Merry Christmas and Happy Budda?

Christmas in Taiwan is something else. I saw a Buddhist Temple that had decorated for christmas? Yeah i was a little confused too. But whatever. Most people over here understand a little bit about the holiday, but mostly it is just a commercialized version. In the smaller more traditional districts of the city, there is no decorations or anythin. But in downtown and at hotels there are because there are a lot of foreigners here and people just think it is fun to celebrate american holidays.

Well, this week Elder Johnson and I got sicker than if you rode that stupid spinning tea cup ride at disney land for an hour. it was viscous. Last wednesday we had a mission christmas party and then on Thursday Elder Johnson started throwing up like a there was a small kangaroo jumping up and down inside his stomache. so thrusday we stayed inside. Friday he was really week but at night we were able to go out and when we got back he felt fine.

Well, Friday night was round 2 for our companionship. At about 2 in the morning i woke up and my stomache at that time decided it no longer wanted to be attached to my body. it was not a happy time. well after the attempted exodus of my stomache. i felt much better but since i hadnt slept all night i slept most saturday until at 7 when we had a lesson. so we ordered a taxi to the church. taught the investigator and headed home. sunday i felt fine except our investigator didnt come to church so we called him and were like "hey why didnt you come?!" and he was like because SOMEBODY was sick yesterday hahaha... oopss i felt bad. oh well i feel fine now and wont have to deal with the flu for another year.

i bet my immune system is getting a workout here in asia. with all these people packed in this little area i think it must be getting stronger.

anyways, because we were inside for about 3 and a half days not much happened this week.

i have decided one thing and i cant remember if i already told you or not. i know the Lord sent me to Taiwan for a reason, i know for a fact that there is no way i could have gone on an English Speaking mission. I ran into an American the other day and he was so rude to me, if i had to deal with that in my native tongue everyday i would yell right back at them. in chinese when they are rude its much easier just to say nice things because, i know a lot more nice things to say then mean things hahaha.

so here is the story that accompanies the above paragraph. we were doing traffic control for a school acrossed the street from the churhc. what we do is we stop traffic so the kids can cross. and i noticed this white guy waiting at the entrance of the church so after we finished i went over and asked if he was waiting for someone. he was like ya but i dont have time and started walking off. and then i was like oh sorry are you waiting for missionaries or one of our members or something. and was like listen i aint waiting for the Lord boy. i was a little taking back because i was just trying to help him. so i just told him, sorry sir i didnt mean to make you upset, i was just trying to be helpful because you looked a little out of place. have a nice day! anyways, if i had to deal with that everyday i would go crazy. i took every ounce of my strenth not to make a smart mouth comment back to him.

well anyways. i dont like foreigners here, most of them are really mean. some are so cool though and are really excited to see someone else that speaks english. they are even more relieved when they realize we speak chinese. its fun to help translate conversations for lost tourists and stuff.

well i gotta go

love

Elder Craig Anderson