This week was Chinese New Year and it is pretty ridiculous here to say the least! Everyone and their dog has been on holiday so naturally everything is closed. The good news is that we have been fed meals everyday since Friday. Normally we are not fed by the members, it is rare, usually only on holidays. Even then we need to be careful about it. Most people here are very poor and we have been asked to not tax them financially by eating at their houses.
We have saved a lot of money but have eaten a lot of weird stuff like octopus and tofu, I even ate pig ear and all sorts of fungi.
This is my companion, Elder Dayne Shakespeare at one of our many meals to
celebrate the Lunar New Year
We have enjoyed weather of high 70s and low 80s. It has been very nice to say the least. No one has been willing to set up because it is about the equivalent of asking someone to meet with you on Christmas day... I understand but it gave us a lot of time to find some news.
Some of the coolest people we ran into was a family from Virginia. The mom was Taiwanese and they had girl triplets and one boy. They were so cute! They were a little like my own family because 3 girls one boy. I told them that and the mom told them to all give me a hug since I probably miss my family. The girls were 6 and shy so I gave them high fives but the boy was 3 and he just jumped into me and gave me a hug. He melted my heart!
I also got a package from my parents! Thank you, thank you!! It was nice to have some stuff from home.
They sent this shirt, I loved seeing it again. It fits me a lot better now. At one point on my mission I lost so much weight that I barely tipped 100 on the scale, but since my health has improved, I am putting on weight again. It is good! It is weird to think that was probably the last thing from home. (Mom's note: Elder Erwin is mistaken in this. He will be getting a birthday package in May. Won't he be surprised!)
The big news is that the missionary schedule has changed. We can now leave the door at 8am on p-day!! We also have some changes to allow us to be more flexibly in the use our time. It is a worldwide change but we are the first to use it because it is still Sunday on the other side of the world. :-)
The other big news, that is not that big is that this transfer is only 5 weeks long. Why would that be big new you ask? It means I will now be returning home on July 6th instead of July 12th. They made this change because missionaries all around the world were going home way after their missionary license expires like me, mine expires on June 24th, so I will be illegal for a week! haha.
I only have 21 more weeks which seems like a lot until you take one out and it seems to go by really fast. I love you all hope you are have a great week!
Because missionaries all around the world were going home way after their missionary license expires like me, mine expires on June 26th, so I will be illegal for a week, haha.
I am district leader of our little district of 4. I just prepare district training meeting and do follow ups. So not too busy.
It is weird because I am so much older than all the other missionaries. One sister is being trained right now and her trainer has been on a mission for 9 months and my companion 5 months (only 3 months in Taiwan) so when we go to dinners and stuff at members houses I feel like the old fart! I don't feel old in age but mission age there are only a hand full of people older than me. I received a nice compliment from my companion this week. He said my Chinese was so good that he doesn't understand half the stuff I say haha! I really am the old man now.
The longer I am on my mission the more I realize how smart my parents are... haha. Not to be rude but I never thought that they were much smarter than me! hahaha! I know better now.
This last transfer my old companion Elder Cox was made a trainer. He had to leave for the mission home to pick up is new companion a few days before transfers, so I had to go stay with the other Elders in my last district. I had to stay there a couple days but I needed my stuff so Jiang Mama drove us in her box truck to MinXiong, which is the area next to TaiBao. It was 6:00am and very cold and loud. It was not well advised.
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