Elder Coletti's Letter 10/12/15 Week 12:
I cannot express how amazing Taiwan is! I love everything about it! There are the nicest people in the world here! The food is amazing (excluding Stinky Tofu)! Did I mention I love biking in the rain?! Everything is amazing here and I love it!
Tuesday Oct. 6, 2015:
We had a Zone Conference where we talked about our zone goals and what our zone needs to focus on. Afterwards, I went on an exchange with one of the zone Leaders, Elder Elliot. Elder Elliot is the smartest person I have ever met. Seriously. He took the ACT when he was a freshman in High School and got a 36! A 36! He is fluent in Chinese, both spoken and written. When we were on exchanges together, he would write everyone's name in Chinese Characters! It completely blew my mind! While I was working with him I asked as many questions as humanly possible! Elder Elliot is an incredible planner and goal setter. He taught me some great ways to stay organized and make inspired goals!
On Wednesday Oct. 9, 2015:
We had English Class! During the week we pass out flyers advertising a Free English Class. Every Wednesday at 7 o'clock we teach Asian students English! It is so awesome! There are 2 classes: Beginner and Advanced. I taught Advanced because the majority of the teaching is in English (which is good... because that's a language I do know!) The Beginner class is a lot of Chinese students that are not very good at speaking English and need to speak Chinese in order to learn English. Elder Scovel and I were teaching our class and decided to teach about sports. While we were teaching, we ended up on the topic of "trash talking"! Hahaha! It was so funny trying to explain to these Asian students how to "trash talk". They have no idea what "trash talk" is or how to do it! They kept saying, "Why would we speak about trash with them?" It was so funny, but it also confirmed how kind the people of Taiwan are. No one has ever heard of "trash talk" because they have never had a desire to tease or be mean to someone. I love the people here!
On Thursday Oct. 8, 2015:
We met with a couple of members who needed a little bit of help. Let me start by saying I'm sorry and I feel really bad about this. I am really bad at remembering people's names, especially people with Chinese names! Elder Scovel and I refer to people with nicknames that will help us remember them. I do not call them their nicknames to their face's. It's how Elder Scovel and I keep people straight and remember them. One person Elder Scovel and I met with was "wheelchair". He is in wheelchair because he was born with deformed legs that cannot support his weight. When I met him at his house, he would walk by way of crawling everywhere. It was really sad and a very humbling experience. It showed me how much joy and happiness the gospel can bring into people's lives. We also met with "mafia". We call him "mafia" because... well.... he is in the mafia... haha! He is one of the kindest people I have ever met! He takes pictures of all of the missionaries and then prints out the picture. He sticks the pictures of all the missionaries he meets on the ceiling above his bed so that he can look at us when he goes to bed and then again when he wakes up! We met with him and taught him a little bit. We ended up discussing McDonalds!:) BTW: McDonalds is so expensive here! Most meals in Taiwan cost around $60NT, which is about $2 dollars in American dollars. At McDonalds, the meals are around $150NT! I guess that still isn't a lot, but compared to other places here, it is expensive. We also biked all over the place today. We biked at night and so we had to put on our reflective protectors, etc. Biking is the funnest thing! I love it!:)
On Saturday Oct. 10, 2015:
We watched conference today. I love Conference! I really liked Holland's and Uchtdorf's talks. In Taiwan, we watch Conference a week later than in the U.S. because it takes that long to translate it into Chinese for all of the natives here. The Asian people who speak Chinese watch Conference in one room and the people who want to hear it in English are in a different room. It was awesome!
Sunday Oct. 11, 2015:
This had to be one of my favorite days here yet! In the morning we finished watching Conference. Afterwards, all of the members at the church met us outside and gave SO MUCH FOOD!!! It was ridiculous! They gave us a large pizza, Taco Bell, 3 loafs of bread, and almost 25 cupcakes! It was insanity at its finest! Haha!! The members here are so nice! I said it last week and I'm going to say it again....they treat us like celebrities. They always tell us how much we are sacrificing and that want to help us. They are seriously so kind. After church, we met with Yang Zhi Ming (for some reason, I can remember his name!). He is a recent convert, and he is awesome! He is so nice and completely open with his testimony, which I love! After we met with him, we went out searching for people to share the gospel with. We ended up having amazing conversations with two people we met!! The first person we chatted with was a middle aged man named Minter. I can't say I have ever heard of anyone named that before. He could speak English, and so our conversation was in English. After he told his name, he said, "Yeah. Minter. As in Money Maker!" It was so funny! We talked to him for a while and we almost got him to commit to be baptized! He said he wanted to read the Book of Mormon before he commits. We thought that would be a good idea! HAHA! After Minter, we met a lady named Nancy. She also spoke English! She has lived in New Zealand for 27 years. She taught us how to do TaiChi!!! Honestly! We were talking with her and all of a sudden she asks, "Do you two want to know how to do TaiChi?" Of course we said yes! For 20 minutes or so, right in the middle of this busy street, we were doing TaiChi with Nancy!! It was so fun! We gave her a Book of Mormon and set up an appointment to come and teach her about it!
Taiwan is amazing! I have loved every second of it. The people are so nice and are so prepared to receive the blessing of the gospel. They are humble, kind and teachable. I want to invite everyone to prepare themselves to receive the blessings of the gospel! A lot of people just expect the blessings to come. The truth is, if you meet God halfway, he will meet you the rest and fill you with his love!
Love you all!!!
Elder Coletti
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