I can't believe I'm actually in Taiwan now! It's been a looong wait for this! And It's so different than I expected still!
I think the hardest thing is probably the language. I feel so out of it and alone when we go to appointments, church, and shopping. Luckily my companion is a native, so she communicates for me, but it's still so hard to not know what's going on! She is great! She got baptized 4 years ago in May. She's still the only member in her family. She has a younger sister who's about my age. She applied for her mission when she was living in Taichung so that's why she was able to get called to Taipei even though she's from here! She only has 2 transfers left! Crazy! I'm learning a lot from her both spiritually and linguistically. :)
It's also nice cuz she knows what food is good too! I haven't had anything I haven't liked yet! I even had chicken hearts! Not too bad!! A lil tough, but good! This AM we went to the morning farmer's market and I got pineapple freshly cut right in front of me! SO GOOD. I ate it all during language study today. The fruit is so goooood!! My favorite food right now is called Bao zi. It's this round bread roll thing with some meat and vegetables and stuff on the inside. Mmmmm sooo good fresh from these random stands on the roads. That's been so crazy too. There's food everywhere!! They make the food right out in front of their shops then you go in the back to sit down and eat it. So that's why it always smells like food here. It makes fasting SO HARD. haha
So. As I said, everything is so different here! Some days I feel like nothing is the same as it was is GA or in the US in general. The language barrier is obviously huge, too! I had some rough days this week for sure. One day we were biking to an appointment which was the farthest I've ever ridden a bike in my life. It was exactly noon so it was the hottest part of the day. I was frustrated with not learning the language fast enough and the culture was frustrating me and I was just plain worn out. Then of course we come up to this big hill. I was just about done at that point. I started praying, "Heavenly Father. I can't do this. I cannot make it up this hill. Father bless me with the strength I need to make it up this hill. I can't do this without thy strength. I'm literally dying." then in the middle of my prayer this thought came to me, "You're not dying as much as the people you need to teach's spirit's are." Suddenly it got just a little bit easier to go up that hill. I started to tear up and felt so selfish. Who was I to complain about some physical pain, when there are people all around me suffering a much worse death, a spiritual death. That was a humbling experience for me this week.
I'm out here because of LOVE. That's it. I love my Father in Heaven. I love my Savior. I love my family. And I love my brothers and sisters out here in Taiwan! I know this gospel is true. The strenthening power of the Atonement is REAL!
-Sister Oviatt
-Ou Jiemei
