Stories: Report from Missionary Couple in Taiwan
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 -- Add Story
| For those of us who served in on Taiwan many years ago and contemplate serving again with our spouse, this is a letter I recently received from a couple in my ward now serving in Taipei. Elder Harris served in KaoHsiung in 1958. I find it interesting that not a lot has changed over the years with regard to what missionaries do. I find it interesting that only one senior couple teach the gospel in his mission. In my opinion, the surge of Mandarin speaking missionaries returning to Taiwan and the elsewhere will begin in the coming decade.
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 1:25 PM
Subject: A letter from Taiwan
Hello to all Family and to special friends who we have included in these groups! Some of you will be hearing from us for the first time in a long while.
We have now been here in Taiwan for almost 11 months. Since the calculation of mission time begins at the time of reporting to the MTC (Feb. 6) that means our time is over in August. We found that our actual release date will be August 13, 2002. We are beginning to feel a bit frustrated that there is far more that we should get done, than there is time left to do it. We guess that is just like our lives are, aren't they? We really have a hard time remembering when we were doing anything except missionary work, but the time here is also moving right along.
So far we have been able to baptize only four people. Others have come close but have dropped away near the end (died, as the missionaries say). We have been excited about those who were baptized. The first two, parents of a member, seemed very far away from actually joining the Church when we first meet with them, but after resolving a few concerns they came along rapidly. They now seem as though they have been members for years and years. They were baptized near the end of July, last year and are planning to go to the temple before we leave for home.
We are the only proselyting couple in the mission, so we are often more the exception than the rule, as far as how we fulfill our assignment. We are not expected to tract. We work with members a lot, less active members when ever we can. We have taught several English classes. Right now, we have a morning and an afternoon class at our apartment on Saturdays. We also have a Wednesday evening class at the
church. These are primarily for non-members. On Sunday afternoon we teach two classes, all members. We have written a set of ten English lessons, which we have just begun to implement.
Baptism are not always hard to come by, although slower for us. Last year the Nei Hu Ward where we are assigned had 59 baptisms. Our district covers the whole city of Nei Hu (translation "Interlake"---sounds like it could fit right into the Seattle area). There are four or five lakes right around here. It is a very beautiful place, green like we are used to in Seattle. Nei Hu is actually a district within the city of Taipei. Nei Hu has a population of a little more than 200 thousand. The mission headquartered and the Temple, across the street from it are about a fifty minute bus ride from Nei Hu). But we sometimes take one of the many taxis that are available to us here. The taxis are metered. The usual fare from Nei Hu to Taipei is about $300. kuai (about $8.50 US). The rate of exchange US dollars to Taiwan kuai varies some, but usually runs about 34.6NT to $1.00 US.
Speaking of taxis. We had no choice yesterday. We had to go by Taxi to Taipei to the Temple. Yesterday (Wednesday) was our preparation day. We try to use that day to do chores, write letters etc. But you see we are writing this on Thursday. About 11:20AM yesterday we got a telephone call from the Temple president asking us to come to officiate the 1:00PM session. It seems that they didn't realize that they had a group of missionaries coming to the temple that day (their Pday). The temple does not have a lot of people who are able to officiate in English speaking sessions, so a few months ago the Temple president (who incidentally was my first missionary companion in 1958) set us apart for that work. We have actually worked in the temple 7 or 8 times since then.
We were excited, two Sundays ago when Chen Chih Shih, a brother we have been visiting almost since we first arrived here, administered the sacrament, along with his home teacher. He said the prayer and everything. He is blind. He couldn't see the tears in our eyes. As far as we know he had not attended Church for some time before we began to visit him. He is a masseur (is that how you spell it?). Anyway, he gives massage treatments. We have each been to him a couple of times for that, in addition to our other, almost weekly visits. We were able to locate some tape recordings of the Book of Mormon that a sister in the Church had made some time ago and we got a set for him and a set for another blind brother (named Ling Ding Kuei), whom we were able to baptize.last year. He just finished massage school, himself, and is living out of the ward in Taipei. Our ward mission leader took us in to visit him a week or so ago so that we could give him the Book of Mormon tapes.
Well, that should be a long enough report. Please excuse the generic nature of it. It is hard to find time to write to as many people as we would like.
We love you all,
Hai Zhang Lau and Hai Jie Mei (alias Elder and Sister Harris) |
| |
|
|
|
List All | Add Story
|
