Week 34

First Week in Fengyuan

Well, I completed my first week in Fengyuan today and it was an interesting week!  It was kind of crazy and kind of hard to adjust to the new ward and everything, but I got through it. I am currently serving in the DongFeng branch, which is a huge area up by the mountains North of Taizhong. The main part of our area is a big city on the base of the mountains, but we have a few really mountainous secondary areas. We don't usually go to the secondary areas, because they are so far away and so high in the mountains.  But there is one secondary area we visit once a week. It is named Dongshi (That is the Dong in DongFeng). Dongshi is up in the mountains, and apparently has some of the cheapest and best fruit in Taiwan. They used to have missionaries up there, but because of the lack of missionaries lately, we are the only ones who ever go there now. 

We live on the 16th floor of an apartment building.  We have a super good view. I would take a picture and send you the view of it, but that leads me to another part of my week last week. Somewhere on my travels from Shalu to Fengyuan, I lost my camera. For the first half of last week we ran around looking for it, but we couldn't find it. I was pretty upset about it for a while, but I think I have come to peace with it.  It is pretty sad since the only pictures that are saved are pictures I have sent home or to my friends. I also had a lot of pictures of the baptism with Chen Jun Hong and of me leaving Shalu. And now those are all gone with the camera. Hopefully, some of my old companions can send me some that I have lost. 

We also had the chance to go up to the temple this last week. It was a great chance to have some peace and rest from my hectic week. It was also a super beautiful day when we drove up, so I got to see a lot of Taibei and the Taiwan country side.

Then I also got to meet a lot of cool new people this week. We are the only missionaries in our branch, so we get to teach anyone in our area (male or female). Right now we have a lot of good investigators, but some have been disappearing, so I think we will spend some good time finding new people. As my Chinese and people skills grow, finding new investigators becomes more and more fun. I used to hate contacting, but now I can go out and talk to everyone I see on the streets. It is just a great experience to meet that one person on the street who wants to talk to you. And then when you actually meet with them, it's a kind of happiness that is just super awesome.

Shalu was hard to say goodbye to. I had a lot of good friends in Shalu and it was sad to say goodbye to Elder Fox. I can still email them though, so it's okay. Oh and when we move we use a company to move all our stuff around. So I lived out of a suitcase for a few days and I used a bike with no seat. It was a rough couple of days, went by really slowly. 

This week was a lot of new and challenging experiences. I am excited and nervous for this new chance to serve in the DongFeng branch. My new companion is pretty quiet, so I have had the chance to go out and talk to a lot of people and open my mouth a lot more than I usually would have. This is a growing experience and I can't wait to see what I learn from it. 

It's hard, but I can do this. 

Love you all, 

Elder Quist

PS Happy Birthday Nate! You are almost 30 years old.. Wow you will be 30 when I get back.. Good luck