My first week in far away Taidong was so long is was short. I know some of you will know what I mean here. It was packed and bursting with missionary activities...which should be expected because of my current occupation...
You know it occurs to me that my job description is rather amusing. I put in all my time for a year and a half to living with another young woman I don't know, riding a bike in skirts, blouses and dorky helmets, talking to absolutely everyone I see, in a language I can't speak, about Jesus. Whether they want to hear it or not. Yeah. Its pretty special.
But I digress.
Sister Collyer is probably the most missionary missionary I have met so far. She is so dedicated to the work, that the things that distract her, are about missionary work. Sometimes its almost alarming hah. but she has a heart of gold and she really loves the people. She invites every one she sees to baptism. Everyone, haha. Even the creepy guy in the work truck that chews so much binglong (a nasty plant like tobacco only red) that his grin is stained cannibalistic red. She has no fear or awkwardness about it.
I can already tell that my time down here will be unlike all my previous experience on my mission. I know Sister Collyer can teach me a lot, if I can suck up my hesitantly and pride and just do it. She really pushes me to go outside of my comfort zone, especially with talking to everyone at church. The members are wonderful down here, we have people come up and ask us in church if we have time for them to come peike (sit in on a lesson with us, which is very, very important and notoriously hard to come by in many other places). They love the missionaries down here, and the branches (there are two) are very small, so, it is very important that we really get to know them all.
Sunday was an interesting experience. I felt a lot like the new zoo exhibit. We are like the only white people in Taidong, and I'm pretty sure I'm the tallest woman in Taidong...maybe the tallest person period actually...So there was a lot of staring, and "Oh! Your soooo tall!"s. The children thought it was very amusing though, I'm pretty sure they saw me more as a new jungle gym than a new toy.
Saturday we had a baptism, it was pretty cool. This woman is amazing. She was the most faithful of investigators, really. When she saw the missionaries on the street, us or the elders (there are two sets of elders in Taidong) she would stop them and follows up on her commitments herself! ha. People keep telling me this is a language of miracles. I would believe that, this week we have 19 baptism dates. In my previous areas 5 a week was lucky.
Taidong is also beautiful. The weather is pretty much the perfect temperature, though I hear that it gets unbearable in the summer. The houses are still very Taiwanese looking (a little shabby and run down-ish) but the tin garage doors are all painted. Fanciful colors or designs and cartoon characters. There is a definite aboriginal feel to the art on the streets, and the architecture often. There is a backdrop of misty green mountains cupping the city. The streets actually have room to breathe, not congested every moment with insane scooter drivers and buses. Taidong will be an interesting experience.
Well that's all for now. I really love you all, and miss you terribly.
Love Sister Melissa Thiessen.
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