It's already been a week and a half since I've been here in
Zuoying!! It was so good to skype and see all your faces, especially Jon
Jon's. haha JK. I loved seeing all of you!!
Ok, so the first few days here in Taiwan were so crazy!! I think
I was really anxious about the language and the people, and basically
everything. Things have settled in here, and I am SUPER comfortable
now. I feel like I'm at home. The food is great, my companion is
amazing, and the members here are so awesome. There are so many cute
Asian children over here. It's so fun to give them little letters and
candy. They love that I'm from America and have a weird sense of
humor. ahhaha I also love all the adults and members in our ward.
They always give us doujiang and all sorts of Asian delicious treats. I
think I'm gaining a lot of weight... Don't be surprised if I come back and look
like Santa Claus...
Just kidding. I'm not that fat... yet. So the
miracle story for this week is as follows:
Sister Lai and I were sitting in our apartment, very studious,
when I decided to look outside the window. It was so dark outside and looked
like it was going to rain, so I said, "Lai Jiemei!! It looks like it's
going to rain!!" (in Chinese) and then a SECOND later, LITERALLY, it
started POURING rain. It was hilarious. We just looked at each
other with the biggest eyes and started laughing. It was "Shen de anpei!"
(God's timing/doing/planning... something like that).
Anyway, everything has been doing very well. I passed the
first chapter of phase 1 yesterday to our district leader. I have made a
language plan and have an hour to study every day. Sister Lai is teaching
me to write Chinese, and so whenever I write letters to thank members for food
or to cheer them up, I write a line in English, Sister Lai translates it, and I
copy it down on the line below. It takes a long time at first, but I'm
getting faster and recognizing characters even better now!
Every night when we bike home, I like singing hymns with Sister
Lai. It's such a fun thing to do!!! I love riding bikes around
Zuoying.
Also, I've been able to play piano at church every week for
relief society. Yesterday, I was playing some hymns and decided to
improvise a little. Before the mission, I had a hard time improvising,
but now, it's so easy, and my improvisations actually sound good!! It's so
crazy. I feel like God has really blessed me with a better understanding
for music now that I am serving Him and putting Him first.
I know that God loves us and is aware of each and every one of
us. This week, I've realized how important it is to keep a journal and
record everything that happens. It's also really important to write down
your goals. A goal written down makes it easier to remember and then
to accomplish. I know that the time we have here on Earth is short, but
that makes it even more essential that we cherish every moment and work hard to
bring the world His truth. God is REAL. He listens and answers our
prayers. I see His mercy and love every day, and I know that we ALL can
witness the same things.
I love Taiwan and the people here. I love you all so
much.
Love,
Sister Verina Chen
PS Sorry I didn't have a lot of pictures this week. We
only take pictures on P-day or in the apartment, and we haven't done anything
exciting yet for P-day since we've been busy settling in.
PPS I cleaned the bathroom today and mopped the
floor/reorganized the apartment. I think I'm the first missionary to
every actually CLEAN the bathroom... haha I've noticed my OCD coming out a bit
more on my mission. I LOVE CLEANING.
Ok, so a lot of the pictures are from last week. For the
ones from this week:
Me taking out the trash!
The fish that I say good morning to every morning outside our
apartment!
My companion taking out the trash.
Me looking and pointing to Vicky's email address that is in my
companion's book.
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