It's amazing that we spent the entirety of 2021 in Taiwan, as full-time missionaries! This year has zoomed by (literally and figuratively!) and it's hard to believe that we have only a couple of months left on our mission. That said, a LOT has happened since Christmas, so here goes:
I'll review some fun we had, but we spend most of our time working. We made a short video documenting how to recharge an eTag, which is how we pay for highway tolls over here. Here's a screen shot of the opening screen. It took us a few tries (and help from the 7-11 clerk) to figure out the procedure. Remember, English is "Optional" on this mission. Haha!
The mission (with special permission from the Area Presidency) held a mission-wide conference for Christmas! Elder DeWitt arranged for the entire mission to sing at the Chimei Museum in Tainan, after which we met at the Tainan chapel for dinner, fun activities, and a devotional. My assignment (I volunteered) was to make potato salad - for 80! I made 3 large bowls, and there was only a little left over. Here I am, in the midst of it (including 40 potatoes, 2 large bunches of celery, 4 onions, etc.):
We had earlier made a vinyl banner for the event, but I found a better stand for signage in storage, and Sister Wells and I decided to make a new sign. Here is the result, which we used at the Chimei performance:
Performing at the Chimei turned out to be a pretty big deal, since the Chimei is a world-class art museum. Let me tell you, I was very impressed!
We didn't rehearse, other than a short run-through in the green-room just before we went on, but we didn't intend to be the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. We just wanted to spread some Christmas joy, and our testimony of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Which, I think we accomplished. Here we are, performing at the Chimei Museum. You can barely see the top of our sign on the left, next to the piano:
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| All the missionaries (seniors included!) sang Christmas carols under the rotunda of the museum, with piano, violin, flute, and guitar accompaniment. The audience sang along on some carols. |
After the performance, we got to tour the museum for an hour, which was far too little time to see it. Fortunately, Brother Yu (formerly Elder Yu who helped with our housing) give us a great tour of the highlights. The museum's benefactor intended to present art which Taiwanese people could not otherwise enjoy. So, it was mostly European art, including paintings, sculpture, armor, weapons, clocks, violins (the largest collection in the world), musical instruments, exotic animal trophies, birds, furniture, and more! We bought a print in the bookstore on our way out, but it's only a tiny reminder of the incredible collection we enjoyed viewing.
The mission activity, dinner, and devotional were also very fun and successful. My little contribution was thinking of using rice cakes instead of gingerbread (since that is nowhere to be found here!) for the gingerbread house-building activity. It was lots of chaotic fun, with goofy prizes awarded. Sister Wells came up with a fun game of mixer Bingo which was even more fun! Dinner was delicious and the missionaries did a good job of eating the enormous quantities of food offered. We didn't attend the devotional, since we were very busy with the other Seniors setting up the dinner. We got home very late, and thoroughly exhausted... and happy!
I proudly soloed at the Immigration Office - picking up our very own ARC cards! (Full disclosure - Sister Wells had all the paperwork prepared, and all I did was present them before the agent and receive the cards he placed in my hand, without speaking a word!)
Other stuff happened, too. Here are some pics, with captions:
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| Our friend, Jennifer is home for a visit from Austin, Texas. It is good to make friends, and renew friendships. We hope they endure forever! |
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| We said goodbye to Elder Elmar Blancaver, who returned home to the Philippines. He is our last Filipino missionary, and, thanks to Covid-19, we have only a handful of non-Taiwanese missionaries. |
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| Also returning home was our friendly AP, Elder Fairbanks. He has a bright future ahead! |
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| And, stuff has to be fixed. I replaced the tire on our handy-dandy hand-truck. |
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| Weekly English Conversation group meeting continue. Here, Elders Pearson and new AP Volz visit with attendees after giving their "spiritual share". |
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And, with each transfer, bikes need to be shipped. This is always a frustrating exercise for me,
as there are always missed bikes, mistakes, and other glitches. |
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| Retuning from some errand, Sister Wells and I noticed this road sign on Taiwan Blvd., and realized that we not only recognized the names, but we had actually visited all these places. We've come a long way! |
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| The LINE application, which we use for communication here, allows you to send "stickers" and photos. This "meme" is one I shared around, after receiving it from one of our vendors. |
Finally (and I know this is long, in case anyone is still reading!), on New Year's Day (also, P-Day) we enjoyed a lunch with Jeff and the Turners.
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Jeff, the self-proclaimed "food prophet" suggested we try the peanut-butter hamburger.
Peanut flavor is very popular here. For me, it was "Meh!". |
After lunch, Elder Lin, our housing helper and travel guide extraordinaire, took us and the Turners to the Gaomei Wetlands . Sister Wells and I visited the Gaomei Wetlands when we came to Taiwan to pick up Sally after her mission in 2019, and it was fun to see it again. Elder Lin gave us an additional stop at an historic home in the area. The Zhao family who built it came from China in the 1700s and built the home in the late 1800s. It is still occupied by their descendants (although with air conditioning now, I noticed!).
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The front of the home has the traditional lotus garden. In this summer
this pool is full of beautiful lotus flowers! |
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| Today, there was just this one flower representing the others. |
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Elder Lin, a fount of interesting information, pointed out that the original mortar includes
rice husks. Notice the bamboo rafters. They are fill with concrete (or similar) for strength.
 | Here, I'm taking the photo above.
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Then, it was on to Gaomei. We walked the the end of the 800 meter boardwalk and took off our shoes to go wade in the grassy and muddy flatland while the tide was out. We saw tons of the tiny crabs that make their home there, but none of the tiny "walking" fish we saw when we visited last time. It was sweater weather and breezy, but we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
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