Dad,
Yeah I am sure it is nice to be not so busy and overloaded. I have been praying for you and included you in my fast yesterday.
You with your hair like a horseshoe would fit in with many of the old guys over here. Also, while it is on my mind.... first off, tell Mom many of the people I teach I show my family pictures and they say that she can be one of my sisters. They say she looks so young and looks like Allaina or Allisa. Also, send some more recent pictures if you can from right before I left or over the year from when I came home from the MTC until I left again.
I definitely miss being able to teaching the 11-year old boys in our ward. That was a great calling.
So as for language, it is coming along. Elder Dailey says my language is amazing. That my comprehension and listening are extremely good and that my grammar is amazing as well. He says there are even some missionaries that are older that he says I can speak better than. But so the mission has a whole language study system set up. Right now I am on Phase 1. I have phrases, vocabulary, grammar patterns, baptismal interview questions, commitments, promised blessings, definitions of key terms, as well as the whole PMG sections written out in English, Pinyin, and characters for Lessons 1,2,3,4, and 5. I have evaluations for Lessons 1, 2, 3, 1-3, 4, 5, and 1-5. I have to make a lesson plan for each lesson and then pass these off to the District Leader. I am planning to pass of the first one later this week and my goal is to get Phase 1 done by the end of my training. Then Phase 2 is flash cards that deal with more day to day language. And Phase 3 is even more advanced and focuses more working with and learning the characters. Yes people write characters on their hands. Yes I will be learning characters. But right now my language focus is being able to teach all of the PMG lessons by myself in Chinese.
Yeah well this last couple of weeks must have been splits weeks because last Thursday was a meeting for all the trainers and trainees in East Gaoxiong, West Gaoxiong, and Jiayi. So we met over in west Gaoxiongs chapel and had a meeting with President Blickenstaff and his wife. They are so nice and so great. But so the AP's were with them and we had gotten a call that morning from AP Limpansriphong that he would go on exchanges with Elder Dailey and I from Thursday night to Friday morning. Needless to say, it was great and great to have him help with better contacting and learning from him. Also, this last week has been the rain that never stops. So literally no joke from Wednesday morning to Saturday night when we went to sleep it rained the whole time. We never saw the sun. It was awful and got bothersome coming home 4 nights in a row being wet. But so Elder Dailey and I prayed Saturday night that it wouldn't rain Sunday because then a lot of investigators and members wouldn't come to church. It didn't rain Sunday so that was great. Yeah, the Taiwanese people no joke are afraid of the rain. They think you will get sick if you are out in it at all. So many times we have appointments cancel if it rains or if it rains Sunday then not many people show up to church.
Love ya and miss you.
Elder Dayley
