cripple, english, hair mole, moonwalk, orange‏

Hey all!

 

It's been another lovely week in the neighborhood (yes that was a failed attempt at a Mr. Rogers reference). Well, lovely is relative. But it was exciting and different!

 

You may wonder if there is a connection between all of the weird things in the subject line, and there is. They all have to do with things I've witnessed this week while serving my mission in the beautiful city of XinZhu.

 

We were visiting a Less Active Member (someone who has stopped coming to church regularly) at their house - a husband and wife - and were sharing a short message from the Book of Mormon and just seeing how they were doing. I said that I loved the wife's new vest (because I am obsessed with vests and think they are beautiful and want to collect them and Taiwan has a plethora of lovely vests) and then the husband who is crippled/severely burned from a work accident hobbled out of the room, came back and tried to give me his favorite vest. What?? Too nice and SO cute! I said no, but thank you. Then he hobbled out again, and this time came back holding - with much difficulty - a huge brand new microwave. After trying for 5 minutes to give us that we told him we couldn't possibly take it on our bicycles. Then as we were leaving he hobbles one last time over to his freezer and pulls out this bag of crackers that he wanted us to take and eat because he can't eat it with how his face is burned and his wife doesn't like them, so we took them graciously and left. I love them so much!

 

Hair mole - probably really easy to see a connection to old people around the world and particularly in Taiwan. BUT this is different than what you imagined. I have a mole on my neck, and this past week there has been like 4 or 5 times my head hair wrapped around it/got tied in a knot around it and almost got pulled off. Gross. And also painful.

 

People here are always giving us stuff. This week we were given (sing this to the tune of 12 days of christmas):

1 pink scarf, 2 massive coats, 3 oranges, 4 canned drinks, etc etc. We were sitting and talking to this student and were about to pray with her when a homeless lady came up. We don't have much money and had nothing to give her and it was super awkward for a couple minutes when all of a sudden, my genius of a companion whipped out this orange that someone had given us and gave it to the lady. She said thank you with a huge smile on her face and left. It was so cute and made me thankful for the things that people give us, and thankful for the chance to give back to the people here (Hello Thanksgiving).

 

I don't have much time so the moonwalk and the English class comment will have to wait until next week.

 

But some miracles this week:

A member took us out to eat sushi for Thanksgiving (I hate fish so you know I loved it). But the miracle was, when I ate the shrimp, it tasted just like fried chicken, and the salmon was good too! And the fish soup stuff was ok! I ate it all and know that God helped me. A few months ago I would have vomited instead of eaten that stuff (is that the worst English ever? I think so.).

 

And one of our investigators who has already quit drinking and really wanted to stop smoking but can't finally committed to stop! She really wants to be baptized and she knows this church is true and read the Book of Mormon in 2 weeks and she couldn't stop smoking even though she tried so hard. But this week we went over with the Elders and they gave her a priesthood blessing. It was so sweet and she was almost crying and she felt God's love and knows that through His help she can quit. She promised (for the first time ever!) to not buy any more cigarettes and to not smoke! I love her so much and I know that she will be happier for having quit smoking and drinking and will be better able to care for her daughter.

 

I know this gospel blesses lives. I have seen it in my own life. I have seen it in the lives of countless XinZhu ren (people). I know that we can come to know God through prayer. I know that the invitation from the Book of Mormon really is to people all around the world no matter where they live. That one can know if the book is true by reading, pondering, and praying. It's an awesome book.

 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Perkins

The Most Special Crash Ever

Hey all!

 

So this past week started off with my companion, Sister Anderson, on her bike going full speed (and trust me, we can go pretty speedy) running into a stationary parked truck on the side of the road...bahahah. I heard a crash, turned around, and at first was so worried she got hit or something, was relieved when I found out she was ok, and laughed so hard when I realized she crashed into a stationary object. She jumped up, talked to the Chinese owner of the truck in Chinglish and gave him a pamphlet, and said to me, "How did that happen? I was singing Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me..." Bahahhaha. What a hoot. Luckily she was ok, a little bruise, a little blood (gross, you know I hate blood and scabs), and the handlebar of her bike went straight through her skirt and ripped a huge hole.

 

A particularly happy moment this week, just a small moment, a small miracle. Sister Anderson and I got to sit in the sun outside our church for a couple minutes eating ice cream and it was so happy and I was so grateful for the sun (it has been cloudy recently).

 

Also, another investigator committed to a baptismal date this week! She can communicate with spirits...? But she said one time it was really bad when she was young and her mom took her to the hospital, left because she thought she died, and then the investigator said that Jesus saved her, and she's been trying to read and understand the Bible ever since. Super crazy, but super cool!

 

Oh and we had a ton of service this week! We have a member who is moving into a new apartment that hasn't been lived in since August,  so we helpedclean it out and it was so dirty and disgusting and I had black snot/boogers for like a week. Loved it. And we are going back again this week to help paint it! 

 

For English class this week we had a Thanksgiving Party! The missionaries all performed a bunch of stuff, so we sang songs and beat boxed, showcased some art (my comp and I are painting a picture of a tiger, super cool and we are going to go buy matching tiger pants today...I don't know when I started loving tigers so much, but they're really cool), ate chicken and mashed potatoes and weird rice balls and not sweet brownies (beecause hey, we're in Taiwan, why would they be sweet?). It was really great.

 

We also biked a million miles up this HUGE GINORMOUS MONSTER of a hill. We biked up a hill for 10 km or 6 miles. It was straight up this hill. (I realize that was like the lamest I could've made that story but just thinking about that hill makes me tired.) But we got free lunch at the top of the hill, a lunch that brought my face leprosy back -_____-

 

This week at church we had 2 investigators come and a bunch of Less Actives and it was so awesome. And right now in December we are planning for 4 pretty positive baptisms and hopefully more as we do more finding and find those prepared and people who need help. We are looking for a lot more service opportunities (serving is so fun!) and this week we served for 5 hours, so that was great.

 

Miracle! Our elders called us and told us that this boy they met on the street who became their new investigator already has a book of Mormon and said that a Sister Perkins and Anderson gave it to him. So cool! Even though when we met him, he wasn't willing to meet or anything, he remembered us giving him a Book of Mormon and he is now their investigator!

 

I love this work, this place, bike riding, face rashes (ok, not so much), singing songs, meeting new people, and having crazy experiences.

 

I know that prayers work and that God listens and loves us.

 

Love,

Sister Perkins (aka, Pan Jie Mei)

Sesame Street

So I never understood why it was called Sesame Street. Always thought it was pretty weird. No one knows what sesame is and no one likes it and it's weird. BUT last Pday we went to this place called Neiwan, went hiking, climbed this rope bridge across this little river, bought more Mocchi than one can possibly eat, and I found out I am obsessed with sesame. IT IS SO DELICIOUS! It is like peanut butter but more flavorful and delicious and less thick and gucky (don't know if that's a real word, but it perfectly describes what peanut butter's texture is). It is SO good. Sister Anderson and I had these delicious Sesame balls - like this chewy delicious soft outside that had hot sesame seed (sauce?) and juice in the middle. The weird part, they were in foot soup. Literally smelled and tasted like feet. I think it was taro. But it was weird and not yummy. So we left the foot soup and ate the delicious sesame stuff.

 

Inspirational quote of the week: "God is really helpful." He helped me remember previous stuff I memorized so I could pass off some language tests, helped us have courage this week, helped us hand out 20 copies of the Book of Mormon, helped us know where to go to help people, helped us know what to say to allow people to feel the spirit and have a chance to change and get to know God better. "God is a nice guy." - my motto for life.

 

This week we got invited to dinner a few times by members! One was at a Less Active's house, a less active mom and her less active return missionary son. And I ate more than I ever have in my ENTIRE life. No joke. I had beef, potatoes, tomatoes, soup, broccoli, beans, shrimp, rice, almost tried the fish but didn't. Then they were like, surprise! We have pudding! So I ate that. Then they were like, did you try this thing? You didn't like it? So I tried it. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten. The texture was nasty, it was unchewable, so I was chewing and it wasn't getting smaller...it was a huge piece of grossness. Then I just tried to swallow it to get it out, gagged, tried swallowing again, almost my whole dinner came out, swallowed the third time and it went down with a little bit of gagging. They all BUSTED up laughing and were like, you're not used to it, eh? -________- Then they said it is like cow vein or some weird part of a cow (I think it is NOT meant to be eaten, but their daughter likes it...weird.). So I am pretty sure I can't do anything else. Then they bring out this super expensive ice cream and give it to us. Oh, I thought i was going to explode. We were biking to our next appointment and my companion was laughing the WHOLE way. She thought it was so funny that I couldn't bend forward. My stomach was bulging. And I was gonna vomit. ANd I biked slower than I ever have...weird.

 

But at that next appointment, miracle! Our investigator came with us to a members house and we were talking. Our investigator invited her to attend institute and our investigator said, "After I get baptized, can we move the day we meet to Monday so I can attend Tuesday's scripture study class?" Our member started laughing and said, yes, they can do that. I was in shock. It was amazing! Then she came to church that week even though she said she couldn't!

 

Another miracle. A less active, Wendy, and her investigator daughter, Lillian, showed up at church! Originally, this past time we met with them, Lillian said she would start coming to church in January...So we were pretty bummed about that. But then we had a lesson and gave her an article about the Atonement by Bruce R. McConkie. Then we were SUPER surprised when we go to church, and who is there but Wendy and Lillian! So amazing! She said she loved the article and can't wait till we can talk about it this week! Then a recent convert just came on over and started talking to her and sat by her in church! What miracles! God loves us and watches over us and answers our prayers through other people.

 

In short, we have miracles every week and every day and I love serving God and the people of Taiwan and my roommates and my companion. God's a great guy.

 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

The Zoo!

The other day my companion said, "I didn't think today could be any weirder than yesterday. But everyday is weirder and weirder."

True. Everyday is weird. But it's good! Most of the time things don't go as planned, we get fang'd, things happen randomly, and sometimes there is nothing we can do but go along for the ride, laugh, and yell (occasionally as we go through this super awesome secret tunnel that we have to duck down in order to fit on our bikes) as we are on this missionary coaster (I don't think that's a thing, but it should be).

 

This week we went to the zoo! Almost got attacked by an albino peacock (not even joking, it was all white. Flung it's feathers up, started shaking and looked like a vicious monster about to get us. Luckily we got a picture and made a run for it even though we were backed up into this corner. And when we were at the monkey exhibit, this little girl turned and looked at us and said, "Look! Waiguo ren! (Foreigners!)" She didn't look at the monkeys for the whole time we were at the exhibit...hahaha.

 

This week we had many miracles. One being that we handed out 18 copies of the Book of Mormon!! Wowzahs! Cool! God helps us so much. Another miracle was we were riding our bikes and someone calls. We pulled over and answered, it was a Less Active member who I had seen once but has never come to church and who I have never actually talked to more than 30 seconds. She called to ask if we could meet her right then at the church, she wanted us to meet her nonmember daughter who needs Christ. What?? Of course we said yes and zipped right on over to the church. We sang I am a Child of God and the LA cried. The daughter who has some kind of mental sickness (is that what they call it in america? That's what we call it here) and can't feel anything and has like no emotion or energy said she felt something when we sang! We had a lesson about why we are here and how we know God loves us and wants to help us through all of our trials. She said she was really interested in finding out about how God and Christ could help her get rid of her past faults and overcome her problems. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We set a baptismal date and a time to meet with them again. It was an unexpected miracle. But I know that it was planned by God, because she really needs help and the most effective way to get rid of guilt, to feel love and peace is through the Savior and through God's plan of happiness.

 

This week we also went on exchanges with the temple sisters. The sister I was with was crippled (sprained her ankle or something) so we took taxis around (SO weird. such a change from riding bikes, and I felt like I was back in the old days/not a missionary - except for the fact that we talked to the taxi drivers about the gospel and tried to give them copies of the Book of Mormon). But I love going on exchanges and seeing the miracles that happen, and learning so much from more experienced missionaries.

 

At our last English boarding (trying to get people to come to English class) my companion and I talked to these 2 foreigners with dreads who were super cool. We also had 2 school girls ask to take pictures with us, people gave us free balloons, handed out some copies of the Book of Mormon, and a Pakistani man asked me to be his girlfriend. So that was weird. But from that I hope we have more people come to English class. Because English class really is a way to help people here and gives them a chance to see our church and that we're not all crazies (sometimes I doubt my own sanity, but my companion is pretty solid), and I love sharing a spiritual thought at the end of class and being able to bear simple testimony of the things that make me happy.

 

This week at church we also had 5 Less Actives come! It was a miracle! I love seeing people progress in the gospel and I love seeing people come back who need help. But this week was a little discouraging as far as investigators went. We got fang'd a lot and the ones we did meet with didn't necessarily progress, so that was sad. But we ate chocolate, made jokes, and I am pumped for the coming week!

 

I love you all and pray for you everyday!

Love,

Sister Perkins

"You're a monster!" - Shrek‏

So this past week I had some kind of weird itchy rash on my face near my mouth. It was really annoying, really itchy, red, and horrible. So I did not go to the doctor or put anything on it. Just exercized superhuman self control. And then it started like peeling (supes gross). So I tell my companion, "Oh no, this dry rash is spreading all over my face, soon I'll look like a monster!" And she goes, "Or like a leper..." I didn't even have the strength to pull a whale face (-_____-) before I busted up laughing. So great. Luckily it's gone and I don't look too much like a leper.

 

One day this week we were talking with people about English class, sharing about the gospel, and we went up, talked to this one guy who bought us these 2 peanut burrito things. Then we go talk with a store keeper lady, she gave us a small pringles can full of sour dried fruits. Then we talked to this random guy on the street and he goes, want an ice cream? I own this store. So many people in Taiwan are so nice! And even though only one of them wanted to know more about the gospel, they were all so nice and we got lots of free stuff! Super cool! I love free stuff! Especially free t-shirts.

 

This week there was this guy and his sister who we met about 2 weeks ago and we've seen the sister a few times, but she can't read. She said her brother took the Book of Mormon and read it all in one night. And we've tried to call and meet with him and invite him to church and he always doesn't answer, he fang'd us (didn't show up at the lesson...which was at his own house...and we could hear his phone ringing with a Chinese opera song...-___-), and we were slowly losing hope. We thought of him one day and called and he answered! And we went by that same night to visit him and his sister. And he said he already knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God because he has a happy good, god is with him, feeling when he reads. And he set a baptismal date for December 8! He is amazing and I have high hopes for his sister!

 

Another thing. We had Pday last Wednesday and went to the temple. And it was amazing. The Taipei temple is beautiful and the spirit there is so great and warm and lovely. After the temple we went and ate some Vietnamese pho, so delish. And! I fed a wild squirrel with blueberry toast crunch!!! It was so awesome! I fed it first and it took the piece of cereal so nicely. When an Elder and then my companion tried to feed it, it almost attacked them for that cereal! My comp had a little cut on her hand from the crazy squirrel. So fun. I'm thankful for the random man who was sitting at the park and told us how to feed the (hopefully not rabid) squirrel.

 

And then we went to GuGong. It is a museum in Taipei and there was so much cool stuff there and it is beautiful and I would recommend that you look it up and awe over how cool it is and be saddened that you can't bask in its glory.

 

This week we had an investigator show up at church who usually says she can't come because she has to go up to her church in Taipei. But this week she decided to come to ours and she said she'll come to ours every week from now!! So amazing! She comes to English class and says she is free to meet with missionaries any time. So awesome. She is also reading the Book of Mormon. We asked her to read and pray about it, she said she did and didn't get any special feeling. Luckily we had just had the training from Sister Day about pondering. So we sat in our lesson and all pondered 1 Nephi 1:1 together. We all pondered it and shared our feelings and she was like, no wonder I didn't get an answer. I didn't ponder!

 

God grants us big miracles and small miracles. I have realized that if I don't write the miracles down, I forget them. But when I take even just a small bit of time to write them down, I can notice the miracles, remember them, and thank God for them. And when I do that, He's a nice guy, and He just gives me more and more miracles.

 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

First Bike Wreck

So yeah, sorry this email is going to be super short and not so informative. And that it's late. We are going to the temple today! So our PDay got changed and I had to wake up super early to get here and I'm not fully here and we have to go catch a train to Taipei soon.

 

But this week was awesome! We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and I learned so much about how to contact people and how to ask inspired questions and that is something I'm really going to work hard on this week.

 

This week was also a week of miracles! Huang Jing hui got baptized! It was so great even though it was a little crazy. We had the baptism before our church started so she could be confirmed in sacrament meeting but the ward before suddenly wouldn't let us fill up the font, so the water was really low. And this guy who has only done like 1 baptism before was doing the baptism (which is fine, I'm all for converts helping in the baptism) but it wasn't successful the first time. Oh well. sall good. She got baptized and was super happy and bore a great testimony and has a goal to go to the temple in a year.

 

Another investigator who smokes and drinks said she heard a voice telling her she needs to get baptized next month. So she's going to be baptized on the 13 of November! And she read the whole Book of Mormon in 2 weeks! And we taught her about tithing and she saw that the scripture said it was from the book of Malachi and she was like, this is wrong. I read this. But Malachi isn't in the book of mormon. So she went and searched by herself and found the scripture that talks about tithing and I was like, wow! You're amazing! I love her so much.

 

I love watching the lives of investigators change. And Less Actives as they regain their testimonies. I love this work and I saw so many miracles this week.

 

Oh and also got in my first bike wreck this week. My comp ran into me...I was fine, I didn't even bleed. She had a huge bruise on her back and her elbow was bleeding. Whoops. But on the bright side, we got up and would have kept riding but I had to get my bike fixed. But we were all good. Lots of people stared. It was great.

 

And weird. My companion and I were searching for the house of a Less Active and we go down this tiny alley knocking all these doors to see if these people know our less active/to contact them. We look through this crack in the wall and see a woman in a kitchen. We ask if we can go in. She welcomes us, we were amazed! Then she told us to go into this other room. Weird. So we go in and there is this really fat huge guy in this chair sitting there. 2 boys smoking. A woman playing on her phone. And they pointed us to this couch and just sat there. We started chatting and talking about families being together forever and taught them how to pray when all of a sudden we find out that we are in a miao and we are in this room and the huge guy runs the miao/buddhist temple...and then this huge parade float with drums comes up as one of the smoking guys prayed. It was so weird/surreal. And it was so cool. But we will not be going to preach inside miaos again...it was accidental so I think it's a great story.

 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

Psychopathic...Telepathic?

This week my companion told our district that we are psycopathic...what? Because we can communicate mind to mind. We all bust up laughing before she realized that psychopathic was the wrong word. It took about 4 minutes for her to think of the right word for telepathic.

 

This week was so funny and so amazing. So we had some bathroom incidents, doesn't need any further story telling since we are in Taiwan, sometimes we eat mystery food, and sometimes that mystery food gives your companion diarrhea because they just came to Taiwan. And this week was full of weirdness and miracles.

 

Weirdness:

We were wearing pants in a lesson because we went to go do service for this lady but she took us to another house to meet her two brothers. Our member who came with us helped us out a lot. The 3 siblings switched between 3 languages, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and some kind of other dialect that our member didn't understand either. So that was great. Then during this lesson (2nd time meeting with the woman) our investigator tried to give us 1000 kuai, we told her we couldn't take it. Then her brother was like, don't you have a Law of Tithing? And so he (not a member) taught the law of tithing, our member taught about priesthood blessings, and then our member gave the brother her glasses to keep so he could read the Book of Mormon, then the investigator said she didn't have any service for us to do. And it was crazy.

 

Another day we went to visit someone and they fang'd our ge zi, they weren't at home, didn't answer their phone, and only their Taiwanese speaking parents were there, so I exerted my amazing language skills and said in Taiwanese, "Whatever you're saying, I don't understand." I felt pretty cool and we left. My comp and I felt really strongly like we needed to stop at this one door. So we stopped and knocked and waited for like 7 minutes, we both really felt we should be there and we didn't know why. No one came and no one was home. And it was weird. So we walked through this small Miao (temple) to get to an alleyway, we go through and talk a little to this old man who walks away holding a bowl of curry. We feel like we should follow him, so we do. Somehow he got away from us even though he was like 70 years old and trying not to spill a bowl of curry. But we ended up talking to this dad who said he used to meet with missionaries from our church and that he had no time but that he would come to church. So that was really weird and pretty cool that he remembered meeting with missionaries when he was a kid.

 

2 days ago we rode our bikes and got lost for 2 hours to a REALLY far away place up a giant hill. We asked people for directions at like every street but everyone told us different ways to go and our map is a little outdated so that was awesome. Luckily Sister Anderson is a great sport.

 

And the day when we followed the old curry man around we set up to meet with an 18 year old Less active who moved down from Taoyuan. She is living by herself going to high school and has no friends and hasn't gone to church in about 4 years but she was the cutest. The miracle was that she agreed to read the Book of Mormon every day and pray to gain her own testimony of it's truthfulness. The weird part. We bussed SO far out and stopped in the middle of creepy no where in the middle of warehouses and cats (shudder) and finally found her house down this creepy alley. And I was like, "If I wasn't a missionary there is no way I would be here or do any of this. But since I know God is protecting me, it should be ok..." I'm so grateful to have a companion, and to be watched over.

 

Miracles:

We were talking about investigators getting ready for baptism and one will get baptized next Sunday! And the other one has a really big problem with cigarettes. She just quit drinking (she used to drink 6 bottles of beer a night) and we were trying to see when she could be baptized when my companion goes, "When would she have to stop smoking to make her baptismal date?" I said tomorrow. She said, Ok, let's call and ask her to quit by tomorrow." So we did. And at first she laughed and said it wasn't possible. Then my awesome companion says, "We have faith that you can stop, God has faith that you can stop, all that's left is your faith." It was silent and then she said, Ok. She'd do it. What a huge miracle!! She is amazing and she said she reads the scriptures and stays up late so she can read. In the past week she read from 1 Nephi to Alma 48. Wowzahs. She said she hears a little voice or like it's her own thought telling her to Hurry up and quit smoking and get baptized. So amazing. I love her so much. And she is already preparing her 6 year old daughter to be baptized when she turns 8.

 

A family of investigators who said theycould meet with us next next next week Friday showed up at our English class and said, "Can we meet with you tomorrow?" We have only been able to meet with them about once a month because they're so busy but this week we met with them twice and they are progressing so much!

 

We also visited a sick less active and a sick member and both of them told us that we are like angels here sent to bless them. I know that that feeling is the spirit working through us to help administer to their needs. God loves all of us and he usually shows his love through other people. For me that was this week through an investigator and a less active member. A member met my new companion and said, "She just got to Taiwan?? You're already training?? Did you email President Day and ask what was wrong with his brain? Just kidding." And walked away. Needless to say, I was a little put out. And a little sad. I was like, huh, yeah I've only been out here for three months. Then I remembered a General Conference quote that said something like, "When you criticize yourself, try to think, is this what God thinks of me? If not, change how you think." So I changed how I thought. God, through President Day, called me to be a trainer. So I know I can do it. It will be hard, it will take all I can to help her and to help our area grow, but I can do it. When we went to that LA and investigator's houses, they both told my trainee that she has a great trainer and that she will be so prepared in 3 months after being companions with me. That boosted my confidence a little and I was like, Yeah, I'm pretty cool. So I know that God answers prayers and helps us as we work hard.

 

I love this work, I love the weirdness, I love the miracles.

 

Love from your favorite psycho/tele-pathic missionary,

Sister Perkins

Craziness.

So crazy. This week I talked to a deaf guy on a motorcycle. Needless to say, the brief encounter I had with watching a choir sing in Chinese sign language (/boy band moves) wasn't enough for me to preach the gospel or even be nice. So I smiled and gave him a tract and felt awkward and continued riding my bike.

 

More crazy. Went "babysitting" on Thursday night. Which just means that all the new trainers take out a random trainee for the night and go proselyting for 2-3 hours. So I got paired up with a blonde sister. An Jie Mei. She was awesome and that night we had fun (she got my jokes), got mango slushies, placed 3 book of mormons, found 2 new investigators, had 3 other lessons, and found 5 potentials who really seemed like they wanted to meet again. So I was stoked. (And my confidence was boosted.) Then the next day I am SOO nervous to find out who my trainee will be. And An Jie Mei goes first and says what she likes, then President Day (aka Game show host) announces everything she likes and all her accomplishments then a slide pops up with a place name and a picture and I think I hope she's my trainee but don't want to get my hopes up too much and then my picture popped up! I leapt up, hugged/lifted her up and it was awesome. We're on the way home and chatting and she talks about her brother who went to Jerusalem this summer. Curious, I ask who he is/what his/her last name are and she says Anderson.

 

So...guess who my knew green fresh off the boat companion is? Sister Anderson. Have you ever noticed how similar "Siiissster Andersson?" is to "Missterr Andersson?" (Matrix). Because I have and I think about it all the time. And also, guess who she is! Spencer Anderson's younger sister! WHAT!?!? Craziness. Cool though. She's super nice and cool and thinks I'm awesome and laughs at my jokes and we go running together so it's awesome. But it blew my mind when I found out. She has tons of faith and is so willing to learn and try hard and I love it.

 

This week we didn't have her bike because she's brand new. So we walked everywhere and she was so willing to do everything and work hard and it was awesome. And It was a little rough with her jetlag and stuff and watching 10 hours of conference in 2 days, but it was great and I learned a lot. And last night we had a huge miracle. We go to find these LA's that we've looked for before and none of them answer/are there. Then Sister Anderson and I pull out our hymnbooks and I ask her if she felt like we finished the work we were supposed to do. She said no. We both felt like we should walk a certain way. It was 8 oclock at night and we scared this lady washing some stuff outside her house. After scaring her to death, we asked if we could sing for her. She said yes and invited us in. She proceeded to tell us all of her problems and we just let her talk, then we sang More Holiness Give Me, and she teared up. Then I said the closing prayer and prayed for her. When I opened my eyes, she was bawling. She thanked us so much. And we are going back on Friday to help her clean her house (it is like falling apart, she said when the house falls down they'll build a new one. She wasn't joking at all...haha).

 

God loves us and He is a God of miracles. I know He knows each one of us and His hand is in our lives everyday guiding us. I promise if you look for how God's hand was in your life today, you will notice it and as you continue to do it, you will continue to notice blessings that you were taking for granted, and that you will be more happy and see more miracles in your life. I know this because I did it too.

 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Perkins

"It feels like the first time"

This was a week of firsts: First time I have done Taiqi at 6:30 in the morning with random old ladies. First time I have had an investigator talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger (is that how you spell his name?). First time an investigator dreamed about Jesus talking to her. First time I have gotten a phone call to tell me that I will be a new trainer. First time I realized what a strange land I have come to (I realize I lived here before, but now I suddenly realize how amazingly different it is from the Taiwan I lived in in 2006.). First time in Sacrament Meeting someone read aloud a printed list of the people who visited them while they were sick and said, "I'm not mad if you didn't visit me. Just mad if you said you would and didn't." (Us and our investigator were cracking up.) First time I've gone on splits with the Young Women. First time I've been let into a house when we knocked doors. First time a random guy on the street goes, "Mormons? Joseph Smith is a prophet." And walks away. First time we're given popsicles (peanut and passion fruit flavor) while knocking doors. First time a lady walked up and said, "Hey, I read half the Book of Mormon but can't find it. Can I have another copy?" First time we handed out 10 Book of Mormons in 1 day. First times are awesome. And I know with a new trainee there will be a lot more first times in the weeks and months to come.

 

Welcome to the land where anemics eat apples, hitting oneself counts as exercize, a food called stinky bean curd is widely accepted and loved, and no matter how hot it is, you wear a sweater, pants, and facemask so the sun doesn't touch any part of your body. Obviously, I have a lot to learn still. But I love this strange land so much. And I know they think I'm stranger than I think they are, but like the scriptures say, we're a peculiar people. It's strange that I like to eat instant noodles, and that I eat ice cream when I am on my period, and that I don't wash my hands after every single time I go outside whether I am going to eat or not, and that I sing while I ride my bike, and that I enjoy saying hi to random people and smiling at them. But they'll laugh at me, I laugh at them, and we all love each other.

 

This week was a week of miracles. Most of them happened on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Wednesday we had the best spiritual share we have EVER had in English class. Usually people talk and don't listen. And Wednesday's class was especially bad. People talked so much that the other teacher had to raise her voice and tell them to be quiet. 2 people in the front row started fighting over a pen. And it was awkward and we didn't know what to do. But when we started sharing about the Savior and the importance of the sacrament and how we don't have crosses on our church because we celebrate his life and his resurrection, not his death. We don't have Christ's Deathday! Let's celebrate! We have Christmas and Easter. "He was resurrected on Easter moron."  (Cheaper by the Dozen.) And everyone listened and loved it. It was awesome.

 

Thursday we met with the dream and Arnold Schwarzenegger investigator. So funny. She said she had a dream the Jesus told her to come to church to play and that before she could join our church, she has to get my companion a boyfriend, and Jesus said that he would give her member friend a white husband. So I'm not sure if this dream was a good or bad thing. Then she started talking about the actor/mayor from New York and I was so confused until she started acting out how strong Arnold Schwarzenegger is and I finally got it. But she agreed to pray and knows that our meeting her was a sign from God.

 

Friday was the first day that our day actually went according to our plan! We had 6 lessons. And they were all great! We had an investigator whose family can only meet with us once a month say, "But if, or when I get baptized, how will I get a hold of you to let you know so you can come back and watch?" One of the happiest moments.

 

On Saturday we went on splits with the Young Women and we had so many miracles. A lot of the firsts came from this day. The young women shared their testimonies on Sunday in testimony meeting about how many miracles they saw, and they were like, "I dont' know why people say missionaries get rejected a lot, so many people accepted tracts, Book of Mormons, and agreed to talk to us." They saw someone accepting a tract as a miracle. Maybe we just have a skewed perception. Maybe the Young Women are right. Everyone who talks to us, or says hi, or smiles is a miracle. If those things count, then life isn't just for trials, life is for seeing and noticing the miracles. Because there are miracles all around us everyday if we just take the time to notice them.

 

And yesterday night we finally met a Less Active who we've been wanting to meet for ages. And she told us she'd take us out to dinner tonight! I love this work so much and being on a mission is the happiest I've ever been. When people choose to change their life for good, there is nothing better. I know the Lord hears and answers our prayers.

 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

"When I put that tag on, I'm who I want to be." (is it tacky to put my own words in quotes?)‏

Soooo...this week was kind of long and weird and different and cool and amazing all at the same time.

 

MILESTONE WEEK!

1st milestone: Used up my first deoderant and face wash.

2nd milestone: Haven't shaved my legs in 2 months.

3rd milestone: I've been serving a mission for 3 months now.

4th milestone: Went to my first Zone Conference.

 

So, since we always wear calf-length skirts, no one ever sees my knees. It's fantastic, I love it. What is the hardest part of the leg to shave? The knee. I don't have to! One of the blessings of being a missionary. So it has been a little over a month since I last shaved my knee (my companion thinks my knee hair is cute because some is blonde and some is brown, cute isn't the word I'd use...haha) BUT there is a patch on my knee that doesn't have knee hair. After staring at it and contemplating the purpose of this hairless patch, I had an epiphone! (is that how you spell that??) I was missing a patch of hair because that is where I kneel down when I pray; and now that I pray so dang much, there is no hair there! Way better and cheaper than (what is that called? Lasik? Is that for eyes?) hair removal.

 

And the past few weeks I finally decided that I really feel like a missionary. Before I kind of felt like I was playing dress up, putting that tag on and going out to be a missionary for the day. Now I finally feel like a real missionary. I don't know what did it, maybe the 2-3 typhoons we've been outside biking and working in, or the hundreds of doors that have been slammed in my face, or the happiness and joy from seeing people accept the gospel, feeling sorrow when people who know what is right choose to do wrong, or spending time with other missionaries and the mission president and getting training. Maybe it's everything combined. But when I told my companion that I finally feel like a missionary she said, "Oh you do?! You're finally stressed?!" And I said, "Uh...no." And she goes, "Huh, you're abnormal." Hahaha. But this week I finally discovered something. Because she was talking about how on a mission she doesn't feel like herself. In real life she wouldn't talk to random people, or tell people they need to repent or read the Book of Mormon, or ride her bike for hours a day. And I said, "When I put that tag on, I'm not who I am right now, I'm who I want to be." I want to be a person worthy to represent the Lord. I want to do the things Christ would do, say the things he would say, serve the people he would serve, and make people laugh the way the Savior would laugh if he were here. (Because let's be real, he has to have a sense of humor.)

 

This week I have had really weird dreams. Last night I dreamed that I was killing cockroaches all night (not the most rested I've ever felt when I woke up). Can't remember what else, but I remember it was weird.

 

Can't remember if I wrote this before, but if I did, it's funny so I'll write it again. I was on exchanges with a Sister Training Leader and we were at lunch with a member and her nonmember friends and she asked, "Sister Perkins, do you like hunting?" I was like, "Nope, never gone before. Why?" She said, "You just seem like the kind of person who would have a stuffed deer head on their wall." Umm...thanks? Hahahah I'll take it as a compliment.

 

This week we had Zone Conference. And it was super cool. It was a hiking one. So we went and hiked Lion's Head Mountain. And along the hike we stopped for training and teaching and eating. My favorite part (other than hanging out and walking with my comp and Sister Bywater) was the training we got from President and Sister Day. Sister Day played a song for us by Nashville Tribute Band about missionary work. And it was SO funny, and also touching, everyone else cried except for me and a couple elders (am I heartless?). It talked about "The hardest words I've ever loved to say, were goodbye to my mama that day. The sweetest tears I've ever loved to cry were when I opened my mouth and testified. The hardest prayer I've ever loved to hear, was the Savior kneeling down in agony; a drop of blood fell to his feet, and for a moment He suffered there for me." I know Christ loves us and took all of our hardships upon himself. All we have to do is come to Him, He is waiting for us with His "hand stretched out still" to grab hold of us and help us. After the song the returning home missionaries bore their testimonies and they were all so strong. I know that this 18 months is really such a short time. 1.5 years of our maybe 100 year life. So 1.5% of our lives. And if this life is the blink of an eye compared to eternity, this 18 month mission is 1.5% of a blink of an eye. But this 1% of an eye blink can change so many people's eternities. So I have to work hard and make every moment count. Because it really is short! Then Sister Day told us of a saying they have in her house, "I know I'm good, cuz God don't make no junk." I know this is true. Everyone is good (even if we have to look REALLY hard to see it haha).

 

So hiking was awesome and this week was awesome and we taught the third hour in church with all the priesthood (men) and relief society (women) together. We showed a video and talked about missionary work and the importance of members. And I told them the Twilight story.

So we got invited to a MidAutumn Festival to barbecue. I was chatting with a lot of people and started talking a lot with a 14 year old girl who started talking about her favorite movies and music. She asked me if I would want to be a vampire. I said no. She asked why? I said that to be the same age forever and never progress would be boring and that I really love sleeping and eating chocolate. She laughed and I asked why she wants to be one. She said so she could be young forever and never die. I said, "So you don't want to die. What do you think happens when you die?" She told me something that I did not understand in Chinese, then said, "But you Christians believe in Heaven and Hell right?" I said yeah, but our church believes something a little different than other churches. Hello smooth transition into the Plan of Salvation. Yeah, I'm good. Hahahah just kidding. But I do have a testimony that everything everyone says can be tied into the gospel.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

ps bad english of the week: "Please be careful and wakeful the swinde discreetly."

Ask the Missionaries!!

Have you ever wondered:

 

How it feels to be slandered by a drunk mafia member? Ask the missionaries!

How it feels to be whipped in the face by a wet towel over and over again? Ask the missionaries! (that's how it feels when my helmet straps are wet from the rain and the wind whips them into my face.)

How it feels to be biking down a steep hill but have to pedal because the wind is blowing so hard that gravity isn't working? Ask the missionaries!

How it feels to help people change their lives for the better? Ask the missionaries!

How to quit smoking? Ask the missionaries!

How to feel at peace and feel happiness in your life? Ask the missionaries.

How to feel more confident in yourself and your relationships? Ask the missionaries!

 

This week has been great.

 

I decided when I get home, I need to watch Titanic. Because a crippled 70 year old man who is going straight to heaven was teaching us gospel principles of faith and work and not judging from characters in Titanic. Apparently I can use Harry Potter, Star Wars, AND Titanic to teach gospel truths! Just kidding, the Book of Mormon has stories enough. Like a missionary cutting off peoples' arms to protect others from death. A young boy who felt the power of the Atonement in his life enough that he went out and converted hundreds of people. Prisons that fell down from the faith of men. People who withstood being thrown in flames, being stoned, and much more. People who were led by the Lord. We too can have this power and be led by the Lord.

 

News! (Mom and Nikki Ellis won't believe this, but...) I have a question, since I stopped biting my fingernails 2 months ago, I have run into a lot of problems. Like, how do you keep them clean?? It's impossible! But I'm trying. Any tips? Also, I have regotten my awesome callouses on my hands from swordfighting. Only this time I got them from bike riding...although we do have a sword in our apartment! An old couple gave it to the other sisters we live with.

 

This week we were reading in the Book of Mormon about prophets preaching repentance and going to stand on walls and stuff to call people to repent. And my companion goes, "No wonder prophets used to get killed all the time." And I laughed a lot. No wonder. We aren't getting killed, just called to call others to repentance, but we still get rejected, made fun of, hated on (mostly by other Christians), but we know it's the truth and it is worth it all to help others change their lives for the better.

 

This week was kind of rough as far as investigators go. It was Zhong Qiu Jie (MidAutumn Festival) and there was a typhoon so the wind was HUGE. So everyone went to their ancestral homes to party with their whole families and/or stayed at home and wouldn't answer the door. So we were outside for a long time. But we met with some great people, and when we're outside in the wind and rain, people are more likely to invite us in, even if it is only to give us a drink of water and a broken umbrella (true story).

But MidAutumn fest might be my new favorite holiday. We got invited to go to a member's house with her family and kao rou. Pretty much it's just a country wide barbecue. And I don't mean hamburgers and hotdogs barbecue. We went and there was beef, pork, chicken, deer, fish, shrimp, clams, pretty much any kind of meat you can imagine. And people all barbecue outside their houses on the street. So all day we were smelling steak and deliciousness and it was a great relief after a couple weeks of eating mostly vegetarian. So awesome. And also at that member's house I turned a talk about Twilight in the Plan of Salvation (story to come next week).

 

I love you all and the scripture for this week is Alma 38:5. As we trust in God, He will bless us. We just have to take a small step of faith and believe and trust.

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

Bad English for the week on a boy's shirt: Uillians B A very larce world. This town b conna hare me. Wakh you most be !!# Batman and Suferman.

Crazy Times

Dear all,

First off, some shout outs. Props for the first letter I have received since being in Taiwan goes to......: Sister Mary Clarence! I mean Mary Seals haha. And first package I've gotten goes to Sister Michelle Van Leeuwen - she said she's my visiting teacher so she sent me it. Talk about going above and beyong your calling!

Thesis: Crazy things have happened this week.

Main Points: Almost got kissed by a black man at church. Talked about gangsters in Lesson 2 to describe the different kingdoms of glory. And offended a whole room of Taiwanese people (luckily it was only 3 people and it was a translation issue). But the work is going well, I love it here and have only had diarrhea a few times.

Conclusion: Missions are awesome.

So on the street my companion and I found this black man and he was so friendly and he was the one who said, "You're Christian, I'm Christian, let's meet up sometime and I'll buy you some beers!" And my native companion said, "Yes! Can we have your number?" Haha. Anyway, we gave his number to the elders and he came to church and he came in I was walking past him and he leaned in to kiss me, luckily I have been working out in workout time so I dodged and he was like, "Oh, you don't kiss in your church? We kiss in my church." Fun times.

We were meeting with a mom, 13 year old daughter and 6 year old son who occupied himself by taking funny pictures of me on his mom's phone. And we were teaching lesson two about the plan of salvation. So we talked about how when we die everyone will have a chance to hear this gospel and that we will be judged according to our works, desires, thoughts, and words, and go to 1 of three places (Kingdoms of Glory). We talked about how we can be with our family forever only if we go to the highest place. And she was like, what if my son is bad and goes to a different one, I can't be with him forever? And I likened it unto missionaries/church members and gangsters. I was like, gangsters live in one place, I live in another. I can go visit them (and we do) but I don't want to live there, and they can visit church, but they don't want to live with church members or come to church all the time. So we can visit our family members in different kingdoms/places but we want to live with other people like us. And she actually understood! Who knew that meeting with a gangster's wife would help me be inspired in a way to help an investigating family!!

Offending people: My companion, a recent convert who just moved here from Utah, an investigator and I were all in this room together. The investigator was a referral from a member. The investigator is friend's with the member's son. But my companion told me the member's son has a gan mao which I was taught in high school means cold. So her son had a cold and she went to the south part of the island to visit him. They are super rich so I was like, ok she can do that. So we said she couldn't come because she is taking care of her son. I said, "It's kind of ridiculous that she went all the way down there because he has a cold. But she loves him a lot. My mom didn't even let me stay home from school when I had a cold." Our investigator looked horrified. The peike/recent convert who was there was laughing so hard at me, and my comp looked really serious when she said, "He's been at the hospital for 5 days, it's serious." WHAT? WHO KNEW THAT IN CHINESE THEY HAVE THE SAME WORD FOR A COLD AND FOR SERIOUS ILLNESSES?? Whatever. After some mistranslations, my comp said he had blood poisoning then we found out she just meant he has an IV. Anyway, it worked out and the investigator agreed to meet with us again haha.

But the work is really going well here. We have a Less Active who we have been meeting with every week and I think I said last week that she came to church again. Well, she has gone to all 3 hours of church 3 weeks in a row and she came with us to visit 2 investigators (peiked) and shared an awesome testimony. And that night we went to the church for a lesson and she was one of 4 people who came to clean the church. The Bishop, another man with a calling, and a woman who just used the phone at the church to make calls, and the only person who cleaned was our less active!! I love her so much! Such a miracle!

We almost got fang'd by an investigator, she had to work at 10 but said she'd come to church before work. She called and said her daughter was sick and they had to go to the hospital but they'd be late. It was 9:58 and they weren't there so we left. She called again and was like, I'm here! We rode back to the church as quickly as possible and gave her a mini tour of the church, and even though she was late for work, she didn't fang us. So awesome!

The work is going well here and members are getting more on board with the work and helping us out and it's awesome.

I love you all and I pray for you everyday!

Love,

Sister Perkins (aka. Lizard)

ps. You should try doing only thankful prayers. It's hard at first to not ask for things, but you learn to ask for things in really tricky ways so you can still be grateful and it also really built my faith this past week as I did it. Because I had to pray in faith to be grateful for things that hadn't happened yet and know that if I was obedient, the Lord would provide.

Bad English

This was a week of particularly bad English. I went on exchanges to Taoyuan and stayed there for a night. The toothpaste they had at their house said, "Whitemen. Guardian of tooth." Love it. And someone else's shirt said, "Oh my dorling pig, I love you."  "I don't think that means what you think it means."

 

Numbers for the week:

Times my legs have been burned by scooters: 2.

Number of mosquito bites on my legs: 23.

Number of mosquito bites I got on my arms inside of a members house when we were eating there: 6.

Number of times I couldn't unlock my bike because of the rust from the rain: 4.

Number of times I have dreamed about soccer: 6.

Number of times I have dreamed about sword fighting: 1 (but it was a really cool dream).

Number of times we got rejected: countless

New investigators: 8!!!

Times our investigators read and prayed and progressed: priceless. 

 

This week the Less Active who we've visited for about 3 months came to church again! Twice in 2 weeks! And she agreed to come with us to visit an investigator! I know as we involve members and less actives in the work, they can be strengthened and feel renewed vigor to spread this gospel of happiness. But that was a small miracle that I loved!

 

In other news: when we visited that less active last week we were talking about her daughter and how she is starting to worry about her daughter and wants her daughter to have good standards and marry a church member. She said she is worried about her daughter not having confidence and asked me if I had confidence. I kind of laughed and said, "yes, I am very confident." (bordering on cocky) and my companion was like, "yeah sister perkins has no problem with her confidence. She is so confident." Then she said, "Yeah for your daughter, it seems that the prettier a girl is the more problems she has with her confidence." I started laughing inside but no one else noticed so I turned to my companion and said, "you don't think I'm pretty?" And everyone bust up laughing. So hilarious.

 

So this week my companion really wanted me to eat tofu a lot. And she wants me to eat stinky tofu. And I just keep telling her, "I had a bad experience." (of course in a black man's voice.) And she wants me to eat it so bad. And so I tell her a story about how I was in Jerusalem one time and my teacher dared me (and another very brave girl) to eat this NASTY stuff. It had a tofu-like/jello-y texture. Tasted like it's primary ingredient was cigarette ash and he dared us to eat 5 of them and said he'd pay us if we did. So of course I took the challenge. After stuffing the first one in my mouth, I promptly started gagging and tried to swallow it but my body wouldn't accept the poison. So now when I eat tofu, I remember that nasty nast stuff and have a hard time keeping the tofu down. Now I'm starting to regret that experience a little...but not really because I got a great friend out of that experience (she ate all 5 and kept them down, what what!). But tofu is a no-no.

 

Also there is this great 90s video (or 80s can't be sure, their clothes are hideous and amazing and I wish I could wear them out here in Taiwan) called The Road Back Home (I think, I only know the chinese name is hui jia de lu). In any case, Hello Zac Efron (main character who also has floppy hair and plays basketball) and Dianna Agron's mom (starring as the sister missionary with floofy bangs who holds the pictures). We watch it a lot with investigators and less actives because it is about a family and how they changed from before they knew this gospel to when they were baptized. It has great music and is so funny but it is also so great because I know this gospel has the power to change people to become better and help families become closer.

 

The times when our investigators progress and do the things they know they should are so great. They can feel the spirit, they can be guided in their lives, and they can feel the love the Lord has for them. When I see people progressing in the gospel and see them not be "hearers of the word only" but see them being doers, it makes me so happy. I hope all of you can be doers of the word also. Do the things you feel or know you should. Pray to God for help, give Him thanks for all that He's given you. I give thanks that He has given me all of you who support and love me and laugh at my emails even though sometimes they are rambly and don't make sense. I know that God hears and answers prayers and if you have never said a prayer before, I invite you to. God will listen and will answer.

 

I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Sister Perkins/Lizzi

 

ps. since I missed the bad English of the week last week, here is one that was on a mooncake box: "Our clouds in a faint poetry. The poetry of a continuous release of joy. The joy of my sad memories lightly greetings happy."

 

pps. the scripture of the week is Alma 32:21. If you have hope in something, that can turn to faith, which can then turn to knowledge and happen.

"I will fang you"

The title of this post is a quote from A Knight's Tale (for all those unfamiliar with Heath Ledger and his awesomeness). Because I say this all the time. And now, in Taiwan, I understand this. Here when someone doesn't show up for an appointment without calling, it is called "fang ge zi" (pronounced fong) or "place a pigeon". Not really sure about the pigeon stuff, but it's a thing. And it happens a lot. People promise they will come to church, we call them on Sunday they say they're coming, we wait, they don't show up. We wait with a member at the church for our investigator to come to their lesson, don't show up. It's normal. I think we get fanged at least 5 times each week. Getting used to it now.

 

Something I am not getting used to is not playing soccer. I started having my first dreams about playing. Now I dream a lot about playing soccer. On the one hand it's super fun because it's like I'm playing (and also I'm way better at soccer in my dreams than I am in real life. Unless I have the dream where I run sooooo slowly that I can never get the ball) on the other hand I wake up not feeling super rested and miss soccer. But I know I'm where I'm supposed to be so it's ok. And also I don't get to play any other sports here in XinZhu. In other places they get together and play frisbee but not here, at least I get to work out and I think I'm in better shape than I've been in a while! I weigh more but am skinnier, so either our scale is broken or I'm just more muscly than before (I'm hoping it's the latter, it would be cool if I was so strong. And everytime I weigh myself it's like 5-10 pounds different...I don't think I fluctuate that much. But everyone else in the apartment is sold that the scale is right).

 

This week was pretty rough, we had some problems with investigators, some of our people we were most hopeful for ended up not coming to church or having major problems. In the past 2 weeks we have had no investigators come to church, so that was kind of sad. BUT, along with these harder times came miracles. This week we had 8 less actives at church! And one of them hasn't been to church in more than 4 months but we visited her on Friday and she came and stayed for all 3 hours! It was great! And we had 3 member referrals this week! Members usually never really help us with the work, but this week they did and they're golden! We met with one (a little sister of a member) and she was already praying and reading the Book of Mormon everyday and we set a baptismal date! Another lady just moved from Taipei and can't wait to be baptized! We just need to teach her the commandments, and everything we teach she says ok and commits to! Every morning she wakes up, reads the Bible and the Book of Mormon, prays, and goes to work. She's awesome. She'll be baptized in 2 weeks!

 

This week I think I might as well try chou dou fu (stinky tofu. Also, who knew that tofu is actually bean curd. Nasty nast. No one drinks curdled milk - trust me, I had it in cereal once and it was so disgusting - but everyone loves it). My bike helmet smells like chou doufu. Which is why I say I might as well try it. I don't know why my helmet smells so revolting, but it does. Probably constant rain+sweat=mildewy/moldy/nasty. And it smells so bad. Woof.

 

Last week for P-Day we went to a chocolate factory! And if you're thinking, wow! That's super cool! Was there a chocolate river? The answer would be, no, it's not that kind of a chocolate factory. Mostly it was run down. Pinocchio's forest lodge: overgrown with wild weeds and stuff. Teletubbies House: Not open and spiderwebs. Strawberry Beer Castle: super nice - we couldn't have fun there. Chocolate Dream House: not a real factory, they just melted some chocolate and gave it to us, still fun and delicious though. It took us like 3 hours to get there, bike to train to bus to walking. Worth it.

 

Also on my mission I'm getting over my fears! I have sung at 2 baptisms since I got here (with another Sister missionary, so a little less scary). Which I would never have done before. Talk about scary and insecure. Granted, most Chinese people here (and especially in our ward) can't sing. So there is less to be embarrassed about. But still, big accomplishment. (Probably will never sing in public again after my mission so I've got to steal the limelight here as much as possible.)

 

My English is getting worse and worse. This week I said, "She's easy to cry." NOOOOOOOO! How can I have such bad English? Chinese grammar (or lack of) is killer.

 

Also I have a really important question and favor to ask. Do koalas have tails? I am convinced they do and my companion is convinced they don't, because in Chinese they are called No-tail bears. Don't let the bystander effect affect you. Answer the question.

 

Missionary work here recently has been ke lian. Or the translation is "wretched and/or pitiable". I think those words are kind of harsh. People say ke lian to just mean like, wow you lead a sad/sorry/hard life. Not as intense as the above synonyms. But this week I feel we really have been pitiable. On Saturday we went out and it was pooring rain. Got fanged. My stomach hurt SO much but we just kept biking and walking and contacting. Went to visit someone, they moved 3 years ago. Ate dinner. Were soaking wet in the rain. Held out through like 5 waves of diarrhea urges until we finally passed a McDonalds and my comp said, "You can't wait till we get to their house?" I said, "You mean over the huge bridge and up the massive hill? No." Then my raincoat had like 5 holes in it and I was soaking wet. And it is getting cold. And that was the first time I've really felt pitiable. Who says it's not "Missionary fun!"? On the bright side, when we look that sad, people talk to us/give us raincoats/umbrellas! People here are so nice when you aren't preaching the gospel! Haha just kidding. They're nice all the time.

 

I love you so much and pray for you and hope things are going well in your life. Favorite scripture of the week: Alma 7:11-13. We don't just have to pray for forgiveness, we can also pray for strength or comfort and He knows how to succor us.

 

Love and rice,

Sister Perkins

 

ps. confession, stole the salutation from another missionary, but I still like it.