1st Week in Taiwan

10/4/15

Family,

The typhoon was hecka crazy (By the way, has that word hit Utah yet? I picked it up in Modesto. All the little black kids say it and it is absolutely hilarious). My companion and I were in downtown Taipei sightseeing (I will send pictures) because it wasn't really raining or anything.... until we started heading back. So, it turns out, the MRT or metro shuts down when it goes above ground in a typhoon. We got completely stranded miles from home with no bikes or rain gear (because we didn't think we needed the rain coats and only brought umbrellas). Texts started coming in that everyone should be home and not go out proselyting. Trashcans were absolutely packed with broken umbrellas from the strong winds. Taxis are super expensive, so we didn't want to ride in one, and not only that but absolutely everyone from the train station was trying to get on one. So we found a bus that would take us closer to our apartment and where hopefully we could find a taxi, but it didn't come for 20 minutes so we were out in the rain with a ton of other people hanging out in a typhoon. It was so cool!!! Finally the bus came, and at the final bus stop we realized we hadn't said a prayer. So we did, and right after we met a guy that just so happened to have told us where to find the right bus and was heading two apartment buildings down from us. Crazy!! So he got a taxi and we rode safely the rest of the way. The food markets here are pretty awesome. There is a huge one near our apartment. There, you can find coagulated pig blood, a horrible smelling aroma from 300 ft away (the infamous chou dou fu or stinky tofu that I have yet to try), squid heads, complete fishes barely fried, octopus tentacles, rocky mountain oysters (not actually sure from what animal), all kinds of fruit, you name it! The Taiwanese give a whole new definition to the food named chicken legs. It looks like they hacked it off a chicken a few minutes ago and were too lazy to do anything else with it. Skin, claws, everything. Ew. Sorry for the disturbing picture but you didn't get to see or smell it. We got a much safer lunch there, consisting of a Taiwanese burrito and three big scones for each of us, amounting to 60 kuai or about US $2. Way cheap. Milk is about $5 or $6 in US dollars. There is about 30 kuai to a US dollar for future reference. I drank Pocari Sweat too, which is just another sports drink, despite the name and description on the bottle. Ok, I can't get over the weird old people at the parks in the mornings. They do so much moaning and things with their hands and extremely flexible things I've never seen anyone over 60 do. The exercise here is nothing of what it is in America. Well, I'm going to get a haircut after this, so wish me luck. It's so great to hear everything from back home! Tip for Mary: just get out there and play soccer. Honestly that's the best way to get good at something: do it. I'll be trying to send letters out soon! Love you all!

-Elder Hawkes

Hey! First full week in Taiwan has come and gone and I still don't think I'm quite in the swing of things. I went to a new missionary orientation with the MTC district that came in a week after I did and re-met my trainer! It was pretty funny because they provided lunch, which included a bian dan (just a small tray of food) and Cocos (the drink of all Taiwanese missionaries). To our dismay, it was discovered that we had accidentally ordered drinks with tea. Call to church headquarters: Hey we have a problem. What? About 40 missionaries drank tea. Did you tell the mission president? He drank it too.

Cultural Observations:

-Banana spiders really are real. I had heard of their fame, but I ran into one the other day and I just about died. They are bright blue and yellow, and literally the size of a dinner plate. Now I know where J.R.R. Tolken got his inspiration for Shelob's Lair.

-everyone in Taiwan is either busy, 'busy', or super nice. Either we go up to them on the street and they say "don't have time" or they stop and listen to our whole message.

-knocking doors in my area is just a figment of our imaginations. Everyone lives in apartment buildings with only one entrance, and usually entrance is only attainable by going through a blast door, buzzing in, getting past the security guy who does facial recognition, using the electronic key attached to your apartment key, and finally getting through the final blast door with the apartment key. Consequently, we don't knock doors and usually meet people places anywhere but their home.

One hard thing about Taiwan is pretty obvious--language. I wish I could tell a lot of spiritual experiences and the like, but honestly I don't even know if we have had any. I pick up the "Hello. Hello. How are you? Good. What's your name? (Something unintelligible). Cool! My name is Bo Zhang Lao." That's where I insert my name in addition to my companions and sit back and enjoy the scenery. Ok, not really, I really try to understand, but I think it would be more effective if I just enjoyed the workers practically hospitalizing themselves by attempting to clean up the typhoon remnants. It's easy to think that I am less of a missionary than I was before I started my mission. From a world's perspective, that is absolutely true. I'm not doing practically anything. Nevertheless, I hear the words of my district leader from Modesto: "You're a missionary wherever you are." So I put on the smile, add a hop to my step, and try to bring the Spirit wherever I go. From God's perspective, we are all missionaries--no matter the place, no matter the people, no matter the language, no matter the circumstance--and have been called to bring people closer to Christ. Trust me: it's easier done than said. If I'm a missionary without hardly ever saying a word, how much better of a missionary can you be? Conference is next week for us, but I hope you all got the chance to listen to as much of their inspired words as you could. Love you all!