Miracles Abound!

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a semi-annual general conference each year; one in April and the other in October.  This is a special time when we come together to listen to our leaders on church affairs, instructions, and ....  There are usually 6 sessions: one special women's broadcast ususally given a week before the conference weekend, one special broadcast for the priesthood holders, and 4 general sessions with 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.  Since it takes time to translate all the speeches into 65 plus languages (it's a world-wide conference), overseas units of the church usually watch conference the week after the general conference in Salt Lake actually occurs.  This allows the members outside of the US and Canada to be able to watch the same conference in their own native language a week later.  Of course, the general conference is online, live or streamed for anyone who prefers to watch it live or during the week, in English.

     Here are the highlights of the 182nd Semi Annual General Conference:

     Or chick below for the urls.

music, Conference highlights

    We've been in Taiwan on our mission field for almost 6 WEEKS now.  We see the church as the church of many miracles.  To list a few:

1. Our call to serve in the Taiwan Taichung Mission as Family History Research missionaries is a miracle in itself.  We were serving in Hong Kong when we felt that we needed to send in our application for a mission in Taiwan.  Most of you may know that you may request where you would like to serve a mission (for senior couples), but the ultimate decision lies with the President of the Church.  We considered that we may not serve a mission after Hong Kong, but rather move to Taiwan for a period of time for me to do research on my family.  But, our inspiration to apply for a Taiwan mission was so strong that after we consulted with the children, we decided to throw our hat into the ring.  It was a miracle to us that we received a call in March to come to the Taichung Mission.  
2. Family History Training, part 1:  There is no any specific training for us that we knew of.  But we knew we needed training before going to Taiwan.  Miraculous opportunities presented themselves to us.  While driving in St. George one day, we decided to stop by the St. George Family History Library.  After explaining what we felt we needed to do, the couple in charge, Elder and Sister Midgely invited us to attend the mini-MTC for the family history missionaries, starting the coming Monday, and they had two spaces open for us.  The 3-week training was full of "aha" moments, research tools/skills, and many resources.  The training started at 8 and went to 5 each Monday and Tuesday for 3 weeks.  There was not one day that we were not surprised at the things we learned from the instructors.  We called it the best kept secret in the Family History field.  We are indebted to all those instructors who taught us and prepared us.  Even though they didn't teach much about Chinese family search, what they did teach us prepared us more in what to expect, what to do in Taiwan and what we could do to help develop the family history program in Taiwan.
3. Family History Training, part 2:  While attending the St. George Family History Library mini-MTC, our dear friends, the O'Bryants told us about their Family History Mission in Salt Lake.  Sister O took the initiative and called her supervisor in Salt Lake.  She was told that they had the final Family History Missionary training for the summer starting the coming Monday.  They were willing to include us in the training.  The problem was that we had our last week of mini-MTC in St.  George at the same time!  Another miracle, after talking to Elder Midgely about our situation, he told us to go ahead and attend the Salt Lake training.  He would personally make up the last week's mini-MTC with us.  Sister O helped us secure an apartment (timeshare) unit a block from the Temple Square so we wouldn't have to travel far each morning, fighting the I-15 traffic.  That was no small miracle in itself.  We were assigned individual trainers and spent 4 incredible days learning from these experts.  It was mostly on PAF, which we thought was going to be obsolete, but is what they use in Taiwan, because it accommodates Chinese writing.  
4. Church in Taiwan:  Elwin served a mission in Taiwan, the then Southern Far East Mission, from 1963-65.  The Church had barely started in Taiwan, and we didn't even have the Book of Mormon in Chinese yet.  I, for one, was one of the early saints, who was converted through the Spirit before reading the Book of Mormon.  The Church has grown many times over, from a few hundred to over 50,000 members. 

• When Elwin served in the Southern Far East Mission, it included Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines in the 60's.  According to mormonchannel.org - there are now over 50,000 members, 11 stakes, 70 wards, 22 branches, 2 missions, 1 district and 1 temple.  
•  Elwin served in Gaoxiong in 1964 where we are serving now:  He rode a bicycle in what was a town, but now it's a metropolitan area of 38 districts and a population of 1.6 million people.  

Gaoxiong today 

• Many church member families:  we are getting 2nd and 3rd generations of church members in Taiwan now. 
• Local missionaries:  Taichung received 30 new missionaries last month, 17 of them are local missionaries. 

New missionaries from the US

5.  General Conference in Taiwan:  To be able to watch the General Conference in Chinese is a miracle.  When I joined the Church in 1963, Book of Mormon wasn't even translated into Chinese yet, and now we have General Conference dubbed in Chinese, the Church Magazines, the Liahona, is in Chinese.  After our Relief Society Broadcast in Gaoxiong, Sister Li, the RS Stake president, held a special dedication meeting with all the sisters to present crocheted hats to the elderly in the old folks home.  It was such a great project as many sisters learned how to crochet and donated their time and gave their love to the old folks.  Dinner was served afterwards.  

Crocheted hats for the old folks home

Elder/Sister Anderson, Humanitarian missionaries, who helped secured funding for the project.

Elder/Sister Davis at the RS Activity

6.  Miracles during the Conference:  The Chen’s (name changed) 19-year-old daughter is attending BYU Hawaii and fell in love with a 26-year-old Haoli.  She called home to tell her parents that she was serious about marrying this guy.  This set the parents on a spiral of emotional anxieties.  When I saw Sister Chen at the General Conference she looked happy, not frazzled like last week.  I asked her how she was doing and she told me the most amazing story.  Since President Monson’s announcement during the General Conference about lowering the ages that young men/women could go on missions, we have heard many exciting stories.  This one beats all.  Sister Chen told me that her daughter called and said that she always wanted to go on a mission and she had called the bishop for an appointment.  The daughter asked it was okay for her to proceed.  Can you imagine the elation of these parents?  Wow!  It’s a miracle!  We are going to see many of them to come.  Miracles, miracles!

7.  Missionaries are treated well by members:  The first week we showed up at the Church, we were asked to bear our testimonies in the Sacrament Meeting.  Members asked what kind of help we needed.  People arranged to take us shopping at Costco, at Carrefour (the French WalMart), and various places, such as getting the internet connections, phone service, etc.  We've been invited out to dinner.  People brought us snacks.  Bishops are inviting us to speak at their church meetings.  One sister asked for a list of what we needed and posted it on the facebook and got us a lot of things that we needed to run a household.  It was awesome.  We may be able to feed the missionaries soon!

8.   Missionaries are treated well by non-members as well:  When we board the bus, young or middle age people stand up to give us their seats.  They are so respectful.  They come to look at our name tags and welcome us when they find out who we are.   

9.   Gaoxiong traffic:  with tens of thousands of scooters roaming the streets of Gaoxiong, we feel it a miracle for us each day when we get home safely.   

10.   Last, but not least:  Meeting my old friend, Mona Peng.  Mona and I grew up in the church together during our college days.  We both went to BYU at the same time.  She married Colin Kailiponi and I married Elwin.  We lost contact with each other after our BYU days.  Now we are serving in the same mission, they in ChiaYi and we in Gaoxiong.  They came down to Gaoxiong for the Missionary Zone Conference and stayed with us.  What a happy reunion as we found each other still strong in the gospel.   

Elder/Sister Kailiponi and Elder/Sister Davis

     We are grateful to be here.  Thank you for all your prayers.  We love and miss y'all!

Come and walk/hike with me...

     We live in an area by the "Golden Lion Lake" or 金獅湖。  It's quite pretty and serene.  A big Buddhist Temple stands on one side of the lake with many smaller temples adorning it.  On the backside of the Buddhist Temple is a mountain with many trails, manmade or natural.  We enjoy walking/hiking there a lot.  Please come with us for a little walk and hike.  It takes about an hour unless you get sidetracked by the many many venders at the open market a little ways away.

    Below is a slideshow we created to take you along with us.  Enjoy!  

depending on bus #11...

A special seat on the scooter

   Depending on bus #11 - which is to say:  we depend on our 2 legs, an expression we used when we were kids.  Everyone rides a scooter or drives a car here, except for us.  So, we depend on walking or using our legs (#11) a lot.  Since a lot of the people in Taiwan use scooters, they have developed something we've never seen before.  They have a car seat built-in that sits between the handle bars and the driver's seat on the scooter.  Some are simple seats, but others are quite sophisticated.  Unlock it and it becomes a stroller when you arrive at your destination.  It's quite interesting.  It's quite an event to go out and be surrounded by lots of scooters and motorcycles.  They go on sidewalks, one way the wrong way and just about anywhere they can get through quick.  We have to look out for those drivers around us all the time. 

Bus route and running timetable

     Red #33 bus has become our good friend.  Walking takes about 7 minutes from our apartment to the Red #33 bus stop.  There is a timetable that we have photographed, but you also can follow it online to see where the bus is at any time.  We'll get a phone with wifi to check the bus location since we were stuck waiting for the bus to come for almost an hour a couple of times already.  The cost is unbelievably low.  For NT$12, or US$0.40 for two, we can ride one way to almost anywhere in town.  But, the bus depot nearest to us (has 5-6 bus routes) is about a 20-minute walk, very exhausting when it's hot and humid out there. 

     Gaoxiong also has an "MRT", much like Hong Kong does, except for the fact that they only have 2 lines.  It takes a 30-minute ride on the bus to catch the MRT.  Even though it comes every 4 to 5 minutes, it's too far for us to take advantage of it.  The cost is about NT$20 or US$0.70.  Quite inexpensive either on the bus or on MRT.  

     Our favorite has been the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR).  Traveling at 214 miles an hour, we can be in Taipei in 90 minutes.  It used to take all day on a slow train, and 4 1/2 hours driving.  The distance is about the same as from Salt Lake to St. George.  For assigned seating from Gaoxiong to Taipei, the cost is NT$1500, or US$50 one way.  Since we get half price on THSR, that would cover both of us for one way.  It does take NT$200 or US$7 to take a taxi to the THSR station.  

Taiwan High Speed Rail

     We contemplated getting a car to get around.  But the cost of the car, the gas and insurance, the lack of parking spaces, and the craziness of the traffic make us have second thoughts about the convenience we think we may have.  We asked to ride a scooter, but were told "absolutely not".  So, that was that!  We actually have both driven in Taipei when we lived there back in 1977-81.  But we had a driver most of the time, so we didn't have to do too much driving.  The traffic back then was already pretty bad.  But, now they have super highways and freeways to ease the traffic a little, well, may be not too much.

Taipei traffic

Traffic Jam in Taiwan

       So we do spent a lot of time on the road getting to places.  On a P-day (preparation day), we walked to find a place to get a hair cut, then we walk to find lunch.  After that we continued walking to find Carrefour (French Wal Mart) to do some grocery shopping.  We took a taxi home because it was a 3-mile walk and we couldn't do it with the grocery. 

      New places, new challenges!  We are surviving just fine.  The gospel is true and we enjoy working with members on their family history.  More on that on another post.  

You have been called...

    While we were still serving our Hong Kong Temple Mission, we felt the need to start the process of applying for a second mission, hopefully to Taiwan.  Our wishes came true on March 14 when we received our call.

"...You are assigned to labor in the Taiwan Taichung Mission.  Your primary assignment is to labor in the Taichung Taiwan Family History Support Office as a family history specialist.  It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months..." Signed:  President Thomas S. Monson

     So, here we are, in Gaoxiong, Taiwan, serving the Family History Mission.  We arrived on Saturday, September 8, 2012, after enduring a 5 hour layover in Los Angeles, and a 14 1/2 hour ride in a 777, another 2 hour layover in Hong Kong, and another 1 1/2 hour flight to Gaoxiong.  We thought that the long plane ride was probably the most difficult part of the mission.  Since we arrived at 9:30 AM, we stayed up most of the day, so our jetlag wasn't too bad at all.  The Office missionaries from Taizhong came to pick us up at the Gaoxiong Airport since President and Sister Bishop were in Hong Kong attending a mission presidents' meeting.  Elder Hansen and Elder Taylor came too to haul our luggage.  It was a hot and humid day as we were drenched before we even left the airport.

Elder/Sister Liston and Elder/Sister Davis

     Gaoxiong is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the West.  It is the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 2.9 million.  It is a center for manufacturing, refining, shipbuilding, and other light and heavy industries.  It is major port through which pass most of Taiwan's marine imports and exports.  It was exactly 48 years ago that Elwin served part of his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here.  The place has grown exponentially, especially since the government merged the city and the county together a few years ago.  

    Since we are serving in the Family History Center in the East Gaoxiong Stake, the missionaries found us an apartment on the east side not too far from the Stake Center.  We have a 12th floor apartment with 3 medium size bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room/dining room combo and a medium size kitchen.  The laundry room on the balcony.  The size of the apartment is 1175 square feet vs. 475 that we had in Hong Kong.  So, the place seems humongous compare to what we had.  Besides, the cupboards are mostly for my height.  Oops, Elwin declares that the sink is too low for him to do dishes.  Yes, it's my size, but if I had to stretch for the last 45 years, the least he could do is stoop down for 18 months.  :-)  We do help each other a lot.  So it won't be a problem.  

    Most people travel in cars or motocycles/scooters in Gaoxiong.  The public transportation is not nearly as convenient as Hong Kong or Taipei.  We have a 10-minute walk to the bus stop to go to church and another 5-6 minutes from the bus stop to the church building.  It takes some getting used to, but the members spoiled us by bringing us home from the church most of the time.  We have yet to ride home in the bus.  The issues arise when we come home from grocery shopping.  There are small open markets within walking distance, but if we go to Costco (yes, just like the ones in the US), Carrefour (a French-type of WalMart), and or other supermarket, we usually need to take a taxi home.  The cost is around US$3-5, affordable.    

     There are 3 wards meeting at this stake center.  Since we live in the San Ming District, we have been going to the San Ming Ward, but do spent extra time to attend the sacrement meeting in the other wards.  Since the Family History Center serves the whole Gaoxiong City and areas to the South, we plan on visiting most of the wards either by ourselves, or with the Family History staff.  

     Members are very nice and enthusiastic, much like how it was during my time here in Taiwan after I joined the church.  During the first week, we had some members taking us shopping almost everyday.  The Stake Relief Society (the women's organization in the church) asked me to make a list of what we might need and she posted it on Facebook.  The Mission Office had purchased some basic pots and pans, dishes and things, but we now have double of almost everything.    :-)  A vacuum cleaner would have cost between US$400 - 800, but a member brought us her extra one for us to use.  Someone even  brought us 2 winter blankets for us to use during the winter even though the winter is very mild here.  We are overwhelmed with the kindness and love.

     We've been invited out twice for dinner already.  President Chen (2nd counselor in the Taichung Mission) and his wife live in Gaoxiong and invited us to their apartment for dinner last Sunday.  It was a 5-story building with an elevator.  The place was very western, in fact, the whole area was very modern and beautiful.  

At Pres./Sister Chen's with their friends and missionaries

     Sister Li (Stake Relief Society president) and her husband (director of Institute of the LDS Church) had us over for dinner Wednesday night.  It was a chicken enchiladas dinner.  What a treat!  Sister Li showed me where to purchase tortillas, cheese, and all kind of spices.  I think we'll do just fine.

At Bro/Sis Li's with 2 sister missionaries from Taipei

     We are grateful to be called to serve in Taiwan.  Many thanks to our family and friends for your prayers, love and support.