Dàjiā hǎo! Hi everyone!
This week was the busiest/most fun/best/craziest week of my whole mission! We had soo many lessons and invitations through our church peeps. IT'S THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD!
I will start off with telling you about this past week by sharing what I did on my last p-day with my comp the elders and a friend named Lu JieMei, which involved the one and only Modern Toilets restaurant. (Warning: photos might make your stomach turn) This restaurant is more than I can ever describe to you in words so I will just let the pictures speak for it and say that it was actually really good and only slightly morbid. And yes, it's all things toilet from the dishware to the seats to the decor...oh and of course the look (only) of the food.
This place does not mess around.
Free with every meal!
Continuing on...the next day we had a lesson with Zhao Jin Fan and she is doing well! Sister Rhynard and I felt a lil bit weird though because we sortttt of ended up being match makers and the person who came with us from our church to help us teach really hit it off with Jin Fan. hahahah OOPS. The lesson went well though and she came to church yesterday! After the lesson we took a lil pit stop because my bike could not pull it together. The chain, my tire, some screws and my brakes all had problems. Reason #239847 why Taiwan is the best is that all of the fixing up only cost $180 NTD...which converts to $4 US... cha bu duo!! :o
That night we had a lesson and dinner with the amazing Wu Cai Hua. HOW CUTE IS SHE
Next, this past week the pollution was the worst I have seen it yet. (luckily it rained and it got better) I decided I needed a picture in my trusty face mask. project #becometaiwanese is going well!
Bian DX, from our church, showed up at our apartment with this FEAST for us and the elders! The best part -- it was VEGAN!
Continuing on with food...by Thursday Sister Rhynard and I realized "ah end of the month and we have no money left for food!" even though we felt we had tried to be frugal. But then a miracle happened. At EVERY single appointment we had that day people gave us food to take home with us (no, we didn't ask or mention our predictament). AND that night when we got home, Cai JM (from our church) was waiting at our apartment with a ginormous box of food for us...like A WHOLE WEEK'S+ WORTH OF FOOD! I almost cried. I don’t understand how these people are so good and how they know every single time we are in need of something!
Here's what we were given.
Friday we got to make 饅頭 with one of our Sisters, 林姐妹!! (notice although I'm still talking about food I've tried to disguise it in chinese characters). Papa, these remind me a lot of the "toughies" you make except they aren't tough at all hahaha SO MUCH FUN! We made well over 50 饅頭 and then packaged them up to go take to people in our church! It was tons of fun getting to learn how to bake from a master steamed dumpling maker! It really surprises me how different the cooking and baking styles are in Taiwan from the U.S. Probably the number one difference is that Taiwanese don't add butter or oil to their foods (excluding night market foods!) I told a friend here that in America people cook their vegetables with oil and she was so disgusted. She said "why would you ruin them?”
The sassiest person you'll ever meet in her kitchen: 林姐妹 (laura you would be surprised)
饅頭 extravaganza! the process: we added taro and sweet potato to our 饅頭
awww wook how cute my child is :'))))
太平山!!!!!
Saturday was I N C R E D I B L E. We got to go to a church activity about an hour out of Taibei to a mountain called 太平山! It was unbelievable. But I do have to tell you about the ride up there. We were in a bus and I am really not used to riding in cars now so when I do I get really, really carsick. Well turns out that the road up this mountain could also be known as the road of switchbacks that never ever, everrrrr ends. A straight hour and a half of switchbacks. I have never been so sick in ma whole LIFE! It was like I was spinning and then someone kept spinning me and I couldn't ask them to stop. Finally, I couldn't handle it anymore and asked my friend Ji JM how close we were. I had to kind of turn back to look at her to ask and basically that was the worst decision ever and made the car-sickness 20 times worse! My entire body went into shock and started shaking so badly I had no control over it. I blacked out and when I started regaining consciousness there was someone in our group doing Chinese medicine on me and putting all these ointments on me and using this weird brush thing on my neck and feeding me these weird seeds and hitting my back with a paddle thing....(wish I had a picture of the ordeal, especially the paddle hitting my back moment haha)
1st thing: Chinese Medicine is magic
2nd thing: I have no idea where all the 東西 came from but I have decided that it's like the equivalent of a first aid kit but more effective.
3rd thing: IT WORKED!
4th thing: the people here are angels. They were so worried about me the rest of the day and everyone kept asking how I was doing :') I LOVE THEM
As for 太平山!! It was sooo beautiful. The weather was rainy and foggy and we could not see the view at all because we were basically in a cloud but it made for the freshest air I have breathed in 6 months! It really felt like we entered another world up there. I realized that I have gotten really used to living in a big city because it was shocking to not see a ton of people or hear noises or see big buildings! It was so tranquil. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed the neature.
Hiking Taiwanese style!! (walking up stairs and man-made paths) p.s. we do not know these people I just liked them :]
The next part of the trip was a hot spring! But this was NOT anything at all like the hot springs you are thinking of. It's more like a mini volcano with boiling hot water.
In the boiling water people were cooking food! WUT We got to boil corn and eggs to perfection in only about 2 minutes. It was the best corn and boiled egg I have had in my life...mmm sulphur (no really it gave it an incredible flavor)
taiwan i love you
寧靜 lunch with ma people
This week was the best week of my mission. We made so many memories that I will cherish forever! I am so grateful for this experience and the opportunity to meet some of the most incredible people. Something I have learned on my mission is how important it is to talk to other people and how important relationships are in general. As a missionary, I talk to everyone every day and maybe that isn't the most normal thing to do, but people make our lives so rich! I have been learning that a lot of the time Heavenly Father answers my prayers through other people. I'm so grateful for every single person I have in my life. I believe that every person has a special purpose and reason for being in our lives and we see that at the times that we need them or they need us.
I am so thankful for every single one of you. I love you.
大家: 我愛你們!!!
Have a great week xoxo
莫