More of the Same

Saturday was P-Day, and it was pretty much a re-run of the previous one. We again traveled to Kaohsiung, again in the rain. It REALLY knows how to rain here! We began by visiting a chapel, where Sister Wells gave the Michigan Language Proficiency Test to one elder, who hopes to get into BYU-Hawaii. After that, we moved just items from place to place, rather than move a whole apartment as we did on our previous trip. Let's see... we replaced one broken dryer with a working one, picked up 5 broken bikes, one broken computer monitor and one broken air conditioner. And, we took a good bike to a sister who got hers stolen this week.  Those sisters gave us a "goodie bag" with some snacks for the trip home, which was nice. My phone decided it didn't want to take a charge anymore, and Sister Wells' phone died, so we had to navigate the last bit of our journey unassisted by GPS. We made it!

Driving in Taiwan is an adventure. I get lost (even with GPS), and make mistakes like turning without the turn signal, running red lights, driving down one-way streets, etc. And, there are innumerable "close calls" with cars, trucks and scooters. Fortunately, nothing serious has occurred, and I feel that we've been blessed in this.

People here are very afraid of Covid-19. Contact tracing is intense, with QR code or manual sign-in at every business (and even at Church). Hand sanitizer and temperature checks are required  most places. And, of course, masks everywhere! Sunday was the first time to have church since they locked down for Covid in May.  Only 14 people showed up and 6 were missionaries! Two young elders blessed the sacrament and I was the only one functioning as a deacon and passing the sacrament but with only 14 it didn't take too long to go around the room. They had us all scattered around, though, so I did have to make a full circuit. Sister Wells gave the closing prayer, so we both got to participate. The singing was a bit thin, with only 14 of us spread throughout the chapel. I spent the afternoon setting up a new phone, but now I see it has a lousy camera. Back to the drawing board!

In the past, a few of our "at home MTC" missionaries went to the Taipei mission to spend the few weeks of MTC time living with a set of regular missionaries and learning from them. The new Area Presidency decided that they needed to do this in the Taichung mission instead. So, in just a few days, we (meaning Sister Wells, primarily) had to get this organized. Monday was the day that they arrived (and another Elder went home off schedule), so we had a mini-transfer day, which kept us running. Fortunately, the weather turned nice, so we didn't have to do this in the rain!


APs Elder Fairbanks and England, and the new recruits Wang Tsai, Chou and Chen, showing some personality

One of the Elders needed to be delivered to Changhua, just south of Taichung, and we picked up a Sister's bike there, too. (It's the home of our trainer, Grace and English class friend, Jeff.) I thought I'd like living in Changhua - a smaller city situated near a large one, with maybe a more relaxed lifestyle. I don't know, as I was just driving through, but it seemed so.

Generally, we are enjoying good health and energy. I'm not sleeping well - only about 5 hours or so a night. I can function on this, but I'm not much use in the evenings. My shoulder is slowly healing. It's been months, and I'm hoping to make a full recovery eventually. 

A little treat some Sisters left at our desk.

Me helping lead the English Connect for Missionaries conversation group.
(Sister Wells does all the real work.)

Delicious beef noodles from one of the ubiquitous noodle shops.

Ready to ride our bikes home in the rain.

A chapel in Kaohsiung

Elder Turner and I dropped off Elder Wang at the end of his mission.


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