Dear Mom and family, Happy new year! I covered P-day in my e-mail last week, it will be on Tuesdays, at least while I'm in the MTC. That's so sweet for everyone to be asking after me and such. I am doing good. This last week was hard, I had several days I thought of just walking out the front gate, due to the language and feeling so sick. I'm not completely sure what it was though the stomach flu is going around now so maybe that's what I was dealing with, I'm not totally sure though I don't think so. One of our Elders gave me a blessing the day I started feeling sick and it really helped. He's so sweet in general and I think he and I would be great friends outside of this environment as well. He even told me yesterday I'm the only one in our district who really entertains him and I help him be less homesick because I remind him of his friends at home. lol! Glad my goofiness can come in handy. I'm glad you had game night and it was fun! I miss those days though it's been truly amazing here. Every day is so spiritual here and people are so loving. I swear, you hear I love you from several people on a daily basis and they MEAN it! I hear it daily basically and it amazes me the love and support we're surrounded by here. As for anything you can do for me, I can't think of anything. Just keep praying as I'm sure you already are. And mail! I LOVE getting mail! Mom, I love to hear any experiences you want to share with me. I'm working hard here but still love news of home. I also get to meet some really incredible people, though I think I have the most love for my district and zone over everyone else, but I may just be biased I'm doing alright though I have my bad moments, especially with the Mandarin. However, I know I've already come really far with it for only being here for 2 weeks. It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks, it feels like a whole lifetime ago. But it's still not an experience I would trade for the world, no matter how much I consider walking out that gate. Who's genius idea was it to put the Asian languages building next to the front gate anyway?! They're the hardest languages to learn and they just add that temptation to walk out since we see it almost every time we walk to our classroom, which is often when we spend 10+ hours a day IN that classroom!!! As for experiences, I've definitely had some new ones. Like the fact that apparently Taiwan is one of the strictest countries when it comes to visa paperwork so they wanted a stool sample to run tests and make sure we're not bringing any parasites into the country. That was awkward to say the least. They also wanted more blood so the vampires had to mark my arm up after they couldn't get it the first time. I still have a pretty good bruise from it. I also tweaked my knee playing Volleyball yesterday. I went for the ball and since my shoes were apparently slick from all the snow we have outside, my foot slipped and I did this strange thing somewhat resembling the splits. It hurt like the Dickens, but it was the worst when my knee was protesting it's use after sitting and doing personal study for an hour and it just got worse throughout the day. I put some icy-hot on it and a sister who ruined her knee not too long ago apparently and had to have surgery on it had a spare cheap-o brace which makes it easier to function until it goes back to how it should be. I'm hoping it wont take long since I just irked the muscle it would seem. At least I'm told it looked really awesome, even though it really hurt! lol! Thanks again for the handkerchiefs. They've come in handy for me a few times but really helped on Sunday when a poor Elder got a bloody nose in the middle of sacrament. I felt so bad for him. It made me laugh since he felt awful about using my white handkerchief for a bloody nose. I didn't really care, after all, that's what they're for. Plus, they wont stay white too long anyway, I'm sure. I was just glad to help :) He said it's one of his side affects for Diabetes, when his sugars go really high, he gets a bloody nose. We also have some other really incredible Elders in our district. Like the fact that Elders switch seats with us in our classroom yesterday since I couldn't hear our teachers and some of the other people in the district over the stupid air vent thingy behind me, not to mention I was always freezing, especially being right next to the window. I'm hoping it'll change now but we shall see. It was sweet of them to just volunteer to make life better for "the sisters." I'm in awe of them often, due to the love and care they have for us as their sisters. They tend to be really respectful and caring, even though they're only 19. Though sometimes they have their moments they really remind me they're only 19... I can't really think of much else to tell you. What else would you like to know? I've seen Kali a few times, she lives on my floor and I believe she flies down to Guatemala sometime later this month, but I may be mistaken. I feel like I've already really rambled to you... Plus, now my time is almost up. So I guess I will write you again next Tuesday! Wo ai ni! Tang Jiemei