Chuan'in The Jiao!!!

August 13, 2012

Sister Mack

Taiwan

DAJIA HAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Greetings from a tiny island on the other side of the WORLD (AKA: TAIWAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Can you believe I'm finally here??!?!! I still haven't wrapped my head around it. So much has happened since I last wrote....but I feel like it is impossible to describe. I will do my best though :) Aaaand I'm sorry but this email is probably going to be ghastly in its length...feel free to skim.

     Also I just want to explain the title of this email: chuan jiao means to spread gospel (the word for missionary is chuanjiaoshi so that's literally like someone who spreads gospel) but as we were walking around in Taizhong our first day we translated a little into Chinglish to say we were Chuan'in the Jiao. It's funny, dui bu dui (RIGHT)????? Yeah. It is.

     So last Monday afternoon we said goodbye to our 3 Elders headed to Australia, Jin JieMei and I were bawling our eyes out. I seriously cried harder than when I said goodbye to my real family and I am sorry about that but the MTC was an intense and accelerated experience . . . we've been through so much together, and for the longest time they have been my family, so it was hard to say goodbye. I am so proud of them though, and so excited for the wonderful work they will do. I wrote everyone in my district a little note telling them to read Alma 17:13 and Alma 17:2-3.

    

     Last Tuesday we got up at 3 to make final preparations to leave the MTC . . . it felt really weird to leave in the dead of night . . . like we were making a break for it or something. We were all trembling and giddy with excitement. It was so good to be able to call home from the airports in Salt Lake and Detroit...my eyes filled with tears the second I heard mom's voice. They keep us so busy I didn't realize how much I missed all of you, and it was so SO good to hear your dear voices!!! The plane rides were pretty uneventful until we got on the plane from Tokyo to Taipei. Jin JieMei and I ended up sitting next to a lady from Gaoxiong who is a Catholic nun! She went to school in the US and has perfect English. She was super excited to be sitting next to us and was super friendly and showed us all her pictures from a little nun retreat she had just been to in Wisconsin. We talked to her a little bit about our Church and missionaries / missionary work. It was a really cool experience. It was also a blessing because I still hadn't placed the little English Book of Mormon I brought with me, so I wrote her a note in the front cover and gave it to her when we left. She gave us her contact information so maybe we can look her up if we're ever in her area and she wants us to meet another friend of hers. We took a picture with her when we landed in Taipei.

     I can't say we really had an actual lesson with her but it was a cool experience for us to just converse with her about religion and about God, to give her a good introduction to Mormons in general. It made me feel so happy to be going to Taiwan :)

     I almost started crying again as we flew in to Taipei Airport and was just filled to the brim with excitement. I can't believe how fast the 12 weeks in the MTC went by, and everything I've been studying is finally going to become real as I figure out how to find and teach people about Christ.

     In the Taipei airport we were met by my mission president and his wife, as well as the assistants to the president, and 4 Chinese sisters who arrived a few hours before us from the MTC in the Philippines. It was about 9 or 9:30 when we left Taipei and then we got on a bus to drive 3 hours south to the mission home in Taizhong.

     I almost cried AGAIN when we sang the mission song on the bus. It was an emotional day because it was all so wonderful and exciting and thrilling and slightly terrifying. Our mission song is the primary song "Armies of Helaman". We sing the second verse in Chinese and in the chorus we change the words to: "and we are NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring Taiwan His truth." And change the words in the third verse to say: "To take the gospel to all Taiwan"! It was such a sweet moment for me. I love being a missionary so so much. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to come to Taiwan and share this happy message with these sweet and beautiful people.

     The next morning we got up bright and early and went for a RUN!! YAAAAAAAAAAY. Except for not, because it was super humid.  Even though I took an ice cold shower afterwards, my face was red for another hour.

     This sweet senior missionary helped us withdraw money to pay for our bikes.  He really wanted me to tell my parents that Taiwan is one of the safest countries ever and it's probably safer than the United States, so if any of you were worried about safety issues: No. Taiwan is the best. 

     On Thursday night we had something called a "Dan Jones activity". We all ate dinner at this restaurant with a table that had a huge rotating center.  We shared like 12 dishes...so good. Right after that we walked to a night market where we all got to jump up on a little wooden crate and bear our testimonies to everyone on the street! It was crazy and awesome. Not that many people were listening, and most of them were missionaries, but still it was quite thrilling. Even the president’s wife got up with a Book of Mormon in hand and cried out her sweet testimony...I was so proud of her and very inspired. One of the Chinese sisters got super nervous, so I gave her a little pep talk. I was the last one to go and I was shouting in Chinese something about what I think was my testimony...who can say for sure because it was so loud and a little nervewracking and I don't speak Chinese! The second I stepped down I was swept up by a sister missionary who has been in Taiwan for like 9 months, and we went contacting. It was hard at first cause there are so many people, and I didn't know what to say, but it got better. The moral of the story is: I am not afraid of contacting anymore. bahaha. There was one really cool moment where I was going around contacting people with two 18-year-olds from the ward, and I could not understand anything they were saying, but I felt prompted to ask certain questions, and the woman we were talking to ended up writing down her information to be contacted in the future! Let the Holy Spirit guide, my friends, that is the only way to do missionary work.

     We all got to meet with our mission president.  It was kind of cool cause he found out about my background in Spanish and German and told me that I would very likely have the opportunity to teach in both those languages . . . >WHAT?! He was even thinking about putting me in a different area than originally planned because someone had a Spanish-speaking investigator who doesn't speak much English or Chinese. That thought scared me a little at first because my Spanish isn't that great and I can only ever think of Chinese words now.  But I know that if that's what God wanted me to do, then I could do it. I actually ended up being assigned to another area. So for now I don't have to worry about Spanish. BUT if anyone wants to send me some Spanish/German gospel vocabulary . . . . I will probably be using those words one day.   Just sayin.

     My trainer is great.  She is also from Utah! I won't lie I'm pretty relieved I have an English-speaker to train me.  As awesome as everything is, it can be so overwhelming.  I would understand even LESS if it was all in Chinese. I guess I would learn the language faster if my companion was from Taiwan, but I think this is a tender mercy from the Lord. After we met our new trainers we all ate lunch together. I said goodbye to the remaining Elders from my district (didn't cry though...probably cause we're staying on the same island). I saw them walk out into the street from the window on the second floor of the restaurant where we ate..... it was so strange to see them all go different directions and to think of them all headed to their own little areas. It was super weird to say goodbye to Jin JieMei cause we are BFFFFs...but I know we will be companions again someday. I love her so much. As I jumped onto a train headed for my area we both shouted "HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!" It was great :)

     So the train ride from Taizhong to my area took  3 hours, and we stood the entire way . . . . it was rough haha. Right after that, we pretty much went straight to this YW activity at the church which was all about inner beauty. I got to meet a few investigators and ward members and didn't understand anything, but it was really a nice way to start things off in my first area. I painted people's finger nails and tried really hard to understand what they were saying. Right after that, I had my first lesson with a  really great young woman who is studying the gospel. It was very simple and sweet.

Riding a bike in a skirt at high speeds through crazy traffic back to our apartment and trying to get settled in was a bit difficult. There's so much to take in and remember about the area, people's names, people's backgrounds, forms, Chinese, mission rules, principles of teaching, mission standards.  I almost started crying my first night cause I was so overwhelmed. Happy, but like TYPHOON of information, ya know? I said a very long prayer that first night.

     My first full day chuan'in the jiao it was pouring rain. I was soaked instantly haha but I was so happy! I pray pretty much every second and I really feel Heavenly Father is near me. In one of our lessons today we were visiting a recent convert. She is totally sweet and has a really cute daughter and this crazy little dog that acts just like Sadie.  The dog was attacking me for almost the entire lesson. Right now our lessons are kind of split like 98% my companion and 2% me . . . cause I just never know what is happening.  I am trying to pipe up more, even if it's just to bear my testimony and ask a question. We also met with another sister.  She was crying so much . . . I almost started crying too and realized I felt so much compassion and love for this woman I didn't even know and didn't even understand why she was upset.  I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me to able to have a lot of love for the people here, and I am so grateful for it. The tender mercies of God are really all around me.

     Sunday started out a little rough. As I was studying Chinese I just felt really overwhelmed because there is SO much for me to learn. They have a little language learning program set up here.  It is in 3 phases.  Phase 1 is basically memorizing all 5 lessons with scriptures, key terms, etc. I wanted to finish it in 6 weeks but I don't know . . . it might take 12 (I'm being trained for 12 weeks by the way so I'm staying with my trainer for 2 transfers technically). I feel that I can do it.  But I have a bajillion things to learn, and I still haven't really found the best way to study.  Maybe it's just that it takes me a lot longer to retain Chinese than it ever did for Spanish or German. Anyway, I was being a little baby sourpuss!  Then we went to Church, and even though I didn't understand much, my heart was filled with love. We have such an incredibly sweet ward. I felt so rejuvinated and strengthened to keep going this week. I was reminded to turn outward. It's funny how long it is taking me to learn the principle of working really really hard and just trusting the Lord to take care of the rest. I know that He will. I need to be more patient and focus on what I do know and what I can do and as time goes on, other knowledge will be added to me.

     I'm so sorry...I feel like this is the worst email ever. I didn't even tell you half of all the things I wanted to. Suffice it to say that I truly am so happy to be here. The Lord is truly blessing this work and His children in Taiwan to hear His gospel. This week I'm going to work really hard on turning outward when I feel worried about my progress (I won't ignore where I need improvement, but I'm not going to let it bog me down) and just opening my mouth and trusting God to fill it with the words I need to say. I am more capable than I have let myself think for the past couple of days. I think I'm still adjusting from the safety net of the MTC world to the real world. I have already met so many wonderful people who are kind to me and generous and just fantastic in every way. I love my investigators so much. My companion is very savvy and hard-working and SO patient, which is CRITICAL as it turns out. Especially when you have a companion like me who forgets everything all the time and is at times...somewhat...incompetent ;)  I really do trust God. This work has already been so fulfilling, and I've only really been doing it for about 3 days. I love it I love it I love it. I am excited to keep learning and growing and figuring things out.

Thank you for your prayers...I feel them every day.

I love you all so so much forever and ever.

Ke JieMei

Sister Coco Mack