Fixing Tipped Motorscooters and the Way to Happy

11/2/15

Well, this last week was totally awesome as usual! I do have to say, Taiwan has some craaaaazy people. Like, crazy. I don't know what it is about Taiwan, but the proportion of crazy to sane is much higher than any place I have ever been. People just loose their minds and then go looking for them. I will give you an example. I was sitting in church yesterday, fasting, while all of you were trick or treating, when a guy named Kevin in his early 20's walks in. Kevin's elevator doesn't go quite to the top floor, and for some inexplicable reason, he speaks English. Kevin also happens to be gay, and gives extremely awkward hugs. This time, however, he sits down right next to me, and starts trying to hold my hand. The teacher, rather nonchalantly while continuing to teach, walks over and shakes Kevin's hand, effectively rejecting the gesture of adoration. Aha! I have the solution. He tries holding my hand a few more times (to which I apply the new-found technique) and voila! He shakes my hand and then returns to just sitting there. Five awkward minutes go by and he leaves.

Other Very Interesting People:

-One man who yelled at the world and went around Beitou Park tipping motorscooters by the dozen

-One 93-year-old member who speaks like Scooby-Doo and lives in a care center where they are allowed to roam the streets as long as they come back at the end of the day

-One homeless guy who has been known to lay in middle of the street outside of the MRT (Metro) station, moaning until an ambulance comes (this is a common occurrence)

-Many old ladies that go up into the mountains to feed the armies of wild dogs that live there and come down into the city

The first of those very interesting people actually turned into an awesome experience. After the crazy man left, almost getting hit by a bus in the process, my trainer Elder Boyce suggested we go and put up all the motorscooters he had tipped over. So we followed his trail of wrath putting all the motorscooters upright. A man came over that was in charge of watching the entrance of a hotel and said to us, "So nice! You very kind!" That really sunk deep. I hadn't even thought to pick up those motorscooters, but my trainer saw the opportunity to live like Christ: the opportunity to serve others. Sure it wasn't our responsibility, sure we didn't teach any lessons. We did, however, show everyone that saw us performing that act of service that the Gospel is about something much more than coming to church, much more than an excuse to not feel guilty about a mistake, and much more than a baptismal statistic. I learned in that moment, maybe if not for the first time but from a new and deeper perspective, that my work here as a missionary is much easier than I ever thought it was or even could be. You all are the best and I hope I continue to try to live up to the standard you all have set for me. Best of luck!

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So, I absolutely have no idea what to get any of you for Christmas. And don't even say 'oh you don't need to get anything for us! You're letters are juuust fine!' No! I will have none of that! Let me know next week so I can send something, even if it might be late for Christmas. I've heard it takes two or three weeks for a package so we still have some time. And now, so I'm not a hypocrite, I will ask each of you for a gift. Keep in mind that these are just examples and that I would love anything, but I will give you suggestions: Christian, I need some bookmarks! I have a lot of things I need bookmarks for so make some bookmarks that can take some wear-and-tear and make them scream "HEY! Christian made these!!" Mary, I neglected to bring any music with me. Maybe you could put some church music on my orange flashdrive, on a CD, or my little tiny ipod. MOTAB, hymns, EFY albums, BYU Men's Choir, nothing fancy. Sarah, Plan of Salvation cards! You should totally make some for me. Pre-mortal Life, Birth, Earth-Life, Death, Spirit World, Resurrection/Judgement/Immortality, and the three kingdoms. They can be little 3D trinkets or flat laminated stuff, but leave a way for me to put the Chinese characters on them. Dad, poem or haiku about the biggest lesson you learned on your mission. Or just a paragraph or two. Something simple don't get too complicated on me. Mom, you are difficult. I know you will add things regardless of what I ask for, so I'm tempted to not suggest anything specific, but a little trinket like a bookend would be fantastic. Other than that, throw in my kangaroo coin pouch and my monorail pin somewhere in my room and that is an absolutely awesome Christmas present. If anything, that all is probably a bit too much, I just want something super small that doesn't even take a lot of time from each of you. Anything that makes my body temperature raise any higher than it already is is forbidden. Just kidding, but let's just say I won't be getting snow for Christmas. I wake up every morning covered in sweat. It's just a nice perk of Taiwan. Please please tell me what you want for Christmas! It really is so hard! If you want Ponyo, Totorro, Howl's Moving Castle, or any of the Miazaki? movies I can send them in Chinese. Interesting but not too useful. Chopsticks? I really have no idea. I have one gift for one of you and that is it so help me out... Also! My family names for the temple on FamilySearch need to be done, you should do them! There might even be one for you Mary! (sorry if there isn't)

I saw the saddest thing today. It was a guy with his shirt off and his elbows wrapped with cloth, army crawling through the local market, pushing a bin of coins and pulling a crate tied to his waist full of odds and ends and a radio playing Chinese music behind his twisted legs. As he slowly crawled through the market full of people, my heart just dropped. I had no idea how to help this man. What a heart-wrenching scene. Reflecting on it now, I see that same man in every person I see: crippled, crawling through life with no hopes for the future, dragging a crate behind them full of sin. All they leave behind them is the small echo of Chinese music. Without the Gospel, these people are worse off than he was. I may not know how to help that poor poor man, but I do know how to help everyone else that lives here. I'm sharing the way to become happy: the way to live life to the fullest. I have been blessed with this incredible calling, and every day I spend I realize that more and more.

You are all the best and I can't wait to Skype you 2 months from now! Let me know what each of you wants for Christmas in your letter next week and I will see what I can do! Also let me know if you got the letter I sent with a few little things in it. I love you Dad, Mom, Sarah, Mary, and Christian!!!

Temples and Phubbers

10/25/15

Another week on the island of Formosa come and gone! This last week, I got to go to the temple. I have to say, it was the funniest temple experience I have ever had but also one with very deep spiritual meaning. All the temple workers are Chinese (for obvious reasons), but they choose ones that can.... speak?.... English to work at the temple on days that missionaries come for poor Elders like me that have no idea what is being said in Chinese. Pigeon English is officially my favorite language. It is hilarious. And everyone once in a while, they would give up and just switch into Chinese and I would pretend I knew what they were saying. At the same time, it really sunk deep when I did the endowment for a man named Miao Ji Hua. That name just sunk in. This Gospel really is for everyone, and that man that lived around 200 years ago in China could have been waiting for not only people to do the ordinance for him, but also for someone to find his name and even for the Gospel to be preached in Taiwan so someone would be able to find his name. How incredible that I get to participate in two of those parts.

This is the best work in the world. The food is amazing, racing through the streets on my bike is fantastic, the people are superb, I see miracles every day, I don't have to worry about school or anything, it's awesome!!! Language? Well, yes, it's uh... coming is a good word for it, yes. Coming along. It's hard not to be able to just speak--to just let out words. Every day, however, I learn a bit more and more and am able to understand more and more.

People in Taiwan are super blunt. Yesterday the recent convert we were meeting with straight up told me I was looking fat right after we sat down. I got a pretty good laugh at that (as long as I can bike up the huge stupid hill to get to your house I'll be fine!!!). I've heard the Chinese food actually plumps up the cheeks a bit, but I didn't know it was THAT noticeable.

Weird Burgers I Have Eaten Lately:

-Octopus shaving, cabbage, mayo, shrimp burger with rice paddies

-PBB Burger (and yes that stands for peanut butter and banana)

Also, a tip from Taipei city: "Don't be a phubber." For this we have to look at the literal Chinese to English translation: "Don't be a phone-rubber." Still doesn't make sense? Under the inscription is a cracked phone with red spots and a stick-figure walking. Apparently, it's a very gruesome campaign to end looking at your phone while crossing the street. I dunno, don't ask me.

Yesterday, we had a young man call us. He had been on our radar for a while because he didn't want to meet with missionaries until he had finished the Book of Mormon (what??). He finished!!!! He has already been to church and everything, and I am so excited to meet with him! Yesterday we were meeting with a recent convert, and I felt impressed to say "At the end of it all, we are just ordinary beings with an incredible calling." Must've been inspired to say it because up until then I really hadn't thought about it that way, but it's true--missionaries are ordinary people. Nevertheless, God has given us an enormous calling to come to this earth and to learn and to grow: to become perfect through his perfect plan. How grateful I am for that trust in me to do his work in Beitou. I love you all so much and I hope you all have an incredible week! 

-- Elder Hawkes

P.S. I just learned that Suzie--one of our investigators in Modesto, CA--was baptized last week! So excited for her

Teaching and "Releasing Pigeons"

10/20/15

Sorry this email is coming in on a different day, I get to go to the Taiwan Temple today!! I'm so excited! Anyways, first off I have to apologize if my emails lately haven't been quite up to par. It's pretty hard to remember that there actually might be someone else reading this and sometimes I forget and just use it as a 'pep-talk' for myself. So, from now on I will just say the things I have learned in the past week and then throw in a bunch of fun stuff. Sound good? Ok!

I've got to say, there is no better feeling in the world than passing a BMW on a bike. No better feeling. Granted, in Taiwan the streets are so narrow and there are so many motorcycles that cars can't move faster than 20 mph, but when you pass a car and then see the BMW symbol on it.... There is no way to describe it.

Cultural Experiences:

-You have to learn three languages in Taiwan: Mandarin (obviously), the language of the Spirit, and pigeon-English. Seriously. Their English is so bad. Old people yell at you in Taiwanese every once in a while, but you don't actually have to know what they are saying.

-Oh, they have open sewers. I'll leave it at that.

-Stairs aren't even

-Had my first earthquake

-The sidewalks sparkle

The coolest thing ever happened yesterday. The past week, my companion and I 'went ham'. We got 33 lessons in a week when most companionships struggle to get over 20, us included. It wasn't anything we did, the Lord just had a lot of people for us to share lessons with that weren't usually there. So then this Monday when we usually have Preparation Day, we had absolutely nothing scheduled. It was literally empty. So we went finding all day. Street contacting for 4 hours and passing out English flyers for 1 hour. Street contacting is where we get the majority of our lessons, so we were expecting to have so much success, probably around 7 or 8 lessons. We got 2. They were right at the end of finding too, right after the trial of our faith. I've found so much on my mission that those miracles come right at the end. We had said a prayer with one of those two lessons to help him find a job, and guess who told us they had received a call offering them a job yesterday? He did! It was incredible. He even asked Elder Boyce if they could do a prayer over the phone, so they did. I love you all so much and I am grateful for the example you all have been in my life! 

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Sorry, but I wasn't able to get all of those pictures, I did get some though! Dad's right about another big storm. It's pretty funny hearing everything from you that I've been experiencing here, I've got some funny things to share. First, the Taiwanese hate rain. I can't explain it! They are so scared of it. The minute a raindrop falls WHOOSH their rain ponchos come out. That's mostly what they wear here, just a light rain poncho that goes all the way down to the knees. Mostly they just stay inside when it rains. Typhoons are even funnier. I ask everybody, "Hey when is the next typhoon coming?" And they all kind of say, "Oh, next Monday!"  In reality, nobody actually knows when the typhoons come because they travel so slow. They all kind of know that a typhoon is coming, but nobody is 100% sure. This next one coming in the next few days apparently has the potential to get huge though, Dad would know better than me. I'll take some pictures though. Second thing, Elder Boyce and I actually jogged to Puji Temple a few weeks ago. The other temple you mentioned in your letter dad is out of our area. We only cover about half of Bei Tou itself, and then our area extends down to include a small part of Shilin. Today we are going to Chiang Kai Shek, so that should be amazing and I will definitely send pictures. So we were jogging the other morning, and I was thinking about Elder Colton Richman's companion who is named Elder Superman. Really. Superman. And I was like, hey, what if there was a kid named Bruce Bateman, and the teacher starts calling roll, says his name, and in the most Batman-like voice he says, "the E is silent". It gave me a pretty good laugh as I jogged down stairs surrounded by wild dogs and banana spiders. I'll let you in on a common occurrence here in Taiwan. It's called 'fang ge zi', or being 'stood-up'. But when you literally translate it to English, it means releasing pigeons. What?? All I can say is that I don't have many pigeons left because investigators release ours on a daily basis. I love you all! By the way, optimal solution for letters and such I think is going to be receiving all paper mail, and sending all email. Other than that, I might be a bit stuck. So tell me how this sounds: continue sending mail in letters no matter how slow, and send me each family member's email so I can send one out every once in a while in response to your letter. Every so often I will try to get out a handwritten as well, but it will mostly be that. Sound good? Let me know! I love you all!

-Elder Hawkes

Excuses, Cultural Differences, and Compliments

10/11/15

Family!

My companion is Elder Boyce from Boston, but his family is currently living in Provo. He is an incredible worker and we are working so hard. Well, he does the majority of the talking but we work super hard together otherwise. Typical day involves getting up and jogging up the mountains to absolutely stunning views out into Taipei city or to Buddhist shrines or temples. Soon followed by a bowl of cereal because Elder Boyce is obsessed with cereal (man after my own heart). We do studies in the morning, and then out to eat lunch at one of the many food places around our apartment, including an awesome market. Then we start the normal day meeting with investigators, less actives, and recent converts sometimes at their homes but mostly at parks and restaurants. Eat dinner, go finding at MRT stations, go back to the apartment, do a ton of calling because my companion is district leader, finally finish up planning and everything else, and hit the bed. Normal day. Food is incredible. And the portion sizes are huge here. You just keep eating and eating but don't really get fat. Ward is great, the members love cooking at the church. There aren't too many of them, but our area isn't even that big anyway so there is more than you would expect. The majority of the people are just super busy. You go up to them to talk with them and they say, literally translated, "I have things", "No time", or "no use". They are all really nice and polite about it though, we don't get yelled at that much, except by the crazy people here. There are so many crazies! Just today there was one roaming the street tipping over motorcycles one after the other and then almost got hit by a bus (we followed his path of destruction and put the bikes back upright). Biggest challenges include language and... language. They pretty much all stem from the language. Because I don't know what is going on, I don't know if what I say actually fits in with the lesson and it is really hard to stay awake. But I absolutely love it. I love learning new words and phrases and it really is an amazing language. Sometimes I wish it would come faster (ok maybe a little more than sometimes), but I know it will come and I am really enjoying myself. Just looking up at the huge apartment buildings and saying 'hey I'm in Taiwan' is just the best. Bathrooms are weird. They use tissues fom like a box instead of toilet paper. The shower head isn't in the wall, it just comes off. There isn't a shower place to step into either, like, no tub. The bathroom is just all tile and the showerhead is right by the toilet. Still not really sure how to shower correctly. Can't drink the water too, you can see things wriggling in it after leaving it still for a few days. Apartment is small, but they all are in Taiwan. Sorry that was a lot in a short amount of time, I'm just trying to get my thoughts out because I'm out of time. Also, how do we want to do letters? I really don't think I have time on Preparation Day's to write letters to all of you even though I want to. Can I just do emails or something? Even that would be hard, but easier than writing letters. Let me know how best to do that. You all are the best and I love you!!!

-Elder Hawkes

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Finally got to watch conference (in English, yay the church is true!) and it was so awesome! I absolutely loved the messages we heard from all of the apostles. They left us with so many things to start applying into our lives: centering our lives on Christ like clay on a potter's wheel, 'ponderize' a scripture weekly, smile, etc. Totally awesome!

So missionaries in Taiwan compliment everyone. It's just a thing we do. The Taiwanese love it. The most common one is calling men 'shuai' or handsome. Even old guys. So we are street contacting at a train station, and we start talking to this guy who happens to have the same last name as me (happens a lot in Chinese). To be funny, I jokingly called him 'shuai ge ge' or 'handsome older brother'. No harm in that right? My companion and I kind of laughed, and then later in the conversation we found out that he was gay and so he wasn't really interested in the church. Awesome. I just called a gay guy handsome.

More normal cultural experiences:

-all the car mirrors fold in, or there wouldn't be any

-stray dogs are everywhere, and little old ladies go up into the mountains to feed them

-they have stackable bike racks at MRT (metro) stations! Stackable!

-the Taiwanese put on coats and jackets under 80 F degrees

-they have playgrounds for old people to work out on

-the stoplights countdown until they turn green

Coolest miracles this week ever! One less active member has had missionaries working with him for a long time because he couldn't quit smoking. He would smoke 40 cigarettes a day. We met with him last week on my birthday, and he told us that he had just stopped smoking! The day of the last typhoon, he couldn't find any cigarettes to smoke after searching the whole house and it was too windy to go get more, so he just quit. Just like that. 40 a day to 0 a day just like that. He started having a hard time sleeping because of the withdrawals, so what does he do? He reads the Book of Mormon until he falls asleep. Incredible! and get this: We had gotten the impression to bike up a huge hill in part of our area to go finding because missionaries hadn't worked there in a long time the day after the typhoon. We had talked to him and set up an appointment for the next week the day after he had quit smoking. So cool!! I love you all! Have an incredible week!

Life in Taiwan

this is about a 1/10 of all the bikes at a single MRT station, not including motorbikes. Not even kidding. I probably under-exaggerated. They are literally everywhere

rare food found only in Taiwan, and only in Dan Shui. Now that I have eaten it I know why. It's a tofu ball you poke open and clear noodles come out. Oh and the whole thing is soaked in red sauce. Kind of like worms coming out of a big spiders egg.

"Dear customers, please play your civic-minded, do not put trash in here."

the majority of my apartment

squirrel shower head that I recently purchased because the last one broke

creepy construction workers who spoke weird English. 

One of the awesome Buddhist temples in the area. 

What happens when members drop off food

Letter to Sarah 1

10/20/15

Couldn't resist responding to all those questions you've asked. They are awesome! The music we listen to is mostly sappy Mormon music but occasionally you get a good song that is worth listening to. Missionary humor is way different than regular humor. Most of it has to do with Gospel topics, and is kind of like a Seminary joke. It's horrible unless you are on a mission. We try to give out around 5 or 6 Book of Mormons a week. Something discovered getting along with companions.... Rough. It's pretty hard. Mostly, don't look for the faults. There are so so so many little things that you can pick out and criticize, but there are also so many big things that you can praise them on. You got to get past the little things to see the big things. Also, when criticizing others, it's interesting because I use the word 'I' a lot. Who would have thought? I've found when you take the word 'I' out of the equation, you look more positively on others. How to focus your prayers so they are more meaningful? I don't know if you have heard my solution before, but I sometimes like to say two prayers. One where I get everything out that I normally say, and then the next one you are forced to really think. To think deeper. It's awesome. Give it a try. It doesn't work for everyone, but it's a suggestion. How to not spiritual plateau. That's a good one. Along with making the scripture study more meaningful. So one of the greatest ironies of missionary work is that you don't have enough time to read the scriptures. We get one hour of personal study a day, and it certainly isn't enough. When studying, I have a few suggestions that might also help with not spiritually plateauing (That's a word? My auto correct isn't underlining plateauing!!). First, have a purpose. You need a reason to study other than "I need to study". Second, set aside the time. Third, keep a study journal. Those three things have helped me so stinking much. Having a purpose helps you really focus on learning something. Go into a study with a question or a topic you would like to learn about. Study about a quality you would like to possess, etc. Make it meaningful and take steps to actually apply it rather than read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and forget it the next day like I did throughout High School. Setting aside the time allows you to have a time where you can actually focus. Study journal is a super important part. Each time you study, write one thing down that you learned. One thing. It can be super short. When you do this, it helps you reflect on what you just did and actually get something out of it. When you go back, you have a journal filled of thoughts and impressions that are meaningful. I have some other advice on the whole Kelly thing that I would like to share with you, but I've got to do it next week I'm sorry. Those are some tips you can try and use as you would like. Ultimately, it's your own study. Good luck! Also, my ponderizing scripture is Philippians 4: 11-13, what is yours and the family's? I love you!

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!