February 11, 2008 Email

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the emails and everything I really appreciate all your support. I am still loving it here. The MTC happens to be one of the coolest places on earth. I didn’t think I would ever hear myself say that, but it truly is. Well, maybe not for everybody, I can see why some people might not like it, but I definitely like it. If you have a cool district it truly makes it easy. My district rocks! I have never become such good friends with people this fast. I think because we are all in here for the same reason, we are here to serve the Lord and when you are united in a common goal it generally makes it easy to get along.

I am not sure if I have shared this story with you, but last week Elder Daniels, one of my room mates, was reading some flash cards with Chinese on the front and English on the back, anyways, he got to one card and he looked at it and tried to say it and said “ta chan ga,” and he looked at it again and said “ta chan ga,” then he looked at his companion and said “where the heck are the tones on this word,” and then his companion, Elder Fronk, looked at him because he wasn’t sure if he was being serious, then he realized he WAS being serious, so he told him, “that says ‘to change’ your dork,” the card had flipped around and he didn’t even know it. Elder Daniels was reading English, but he was too zoned to even realize it. We had a good laughed and we all agreed that we have been here for too long.

The Chinese is coming great, I started a new goal last week, 100 new vocab words a day. Its tough to find the time, but for about the 4th day in a row yesterday I knocked down over 100. Plus with all the Chinese we learn in class, I am really starting to get a good solid vocabulary built up. When people talk to me in Chinese I generally know what they are saying. It is great! I think I know more Chinese now than I do Spanish, that’s not saying much for me, but it definitely doesn’t say much concerning public education considering the fact that I took Spanish for 4 years. Haha…

Well I am learning a ton and loving every minute of it, I miss all of you and can’t wait to see you in 2 years. I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Well except maybe the top of an untouched snow bowl with my skis, anyways, I love this opportunity I have to serve and bless the people of Taiwan.

Love,
Elder Anderson