Barely made it!

I'm here in Taiwan finally!! It took a lot of miracles to get here but I'm here. 

Wednesday was my last real day in the MTC. We got all packed and then said goodbye to everybody and all of our teachers. We stayed up late that night talking to everyone in the zone and saying our goodbye's. We got up at 4:00 the next morning because half of the missionaries that were going to Taiwan were leaving at 5:00 in the morning. The other half of the missionaries (which included me) would stay and then leave later at 8:00. My companion Elder Beus was in the earlier group so I didn't have a companion most of the day. We got up and cleaned the room and then left to the airport. When we got there we found that our plane to San Francisco was delayed so we had to wait. Our plane to Taiwan was already cutting it close, so we didn't know if we would make it. We arrived in San Francisco, but before we had even landed; the plane to Taiwan was already boarding. We ran off the plane, took our stuff and ran in the airport like a bunch of crazy missionaries. They were just about to leave without us as we ran in. It was a miracle for sure. We then had a 13 hour flight till we got to Taibei, it was super fun.

When we got there it was around 5:00 A.M. over here. The mission president came and picked us up and we left to get to the mission home. The second I stepped outside with my suit coat I could feel the humidity and the heat. I started sweating super quick and it was pretty gross haha. We dropped all of our bags and stuff off and then went out to get some street food. The AP's got us the food, and while they were standing in line, they gave us English Class Fliers. They told us to go hand them out to people and start contacting. The scariest part of doing that is I didn't really know how to communicate. I found this guy and he was on his phone playing a game and didn't want anything to do with us. I had to find like three people before they would even just take the flier. The food was super good though, and we made it back to the mission home to go to sleep. The Elders in my room were heading to bed when these two temple workers walked in our room. The temple is right next to the mission home and chapel, so people will come to the mission home and stay a few days for the temple. These two old guys couldn't speak Chinese, they only spoke Taiwanese so I didn't understand a word of what they were saying. One of them jabbed me in the chest wondering where my missionary tag was. I was already out of my shirt and everything getting to bed so that was weird. I could understand they wanted us to be quiet so we went to bed. At about 3:00 in the morning I heard this drum going. I had no idea what it was and then I saw this old guy banging on the wall for like twenty minutes. Needless to say, I got no sleep that night.

The Saturday was a good day. The AP's went and bought us these things for breakfast called FanTwan's. They were really good, a picture is down below. We then went to the Grand Hotel to a place that Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work. When we got back to the Mission home we received our Trainers! My trainer is an awesome Elder. His name is Elder Hooker. He's from Bountiful Utah, and has been on his mission for about 13 months. He is really good at Chinese, and I rely on him with almost every conversation I have. We got our trainers and then all split up to go to our areas. It was sad cause we had to say goodbye to everyone, but I'll see them again. 

Elder Hooker and I left on the MRT which is the subway here. Then we took a bus till we got to our area. It's called Bali. It's like the northernmost part of New Taipei city. It has mountains in it, surrounded by tall buildings and lots of city. There are so many people that live here and it's really a beautiful place. You can see the ocean and it's great. When I got to the apartment I found out that I don't have a bike yet. The company told us they would get us bikes in the next few weeks so I'm using an exchange bike. A bike that an Elder left here when he went home. Luckily it's still pretty good. We dropped my stuff off, and then went out proselyting. It is probably the most food I'll ever eat here honestly. We went and ate dinner out, and then I wanted a Mango smoothie cause mango season is over now. We met this lady that we wanted to become an investigator. She treated us to CuaBing. It's like shaved ice, but huge. It also has beans and different things. It's not very sweet. I finished the whole thing and felt super full. We wanted to share a scripture with her, but she wanted to go somewhere else. She took us to a restaurant right after and we ate a ton of food there. I basically rolled out of there after. We met this investigator named Zheng Dixiong. He was a super nice guy, he had a little son that was going crazy, but we still taught him. As we were teaching him we started talking about baptism. We didn't plan this before, but I invited him to be baptized my first night! He accepted baptism, but he wouldn't confirm a day because of a few things. We will hopefully meet with him again next week and try to help him. 

I just realized how long this email is, I have so much to say, but that's probably good enough. I love you all and I'll send more pictures next week!!

-Love Elder Thayne