New to Beitou

12/13/15

Yep, our shower stopped putting out heat a few days ago and started putting out ice cubes. Seriously. Like, it's a perfect 70 degrees outside, we live in a city famous for it's natural hot springs, and the water coming out of the tap is THAT cold??

Cultural Experiences:

-most popular hymn in Taiwan: "Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses".

-you have to ziptie boards to your car tires so the armies of wild dogs don't come and pee on your car. Once one dog uses your car tire as a restroom, and you're done for

-McDonalds, KFC, and a host of other restaurants do home delivery on little motorscooters

-Taiwanese hate putting their purses, backpacks, or shoulder bags on the floor in restaurants, so most of the time a little stool or another chair is provided

Shorter email today because we are going to the Taipei zoo (which only costs US $2 to get in to!). Yesterday was a pretty big day for us. It was stake conference, and a Elder Funk of the Seventy was there because they split the Taipei East Stake into two stakes, creating the 15th stake in Taiwan! Beitou, where I am serving, is now part of the Taipei North Stake! Two whole floors of the huge chapel by the mission office were completely filled and it was so cool to see. There weren't the overwhelming numbers of members you would see at General Conference in Salt Lake City, but it truly was a testament to the fact that the church in Taiwan really is growing. What a sight to see: rows upon rows of Taiwanese that have been blessed by the knowledge of the Gospel!

Transfers are this Thursday, but I will probably stay in Beitou. I will let you all know next week. I love you all and I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season!

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Family: 

Transfers and new companion will be news for next week, and unfortunately we were unsuccessful in getting the Christmas present early, so it looks like the Grinch really did steal Christmas... well, at least until Christmas... Oh wait! Until 3 days before Christmas when we are pretending to celebrate it.... Haha we certainly aren't rockstar missionaries, although I do think we are getting stuff done and just being unlucky. The mission goal is for every missionary companionship to get a baptism every month, although it isn't always that. Beitou really struggles, at least in the Elder's area. The Sisters have had quite a few baptisms lately. Keep working on the skype thing, I need to know how I can reach you guys before next Monday so I can get my end up and running. No worries about the computer time and letters, I just figured emailing typed letters would be more convenient and cheaper. Oh, so nobody in Taiwan cares about rats. I have seen a ton of them. Last night, we were having a lesson on the street, and as we were talking with this lady, I watched like three rats running around the sidewalk and road behind her and my companion. They were just casually scurrying around for like 20 minutes. What's worse is when I see them in the food market............. Don't worry! I eat safe! I love you guys!!!

-Elder Hawkes

Overpriced treat

DanShui Sunset 

exchanges with Elder Peterson from my MTC group (I didn't take this while riding....)

'praying' mantis grasshopper butterfly

Sarah, if you get into anime, there is a job in Asia waiting for you. Actually, this kinda seems more like something I would do, but I don't have the art skills. Luckily I don't know the price tag, a member bought this lunch for us.

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