Tracting and stinky tofu

Hello!

This week has been a lot better. Every week just gets a little more bearable. I've gotten a little better at talking to people and I'm slowly understand people more and more. This week was pretty interesting. I went tracting for the first time this week. I kind of like tracting. We were looking for this former investigator's house, because we read her record and it said that she had got baptized but never got confirmed. So we wanted to figure out what was up, so we just decided to bike to her house. So we're going down this pretty busy road and we're looking for this house and we cannot find it. So we had to ask the security guard and he told us that it was down this weird, shady alley. So we're like, "alright let's do it." So we go down this alley that was super small and we're practically biking single file because it's so small and it was like going back in time. We start to pass these houses that were from like 500 BC. That's not an exaggeration. It was really cool! So we come to this family temple and we're looking all over for this lady's house. We finally had to ask someone who happened to be a 60 year old man that spoke mostly Taiwanese, but we learned that she wasn't there. So we left. But still really fun!

On top of that I had the honor to eat Stinky Tofu. If you don't know what that is, is it's Tofu with a rotten egg. Google it. It is probably on my list for some of the nastiest things I've ever eaten. The bishop and his wife served it to me and I gagged it down. It was absolutely terrible. I don't have any pictures of that but I'll send some soon. But it was nasty!

My favorite drink is Supa. It is kinda like Gatorade with a hint of watermelon flavor. It is sooo good.

I eat this onion pancake thing almost every morning for breakfast.

I eat buns all of the time. It's kind of a gamble to figure out what's inside because I can't read yet. Some are really good. Some are really bad. This morning I ate a coconut and raisin one and it was like an Almond Joy. Then I've had some where they have this fuzzy meat in it. I'm pretty sure it's dog. It tastes absolutely awful. The pastries here are really good. Taiwanese sandwiches are gross!

While we were getting ready to take the bus up to this college we saw that we had to wait like 20 minutes for the bus. We were kind of like, "alright whatever." So we're waiting for this bus when all of the sudden this random guy starts asking us where we're going and stuff. Then he handed us some food. It was like pancake with eggs/seaweed/fish/onion in it. It was...alright... But then he calls us over to this alley where his car is parked and he says get in I'll take you there. We were like, "uhhh....." I felt like I was going to be kidnapped. So my trainer just jumps in the car and I give him the "what are we doing face." So I jump in and he takes off in his car going 900 mph weaving in out of traffic, drifting around corners, driving in the bike lane. It was a crazy ride. Oh yeah and he had a beach boy CD. So that was nice. But yeah half way through we found out that he was a less active member. So...But still! Quite the adventure.

Then the other day our power went out in the apartment randomly. It's really hot in Taiwan and so our AC was turned off. On top of that we have this garage door that covers our front door. It is our front door I guess, but It's operated by a remote. So since the power was out we couldn't close the door to leave, because then the whole apartment would be unlocked. We spent most of the morning trying to unwrap this metal chain so we could do it manually. We had the other elders help us. So we're moving furniture and all sorts of stuff. We stacked a chair on top of a table so we could get his chain unwrapped off of the motor. It was quite the struggle and I was dying laughing. Tears were streaming down my face because of the comments that were being made. Then they ended me by making an invention. In desperation Elder Trotter got a broom and ducked taped a hammer to it. (Laughing as I'm writing this.) Then try to get the chain (unsuccessfully) down. We eventually had to get a ladder, but it was so funny!

There is a rice patty behind our house. We have to kill 200 mosquitoes every night so that we don't get chewed up and stuff. It's hilarious because the other elders get way into it. I haven't seen any roaches.

My bike is kind of crappy. It has a weird clicking noise when I pedal and then the wind and rain messes with it pretty bad. It falls over all the time. Same with the other elders. I had to make my own bike box with a Tupperware container. I'll send a picture next week! Still trying to get my bike legs.

Today we're going to the beach to sleep!

Other than that things here are going well. We're really close to getting one of our investigators baptized.

I love you all so much! Happy birthday Mom. I think I'm a little late! I love you all so much and think about you guys all the time when I'm trying not to get run over!

Trying to make phone calls...it's pretty rough, but oddly fun

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good actually. There were lots of interesting things that happened this week. One of things was the death of Elder Hampton. It was very sad to hear what had happened. We were informed 30 minutes after it had happened that he was injured and to pray for him. When we woke up the next morning we were told that he had died. It was very sad. I actually knew Elder Hampton. We talked a lot in the MTC, and it's so weird to think that he's dead now.  Elder Hampton was a really good Elder and a cool guy.

This week was basically full of me trying to make phone calls to members/recent converts/less actives and stuff. Which is hilarious. So my Chinese is pretty terrible still. Like basically not understandable. So when my trainer tells me that I got to make this call I get giggly. So the phone will ring and 25% of the time they answer.  When they do it just goes straight down hill from there. I can't even pronounce their names right, so there's immediately confusion and such.  They'll hear my American accent and then they just go to town with yelling at me and saying stuff I don't understand. I'll just start laughing, and then they'll hang up or something. It's pretty rough. But, oddly fun.

We also went and hung out with one of my trainer's not so recent converts. He's a really cool guy and was super nice. We never actually ended up going to the museum, because it was closed, but we hung out at this really cool park in downtown Taichung (we got permission). It was really fun and I got to eat a hamburger and a coke--delicious.

Our branch is really new, so there's like 10 people total that are active and going to church on a fairly regular basis. It's kind of hard to teach lessons there, because they're basically having a lesson with like 2 people. I can't really understand/say anything, so I just keep quite and read the Gospel Principles.  I do teach English class on Wednesdays and I really like it actually. I teach the highest English class, so they basically know English. I just talk with them about what they like to do and where they like to travel to. They all love to travel, and it's really fun to hear stories about all the places they go. I'm not the best English teacher, but I like to talk to them and actually understand them.

One of my experiences this week is we were making calls in a Family Mart and we were sitting next to this window. My trainer pointed out a man across the street in the rain. Then he told me that he's a monk because of his clothes he was wearing. I don't know how to describe it.  He just looked like a monk. I don't know why, but I was just like fascinated with his guy and he walked into the Family Mart and bought some tea and gave the cashier some beads or something. Then, as he was walking by he smiled at me and did a little bow. I felt like I should talk to him, but I was too chicken. Plus he probably wouldn't have been able to understand me, but he left and smiled. I feel bad, because I definitely should've tried to talk to him.

I'm also learning a lot about the Taoist religion. They have parties like every night and they have these fireworks every night. They also like to have parades. During these parades they worship clay statues and stuff. They also have pole dancers on moving cars. It's really awkward. We had to bike past one and we had to keep our heads down as much as possible. I don't get that religion. It makes no sense.

Other than that, this week was pretty good. Sorry to hear you're a Gospel Doctrine teacher dad. RIP. Glad to hear things at home are going well. I'm doing well here and doing a lot better. I've eaten at McDonalds... twice.. It's kind of the same. The meat is slightly different. Their menu sucks super bad. They force you to buy stuff in combos, so if you want chicken nuggets and a Mcflurry you have to buy some tea with it and stuff.  You can't get it just with a Mcflurry. It's super stupid. McDonalds is also kind of expensive, but it was refreshing to have some McDonalds. All in all my favorite place here is Ba Fan, the Vietnamese fried rice place. That place is so good. We go there like 5 times a week. 

We went to a cool park in Dajia District on a hill overlooking the city.

I'm doing well though! Taiwan is an interesting place. I have lots of pictures and not enough time to write about everything!  The guy next to me is blocking the port for uploading pictures. See you next week!

I've gotten a little more adjusted to Taiwan

Hey everybody!

So I've gotten a little more adjusted to Taiwan. Still kind of struggling with the language and just overall the culture here in Taiwan.

So after I emailed on Monday (Sunday for you) we went to Dajia. It's in our area but it's pretty far away so we have to take a bus. When we got there we went to a Taoist temple (Jenn Lann Temple). It was super weird. I don't get that religion and I don't think really anyone does. It was weird to walk in and see them walking around in the temple with incense and bowing down to weird sculptures. Me and my trainer were trying to figure out what was going on the entire time. We were unsuccessful and determined nobody actually knew what was going on.

The week was pretty good - lots of street contacting and getting rejected. I've gotten a little better and I can understand a couple more words here and there. I've memorized so much vocab here it's ridiculous and still have much more to memorize.

Emotionally I've been doing a bit better though. I've been enjoying Taiwan a little more. I haven't been able to try out McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Subway, or KFC here. For some reason, my trainer thinks that if we eat there it won't help me adjust to the culture and just sets me back in my language abilities. We like to go to this rice place call FoBo's (or something.) It's really good. It's just fried rice but it's SO GOOD. I don't know what it is about the rice here but it's really good. Our area is pretty dead so it's hard to keep busy. We went to a dinner appointment earlier this week and that was really fun. We went to this old lady's house. She was really nice and had good English. She made us spaghetti. It was Taiwanese-ified so it had a weird taste. But it was alright. Her son isn't a member so we tried to talk to him about the gospel. He said he'll get baptized when he's 50. He's pretty funny. He went off and was talking about how he worships this god called Magdan or something Taoist. I was laughing pretty hard because he would notice that I wasn't understanding and then he would go, "I DON'T KNOW. YOU DON'T KNOW." He was really funny despite rejecting our message and trying to weird us out.

The young men's leader here named Scott is really helpful. When he goes with us to activities he helps translates and stuff. He understands because he felt the way in America. I really like Scott. He's a good guy. I've gotten used to the smell. I can't really smell the Zhongguo (China).

We live pretty close to the church and share the apartment with the Shalu elders, Shurtz and Trotter. I like them a lot.

We have these pass off dates for language and they are basically the source of my stress. They make us set goals for certain dates so we can pass off certain sections for language. It's really stressful and kills me. I hate having goals and stuff like that. I feel awkward a lot of the time because I just sit there in the lessons for the most part. I'll make a comment every now and then but I feel bad because I can't contribute or teach. Other than that the week has been pretty alright. It rained a lot. A TON. I think it may be raining right now. When it rains here... it RAINS. I still haven't bought rain gear. Mostly because my trainer doesn't know where to get any. Fun times.

Alright! That's all I got. I forgot my camera so I'll send some pictures of the Taoist temple and stuff next week. I love you all so very much. Taoist people are weird they have a lot of celebrations here and they do weird stuff. They constantly are doing something. All week they've been lighting off fireworks and parading through the streets. They lit off fireworks at 3:00 in the morning. That was a fun night.....

Taiwan is pretty amazing and very weird!

Hey everybody!

Taiwan is pretty amazing and very weird! It's really hot and humid.

The flight here was pretty alright. I was pretty bored for most of it and didn't sleep a whole lot, but my comments were cracking up the other Elders next to me. So at least I got to entertain them. When we were about to land I looked out the window and saw nothing. It was a mixture of pollution and rain. So it was pretty much just black. When we landed they played this oriental music throughout the plane. One thing I noticed when we stepped out was the smell. China has a certain smell to it. I don't know how to explain it. It just smells.....interesting...kind of bad.

The bus ride to the mission home was interesting. We got on the bus and we had orientation. It was really hard to stay awake and I'll be honest, I fell asleep like 500 times. I felt really bad but I was the most tired I have ever been in my entire life. 

When we got to the mission home they didn't have enough room for the Elders. So we had to walk with all of our stuff at like 11:00 pm to an apartment a couple streets down. It was really busy in the streets and really crazy. People around here don't follow the rules. Or maybe they don't have rules... I'm not sure. Our apartment looked like something out of Kowloon. It was interesting, but it was unexpectedly really nice inside. 

We went through the rest of the next day pretty tired. Lot's of presentations and powerpoints that I slept through. I was still crazy tired. It was hard to adjust. Still is.

The food here is interesting. I'm definitely going to have to get used to eating the food.  There's a lot of fish and a TON of rice. All the Asian stereotypes about food are right. The worst food I ate here was the "high quality" Taiwanese food. It's super gross. I've already eaten some weird stuff like duck, fish eye, and mysterious meats that I don't know (probably dog).  Everything has this weird taste to it, like a Taiwanese flavor.. I don't know how to explain it. It's kind of gross. The best food I had was at this Thai lady's little hidden shop. It has the best fried rice I have ever had. She was super cool and knows the missionaries although she's not a member. She turned down the music and stuff for us so we could pray.

So my area is Qingshui.  It means clear water. It's a small city northwest of Taichung. It's kind of like half farm half city so it's a little interesting. There's so many cool temples here. There's a lot of funny stuff that goes on here. Lots of grown men riding scooters and wearing hello kitty helmets. .. It's weird. Most people here are really nice though. 

My companion is Elder Mitton. He's from Provo. He's been out for about a year. It's his first time being a trainer and he seems pretty intense. We don't really have a whole lot of investigators. We have two but we can't get a hold of them. It's really hard to teach people here because they're willing to be taught and then when you set up an appointment they flake on you.  The main way we contact is on bikes, so we ride up to people and try to talk to them. It's really hard to do. Mostly because I can only get as far as "Hey, how are you? I like your scooter." Then it just goes down hill and I don't understand them. If you don't understand someone's Chinese here it's almost like an insult. So some people kind of get upset and think you're super stupid. We were tracting on our bikes and we stopped at this light so I leaned over to this guy who was riding his bike and started to talk to him. He went off and just started yelling at me. He was also chewing this red bean stuff. I don't know what it's called but it's basically super intense chewing tobacco that DESTROYs your teeth. I was laughing so hard when he was yelling at me. Then we were talking to a guy and we just said Hi. He starts mocking us and going "Wo zhi dao, wo zhi dao" which means I know.. I know.. Super funny!

Our apartment is pretty alright. It's a crappy little garage with an upstairs. We don't even have a shower. We have a shower head hooked up to a sink. The entire bathroom just turns into a shower. The bed is heavenly though. I haven't had a comfortable bed since I left home. Our backyard is a rice field and then there's this 3,000 year old house next to it with some Asian lady living in it. It's interesting.

I like my new bike. It's really nice. I don't have my biker legs yet so my companion just leaves me in the dust and gets mad at me for going too slow. 

We did some service two days ago. That service was working in a rice field. So I've officially worked in a rice field. It was really hard work.  We did it barefoot. There were bugs, frogs, rakes and rice. The mud would go up to your knees so I was caked in mud when we were done. Then we had to bike back in the hot 85 degree weather + humidity which is awful here.

On P-day we get two hours on the computer but one of the hours is like all training and branch president stuff. I'm in a Gamer Cafe right now surrounded by Asians playing League of Legends and yelling Chinese swear words. It reeks of cigarettes and there's moaning in the distance. Just another day in Taiwan........ I emailed some buddies from the MTC and they all basically described being in the same kind of place I'm at.  I love it.

After this, we're going up to a Daoist temple for a little celebration. Should be interesting and weird with lots of fireworks.  They really get into fireworks here.  After that we're teaching a lesson and then contacting at a Catholic College far away so we'll have to take the bus.

I've been kind of struggling. I feel like I don't know any Chinese and it's really hard. I can't even talk to people. I can only understand like 2 of the 500 words they say at 500 miles and hour. So I've been really stressed out to the point where I've thought about going home a lot. Like it's really bad. We have like 500 flash cards we need to memorize in 13 weeks with phrases, vocabulary, how to begin teaching -- all in Chinese. It's really intense here and it stresses me out so bad. It's really tough to stay positive and I'm kind of depressed. I'm having a hard time adjusting to missionary life in general. I'll probably hang in there though, because if I gave up I would probably just be moping around home all depressed and hate my life.

I love you so much! I miss you guys and I wish I could've watched General Conference with you guys. I have to wait another week to watch it here in Taiwan.

Love, 

Silas

More Pics of Silas from the mission blog

Sister Blickenstaff posted more pictures on the mission blog.  He are some pictures with Silas in them.  They left the MTC at 4:00 am on Tuesday, the 29th.  They arrived at the Taipei airport at around 6:00 pm on Wednesday, the 30th.  Then they rode a bus to Taichung and got to bed around 10:30 pm.  The next morning they were up and at it bright and early.  The jet lag must be awful, not to mention being tired from the long trip.  Taiwan time is 14 hours ahead of Utah time.