Sister Lydia Jensen-Taiwan, Taipei Mission: Week 16-Sept. 25, 2108

CUTE!

Hey fambam!

Ahhhh! It's so hard to describe everything in an email! but Taiwan is wonderful and I feel like I fit in a lot better with the faster paced mission culture and work here! It's amazing how much I feel like I truly was called here by inspiration just from meeting President and some of the missionaries and being here a couple days! I'm definitely feeling a little lost and overwhelmed with the language, but that was expected ;) My trainer said I'm doing great because I didn't cry at all in church yesterday. lol I felt like it tho ;) I somehow managed to introduce myself and share my favorite scripture in sacrament meeting but that was all I understood from church. Haha

My trainer is legit the best! She says "that's so happy!" all the time and its hilarious! We laugh a lot together which is fantastic ;) She also sings so we are going to do some sweet musical numbers!

Today we went to Taipei 101 and the mall next to it for preparation day! I'll attach some pics :) we got some amazing boba in milk with brown sugar drink! Theres so many weird but good fruits here and we eat out for lunch and dinner cuz it's so cheap. Luckily all the apartments have AC machines and filters on the taps and washing machines, but we still get some cockroaches and ants coming to visit. I surprisingly dont really mind tho. We are sweaty like all the time but it rains all the time too Haha so we're just kinda always wet. but we got some cool rain poncho things today!

Here's some stuff I wrote in my weekly:

If I had to describe Taiwan in one word it would be CUTE! The language, the people, the streets, the culture, everything is so cute!

President Peterson and his wife are so awesome and have welcomed us into the mission family with open arms! I have the best trainer in the world and we are serving in Songshan where Taipei 101 is! The nightlife here is so fun so we work till 9:30, bed by 11, and wake up at 7! I love biking so much! We get to talk to all the cute motorcyclists at the stoplights for 90 seconds! It's a struggle though with the humidity, my hair is always the size of Alaska! I'm learning to manage the sweat, frizz and helmet hair all at once! ;) My bike is already like my baby, I love it so much! It's fun doing all our studies in 7-11s and Starbucks because we talk to so many people!

Funny story: Yesterday my trainer said "In gospel principles class today we talked about..." and I just started laughing because it was so funny how she said it like I wasn't sitting next to her the whole time but I had no idea what we talked about, so it made sense she would say that!

Also, there's a random muscle in my forearm that's sore from eating with chopsticks 25/8!

Scripture of the week :

Alma 36:24 "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." I know this gospel can bring so much peace and joy to our lives and I love sharing it with others. After three hours of church in Chinese, I just felt so much relief and comfort as I opened the Book of Mormon and read the first chapter again. It felt like coming home and I felt at peace despite the overwhelming amount of Chinese that morning. I just read it like a novel and paid attention to how I felt as opposed to the details of each verse separately and it was so good. I invite you all to text your favorite Book of Mormon verse to a friend this week! Spread the joy!