Chapters 69 and 70: The Outcasts AND "That's what you get for biking out to ZhiBen"
Hello
Wow. What a week. I'll try to sum it up and get us much details as possible without making this email 25 pages long, because it could be that long with what's happened this week.
Transfers were given out on Tuesday night. I thought I was going to get sent to central Taipei right near the mission office (because that's where President said I was going to go) but then to my surprise I moved all the way down to Taidong! To those of you unfamiliar to Taiwan, Taidong is on the southeast coast of the island. It's a place filled with rice fields, cows, and the beach. Most people here are aboriginals and there are LOTS of wild dogs. And that's about it. There literally wasn't a farther or more rural place I could go in the mission than here. Lol. (See attached pictures)
Getting here was really fun though. Our train tickets weren't until Friday morning, but transfer day was Thursday, so I chilled at the mission office all day. I made cookies with Sister Peterson (our mission president's wife), I went with a missionary who is going home to get her phone fixed, I got McDonald's delivery with the office elders and the APs, and then I went with some more missionaries who went home to the Shilin night market that night to look around. It was so weird, I didn't feel like a missionary, but I had no other options because there was no one else to be my companion. I invited a few people to English class though so... Then Friday morning at 7 a.m. I took the 5 hour train ride down to Taidong!
I'm honestly soooooo excited to be here!! I love it so much! It's beautiful, the weather is always great and I've never seen a bluer sky in my life. My new companion, Sister MacCabe is amazing and I love her SO much. I can already tell these last 2 transfers are going to he LIT.
On Saturday we got invited to a 烤肉 or barbecue because it's the Moon Festival and everyone barbecues for the Moon Festival! It was so fun, there were like 100 people there. There were even political candidates making speeches because the member in charge of the activity used to be some sort of high-up political guy in Taidong. Lol. Fun stuff.
Quick miracle story! On Saturday after the barbecue, we went out finding, like you do, and we came across this LIT party. I've heard those stories about missionaries walking into a party and then getting a bunch of new people to teach, and I've always wanted to do it, so we did! We walked up to the open door and peered into the courtyard. We waved at a few people, some people waved back. Then we tried to talk to them (more like yelling because the music was so loud) and a few came over. We had a great gospel conversation with them and they set up for tonight! #partycrashingmiracles
Hope you all have a wonderful moon festival!
Love,
Sister Larson
Wow. What a week. I'll try to sum it up and get us much details as possible without making this email 25 pages long, because it could be that long with what's happened this week.
Transfers were given out on Tuesday night. I thought I was going to get sent to central Taipei right near the mission office (because that's where President said I was going to go) but then to my surprise I moved all the way down to Taidong! To those of you unfamiliar to Taiwan, Taidong is on the southeast coast of the island. It's a place filled with rice fields, cows, and the beach. Most people here are aboriginals and there are LOTS of wild dogs. And that's about it. There literally wasn't a farther or more rural place I could go in the mission than here. Lol. (See attached pictures)
Getting here was really fun though. Our train tickets weren't until Friday morning, but transfer day was Thursday, so I chilled at the mission office all day. I made cookies with Sister Peterson (our mission president's wife), I went with a missionary who is going home to get her phone fixed, I got McDonald's delivery with the office elders and the APs, and then I went with some more missionaries who went home to the Shilin night market that night to look around. It was so weird, I didn't feel like a missionary, but I had no other options because there was no one else to be my companion. I invited a few people to English class though so... Then Friday morning at 7 a.m. I took the 5 hour train ride down to Taidong!
I'm honestly soooooo excited to be here!! I love it so much! It's beautiful, the weather is always great and I've never seen a bluer sky in my life. My new companion, Sister MacCabe is amazing and I love her SO much. I can already tell these last 2 transfers are going to he LIT.
On Saturday we got invited to a 烤肉 or barbecue because it's the Moon Festival and everyone barbecues for the Moon Festival! It was so fun, there were like 100 people there. There were even political candidates making speeches because the member in charge of the activity used to be some sort of high-up political guy in Taidong. Lol. Fun stuff.
Quick miracle story! On Saturday after the barbecue, we went out finding, like you do, and we came across this LIT party. I've heard those stories about missionaries walking into a party and then getting a bunch of new people to teach, and I've always wanted to do it, so we did! We walked up to the open door and peered into the courtyard. We waved at a few people, some people waved back. Then we tried to talk to them (more like yelling because the music was so loud) and a few came over. We had a great gospel conversation with them and they set up for tonight! #partycrashingmiracles
Hope you all have a wonderful moon festival!
Love,
Sister Larson
Sorry I know I shouldn't be quoting Katy Perry as a missionary. But I couldn't help it.
大家早
This week was great!! Crazy but great! Especially Thursday. Here's a rundown of how the day went.
• Biked an hour to our most progressing friend's appointment on an exchange bike at noon on a sunny day
• Realized the exchange bike was broken (meaning it was always braking bc the brakes were broken)
• Continued biking to our friend's house a billion miles away in ZhiBen
• Had a great lesson with our friend. She's awesome.
• On way back, the gears broke so I was stuck in gear 1 the whole time
• Made it back by 1:30 to buy lunch
• Bought (but didn't eat) lunch and a mango slushie and headed home to open the apartment for the gas guy to bring more gas to our apartment
• Got home and realized the keys were at the church. And the church was locked
• Biked as fast as we could to the other sisters who live in our apartment and grabbed the keys
• Made it home in time to open the door for the gas guy.
• 2:30 ate our lunch. So sad.
• Biked a fair distance to the baseball field in Taidong to sing the Taiwan national anthem #sanminzhuyi for a youth baseball competition
• Made it onto the news for the youth baseball competition #sisterlarsonisfamousonceagain
• Headed to a dinner appointment to say thank you for singing the national anthem
• Came back to the church for another lesson with a friend
• Finally made it home and basically died
• Realized we got sunburned and that I have a striped tan line on the side of my face from my helmet
• Counted our many blessings and reflected on the many many miracles of the day
• Slept like a rock
And then did basically the same thing everyday with slight variation. But in all actuality, this week was amazing!! Sister MacCabe and I saw so many miracles and we were so so blessed this week! I love love love Taidong.
Love you all!!
Love,
Sister Larson
Pics:
1. I love these sisters! We live with another companionship of Taiwanese sisters. It's so fun everyday. They think we are crazy lol.
2. Small break for companionship study after we sang the national anthem on Thursday
3. Getting ready to sing the national anthem
4. Selfie with me and Sister MacCabe
5. If you look far enough you can see the ocean. It just looks really small in the picture. We're actually super close in real life.
6. These are the kind of roads we take in Taidong. #taidonglife
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