Saturday, February 19, 2011

A MORNING CONVERSATON & LEARNING FROM GRANDPA

These beautiful birds, the male with the blue feathers, must be having an interesting conversation at a lake near Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
This young boy was taught by his grandfather how to crack the pigeon eggs with an egg cutter in his right hand and to place them in the hot greased cooking cups on the grill. He was only about six years old and already learning to support himself.

As we watched we were fascinated at how the boy was so very attentive to his grandfather's continued training and example. The small pigeon eggs are in the yellow basket and after they are cracked and placed in the cooking cups they are turned over with a special spoon after they have cooked on one side for about a minute. The cooked eggs are only about one bite each. I don't think that they would be a hit in America.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

CHINESE NEW YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

What a wonderful privilege it was to be invited to speak to our young single missionaries at our zone conferences on the subject of how mission experiences can strengthen future relationships during the rest of their lives, including those in marriage. Our missionaries do not choose their many companions and so have the opportunity and challenge to learn to love each one through language, cultural and personality differences. We see bonds of friendship in these young missionaries that can last forever. Elder Greene taught the things that are most important to bring home from missions, especially increased faith and testimony.

While our Chinese New Year's week was filled with warm memories of enjoying the companionship of our President and his wife, visiting a new convert's extended family and seeing beautiful new places on this island, one of the most memorable times occurred at the end of the week. We were privileged to meet with a Taiwanese family who were totally unacquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and after a lovely dinner by our kind hosts, we had the opportunity to teach Gospel principles. The joy felt in our hearts to testify of what we do know, through the Holy Spirit, is indescribable. And for most of us, that still small voice speaks to our mind and heart, not in the wind, earthquake or fire as Elijah describes it in the Bible (1 Kings 19:11-12).

The Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, teaches how to find real truth and it is not dependent on the opinion of any man (Moroni 10:4) but by direct revelation from God. It was wonderful to testify to a family who we think had no idea that prayer is a two way communication with a Heavenly Father; that He loves us and will answer our prayers offered in faith and in the name of His son, Jesus Christ, the Mediator. We know God answers prayers for He has answered our pleadings. The father, in his mid-fifties, was taught how to pray and then he offered a simple and heart-felt prayer for the first time in his life. This family can discover the truth of the restored Gospel as they study the Book of Mormon, a companion to the Bible, and pray to know if it is true.

On Finding Truth - "For behold, the spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." (Book of Mormon-Moroni 7:16)

Friday, February 11, 2011

WELCOME TO TAINAN, TAIWAN AND THE EXTENDED LIN/SU FAMILY

Many members of the Lin/Su families at a New Years banquet.

Elder and Sister Greene looking through a vase shaped doorway at a restored Dutch fortress in Tainan.


Beautiful water falls and fish-filled streams on the site of the Dutch fortress.



Welcome to Tainan, in full emperor attire, although it is quite obvious that there is a huge difference in the size of my head and that of the emperor.




CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION IN TAINAN

Sister Greene and I with Sister Lin's 83 year old mother. After attending and speaking to about 85 missionaries at a missionary zone conference in Kaohsiung we traveled to Tainan and spent two days celebrating New Years with a wonderful convert and his extended family, many of whom were nonmembers. We helped teach Brother Lin the gospel a few months earlier and, as mentioned in an earlier post, he was finally baptized. His wife had patiently waited for 27 years for him to be baptized. At one of the sites they insisted that I put on a traditional Emperor's robe for some pictures.
Sister and Elder Greene with Brother Lin's five grandchildren from his son and his daughter's marriages.


Taken on the ship's bow of one of two destroyers given by the United States to China and later brought to Taiwan by Chaing Kai Shek in 1949. They later purchased about thirty more ships from the U.S government



A mural of the U.S. Destroyer in the officer's meeting room.




Brother and Sister Lin on the destroyer. Since his baptism he has become a great missionary and shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone he meets.





A TRIP TO KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN

Overlooking the Kaohsiung harbor from our 70th floor room at the Splendor Hotel.

The hotel has 85 floors and we took three elevators to get to the 70th floor from the 5th level of the underground parking lot. We viewed the fireworks taking place in the city below us during the middle of the night on New Years Eve.


We took a ferry across the harbor to a small island and took in the sights watching surfers riding the waves in to shore. You can see our hotel in the distance. On the island they had many seafood stalls so we tried the shrimp and small deep-fat fried crabs, eating them cut in pieces, shell and all. Sitting on a wall surrounding the old British Consulate building on the mountain side we watched the sun set over the China Sea.


Sister Greene on the bridge over the waterway with many sailboats, speed boats and yachts moored along each side.




At the foot of a huge tree with hundreds of exposed roots.