My hymnbook smells like binlang

Yes. My hymnbook smells like binlang. It's a nasty drug and a nasty smell. And it's my english hymnbook so I don't know why it smells that way. It's very weird. But I was singing last night and then I smelt it and thought... oh that's weird. Anyway. Fun fact.

This week has been SUPER fast. And now I'm coming up on my 7th transfer soon. So fast!!! It's crazy how time flies.

I'll tell you about what doesn't go by quickly though-- that would be reading Isaiah in Chinese. Yes I've made it to the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon in Chinese... And it's super super hard and I mostly don't understand anything that's going on. It's tough to get through but I'm gonna make it. The rest of the Book of Mormon is actually not too hard in Chinese. It's cool reading in Chinese. I learn a lot of things that I just don't get in English. It's mega fun (:

Also my companion and I discovered the most dangerous thing on the road this week. That would be old people. They like to ride bikes really slowly in front of us. And they are SUPER unpredictable. They will turn suddenly with out warning pushing you into traffic. It's not a happy combination. And I probably say more prayers on the road about all the old people that we have to bike by than anything else... slight exaggeration. But it's seriously hilarious.. .and concerning.

Also this past week I got the BEST news. TWO OF MY INVESTIGATORS GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!! They were from my last area in Xin Zhuang. I cried when I found out because I was so thrilled. I love those two ladies. So so so so much (:

Also we're having an english class party next week... HALLOWEEN PARTY!! WOOT WOOT!

This week I had a thought though. All of my friends from high school probably just graduated from college. Right? Weird. I still have a super long time left. But I'm on a mission and I speak Chinese. So that's cool (:

We taught an 88 year old woman twice this week. She did tell us we need to not cross our legs when we pray because it's rude. And she has no front teeth and she's christian. And I don't understand a word she says because it's mostly in Taiwanese. Okay false-- I understand about 80% of what she says. It's an interesting thing to teach her. Also-- she doesn't understand us. So we need a member to go with us.

Okay this week was super cool and involved probably the most memorable birthday of my life. (Don't get me wrong I love being with ya'll on my birthday but this was seriously a crazy crazy awesome birthday.)

We had an outdoor zone conference so our zone and the Xinzhu zones all got together and took busses to miaoli. We went to Lion's head mountain and hiked up it. NOT EVEN KIDDING NATURE IS SO DARN COOL. Along the trail we had different bits of training, we took pictures, ate lunch, talked and got to know other missionaries and had time to be still and ponder. It really put everything back into perspective for me-- which is something I really needed recently. I know that God created this beautiful world for us. And I know that we are His most prized creations. I feel so small-- yet so important. I know that my life has worth and I know that God has been watching out for me. At the top of the mountain we had a training by President Day. Seriously-- that man is inspired of God. He is a good man and I'm so glad he is my leader. He made an announcement that they are opening up a new zone in our mission and that people are gonna have to step up to leadership positions early in their missions than they expect. I have no idea what that means for me. I still feel like a young missionary... but apparently I'm not considered new anymore. Maybe I'll train my whole mission. Who knows. I want a native companion though because I want to speak Chinese all the time. Then I can improve a lot. After the super steep/long hike we were heading home on the bus. There was a baptism in Longtan at 7:00 that we really wanted to take our investigator to. We needed to catch the bus from our church no later than 6:00 to get there on time. I can't explain this miracle. At 5:30 the bus was driving through Longtan. We still had about 40 minutes until we would be at the place they would let us off. Then another 30 to our apartment where we could change our clothes and then another 40 minutes to Longtan. Eek. We decided to get off the bus at Longtan with the other Elders in our area. Our investigator was to meet us at the church at 5:45. We knew that this way would be shorter-- but we'd still probably be too late for the baptism. THEN a recent convert happened to drive by and arrange for us to get a ride back to our area and drive us and our investigator to the baptism. We showed up at 6:59. Wow! The Lord obviously wanted this to happen. The baptism was great and the spirit was very strong. Then in the evening when we got home, I ate cake with my companion (:

IT WAS SUCH A GOOD BIRTHDAY! And now I'm 22!! 

Then on Saturday we had temple tours all day. There was a wedding reception going on so there were a lot of nonmembers waiting for the wedding party to get out of the temple. We were able to give a tour to these two girls who were waiting. It was a really cool tour. But probably one of the coolest parts was this girl who was outside taking pictures of the temple. She lives in our zone. She and her boyfriend are Christians. She was really excited to have a temple tour and said she's interested to learn more and that her boyfriend will be too. It was super super cool. I called the sisters who will teach her and let them know all about this little miracle investigator that the Lord provided us with. Cool cool cool.

Oh and I did it. I cut my hair.  *picture to follow*

Oh and remember that creepy man from Xin Zhuang. Yes... I got three more letters from him this week. Gross. They are in Chinese though so I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I'll get there maybe. Idk it creeps me out... maybe that's why I'm considering never getting married. SO SO SO SO CREEPY! 

Oh I never mentioned that last week we talked to a drunk man on his bike during the typhoon. He just talked and talked and talked about a whole lot of nothing. But he kept mentioning Christmas... So then when ever he would stop and scratch his head to think we'd say oh you mean Christmas?? Then he would point at us and say "YES YES THAT'S IT!! CHRISTMAS!" It was hilarious.  Please note we weren't making fun of him but he kept trying to run a red light so we kept him talking until it turned green... but then usually when it turned green he would just keep talking so we had to keep him talking through the next red light.. and the next one. etc. lol.

That's mostly it for this week. I'll try to send pictures if I have time later. (:

LOVE YOU ALL!

-Cae

I forgot to mention. We told LM about church. We told her to wear a skirt to church and asked if she has one. She said she has so many. So we invited her to wear one... then she just laughed and said "I can't wear a skirt... I have no butt!" We just laughed. Girlfriend is 75 years old and still thinking about these things. Lol. (: