ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON #49 -- APRIL 29, 2014

ELDER HYRUM RICHARDSON LETTER #49

APRIL 29, 2014

I forget to tell you that this is the weird week where we have P-Day on Wednesday instead of Monday. Sorry!

This week, we are sad because Elder Wilson left us! We are back to a normal companionship of just two missionaries, which is now strange again. Elder Wilson left to open up the first "Facebook area" of the mission. He will be piloting and setting up all of the Facebook for the rest of the mission. He was pretty excited!

We had a pretty good week. We met some cool people who can keep progressing.

One guy we met is named Brother Long, but between me and Elder Farrell we call him Brother Dragon, because that's what his name means. 

We met with a lady from Thailand and got her a Book of Mormon in Thai which she said she loves reading! She also wants to give us the address of her uncle who is still in Thailand so that he can get a Book of Mormon there.

A lot of people have really good English is Songshan, but sometimes when they are speaking English we don't understand what they are saying (pronunciation is kinda rough for them). So we clarify by speaking Chinese, and then they keep speaking English. It's just funny when we are conversing and they speak English and we speak Chinese.

In Taiwan, a lot of people are unsure about what age they are. This is because traditional Chinese culture counts age differently. When babies are born, they start at age 1, and then I think that everybody just goes up a year when the new year starts. So because of the conflict between that and the Western system (which is what the church and government and hospitals use), some people (especially kids) are not really sure how to answer.

A guy came into our English class last week who was mute. He could only speak Chinese sign language, but nobody there knew it, so we couldn't really communicate. But he liked sitting and learning English there.

Some places (like hospitals) have no fourth floor, because "four" in Chinese sounds similar to "death."

I set a weekly goal to take a picture every day this week, so I'll be attaching a bunch.

We are both really excited to go to the temple today! I'm especially excited for the soft carpet that is there!

Add oil!

Elder Richardson

任長老

 

Our spiritual share in English class about the Tree of Life. Aren't I a great artist?

I didn't take this one. This is why you don't leave your camera just sitting out.

This floor square was just sitting in our apartment with two holes in it, so the natural response is to draw eyebrows.

 

Elder Wilson and Elder Farrell playing Pterodactyl.

The main road that runs through our area. The chapel is at the end of this road.

Elder Wilson doing therapy for his back at the hospital. 

We think he was an inch or two taller after this one.

Eating dinner at Bishop's house! (Sorry if it's blurry)

A picture before Elder Wilson's departure. 

We decided to take it in front of this road work vehicle.

Visiting seminary class! Please note how tall the Bishop's son's hair is. 

(Second from the right)

 

 The "Death Star." This is a mall in our area, and it just looks like the death star, so that's what we call it.

District picture!

 

A strange looking bird that we saw in the park.

Just leaning on a frog, looking at an LA list.