You Shake My Nerves and You Rattle My Brain

 Sister DeVictoria writing:

Hello again from the land of earthquakes.  We thought the earthquakes were pretty much over, but woke up at 2:30am this morning to another.  Not as strong as the first big one three weeks ago, but still enough to jolt us awake and out of bed, and it is very unnerving to be jolted out of a sound sleep by an earthquake.  I could hear little feet running on the floor above us...probably to their parent's bedroom.  Somebody said there was an earthquake about the same time the night before, but we slept through that one.  I received a call at the office from a young member girl in Hualian asking if all of the missionaries had left town.  I told her the missionaries were temporarily living in other cities.  She expressed how scared she is.  I told her she could ask one of the Priesthood brothers in her ward to give her a blessing of comfort.  I regret that I didn't think to pray with her right then over the phone.

The temple and the mission office have been going through some maintenance this past couple of weeks.  There was some earthquake-cracked walls that needed to be repaired in both buildings, and also they power-washed the spires of the temple.

Below is a picture of our office building.  This is the same office building as when I was a young missionary here over 40 years ago.  Our office is on the fourth floor.  The new mission president's residence is on the top two floors, this is being renovated by construction workers right now.  Temple patron housing is I think on the first three floors.

While the previous office couple were still here they trained us for 2 weeks.  But I have to admit, that first week my brain was kind of fuzzy because of jet lag.  Now I am finding there are many things that I just don't even remember learning.  This week I was kind of stressed at times, because I just didn't remember how to do certain things.  But I have felt the Spirit help me each time.  Many times I received ideas on who to ask for help.  It made me think of this saying,

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”
― Spencer W. Kimball 

Sometimes the promptings have been so subtle, but I recognize it as heavenly help.  I finally figured out most of the tasks I needed to accomplish.  After all I have learned this week, I feel much more able to continue on in this position.

I should remember from when I lived in Taiwan before, but I have been surprised to see so many beautiful orchids growing outside.  I try to take pictures of flowers that I like.

 I was so excited to see this one (the red flowers below) on our way to the post office, until Elder DeVictoria informed me it was plastic.....

 I also snapped a couple of pictures at the store of vegetables and fruits that I am not familiar with.  I think the larger one is Kohlrabi.  I have no idea about the other smaller green things.

Last night we took the subway to the Raohe night market in the Songshan neighborhood of Taipei.  We ate a few foods that are Taiwan specialties.  I had lurou fan which is a braised meat with sauce on rice, and some Taiwanese style pickled cabbage. We also had an oyster omelette which is another famous dish in Taiwan.  I didn't think I would like it, but actually I really enjoyed it. 

Elder DeVictoria had stinky Tofu.  I ate a piece or two, but this kind was very crispy which I wasn't too fond of, and also the stink was pretty strong.  He ate it all. 

Here are a few street scenes we took pictures of this week.  This first one is a tall building being constructed just down the street from our apartment.  I didn't know cranes could be this tall!

Here are some students during their play time at the elementary school.  They are wearing uniforms.

Here is a typical street scene, lots of traffic, lots of people.  With some old lady in the foreground. 

Regarding our apartment:  When we first got here we were told that when the other office couple left for home, we should move into their apartment which is nicer.  However, we are so accustomed to living in Airbnb's in Suzhou that we were fine with this somewhat older and simpler apartment that we started in, it seems just the same as what we're used to.  Also, this one is on the second floor, and the other apartment is on the 3rd floor with very steep steps.  And, since the tendonitis in my knee has still not quite recovered, so we put off moving to that other apartment.  But I have felt all along from the first that someone else would need that other apartment, and that we should not move.  The president has hinted that he likes to use the apartment we are in now to temporarily house missionaries who have to come to Taipei for various reasons.  So we thought, yes alright, eventually we would move, but I have still felt like someone else would need that other apartment.  Now with all the earthquakes centered in Hualian, this week the mission president decided to quietly and temporarily evacuate the missionaries from Hualian, and the senior missionary couple who was serving in Hualian is now staying in that empty apartment here in Taipei.  That couple (originally from Taiwan, but called from Canada) they are reaching the end of their mission and have some family coming to visit this weekend who will stay with them. So, I feel like it's a good thing they can use that place which is nicer for hosting guests.  Also, we were just informed by President Yang that there will be a new senior couple coming to be health missionaries in this mission.  The husband is a doctor, and the wife is Taiwanese.  She will be helpful to navigate the language aspects and he will of course serve as the main mission health resource.  The president said he would like to locate them somewhere a little further away from the office where they can also serve a local ward and provide member-leader support.  I want to make sure they are well situated before we consider moving to that other apartment.  We really do feel at home in this one so we don't mind staying.

Elder DeVictoria writing:

We've been here in Taiwan over a month now, time just flies by!  It's really a pleasure to serve the Lord.  But I am thankful that we as senior missionaries don't have to follow all the young missionary rules and schedule.  It makes things really nice to feel somewhat unconstrained and free to do whatever we need (or want) to do. I love the flexibility, it's very nice. Also the physical demands on us are more appropriate to our age and condition.  There is no way we could do what those young people do, riding their bikes everywhere, constant physical activity.  As it is we do have to climb the stairs up and down to our apartment, and walk back and forth between our apartment and the office (it's only a short block away), and walk within our neighborhood for shopping and to get meals.  For sure it's a lot more walking than we ever did back home, but we're handling it.  But we're usually pretty exhausted by days end.  

Here's a snapshot of a part of the menu at a bing parlor (bing = ice), we shared a mango bing last night at the night market, the first one since we arrived.  Soooooo good.  There is also a couple pictures of the entrance to the night market, and a fresh fruit stand with cold air vapor billowing out.  Night markets are pretty interesting, lots of unusual food items. I actually topped off our night with a watermellon juice drink, and a serving of barbecued steak.  A delicious taste of home.

When we got home, while walking back from the subway station, we found the garbage trucks had arrived.  You can see the people from all around carrying their trash bags to the trucks.  Taipei makes great efforts to recycle, you can see cans set out for different items like bottles, cardboard, etc. You can see our apartment in the background, second floor up, on the right (our windows are just above the yellow truck in this picture).

This afternoon (Saturday, which is our Preparation Day) there was a parade outside our house.  You can see the truck with the speakers and the drums, followed by the dragon dancers.  There were quite a few items in the procession that preceded the truck, it took me a minute to find my phone and snap these shots of the end of the parade, from our balcony. 

"For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand."  

Doctrine and Covenants 88:89