Ten days into this move and it feels like only two! Here are some things I've learned this move:
1) Some Taiwanese. Did you know before that Taiwanese is its own language? Oh yes, and now I can say the following things, thanks to Sister Lin:
Hello! (Li he)
How are you? (Li he be)
Where are you going? (Li bei ki dou wi)
I don't know. (Wa m zai)
I know God loves you. (Wa zai xing ai li)
How about we sing some songs? (Wun qiung gua he be)
We sometimes visit and old ama (ama=grandma/old woman) who is a church member, but can't go to church because she's so old and infirm. She likes us to sing hymns to her. Her Taiwanese is better than her Chinese, so last time my companion (who is fluent in Taiwanese) chatted with her for a bit. I'm trying to learn how to say some things so next time we go I can make a little contribution to the conversation (hence the last two phrases).
2) I don't know how to make this one into a quick phrase, so I'll just tell the story that taught it to me. I heard this story in sacrament meeting from our district president, who heard it from an area 70, who heard it from one of the apostles (I know the chain's getting a bit long, but everyone except for me is a pretty strong link, and I'll do my best not to mess it up):
Some apostles were meeting to decide something. They couldn't reach a consensus that felt right. They decided to go study the scriptures and reconvene. Still nothing. They did it again. Same result. The third time, they used unmarked scriptures from the library (i.e. not their own marked up scriptures, but new copies that didn't have any writing/highlighting). They got their answer.
