"Of Short Stature"

Ok, I'm sorry. But this email is going to be super short. First off, I have like no time left here. Second, I am behind by a week in my journal so I don't even remember what happened this week...so I'll update y'all more on that next week.

Oh, we went hiking last week and it was so fun and this week we're going to the beach!

One of my most hated words in this world now is, "Yuan Fen" or "Destiny".

So many people meet with us once, or we meet them on the street, introduce them to the Book of Mormon and praying and they say they feel really good inside and they want to feel it more. And then when we ask for their number or if we can set up a time to meet with them, they say, "If this is really God's plan, I want to see if destiny will happen and we will actually meet again." -_________________________________________- I always say, "Do you think we can make destiny happen by having you give us your number?" It works sometimes. 

And this weekend, super special, Elder Holland, President Hallstrom, and President Wilson and their wives came and spoke to us (they are the Mormon equivalent of celebrities, look them up). I learned so much. And something that Elder Holland said was great, he said that if we don't have testimonies of our own to share or if we are doubting, lean on his testimony and the testimony of all those who have given up their lives for this. Even if I didn't feel God's love and His spirit everytime I prayed and read the Book of Mormon, I know that there wouldn't be hundreds of people who give up their lives (literally) or their lives (time) to serve God if it wasn't real. I know that God lives and loves us. I know that "God wants us to draw near to Him so He can draw near to us". Draw near to Him and He will show you His hand in your life.

I love you!
Sister Perkins

"Forever and Ever You'll Be in My Heart"

And forever and ever I'll be in the heart of XinZhu. It's a new transfer and I'm still in XinZhu with Sister Eley! One of our roommates went home, so we got a new roommate, super exciting. 

This week was full of fun and miracles and funny things. 

Last week on the way home from buying groceries I wiped out. I was riding my bike and didn't anticipate this tile surface to be that slippery and turned in and wiped out. (I don't know why I didn't think it was going to be slippery, it had been raining for ages -___- haha.) Luckily with my super honed ninja skills I managed to save my BianDang (lunch) and half gallon of milk. Just my bike basket fell off. 

First Times: 

First time someone asked more in depth about our free English class (how do we separate classes, is there a textbook, is it really free?) and when we explained that we teach English that we normally use in life and not from the Bible he was disappointed and said, "Aww, I like to learn about Jesus." So we told him we have a spiritual thought, shared with him on the street, and set a baptismal date on the street with him. So cool!

First time my missionary nametag flew off when I was riding my bike (obviously I am so speedy) and about 5 cars ran over it before I could get to it (luckily it was pretty unscathed. Just one tiny little hole).

First time when someone said, "Every church is cha bu duo. Every church is almost the same," that I said, "Yes, they are all cha bu duo. They are almost the same. But the little part that isn't the same is that we have the Priesthood Authority and power from God and that makes a big difference." They slammed the door on us...haha. 

First time on my mission that a man who has been less active for 30+ years has come back to church after 1 time meeting with him.

First time I rode in a police car.

(^we were helping this girl from Xi'an China carry her stuff to her dorm at college and we all got lost so campus security drove us to her dorm. And so when we got there she said, Wait! Wait! And got us all little presents: bobblehead terracotta warriors. so cute! And we said we had a present to give her and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon:)

First time we were riding our bikes feeling discouraged (ok that has happened before) but the first time that a random man on a moped slowed down as he rode by us, and cigarette in his fist-pumping hand, yelled, "Jia You! Jia You!" Before zooming off into the distance. (Jia you literally means add oil. Like an encouraging keep it up!)

Just like that cigarette fist-pumping man (only without the cigarette and not on a moped and not a man) I say to all of you, "Jia You!" Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes we don't know what to do. Sometimes it feels like no one understands us. Sometimes it feels like we're alone. Sometimes it feels like no matter how hard we work or what we do it makes no difference. But I testify and promise that it'll be ok. We just have to jia you, we just have to keep going and working hard. If we do our best, that's enough. That's all we can give. Sometimes our best may not seem good enough. But I also testify that through Christ all things are possible. Through relying on him by praying or reading scriptures, He can make up the difference. He will carry us when we can't carry ourselves. I know that each of you can feel the power of God's love more in your lives and that each of you aren't just able to get his help, but you are entitled to it. You are His child, all you need do is ask.

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

ps. I'm so sorry I forgot to wish all of you a Happy Groundhog's Day!

Reject With Respect

So this week was marked with rejection. 

Rejected by tons of people as we knocked their doors and invited them to learn about the blessings Christ can bring to everyone. Rejected as we tried to chat with people on the street. Rejected by slammed doors. Rejected by people waving us off with their hands. Rejected by old people. Rejected by a 6 year old who wouldn't even look at us. Rejected by Buddhists. Rejected by Catholics. Rejected by Mormons. 

Luckily my companion and I were able to laugh through the rejection (although we were a little sad that all those people are missing out on the blessings of the everlasting gospel of Christ). The worst rejection was when someone was excited to read the book of Mormon then when we met with her, spent the whole time telling us about how Joseph Smith was a fraud and she told us how we're wasting our time and we're under the influence of Satan -___- I was like, it's ok to reject us. It happens every day. But at least reject with respect. 

Funniest rejection: We were going through the list for our church ward/congregation and found someone who we didn't know so we called, the number was kong hao (not a real phone number? I don't know how to say it in English.) so we decided to visit their house. We went and rang the doorbell. A girl came to the door, said oh, then said she'd get her mom. We wait for 5 minutes and no one came. So we rang the doorbell again and waited while my companion, Sister Eley, was playing with their dog. After about a minute or two, we hear an adult man on the phone calling the cops on two Wai Guo Ren (foreigners) and so we ran out the gate and jumped on our bikes (my bike basket was broken from falling down in the rain) and my basket tipped over and was held on by one zip tie as we biked away as fast as we could. Hahaha, fun times.

And a lot of times we like to have members come with us to do missionary work, it is more effective and they get blessings, but a lot of them say they're too busy to come with us (I believe that a lot of people are busy). So our Elders always say, "If you won't help us ____ (knock doors, work, contact, teach lessons), we'll baptize someone who will!" And the person who was baptized last week did that with us this week! She came in the freezing cold rain for 1.5 hours to knock doors and I felt kind of bad because we didn't have that much success, but afterward she said she wants to come with us after church every Sunday to do missionary work! So cool!

I love you all and hope that your week was as full of sumptuous food as mine was and filled with less time outside in the cold rain.

Love,

Sister Perkins

ps. I'm sorry if this sounds complain-y, I don't feel complain-y in my heart. We worked hard this past week and God blessed us with 2 new investigators and a baptism!

Miracle of the Fish

This week we saw loads of miracles. This GuoNian we found more investigators than the last 2 weeks combined! (Granted, we didn't find many investigators the past two weeks, but still, a miracle.) 

Good news! I didn't gain tons of weight! Bad news - the few meals when we weren't qing'd (invited for dinner or lunch) we starved because literally NO restaurants were open. For 5 days. It is like a super kuazhang (exaggerated) Christmas. NOTHING - not even the Taiwanese equivalent of Denny's was open...what is this world coming to?

So there has been an investigator that we have been working with for 4 months who ALWAYS has problems. And when we resolve a question, she has a new one come up. And it has been going this way for a long time even though she has known for 3 months that the Book of Mormon is true -___-. She has always wanted to keep going to her Christian church and not really been committed. But she REALLY wanted to be baptized and also partake of the blessings of the temple and so she had one baptismal interview that she didn't pass because she was trying to negotiate how many Sundays a year she could go to her other Christian church. We told her she had to be committed and that if she wasn't willing to make a choice, we would have to stop teaching her. That night she called and said she wanted to be baptized on Tuesday. So on Monday she had her interview, and yesterday she was baptized!! Such a miracle!

Since we were invited to carry around all of our scriptures my first transfer here, I always carry my Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and my Chinese Bible that I highlighted some favorite scriptures. And this past week there was this door we knocked that a Christian lady answered and she wasn't really willing to talk to us because "we wrote our own bible". But when we pulled out the Bible and showed her that it was the same, but that the Book of Mormon is ANOTHER testament of Christ, she agreed to take it and seemed really grateful to be able to learn more about Christ and she agreed to set up another time to meet with us! So cool. I love helping people realize that we really are Christians.

This week I learned that I need to be more humble. Surprising, I know -__-. Hahaha just kidding. I just didn't want to admit it until now. So I'll work on that. And our mission has a vision to "Reach Towards Heaven". To do that I am going to focus on loving. Loving my companion, loving the people: members, investigators, less actives. And not just loving them. But showing my love through actions, words, and deeds. I hope that by doing this I can reach towards heaven and help them feel God's love.

Ok I apologize that this was especially churchy (well, not really apologize, but sorry if you were expecting a super big laugh.

MIRACLE!!!! THIS IS BIG NEWS FOLKS! I FORGOT!

The first time I had fish here, it was gross. Wanted to vomit.

The first time I had fish for guo nian (Chinese New Year) I was able to eat it and keep it down. 

The first time I had spicy fish for guo nian, I was able to eat it and I loved it. 

God has helped me love fish. That was something I thought could never ever ever happen.

With God, nothing is impossible.

Philippians 4:13.

Love,

Sister Perkins

Mission Successful

So just telling everyone that next week my p-day is Wed. Feb 5 because we're going to the temple (!!) so I'll email on Wednesday. 

I ate at Taco House and had a burrito and nachos for $3. I love Taiwan. But it is such a sad thing that there is no guacamole in this place called Taiwan. Alas, earwax.

Mission Success: We were given free ice cream (the delicious mixed chocolate vanilla soft serve ice cream) by this old lady on a freezing day. I enjoyed it so much.

A high school girl who we met with 6 months ago came to church a couple times in August and didn't like it and said she wouldn't come back again because she didn't have friends, but we took a young woman who just moved into the ward (our church congregation) to go visit her and they were not only in the same middle school, but also in the same club: Recorder club. Classic. I always knew there was a reason every child is forced to learn to play the recorder. So she came to church this past Sunday and must have liked it because that night she went to a Young Woman's activity where they watched a movie (Tuesdays with Morris - I've never heard of it) and invited us to come eat dinner with them - so delicious! 

And we got to go inside an ancient Taiwanese apartment that made me think of Empire of the Sun. It was old and dusty but it was 4 stories tall and the sun was stretching it's beaming fingers into the dusty living room and it was so quaint and lovely and I want to live there and clean it up and sell it and make loads of money. 

And with a recent convert (someone who just got baptized) we watched the Restoration (20 min movie about Joseph Smith) and when Joseph Smith had the first vision and Heavenly Father and Christ appeared to him the convert's 6 year old daughter said, "Mom! I see them! Look! There's two people! Standing in the light! This is the story you told me yesterday!" It was so cute and so amazing to see how their lives had changed and how that young girl's life will be changed forever. 

I love this work and I love God and I sound like a crazy person but I know that He is real and that He can change your life if you let Him. I know all of our past mistakes and our bad feelings can all be erased. They can be gone. Any guilt or regret or bad feeling can be erased through the gospel of Christ and through baptism we can be made clean and new again.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkins

The Hokey Pokey and poems...

Hey all!

 

Another miracle, our recent convert who has trouble waking up in the morning came to church for all 3 hours starting at 8:50! (Granted, we went and threw rocks at her window to wake her up at 8:20.) And she brought her daughter! She also helped us peike and was one of the best peikes we have ever had. She helped address his problems, explained when our Chinese was a little hard for him to understand (he is older and hasn't gone to much school, so some of the church terms that we say he can't understand so she helped us a lot!), and shared really powerful experiences and she stayed so focused on the lesson. So amazing. And her 6 year old daughter just sat quietly and drew. So crazy.

 

This week we also got the door shut on us for like 30 minutes at so many houses and all I had to do was pee. We would knock and all we would say was, "We're missionaries, could we please use your bathroom really fast?" And they would reply, "Thank you! I don't need it." or "Thank you, go talk to someone who needs it more." And I was like, I need it more! I need it now! The porcelain throne calls my name! Hahaha, I should learn how to say porcelain in Chinese...

 

This week we kept the invitation to, when touching our name badges, talk about the gospel of Christ - and in specific, baptism. Right after we got the invite in Zone meeting we went out contacting. It was freezing cold and raining and SO windy (here in the windy city) but there was this older man I felt like I should invite to English class, so we invited him and he was interested! He doesn't have a job right now, he has been to church before and when we pointed to our nametags and mentioned baptism he asked if he could be baptized! On the street we took the baptismal planner that the Zone Leaders gave to us and invited us to use and we set a date with him right there on the street. We explained what we have to teach, what he has to do and he committed to being baptized in 4 weeks! (He was gone this past Sunday to Taizhong.) Keeping invites really does bring miracles.

 

And! We helped a blind person cross the street!! Well, we saw this lady in a pink jacket and I said, "I love your jacket!" She ignored me and I felt a little rejected and hurt. Licking my wounds she said, "Are you talking to me?" I quickly responded with a yes. And she asked where we were from. I was a little confused, obviously we are white, but when we told her she said, "Sorry, I could tell you weren't from here but I'm blind so I couldn't see where you were from." We asked why she was waiting outside Sogo and she said she was waiting for someone to help her get to the train station (across 2 busy streets). So we helped her get to the train station by going through this little underground tunnel and it was super cool. She was a blind massuse! She's famous!

 

Played the Hokey Pokey in English class. And wrote poems:

I love you, ghosts say boo.

I love you like babies coo.

I love you when doves coo.

.....yeah. I'm a really good English teacher -____-

 

A man who was laughing at us and telling us he was already Christian said (after we read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon with him and the promise it gives at the end that everyone can know for themselves whether or not the Book of Mormon is true), "Wow! This book is better than the Bible!" Laughed again and walked away with the Book of Mormon. It was strange but also really cool.

 

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

Love,

Sister Perkins

"Sittin on the toilet"

Things in XinZhu got a lot better this week. I think we had a hard past 4 weeks that we saw little "success", but this past week was really good. We surpassed almost all of the golden standards and found 4 new investigators and set a new baptismal date with a woman who also gave us her son's info so missionaries in Australia can visit him! And Qiu Jie Mei (the investigator I've been working with for 6 months who quit smoking and drinking and is a single mom) got baptized!! Her less active nephew baptized her and her sister who is also a member couldn't come because she is in the hospital, but a ton of members came so it was awesome. And one of our Less Actives who I've been working with since I got here came to church two weeks ago, and came to the baptism and brought cheesecake, and she said she knows she needs to come to church more!

The new baptismal date we set, we went by her house for 10 minutes to pick up some gloves that we left there and share a short message. So we shared Ether 3:14 and bore our testimonies and she said, "I'm starting to feel more and more that maybe this is the God who has been helping me my whole life. I'm starting to think that maybe I just didn't know His name. Maybe now I do. I think maybe this is destiny that from Australia, America, and Taiwan we all met. I think maybe God sent you to me. I think maybe this is what I and my family are looking for. I think maybe, this is all true." It was such a huge miracle and blessing and I'm so excited to continue working with her!

And also. Downside to being white and never looking at the notices in Chinese that they put up in your apartment building. You don't know when they are turning off the water. So while you are studying Chinese and doing a roleplay practicing Chinese while pooping, you try and flush and suddenly realize there is no water. And that you don't have drinking water either. And the water won't be turned on for another 7 hours. Not that I really know what that feels like, but just saying that would be one downside to being a white person living in Taiwan. There are no other downsides though - we already have people scheduling times to have us come over and eat with them for Chinese New Year (you know I'm all over that and I'm already prepping for my stomach to expand to twice the size and gain 10 pounds).

 

Sorry the email is so short, but I love you and hope all is going well for all of you and this week really was full of miracles and successes.

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

Happy Tiny New Year

Happy New Year all!

 

That's not really a thing here. Some people got work off and some people lit off fireworks. But the huge festivities will be at the end of this month for Chinese New Year. It was transfers this week, but I'm still in XinZhu. Going on 7.5 months. More than a third of my mission. Crazy. At least I'm besties with everyone who lives here now so it means that I'll gain 20 pounds over Chinese New Year going to all of the members houses to eat with them. (But really, I've heard horror stories about missionaries gaining like 15 pounds in 1 or 2 weeks...you know I can eat a lot!) My new companion is from New Zealand! Sister Eley. She lived in Shanghai for a bit growing up so her accent is pretty good! She has been on island for 3 months. We are super excited to continue working here.

 

This week I got chased by dogs who wanted to eat me (as per usual). Almost diarrhead in my pants (as per usual. Ok not usual usual...occasionally usual). Got scolded and yelled at by 2 white men (on separate occasions) who told us how bad our church was and how we're secret agents (?) And a lot of other things too (that has NEVER happened to me before, but it happened twice in one day). Had a lady on a moped ride up to me and give me a bag of fruit before zooming away (all I did was say happy new year at the previous stoplight). Went contacting and getting to know people by first holding up a strange fruit and asking people if they knew what it was (a lot of ppl who wouldn't have talked to us otherwise ended up talking to us for a long time!). Taught Defense Against the Dark Arts class (but really it was super cool!). Ate Stinky Tofu for the first time (surprisingly didn't vomit. Although the member who took us spat it out.). And invited people for the new year to start keeping a miracle/gratitude journal. Because I know miracles happen everyday, we just have to take the time to notice them. But a lot of people think miracle means part the red sea (which would be super cool but I still haven't managed that feat yet. Although I have parted a street full of Taiwanese people before) and don't notice the smaller things. Like having green lights all the way to work so you aren't late. So a whole bunch of people promised to keep gratitude/miracle journals and I'm so excited for them to have more miracles! 

 

Teach me, I will forget.

Show me, I will remember.

Involve me, I will.

 

^awesome quote that a member shared with us.

 

This week in Defense Against the Dark Arts (we had a Harry Potter themed English class party) we had people write down in English what they were most afraid of and their happiest memory. Then they walked in the door, had to tell Sister Anderson what they were afraid of (I was behind the chairs wearing all black: boggart, so I could come out and act as that scary thing). She had them think of their happiest memory and practice saying Expect Patronum! Then she turned the lights out and I came out (as a snake, cockroach, girlfriend, too much work, darkness, etc. it was a test of my acting skills) and it was super funny, everyone loved it. The funniest was this old man who was afraid of snakes. So I was crawling on the floor hissing and he backed up and was like Stop! Stop! And Sister Anderson was laughing trying to get him to say expecto patronum! When finally he said something that had an x and a p in it so I stopped. Afterwards he came up to me and laughed about it, so great.

 

And after that English class, our investigator I've been working with for 4 months came. And she had a lot of addictions before, but now she quit drinking, just quit smoking, and quit her job so she can spend more time with her daughter and come to church. So cool! I know when we work our hardest, God gives us miracles.

 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Perkins

Sick-ee

Hey all!

 

So the past 4 days not much has happened...Sister Anderson was sick. So we went to the hospital (that's what you do if you're sick here. You don't go to the doctor, straight to the hospital. And it's like a DMV. You get a little number and sit and wait for your number to pop up then you go tell them what you need/what's wrong and they give you another number and send you to another line to wait for another long time.). Luckily we brought a member with us who got us through there in an hour! Miracle! And then the next day she was still sick so I made a lot of phone calls, went through our area book, and wrote cards to less active members and investigators. My Chinese characters probably still look like a 6th grade Taiwanese child's (if I'm lucky), but I'm getting better!

 

But we got fang'd for the best reason ever. Our investigator fang'd us and couldn't meet with us because she was starting her new job the next day and she wanted to finish reading the Book of Mormon before she started work. And another investigator is quitting her job this week (she already told her boss) so she can come to church and bring her daughter!

 

I know God is a God of miracles and that even when we think we can't do things, He can. And I know He gives us strength to do things when we need help.

 

Happy New Year! Make this year's goal one to become a happier more peaceful person. I know the easiest and best way to do that is through Christ.

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas all!!

 

It's true, "wherever we find love it feels like Christmas."

 

Over here in lovely rainy Taiwan it has been a wonderful Christmas. When I came out of our room this morning, our roommate said, "If rain is the snow of Taiwan, then we have a white Christmas indeed!" Good thing today is our P-day so I got to spend most of the day inside! To be precise, I have opened Christmas presents with my companion, given candy to other people, and spent 2 hours in the most delicious hotpot place on earth: Shabu Shabu. For a whopping $12 US dollars, you can get all you can eat meat, noodles, vegetables, eggs, ice cream (soft serve and regular including chocolate and mango flavors), chicken nuggets, fried dumplings, xiao long bao, smoothies, cake, chocolate fountain, sushi, and much much more. I felt like I was in heaven. And a miracle that happened (well, not quite sure if it is a miracle or my own personal curse and burden) is that I was able to eat continually for the 2+ hours we were in there...if the question is, "Is your biggest Christmas present your large stomach?" Then the answer would be yes. My stomach may in fact be bigger than the Christmas box my lovely family sent me for Christmas:)

 

Yesterday we went to a special meeting in Taipei for the day. We had Zone Conference with all the mission (minus the missionaries serving in Taipei) and got some spectacular training. President Day and his wife (kind of like the bosses of our mission) did this play/performance for us of disobedient missionaries and it was SO funny. And also very informative about things I can improve on! We got a ton of training on how to love more and how to listen better. Then we got to eat hand made mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, corn, raspberry relish, pineapple, cookies, and much more. (Also ate more than my own weight of mashed potatoes.) Then we had a missionary talent show in which people did funny performances, performances that made them cry, performances that made others cry, and a video/slideshow of pictures of us (now and as babies) and little notes from our parents, so cute! And, one of the best things of all: we got to watch the Christmas program that the best singers from our mission (who live in Taipei) put on. It had amazing music and they are so talented! There were 2 violinists, a cellist, piano players and the choir. It was so amazing! I can't even describe it. But the whole time they were singing Christmas hymns, I could feel God's love for me and for everyone that was made manifest by His sending His Son to the world to die for us. Christ was the perfect Christmas gift. And this Christmas I am trying to give Christ my best self, trying to be a little kinder, gentler, more obedient, and more like how Christ would like me to be.

 

At the training yesterday we were invited to (or rather, told to) describe something that I can't remember in 1 word. Describe our life? Or how our relationship with God has blessed us? What He has given us? Anyway, super hard. I think I said peace or love or something lame, then my companion (so wise) said miracles. Wow. I know miracles happen everyday. We just have to notice the little things God does in our life to bless us. And we need to notice the little things we can do better in our days to become better people. Little things like saying hi to someone, giving someone a smile when they need it, being a little more patient with someone else, with ourselves. Because when all the little things come together, they become big things.

 

But one miracle Sister Anderson and I have is that we have 3 families we are teaching! It is so amazing and so great and so unexpected! We always look for families, but usually only one, maybe two family members are interested and the rest aren't. So that has been miraculous. Other miraculous things, my companion can give me super awesome pep talks that help me make it through the rain and when I'm hungry and when we bike up humongous hills (which reminds me: I forgot to to the story of the Mountains of Doom that happened the other week. I was on exchanges (temporarily companions with another more experienced missionary to learn) and we were in a mountainous area. So we bike to the top of this huge hill and I was like, "Phew, made it." I looked out as we reached the peak of the hill and could see a super steep hill we would go down. Immediately in front of that was an even taller hill, then a mountain behind it. We biked up and down all of them. We got to the number 500 and I thought that we must be close. But we were looking for Lane 1050 -_______- biked even more. Finally got to the Lane and I was pretty exhausted. Only to learn that the lane was actually a small steep path up a really tiny mountain full of switchbacks and loopdiloops like in the animated how the Grinch Stole Christmas. I tried so hard to bike up and was so confused that my companion was able to get up without walking. I kept pedalling. She looked back and said, "Your bike tire is so flat!" -________________- No wonder it was so hard. But we finally made it. And the person we came to see wasn't there -___-. But it was ok because there were other people we got to meet up there. And it was so cool when we went back down because it was dark and I felt like I was in a video game.).

 

All in all, I know the Lord performs miracles and I love Christmas, and my companion, and Taiwan, and food, and soccer, and that my life has purpose, and God and Christ and the Book of Mormon that testifies of them.

 

I love you all and wish you the merriest Christmas you have ever had!

 

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

ps. little plug in for a song in the Christmas program that I had never heard before, y'all should go listen to it on youtube: Breath of Heaven. So beautiful and so much meaning.

Goodbye Mole (mol-ay mol-ay mol-ay)

So this week my favorite mole on my neck got ripped off by my hair. It was sad, and now I just have a little red mark...:( But on the bright side, I know how to remove any further moles without having to go to a doctor, just use a hair from my head to garrote it (is that how you spell that word?).

 

This week was FULL OF MIRACLES! Alan Packer of the Quorom of the Seventy (Look it up if you don't know what that is.) came and gave us special training about Family History work and temples and how to talk to people more effectively about their families. Super cool. And so effective! The 2 days after that training we found 8 new investigators!! What?? Crazy!!!

 

Sister Anderson's birthday was this past Saturday. For her birthday we went up to that Special Training in Taipei, ate potstickers (guo tie), got Coco's (best drink shop ever and thanks Suzette for the heads up, they have it in New York!), got qinged/a less active member invited us to eat with them! We had pizza, tater tots, sandwiches, salad, coconut pudding, and cake. Pretty much I was huge. We talked about her family and about how some of her happiest times (and ours) have been with our families. It doesn't matter where we are, but when we're with our families, that is what is most important. And MIRACLE! I met a boy here who likes soccer! We talked about it half in English, half in Chinese, and his favorite team is Bayern Munich! Wowzahs! Another miracle, he wants to learn more about the gospel and invited us to come visit his family next week!

 

There is also this really fat dalmation dog we always pass and I named him Pongo. Partially in relation with 101 dalmations, partially because in chinese to say fat dog it is pronounced "Pong go" (pang gou). Hahahahhaha.

 

And last night we went out to work and we had an hour and 15 minutes before we had to go home. We brought a member to come knock doors with us and it was her first time ever. We set some really high goals to have 2 lessons, 3 new investigators, and 2 copies of the Book of Mormon out in that time. And in the first five minutes we met a family of 3 who prayed with us, took a book of mormon and want to learn more! We met another dad with 2 small children and he invited us to come back next week too! That night we met all our goals and surpassed our goal for New investigators! This week we had 8!!

 

And this week I said, "Good thing there is mushroom sauce at the church." First and last time that sentence was ever said ahhaha.

 

I love you all! I know miracles happen and that God knows and loves us!

Love,

Sister Perkins

 

Merry Christmas!!

"I love to laugh, Ha Ha Ha Ha, loud and long and clear"

So the other day (2 weeks ago) we were biking home from the train station when some guy steps out into the bike lane about 20meters from where I am. As I started turning my head to check for oncoming cars, out of the corner of my eye I see the man start to move...I turned back just in time to see him moonwalk out of the bike lane and continue walking along the sidewalk. What?? Haha, I love Taiwan.

 

 Can't remember if I already emailed this. But the English class comment: We were talking about families. We went around the whole class and asked them what kind of family they want in the future and about how many kids they wanted (if they wanted them). Everyone says 1 or 2 or says they don't want kids. When we get to this 10 year old boy named Ian, he says really quickly, "I want a DINK (Double Income No Kids) family because kids are annoying and give you stress." Then looked back down at his book. The WHOLE class busted up laughing and it was fantastic. I love my English class!

 

This week was a really hard week. It was long, we worked hard, and it seemed like our efforts were for nothing. Our most progressing investigator who has been learning so much decided to drop herself (told us she wouldn't leave her old church and, hence, could not be baptized into our church even though she said she knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God). And we just got rejected a lot. Luckily I have a boss companion who always made me laugh and here are a couple stories of how:

 

We ate at Taco House for the first time! And it was pretty legit! And I got a burrito and nachos for like $3.50! It was so awesome. So we were eating in there and we were the only ones. The workers were in back doing some accounting stuff. And there was an English radio station playing Christmas songs. When "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (the jazzed up version) came on, Sister Anderson and I started lipsyncing and dancing in our seats. It was dark outside so mostly we could just see our own reflections and it was awesome. Something behind the glass moved that we didn't notice before and an old Chinese man was shaking his head laughing at us as he walked away. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie and I love it.

 

One morning we were walking instead of running because my comp felt a little sick. We started to pass this old grandma who we see every morning pushing her own empty wheelchair along the road. We stopped and said, "Hi! Your hat is so cute!" She took it off her balding head and tried to give it to us. Long story short, we made her keep it and went home. But people here try to give us stuff ALL the time (this week a random lady gave us a whole frozen chicken - she just brought it down from her old home on the mountain top - and ginger, 2 cabbages, 5 bananas, and 2 oranges to cook it with). So we carried all that food for a while while we did some missionary work on the way back to a freezer.

 

Even though this week was hard, I learned a lot and there were a lot of miracles. We got taken out to eat 3 or 4 times (and one time I got a bowl of spicy noodles that was about twice as big as my head and no I'm not exaggerating). And there was a wedding reception (the wedding receptions here are crazy and are like 2 hours of a talent show with tons of food thrown in) where there were a lot of our investigators, a lot of nonmembers and part member families that all got to talk and have fun and it was so cool seeing so many people from different walks of life interacting and becoming friends. This week we also met a lot of college students who were interested in hearing about the Book of Mormon and wanted to learn more! Unfortunately, they all live elsewhere, but win for Team Jesus! Hahaha. And we got to sing Christmas carols at Big City (a HUGE mall) and there were so many students there from English class and people who were willing to talk with us. I love love love Christmas.

 

One time this week when we got fang'd and a lot of people cancelled last minute on us and we were lost in the middle of this rice field, I was feeling kind of down and told my companion, "Something awesome better happen real soon." 1 minute later we passed by this dog on the side of the road. It started barking and chasing us and we road away screaming. My companion goes, "Does that count as something awesome?" Hhahahaha.

 

But I love being here, and I love all the experiences we have. Because without the hard ones, without feeling rejected, I wouldn't know how great it feels to be accepted, or realize the joy that comes from the happy experiences. I know God knows all of us individually and watches out for us. I also know that we all have challenges and hard times, but I know that as we rely on the Lord, he can make our burdens light. Celebrate this beautiful Christmas month by eating some kind of chocolatey brownies or poop cake (for those of you who don't know what that delicious delight is, ask my lovely sister Jenni or my mom).

 

Love,

Sister Perkins