Well loyal stalkers of our lives :) We have returned from our Thanksgiving Trip to Taiwan. We'll try to give a summary without too many pictures, but be prepared for a long post!! We'll start with the 16th of November. Ashley had just turned 24 years old, and I woke her up at 4:00am!! We then headed to the airport, and began to dream of a place far away. The flight to Taiwan was about 14 hours there, and about 10 1/2 back. I really felt bad for Ashley because her back and neck are so sore, and she started to become a "little" uncomfortable :) However, she was a trooper, and didn't even complain once... well, maybe once, but who's counting, right?
After we arrived in Taiwan, we took a bus to a town called Tanzi, and stayed the night with a Bro Lai, ZhiChang. He was an RM in that area when I was there that helped us out a great deal. He is married with 3 little kids, and just doing amazing. Tanzi is now a ward. When I was there, there wasn't even a branch. It was so neat for me to go back and see how much it's grown since I was there.
Here are some pictures of people and a little bit about them...
These pictures show the Li family, Lin-BiFeng, and Li-CaiHua. I was able to teach them in the Tanzi area, and it was incredible to see how much they have all grown. The kids are all planning on serving missions too.
This is Sister Huang-KeXin (The Chinese one) now serving a mission in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I taught her in Yuanlin when she was 16 years old. From the second she was baptized till now, she has always taken a new friend to church with her on Sundays.
This is the hotel we stayed at in Taipei. It was very nice and simple (Thanks Taylor and Steph). This is the non-smoking floor. You'll notice that there is no room 1104. That is because the number four (Si 4th tone) in Chinese sounds like the word death (Si 3rd tone), so it is very unlucky. They also don't have 4th floors in high rise bldgs. One other thing common in Asia, is the term "Engrish". The sign has the word "managerment" instead of "management". Always a funny thing to see when you're American.
Now Ashley's family loves these little black things on our tongues. They lovingly refer to them as snot-balls. They are called "ZhenZhu", and that means pearl. They are just starchy, tapioca like balls that the Taiwanese put in sweet drinks. It makes drinking fun!
In Taipei, we spent the day with Sister Wang-MaPeiLing. I taught her and her husband in the Taichung 3rd ward. They now live in the Taipei area. They are very involved in their ward, and love serving. The area we visited is DanShui.
You can see some of the things we saw in DanShui. The mopeds are a staple to Taiwanese culture, but this picture doesn't even do it justice. These scooters are EVERYWHERE, and they are crazy. These ice cream cones are common in touristy areas as well, and I couldn't resist getting one.
These are just some apartment and office buildings along the ocean that I took pictures of on board a ferry.
This is a pretty bridge in DanShui.
This guy does sketches on the bridge, so we had ours done with him. Sweet hair!
After we returned to Taipei, we met up with Br. Wang, and had dinner with them. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to see these families like this so happy in the gospel. It's just so awesome.
This is Dong-Jielun. He actually changed his name which is very common with Taiwanese people. When they are looking for some better luck, and a change in pace they will do this. Anyway, I taught him in the Taichung 3rd ward as well.
These are the Li Sisters from Tanzi again. On our way down to Gaoxiong, we stayed with them for a night. They took us to Lugang, where we saw one of the oldest Taoist Miao (Temple) in Taiwan. They also took us to dinner where we had some traditional Taiwanese foods :)
This is a fountain inside the Miao.
The next day, we visited another area called Huwei that I served in. We walked around a morning market first and took this picture of yummy meat for sale. We then visited Sister Wang-ChenHuiSu. I taught her daughter when I was there. She and all her 3 daughters have joined the church. We're still working on her husband :) The other lady is Wu-SuZhi. I taught her and her daughter in this area too.
Well, as you know we spent our Thanksgiving in Taiwan. Since we were there, we decided to put a Taiwanese twist on it as well. We had Taiwanese "Jipai" in placed of our traditional turkey. "JiPai" is just a fried chicken steak :) We also had Donggua Tea, Mashed potatoes, corn, salad, pizza, cucumbers, and tangerines. It was awesome!! We ate at my cousin Rachel's apt. Her roommate Yvonne, and coworker Aaron joined us. We had a blast.
The next morning, we went to a place called FoGuangShan. It's basically a university for monks, and worshipers to come to. The place is huge, and we weren't able to see everything, but still saw some cool stuff.
The big guy you see here is the original Buddha from 2500 years ago. Buddhism was started in India, and spread throughout Asia. This place actually has a shrine dedicated to one of Buddha's original teeth. Pretty cool...
One of the experiences you have here is to eat lunch with all the monks. They just signaled us in, and we sat down behind them. Here is a small video clip. It was taken covertly because I wasn't sure we were allowed to take pictures. We got in, and started whispering when we realized that no one else in the entire room of 300-400 people was saying a word. We really felt out of place. After everyone sat down, they started singing some Buddhist prayer that we didn't know. Everyone knew it but us of course, but it was still cool to listen to. They sang for like 5+ mins. I tried to get audio of the singing, but it only recorded the video I guess. The food was all vegetarian, and Ashley really liked it. I still prefer my Fried Chicken Steaks :)
Here are some huge statues of Buddha. Ashley likes to break the rules of course being the rebel she is.
We were walking away from this area, when all these crazy Filipino (Philippine?) girls saw Ashley and said, "Oh, you're so beautiful!! Please take a picture with us!!" So that's why we have this picture.
After visiting the Buddhist University, we took Rachel with us to visit the east coast of Taiwan. We went to the city of Taidong. This is Rachel and Ashley eating a fruit called "Shijia". It kind of reminds me of a mango. It was quite tasty.
The beach here is so gorgeous. Because of some typhoons in the pacific ocean during this time, the waves were bigger than usual. They were crashing really good, and we enjoyed trying to get real close, then running for our lives before it got to us.
Ashley is getting ready to run from the wave coming a shore.
These are some better pictures of the waves crashing right in front of us. It was a little nerve racking seeing how powerful the waves were.
Taidong is also very famous for Hot Springs. So we bought some swimsuits, and checked them out. You are required to wear swim caps here in order to keep the drains clean, so Ashley was modeling hers for us. It was a beautiful spot for some hot springs. It's amazing how we were right inside the mountains, but could still see the coast from here as well.
These are just some more beautiful pictures of the coast that we took on the way home. We had rented a car, so we would pull over and hike down to the beach, play in the waves, get sandy then get back in the car again. Loads of fun!
One last wave before we leave :)
After we left Taidong, Ashley and I drove up to Yuanlin. We met up with Jiang Baba who is one of the eternal investigators I worked with. He took us to a night market that night where people have little stands set up all over. There are all kinds of food, games, souvenirs, etc...
Some more Taiwanese delicacies on display... squid, chicken hearts, fish heads, stinky Doufu, etc. Most of the stuff was sea food, and had the most pleasant smell :)>
The next day was Sunday, so we went to Church. There are now 2 wards there, so we went to both sacrament meetings. These are some of the people I taught while I was there. On the left, you have the Liu Family, and on the right you have the Luo Family. It was again so exciting to see these families and re-establish contact with them after so many years.
On the left is a picture of Jiang Baba. I'm very proud of him because he's been sober now for 2 years. He's got a great heart, and I hope he will continue to progress. On the right is the Yang family. Bro. Yang is the current Bishop. They have always been good to the missionaries, and fed us at their home after church. They were so polite and friendly to us on our stay there.
And lastly, just to make every missionary who has ever served a mission in Taiwan extremely jealous, here is what Ashley and I brought back. I found a Peanut Butter wholesaler in the Taipei area where I bought 7 cans of the best Peanut Butter known to mankind. We also bought 8 packs of Hob Knob Cookies, Donggua Cha, and some Chili sauce! This should be pretty good food storage for us, right.... :)
After we arrived in Taiwan, we took a bus to a town called Tanzi, and stayed the night with a Bro Lai, ZhiChang. He was an RM in that area when I was there that helped us out a great deal. He is married with 3 little kids, and just doing amazing. Tanzi is now a ward. When I was there, there wasn't even a branch. It was so neat for me to go back and see how much it's grown since I was there.
Here are some pictures of people and a little bit about them...
These pictures show the Li family, Lin-BiFeng, and Li-CaiHua. I was able to teach them in the Tanzi area, and it was incredible to see how much they have all grown. The kids are all planning on serving missions too.
This is Sister Huang-KeXin (The Chinese one) now serving a mission in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I taught her in Yuanlin when she was 16 years old. From the second she was baptized till now, she has always taken a new friend to church with her on Sundays.
This is the hotel we stayed at in Taipei. It was very nice and simple (Thanks Taylor and Steph). This is the non-smoking floor. You'll notice that there is no room 1104. That is because the number four (Si 4th tone) in Chinese sounds like the word death (Si 3rd tone), so it is very unlucky. They also don't have 4th floors in high rise bldgs. One other thing common in Asia, is the term "Engrish". The sign has the word "managerment" instead of "management". Always a funny thing to see when you're American.
Now Ashley's family loves these little black things on our tongues. They lovingly refer to them as snot-balls. They are called "ZhenZhu", and that means pearl. They are just starchy, tapioca like balls that the Taiwanese put in sweet drinks. It makes drinking fun!
In Taipei, we spent the day with Sister Wang-MaPeiLing. I taught her and her husband in the Taichung 3rd ward. They now live in the Taipei area. They are very involved in their ward, and love serving. The area we visited is DanShui.
You can see some of the things we saw in DanShui. The mopeds are a staple to Taiwanese culture, but this picture doesn't even do it justice. These scooters are EVERYWHERE, and they are crazy. These ice cream cones are common in touristy areas as well, and I couldn't resist getting one.
These are just some apartment and office buildings along the ocean that I took pictures of on board a ferry.
This is a pretty bridge in DanShui.
This guy does sketches on the bridge, so we had ours done with him. Sweet hair!
After we returned to Taipei, we met up with Br. Wang, and had dinner with them. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to see these families like this so happy in the gospel. It's just so awesome.
This is Dong-Jielun. He actually changed his name which is very common with Taiwanese people. When they are looking for some better luck, and a change in pace they will do this. Anyway, I taught him in the Taichung 3rd ward as well.
These are the Li Sisters from Tanzi again. On our way down to Gaoxiong, we stayed with them for a night. They took us to Lugang, where we saw one of the oldest Taoist Miao (Temple) in Taiwan. They also took us to dinner where we had some traditional Taiwanese foods :)
This is a fountain inside the Miao.
The next day, we visited another area called Huwei that I served in. We walked around a morning market first and took this picture of yummy meat for sale. We then visited Sister Wang-ChenHuiSu. I taught her daughter when I was there. She and all her 3 daughters have joined the church. We're still working on her husband :) The other lady is Wu-SuZhi. I taught her and her daughter in this area too.
Well, as you know we spent our Thanksgiving in Taiwan. Since we were there, we decided to put a Taiwanese twist on it as well. We had Taiwanese "Jipai" in placed of our traditional turkey. "JiPai" is just a fried chicken steak :) We also had Donggua Tea, Mashed potatoes, corn, salad, pizza, cucumbers, and tangerines. It was awesome!! We ate at my cousin Rachel's apt. Her roommate Yvonne, and coworker Aaron joined us. We had a blast.
The next morning, we went to a place called FoGuangShan. It's basically a university for monks, and worshipers to come to. The place is huge, and we weren't able to see everything, but still saw some cool stuff.
The big guy you see here is the original Buddha from 2500 years ago. Buddhism was started in India, and spread throughout Asia. This place actually has a shrine dedicated to one of Buddha's original teeth. Pretty cool...
One of the experiences you have here is to eat lunch with all the monks. They just signaled us in, and we sat down behind them. Here is a small video clip. It was taken covertly because I wasn't sure we were allowed to take pictures. We got in, and started whispering when we realized that no one else in the entire room of 300-400 people was saying a word. We really felt out of place. After everyone sat down, they started singing some Buddhist prayer that we didn't know. Everyone knew it but us of course, but it was still cool to listen to. They sang for like 5+ mins. I tried to get audio of the singing, but it only recorded the video I guess. The food was all vegetarian, and Ashley really liked it. I still prefer my Fried Chicken Steaks :)
Here are some huge statues of Buddha. Ashley likes to break the rules of course being the rebel she is.
We were walking away from this area, when all these crazy Filipino (Philippine?) girls saw Ashley and said, "Oh, you're so beautiful!! Please take a picture with us!!" So that's why we have this picture.
After visiting the Buddhist University, we took Rachel with us to visit the east coast of Taiwan. We went to the city of Taidong. This is Rachel and Ashley eating a fruit called "Shijia". It kind of reminds me of a mango. It was quite tasty.
The beach here is so gorgeous. Because of some typhoons in the pacific ocean during this time, the waves were bigger than usual. They were crashing really good, and we enjoyed trying to get real close, then running for our lives before it got to us.
Ashley is getting ready to run from the wave coming a shore.
These are some better pictures of the waves crashing right in front of us. It was a little nerve racking seeing how powerful the waves were.
Taidong is also very famous for Hot Springs. So we bought some swimsuits, and checked them out. You are required to wear swim caps here in order to keep the drains clean, so Ashley was modeling hers for us. It was a beautiful spot for some hot springs. It's amazing how we were right inside the mountains, but could still see the coast from here as well.
These are just some more beautiful pictures of the coast that we took on the way home. We had rented a car, so we would pull over and hike down to the beach, play in the waves, get sandy then get back in the car again. Loads of fun!
One last wave before we leave :)
After we left Taidong, Ashley and I drove up to Yuanlin. We met up with Jiang Baba who is one of the eternal investigators I worked with. He took us to a night market that night where people have little stands set up all over. There are all kinds of food, games, souvenirs, etc...
Some more Taiwanese delicacies on display... squid, chicken hearts, fish heads, stinky Doufu, etc. Most of the stuff was sea food, and had the most pleasant smell :)>
The next day was Sunday, so we went to Church. There are now 2 wards there, so we went to both sacrament meetings. These are some of the people I taught while I was there. On the left, you have the Liu Family, and on the right you have the Luo Family. It was again so exciting to see these families and re-establish contact with them after so many years.
On the left is a picture of Jiang Baba. I'm very proud of him because he's been sober now for 2 years. He's got a great heart, and I hope he will continue to progress. On the right is the Yang family. Bro. Yang is the current Bishop. They have always been good to the missionaries, and fed us at their home after church. They were so polite and friendly to us on our stay there.
And lastly, just to make every missionary who has ever served a mission in Taiwan extremely jealous, here is what Ashley and I brought back. I found a Peanut Butter wholesaler in the Taipei area where I bought 7 cans of the best Peanut Butter known to mankind. We also bought 8 packs of Hob Knob Cookies, Donggua Cha, and some Chili sauce! This should be pretty good food storage for us, right.... :)
