night. I talked to a kind of crazy man. He spoke really good English. Who thought the Church was started in Las Vegas. Him:"Yes. I know your church. It was started in Las Vegas." Me:"Uhh. No, it was actually start(cut off) Him:"No, no. Read your history. It was started in Las Vegas." Haha. That was interesting. Talked to a ton of waiguoren aka Foreigners. 4 from Canada and 1 guy from England who is studying Chinese here. He was super cool. It was so weird contacting him in English. It is so much easier in Chinese. Which sounds super weird to say, but it's true. Talked to this man outside a lime juice stand. The whole time he just told me about the girl who worked there. Him:"Her name is Didi(Chinese word for little brother). She speaks English. You come here, buy here a drink, speak English with her." Haha. I love these people.

Sundae was awesome. Nian dixiong came to church!!! When he would introduce himself he would say he is excited to prepare for baptism. So cool.

Okay, my time is almost out. I love you all!!!!!! I LOVE THIS WORK!

7/29/12

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! This week was awesome. Last P-day the Sister's made a cake... In their microwave and brought it to us... It was pretty much just batter. But still good. AND THERE WAS A GUITAR AT THE CHAPEL!!! Played that forever. :)))) And a Sister in my District likes the good tunies. Then we went and we all bought the same Open! Taidong shirts and took family pictures in them. Haha. It was weird. My companion was the Mom. "Okay, everyone over here! No! What?! NO! Okay, everyone smile! Be happy! Okay, don't move, one more!" That's what he sounded like.... Haha. Just kidding. But close. Then we ate McD's and watched Mulan. :) So nice. I've never laughed so hard at Mulan before in my life. "Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!" Hahaaaa. Then this night our district went to a member's house for dinner and to our suprise there was a white girl there. What the? She was from Austria. Right when she said where she is from I wanted to say so badly, "Austria, Beautiful! Let's put anotha shrimp on the bahbee!" But... I didn't. She was super cool though. Just traveling through Asia. She just graduated in International Business... So cool. We taught her the Restoration. It was awesome. She thanked us for going out and doing such a good thing.

Tuesday, we went on Exchanges. Elder Xu came to Taidong and my companion went to Yuli. Pretty crazy because Xuzhanglao doesn't really know Taidong. BUT, we got around fine. My terrible sense of Direction wasn't too bad. This night we found the coolest guy named Lidixiong. He was like 20. Super willing to meet. We set a baptismal date with him. Comes to find out, he doesn't freaking live in our area. So we have to give him to the South Taidong elders. Sad, but no worries.

Wendsday was such an awesome day! Right when we left the appartment I forgot my Tag.... I've never felt so naked in my life. I had to go to Yuli to pick up my companion. Our Train left at 11:25. Xuzhanglao HAD to go to this airsoft store to get some gas for his gas powered airsoft gun. Haha. We left the store at about 11:04. Seriously had to ride so flippin fast the whole way. I felt like Lance Armstrong. My quads have never burned so bad. We bought our ticket at about 11:23 and ran to our train! We made it. Then when we got to Yuli, my companion was holding up the whole train for the way back! Haha. It was awesome. My english class was sooooo funny this week. Sonny brought me some Mochi things... She's a straight up sweetie. We talked about puns and Palindromes. Haha. I gave them the palindrome gohangasalamiimalasagnahog. They did not understand what that meant at all. Haha. "What is a lasagna Hog?" "Why are you hanging a salami?" Haha. Sophia was saying she went to Taipei and watched D-Rod(Dennis Rodman), Scotty Pippin, and Jason Williams play some B-ball. She was like, "Jason Williams, he is so talented! Soooooooo attractive! What do you call them? White Chocolate? Soooooo attractive!" hahahaha. I was laughing so hard. I love English class.

Thursday, my one month on island mark!!! Siiiiiick! Mom, Guess what?! This day was a completely vegetarian day... On accident. Haha. For dinner I had these sesame noodles that tasted SO bad. Like bitter rotten Peanut butter crap. So bad BUT, I ate all of them. This night we met with 4 lil Grom's. It was really cool. I said the 1st vision for the first time. :) That was cool.

Friday I was SO exhausted for some reason. I was the mean kind of tired. Mindy definitely would have said, "Where did my Ry go?" Haha.Good day though. We visited this family. And when we got there the door was open and there was an arm hanging out of the door holding a cig. It was the mom. She is a sweetheart. Missing one of her front teeth. Smokes all the time. I want to help her so bad.

Saturday was awesome. In Personal study I read a quote by Mother Teresa (Mama T) "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." So cool. Just made me remember without love this work is nothing. If we don't have love for these people, they will know. And feel it. That is why I'm so happy to be in Taiwan! It is so easy to love these people! This night we had a talent show at the Chapel. It was really cool. This man we met on the street said he was going to come and he didn't. His name is Yudixiong. He is so good. "Gold Jerry, pure gold!" Seriously so awesome.

Sundae was great. I always love Sundae's. Finding was so good this night. I met this man who was wearing a Zoo York T-shirt and asked him if he Skateboards. He doesn't. But he speaks awesome English and works at this restaurant. I told him we will come and get some food sometime. Finding is becoming easier and easier. I'm talking to more and more people. THESE PEOPLE ARE SO AWESOME! I love them all. All of them. :)

I love you guys so much. Thanks for being my friends. :) Have the best week of your life. I know Heavely Father answers every single one of our prayers. That was made very clear to me this week. Okay. I love you all.