July 27th, 2008 Email

i am sorry that i didn't email you yesterday! a big old stinking typhoon came through and made it so we couldn't move. we stayed inside all day yesterday becase it was too dangerous to leave. it was so boring i studied chinese for like 5 hours and watched the rain for about 2.

i actually didn't get transferred, i am still in Ping Dong which i am really excited about. Ping Dong is an awesome city, its a lot more modern and clean then my last place fang liao.

Anyways, my new companion is Elder Heder, (picture coming next week), he is from Pleasant Grove and is super cool. I have only met him for about 2 hours so i don't know that much about him.

well last night we thought the typhoon was over but nope. about 3:30 this morning a big old gust of wind pushed in the weather stripping around our air conditioner. water started pouring in. it was so windy that the rain drops were flying into our house sideways. i woke up instanty because i sleep close to the window and by the time i got out of bed and hit the lights i was soaked. we ran around the house and closed all the doors to make it so the wind didn't want to come into our house, but i think these gust were upwards of 80 mph. i have never seen wind like this in my entire life. no joke i saw rain drops flying up instead of down. our apartment building makes a little wind eddie so i looked out the window and saw all this little white things flying up, i took me about 2 minutes to figure out that it wasn't paper, but that it was actually water. how crazy is that? so we stuffed a blanket in to whole where about a foot of weather stripping was missing. i was soaked and so was my bed, so i changed into some pajamas and we went and slept on the couches because all my sheets and mattress were wet. it was terrible, i am so tired, but its a funny story so it was worth it. You would not believe this wind, it would ripe the hair right off your head. if dad walked out in it, he would be as bald as Blain Brown. it might even shine too. i hope blain doesn't read this (sorry blain) :) hahahaha.

there are tree limbs and signs all over the road this morning. so after i dropped off my companion at the train station i was supposed to bike to my district leaders house and hang out with him until our companions came. there house is about 15 minutes from the train station. anyways, it was such a weird feeling riding down the street by myself. well when i got there they weren't there. i was so confused, i pounded on their door and called their phone but nothing. i didn't know what to do, so i biked back to my house which is about 20 minutes away and waited for an hour or so. i cleaned up the mess the typhoon made. anyways, finally my DL called me. i guess his alarm didn't go off, i was a solo missionary for about 2 and a half hours today. so strange. i just hid in my house most of the time because i couldn't really do any thing else.

a couple of questions:

asks Brother Rowland if he has a brother or nephew that served in my mission, because there is a Elder Rowland that served here about 6 months ago that looks a lot like him, they could be brothers. i know Brian Rowland served him, maybe his nephew served here too. it might be hes brother though.

my odometer broke on my bike. i was sad. it actually broke about 2 weeks ago. it made it all the way to 2189.2 km. one day i might by another one. right now i don't really care so much.

i got the 4th of July letters you all sent me today. i havent had a chance to read them, but i am so excited!

right now we have some of the most amazing investigators. they are just so ready to accept the gospel. i hope that they continue to progress.

hahah i almost forgot about sandwiches. we went to this really nice restaurant a couple days ago. kind of like our last big thing as a companionship. anyways, we went to a restaurant called Philadelphia, its an american (almost american) restaurant. its got a really cool baseball theme and stuff. anyways, they didn't have hamburgers so i figured id get a sandwiche. the menu was all in chinese but i got the most of it. i found sandwiches and when the waitress came to take my order i told her i wanted a pork sandwich. she looked at me and was like "don't you want anything else?!" i was like no. just a sandwich, but she insisted that i needed to order something else or else i wouldn't be full. i asked how big the sandwich was and she said it was like the size of a cracker. A CRACKER! what kinda sandwich is as big as a cracker?! if i wanted a cracker i would have order soup with some saltines. it made me laugh. anyways so i guess sandwiches in Taiwan are like desserts. small and hecka expensive. anyways, everyone stared at me while i ate, i think i might be one of maybe 10 americans that have ever eaten at their restaurant, it was fun.

the boleys moved to scottsdale! so amy and jeff might see them every once in a while.

well fans. thats all until next week. love you all.

Elder Craig Anderson