A New Year in Taiwan!

We're so happy to be here in Taiwan to begin 2022! With Covid-19 "Omicron" raging back home, we feel very safe in Taiwan, where the disease is rarely seen. The authorities have further tightened travel restrictions, and masking is obligatory. But our day-to-day activities are not otherwise hampered.

The mission has held on to a number of missionary apartments since the pandemic began, but we now will close some of them, since the end of the pandemic is not in sight, and we can't justify paying for apartments we are not using. The first two will need to be closed this month, as their leases are due to be renewed. We made a trip with the Turners to Tainan and Chiayi to visit these apartments to scope out what needs to be done. Of course, while we were in Tainan, we just had to make a stop at the Anping Old Street. (It was P-Day, after all!) \

Sister Wells posed for a quick photo in front of the Grand Mazu Temple in Anping

This artisan made me a great leather keychain in the shape of Taiwan,
with my Chinese Zodiac symbol, my Chinese Name, and the dates of our mission, 2020-2022

We had to stop for a quick dinner of noodles and steamed dumplings.
Sister Wells knows just what (and how) to order!

We also toured the Anping Old Fort, a fortress built in 1740 by the Dutch East India Company.

This photo of Elder and Sister Turner gives a good idea of the bustling shopping area.
Lots of food and interesting gift shops.

Of course, we taught our community English Conversation Group each Tuesday as usual, with our intrepid group braving the frigid (50s!) temperatures. The time we spend together is always enjoyable with a lively conversation among eager learners. Here, they are heads-down in an assignment.


And, of course, we love our Junior Primary class. Sister Wells does a bang-up job every week, and the children eat it up! After class, the Primary held a birthday party for the children.


As we walked back to the office from one of our errands, I spotted this lovely shrub growing at a busy intersection. Beautiful Taiwan!!


Today, Sister Wells did triple duty (at least), by translating our Mission President's wife's Sacrament Meeting talk, singing in a missionary choir, and teaching Primary! I snuck this photo of her doing her thing:

She is amazing!

And, just so you know I'm "not doing nothing" around here, I'll have you know that I took down the Christmas lights, and put them away! I think I need hazard pay.






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