I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM IN TAIWAN RIGHT NOW!!

My cute companion Wu Jiemei ( Sister Wu)! She is amazing! We helped with a charity Christmas event where she handed me the microphone and told me to sing:) haha. So I ended up singing a solo of Silent Night:)

This is the Grand Hotel where Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work.

Dear Family & Friends,

I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM IN TAIWAN RIGHT NOW! :) Wow... just WOW! haha

So we had a little mission orientation when I first arrived in Taipei. It was amazing! I'll have to show some pictures. Honestly it's all a big blur, but we went on a run to a huge Chinese memorial building and park in the pouring rain, toured the chapel next to the temple, went to the place where Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work and took some time to dedicate ourselves to this work. It was really cool :) 

So I'm serving in a city called Zhubei. We are in the Zhubei 2 ward. Our ward has about 300 members and about 120 active members. It is beautiful. The only thing that is a pretty big problem is the wind. haha It's the coldest area in the mission and the wind makes it quite a bit worse. My least favorite part about the wind I didn't discover until today however... STORY TIME!  So today I put on a skirt that I haven't worn in Taiwan yet and I was pretty sure it would be good for bikes when I bought it, and it is! But... it's not so good for bikes and wind. I now understand what Jane Crofts was saying about Crash or Flash... haha. So today I was riding my bike and trying to not flash all of the passersby when my hat fell out of my basket... in the middle of the street! My companion was ahead of me so I couldn't tell her to wait, but I couldn't leave my hat! (It's the one from mom's Georgia friend ;) Sister Campbell) So I pulled over to the side and watched as it almost got run over by 2 bikes 1 scooter and then a small bus started approaching, so I ran out into the road and grabbed my hat, hopped on my bike, tryed to fold my skirt in a way that everyone wouldn't see my garments, and started riding as fast as I could. (People generally don't get too upset with us foreigners even when we run out into the street like crazy people. They kind of expect us to do crazy/weird things. haha) The only problem was that my companion had no idea any of this had happened and she had ridden on ahead! So I just had to go by faith. There are a lot of side alleys in Taiwan so I was pretty nervous, but I felt prompted to just keep going forward, eventually I saw her pink jacket and was able to catch up with her.

So what do we learn from this experience?
It was a little miracle :) I know that God is protecting me, even in the little things. ESPECIALLY in the little things. But we must have faith in him to see the miracles :) Even though I wasn't sure where I needed to go to find my companion, the Lord knew where I was and where she was. I had to take action on my faith and ride my bike towards where I thought was the right place in order to find my companion. I testify that faith is a principle of action and we must MOVE to find the Kingdom of God and all of the blessings that await us.

Sister Wu and I eating dinner with the Bishop's family. I love the food here!!!

My companion's name is Wu Jiemei. Guess where she's from? Taiwan! Yep :) My trainer is a native. I'm the only foreigner trainee from my group with a native trainer. Let me share with you some things about my awesome comp:

-So if you picture a Chinese version of Carmen Shelton... that's basically Wu JM :) haha (Mom Note: Carmen Shelton is one of our awesome, amazing neighbors who is from the Dominican Republic. She is spunky and amazing! We love her:)

-She really pushes me to speak a lot. Which is awesome!!

-She even made me write in Chinese characters for one of our investigators! I've never written characters before! haha She basically just showed it to me, told me to write it, then kept on talking to someone as if this wasn't a monumental task she had just asked me to do. But guess what? I did it! It probably looked really bad... but hey I tried it :) haha

-She made me talk on the phone to bishop on my second day. She basically gave me the phone, told me what to say and then ran to the bathroom. I was totally fine with that until I realized I would have to do it in Chinese! haha I think I got the meaning accross...  but I'm not completely sure. Taiwanese people are very patient with me and that's nice :) haha

-She's learning English. Her English is really really good! She has a couple of phrases that she always says: "She is quite special" She says this about everyone :) haha. She also switches he and she a lot in English. 

-Basically she is amazing. She's so willing to try new things and everyone loves her! Seriously, she gets up in front of a crowd and just works it like a summer job! She's incredible! 

So glad to be here with these amazing people!

Our district having lunch

The Taiwanese people are soooo nice. They're very patient with me as I learn Chinese. It's actually been pretty hard for me to not be able to speak much, but I find ways to communicate. For example, I've learned that all children speak the language of mischief. :) haha So I can mess around with kids even though they don't know what I'm saying and I don't know what they're saying :) It's the best! 

This church is true. SOOOO true! I love being here in Taiwan and being able to do so many new things. But no matter where we go, the gospel is the same. We all are children of our Heavenly Father no matter our color, language, background, status, or any other thing that world decides to distinguish us by. God loves us all and wants all of us to be happy and to return to his presence. I testify that this is God's church on the earth today. He is the head of this work. He will never lead us astray :) 

I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you for all of the prayers, support and love.

Sincerely,

Gu Jiemei