On our own

A lot has happened since I last posted. On January 30, Grace Hsieh, who trained us for the first month of our mission, left the office to return to school. Grace is a lovely young woman who spent more time away from her studies than she should have to help us get on our feet. She was so very patient and kind as we tried to learn our duties. Without Grace, we're pretty much "on our own." Yikes!
We both find our work quite challenging. My role as the Financial Secretary involves a lot of bookkeeping. The Church procedures here include involved procedures with many steps to achieve any task. The job is greatly complicated by the language barrier. When I get a bill in the mail, I first have to figure out who it's from, what it's about, whether it is a bill or a receipt, etc. etc. Every step is easy to mess up, and I am very good at it. :-) Sister Wells is the Mission Secretary, and has spent considerable time this month compiling the Mission History for 2020. Since she wasn't actually here in 2020, she's had to mine information from several sources, and work closely with Sister Card, the Mission President's companion, on the project. Sister Card has been most helpful, and Sister Wells finally finished the soft copy of the history today. The Area office replied right away, complimenting her on an outstanding job. I'm so proud of her! While she does speak Chinese very well, she's had to work hard to be able to read Chinese. Our days in the office are long, sometimes running from 8:30 AM to 6:00 or even later in the evening. We come home tired! Debbie and I both got our first Taiwanese haircuts. Here I am getting a cut from the member brother who cuts the elders hair for free. He did an excellent job, givng me the deluxe treatement complete with shampoo and massage!
On February 6, we made our first P-Day "tourist" visit outside our area, to the wondeful Xinshe Castle outside of Taichung. We took the city bus to the area, and a taxi to the castle itself. Actually, it's not a castle in the normal sense of the word, but a lovely area with castle-looking structures and beautiful grounds. It seems that everywhere is a picture-taking spot, and we got lots of nice shots. Here are a few.
Next came Chinese New Years! Pretty much everything shuts down during the week or so people are celebrating, so it was very quiet in the office. From Feb 12-16 we enjoyed quite a few qingkes ("ching-ka"s) with our wonderful ward members. Some were lunch engagements, and others dinners. The real problem arose when we had both lunch and dinner on the same day, as these were BIG meals, with lots of wonderful and interesting food.
Sister Lin treated us to lunch at the very nice Nara Thai restaraunt in the Chung-Yo mall near the mission office. The food was wonderful! Her son and Elders England and Huang joined us.
Brother and Sister Du treated us to a hot pot dinner during Guonian (Chinese New Years). It was a "sour" hotpot, so not our favorite, but we enjoyed the sides and the company! The Du's were joined by their two daughters and a grandson. Also, Elders Huang and England. Sister Du is our Sunday School teacher.
Brother and Sister Yu and their son and daughter-in-law, and their baby. We enjoyed a lovely Guonian (Chinese New Years) meal at their home in the country. Sister Yu coordinates all the missionary apartments in the Taichung area. It is a huge job and we'd be completely lost without her! Brother Yu was an electrician, then changed to selling solar systems. Wonderful people! The spring scrolls each begin with one of the characters of his name, incorporated into a poetic saying. (Also, notice Sister Wellses cute new haircut!)
Dinner with Brother and Sister Chen during Guonian (Chinese New Years). Lovely people - he's a taxi driver, sh'e shy and self-effacing. We really enjoyed their company and a wonderful meal.
Dinner with Brother and Sister Lu during Guonian (Chinese New Years). They are longtime rockstars in the Church here. He's the former Temple President and is the current Patriarch. They are such wonderful people. We enjoyed having dinner with them and the young Elders England and Huang.
Dinner with Brother and Sister Chen during Guonian (Chinese New Years). Elder Anderson and Elder Huang joined, as well as Sister Chen's mother. Ping An is the Chen's young daughter.
Dinner with Brother and Sister Chung during Guonian (Chinese New Years). He's a member of the bishopric in the First Ward. The other brother (in gray jacket) is the ward clerk. Also pictured, the Chung children and the office/AP Elders Lin and Anderson. Theirs is a modest home over a shop, but they served a lovely meal with a variety of dishes. The next Sunday at Church, he stopped us in the hallway and informed us that we live in his ward, and we should be attending there. Haha.
During this time we also visited the beautiful Taichung Park, which is just a short distance from the mission office. There were a lot of people out enjoying the perfect day. Here we are on our P-Day at the park, where we enjoyed a nice picnic under a shady tree.
On Tuesday evenings, we help out with the English Conversation Group held by the Wuquan (I've learned it's pronounced "Woo-Chwen") Elders, in the meetinghouse next to the mission office. We've been leading the discussion for 1/2 the group. Pictured are: Boyd, Matthew, Elder England, Cherry, Sister Wells, Elder Wells, Elder Huang, ?, Anthony , Lisa, Clair, Porter, ?, Peter, Hugo (whose English is about as good as my own). Anthony, age 73 has been attending for 42 years(!) and still has very little ability to speak English. But, he likes coming!
We got bikes! Here we are, posing with our new (used) bikes after church on Sunday, at the Wuquan meetinghouse. We can get to the office/church in just a few minutes, rather than walking 20 minutes.
Our first adventure on our bikes was to visit the Yide Mansion in Beitun District (Feb 20). It's not much of a mansion by modern standards, but the home, built in 1925, was home to a wealthy real estate man and his three wives.
We happened upon a performance of Chinese and Japanese dance and costumes when we visited Yide Mansion. It was a fun diversion.

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