22-28 September 2014

Wow can you believe it is FALL?  Wish it was fall temperatures here.  I miss the fall colors too!  So I decided to put up the few fall decorations I brought to help us get in the mood.  Yeah really doesn't help when it is still in the 100's here! Well on with the weeks events! 

Mondays are always busy as girls head back to school after what never seems to be a long enough weekend.   Adam worked from home so we had lunch together and a quick trip to Carrefour for sporting goods to use for the Young Men.  Our condo has a huge rec room down stairs with basket ball, golf, ping pong, pool table, work out room, even a children's play room and ball pit.  There is also a huge lounge that we can show a movie in.  Oh and a large conference room too.  All very nice and not crowded.  Which we love.  Some of the other places our friends are staying in have similar things but you have to reserve them or there are a lot of rules and very crowded.  The longer we live here the more we know we made the right choice for us.  This was the place for us to live! 

Another Typhoon hit again in the middle of the night.  NO big deal but it did make it a bit cooler this morning which was so nice.  The breeze when it is cool is such a welcome relief.

Lacie is struggling with school right now. She has never struggled in school especially in Math.  She use to do geometry problems in sacrament meeting just for fun.  Here the kids are so advanced and math is their thing! They all have tutors and are super fast and good at math.  Lacie is feeling really stupid.  The teacher is working one on one with her to build her confidence but it has been a real struggle to even get her to do her home work.  She has totally turned her brain off.  When they tested her she basically failed.  It said she knew none of her addition, subtraction, multiple facts, or division facts.  This I know is not true. I have no idea what is going on with her other then I think she is totally over whelmed and very thing is hitting her.  She is missing Elsie terribly which doesn't help.  We will get through this!

Tuesday brought Adam involved with an  activity for the boys, so our regular scheduled Mandarin Class was cancelled.  October is going to be a really bad month for class with Adam in the States the first two weeks.  I have decided I just have to start using what I have learned. No one understands me now so it really won't matter if I don't say things right.  Maybe I will be credit for trying.  Mandarin is so hard!  I have been praying for Heavenly Fathers help.  It has been a really long time since I was in school and I wasn't very good at learning English. Emmie and Adam are doing much better then me. Lacie is loved it in school and doing better then us all.

Spent the day looking and ordering Emmie cloths/shorts on line.  I didn't buy her really anything to come here.  Things are very expensive here.  Believe it or not Emmie is feeling big here.  It is really bothering her. She has been wearing baggy things to dance because she feel big compared to the tiny, tooth pick, no muscle Asian girls.  It has been really hard to watch and we have spent many a nights talking about it.  I am hoping some new clothing will help her feel more mature and better about herself.  She is still wearing a little girls 10-12 pants even though she is looking like a woman.  Hard spot to be in, but I would trade in a heart beat!  She is finally over 100lbs and by know means fat, but here everyone is tiny, tiny, tiny!  It is time for her to have some things that look more like high school and not a little girl.  Just didn't think about shopping for clothing on top of everything else I was getting to come.  Adam is bring them back for her from the states.

Wednesday nights with Mutual and Dance practice have been a challenge for Emmie.  Tonight she didn't get done with practice until 5:15 (it starts right after school) and had to be at Mutual at 5:30.  Then she didn't get home until 8:00p.m. still had homework and shower and prepare for seminary.  She gets to bed at 10p.m. if lucky and is up by 5:20a.m..  Mandarin classes are a stress for her too.  Tuesdays and Thursdays we have class from 6-8p.m. That takes up all of the evening and leaves little time to get homework done.  She is doing well with Mandarin.  Much better then me.  We had a good laugh on Thursday because she has been trying to use her new words. Every day at the school cafeteria she tells the lady ... bu hao (which she thought meant your welcome.)  It really means..... NO GOOD!  She has been telling the lady as she pays for her food.  bu hao (NO GOOD) hee hee! :)  We laughed and laughed.  Silly girl!  At least she is trying and really is doing really well.  I suggested that maybe she just do one class a week.  Emmie didn't want anything to do with that.  She still prays each night for help and that she will be fluent when we leave.  She is more determined then all us to learn.

Thursday was fun for me.  I spent the morning at choir.  Still struggling with the music.  SO hard!  Then after choir I went to IKEA and lunch with two new friends. Carrie Chiles who is Emmie's seminary teacher and lived here for 18 years and Dori Shinner who just moved here from Shang Hi but owns a home in Boise by Micron.  She has a son Colton who is a Sophomore and is becoming a good friend of Emmie's.  IKEA was a lot of fun. really enjoyed it.  Even getting stuck going up and down in the elevator was fun with these gals.  Not to mention Dori almost falling into a drain in the parking garage!  This one was super low, smelly and tight spots.  All kinds of scary stuff down there.

Friday brought Adam boarding a flight for Boise and me off to spend the day with my new girl friends, Belinda Beck, Colleen Gordon, and Dori cutting up and getting food ready for the opening ward social tomorrow night.  When I got home I found that Adam had left his US phone here.  Great another trip with no communications!  Hoping Whatsap works but wont know for 11 hours still.

I did have a lot of fun preparing for the social with these great ladies.  Lots of laughing over cutting onions and crying like babies and burning of the fingers with hot glue guns making decorations!  I am grateful for friends.  It helps me not miss everyone back home so much! It also helped pass the time waiting to hear Adam was safety on the ground in the states.

Had to get Lacie up early to be at school by 7:15a.m.. She had volunteered to help serve the teachers breakfast for teacher appreciation.  It was set up very nice with students playing instruments for the teachers while they ate.  Once again over the top and the students who played where incredible.  You can tell they have been training for ALL of their lives.  Very impressive and intimidating all in the same breath.  Lacie was super excited to help.  After all the years of tons of work for teacher appreciation in the states it was nice to just drop her off, take her photo and send in a few little gifts for teachers!  NICE!

 

 

Emmie had "Field Day" here today.  She called it the Academic Field Day.  Emmie usually is very excited and loves Field Days.  She was not excited about this one.  They spent all day outside like most field days.  The only catch is you had to answer history questions or do a math problem to be able to take your turn at something.  Yep only at TAS!  They also had to wear their class shirts.  Emmie's is red with black writing.  That way you could spot all the kids in your grade.  Emmie said some of it was fun, but mostly hot and tiring!



Saturday Emmie had dance practice and then we spent the evening at Cayson Southam baptism and then the ward social.  It really was a lot of fun. Emmie did a great job of teaching the ward to line dance.  She had everyone out there laughing and dancing.  She didn't seem a bit nervous.  It was a very proud parent moment.  She was easy to follow and very encouraging to everyone.  She did a really good job of involving all the young women.  She has spent the last 2 weeks making one up and teaching the other girls so they could help everyone learn it.  It all went really well.  My chili turned out really good. 

We did all miss Adam, who was at home working on our yard and visiting family and friends.    Wish he could have been here!

Adam at Leavitts watching BSU football game.  Just like old times.  Just missing a few important people!  Miss our home and friends when I see photos like this. :(

 

 

Happy Birthday wishes... to Hailey!   Hope it was a super fun day for you!  Knowing your mother, she made something kind of yummy birthday treat!

 

What I love about Taiwan....  Yummy Bread.  All kinds!  All good.  Not good for my waist

 line but so good.  Emmie says that the teachers are her favorite thing this week.  They are really nice and so helpful. The fruit here is amazing!  So spoiled with the yummy fruit!

 

Wow!  I even got this done on Sunday!  Have a great week everyone!!!!



 

 

 

 

 

14-20 September 2014

Sundays are always busy now with Adam the Young Men's President in our ward and I have now been asked to be on the Christmas pageant committee and teach the 14-17yr old youth Sunday School Class.  Both of us are involved with Sunday meetings.  Emmie and Adam both attended the Bishops Youth  Discussion tonight and are loving being involved with all of the youth here.  This is the biggest group of youth in 10 years.  I am so glad it happened when we came. I remember being really worried when I visited in January for our home finding trip.  The youth group was tiny, only about 8 (12-17) We have about 24 give or take a few.  I am having a hard time keeping track of them.  I know the 12 in my Sunday School class but the younger crowd is a bit sketchy for me.

Monday... another super hot day!  We are still reaching +100 + humidity.  SOOO looking forward to cooler weather.  It is hard to get into the fall spirit when you have been wearing shorts strictly since June.  There is supposed to be a Typhoon by the end of the week.  It has the promise of cooler weather with it.  Reported cold front of highs of 86 +humidity.  Sounds funny to call that a cold front!  Adam has people here from Boise and is traveling back and forth to the subcons in South a lot this week.  It is a very busy week for him.  Lots of early mornings and late nights, but at least he climbs into my bed at night. 

Wednesday was an eventful day.  On our way out of the school grounds a man stopped me and gave me his card.  He wants Lacie to model for him.  Several of the kids in the ward model.  I checked him out and he is the one that some of them use.  Not sure about this yet.  Joey is his name .... he said to me  "talk to the father and call him."  Lacie could make 5000nt (almost $200.00) each time she does it.  Emmie wants to know how she gets in on the deal!  Having their own money again sounds nice to both of them.  They are missing the money from their job with Paul.  Just not feeding all the animals, Especially in the dead of winter.  Adam and I spent the evening racing around trying to find a wedding gift for a supplier lady that invited us to her wedding.  We have been invited to a 40th birthday dinner the same night for some new friends of ours in the ward.  This lady was terribly disappointed and Adam felt bad when he told her we would not be attending. He wanted to get her something.  We did find her a lovely heart necklace as a apologize for not being able to attend. Then Adam googled what would be appropriate to give the couple.  Traditional you give a red envelope called ang pao or lacey.


Lacie just after the modeling agent gave us his card

ang pao or Lacey

 

Here is a bit about Taiwan Weddings.  We hope to go to one before we leave.
    Taiwanese weddings are big and extravagant in a very different way than weddings in America are. They mostly involve food, tons and tons of food. Oh, and lots of dresses for the bride. 
     At a Taiwanese wedding you don’t give cards or presents you simply give a red envelope with money in it. This money goes to cover the cost of the wedding. They money in the red envelope has to be an even number and can’t have the number 4 in it, because 4 is an unlucky number in Taiwan. 
    As you enter the hall to the wedding there is usually a table full of wedding photos. They are taken prior to the wedding with lots of outfit changes and cool romantic spots around Taiwan. The couples always look like models and are absolutely beautiful. They also usually provide some sort of picture that you can take with you.

    Wedding in Taiwan are very elaborate. The bride wears three different dresses through the course of the wedding and you have about a 10 course meal. Their is a small ceremony, if you can actually call it that. To be legally married in Taiwan you have to get married at the court house first. 
    The bride wears three different dresses throughout the wedding. The first one is to get “married” in. After the ceremony the bride slips away and puts on the next dress. She uses this dress to say great to all of her guests. The bride and groom and their parents go around to each table to introduce everyone to their guests. After introducing everyone around the table there is a small toast and they proceed to the next table. The third dress is to say goodbye and thank everyone who came by handing out small party favors. All the dresses are rented and traditionally one of the three dresses should be red for good luck, although some brides don’t follow this tradition anymore.
    A small wedding in Taiwan would have at least 300 guest but most weddings have 500 or more. They invite everyone to their weddings, and I mean everyone they’ve ever had contact with. Weddings are usually in the afternoon. Guest sit around a large table that usually holds 10-12 people with a large lazy susan in the middle to help pass around the food. You literally have about a 10 course meal and many of the dishes have a symbolic meaning, so you usually see the same foods at weddings. The first dish is usually a traditional chicken soup (which I don’t like). This dish is to symbolize that you are going to make a home together because the word for chicken soup in Taiwanese (not mandarine) sounds like the word for home. They always serve some type of fish, because it symbolizes wealthy. It is customary to not eat the entire fish, showing that you are not greedy and welcome wealth into your life. They are also required to serves some sort of expensive food like lobster or a special type of fish, because the couple doesn’t want people to think that they are stingy. The dessert is always a traditional Taiwanese desert, like sweat peas, jello, sticky rice balls, or red beans (I know you are just dying to try some of those). The dessert means that the couple will live happily ever after and symbolizes them living sweetly together.
     The dinner usually last 3 to 4 hours and guest slowly file out. As you leave the bride and groom say goodbye and give you a small party favor of candy or something.

Thursday is my day to go to choir.  This is a very serious choir.  The songs we are learning are super hard, and some in Spanish! I often feel like I am in over my head.  Luckily the director sent all of us the music so we can be practicing at home.  After choir my new friend Tami Klump took me out to a different Costco than the one we usually go to.  It is all on one floor and looks just like home!  It was so nice.  Not crowded and so refreshing.  I see why all the expats shops here! It's a further drive from home, but well worth the extra 7min.

Friday rolls around and Adam is finally done with all the crazy back and forth to the subcons in the South and all around town. The guys from Boise are on a flight home. He worked from home and we snuck away for lunch for a few minutes and visited another import store that is closer to us called Willy's Deli and Grocery.  It was very nice.  You can buy corn meal there for tamales or corn-tortillas. Rice Crispy Cereal is only $12 US dollars (normal size box)! Outrageous!!  The girls both went out with friends tonight.  Emmie down to the school to watch one of the boys in the ward named Colton Shiner play soccer and then they all went back to Bishop Becks to have pizza and hang out.   Lacie went with Bailey Southam to her house for the evening.  Adam and I watched a movie while he did emails (weeks worth!  YIKES!)  We told Lacie to be home at 10p.m. a first for her. (and not going to be a pattern!)  Emmie had till 11p.m. but called at 10p.m. and said they where done and Southams where bringing her home.  The rule is... they are to come in and tell us they are home and about their night.  Well at 11:15p.m. I started to get worried.  They had not come in.  Emmie was not answering her phone.  The Southam's where not answering their phone.   I sent text msg to both and no answer.  So I called my friend Belinda, the bishops's wife, where Emmie had been. When I asked if she was still there she said no and that she and Addy at left just after 10p.m. over an hour ago! All the blood drained from my face and my heart started to race.  I was no longer irritated I was scared.  Where were my girls?  Belinda asked what she could do to help and I told her I didn't know.  Emmie wasn't answering her phone, neither were the Southams.  Then it dawned on me to check their rooms.  I had woken Adam up and he was now panicked and trying to get a hold of Emmie and Southams.  He checked Lacie's room and I opened the door to Emmie's room and there she was writing a letter to Caylee.  She thought we were asleep and didn't want to wake us.!  So not a good idea!  Then she fell to pieces when she realized how upset and afraid we were.  I truly thought we had lost them!  I texted Belinda and the Bishop to let her know they had been found and Adam texted Southams so they didn't panic when they saw all our text messages.  Saturday morning came and Lacie asked me why I had huge bags under my eyes.  So we had a little talk about the night before and how things would be handled in the future.  YOU ALWAYS COME TALK TO MOM AND DAD! PERIOD!!!

Saturday was spent with Emmie at dance practice and we were running errands.  Adam, Lacie and I tried to go to the flower market by the Neihu Costco.  We stopped in there and got some lemonade for the birthday dinner tonight and walked to the flower market next door.  Unfortunately the flower market didn't open until 4p.m.  It was just after 2p.m. when we discovered this and didn't want to kill 2 hours.  By time we left, the line to get into the Costco parking lot was clear around the block.  Moral of the story... never go to Costco on Saturday!   Damon Potter's birthday party was a lot of fun.  We have made some really nice friends here who have just excepted us.  We are the new comers.  Everyone else has been here at least 1-2 years.  We have been invited to do things, to go to dinner at peoples houses.  We have felt very welcomed.  Grateful for new friends!  Happy Birthday Damion. It was a fun night of fun new friends, great home-made Indian food (spicy!), and crazy quizzes!! Got to love English humor.  At least we didn't have to karaoke!

This is Damion and his family.  Damion is from England and Susanne his wife is from Sweden. Their family is brilliant! (meaning fantastic in 'English' terms)

Birthday wishes.....  Happy Birthday wishes to Jett and Benson. Benson had his first birthday!!!  Wish we could have been there to celebrate with you both.  We thought of you as we do on every family event we miss.

What I love about Taiwan...  People are friendly.  I always get a hello and more mooncakes and pineapple cakes I could ever want.  We do feel welcomed by all.  Locals and the other expats in our ward inclusive!

What else we love... although the driving here is CRAZY(!!) its also very patient and forgiving. If you accidentally start down the wrong road it's perfectly okay to stop in the middle of the road, put your hazards on, back up, and then turn onto the right road. It's also okay to turn left from the far right lane or right from the far left lane. If you double park, just turn in your side mirrors as a courtesy- so other vehicles can get by without taking out the scooters passing your car within about 1inch. And the dotted lines are truly just suggestions. If you don't know if you want to turn left or right in the coming block and you want to straddle the lines and take up 1/2 lane each- that's okay because everyone will just flow around you like a boulder in a river.  It's fun here!

That is our week.  Hope you enjoyed! 

31 August to 13 September 2014

I think I need to be better at doing this once a week so there is not as much to read each time and so much to catch up with.  This has been such a busy few weeks!  We have visited several Flower Markets in the last two weeks gathering things for the pond Adam is building.  It is turning out very nice and I have loved the markets.  One more to go! The Daan Park Market has a Craft Market and Jade Market near by.  It was all very interesting with some extremely beautiful things.  Just a few more things are needed to finish the pond, some orchids and maybe a fish or two.  Girls want baby turtles.  We will see! 

 

While at the market Lacie of course had to use the bathroom.  She always has to use the bathroom!  Finding a public rest room here is quiet a chore!  SO Lacie got to us a "Squatty Potty" for the first time.  Not so successful for her.  She came out dry- it was Mom who was holding her up that didn't fare too well. THANKS LACIE!  Oh a mothers love!

The one we went into didn't have any toilet paper of course and wasn't this clean!  Lacie will need more practice.  I did find a helpful tutorial online.  I think the girls and I will be reading up!  When in Rome do as the Romans!    How to use the Asian Squatty Potty (Toilet)
www.ottsworld.com/blogs/pee-pee-island-a-girls-guide-to-the-asian-squatty-potty/

 

School is busy for the girls.  Emmie is settling into the many hours of dance practice and homework.  Lacie has a noticeably lighter load in dance and homework, which is to be expected for her age.  Both girls luck out for this long weekend.  Most high school kids had homework for each day out of school and the weekend homework.  Emmie had it better then most because she only has the 5 classes.  Things are very different here when it comes to school work!  We are still having back to school stuff.  Last week was an entire night for Lacie and this week from7-9:30p.m. for Emmie.  We did get to meet their teachers and all who work with the girls during their day at school.  This place is huge!  At first, I thought when we would walk into each of Emmie's classes, what an impression Emmie has made or what a good teacher when they would say... "Oh you must be Emmie's parents."  Then I clued in that it wasn't hard to figure out who we were when we were the only Caucasians in the room.  Silly me!  The girls do have some really good teachers... but we are just easy to spot! :)

 

We went to the temple 9/5/14.  It was my first time to this temple.  It is so tiny and cute.  I mean tiny!  We got there early so we were asked to do initiatories first.  I was super nervous to be doing Chinese names.  Thanks to the few hours of mandarin I have had I did alright.  It was gratefully written in pingying, which I now understand a bit.  Adam and I got to be the witness couple, which was nice.  We went with Bishop (Andy) Beck and his wife Belinda.  They are becoming good friends of ours.  It was ward temple night and we filled that little ordinance room.  Such a sweet experience!  I have missed the temple.  Afterwards we went to "Mango Ice", called a 'bing'. Adam was sweet and ordered the mixed fruit one because I don't like Mangos.  It was so yummy.  It was a shaved ice topped with fruit ice cream, cut fresh fruit, and sweetened condensed milk.  Loved it.  It was also really nice to be with a bunch of couples.  It has been so long since Adam and I have done something like this. Our lives have been so crazy the last year and half.

 

The girls didn't have to go to school and Adam was off work for the Moon Festival 9/8/14.  We met with several families from the ward and played soccer and football.  We took the water rockets and our huge Styrofoam airplane.  It was super hot but really fun.  We had lunch at the Becks and then drove together up to the YangMing Shan mountain (at the former US Ambassador's house) to meet everyone else to swim for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a lot of fun.  There are some great families here.  The girls are making friends, we are making friends.  It is making life seem normal again.  So nice to have family time again.

 

Adam left for Japan on Tuesday but the girls still had school off so they invited a bunch of the kids over from the ward to swim and hang out.  We have a huge pool and basketball, Ping-Pong, and Dance Room downstairs.  The boys had to go down to the school to pass a swimming test for scouts at 5:45 so we all walked down and I ordered pizzas for them and we came back and ate and sent them home at 8p.m..  None of them wanted to leave.  It was nice to have kids around again.  I have missed that. Many of them said how cool our 'house' was. We told them they are always welcome to come hang out!

 



              Kids  and I ate Pizza         Adam ate whole baby Shrimp, pig heart,

                                                       & tongue on a stick

I think we got the better deal!

Actually Elder Elder Hyrum Richardson and Elder Nathan Wilson got the best deal because they got all the left over pizza.  Happy Elders!

 

What is the Moon Festival Or Lantern Festival? Here is a little bit I found to explain it.  I like the idea of family behind it!

 “At the mid-autumn night, the moon becomes especially bright.” (月到中秋分外明). Traditionally, the full moon has symbolized the happiness of the family gatherings, so the Moon Festival is also regarded as Tuan Yuan (family reunion,團圓) Festival in Taiwan. In ancient times, due to the less advanced transportation, it was very difficult to return hometown often. Therefore, the Moon Festival was selected as the day for the family members who were far away to return home and enjoy the happy times together with whole family. The festival food, the moon cakes, is also made in the round shape of the full moon to represent the joyful reunion and imply the wonderful wishes of the future.

 

Today, besides admiring the full moon and eating moon cakes, barbeque has become a very popular family activity on the Moon Festival. With the time passed by, the religious significance of the Festival has become less and less in the modern urban life, but the full moon keeps radiating tender lights on every smiling face in the warmth of family gatherings.

  

We received many moon cakes, pineapple cakes and even some Pomelos from the guards.  They are like a grapefruit inside.   We gave our moon cakes to the guards.  There was only one kind that was white and flakey that Lacie liked.  The rest, Hmmm not so good!  Very kind of so many people to buy them for us!  Many be in 2 years we will have learned to like them. (yep don't think so!)  Lacie took one of the boxes to Mandarin  Class to share.  Her teach was thrilled.  Most of her class is Chinese so they enjoyed them!

 

Adam has been in Japan most of the week 9/9 to 9/12.  Adam has decided he really likes Japan.  He says it is organized, clean and very easy to get around.  People are nice too for the most part. (They have yummy chocolate! Adam brought us a taste.)  Adam is really liking his job and feels good about it.  Micron is treating us very well and taking good care of us!  Adams's hard work is paying off.  We have been greatly blessed just in the few months since he took this job.  Things have been very hard at times on all of us, but it is starting to pay off. 

 

I have been struggling with the fact that things are so close.  I know that sounds odd but in Middleton I drive everywhere.  I used to drive Emmie to do everything she did.  If she went to the movies, if she hung out with friends, etc.  Here she just walks all over with friends and it makes me very nervous to have my 14year old, beautiful daughter wandering the streets of Taipei.  Yes it is very safe here but it still makes this country mama crazy!  There have been several times I haven't been able to get a hold of her.  Even at the school which is like a small city in and of it's self.  So after a morning of Emmie walking to seminary alone (because the girl she usually walks with was sick) and me begging her to let me walk her to the square which is in sight of the school.  I got in my car, figured out how to drive myself to a cell phone store, figured out how to pay to park with my "Easy card" and struggled through making them understand I needed a simple phone in my broken understanding of Mandarin and their broken English!  Emmie now has a phone.  I can at least get a hold of her and she me.  There is a life line now.  Makes me feel she is little safer.  I have made Emmie and Lacie a taxi card, so if they get stuck somewhere and don't know how to get home.  They can get in a taxi and show them the address (in Chinese) and they can take them home.  They are carrying with them money for the fare and our phone numbers and keys to the house.  Some of these things we would never even worry about in Middleton.  CITY LIFE!

Cute Emmie after Dance practice getting her first phone. 9/11/14

Wish I looked this good after working out for 2 hours!

 Lacie attended her band camp 9/13/14.  She has decided to learn to play the flute.  Her reasoning is that I played it and can help her and she will not have to pack it back and forth between Idaho and here to practice.  The school loans everyone an instrument.  We just have to buy the cleaning kits, music stand and a band folder.  I must say I was very impressed with Lacie's first concert.  In 2 hours and 45 mins. they learned quite a bit and even sounded quite impressive. There is a teacher for every instrument in the band.  Amazing!  We all still have a goal of learning 4 hymns to play on the piano and both Emmie and Lacie are doing quite well with that.  Emmie is going to bring my guitar back at Christmas and start lessons in January hopefully.  I am really impressed with this school.  I love that the girls are at the same place.  Our world revolves around the school, so I am very happy with where we chose to live!  It is super convenient.  We spent Friday after Adam got home from Japan down at the school having dinner and watching all the kids in the ward play different games.  It was really fun to mingle with everyone. The school has a fundraiser every weekend by selling BBQ hamburgers and Costco hot dogs ... they are great!

 

One of the hardest things about being here is not being with some of our very special friends when they need us. My girlfriend Michelle Nelsen under went reconstruction surgery and reduction as one of the final steps in her breast cancer battle.  It tore me up when her daughter texted and asked if I would come.  She thought I was still in Idaho.  Michelle and I message each other several times a week.  It killed me to not be there for her.  Adam said he would buy a ticket but with him gone to Japan this week it would have been really hard on girls.   Special Thank You to my Sister Brenda who has visited this special friend of mine several times and taken her flowers for me.  She is in Huntsman Hospital where Brenda works in Utah.  Michelle made living in Singapore fun and is one of my dearest friends.  She is family. Girls have said some tender prayers in her behalf over the last year.  Be well my friend!

  

Happy Birthday Wishes.....  Happy Birth to Roman on the 11th. Congrats Laken and Jared.

Savannah 7yrs.  Bria "Sweet 16" WOW! What a neat way to spend your B-day!  Getting asked to Homecoming!!!   Heidi hope you had a good one too.  I won't mention how old you are!:) Since you are a grandma!  Happy 21st to Austin Boy!  Can you believe he only has 6 weeks left on his mission?

 

Taiwan Moments..... The scooters here are crazy.  Not only do they drive crazy but they put crazy things on them.  It is the number one vehicle on the road.  They use them to do everything.  Here are few pictures I got this week.

 Your not seeing things. Yes that is a family of 4 out for a Sunday drive! We've actually seen as many as 5 on 1 scooter, but couldn't get a picture in time. The other one is covered in Propane Tanks!  YIKES!! He had 7 strapped to him.  Hope he doesn't tip over or get plowed by another vehicle or something! 

Boone this is for you!  This is a Taiwan Garbage Truck.  Every night you hear music like the ice-cream man at home.  Everyone pours into the streets with their garbage and throws it into the truck.  Everything is recycled.  This truck is yellow, but they even have PINK ones here.  I will get a picture for you as soon as I see another one!





Can you guess where Emmie is?  Taiwan (China) is very good at copying things.  This is not Home Depot.  It is almost, but not quite.  It looks like it, right down to the orange aprons and signs.  It is called BnQ. It has the same feel and look as our Home Depot.. but its not!

 

Missionary Moments...  Emmie has been working on her personal progress.  Ever since we got here she has been praying for a missionary experience.  There is a girl in one of her classes that she has become friends with.  She has asked Emmie a lot about the church over the last few weeks so Emmie invited her to Mutual and Church.  Her name is Tiffany.  She couldn't go to mutual because of soccer practice but did come to church with us on Sunday.  Emmie wrote her testimony in a Book of Mormon and gave it to her.  She is a very sweet girl.  She seemed to enjoy herself and said the lesson in YW about morality and chastity was of great value.  I love how she expressed her feelings.  Being moral in this world of ours does have great value!  She wants to come again with Emmie.  Emmie has told her it is an open invitation.

I was buying cereal the other morning and the little lady in front of me didn't have enough to pay for her bread and was going to put it back.  I wasn't sure how much she needed but handed the cashier all the extra change I had.  It was only $35NT (about $1.00 US dollar).  She handed it back to me and waved no, I think she thought I was trying to push ahead of the older lady.  I handed it back and touched the old woman on the shoulder and pointed to her and said for her.  The cashier finally took it and the old woman's eyes moistened and she touched her heart and said beautiful and smiled. Over and over she did this.  I had just walked back from dropping Lacie off at school. I was dripping with sweat and stopped at the little grocery store in the basement of our Condo. She can call this sweaty hot mess beautiful any time. 

 

Adam had his own very cool missionary experience last week. Here is it is in his own words.......

 

"I had been invited to a business lunch with one of Micron’s suppliers here in Taiwan. They are a fairly new company for us and we’re still getting to know each other. One of the managers (I only met 1 or 2 times) called me and wanted to go to lunch over near my office so we arranged a time and place to meet. There were two additional people for our lunch- two ladies I had never met before.  The lunch place that was chosen was a famous beef noodle place just down the street from my office and within eyesight and a block away from the Taipei Temple. Of course during lunch, they offered Hot Tea. When I declined I took a moment to explain why- but it was only about 30sec discussion and we went on with the rest of our meal and other topics.

 

When we finished and were leaving the manager that invited me to lunch commented on how beautiful the temple looked- so I asked him if he would like to walk around it. I showed them the temple and the temple grounds and then we walked in to the church building right beside it. There was instantly a feeling of intense love and peace in that building. I think my new friends also felt it (and I’m sure it wasn’t just the Air-conditioning!). The sister missionaries were there and they immediately seized the moment to introduce themselves and startup a conversation with us. They offered to take us around the building and show us the artwork and answer any questions. They also explained the purpose of the church building and the difference between the church and the temple- then they asked if we could start the tour with prayer and asked me if I would offer it. It was a little awkward, but was a good way to invite the spirit and allow Him to help teach us.

 

We walked the hallway where the missionaries showed the paintings of Ancient prophets and Jesus Christ with his apostles. We talked about how it was established by Jesus Christ himself while he lived here and what it was like. Then we saw the other paintings and we talked about the fall of the ancient church and the restoration thru Joseph Smith. During this whole time my friends were asking incredibly deep questions and trying to understand what the Sisters were really talking about. They ended with teaching them about the Book of Mormon and reading Moroni’s Promise. They were all given a book and they all accepted the challenge to read, ponder, and pray about it. I was asked several times to share my testimony of things and it was good for me to re-affirm my testimony and my convictions.

 

At one point I worried that I was taking too much time away from my work and from their work, but I had a whispering of the spirit tell me in my heart that “This was the most important work I could do today.” So I just let it all play out. They asked why we have temples and we talked about how families are sealed together for eternity. One of the ladies looked excited about that.

 

At the end of the tour and as our time was getting short, I shared with them that one of the reasons why I am a bit strange (like not drinking alcohol, tea, coffee… or going out to pubs and clubs at night) was because I know these things are true and because I’ve been asked by a prophet of God who lives today that we should not partake of these things. Because I know this is true it gives me strength to be a bit different or weird. They said they now understand and want to know more about these things. I told them we would send the missionaries to answer any of their questions- especially about anything that they would read in the Book of Mormon.

 

Later that night I sent my friend a note online to thank him for the lunch and for taking some time to walk around the temple with me. He responded saying how he really felt good about that and was amazed at how the young people would take two years of their own life to go to a foreign country to help people know God. I told him it was because we love God and we know He wants all His children to know Him too.

 

It was a great missionary opportunity and I’m so blessed to have been able to be a part in this. Of course I don’t know what will ever happen to these people in the future- whether or not they will join the church or if they will accept the gospel, but I know that the seed has been planted. I know they felt the spirit. I know they heard on a deeper level than normal the servants of God testifying of eternal truths."

 

What I love about Taiwan.... I love the temple.  It is such a blessing to be able to have a temple here.  When we lived in Singapore you had to travel to Hong Kong or Philippines to go to the temple.  Here I go to church every Sunday in the shadow of this holy building.  Feeling very blessed!

This is the Taiwan Temple. Our church building is the large building next to it.

 

 

I have had a really hard time with Emmie running around with the kids here. (they are a good group of kids) She is growing up too fast.  Here everything is so close they just walk all over together and some of them by themselves.  NOT CRAZY ABOUT!  I know I have to let her grow up but this is so hard.  I feel so anxious when I don't know where or what she is going.  Thank goodness she is patient with her crazy mom.  We are so lucky to have such a good girl.  I looked at her on Sunday and got a bit emotional.  Her face is so grown up. She is so mature (most of the time).  Where did my little baby girl go?  Lacie is doing the same darn thing!  She went out the door to school today and looked so grown-up.  She is getting tall and growing again.  We are going to be out of clothing before we come home at Christmas and none of it will be summer clothing there!  Already starting to put things in the to small piles of things that don't fit any longer.  Lacie will be taller then Emmie.  She has already grown out of shoes since we came.  Now Emmie and Lacie wear the same size!



 That is it from us here in Taiwan. Hope you all have been well.  As I say good bye may I leave this one parting thought.                             
                                                               May We Never Forget!

 

As in Years past I am ever mindful of this day.  The tiny baby I ran to snuggle in bed as the towers came down.  The fear I had of what kind of world she would live in.  I am grateful to be an American in a country not of my own.  As a family we do our best to leave a good impression on those we meet.  We are blessed to be citizens of the Land of the Free.  This I know!  We will live our lives in a way that those we meet only think good things about us and the country we come from.