HOME TO FAMILY WITH FOREVER MEMORIES OF OUR MISSION

Looking forward to our family reunion with our six children and 22 grandchildren (soon to be 23).
Our children have supported us with their faith and prayers, letters and surprise packages, pictures, emails and Skype camera calls where we became bonded to the little ones who hardly knew us when we left.  Our mission was a great experience which has tied us even closer to our Asian brothers and sisters.

Upon returning home, we were pleasantly surprised to receive a beautiful orchid plant from President and Sister Bishop that has bloomed for months.  The tender mercies from the Lord on our mission and actual miracles has grown our faith and enriched our marriage.

We have seen miracles in lives being changed by those who would make the effort to "experiment" on the "word" and genuinely study the teachings of the Book of Mormon.  It is a precious record of God's dealing with His children on the American continent and as a companion to the Bible which we dearly love, clarifies many difficult to understand teachings in that ancient record.

Last Moments in Taiwan

18 months of teamwork coming to a close!

Precious closing moments with dear friends President and Sister Bishop, true servants of the Lord.

Farewell to Karl and Maurine Wheatley, Taipei Welfare Missionaries who conducted our employment workshops for returning home missionaries and traveled the island teaching provident living principles and managing welfare projects such as a school damaged by a typhoon.

November 2009 we bid Hank and Judy Dowse, our predecessors, goodbye after staying with them
and being trained for 2 weeks.  They were a helpful support and good friends all through our mission.

President and Sister Bishop with our replacements, Lola and Ron Liston.  We wish them the best!

Our comfortable 5th floor apartment with pleasant enclosed courtyard.  We so enjoyed the quiet and the gentle breeze in this courtyard and the beautiful flowers, new ones surprising us with their blossoms all the time.

Goodbye to our Taiwanese speaking grandma who spent most of her long days in the courtyard.  Though we could never understand each other, we shared treats and greetings and became fast friends. When Jim would tell her he loves her, she would shake her finger at him and point to me, the one whom he shoud love!  So we would both tell her "wah ai ni" and all three of us would break out in laughter.

One of our apartment guanli's, a security guard who was always smiling.

A new guanli in 2010 and a good Christian man.

Our favorite vegetable market across the street from our apartment.  This market must have been popular with many for it was the only one that stayed open late nights in our area.  The friendly shopkeepers always added some bonus vegetables in our basket, usually green onions and cilantro!  A happy lot!

Sisters Amie Morey and Jade Weinheimer on a trip to the Taipei Temple.

Sister Chen, Li Chen from Taoyuan who arrived with our group on her mission.  She stayed a few nights with us Christmas week 2010 before having heart surgery.  She was a trooper, sharing her testimony with hospital workers and recovering at home on Christmas with her non Christian family.
These young men and women are valiant in their testimony of Jesus Christ!

More valiant sisters: Sister Zheng, Jing who had brain surgery twice for cancer and Sister Elisabeth Page.  Sister Zheng called Sister Greene "my love" and was quite an actress; she made up a missionary song and dance to entertain us.

Sisters Liu Chih Chia (we always pronounced in a Spanish fashion-we loved her constant smile) and her new companion from Taipei, Sister Liu Chun Yu.   Wish we had photos of all our wonderful missionaries; every one was special to us and we so appreciated their love and respect.  Many would write little notes of appreciation to us on the backs of their envelopes mailed to the office.

Amazing sister missionaries with a genuine love for the Taiwanese people! Sisters Emily Petersen, Summer Kilgore, Angela Norman and Elizabeth Clark.

Sisters Laura Ramsey and Kae-Ling Gurr.

Sisters Danielle Brownell and Sister Elizabeth Clark.

Imagine shuttling luggage to your apt on the busy Taichung streets this way - strapped to a bicycle!
Sisters Heidi Busath and Sister Brownell.

Oh oh!  Elder Opper found an open petty cash box!  Elder Liu, Cheng Hao; Elders Krantz & Lloyd

and then enjoyed a grand size hamburger!  (Not really, but Elder Greene got a lot of teasing about the
cash box.)

Office Elders:  Aaron Hanich, Adam Opper and Liu Cheng Hao.

Our last zone leaders Elders Jason Buenning and Spencer Maua'i with young student Daniel (nicknamed "Fish") who was a mascot in the office. Living in the same apt complex, Elders Buenning and Maua'i regularly sang to us with beautiful harmony at our apartment door in the evenings.  That was worth a treat!

Our farewell office staff lunch at the "Red and Green" Mexican food restaurant.  Elder Liu, William Cocke (Asst), Greenes, Bishops, Bryce Wong and Aaron Hanich.

A 2009 photo of Elder Craig Anderson (my computer go to man) and Sister Dowse whom I replaced.

Elder Jason Evans, Assistant to President Hoer in 2009.

Elder Yang, Ming Han, an ambitious, devout missionary.  He was a lot of fun.

Elder Ephraim Taylor (Assistant), Cameron Porter (Operations) and Carter Mix (Assistant).

Office elders:  Ryan Krantz (Assistant), Yang, Ming Han (Recorder), Adam Opper (Operations), George Parker Lloyd (Assistant).

Our last group of English teachers: back row -Nathan Wilke, Alexandra Liu, Kiri Manookin, Jenny Dompier, Katy Dalley, Erin Shaw, and Relief Society President Destiny Palmer.  Front row - Sharolyn Peterson, Greenes and Cameron and Lauren Miller.

The Millers bring much strength to our little branch.  Cameron was a former Taichung missionary.

A sweet friend Dolgorsuren Seleed with Sister Bishop.  Doogi is a dentist from Mongolia and is continuing her schooling in Taiwan.

An earlier picture of good friends Larry and Jane Close and Jana and Kevin Hogan.

Whitney Sheahan taught English for 1 year in Taichung before moving to Hualien.  She and Randy Lin will soon be married!

Meg Yancey has a wonderful singing voice and is now on a Mandarin speaking mission in New York!

Brother Shih (Shih Baba) came to the office every departure day for returning home missionaries, bringing food and sometimes gifts to the missionaries he loves.  Though he spoke no English, he was always involved in random acts of kindness to many.  Once he drove us about 40 minutes across town when he didn't even know us!

We felt an instant love and bond of friendship for Mr and Mrs Lai, best friends of Brother and Sister
Lin, Meng Yi.

A memorable evening enjoying an after dinner sing-a-long with Elder Ruan and his family.  Elder Ruan is a very busy businessman and an Area Authority Seventy, traveling all over Indonesia building up the kingdom of God.  He also has a keen sense of humor and is a delightful host.

Part of Sister Du's choir minus many in the strong men's section.  Some are shown in the pink skirts
and pink bowties (for men) worn for the Christmas program.  Multi-talented Sister Du made all the
costumes.

We had never seen the fun of putting a pomelo rind on one's head as Emily Baclayon did during a
holiday barbecue at her grandparents' home.  It was a traditional sidewalk barbecue on a couple little
grills with family sitting around enjoying the delicious meats first and then some veggies and of course
fireworks!

Our friend "Joseph" from the Wuchuan 1st Ward.  We enjoyed visiting with Joseph in the halls at church  and sometimes in the office when he would come to chat and practice his Spanish.  Great young man!

Daisy and sons were friends with Elder Chou Yi-Min, our recorder and would bring him delicious baked goods every week.  When Elder Chou was transferred out of the office, Daisy continued to visit us and bring us goodies.  We enjoyed sharing our motherhood experiences.  We will miss her!

Brother and Sister Du's family.  Sister Du led the choir that Sister Greene accompanied and we had a very memorable Christmas program with the 1st Ward and our little branch.  Accompanying singers in a language not understood is a little challenging, one can never lose focus!  Brother Du was a handyman and could always be called on for repair jobs.

Saying goodbye to our friend Rebecca Haskins, a sweet young lady in Sister Greene's Sunday School class for a time.

Farewell to the monstrous phone analysis Elder Greene was responsible for each month!  He shared a back room office with the office elders who served as operation managers.

Thanks to the expert medical care Elder Greene received, we were able to complete our full mission!
Dr. Chen Jan-Yow, cardiologist, welcomed Elder Greene's visits every month.  We appreciated his
personal interest and thoroughness.

Parking at the Taichung County Courthouse was convenient as the main post office was directly across the street.  Post office workers were always friendly and helpful and after overcoming some shyness, loved to practice a little English with us.  We got along fine with our few "postal" words in Chinese.

Mr. "Happy" at the Immigration office was always very helpful to us in obtaining and renewing Alien Resident cards for our missionaries.  He even resolved a few dilemnas efficiently.

We enjoyed the plumeria tree and beautiful landscaping at the front of our office.

We loved what we decided was a Malayan Night-Heron (and its mate).  One could hear its throaty
"bo-bo" call around closing time.  The elders did not enjoy its large droppings however!

Thank heavens for good umbrellas!  I ruined a couple pair of shoes in the wet weather so had to carry a good pair to work until I bought some nice looking rubber ones.

How nice!  Elder Greene gave me the largest umbrella in this downpour!

Our chapel was right next to the lovely mission home and the mission office.  This was the first meetinghouse built in Taichung about 38 years ago.