It's Guonian

Okay, Guonian is like the Christmas in America here....but bigger. It goes on for a week and basically no one wants to meet with us during this week. But, on the bright side we have qingkes (invited over for meal) everyday for the next couple of days. They stuff us with so much food...I'm talking like mass amounts of food. The best is when you're full but then they look at you and they give you this look that's like "oh you're not done yet" and then you have another bowl. I haven't had too much unfamiliar food yet as I usually don't ask what it is, but I am pretty sure I am going to get real fat over the next week. Oh well but I will still take all the food and soup that were offered to me

Miracles: 

People have actually set up with us during Guonian which is a huge blessing!! A former investigator called us earlier this month and we set up with her for tonight which is amazing!!! Both Sister Austad and I haven't met her so we are excited to see how it goes tonight.

We also got some really cool new investigators a couple days ago, one is named Liao Jiemei and she has one daughter. She's super busy so it was just pure luck that we got to meet her. It was raining so there weren't a lot of people out but we were walking past her and I just decided to compliment her jacket and then she stopped and talked with us on the street. We ended up teaching her all about prayer and she invited us over for Guonian! We ended up just having to set up with her later because she was going to Keelong which is no longer a part of our area. 

Another one we met was Huang Dixiong. We said a prayer with him and usually when we ask how they felt they are usually like oh I felt peace or indifferent but when we asked him he said that it felt SACRED. Both my companion and I were blown away and we set up with him for a pass off lesson to the elders! (Our mission has a new rule where we can't teach the opposite sex). 

In our English class we met this really cool girl named Joanna who is 15 (we just meet a lot of people named Joanna here) and it turns out that she goes to a boarding school near Taichung. She is only back here for winter break and goes back in a couple weeks. She actually came to our English class because she remembered it from years ago! It turns out that when she was 7 she saw two Elders on the street and her mom told her to go and talk English with them. She ended up taking a couple of lessons but never got baptized. She came back after all these years because she remembered that and that she loves the feeling of our church. She's read the entire Book of Mormon and she believes this church is true but she's unsure if her mom will say yes. If her mom says yes then we have 3 weeks to teach her and have her be baptized!! The only problem is she has school all the time and we have to help her figure out how to go to church on Sundays. 

We ate at Liu Jiemei's apartment a couple days ago (she's our investigator) along with the Elders, we taught her the Word of Wisdom!! In Taiwan the biggest problem is smoking, tea, and beetle nut. We thought this one would be a tough one since she had this huge coffee machine right on the table, but she is honestly so golden!! We told her the Word of Wisdom and she was just like, "I hate getting drunk (alcohol), I wasn't really into coffee and tea anyway, and I don't do drugs or smoke." Ah she's just so awesome.

Nonspiritual stuff:

We are still alive luckily!! We are moving apartments!  So we are temporarily staying in Songshan with Sister Kim and Sister Reinhard. We only packed a week’s clothes. They can’t really do anything until after the New Year. We have to travel back and forth from Songshan to Xizhi, so we lose about two hours a day for traveling but I love my area so much...I never want to leave! We have to take the Train and MRT. When we are in our area we bike.

Yesterday in Songshan, the fire alarm went off EVERY SINGLE HOUR during the early morning hours. Was there a fire? No. There was no smoke at all. Sister Reinhard and Sister Kim said it's happened a few times, but last night was a rough one. We slept until like 3 when the fire alarm went off for no reason. Then it went off every hour until 7. We didn't get a really good sleep the past couple days. So we were very tired.

I also gave my first talk in Mandarin yesterday and it's okay, our ward is honestly so nice.

I slipped on a broom in our apartment. One day I will not be clumsy. 

At a Qingke they offered me Pig feet. They were like oh eat this and my face is just like oh.....okay and it's just squishy sitting in my bowl. 

We also had to bike up the tallest mountain in Xizhi to a member’s house one night for qingke. It was so hard to bike up the mountain, but the food was so worth it.

My companion is also awesome and she deheads shrimp for me.... because I literally cannot dehead a shrimp. I can't take it when their little black eyes make eye contact with me. It's like they're watching me....ugh. But the shrimp here is so good.

  

I love you guys! Stay safe and healthy! 新年快樂!!!

--

趙姐妹

--

Sister Tiffany Chao

Taiwan Taipei Mission

4/F, #24, Lane 183

Jin Hua Street

Da-an, Taipei 106

Taiwan

So it's Chinese new year here!!

                                        

At the missionary broadcast I got to see Sister Lim and Sister Kim!!

We also got to visit the Taipei 101, they have the most expensive stores there.