Tracting in the Park with the Branch President and his Wife

Hey! Hello!

Sounds like you're going to be very busy! I honestly don't know what to write this week. I'll be honest not a whole lot is happened since the last time I wrote you. We've just been having a lot of success while tracting and stuff. Like I said, I just love to tract. There's tons of nice people here. But, that being said there's also a lot of weirdo's/bean lovers/drunk guys with no shirts....but it's still fun. We recently did some park contacting and that was really fun. We came across these "Am-ahs" (grandmas) And they were like working out in the park and stuff and they had tons of questions. They mostly wanted to know what we were doing and why we were so young. It was really funny though because while we were at the park on Sunday night, we ran into our Branch President and his wife. So they would do laps around the park and kept running into us and they would be scoping it out and telling us which people they think we should talk to. I think they had a lot of fun. We came across this really nice family and we got their numbers and they were super nice and willing to meet with us. So hopefully they still want to. I'm really enjoying Taiwan and it's a good place. I love it here more and more everyday. I'm still retarded though. I had a good week though. No special plans for p-day. This morning I took my companion to the hospital. He has back problems and he wanted to see what was wrong. A year ago, his first baptism, he pulled a muscle while baptizing and it's hurt him ever since. So we went to a doctor and the doctor told him that he has a sprained muscle. So there's not much he can do. I don't really trust the hospitals here... They're super sketchy and many of the doctors look like they don't know what they're doing. We went to this huge hospital in the Wuqi area. Google pictures for the outside. It's like a skyscraper and it's got all sorts of stuff in it. Since it's socialized medicine there's like 50,000 people in there. There's like stores, a 7-11, a food court, and a Mazu shrine under the helicopter pad. Then there's a revolving restaurant at the top. The thing is super slow though and doesn't even really move. It moves like an inch an hour. So you don't even feel it/notice it.

I love you all so much!

The Taipei Temple trip was really fun!!!

Hey, I have an hour to email (less than an hour). I went to the Taipei temple and it was really fun. We ode the bus. Taipei has a very futuristic feel and has steep cliffs that drop off straight into the ocean. Taichung has a more ancient feel with lots of rice fields.

The temple was really pretty and really interesting. We had to take off our shoes (culture thing) to enter the temple. Inside there were all these Chinese-styled artworks and the chairs were Chinese-traditional-styled. Some aspects of it were really pretty. We did initiatories in Chinese, so I had to say all the Chinese names. I had to read the Chinese characters (which I don't really know) and figure out how to say the name right. It was really hard. I didn't do a very good job... They didn't correct me though, so I guess I don't really know how I did. The actual endowment session was in English though. It was kind of funny and I had to hold back some laughter, because all the temple workers that spoke English all had horrible accents and horrible grammar. That's probably what I sound like in Chinese though, but still hilarious. It was a really fun experience and it was really peaceful.

Yeah it was really fun to see the other mission. It was a nice break from proselyting and very fun to see Taipei. I took some pictures, but I don't have my cord so I'll send them on Monday. If you ever want to visit Taiwan with me, we're going to Taipei. Anyway, not really anything new. Sorry. It's been 3 days.. So I'm just sitting here...Where's Silo?

Going to the Taipei Temple on Wednesday

Hey I'm short on time this week, because we only get an hour. We're going to the Taipei Temple on Wednesday, so my actual P-Day is on Wednesday. I think we will be doing an English session at the temple.

This week has been really good. We've been just doing the same old same old. We got two new investigators this week, and they're really cool, and seem genuinely interested in what we have to teach!

We've been seeing a lot of success from tracting the area, which has been surprising to my companion. It's been really hot here though. I love to tract here. It's always an adventure, and I love it when weird or hilarious stuff happens. We tracted into this old guy and he was super loud and super energetic. He was super happy at the fact that Taiwan got a new president. He kept shouting her name and clapping his hands. It was really funny. It's Taiwanese culture to invite people in I guess. Most people will let us in and give us some warm water (Taiwanese culture) to drink, but will not listen to our message or what we have to say about Jesus. Either way its really fun and there's just always weird stuff going on. Tracting here has been really successful.

I love you all! Sorry not a whole lot of time to write! I love you! I might be emailing Wednesday!

My week was really good. Really expensive but really good.

Hello family!

Sounds like you had a pretty crazy week! It was really interesting to see Ale perform in that Colombian dance. Yeah, I've forgotten what Spanish sounds like. I tried to do a Spanish impersonation for my English class and I miserably failed. I had to have the Elder from Arizona do one. Even he struggled. We were in tears laughing. Sorry to hear Sam has PTSD about seeing those ducklings getting run over. That's rough. This week our neighbor's dog killed a baby bird learning to fly. The owner tried to save it, but it was too late. So he awkwardly put the baby bird back in the tree and it stood there and bled out then just fell........It was hilarious.

So that's what that movie is. Yeah me and my companion were seeing signs all over town and were trying to figure out if it was a new Avengers movie or something. Spider man was in it? What..? Who's the actor?

My week was really good. Really expensive but really good. We are teaching Maggie the post baptism discussions.  On Wednesday we went down to a town called Jiayi. It was really cool. We took the train and it completely changed my view of Taiwan. It weirded me out because it finally set in that I was in Taiwan. But, Taiwan is really pretty. It's like Nebraska but instead of miles of corn fields it's miles of rice fields. Which is really pretty because it just looks like grass so when we were on the train it was sunny and there was all this rice.

Yeah the training we went to was really cool. It was a half way mark for training and I got to see all of my MTC friends. They all know Chinese way better than me, so I felt pretty stupid. I feel kind of down about it. They're way more ahead than me in the language. I'm retarded when it comes to learning Chinese.

This week we did a lot of door tracting. It was really fun. I love to tract. It's always and adventure when we go out to tract. Mostly because everyone has a house that has a wall around it from 500 BC. So it's always a game to find the door bell/intercom thing. Then it's usually covered in spiders and everything. We've been having a lot of success tracting and it's been really fun.

This week we went to our second area, Dajia. It's just north of where we live. We went to shark bite toast. Which destroyed my wallet. It's so expensive. But, so good. It killed me though.

We've been going to McDonald's a lot this week too. Which isn't good for the body or the wallet. My favorite McDonald's thing is just a spicy chicken sandwich. Everything on the menu is pretty much the same as it would be in America. The only problem is that their ordering system is beyond retarded. You can't just order things off the menu. You have to get certain stuff in combo's so most of the combo's have like tea and so we always are like, "Can we substitute this out for like a coke?" They always give us a hard time and refuse. So we have to like, order. Pay for it. Order again. Pay for it. It's retarded. My new favorite drink is this Mango Slushy. I love everything Mango. Even Mango.

All in all, just another week of feeling like an idiot and not knowing whats going on.

Love, Elder Burge (Bo Zhang Lao)

Zone Training Meeting photos:

We got to Skype with Bo Zhang Lao for Mother's Day!!!

We got to Skype with Silas on Mother's Day at around 7 pm for 45 minutes.  Ben, Ale, Sam, Krista, Kayleigh, mom, and dad were there.  Silas and his companion were Skyping from the Branch President's house.  He is doing well and loves it there.  He said he really enjoys teaching their weekly English classes and tracting.  He said that he was recently going door to door with his companion and this one girl kept saying go away over and over again on the intercom.  He said it was pretty funny.

Silas got to baptize Maggie on Saturday.  She is a college student that they had been teaching.  She had some misgivings as her baptism day got close, but the sister missionaries were able to come to the rescue.  It was Silas' first baptism.  He said it went pretty well, but he had to do it twice, because her hand came up out of the water the first time.

  

He said he is terrible with Chinese, but his companion said he was doing pretty well.  It turns out that Silas' and Elder Mitton's fathers shared an apartment for a semester in college at the Glenwood Apartments in Provo.  Small world.

They celebrate Mother's Day in Taiwan, but they are a day ahead of us in the US, so it was Monday there when we got to Skype.  Silas said they we going to clean their apartment for P-Day after Skyping with us.

It was interesting to note that he now has a hard time saying "r" in english like most Asians do.  It appears he is becoming more Chinese by the day.

Amah contacting and interesting discussions

Hello again!

The weeks here are really going by quick. Me and my companion are always like, "It's already Monday? What happened?" Yeah I'm almost halfway through training. Which is a scary thought. I still don't know anything. I feel very inadequate a lot the time. My comments just aren't that good both in English and in Chinese. But on the bright side I passed off the 1st lesson! So I'm now qualified in my mission to teach the 1st lesson. It was pretty awful when I did it but... I did it.

Glad to hear Kayleigh's prom went well! Sort of... Minus the fight. That sounds pretty crazy though. Sounds like some good old high school drama.

A lot of stuff happened this week and I don't know where to begin. Our investigator got qualified for baptism so she's getting baptized on Saturday! We're still trying to figure out who will baptize her but it's either going to be me or the bishop. Mostly likely me though. Fun.... Heh. So that's exciting.

This week we went "amah contacting" It was a finding activity organized by our zone leaders so we went out and looked for "amahs." An amah means grandma. So we went out and talked to all of these amahs and stuff. They speak a lot of Taiwanese so I had no idea what was going on. But on the other side I'm learning some Taiwanese. So I'm basically learning two languages. Yeah it wasn't too successful though talking to them. They're pretty mean.

We were teaching this one guy we were just talking to him about finding a wife because he's older and has never had a girlfriend and stuff. Then he told us that girls don't like him and that he just wants to have one-night stands and go clubbing. We just stared at him and were like "What?" Then he didn't think pornography was bad and that it was okay for him because he's older and it's okay because all of his friends at work watch it...frustrating.  

There's this other guy we teach that's absolutely hilarious. He loves Tai Chi. He's super loud and I just die laughing. When we teach him he'll just start trying to mess with us and talk about how everyone is a god, but he really is just messing with us. It's hilarious. But my trainer isn't a fan.

This week we had lots of bike problems. I ran over something and my bike tire popped so I had to go to this guy's bike shop and get it fixed. He sanded down my tire and then put glue over it or something weird. It was interesting and cost me 50NT. Which was stupid because he totally ripped me off. The reason why I know this is because my companion popped his bike tire twice this week. He got it fixed for free the first time. Then we had to get his tube changed today. That cost him a good amount of money. Not fun though. Lot's of walking.

It's so hot and humid here.  I am constantly covered in sweat and it gets pretty exhausting.  I got some cheap lame rain gear that barely fits because it's Chinese size. I got the large... It's pretty ridiculous. Barely fits. I've lost like 20 pounds on my mission. So I don't think I'm fat or anything. My clothes are good though. Some of my ties broke because of the humility or something. I don't know. Ties are my biggest thing.

I discovered a new drink I like here! It's called DongGuo Cha Moose. It's like a tea. (It's Word of Wisdom checked.) It's really good though! It's so refreshing. There's lots of "teas" here in Taiwan.

All in all this week was really good! Lot's of tracting and contacting. Lot's of me not knowing what's going on. All sorts of stuff. I'm doing really good though. I'm getting used to missionary work and Taiwan and not knowing what's going on. There's all these little things I wish I could write about but I just don't have time or know which ones to write about. I love you all so very much! I miss you all!

p.s. I'll be able to Skype on mother's day. They still haven't told us anything yet.