Tuesday, February 4, 2014

5 August 2013

Have I ever told you that my nickname out here is 葛啊花? 葛 is my family name, and 啊花 means "Drama Queen". It was given to me by a group of girls in my first area, and it has followed me around ever since, probably through Facebook. Anyways, all the kids here call me that.

Fun Fact: Do not whistle at night. It attracts ghosts. The Taiwanese people are terrified of them, and much of their superstitious behaviors are based around the concept of ghosts and spirits. However, if you are a foreigner, it's okay to whistle, because the ghosts are afraid of foreigners. This is because the ghosts are actually the spirits of their deceased ancestors, and they only like to haunt their posterity. White, American missionaries are apparently the last thing they want to haunt. Some Taiwanese actually prefer us to whistle around them, because it scares the ghosts away.

My dad asked me if missionaries do Tai Chi. While I myself have never done it; there are some others that will do it on Monday mornings. Elder Jensen and Elder Bean were nuts about it. While it is a good exercise that keeps most of the elderly population active, I think that Tai Chi probably doesn't do much at all for young people.

LB has been making significant progress. This week he completely quite smoking and BinLang, and he came to church again. He seems a lot happier. I'm sorry to admit I didn't think he'd progress at all when I got here. But thus far he has not ceased to amaze me. The Atonement is really working through him, and changing his heart immensely. Christ is also changing me, and helping me to see the eternal potential he has. I am learning to look past imperfection and see people as they really are, as sons and daughters of God.

It's the start of a new transfer, and I'm still with Elder Palmer! Because of major Zone boundary changes, our district has changed, and I'm the District Leader! (We are actually the only two people in the entire district, but don't tell anybody that.) Still, it's cool that President Blickenstaff trusts us to be able to do this without the support of a District Leader. It will be hard (I personally really enjoy nightly follow-up phone calls), but it will be a good experience.

-Elder Jorgensen

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Elder Tsao, Elder Chang, Elder Palmer, and Me

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Me with my ridiculously stretched out shirt, trying to look epic.

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Elder Palmer actually accomplishing looking epic.

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The Beaches are beautiful!

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Klara and her mom with me and Elder Palmer at South Point.

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Elder Palmer and I

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Doing a photo shoot for a ward service project.

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Beach Pics

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"Chu huo" is a natural fire in Hengchun.

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Smokey Joe's, a wonderful missionary retreat. :D

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