"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.