Mission Backup

 The final ten days of our mission were a whirlwind of activity. We were in the midst of a transfer, which always makes the office busy, intensified training, and lots of "goodbye" meals and activities. And, of course we had to find time to clean our apartment and pack our bags! We began on Monday, Mar. 13 by representing the mission at an outdoor ecumanical "trade show" of sorts in Lukong. It turned out to be pretty much the local religions and us, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with a few product vendors. The foot traffic might have been a bit more on other days, but on Monday morning, there were very few, if any, visitors to our booth. There were several local members manning the booth, so we weren't really needed in case. But, we did enjoy visiting with the local members over a vegetarian lunch served by the Buddhists.  Our fellow booth-workers were wonderful local members. The Buddhist entry was massive, with five of these enormous c...

Even though we're nearing the end of our mission here in Taichung, there is still plenty of work to do. And, even with all the new help, it seems like there is even more work to do, as we are now training the new folks, as well as carrying on with the work that needs to be done. We've been worried that we haven't done enough to document the procedures, etc., and might leave lots of question marks when we leave. But, we're feeling more confident each day that our replacements will be prepared to take over and things won't get left undone due to our lack of effort. Our most joyful work, with the young missionaries learning English, the friends practicing English, and the Primary children continues. Although other senior missionaries make different decisions, traveling around to various wards to get to know more people, we are very happy that we chose to stick with one ward, and we have really enjoyed getting to know the wonderful members of the Wuquan 3rd Ward. Last S...