Black Ants and Open Doors

Yesterday I ate black ants. I have to admit, I never saw this one coming, but it wasn't too bad. We were eating lunch with one of our investigators (someone studying the Gospel with the missionaries) at a church member's home. This member likes to feed foreign missionaries strange things (last time he hosted the missionaries, it was monkey). He was borderline gleeful as he pulled out the little bottle of black ants and dumped out a pile for me to season my food with. They were mostly just sort of salty, and a little crunchy. Even though they were very much dead, their little pincher things are still sharp, so that was interesting. I guess it's something along the lines of the carbonation idea (small pricks of pain to create a sensation of freshness?).

The other night we were knocking doors once again. I really don't mind knocking doors. I just expect that someone we come across will be wanting what we have to share. It's much more fun to think that every door you knock could have that person behind it, and probably makes it easier to recognize them when they do show up. One knock brought a 35ish woman to the door (she could have passed for 20, but her daughter is a teenager, so that's unlikely). She immediately invited us to come in. Their family is Buddhist, but maybe not too devout. She was hoping that we would be able to meet with her daughter to help them improve their family relationships. In the end, the daughter came down, a younger son came home, and we all spent a few minutes talking about prayer before we were able to pray together. I think it's kind of amazing that a mother would look at my companion and me and think, "Oh wonderful, these people could be just what my family needs," and then willingly share with us her concerns. It's a blessing to be in a position that invites that sort of hope and trust; now I just hope that I do what I need to do to make their trust well-placed.

Two Taiwan Photos

With Sister Lin, first missionary companion.



On the streets of Taiwan, complete with super-sweet bag and well-equipped bike (rear & front lights, Church bumper stickers, rear box, and spray paint to hide newness).

English Class

I think this week would be a good time to tell you about English class. Every Wednesday is our preparation day, which is the day we get to take care of our own personal stuff (e.g. email, letters, laundry, most grocery shopping, errands). Preparation day starts after our study time ends (10:30am), and goes until after dinner (6:00pm). Wednesday evening is English class. All missionaries in Taiwan (and probably many other countries) teach free English class for whoever wants to come. We usually have two or three classes, depending on whether or not we have help from an English-speaking church member to teach the upper level. I teach the children (and some of their parents). The first week was a little rough; I had never seen class before and didn't know how to prepare very well. However, last Wednesday went a lot better. We were studying goals and dreams (we have a little handbook with material to teach each week), so I invited everyone to draw what they wanted to be or do when they grew up, and then my companion and I helped them translate whatever it was into English. My companion is very artsy and creative. She decided to buy sandpaper for them to draw on with crayons, and it turned out really cool looking. Plus, I have some dim hope that each semi-caring student will at least be able to remember the English for his or her dream. From 7:00 to 8:00 is English class, and then until 8:30 is a Gospel lesson (but we also use English so they can learn what they came to learn). I decided we could teach about prophets using a condensed version of the Bible Joseph's story (you know, the "Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". I personally have never found the word "technicolor" in the Bible, but I'm sure that's what they meant). I told the story in English, my companion translated to Chinese, and we got some students to help us act it out, some more willingly than others, and it was really quite entertaining. We shared about the current prophet leading our church, President Monson, and taught that he has the same ability to tell us what we need to know and do to prepare as Joseph did. I think teaching it to someone else helped me appreciate how awesome it really is to have God choose someone who can speak for him to us, according to what we need to hear. Also, when you consider what would have happened had the Egyptians not prepared for the famine according to Joseph's word, it gives that little extra motivation to take the prophet's teachings seriously. So I guess English class at its best is a place of learning for everyone involved. Since I'll be doing this every week for the next 14 months, I'll let you know what other exciting or eventful things occur...



With Taiwan Kaohsiung Mission President Hsu and Sister Hsu

Open Your Mouth

I have to admit, time in Taiwan hasn't flown by quite as quickly as time in the MTC. I attribute this mostly to the cultural/lifestyle transition. A lot of former missionaries say that the first part was a little slow, and then suddenly they were going home, so I imagine I'll have a similar experience.

The other thing that takes some getting used to (but is definitely a good thing) is thinking about other people all the time. At college, most time is spent figuring out how to manage my studies, do well on my tests, which extracurriculars I want to participate in, etc. All of this is closely connected with my desire to prepare to contribute throughout my life to my family, to society, and to God, but the immediate questions are mostly centered around my own life and activities. Being a full-time missionary involves almost full-time pondering, and then acting, on how to find others to teach, how to help those others learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then apply it, how to strengthen members of the church in our area, how to help my companion, etc. The good news is that my own personal problems and emotional quandries are best sorted out and done away with when I'm doing my best to facilitate the happiness of others. I wonder if there are professionals who feel the same way (school teachers, for example).

The other thing I'm focusing on the most right now is opening my mouth. There are all sorts of great scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants (a book of scripture, which is a series of revelations mostly received through Joseph Smith) about the importance and blessings of opening your mouth to do missionary work. There are lots of times that I need to open my mouth: when we're talking to people at a park, or in 7-11 (Taiwan loves 7-11), or when we're knocking on doors. Here's a scenario that happens multiple times daily: My companion and I are sitting at a red light on our bikes. There's a motorcycle ahead of us with a woman on it. We have approximately 60 seconds. What do you say? "Hi, I'm Sister Andersen. What's your name? Oh, great, how are you today? Wonderful. Yeah, we're missionaries. Have you ever seen missionaries before. (Light changes). "We'resharingtheGospelofJesusChristCanwehaveyouphonenumberandshareitwithyousometime?" The balance between trying to get to know someone and also give them an opportunity to meet with us is tricky. Trying to sum up the whole message of the thing nearest and dearest to one's heart in just a minute or two is a bit difficult.I'm working on it. Trying to sum up the whole message of the thing nearest and dearest to one's heart in just a minute or two is a little difficult. But the best feeling in the world is when we find someone who wants to take a little time to talk. We share a bit about our message, they share a bit about they're lives, we talk about how the message means something in their life, and they say they are happy they talked to you; you made their day better, and yes, they would like to talk to you again. So I guess it's worth a few dozen (or hundred) of the other conversations to find the one who was looking for what you have.

A Comment from the Blog Mama

Faithful readers of this blog will notice a few changes that make it clear that Emily is not and has not been the one posting messages, photos,or anything else on it. LDS missionaries throughout the world are helped in directing their best efforts to their work by a policy limiting their internet activity to a weekly email to family.

Taiwan: The Saga Begins

Ah, where to begin. I am in an area call Chao Zhou (at least, that's how I think pinyin spells it...how sad that I don't even know). It is in the southern part of Taiwan. We spend the vast majority of our time in the city, but this move we're supposed to make our way out to the mountains to poke around there. I'm really excited about that. My companion is Sister Lin. She's basically the nicest, most genuine and loving person ever. Her family actually lives within our mission boundaries (very strange, I know). She joined the church when she was 15, and was studying art in Taipei before going on her mission. She's learning English, but I think her English isn't too far ahead of my Chinese. She knows a lot more vocab, but because she doesn't get to listen to it as much, I think it is more difficult to develop her listening comprehension. She really is wonderful and patient, and speaks very clearly. This is her fourth move here in the area, her seventh as a missionary. She's been incredibly patient with me. Culture shock may be getting to me a little bit (suddenly not interacting with anyone besides Taiwanese people for days at a time was a bit of a switch). I think I've been sporadically crabby the last few days, especially when I'm supposed to make phone calls. Of course, we both have to make phone calls, because there are a lot of them to make. One of my goals for this coming week is to overcome the irrational nervousness I have about calling people. I don't understand everything, but I can actually do things like set up appointments, find members to come along, etc.

I think the Lord has definitely blessed me with the gift of tongues. I don't want to be prideful, but if I get a blessing I don't want to pretend that I don't have it. It's been easier than I expected to understand people and to make myself understood. There is still a lot that I do not understand, but it's really not too bad. The mission has a super-awesome language study program with different things to pass off. It will take a while to work through, but it helps give structure to my language study time, which I have an hour of every day.

The members in the branch here are amazing. I seriously love them, even though I forget their names all the time. In a normal week we might have 10 lessons with a member present. It's great to teach a lesson with a member there, because they will really talk to the investigator and get to know them. This is even true of some of the youth. Yesterday, Sister Lin and I taught Yaci("ya tsih"). The ward mission leader's teenage daughter came along, and was totally willing to fellowship, share her testimony, talk about how the Gospel has blessed her family, etc. Yaci is really great. She set a baptismal goal yesterday, and I am hoping and praying that she keeps it. Her family life isn't that great. They run a beetle nut store (some kind of nut wrapped in a leaf that has opium on it--ergo, against the Word of Wisdom to eat). Her mom is also our investigator.

Four of our investigators currently have baptismal dates, and one or two more who could imminently set one. We try to meet with progressing investigators once/week, and call them every day that we don't see them. Teaching with someone besides Sister Nelson takes some getting used to, but Sister Lin is really great. She gives me many opportunities to talk and extend commitments.

Tracting and contacting aren't quite as excruciating as I thought they would be. The other day we tracted into He mama (I guess that's like saying Mama He in English, but it's actually normal). He mama was inside her house with the window open, so we started talking to her. At first she just told us she wasn't interested. This is where Sister Lin is especially awesome. She'll always keep bearing her testimony a bit beyond the point when you think someone is really done with you, and sometimes it turns out really well (I've never seen it backfire into angry outbursts). Anyway, so we talked to He mama, and I shared the Joseph Smith story. She said she felt very moved. She was sort of sick that day, but we'll go back sometime. I don't know what will happen, but I just really love experiences like that, where you get to share your testimony and teach a little bit, and you know that the person feels the Spirit.

Anyway, time is out. I love you all very much!

A Few More MTC Photos

Three Preach My Gospel Versions: English, Romanized Mandarin, Chinese Characters

Three Companions: Son, Andersen, Nelson

District Destinations