Dajia hao!
Hello everybody! It's your favorite person in the world here, emailing from a shady internet cafe in Taiwan! Haha. I have a really big thing to say...
I'M LOVING IT!
Being back is totally awesome! I am doing so great! It is totally better than last time (in the aspect of happiness levels). Let me just go over the past few days:
I got to the airport and met the group of missionaries I was traveling with. Some of them were really cool and we became good friends. When we got to LAX, nobody wanted to listen to me. They all wanted to call on the phones in Terminal 3 and wait for an announcement for our plane to board... Uhhhh... dumb idea. So I FINALLY convinced them otherwise. Oh well. It was still fun. When we got around our gate, I got to talk with so many Chinese people! I was reminded of how much I love them right away. I met some woman who was a member from Houston Texas in the Mandarin Branch. Her name is Zhen Jiemei. She was on her way back home just to vote for the next President. Haha. Pretty serious business I guess. The plane was full and I was assigned a middle seat. Blegh. I was one of the last ones on the plane because my zone number was super lame. I got to my seat and I was sitting next to the member Zhen Jiemei (Jiemei means Sister FYI). She was so excited and said "I prayed to Heavenly Father that I wouldn't sit next to a fat person! I'm so glad it's you next to me!" I lauged so hard. The girl on my other side was living and going to school in America. We talked for a while about the church, and it was nice to have help from Zhen Jiemei. The girl said "Wow. I think there was a reason you two sat by me." I think we helped prepare her. Mid flight, I got up and walked around the plane and talked with people. I was standing by the galley and one woman asked if she could walk through the galley. I said of course. Then, some other woman came up and asked if she could fill up her water bottle from the galley. A little later, I was talking to some woman who was really funny. She was talking about how she just woke up and that's why she looked drunk. We were laughing so hard just talking that a real flight attendant came and scolded us for being too loud. Haha. I couldn't help it. Then the woman looks at me and said "You don't work here?" haha. apparently everyone thought I was a flight attendant. Haha.
When we got to Taiwan, I got so nervous, but excited at the same time. It seemed like it took FOREVER to get our bags and clear customs. Walking through the doors and seeing President Bishop was one of the best moments of my life. Sister Bishop said "I wish I could give you hug right now!!!" President Bishop and I cried when we hugged. It felt so good to be back. The next couple days at the mission home were not bad. I did not feel tired at ALL, even just running on four hours of sleep the past couple days. We went to a really fancy restaurant and I volunteered to eat the eye of a fish we were served. Nobody else wanted it, so I thought it would be good just to jump into the whole weird food thing. After that, we did Dan Jones where we stand on a box in the middle of a night market and preach/scream the gospel. It was super fun! OH. I also got to see Elder Siebert! He was in the office. He's so cool. We talked for a while before I was off to new places.
The next day, we met our companions. Trainer 2.0 is: Elder Oram from Kaysville. He's really awesome. Super hard working, but not a stiff. Haha. He's already helped me a ton with my teaching and chinese. Super great. I'm now in an area called ShiZhong. It's a district inside Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung)! So i'm pretty close to where I started! This is one of the greatest cities EVER!!! We've already started teaching a couple of great people. Wu Dixiong (Means Brother Wu) was hit by a huge metal rod at a factory where he worked. It hit him in the brain stem, causing him to get really sick and lose some functioning in his body, but he is still really happy and wants to go back to church. He stopped going to his church because they passed around a collection bucket, and he's spent all his money on multiple surgeries, he was super buhaoyisi (embarrased is a rough translation) about not putting money in that he stopped going. He came to church yesterday and loved it. I have good feelings about him. There was one Recent Convert that was baptized just a little while ago that I am super impressed with. We met with him last night and his testimony is SOOO strong. I was loving every minute of him sharing with us his new and improved life. I was reminded of why I love this place so much and why this work is so important. I know this gospel is true. I love everything about it. I know that Heavenly Father blesses us so much when we are faithful and do the things he asks. Keep the commandments and endure to the end. Life is just that simple!
I love you all! I'm super thankful for all of your prayers and support. The journey to get here has been rough, but it's the best thing ever!!! (I know. I've said that like 2 or 3 times). Keep the faith and know that I pray for all my friends and family at home daily.
Love,
Elder Mitchell Rhead Sorensen
P.S. - I still hate the smell of Stinky Tofu. HATE HATE HATE HATE.
