Merry
Christmas 2012 and a Happy
New Year 2013
Dear Friends and Family,
We finished our mission at the Hong Kong temple in May, but before we
finished, we put in new mission applications hoping for a call to Taiwan. We returned home to Saint George with a new Family
History mission call to Taiwan already in hand.
We were a little sad to leave Hong Kong because we left many new friends
behind: the workers in the Temple, members in the Mandarin-speaking branch, the
Liu’s in Fanling, and the Guo’s and the Huang’s in Shenzhen. We were home from the beginning of May
through August. While we were
home, we took our family (kids and grandkids) to Yellowstone National Park for
four days for a family reunion. We went
to several geysers, including Old Faithful, and canoeing. Afterward, we drove on over to Spokane to
visit Shirley’s sister’s family. We
spent a couple of days there and then went home.
Shortly thereafter we had a young couple from
Shenzhen, China, visit us St. George; we picked them up in Las Vegas and took
them to St. George, the Grand Canyon (North Rim), Zion’s and Bryce National
Parks and Salt Lake City. As we were
going to Los Angeles anyway, we took them down to L.A. and dropped them
off. We spent a couple of days in L.A.
at a Taiwan member/returned missionary reunion, and then returned to St.
George. It was good to see so many old friends
again! We returned home and spent a
couple of weeks at the Family History Centers in Saint George and SLC upgrading
our genealogy skills before going to Taiwan.
Back in Taiwan, our present mission field covers
the southern half of Taiwan; our previous mission field covered all of
south Asia, from Pakistan through Indonesia and Vietnam, China and Mongolia. We think
that we’ve been downsized!
We now live about half an hour’s drive away from
where Shirley’s “old home” is. “Old home” is an expression meaning where her
ancestors lived. We have had
opportunities to travel to Er Cheng Hang in Tainan County a few times and talk
with cousins (both near and distant) who have never moved very far away from
the old home. The cousins we have met
with so far are about our ages or a little older, and they know more about
Shirley’s grandparents than she remembers.
They also remember things that happened in the family that she was
unaware of because her family moved there when she was about three years of
age, but moved to Tainan City when she was about five years old because her
mother wanted her to go to a city school.
After graduating from high school, she went to Taipei for college and never
moved back.
We attend church in a different ward (congregation) every week. So far, we have attended more than a dozen
wards in the local two stakes (dioceses).
When we attend, we are generally asked to speak during Sacrament meeting. After the three block of meetings, Sister Guo,
a sister from the Zuoying ward, does a Power Point presentation about using new.FamilySearch
or the new replacement called Family Tree.
Questions are answered and email addresses are provided so that we can
be easily contacted. Because we don’t
have a car to get around and public transportation is not very convenient, a Brother
Liu drives us to most places on Sundays.
We are greatly indebted to them for their support in helping us to fulfill
our responsibilities.
Another great
year! We’re blessed to have met many kind and wonderful people. We are especially grateful for this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our
Savior. There are no words that can
express our love and gratefulness we have for Him.
May this be your best Christmas and new year ever.
With
much love,
Elder Elwin and Sister
Shirley Davis
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