January 22, 2017 - Pictures From TaiBao

Pictures from one of my last weeks in TaiBao in JiaYi County

January 22, 2017 - Goodbye TaiBao

Well this week was super fun! I got kicked out of Taibao because Elder Cox had to pick up a new missionary. 

Because I'm moving I don't have a lot of time to write today, I will be getting on a train back to Taizhong soon. I am so excited to go back to Taizhong! I am going to the part of the city on the mountain called Da Keng, it is about 20 minutes from the mission home by bike. My new companion's name is Elder Shakespeare. I haven't met him yet but he has a cool name. He just finished his training and has been in Taiwan for 3 months. 

At the beginning of the week I went on exchanges with Elder Sims who is super awesome. We saw this field of flowers on the way to visit a less active member so we had to stop and take a pic.

I said goodbye to the sassy sisters! They are so awesome and I hope that they continue to progress in the church. 

I've been living with the other Elders in our district and we just have had never ending fun for the past couple days. 

I said goodbye to Taibao by hugging this tree! I will miss Taibao and all of its beautiful views. 

I love you all!

January 15, 2017 - Trip to TaiZhong

This past week we went to Taizhong to visit mine and Elder Cox's recent converts. We had a good time. We went to lunch with them and then strolled through Costco while they bought some groceries. We also met up with my last companion, Elder White, and went to the Taizhong park and took some pictures. 

Lunch with one of our new recent converts.

Elders at the park in TaiZhong

Elders with the recent converts at the park...my eyes are closed...

We did service at Ms.Wu's house on Tuesday. We dug up a whole yard of grass and weeds with twenty year old rusty garden hoes, it took 2 hours... If we had had a power tool it would have been a 15 minute job to do it all! It was just over grown with weeds and wild grass and they just wanted it less gross because they plant papaya trees there. 

We found out that the twins won't be baptized anytime soon, because their father believes that them being baptized is betraying their ancestors and tradition. They can still attend church activities but not as much as they used to. That was really sad. We can just keep hoping. 

On Saturday we had a musical fireside. I played 3 songs on the violin from the children's songbook. "I am a child of God", "When I am baptized" and "I am trying to be like Jesus" and I also sang with Elder Cox. Elder Cox and I also played "Did you think to pray?" I participated in a lot of the musical numbers during the fireside. We hadn't practiced because we were just asked out of the blue, so it was very simple. It was a very nice evening and we had multiple new people come and attend.  

I love you all!

Sincerely Elder Erwin  

January 8, 2017 - Sometimes Hard Times Help Us See What's Important

This week my heart was heavy with the passing of Brother Huang lai lu. He was a kind man who died suddenly at the age of 61. He was an example of the believers to such a great extent that you can't help but admire and respect the life he lived. 

I mention his passing because it caused everyone around us to do some self examination. We had an old investigator who never was baptized but attended the funeral because Brother Huang was always kind to him. He told us the next day when we met with him that he wants to take the lessons again and be baptized. The passing of one life often brings the spirit unto those that mourn, softens their hearts, and brings them a new level of peace that otherwise may have never been found. 

We also gave our twin sisters investigators baptismal goals. They are so amazing, they set the day for he twenty-first. They might not make it because of parental issues but I am grateful they are my friends here in Taibao and I hope to see them baptized. It isn't about the number but about being here for my friends. 

The restaurant we ate at was super cool!! You take your shoes off and walk on the platform which also serves for your seat. 

This is a Pokemon that was painted on a garage door... They do that here... No one cares in the neighborhood so why not? 

I thought this rice field was cool... If you are a missionary in Asia, you have to have a picture by the rice fields. 

I love you! Hope you had a good week.  

January 1, 2017 - Rescued by a Grandma...

Well this morning we got up early, caught a bus and a train and headed to Tainan (my 2nd and 3rd areas). We met up with some missionaries to eat at a fancy restaurant and we are now in Tainan city emailing. I don't love going to fancy expensive restaurants because I don't eat enough to make the extra price worth it, but I'm going to make the best of it and consider it an "experience" instead of just eating out.

This week on Tuesday on the way to a members house, the chain on my bike broke, the member said they would come and get us. But in the end, she sent her 70 year old mom in a tiny car to take my bike. She picked it up by herself and put it half way into the trunk and strapped it down with metal wire. We tried to help but she told us she was an expert and did not need our help! My bike is now fixed and ready to go.

On Wednesday Elder Cox and I got sick. Really sick! The sickness carried on till about Saturday. Eventually we figured it was the flu. We still taught English that night, hopefully I didn't pass it on to our students! We had a couple of hard days but finally it was a little better by Saturday. 

We went to visit an investigator in Beigang, which is about an hour from our home in Taibao. He took us on a tour of the sugar cane fields. I tried to teach him but he was distracted teaching us about sugar cane. 

The week went by fast but was very empty because we were both sick most of it.

I took some pics of random stuff this week. I didn't take any pictures of me and Elder Cox because we looked so sickly. I'd hate to frighten you all.

Explanation of the pictures

It was really foggy this week, so I took a couple of pictures of it.

Funny menu in English... 

I wrote down a list of  towns where I have served in Chinese.