Sister Basko's Missionary Blog: Arrival in Taiwan and first week

The flight over to Taiwan was uneventful, and then a 3 hour drive down to Taichung. During the drive we didn't sleep. We talked and introduced ourselves and got to know each other. It was fun. Then we got to the mission presidents home, left our suitcases there, we dropped off at where we would be sleeping. Got to bed about 1am. At 6:10am we got up to go for a run, it is humid and warm, and I love it!!!! We got showered and studied and had breakfast (dragon fruit, mango, papaya, yellow/orange watermelon, fried bread, and soymilk) it was so good!! We had hot pot for lunch and there was a blood stick you ate, it didn't taste like anything, but everything else was great (there was a ton of mushrooms, cabbage, corn, fake crab, and fake fish, meat balls). all day was introductions and getting to know more about the culture here, and about how to be safe on the roads with so many people (such as; never assume you have the right of way, the only time you can go is when there is a green light, and the light are like 90 seconds long, you have time to talk to the people around you). And more studying. Dinner we went to a restaurant and had dinner on a thing that spins. Elder Liskie tried fish eggs, and fish eye ball and Elder Anderson ate duck brain. Stomachs of steel!!!! I stuck to the veggies and the things I knew I could eat. After we had a Dan Jones activity, we all sang a song, and we took turns standing on a wood cart and bore our testimonies. Later we went with one of the more experienced missionaries and street contacted. The last person my companion and I contact (we had decided we were going to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon) was perfect, she was looking for religion, and for help. And we said a prayer with her there and gave her a Book of Mormon, it was amazing!!! You could feel the spirit even though it was loud and crowded!!!

Friday we met our trainers after breakfast and we got our assignments were we are going to be living. I am going to be in Woofing, which is still in the Taichung zone. We got to our area, and planned for the day, then went out to teach some lessons. I met some members and investigators. Shi baba feeds the missionaries like crazy, he is awesome. He is great in lessons and is very outspoken member, he just puts things as they are, he is very blunt but he is great. Since I have arrived we have received 2 bags of fruit every day. The fruit is fantastic and so fresh. The roads are so busy, but it makes it easier to find people to talk to, and to share a little message with them. Saturday Sister Adam accidentally called Sister Fletcher, and we found out she is in the hospital and we got permission to visit her since the hospital was out of our area. The hospitals here family and friend really feed and help whoever is in the hospital. So on our way over we got directions, then Sister Adams go something in her eye, we had to stop and because we stopped we met one of the members from church and he helped us find our way to the hospital. And we able to bring her food and water, and just talk to her. So many miracles we saw on our way there. It was amazing. Sunday was interesting, I really couldn't understand anything, so most of the time I wrote down words I didn't know but heard so that I could learn them. Most of the members are the first ones in their families, and lots of them are recent converts but they still know so much. It is so amazing how the Lord has been preparing the people here to hear and receive His word. They are so welcoming and they are so involved in missionary work, and are friend with the investigators. The best thing is to see the members helping the investigators and getting to know them. It is awesome!!! Last night we did some planning and we went a while longer than we should have. We were still at the church and we had like 20 minutes to get to the investigators house. It would usually take 40 minutes, and we got there in 25min. we were safe and made it there. We taught an awesome lesson and she asked a ton of questions and we had experience we could share and help her apply reading the Book of Mormon to her life and help her think about how it could help her.

Love Sister Basko