This week was a weird whirlwind of food and introspection, and I'm not really sure what happened, so I'm just going to use the pictures I took to narrate the week. Because honestly I don't really remember the rest. It was good though! 

This Thursday was an Elder in our District, Elder Geary's birthday, so on Monday we made him nachos and cookies to celebrate. In this picture, Elder Councill is cooking the chicken, Sister Smith is spooning on the beans, and I'm about to check the cookies. 

I just kind of left my camera on the counter for most of the day, and let other people pick it up, so photo cred goes to Elder Moh for these first two pics. Here are Elder Moh, Geary, and Provard in the back. Elder Geary came on island the same time as I did, so we've been going through training together. It's fun to have another newbie in the district.

To celebrate Elder Geary, we filled a bowl with nachos, stuck two cookies on top, and stuck a candle in the top. You can also see Sister Jones, one of our Sister Training Leaders, in the background. 

I stumbled across this scripture the other day, and it has now become the scripture of the week. I love how it correlates with 2 Nephi 9:50-51 -Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly gives us an abundance, and now that I have received that abundance, it's my job to share it with others that they may also have these blessings.

Sister Smith got ahold of my camera and decided to take a selfie while I was braiding my hair.

Over the last two weeks we taught the relief society how to make skirts. The first time we met was terrifying. There were like 10 relief society sisters yelling at eachother in Chinese (happy yelling, Chinese is just a very aggressive language sometimes), kids running in and out, and babies crying. This last week was so much better. There were only about six sisters, two children, and no babies. We got a lot of the skirts finished, and it was super fun! We actually have a really cool relief society full of lots of amazing women. I love our ward here in Daya.

Today is momentous because I have officially completed an entire transfer on island. We got transfer calls Saturday night telling us where everyone was going. Sister Smith and I knew that we'd be staying here because I still have one more transfer of training, but we were pretty sure that Elder Councill was going to be transferred. We asked him to make a final dinner for us on Sunday night, because his food is legendary. We used our dinner time on Saturday to buy food. Since we didn't have time to go somewhere else to get Saturday dinner, we all just kinda picked up random food for dinner. I had the healthiest dinner with a can of corn, yogurt, and a pancake thing with chocolate filling. Elder Councill had the unhealthiest with chocolate milk, papaya milk, and oreos. Sister Smith and Elder Moh were somewhere in the middle. It felt just like college again. 

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​Sorry this email's short and weird- it's been a short and weird week. Life is good though, and the gospel is true! Hope you all have an amazing week!

lots of love, 

Sister Hull

Dinosaurs and drugs

Hello Everyone!

So in my last email I forgot to include a very important detail. Elder Councill's full, legal name is Erickson Enoch Aragorn Westover Councill. I'm not making this up.

Mom asked for a picture of my bike, so I figured I should probably introduce him. It took me quite a while to come up with a name for my bike. Sister Smith's bike is named Vladimir, which I thought was funny, but I decided I wanted a strong, stalwart name that symbolized how my bike and I are a team, working together to more effectively bring the gospel to Taiwan. It was as I was riding along, pondering names and marveling at the seamless merging of human and machine that allowed me to so effortlessly glide through the streets of Taiwan, that my bike dumped me on the ground (see last week's email). So, I would like to introduce you all to Genghis. He's a jerk. Vladimir is pictured in the background.

English class was fun this week. Only 5 people showed up. We have a rule that we have to have a girl student there before we can start teaching, because technically it counts as a lesson. A girl didn't show up for the first 15 or so minutes, so we filled the time by asking everyone about their favorite dinosaur. I tried to draw them on the board. We were so proud of our artwork that when the class started we didn't want to erase it. Our class was on visiting the pharmacy, so we decided to utilize the dinosaurs. The Velociraptor is the pharmacist, and each of the other dinosaurs has a different medication with different instructions. For example, the triceratops has to take his medication with food. Also, the T-rex has a bacteria-caused illness, so he needs to take antibiotics. Please enjoy this photo of our majestic artwork. Also, I am aware that viruses may very well be alive, but explaining the concept of bacteria to a bunch of people who don't speak English is hard.

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I've spent a decent amount of time this week reading and thinking about 2 Nephi 4. Nephi talks about how frustrated he is because he's learned so much about the gospel from the scriptures and from visions, but he still makes mistakes and messes up and doesn't live up to the things he has learned. I can relate to this a lot, because it always feels like there's more that I should be doing to fulfill my purpose. I find a lot of comfort in Nephi's following words though:  'Rejoice, O my heart and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' Even though I am inadequate, God never is. I know that because of Him, I don't need to be frustrated with myself, because He has the power to make my offering to Him enough.

Hope you all have an amazing week this week! Bunches of love!

Sister Hull

More pics:

1. We had dragonfruit and steamed buns for dinner one night this week. Steamed bread is seriously my favorite food ever.

2. Our ward had ice cream after church this Sunday. We're not really sure why, but we're not complaining. Elder Councill volunteered to drink the final melted bit once everyone had gotten some.

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Pomelo Hats

Dajia Hao! 

So I realized that I haven't told you anything about the people I'm working with here. All you know is that my companion likes dinosaurs. We're going to fix that today.

Sister Smith and I share the Daya ward with a pair of elders, who conveniently are also our Zone Leaders. This means that we get all the new information about the mission first, because we see the elders every day. Apparently blenders will soon be reimbursable by the mission so we can make more smoothies. 

You've already seen her, but this is Sister Smith right at this moment, also writing her group email. Sister Smith and I get along very well. She's funny and sarcastic, and her head is full of stories. The first time I crashed my bike, she just stood and laughed at me. (To be fair, I was laughing pretty hard too. I'd already gotten off the bike, and it decided to fall over and take me with it. Lamest. Crash. Ever.) She keeps missionary work fun and interesting, and keeps me from taking myself too seriously. We have a seriously hard time every night getting to bed because we get too caught up with talking and telling stories. 

 

Also in the room today are our elders, Elder Council and Elder Moh. Elder Council is the one in the back. He's six foot three and may be part Viking. He eats, breathes, and sleeps Enthusiasm. In addition to enthusiasm, he likes grandiose plans, speaking in accents, arts and crafts, and food. He has a mysterious ability to turn Taiwanese ingredients into surprisingly authentic Mexican food. Elder Moh is in the front. He's super chill and easy going. He reminds Sister Smith and I a bit of a corgi, because he always just looks really pleased with life in general. When he's particularly happy, he bounces a little. He likes telling funny stories, and keeping everyone laughing. We see the elders a lot because we share an area. It's a lot of fun to have another companionship to share experiences with. 

So the other week, the sisters in a neighboring area called and said they'd met someone from our area and set up an appointment for us. Her name is Sister Liao, and the first time we met with her, she seemed more curious than actually interested in learning about our church. We taught her about how the gospel can bless her family, gave her a Book of Mormon, and set up to meet again on Sunday. Yesterday, she showed up with her husband in tow, and told us that she'd read the first 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon. We were shocked. We can't get some of our members to read five minutes a day, let alone multiple chapters. We had a really good lesson about the Restoration of the gospel, and we could tell they were really listening the whole time. We're super excited to meet with them again! They're an adorable family.

I also learned two important life lessons that I would like to share because they are of great relevance to everyone on this list who is not married. The first: If you are dating someone, and no longer want to date them, do NOT tell them you're breaking up with them because you went to the temple and got revelation that you shouldn't be together. I don't care if an angel appeared and told you to break up, take ownership of that decision, and don't hide behind the church. The second: If you are dating someone, don't let your testimony get so intertwined with your relationship that it gets completely shattered when they decide to be dumb and hide behind the temple when they break up with you. Both are dumb decisions. We now have a member in our ward who won't attend the temple because it has bad memories because it's the reason her boyfriend broke up with her, and she's angry at God for not giving them a chance. Don't be like her! Take responsibility for your actions, and don't let your testimony of eternal truths depend on the actions of others! 

That's about all I have for this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!

Sister Hull

More pics:

1: Sister Smith's first area was in the center of pomelo country, so last night I learned how to peel a pomelo. This is a long and arduous task that results in a pomelo hat. The pomelo itself tastes like a bland, sweeter grapefruit. I'm not sure it's worth the extensive labor required to obtain the fruit.

2: The other day Sister Smith and I tried to have an American lunch at one of the 7-11s: hot dogs and chips. Of course, the hot dogs were a weird pinkish color, and my chips were black pepper steak flavored, but it's the thought that counts.

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Hello Everyone I'm back! It's already been a week, and holy cow, it's been a week. Missionary work is always an adventure, and you never know what's going to happen next. 

Ok first off, I had my first adventure on Saturday! It had been a long hard day of riding around in the rain, so we were very excited to get to our 7:30 lesson with an adorable old Christian couple who always gives us fruit. Through the entire lesson, we had a feeling that something was off, and sure enough, at the end they told us that they wanted to stop meeting with us until they had made sure their pastor was ok with them reading the Book of Mormon. Then, as we were riding away from their house morosely, I heard a bunch of barking, and Sister Smith said "Go Faster!" with sudden intensity. And that is how we got chased by a pack of wild dogs. In the rain. Up a hill. At night. After being dropped by our favorite investigators. Also we were fasting. We're fine though, the dogs only chased us for a couple hundred yards, and then we were free to soggily make our way home at a less adrenaline-fueled pace. 

It's interesting though, because even though that sounds like a terrible day, it was actually wonderful. I loved riding around and visiting people, and the rain and dogs couldn't get in the way of the absolute joy I felt from doing the Lord's work. This week in the Liahona there was a quote by Henry David Thoreau that I really liked. He said: "Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn you attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder". 

One of the highlights of our week is English Class. Every week we get to spend an hour and a half teaching a bunch of teenagers and adults English. We're using a really weird, old program designed to help Hispanic members who have already moved to America learn English. This week we got to teach a bunch of teenagers and adults without kids how to set up a meeting with their child's teacher. It was wonderful. We never really know who's going to show up, but there are a few characters who are pretty regular. Some of our favorites include Eric, who always manages to turn every lesson into an innuendo while pretending his interest is purely academic, Daniel, the father of 9 month old triplets, and Maybe-later, who got his name when he was asked if he had an English name, and he said not now, but he'd get one 'maybe later'. There are also the teen brothers Linguine and Tortellini. 

In Taiwan, there are two things that are keeping the country together: 7-11s and Amas. In this country, 7-11s are not the seedy, slightly grimy gas stations that we find in America. Rather, they are high end convenience stores that stock literally anything a person might need to survive. They sell everything from stationary to skin care products to disposable underwear. They also have tons of food, and even areas with chairs and tables where people can eat said food, visit friends, or simply take a break in air conditioning. No matter where we are, we are always a five minute bike ride from another 7-11. We do a large chunk of our contacting in 7s, because they're usually full of slightly bored people who have stopped in for a break, and are willing to chat for a bit about Jesus. 

The backbone of the country is definitely the Amas. 'Ama' is Taiwanese for grandmother, and holy cow, the grandmothers in Taiwan have character. There are a few specific Amas that we run into fairly regularly. One is the lady who takes care of the common areas in our apartment building. Every time we go to take our garbage to the dumpsters, she materializes out of nowhere to supervise. The trash system in Taiwan is insanely complex, so as we start to put our myriad of trash bags into their corresponding dumpsters, she starts yelling at us in Chinese, takes away our trash, then proceeds to do exactly what we were already doing. I guess we didn't use the right wrist movements or something. Last time we walked in, she didn't even wait, just took away the bags I was carrying and told me to go wash my hands. Also, everything happens with extreme urgency, so you would think the trash was a matter of life and death. Our other favorite group of Amas meet at the park every night from 7-8. They do crazily complex line dances to crowd favorites including songs by Cascada, Obladi Obladah by the Beatles, and miscellaneous Chinese songs. About 40 of them show up in short sparkly skirts and leggings, and dance for an hour. Every night. I want to be that cool when I'm old. 

Anyway, that's all I have time for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful week full of adventures!

Lots of Love,

Sister Hull

Pics:

1. I got rather bored the other day, so for breakfast I had crackers with peanut butter and reeses pieces. 

2. Last P-day we went to a potsticker/dumpling restaraunt, and the elders ate 50 dumplings each. For reference, I ate 10 and felt pleasantly full. And no, 50 is not a normal amount for anyone, even elders, to eat.

3. One of the best things about Taiwan is the bing. Bing is just a giant bowl of shaved ice with a bunch of random toppings on top. The best type of bing (obviously) is mango bing. Please enjoy this incredible photo of this incredible food. It tasted just as good as it looks.

4. I am amassing an alarming number of nametags. I got 4 in the MTC, one in Logan, and for some reason they gave me 4 here, so I now have a grand total of 9. I have some on my scriptures, I actually wear one or two, and I use the rest to organize my money. (I have it divided into four weeks, and each week is clipped together by a nametag)