Made of plastic, it's fantastic‏

Good morning beautiful world!!

Why the title of this email? 

Because that "I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie worrrrld" song is playing on the radio right now. Sister Duggar and I are rocking out, bopping our heads. And I think the line about being made of plastic really applies to how I feel on rainy days when I'm wearing my big blue plastic rain tarp!

Here are a couple of pictures from this week.

For lunch on Wednesday, we ate this soup called, "Sishen tang". Some member in our ward insisted it is really healthy--apparently it contains Chinese Herbal medicine--and I like to try new things. I ordered it and then asked the owner of the shop what was in it. This is kind of what her answer sounded like to me, "ie%ofjsfu3f#oj3of8jijCHANGfjf89suf89fs^^ifjslxx*x". Chang=animal innards. Sure enough,  this soup turned out to be a sweet broth with chewy, windy animal intestines in it. There were some other white chunks that may have been some sort of grain but also could have been fermented brains or fungus-covered kidneys. Type of animal=unidentified. Likely a pig or cow. I had to chant, "Cultural conditioning... It's only cultural conditioning" to myself in my mind over and over to get through the whole bowl, but at last I did. I ate the whole thing! The taste really wasn't too bad, just the image of a Taiwanese man  chopping a pig in half, taking a handful of whatever is inside, slopping it in a bowl and after a minute in the microwave putting in front of me and my companion that wouldn't leave my head while I ate.

The other picture is from last P-Day! We went hiking at YangMing Shan, a mountain about 45 minutes away from YongHe, where I live right now. Sister Duggar and I went with our zone leaders (Elder Xu and Elder Baker, who are hilarious!) and a member friend in their ward, whose English name is Benson. It was incredibly beautiful--sorry this picture doesn't really capture it. We got a stranger on the road to take the picture for us, so the quality is poor. It's hard for me to believe sometimes because YongHe is 100% city, but Taiwan is an incredibly-green, lush island. And up in the mountains, it is quiet. No cars, scooters, or buses clogging the air with noise and exhaust. I can't describe my happiness that day, being out in nature with a God in my heart who I know so much better. It's a beautiful thing to find, when you are away from your busy, daily life and have quiet time to think and reflect, that you are at peace with yourself. I felt so capable of appreciating the moment--the moss-covered rocks and trees, the blue sky and soft sun on my skin, the smell of sweat and plants, the friends surrounding me. I had a great conversation with Elder Baker as we hiked. It was one of the most pleasant, peaceful, joyful days of my life. On our way back down the mountain, we got worried that we wouldn't be able to get back to our areas in time for P-Day to end at 6pm, so we hitch hiked back to the Metro station. We were so cute, sticking out our thumbs and trying to figure out which facial expressions and bodily postures--cheerful or depressed--would get people to pull over for us. This was my first experience hitch hiking! I would be a bit more reluctant in America, but Taiwanese people are so good. It was a friendly couple in their 30's who picked us back and drove us down the windy mountain. We talked with them about Sociology--the guy had majored in Sociology, just like me!--and church. Guess what they were listening to on the radio? Imagine Dragons, a band from Provo. "I'm never changing who I am". Globalism is WEIRD, I tell you. 

God is real. I am so thankful for the promise of clean starts and hope of change that the gospel provides us.  I need them so much. 

I don't think I have told you about Wu May yet. She is one of our beloved investigators who is getting baptized in the next couple of weeks! I adore her. She is a single lady, age 41, who dresses in cute, lacey things, always has her hair curled, has six cats, and a great relationship with God. We met her about two months ago, and at first were a little unsure of how things would go with her. She is very philosophical, and sometimes our conversations would go in the direction of what she thought Satan was--whether it is another face of God, a name for our deepest fears, or an actual person. I actually sort of love conversations like that, so sometimes I was tempted to indulge, but we knew if we wanted to really teach her the gospel we needed to bring her back to the basics--a personal relationship with God. We encouraged her in that, and told her that she could find answers her questions if she learned how to learn with God. Thinking, studying, and opening her heart to him. It's scary to tell people that, sometimes, because you really do have to trust that God is real and wants to communicate with them. It would be much easier to just tell her what I think. But we decided to trust, and it has worked. The first time we asked her about baptism, she said she didn't think it was necessary because she didn't think God would be contained within a single church. We told her she could pray about it and a few weeks later, she said she could see why baptism was necessary--not because there is no truth found in other churches--but because it's like a marriage. It makes our covenant with him real, tangible, and changes us. The first time we taught her about Christ's atonement, she didn't see why some person in history who suffered could have relevance to us. Last week we had a lesson with her, and she said through study and prayer, she was learning how great Christ was. She gave us three bullet points for why he was so great. I can't remember exactly what they all were, but basically she talked about how he had perfect faith in his father in heaven, and that was what enabled him to be perfect in his actions and treatment of others. Second, his example gave us someone to emulate, and his atonement gives us a very real "power" to emulate his example. To have love when our own love is not enough.

I have absolutely loved teaching Wu May, because she has such a questioning mind and really does have a relationship with God. I always learn from her. Our Word of Wisdom lesson turned into a conversation about how all women should "listen to their uterus" and not drink cold drinks (Taiwanese women INSIST cold drinks are bad for your uterus). And I have genuinely loved her insights about what repentance means--not condemning ourselves, but opening ourselves to the goodness and worth that constitutes our real identities. She is one of the first investigators I have had who sees things, spiritually, really similarly to how I see them. The other day she was telling us about how much she loves God. She said, "I feel he just... loves me so much. As soon as I am willing to say 'Okay God, I am willing. Have it your way,' he just blesses me so much. He gives me such... big feelings. Sometimes I just cry and cry at how close he feels, and the wisdom he gives me. It's so funny because then my cats will start climbing on me, wondering what's wrong." 

What a beautiful thing! I can't tell you what joy it brought me to see that amid all the missionary rules, procedures, routines, all the pressures and disappointments and confusing things that make up this life--that it really can lead to this, to a woman who knows that same loving being that I know. Who has seen eye to eye. This woman, who has only been exposed to the rhetoric of this church for two months and thus describes things so differently than how the old ladies do in Utah testimony meetings, knows the same loving being that is always speaking to us. Things are not perfect with her. It's not like because she knows these things she is assimilating into some Molly-Mormon relief society president. She really likes coffee, and had a bit of a skiff with our district leader during her baptismal interview because she has different opinions than him on some issues. Some of it is confusing to sort through. But we keep encouraging her, like we do with everyone, to trust the God they know in their heart. And it's amazing what beautiful things that can bring. 

Okay, I have to go. I love you all so much! Thanks for all the letters and support! Mary, I got your package and LOVED it!!! Thank you!

Take care. Love the world around you, especially the people. 

Sister Brown