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
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