Elder Thomas Jensen: TAIWAN!!

Monday October 6

I FINALLY MADE IT TO TAIWAN!!! So those of you who thought I've been dead all this time, I got news, I am very alive and very well! Syracuse was just too happening and I never had time to email! And didn't want to make you all too jealous of Utah since you know it was the greatest mission in the world. (I'm lying.)

Well anyways, it took long enough to get us to Asia. Nearly 3 days in fact. For example we only lived about an hour of October 4. Not sure where that day went bahaha crossing the dateline gets me all confused. But in retrospect, Syracuse UT was a life changer. So many miracles I can't even begin to explain. It was literally the craziest time of my life in many aspects. And I thoroughly loved it for what it was.

Taiwan is much better though hahaha. Best thing is these people speak the same language I learned in the MTC! It's fun being able to understand just about 75% of everything. Chinese is absolutely hilarious though. These people don't express themselves in anyway like how we Americans do. Like they just say different things to describe certain things, I don't know. It's a riot though!

My temporary companion while we wait to get our assignment is Elder Johnson. It's been friggin sick. Yesterday morning we woke up and got right to it. Instead of spending an hour and a half wasting time in the showers, we just got right to the streets and contacted like 10 people. And experienced the hectic Chinese market life. But then later in the afternoon the mission leaders gave us a bunch of proselyting materials and set us loose in the Central Park of Taiwan. It was sick. We got a lot of angry people shewing us away, others flat out ignored our presence (even when we came and sat right next to them bahaha) BUT we got 4 referrals out of it on the first day. So that was a little confidence booster not going to lie. Plus I gave out a bunch of pass along cards and BOM's on our many flights to get here. Spreading the gospel is a good time!

Delivering the good book!

Yesterday was literally thee most tiring day for me that I have ever experienced in my life. I didn't sleep once on our entire ride out here, which means I was awake for nearly 36 straight hours on either a plane or a bus, but oddly enough I wasn't super tired from that at the time. And we were only given 5 hours of sleep for our first night out here, since we didn't make it to the mission home until 1 am. Then yesterday morning I was golden, stayed awake the whole day, until dinner. Then I got a full belly and was warm in my suit jacket and passed out cold for our Sunday night fireside bahahaha. Didn't catch a word out of it all.

Taiwan is straight up wet. And friggin hot. You don't dry off. It's just a given. And honestly kind of a fun one because you basically don't even need to dry off after you shower, really not much point of trying either hahaha most elders are saying they aren't quite used to it yet but I'm loving it!! Back at home I would just wallow around in my sweat all day though so I was already living this sweaty life before I got here! As gross as that sounds...

But as for the really funny stuff, just watching people out here is hilarious. This place could not get anymore foreign. There's these huge crowds of people everywhere just doing their Taichi routines in the park, exhaling so loud and so forcefully you'd think they're trying to breathe fire! Can't wait to be doing that alongside them during my P-days.

So I don't have a trainer or an area as of yet, our orientation is three days long here. But tomorrow night (don't ask me when that is back home, time change is screwing with me hard core) I'll for sure be all settled in and finally getting to work. So excited it's honestly hard to sleep at night. This place is everything I could have asked for. Love it to death.

Will provide more detail later...sorry not much time today. But hope you keep smiling big because the world is a beautiful place!