Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Day 3
Taiwan Day 3. Images from Taipei and Kaoshiong. Headed to South Taiwan to Kenting to play on the beach.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Taiwan day 2
Erin and I served part of our mission in an area called Sanchung. It's a suburb of Taipei. During that time we taught a family, the Guo Family, who had 3 young children at time. Sunday, 18 years later, we returned to their ward to attend church with them and their family.
First of all when we were missionaries the church was one whole floor of a building near our apartment. The area grew so much that they have since split and now have a huge nice chapel of their own in XinZhuang. The Guo's were of course very surprised to see us as I had no way of getting ahold of them before we showed up. Their very grown and tall oldest son just returned from a mission in Kaoxiong a few months ago. Their daughter, the 2nd, served a mission in Taichong several years ago, has since been married in the temple and had a small boy. Their youngest no longer comes to church, but he is in college and doing well.
Before church started Sister Guo wanted to show us a chart of genealogy that she had created for her husband's side of the family. (See photo) This went back over 2,000 years. When I mentioned that she needed to do the temple work for these people she produced a thick stack of endowment cards, and pronounced that she had almost completed that the entire family line. I was so touched I couldn't help but start to cry.
We also reconnected with several other members who we knew back in the day. They have dedicated their time and lives to building the church in Taiwan. Truly inspiring. And they all had advice on how I could find a husband soon. I shouldn't set my sights too high and it is a commandment of God afterall. I asked them to pray for me as their faith is stronger than mine ~ so who knows! maybe that's what has been the missing link all these years.
After church we slept for 3 hours (since it was 1am in the morning our body time) and then made our way over to our friend's house Sister Bao. She served with us in Taipei and is a wonderful and incredibly talented woman, who always has a smile on her face and kind, funny word. She invited us and a member from the 2nd ward, Sister Meng (now Sister Hong) to dinner.
Bao has a wonderful husband and 2 energetic and happy boys. We couldn't be happier for her. We ate, talked, gossiped and laughed for several hours. We missed all our friends from the mission that are Stateside and not here, and they advised me several times on getting married and that I should do so soon. (Chinese are not opposed to asking personal questions and giving advice regularly).
We stayed up to 10pm ~ that was a big accomplishment as the jet lag is still with us. For all of your Taiwan sisters who are following this -- we miss you and you are all still remembered and loved here on the island of Formosa.
First of all when we were missionaries the church was one whole floor of a building near our apartment. The area grew so much that they have since split and now have a huge nice chapel of their own in XinZhuang. The Guo's were of course very surprised to see us as I had no way of getting ahold of them before we showed up. Their very grown and tall oldest son just returned from a mission in Kaoxiong a few months ago. Their daughter, the 2nd, served a mission in Taichong several years ago, has since been married in the temple and had a small boy. Their youngest no longer comes to church, but he is in college and doing well.
Before church started Sister Guo wanted to show us a chart of genealogy that she had created for her husband's side of the family. (See photo) This went back over 2,000 years. When I mentioned that she needed to do the temple work for these people she produced a thick stack of endowment cards, and pronounced that she had almost completed that the entire family line. I was so touched I couldn't help but start to cry.
We also reconnected with several other members who we knew back in the day. They have dedicated their time and lives to building the church in Taiwan. Truly inspiring. And they all had advice on how I could find a husband soon. I shouldn't set my sights too high and it is a commandment of God afterall. I asked them to pray for me as their faith is stronger than mine ~ so who knows! maybe that's what has been the missing link all these years.
After church we slept for 3 hours (since it was 1am in the morning our body time) and then made our way over to our friend's house Sister Bao. She served with us in Taipei and is a wonderful and incredibly talented woman, who always has a smile on her face and kind, funny word. She invited us and a member from the 2nd ward, Sister Meng (now Sister Hong) to dinner.
Bao has a wonderful husband and 2 energetic and happy boys. We couldn't be happier for her. We ate, talked, gossiped and laughed for several hours. We missed all our friends from the mission that are Stateside and not here, and they advised me several times on getting married and that I should do so soon. (Chinese are not opposed to asking personal questions and giving advice regularly).
We stayed up to 10pm ~ that was a big accomplishment as the jet lag is still with us. For all of your Taiwan sisters who are following this -- we miss you and you are all still remembered and loved here on the island of Formosa.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Reunion!
right to left - yanmei, Sister Lin, Sister Huang and kids, Sister Zhong, Sister Huang's husband, Baoster, Julie, Erin
return to taiwan
After much ado of packing and squirreling away the last of my stuff, including Sami, I finally boarded the plane to Taiwan on the eve. of Aug 21 from SLC. My last comp from the mission, Erin Ryser, took me up on the invite to come to Taiwan. We met in the SLC airport and spent the next 24 hrs in airports and planes catching up.
We arrived at 5am in Taipei after a long 12 hr flight (7 hrs of which I slept thanks to my sleeping kit: ear plugs, eye covers, Tylenol PM - all highly recommended). 2 friends from our mission graciously picked us up at the airport, Lu Yanmei and Sister Zhong (Clock) and they wisked us into the city to our hostel. My mouth started getting tired this morning from speaking so much Chinese and it's gladly resting now after a whole day of making these crazy sounds all day.
Our 'private' room for 2 with a bathroom is smaller than my bedroom in High School. But it has an A/C and it's cheap. After showering and napping for an hour we made our way to the neighborhood breakfast shop and savored every bite of dou jiang, shaobing and danbing. YUM!! I have literally dreamed of eating this food for years, and when I wake up it's a cruel joke. Not today!
We then took the MRT (subway) to our old stomping grounds on JinHua Street where the temple and mission office are to meet up with our Chinese mission sisters. I couldn't have had more fun than being with these fine women all day. We laughed and talked and caught up - I'm so grateful I get to see them before heading to China. Refer to photos for the happenings of the day - this jet lag is finally taking over and I think it best to not operate heavy machinery, including a laptop, for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
