Pic on Left is Mel with the Elders in her district. They found a COSTCO and Mel got them all in on her card so they could get American Pizza.

The photo on the right is Mel with a Mini. She sent this for her dad who loves them and has a 1973 Austin Mini Cooper S, that is this color blue. It is pretty amazing seeing her dad who is 6'8" in his Mini.


Mel's email didn't come through last week, so this post is a 2fer. This week and last week's blog.

Greetings again from Taiwan Well I don't have much to say for this week, it passed very quickly it seemed. My district had a very successful week, every conpanionship contacted 30-40 people a day at least and we gained many new investigators and a handful of baptizm dates. This is impressive, because our district is the youngest (has more new missionaries) than any other in our Zone and probably one of the youngest in our Mission. But it was a hard week, emotionally and physically. I got into my first mission bike accident! My companion and I were hurrying to the MRT (train) station to get to district meeting and we came to a stop light. I applied my breaks to slow down and they locked up. My bicke stopped quite suddenly and I did not stop. I wiped out pretty spectacularly all over the road. I was blessed because there were no cars behind me so I remained un-ran over. Also, my dress and my tights remained unripped, miraculously, which I was very greatful fore because I don't have too many of those items and cannot find them in my size in taiwan. Language has slain me this week. The Danshui missionaries (the elder companionship that is in our area and sister Li and I) has a invantory about our language. Sister Li was upset because we all spoke English when we were together and she felt left out. Its a sticky situation because of the newness of half of us, and our inability to speak chinese. We eventually worked out a way to hopefully deal. Sister Li mentioned that she has a really hard time understanding the words that I use in English sometimes, and Elder Benson (the district leader) turned to her and said, Sister Li, I have a hard time understanding the words that Sister Thiessen uses in English some times. We all laughed and I assured them all that I would try my best to dumb down my english. This week while buying fruit at a local stand I made an amazing discovery!! I picked up an apple to access its freshness and what did I find! It was a Washington apple! I was so happy I had to go find Sister Li and tell her. But then! I turned around to pick up a different variety and what did I find!! Another washington apple, but what did it say? A YAKIMA WASHINGTON apple! All the way accross the world in taiwan, a little peice of home found me all on its own. I stole a couple of the stickers, and bought a couple of the apples. And they were delicious. mmm. This week begins the new year. Chinese New year that is, it is their biggest holiday. They all congrigate as families and eat a ton of food. For missionaries that means invitations for big meals, weight gain, and no lessons. There will be a lot of door nocking and street contacting this week. Well I am out of time. We are off to go find Costco! I am hopin to weasle my district inside with my American card! Love you all! Sister Thiessen.



Today starts my 3rd transfer. That leaves only 9 more. hmm. I've already been out a half a year! Let me hear a big "Woooooooooow" out there folks.

So on Friday we had move calls. It was an interesting situation. We were all certain our beloved district leader, Elder Benson, was going to be called away. Then Thursday he was given the call to train, which upped his chances of staying in Danshui. We also all expected Sister Li to leave, but me to stay. Elder Benson came back with his new trainee on Friday morning with a huge smile plastered on his face. He was staying in Danshui. He'd said that he'd heard whispers that maybe Sister Li and I were both staying. Things were looking pretty good from my perspective up until Friday night. The assistants accidentally called Sister Li instead of another sister and so she found out early that she was transferring to Xinzhu, a city south west of Taibei almost in the Taichung mission. She was...very...upset. It was pretty bad. When she had calmed down enough to rationally speak she called elder Benson to confirm, he had not yet heard from our zone leaders though. When he did call back I answered. He told me, with a heavy heart, that I was also moving, and that they were closing the sisters in Danshui. It was a serious blow. He informed me that I would me moving to Taidong, the very most southern tip of Taiwan. So I went from the extreme far north to the extreme far south in 2 transfers. Taidong is a 7 hour train ride from Danshui. The irony here is that the one person we were all sure would leave stayed, the lone man haha.

It is a big sadness. We had so many investigators that are going to be left in an awkward place. It was a big deal, we packed up our whole apartment and had to go over all the records with our elders, so they could take over. Sister Li and I had no little amount of sorrow in doing this.

This morning I said goodbye to Danshui. Everyone tells me I am the lucky one. Missionaries, sisters and elders alike pray to be moved to Taidong, its rumoured to be the best area of the mission. Certainly the prettiest. All the members tell me its gorgeous. They tell me that I will love it. But I will very much miss Danshui, I got very attached to the members, to the investigators, to the stormy beauty of that seaside town. And especially I will miss my district, and my elders who were like my family away from home.

I took that train ride, I am now stopped in the middle in Hualian, a rich touristy city on the middle east of the island. The closest missionaries besides those in taidong reside here. Its a Huge zone. And it is beautiful. Oh, the wonders and fun of the missionary life. My companion is one sister Collyer, whom every sister I've ever talked to has nothing but praise and good words for. I really am blessed. I confess, I was one of those missionaries who prayed to come south, but not so soon! haha. But the Lord knows what he is doing. And I am slowly adjusting to the fact that I have moved. ha.

To reminisce on the past transfer, I have to say that though it was really hard some times, having a bundi (native) companion helped me enormously. My speaking skills are only marginally better maybe, but really my listening skills have improved by leaps and rockets. I understand so much more than I did even 4 weeks ago. Last night before I left Sister Li she and I had a long conversation about what had come to pass this last transfer. Before we went to bed I looked at her and said "Sister Li, do you realize that we just had that entire conversation in Chinese? 6 weeks ago, I could hardly speak to you."

The Lord does love his missionaries. We just have to be patient enough to be molded by his hands.

Love you all!
Sister Melissa Thiessen