Hi Everyone!
Ok so fun fact it turns out Taiwan is not a tropical island. Sister Smith informs me that is in fact subtropical, which basically means it can actually get kinda cold in the winter. This week we actually got some fall weather- it was as bright and sunny as usual, but it was super windy, and we had to put on sweaters in the evening. We saw many Taiwanese people in full winter coats, and they were very concerned that we would freeze in our light clothing. While wind and bikes and skirts have been an adventure, it's been absolutely amazing weather. We've done a lot of walking though, because as skilled as we've become at catching our skirts before they actually fly up, it gets really tiring after a while.
This weekend we had a service project in our ward! Everyone in Taiwan is super self-sufficient, and doesn't like to ask for help, so every service project is a precious and rare opportunity. A sister in our ward was moving, and she needed help cleaning her apartment and moving her stuff out. We showed up on Friday, and she asked us to clean her balcony. It was really gratifying, because there was a lot of sediment that looked really bad and washed up with just a little bit of scrubbing. I felt a bit like Cinderella, with my skirt tied up into pants, scrubbing the floor with a sponge and liberal amounts of baking soda. This sister lived on the fourth floor of her building, across the street from the butcher's shop. In breaks between scrubbing, we watched in morbid fascination as two muscular, tatooed men in black tank tops dismembered whole half pigs on a truck bed below us. It was absolutely captivating. I now know the proper procedure for cutting a pig's head in half. In three strokes of a cleaver. It was so cool.
This week, I also turned 20, and guys, I love my area so much! Elder Council brought Blueberry Cheesecake to our District Meeting, Elder Provard looked up how to say 'happy birthright day' in Chinese (?), and Elder Moh secretly texted the sisters in our ward and told them it was my birthday. From the ward I got a plethora of calls and texts, and the family we visited that night gave us cake and sang happy birthday, accompanied by their small son on a ukulele. This week I've learned that miracles are most often in the form of other people. The little things each of those people did to reach out to me probably seemed super small to them, but to me they were expressions of love and kindness that made my first birthday in a foreign country seem a little less foreign.
This week I came across D&C 81:5: Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.
I love the imagery in this scripture, because it's so human. Each of us are asked to simply love, help and strengthen one another. I've learned that even the smallest gestures of love can make a world of difference in someone else's life.
Hope you all have an amazing week!
Sister Hull
Pics:
1. In English class we asked our students who their favorite superhero is. Tom said, "moneyman. He just throws money at problems. Like Trump." Another student, Daniel contributed moneyman's face to this drawing.
2. Daniel had two favorite superheroes: Wonder Woman and his wife. His wife gave birth to triplets 9 months ago, so we decided they're basically the same person and drew his wife as Wonder Woman.
3. We got a little lost the other day trying to find a FamilyMart that didn't exist, and found the COOLEST PART OF OUR AREA. It's a massive science park with this mysterious large domed building next to it. The sign says it's an environmental resource center. We definitely need to go back and investigate.
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