June 30, 2013

 Well, it's that time! I know I say this a lot, but the time just flies!! It feels like I was just here yesterday! It sounds like you guys had another incredible week with some awesome stories! So great! This week I'm actually at a different internet cafe and I'm actually really impressed! It's pretty nice, no smoke and only a little bit of B.O.! Wow! It's super great! 

     What a week! The first couple weeks in a new area are always super crazy! I've been meeting so many new families, and learning new names and faces, I feel like my brain is going to explode! And my diet is totally thrown out the window! These people are just too dang nice! They won't stop feeding me!!! And the worst part (best part, really) the food is all so incredibly delicious!!! The people here are true Christlike examples of Charity and the Law of Consecration. I'm so humbled when I see some of the members houses, and almost brought to tears when I see the work they've put into the meal that they lay out before us missionaries. Yesterday, we went to one of these houses and had an AWESOME meal of shrimp, "rou zao fan" (a delicious sauce poured onto white rice... I don't know what they put into the sauce. Some kind of meet... I hope!) and a big, ol' fish covered in delicious veggies! The members were so happy to have us over and they were working so hard, I'm so grateful for these people, and I love being in this position where I can serve them! A little side note about the dinner... you like shrimp? I liked it in America, but it's not my favorite. When I got to Taiwan, I saw the way they ate shrimp and I liked it even less... When they give you a plate of shrimp, you get the whole shrimp! The legs, the head, the black, bulging eye balls, EVERYTHING! It's also impolite to use your hands to tear the stuff off, so you have to use your mouth! Yeah, you tear the head off, suck the brains out, then use your teeth to tear all the little legs off and the outer shell, and THEN you can eat the little sucker... pretty delicious!

     One of the highlights of my week? ENGLISH CLASS! I'm the new 小朋友 little kid teacher! I thought controlling 4 little kids in a pool was tough, but trying to teach 4 little kids to teach English when they have NO desire whatsoever was a nightmare!!!... well, it was at first! We tried to have them sing the ABC's with us, but they just grabbed the little place mats with the alphabet and started tearing them apart and screaming and running around the room!! So I did the only thing I could! I pulled out my guitar and started playing the first song that came to my head... "red is my favorite color, it's the color of apples!!" THANK YOU FEFF!! They all calmed down and sat about 2 inches away from me as I taught them "the color song." Another highlight of the week, the new Chapel here in DaYa did a big Open House activity! The missionaries were in charge of advertising the English class, so we decided to get together something fun! They picked some costumes for us, all pretty simple and could be done while still looking like a missionary... all except for one. Guess who got picked for that one? Yep, they dressed me up like Woody and told me I was in charge of the Disney section! Haha, I was actually pretty happy until I found out that the new mission president was coming and his first impression of me would be that!! It all turned out okay though, we had permission to dress up like that and they all loved it! It was a blast to play with all the little kids and talk to them about English class.

     That's it for this week! Elder L is super awesome! He's a super prepared missionary, I guess it helps when you speak the language fluently, but he's really super mature! A super awesome teacher and he's great with connecting with people! We get along really well, we both love to mess with our Zone Leaders and playing pranks on each other! He's also teaching me a little bit of Taiwanese! Super fun! 

     My Spiritual thought for the week has to do with Rubics cubes... Brian and Jessi, you guys probably remember the hours in the car as we tried to solve that stupid cube?? I still remember the present Jessi gave me for my birthday that year... we had somehow gotten the cube to have two sides almost completed, we only had 2 squares that were different colors... Jessi took it upon himself to "complete" it for me by switching the stickers!! hahaha, I loved it! Elder Liu and I bought some Rubics Cubes this week and we've been competing to see who could do it the fastest... I"ll admit, he's a lot faster than I am! But that's not the point! By reading the instructions and applying the principles, I was able to learn how to solve the cube in less than an hour. When we learn the right principles and apply them in our lives, our lives can improve drastically and trials will go smoother! This obviously is not the best comparison, because our lives will have some pretty big trials no matter what we do, but with the Gospel (our little instruction manual) we'll always be able to overcome our trials and have success in the long run. Don't give up! If you're going through a trial right now, rely on the Gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I promise you'll make it through to the other side.

    I love you guys! Jiayou! 

     Elder Noll