Then on Thursday morning I finished packing any last minute stuff and I cleaned my apartment. Then Sister Lin and I headed to Taibei. It was a bumpy ride and the whole time I was just feeling super super sick and didn't want to leave. When we got to Taibei I met up with Sister Wang and Sister Chamberlain and we went back to Sister Chamberlain's area in Neihu (which is just outside of Taibei). When we got there we spent some time contacting people on the street hoping to share the gospel before dinner. Then we got a call saying we needed to get back to Taibei to pick up another missionary-- Sister Bang. We got her and then headed back to Neihu. We split up for the evening and Sister Bang and I went to a park to teach the gospel to anyone willing to listen. We ran into a couple. The man was from England and the woman from Taiwan. They weren't super interested but what I learned mostly is that I'm really bad at speaking about church in English. My Chinese is way better that my English. And my Chinese isn't even that good-- so mostly I'm bad at communicating with people. Anyway after we talked to them we ran into a man with his two dogs. We started talking to him and at first I felt like he was not interested at all. Then we started to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and he completely opened up about how he doesn't go to church because he knows that he smells like smoke and it's a bad habit and he wants to quit and change his life around. We talked to him about prayer and the power of the Book of Mormon and he started to cry. He asked us to give him the book and said he'd be willing to meet with missionaries and read the book. He also said a prayer with us and thanked God for allowing him to meet us and learn about these things. It was such an amazing experience and so crazy. I didn't expect to see any crazy things happen that day because I was in a temporary area with a temporary companion. It was cool though.
That night I slept on a couch. It was super uncomfortable and I hardly slept at all.
The next morning we headed to transfer meeting. It was great to see some missionaries there that I haven't seen in a while. Then we got started with Transfers. When they got to the part where they tell us who is in the Taoyuan Zone I was super nervous. I didn't want to leave that Zone (because it includes Bade and I'm obsessed with Bade). So the way they announce transfers is by putting up a power point with the pictures of the people who are not moving under the name of their area and then they announce who is moving in and their picture appears next to the picture of their new companion. Then they announced a new area opening for sisters in Nankan (which is still in Taoyuan-- practically neighbors with Bade)... and yep you guessed it! My picture showed up. I'm opening this area to sister missionary work-- just like I did with Bade. But its not just me by myself. I have my companion-- none other than the miracle worker herself-- Sister Bang. I guess the miracle we saw together the night before was just too great and so the Lord wanted to stick us together. I'm glad too. She's super super great. She's been on island for 4 months and her Chinese is already SUPER amazing. We'll have a great time together!
Here's the best part of the move-- I expected they would just give me keys and an address again and send me on my way. False-- they hadn't even secured the apartment yet. So once we got to our area we couldn't even move in until 2 hours later. It was great. We just went to the other sister's apartment (because we actually just split their area) and waited until we could get home. Then there were people working in our apartment all day so we didn't stick around. We just hit the streets and headed out to find our way around. Let me tell ya-- there are so many differences about here and Bade. We live on the 23rd floor in our apartment building. SO TALL!
There are so many cars here too. Everything is just big. And expensive looking. Our apartment has a super cute layout with a few minor setbacks at the beginning:
1. Our rusty old washing machine is in our bathroom because that's the only place that it can hook in-- and there may or may not be a cockroach family living under it... or rather dying under it because I killed them... obviously. That's disgusting.
2. We have no stove... or fridge... aka we need to eat out--- which is tough because let's be honest-- I have NO money left.
3. There is a layer of dust and germs on EVERYTHING. But my companion and I have started deep cleaning so it's not too bad.
4. We have no pillows-- it is SUPER hard to sleep without a pillow.
I'm not doing this place justice. It definitely needs some fixing up. We're gonna do that today. AND THEN IT WILL BE BEAUTIFUL.
Oh and we have no desks (or space for them when we get them)... so we studied on our beds the first day... and on our couch the next. We do have couches. Such a blessing. They are salmon orange and faded teal green-- aka probably the biggest fashion statement of the year. AND I FEEL LIKE I WALKED INTO THE 70s. ITS PERFECT.
Those are all minor details though. The toughest thing is not having my bike yet. We've been walking everywhere. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING PEOPLE WHO ARE IN DRIVING AND WALKING MISSIONS WHO HAVE TO WALK AND BE ON THEIR FEET ALL THE TIME ARE SO XINKU (they don't have a word for that in english-- but basically their life is really hard). I am so glad I am in a biking mission. Walking everywhere is TOUGH on the body. Not even kidding-- I'll need a hip replacement before I turn 30... which is only in 8 years. Eww.
Oh you can tell our stake that Elder Seneca got moved here to Nankan also. Same district. Same area. Cool, huh?
Okay I probably sound like I'm complaining about everything-- honestly I love how pitiful things are for us right now. It's super fun and reminds me of how blessed I am. Really God is good and He has blessed me abundantly. This area is great and I will love it just like I loved Bade. We've already seen a lot of miracles and met a lot of really cool people. Lastly-- since we just took over part of an area that had sisters we started teaching the two investigators that they already had out here. So we still have lots to do. We will spend a lot of time outside contacting on the streets though-- so now we just need to find a way to do that.
Anyway. The church is true and I'm super happy here. I'll probably be here for about 3 months and then move for my last 3 months. I hope to open another area (Longtan) in my last three months on my mission. We'll see though. I'll start praying for it now.
MORAL OF THE STORY: I LOVE YOU ALL AND I AM SO HAPPY TO BE A MISSIONARY. My companion is also super great. I miss people in Bade- but I'm in the same stake so I'll see them again. The church is true. God loves me. And He loves you. And I know he loves everyone.
I know that Heavenly Father is involved in this work. He has allowed me to feel how much he loves everyone that I've taught the gospel too. It's interesting to feel how much God loves people. Once you feel that-- you love them more. I know that this life is tough for people sometimes. Life is not fair and it's not always that simple-- but if we live by the standards that God has laid out for us-- we will be ultimately happy.
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