More "Firsts" in Taichung

 We had a couple of "firsts" this week. We got our International Driver's Licenses approved by the Driver's License Bureau here. Well, almost approved. We got only a temporary permit, since we don't yet have our ARC (Alien Resident Card) cards yet. They were held up because of a snag with the Church paperwork at the immigration department. My first driving trip was to the immigration department, to get the problem with the ARC cards resolved. It wasn't too different than driving in the USA. Mostly just lots of scooters zipping around, and less stringent driving and parking practices. Meaning, cars sometimes double park, so you have to go around, and the lanes are not respected as carefully as at home. Little things like the signal lights being horizontal instead of vertical, different signage, etc. make things a bit different.\\

We also took our first bus ride this week. After a long day which ended with a dance lesson by the young elders in our home ward, we were tired and footsore, so we decided to ride the bus. But, the buses were confusing, so it took us quite a while to find the right bus stop and the right bus. But we eventually got it figured out, and had a nice ride to the stop pretty near our home. Today, we rode the bus to the office and, after shopping this evening, back home again. It's convenient and it's free! The area is getting more familiar by the day, so we're more comfortable wandering around. Of course, having Google maps in reserve is nice.

We continue to learn our duties, thanks to Sister Hsieh. She's really a great help - so patient and kind to us. We celebrated President Card's birthday with a cake and a single candle. He's only 47! Here are some photos.

Debbie in front of the Chungyo Department Store near the office. With very exclusive, and expensive stores, we mostly just window shop. We were there when it first opened for the day, and the attendants were all standing at the doors and in front of the shops, smartly dressed, and each bowed as we walked by. It was amazing and quite unlike anything you'd see in the states!

It's been unseasonably cold here, so the windbreaker was much appreciated on this gusty day. I'm posed in front of the Paochueh temple, with its huge Buddha statue. It's 27 feet tall! This temple is only a few block from our apartment.


A large group of missionaries came by the office on their P-Day, with various needs. Here is Sister Wells visiting with Elder "Frank" Lee. He's been a part of our "English Connect for Missionaries" class for months, and we just love him. This is a great group of young men and women!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lots of fun... and hard work!

Image
 The past two weeks have been just about typical for us, with long, tiring days, and some fun thrown in. Chinese New Years lasts two weeks, so we've been doing lots of celebrating and well-wishing lately. Last year, we enjoyed many meals together with members and missionaries, but the last few weeks have been a time of increased Covid fear, and our Church leaders have placed restrictions on missionaries which precluded visits to members homes, or regular Church meetings. We were sad to have to refuse the many kind offers we received. We were allowed to eat in restaurants, though, and we enjoyed a hot pot meal at Bulu Bulu with a couple from our Wuquan 3rd Ward! Interestingly, we have had an egg shortage in Taiwan recently, so we've had to buy eggs as we can. The last batch (10, not 12, here), included some mismatched sizes. Because we're not meeting in our churches, the missionary Elders are once again providing sacrament services to the Sister missionaries. Our neighbors, ...
Read more

"Settling In"

Image
The last month has brought us our "sea-legs," it seems. We're both more at ease with our roles and duties, meaning less panicked every day! We've done most things at least once (I think), although "you don't know what you don't know." Here's the sort of thing I'm up against every day: But, the work is exhausing! I'm probably repeating myself, but I'm working far harder here than I did when I was working for a living! I've learned how to convert Chinese street addresses to their English (Pinyin) equivalent, which is a big milestone for me. That's only about a half of one percent of what I need to know, but it's a start! We've been asked by our Ward Mission Leader to do a short video message each Sunday.Here is the second of three we've done so far: The love and kindness of the Taiwanese Church members towards us continues. Brother and Sister Yu invited us to dinner again, along with the office elders. Our good ...
Read more

We Have a President!

Image
At long last, President Karl Fields and Sister Melanie Fields have joined us here in Taichung! After being released from their quarantine in Taipei (and a visit to the Taipei "Temple Square" and a few other sites), the APs drove them here to Taichung. We enjoyed a small soirée with them, in the mission office.  Elder Robert and Sister Gloria DeWitt, from Spanish Fork, Utah, were also released from quarantine here in Taichung. We enjoyed hosting them for a meal and to do some laundry, and after a quick visit to the office, they set off for their new home in Kaohsiung. They will be helping with missionary needs in the south, as well as helping with missionary health concerns mission-wide. Now we have a full complement of senior missionaries. A far cry from our early days here, when we were the only seniors in sight! We also attended the baptism of Zhiyun and Vic, the two youngsters we've been helping prepare for baptism. Zhiyun's baptism wasn't correct, so it needed...
Read more