Lehe

Hellooo everyone! 

It has been an interesting week.

We went to a nearby small town called Lehe, and I can't tell you, I SWEAR I thought I was with Native Americans, not Taiwanese. Let me explain.

Before the Chinese came and lived in Taiwan in the 1950's or so, there was a group of people living in Taiwan. They are called the Aboriginals. They are pretty much the native americans of Taiwan. Anyway, some 60 years or so ago, some Christian missionaries came and made them Christian. Such is the case for Lehe, where pretty much everyone goes to this one Catholic church and catholic school. An 80 year old french guy (I heard he's still alive and living nearby, I wanna see him sometime). came and converted mostly everyone, good for him. It was interesting, I've seen pictures of their costumes and the town had rock murals of it all. I remember my grandpa always wanted to see a twirling turkish dancer, and he was able to see one when he visited Turkey a few years ago. That is my dream now- to see aboriginals dance too just to say that I saw them dance.I even had a dream a few days later of some of them dancing, and I couldn't tell if they were aboriginals or native americans. My dreams have been constantly of going home for a few days then going back on my mission. Super weird.  

 

My mission so far:

Ba De- means 8 morals (Young womens lesson anyone? 8 morals: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, virtue=mei de, which means beautiful moral ). A more small town feel, up the hill from the famous tourist attraction Yingge, lots of pottery.

Xinzhu: means New Bamboo. A city like Provo. Has 2 train stations, 2 colleges, a big mall, a christian hospitalm, and a science park, so pretty much the finding is endless.

Yuli: means Jade Neighborhood. The Japanese might have (still not sure) came here in World War in 2. We've met two people here who were here when it happened, and they still hate the japanese and love the americans. We met one old guy who was there when it  happened who lived in Lehe. He is from China. He is like 80 and his wife is 60 something. Fun stuff. 2nd to smallest area in the whole mission (just barely made from smallest to second smallest). Small branch in a guys big house. We live right above the 1 floor chapel with 3 classrooms, a kitchen and a branch presidents office where I am writing emails right now. 

It has been a good week with miracles. We have some cool investigators I REALLY hope can get baptized soon. Finding has been kinda rough, but it will be okay.

Spiritual share: 

I've been reading the Liahona's lately, and there were two good stories I liked. One was a lady who was a nurse and was having a bad day, but saw some pretty flowers as she was leaving and the lady at the desk gave them to her. As she was leaving, she saw an older lady who said the flowers were beautiful. The lady didn't want to, but the Spirit told her that the older lady needed the roses more than her, and so she gave them to her. The old lady started crying and said that her husband passed away a few years ago and her children hadn't visited in a long time, and she prayed and asked God to let her know that He still loves her, and that through this lady giving her the roses she felt His love. The lady left and was grateful that she did it. Her husband later got the flowers the flower shop forgot to deliver to her that were prettier than the ones she gave to the older lady. I love this story of selfless sacrifice and helping those in need. Reminded me of when I visited people at the Veterans home.

Yuli Bridge

Lessons learned: be selfless, follow spiritual promptings, and open your mouth asap.

Fun cultural facts:

I have felt a few earthquakes here on my mission. Some in Bade, never in Xinzhu, and two here in Xinzhu, just an hour or so ago as I'm writing emails and last night. Nothing serious, just some things shaking. 

If a divorce takes place, the kids go with the father instead of the mother.

We can't drink water from the tap, so we always have to have a filter, so we never see drinking fountains. At church, instead of drinking fountains, we have office water coolers, available in hot, room temperature or cold.

They pretty much don't freeze their vegetables. So when we go grocery shopping, we don't see frozen fruits or vegetables.

Love my  mission, Love the Lord, it will be rough for a while, but I will try to do my best. It will be okay, because I am on His Side.

-3 Nephi 5:15

Love you All!

-Sister Brinkerhoff