Changes bring excitement!

 Our wonderful young missionaries have been unable to attend the MTC due to Covid restrictions, and so they are doing their MTC mission at home. This is not as fulfilling or satisfactory as an in-person MTC experience, so we (following the lead of the Taipei mission, and under the last-minute direction of the area presidency) have begun hosting the MTC missionaries. We place them with a pair of excellent missionaries who guide them for the three weeks of their MTC time. These are all "local" missionaries, not those from the states. Accommodating these Elders and Sisters has been a huge effort, especially for Sister Wells! Essentially, instead of transfers every six weeks, we now have them every three weeks. On the first one of these, the mission leaders placed one of the MTC sisters in an apartment with only two beds, so Sister Wells and I had to make an "emergency run" to Kaohsiung on a Sunday to get the needed furniture in place for the missionary's arrival the next day.

We also had a "normal" transfer and saw some missionaries go home and new ones arrive. This brought the now-familiar pattern of Covid tests, phone collection and dispersal, name tag orders, bike orders, letters to various people, release certificates, transportation details, trips to the airport and train station, meals, housing, etc., that are necessary for these events to take place. If you're wondering what keeps us busy, this is a big part of it!

Seeing a new sister off at the train station as she traveled to her first area. 

The bikes arrive at the nearby chapel and wait for their new owners.

Luncheon during training day for the new missionaries and their Trainers. We catered it from the nearby "Bear House Restaurant."

These 8 missionaries had finished their missions; they got a home cooked meal in the mission home on their last night with us. Elder and Sister Turner cooked and hosted. 

These four lovely sisters stayed the night with us on their last night before returning home. They are: Sister Zhan, Sister Wu, Sister Tseng and Sister Hsu. 

Elder Winters getting his mandatory covid test before returning home to Utah. 

Our dear friends, the Yu's were released from their 18 months service as local missionaries. They have been wonderful to help with finding new apartments, negotiating leases (not a trivial task here in Taiwan!) and helping with apartment maintenance. They have also been so very kind and generous to us! We hate to see them go. We had an elegant dinner with them at the Yakiniku "Uma" restaurant across the street from the mission office. Also in the party were the Turners and Brother and Sister Lin. Brother Lin will be taking over the Yu's job. He is a semi-retired (due to Covid, mostly) travel agent who also speaks English. We are delighted he accepted this mission!



On September 1st, I celebrated my 66th birthday! I received many kind messages, Line stickers, and... a cake! The Yu's sent this cake via Elder Lin, and we had a little party in the office.


We got remembrances from home, too. Andrew and Ashley sent a "Called to Serve" tie tac and "Missionary Mom" necklace.

Mary and Matthew sent a tie tac and ring featuring stone from the Taiwan Temple.

Yesterday, we had a baptism! That is to say, Elder Chuang and Elder Sutton had a baptism, which we attended in our Wuquan 3rd ward. This young man, a freshman in college, sought out the missionaries and readily accepted the gospel message. He has a bright future, I think!



Finally, Elder Lin invited us and the Turner's to tour the old city of Lukang yesterday. He gave us a wonderful tour, which included sights and sounds and tastes of Taiwan! We saw Taiwan's oldest temple (which accommodates both Taoist and Buddhist believers) as well as museums, shops, craftsmen, the "9 turn lane," delicious food, a live performance, and more. Our tasty treat was a peanut powder ice cream spring roll. You can be sure we were good and tired at the end of a wonderful afternoon! Here are a few pictures.

Elder Lin and us in front of the Lukang Folk Arts Museum, built in 1919 and the former residence of  Koo Hsien-jung, a wealthy merchant during the Japanese occupation years.

A chess set just like the one Sister Wells brought home from her first mission (only larger!)


This gentleman is 85, and has been making steamer baskets for 70 years. He said none of his kids (and, presumably, grandkids) wants to learn the craft, because "it's too hard to make money."

Here are the men at the Wang family home, which features the "half-sided well" with half inside and half out side the wall we're standing by. In an act of kindness, neighbors and others could get water from the outside, while the family used the inside half.

This nice lady practically begged us to try the erhu, and Elder Turner gave it a go. She had lots of wonderful instruments including flutes, horns, and other instruments for sale.


The locals were very helpful when we asked for directions.

An unusual view inside the Lukang Tianhou Temple


Sister Wells buying a pair of lanterns for our front porch.






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