lactic acid‏- Wed 9/16/09

Hello Family

Well, great news! We had another baptism last Saturday! The ward was very excited because she is the wife of a pretty active member. Then, on Sunday we were disappointed because we only had one investigator come to church. However, she was quality, her name is Jia lin. We explained the Sacrament really well to her. Then she saw Zhang jie mei get confirmed and heard her bear testimony. After the meeting was over, she leaned over and said, "I want to get baptised! When can I get baptised?" Music to a missionaries ears! She is really great.

Guess what else, I bought the family's Christmas Presents today! Woo! I usually like to buy The Perfect Present as I find them over the space of 3 months, but as a missionary today I had about 4 hours. We want to send our boxes early so we can send them by boat. I am kind of excited though. They probably won't be keepsakes but hopefully at least will be a source of family amusement. I am really bad at suprises, so I better stop talking about it or I will tell you (Amy can attest to this).

So, in Taiwan we eat on the street for lunch and dinner every day but Sunday. The food and vendors are clean here; I got more sick from the MTC food haha. You can eat the fruits and vegetables. People do drink filtered or bottled water but it's no big deal. We have a filter on our apartment sink and I fill up my water for the day there. We sweat a lot riding around in the sun so it's not usual that we will stop and buy a sports drink. The sports drinks taste good (much milder than gatorate) but they have gross names like Pocari Sweat or Lactic Acid Drink. Ewww. At first I flat out refused but I've gotten over the name issue. Most missionaries are supposed to limit how often they eat out. Not in my mission- we are supposed to! It is cheaper than groceries and saves time. It's less than 3 dollars for most meals. There is one grill place that my companion and have been considering, but it is so expensive we are waiting for a special occassion. It is *6* dollars and you can't just go around spending so much :) It is a nice change from Europe where you can't buy a bottle of water for $6.

Hmm sorry this email wasn't the most interesting.

Much much love though.

Message to Donna:

It was good to hear from you, there had been far too few momma dances in the past few weeks.

I hope you liked Boston, it seems like most people do.

Don't worry about there being returned missionaries in the class. You have the calling so you are authorized to receive any revelation you need. Just ask the right questions. In your personal study and preparation, start asking questions. If you don't ask, you can't receive. I'm sure you will do great. 2 minutes left.

I haven't gotten the bank problem straightened out but am calling right after this. Will use Penny talk.

Sounds like you have been having fun

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