"I've Gotta Feeling"

Oh my goodness! So good to hear from you all! Yikes I just love it. Full week in Tainan! And it sounds like Thanksgiving was absolutely awesome and SNOWY. Wow pretty weird to think you are all surrounded by snow becuase I was just sweating a little bit on my bike.

So let me explain the title of my email before you start thinking "mmm Babylon, mmok Sister D, good one." So every Sunday we go visit one of the ward members who lives in a government run hospital for mentally and physically handicapped. She is a super neat lady. Her name is Yu jiemei. Really sad story- she is completely mentally compotent but physically- she is in a wheelchair and has a very severe speech impediment. She was hit by a bus 5 years ago and when the bus driver saw that she was still alive after being hit he backed over her in a horrible attempt to save on insurance costs. Terrible. The story, oh it is just terrible. But she joined the church before the accident and continues to come nearly every Sunday. But being in the hospital all day everyday we go visit her to cheer her up. We share a little thought with her, pray with her and sing with her. She is very animated and full of life. Anyways, yesterday we were there and the hospital was having a little event for all the patients. A few stores brought little knick knacks to sell and there was music playing. So the music is where my title comes in... you guessed it... they played "I've Gotta a Feelin" by Black Eyed Peas. Don't worry I didn't listen but it was on in the background (MOLLY- Lady Gaga and everyones fav Justin Bieber- yep all the way in Taiwan and I just busted up thinking of you. i love you molls) and I decided on the ride home from the hospital that being a missionary - for me at least- is like listening to "I've Gotta a Feelin" everyday. You can't help but be all excited when you listen to that song (ok Meliss especially at dance jam) and so being a missionary is like listening to that song 24/7. It's that good. umm hey this life is good!

So the area I am in- Tainan, specifically East Tainan. Is the second most densely district in our mission. Loads of people. Most everyone lives in apartments or like condo type things. People usually have a store or some business on the first floor and then they live above it. We - the sisters -Sister Howard(who is whoa the greatest) and I cover two wards.

Ok so I need to tell you about my Thanksgiving Dinner. Oh my. So two weeks before I got here we they had a three week baptism (which means this investigator was baptized in three weeks after she was "found") of Zhong Yun. She is from mainland so her Chinese is a smidge hard to understand but she is the most animated excited person in Taiwan. She is probably one of the poorer members since she just came from mainland. But oh she is so great. Wednesday we get to the church and there she is waiting with a gift of Chicken's feet. TO EAT. oh and we had already gotten the invite to come have dinner at her house on Thursday, mind you. So these chicken's feet-they were like an appetizer to Thursday, or something. Holy both Sister Howard and I gulped and decided we were going to pray real hard that night that our Thanksgiving meal didn't consist of other odd body parts. I was really hoping my tastebuds would disappear or my gag reflex would suddenly not exist. So Thursday comes and we show up at her house and to my great surprise we had hot pot. Where we all stick what we want in a pot of broth and cook it. Crab, clams, beef, tofu. It was surprisingly good. (sorry as I write this I realize the climax was the chicken's feet, oh well). So thanksgiving dinner was hot pot and the dessert was doublemint gum- my own personal pack. Then she let us color on her walls. Haha, nothing but white walls here so sometimes they get a bit creative and create their own personalized wall paper. Definitely an unforgettable Thanksgiving.

So first two baptisms on Saturday. Pretty amazing to see two people begin down the most impotant path of their eternity. It was different than I expected though. Baptisms that I have been to before the mission were such a family event and a really big deal ya know. But here, I think the ward has gotten used to having baptisms (they had a baptism here every week for the past 7 weeks) so not too many people came. And neither of the girls families came or even friends. Sister Howard and I were talking about this afterwards becuase it was a little hard for me to see, well surprising I guess. we came up with an idea that may help create friendships between progressing investigators and new members. Every Monday night we are going to invite our progressing investigators and new investogators/RCLA to a "family night." Each time we will have someone share their conversion story, we will share a spiritual thought and then play a game of some sort. We hope that this will help progessing investigators make friends with members. We will keep it short and sweet but hopefully we can create an environment where friendships can grow. I am sort of excited to see how it works.

Oh speaking of that- I need two recipes...muddy buddies and/or no-bake cookies. No ovens here but I think I could find all the stuff to make both of those.

OH ANDD I NEED Jesse Pugel's address. I have been thinking about her and I am dying to write her!

And one more request- a full family picture printed out? please. People love seeing pictures of our families and the one I have is old and in black and white which they don't like. Someone always makes a comment about it, its kind of funny.

So we have a really neat investigator right now. She is deaf and her name is You Mei. Her aunt is a member- she can read English and can sign in Japanese sign language AND can read chinese speaking lips (that sounds weird, whoops). But man she is so amazing. She could get baptized any day but her mom hasn't given her the ok. Each lesson with her consists of us writing things in english and reading the scriptures. Then at church her aunt sits on one side of her and we sit on the other side becuase her aunt will write things in chinese and then we write things in English. I don't know if this is making sense but she is amazing. I love it. I love this work. Jeepers sometimes I look back on a day and can't believe I made it all day without slowing down BUT I know it is becuase it is not me and my own strength. The lord really helps me every second of every day. I love it! And as I have said before- the people of Tainan are so ready for the gospel, everyday I talk to someone who the gospel just clicks with. You can see it in their face. We really are just reminding them of things they knew before.

I love you all!

Love boo!

Just preaching the best thing ever in Tainan, NBD

This is the official address I am not sure what you have so there you go one more time (sorry)

Taiwan Taichung Mission
498-11 Wu Chuan Road
Taichung 404-46
Taiwan, R.O.C.

I love this life, did I mention that!? So, here I am in Tainan and whoa it feels like I have been here forever. For now I am going to do a quick run down of the details.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Travel/talking to you- which was awesome! I loved it. Oh! You all sound so good and happy. After we talked I got on a 14 hours flight to Taiwan- nothing too exciting just trying so hard to not watch the bajillion TVs that I was surrounded by. We got pretty creative using in-flight magazines and what not. Airplane food meets Chinese food, definitely not my favorite. But none the less ... we got to Taipei at 10:30 ish and then drove down to the mission home in Taichung and arrived there around 2. That night we slept at the office couples apartment and yes you guessed it...
Thursday: Woke up at 6:30 to run for a half hour- no stopping. So then comes in my first awesome story. So we ran for a half hour, which was fine- still not a fan of running but nothing killer right. Then we are running back to the apartment (with the AP's- Jake ->I was kind of cursing your name for two reasons- you like running and you were an AP who probably made new/jet-lagged missionaries run like me- yikes, go get your rope) and we stopped at a stop light and first morning in Taiwan and of course I am going to contact right, that is what I am here to do so why not. I turn around (all sweaty and out of breath) and start contacting a 16 year-old (ish) girl in my very broken Chinese. THEN as I am about half way through saying the (long) name of the church in Chinese I got super lightheaded and felt like I was about to puke, like really puke. I said "dong yi xia" which means wait a second, put up my finger like hang on and stumbled over to a wall next to the gutter and pretty much puked. Yep, not kidding. So awesome, so legit. First contact on island. NBD.
The rest of that day was just mission orientation- we had hot pots for lunch (google it) and then we had a really traditional Taiwanese meal with peking duck (brain included). THEN Dan Jones in a night market. I think they sent you a picture or two and perhaps a video also. Pretty awesome so be in a night market with "babylon" if you will, all around and preach the gospel from a box. I was on the box for 30 seconds or something and then ran out of things to shout in Chinese with a Book of Mormon in my hand. I still can't believe I did it, whoas. After that moment an old Sister from that area grabbed me and we started contacting. In a contact we try to "add" which means we get their information, set up a time to meet with them and then give them an invitation to be baptized (with date). That is what we try to do all day everyday at every stoplight or where ever and since I have been with my companion in Tainan we have gotten 70 "adds." Our goal is to get loads of "adds" and then see who shows up to lessons and find our progessing investigators from that group. (just fyi)
Friday: Another run, no more puking. Traditional Taiwanese breakfast which was like a Mcdonalds egg mcmuffin meets cabbage, hamburger patty and some sweet mayonnaise sauce. Plus soy milk to wash it down. It was suprisingly good. Then a smidge bit of touring around Taichung. And then dun dun dun my trainer. Sister Howard! She is amazing. Ok this is craziness but believe it or not I have actually met her before this mission life. She worked at a kibbutz in Jerusalem while I was there and she came to church at the Jerusalem center and I totally remember meeting her. Super crazy when we put that together. She is amazing! oh my goodness she loves missionary work and is always going. Her previous companion(sister bretzke) "died" this last transfer so she was with us for the last three days before her flight home to Canada. So it was kind of like having two trainers for a few days which was awesome. They were/are both so stellar. Sister Howards excitement about the work is contagious. She sort of thinks about missionary work like a game with numbers and people and appointments and trying to get everything done in one day. The first night in Tainan I got to partcipate in my first lesson with a real investigator who is getting baptized this Saturday- Pan Jiemei(sister). We also have another investigator getting baptized this Saturday- zhong an. People here in Tainan are so ready for the gospel, we have had two people just stumble into the church and have a first lesson.
Since Sister Bretzke was leaving we have been eating at members houses for like every meal which was interesting. I like the food, sort of. I am getting used to eating food that you smell on the streets all day. I have only kind of gagged (in a secret sort of way) once. So thats good. I got my bike which is awesome. Biking here is seriously like playing mario cart (ash I am going to dominate when I get home becuase this is so the real deal). There are literally scooters everywhere, you can't even imagine. They are everywhere. And no one follows the traffic regulations, it is pretty much a free for all with two little missionaries in skirts dodging and sometimes chatting with people riding next to us as we haul down the streets. Man this life is good! Sometimes in the mornings, like during personal study and comp study I feel a smidge like - ok here I go again - insert pep talk here. But the second I get outside the door of our apartment and start talking to people and fall in love with this work all over again. Chinese is coming I try to say whatever I am thinking with whatever words I know and its pretty makeshift but works.
The weather here is beautiful! Humid but 70 ish degrees. not too hot and not too cold. I love it, too bad it's not like this year round. Our apartment is big but sort of dirty. Nothing too gross though. Hmm I think that is about it.
Like I said- the people here are so ready for the gospel they just don't know it.

I love you all! And I love this life and seriously more than ever know that I am nothing with out Heavenly Father helping this work along. I just want to be a better tool in his hands. Love Sister DeMordaunt!

p.s. let tuffy out!

Final Weeks in the MTC

"This is how my comp, Sister VS studies in the classroom"

"This is the district study sesh. Not that exciting, but gives you a taste of what MDT (missionary directed time) in Chinese zone looks like."

"My desk--it is always a disaster."

"The san bang tuan or ... the Chinese triad."

"So Asian--for Matthew. P.S. Let's play a game...where are Sister DeMordaunt's eyes?"

"The token MTC map picture...Taiwan, here we come. These are the girls that I room with."

"So, I decided to take the scripture stickers out of my D&C and then proceeded to give myself a sleeve of tats. Here's a close up."

"My tattoos are so hard core. I know!"

Just give me a sleeping pill (Syd Haglund) and get me on a plane already!

OHHHH Lovelies! (Weenie when I wrote that I thought of the show you and I watched together this summer, wink wink- remember sorting the laundry- yep me too)

Family I love you and I am SO excited to talk to you tomorrow, everyone gear up emotionally, there will be no crying allowed- only the good kind becuase HELLOOO I'm going to Taiwan. I mean seriuosly let's go already. After 12 weeks in this place I am ready to just be a missionary and teach people and get rejected and all that comes with it. I am so excited bah! The MTC has been a million times better than I thought it would, really. I really loved my time here. I mean I honestly can't believe how quickly it went by, really. But at the same time to get to Taiwan and do the real thing... I can't wait, and yes I am sure I have said that several times before this email, ha.

So first off! DAD and mom but mostly DAD I can't believe no one told me Weston Juarez was coming into the MTC. I saw him on his first day (because my comps and I were pretend missionaries in this Live Teaching deal which is done infront of the new missionaries- it was pretty random). Anyways, oh my I really almost started crying when I saw him becuase of just all that family has been here for pretty much the last 7 years. To see him at the MTC and as a missionary, bah! Amazing. He looks great, and every time I see him I get one loud "Hello Sister DeMordaunt! (side-note- the first time I saw him was pretty funny because I am pretty sure that is the closest an Elder has come to hugging me. kid you not. He really went in for the kill (i mean a hug) and I kid of stuttered and said "whoooops Elder Juarez I can't hug you but I can definitely give you a handshake." pretty funny.

And mom you already know but for the rest of you... Elder Bednar came for Tuesday Devotional! Yep. I have been absolutely spoiled here. His talk was really straightforward and doctrinal. Well actually it was about how to study. He outlined how to study in preparation for pretty much anything- but he taught it specifically towards missionaries. the name of the talk was "the answer is in the doctrine." He stressed how we need to focus more on the doctrine of gospel principles rather than the application of gospel principles. Because if people understand the doctrine then the application isn't a burden, when it might be (like tithing for example). And that as missionaries we need to be answering application questions (which investigators will ask more often than not) with doctrine. It has been super neat to apply this new way of studying things to my personal study topics. This week I have been trying to study faith, becuase our mission war-cry as we call it in Taichung is you xinxin, you banfa (which means - have hope, have way- literally translated) so I am trying to gear up. Something that stuck out to me this week about faith was being diligent/consistent in exercising faith. there are times when it so much easier to have faith than others but it is in the consistency of having faith that it begins to build. I am realizing more and more that in order to really improve and work on improving you have been bring consistency to all areas. It is so the nat man (yep shortened natural- love boo) to be up and down and all over the place- well at least the nat bekah. I feel like that is definitely something I need to work on and will be required of me as a missionary. Oh but seriously, this life is SO good!

So here is the deal with writing in Taiwan- all family I can email but for friends YOU can email and I will hand-write you back, since emailing you would be mostly and yep completely against the rules, mmm them rules are so nice. and plus the address in taiwan is as follows:

404-15

Taiwan Taichung Mission

No. 498-11 Wu Chuan Rd.

Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Ok so I love you and miss you and pray for you! And just love this life and can't wait to get to Taiwan. Becuase you know what- I am letting you all take care of Tuffy for the next 15 months so that cute Taiwanese people with peace signs can be with their families forever. how awesome is our calling?! I mean really! I love this work and this gospel. wo ai ni (yep chinese- google it, or something)