Sister Museus, May 8th, 2011

Wo Xiangnian de Jiaren (My Missed Family), What a joyous occasion it was being able to talk to you all last night. I loved hearing from all of you and what you were all up to. It sounded like everyone was doing fine and well. I loved hearing that all of you were spending more time together. Please keep it up because I want to spend so much time with all of you (which will be in 3 1/2 months!!!). I apologize that I had to call you so early, but thank you for taking the time to be all together in the morning to talk to you all. It's so good to know that I have the most wonderful family who miss me just as much as I miss them. It was definitely hard to get off the phone with you all, but luckily I went straight to sleep so I didn't have to think about how much I miss you all. Now, I can look forward to the day when I can see you all again and have some of you explore the island of Taiwan with me. Things are going great in Taiping. My new companion, Sister Paige, seems really great and fun to be with it. I believe we will have an awesome time together working miracles in Taiping (with the help of the Lord, of course). I have to admit that it's nice having an American companion again since their mood and emotions seem to be more stable. Luckily, Sister Paige was so patient and nice to me that she waited for me while I looked at each of the Taiwan maps to find hotel places and names of hotel for each of the cities that we'll be staying at. In addition, I sent off another box to the U.S. full of my studying material. It won't get there for at least 2-3 months since I sent it by boat. Nothing much happened over the week. We tried our best in getting two of our great investigators baptized, but they still have some trials that they need to work out. However, we do have other great progressing investigators. They just need to continue meeting with us and coming to church so they also be baptized. Mom, is the information that you needed. I already gave you some of the information in a different email, but I will send it again since you still had some questions: ---The airport you will be flying to is located in Taoyuan city (which is near Taibei city). I believe the airport is called Taoyuan International Airport. ---Here is the list of cities in order, we will first be starting in Taibei (3 days), then Taichung (2 days), then Tainan (2 days), and end our trip in Kaohsiung (2 days). So in total we will spend 9-10 days in Taiwan. You will probably want to put 10 days since I believe the day you get here I will be doing stuff with the mission president and other missionaries for part of the day as a farewell thing. ---To get to each of the cities we will take the train/metro-system. To travel to the different location we will take a rental car. From Taibei to Taichung (by train) it will take 2 1/2 hours. From Taichung to Tainan (by train) it will take 1 1/2 hours. From Tainan to Kaohsiung (by train) it will 1 hour. ---Here are a list of hotels and the areas you want to find the hotels in each of the cities: *Taibei city: Taibei city, Zhongzheng District (near the Taibe Main Station or the 228 Memorial Peace Park) *Hotel names located in this area: Forte Orange Business Hotel, Caesar Park Hotel, Y Hotel, Miyi Hotel, Hotel Flower Taibei *Taichung city: Taichung city, West District *Hotel names located in this area: Hamilton Hotel, Jinpin Hotel, Hotel ONE Taichung, The Landis Taichung Hotel, Splendor Hotel *Tainan city: Tainan city, North or East District *Hotel names located in this area: Tayinlandis Hotel, The Hotel Dynasty, Evergreen Plaza Hotel, Tainan Hotel, Shangri La's Far Eastern Plaza *Kaohsiung city: Kaohsiung city, Sinsing or Cianjin District *Hotel names located in this area: Grandhi Lai Hotel, Holiday Garden, Howard Plaza, Kingship Hotel, Splendor Hotel #This is just a list of hotels I found on my brochures and maps. However, I don't know the quality of the hotels (star rate) and how much they are per night. If the hotels don't look too great or are too expensive, I gave the the city and the district where you find try and find other hotels (since they are many). The city and the discrict are the best places to find hotels since they are near our the areas where we want to visit. I hope this information helps. Mom, I hope this is all the information you need from me right now. I promise to give you an iterary of the places we will travel to, but it will take a few weeks since I don't have much personal time to myself (other than p-day and a little time at night). If you need some places where to rent a car let me know and I will try and find that information for you. I did talk to the mission president today and gave him the reason that Paige was getting married earlier and that is why I needed to be released a little earlier. However, he said he would try, but it will take a week or so since he has to get special permission from the missionary department. He said I could get released either on August 16 or the 18th. I'm sorry that it will take some time. I might be best to get the tickets for August 23rd since it's causing a bit of a mess and maybe Whit could somehow work things out with her professors. She could try and meet with them in person (I did this for our India trip that we took for two weeks and it worked out for me). I'm sorry that I don't have a for sure answer. Mom, do what you think is best and I will let you know what the mission president tells me. Like I said, I think it will be best to come and get me on Aug. 23rd, but do what you think is best Mom. Whit, thanks for sending me a quick email. It was also so good hearing you as well. We will definitely spend a lot of time together such as floating down the river (and I won't get in a wreck this time; hopefully I remember how to drive), playing monopoly (even though this game takes forever to play), playing other fun board games (rummie cube), scrapbooking, going to movies, shopping (I definitely need a new wardrobe), etc. I'm so excited to see you again soon, Whit! I tried my best to talk to the mission president, but I am going to have to get special permission from the mission department. It might be best for my release date to still be Aug. 23rd. Please, just talk to your professors in person and see what they can do for you. Love you Whitie! I love you all dearly. Again, it as so good to talk to all of you. I had so much fun hearing about your life and that everything is going so well. I would love to send you some fun pictures of the temple trip or from the fun hiking trip, but for some reason my camera is still not working. I'm going to have the office elders look into it and see how they can fix it. My camera is still working fine, but it won't work on the computer for some odd reason. Miss you all so much, but can't wait to see you real soon!!! We will definitely spending a lot of time together when I return home. Love you Always,Sister Museus