Hong Kong, China and the Philippines

Hong Kong, China and the Philippines
We have already put up picture albums on our visit to these wonderful places. We hope you enjoy them.
Miriam enjoyed a couple of days in Hong Kong while I was working. She discovered the botanical gardens, met people from all over the world and took lots of pictures. Our evening activity was venturing out and experiencing the great subway system as we attended the beautiful Hong Kong Temple. There were 37 temple patrons from Thailand. They had attended all week long. We were able to return from the temple on a bus that had been reserved for employees and missionaries. We enjoyed visiting with all of them.
I enjoyed meeting with all the employees on day 2 and working with Liana and her staff. Liana is a great host and took good care of us. We topped off day 2 with a visit to the historical museum with Carmen and enjoying the harbor laser light show that takes place every night .
Liana and Cecil showed us a wonderful full day in Shenzen China. We had such a wonderful time. They took us shopping for Rolex watches and pearls. I could have had a tooth implant for only 100 US and Bob could have gotten a suit for 65 US. But we kept it to gift type things. They took us to a Walmart that we could have bought live turtles, frogs and fish to eat. We then went to a very impressive theme park. “Splendid China & China Folk Culture Villages”. We shopped, ate great food, shopped some more and enjoyed a Las Vegas style show that included hundreds of staff, animals, water, fireworks and lasers. We can’t thank Liana and Cecil enough. They are so delightful.
Sunday (mother’s day) we enjoyed Church in the unique and beautiful downtown Church building. Miriam was warmly welcomed by several Filippino workers. Fourty percent of Filippiino women work ourside of their country and send the money back to their families. There is a branch that meets every day but Monday to get the sacrament to all these women who usually work on Sundays in housekeeping. We then enjoyed a great meal with Dave Barrett and his wife Terry. Dave is working as the ALC (Area Legal Counsel) for the entire Asia and Philippines area. Off to the airport on a nice comfy train and on to the Philippines.
The Philippines was a short visit that included working at the Area Office for Bob and Miriam enjoying a day in the city with Abe’s wife Valerie. She enjoyed her warmth and friendship. They spent the morning at the temple and then visited the US War memorial site as well as a really wonderful History Museum for the Philippines. The first day the employees had off because it was a national election. Any one who has voted has a black left index finger. That indicates they have voted and they can’t vote twice then. They were pleased that only 10 people were killed in the country because of elections. Last time there were over 50. Do we appreciate how good we have it? There was security everywhere. Three separate security checks leaving the airport. Metal detectors and men with machine guns at almost every entrance to public buildings. In the evening we enjoyed a Bi Stake jubilee dance presentation in preparation to next year’s celebration of when the land was opened to missionary work. We were so very impressed with the warm outgoing youth and leaders.
Homeward bound with lots of love and appreciation for the wonderful people of the Asia and Philippine Areas. Again we hope you enjoy the pictures..go to the picture link on the right.

Cambodia..Khmer Rouge, Monkey's and Tuk Tuk's

As we flew across Vietnam into Cambodia we could actually see from the air remnants of a country that had been at war. Even though it happened over 30 years ago, you could still see fields that were scarred from mines that have gone off in the past. In fact it is still happening. Parts of Cambodia are still heavily mined from the past. They are still "live" and unfortunately they still go off and injure or kill innocent people. The Cambodian people are very poor. When farmers or children come across a mine in a field they try to disarm it because they can sell the metal. Very often they are not successful. As you walk around Cambodia you see many people with amputated legs, due to mine accidents. They tell us there is about one accident a week. It is very sad.
We took a unique ride from the airport to our hotel in a “TukTuk”. It’s a motorcycle that pulls a carriage. We fit all of our luggage and us in it and away we went. As you can imagine just by the color of our skin we were quite the site. As we went into the VERY busy streets of Phnom Penh, our Tuk Tuk driver seemed proud that he was transporting the foreigners around. We arranged for him to pick us back up after we settled in at the hotel for a tour of a few sites.
We went to the “Killing fields” . We had heard the term before but really did not know the history behind it. Anyone reading this should read a little history on it. It’s very tragic. In the late 70’s and 80’s a revolution placed a new government in control. The new government wanted an agrarian society (based on agriculture) However, the way they imposed it was by executing anyone and everyone that represented a threat to the new society they were building. Educated people, scientists, teachers, people that wore glasses, all their families and children were brutally murdered and placed in mass graves. Finally the Vietnamese came in to stop the insanity. They have built memorials with the bones and skulls of the victims to remind the people to never allow this to happen again.
We took a tour of the palace grounds. Very beautiful. This also is where Miriam discovered some monkeys walking around. She saw it as a photo op. Unfortunately she got a little close and a monkey got tired of the weird lady with the camera. The monkey lunged at Miriam, bared its teeth and took a little swing at her. She never remembers being so scared.
We went to church and attended the International LDS Branch. What a great experience. Our teacher was a Nigerian and we met missionaries and members from all over the world. We discovered that in Cambodia, many missionaries return to continue to give to a country and a people that they have come to love. The Branch President is a very young man that used to serve as a missionary. He has returned with his wife and 3 children because of his love for the people. There were also Senior Missionaries that had returned to Cambodia to live and work simply because they wanted to serve the people. Also Sister Margie King served as a Humanitarian missionary as a senior sister several years ago. She came back to live and will live here until she physically can't anymore. She does so much good here and gives so much of her own resources. We call her the "Mother' Theresa of Cambodia. What a blessing it was for Miriam to hang out with her for 3 days. We both discovered that the people are so engaging and warm. Even strangers want you to be comfortable and happy. It is easy to see why people love to live there.
Miriam's tour guide one day was a young man who has had a amazing journey with the church. He was Young Men’s President at age 14, he was Counselor in a Branch Presidency at age 18, he was blessed with the gift of tongues in the mission field, and served on the high counsel when he came home at 21 years. He ministers to the members with all of his heart. Enjoy the pics of Cambodia by going to the picture link on the right side.

Tender Mercies in Taiwan

When Scott and Daniel returned from the mission field we took the opportunity to pick them up. By doing that we were able to meet the wonderful people that they introduced the gospel to. That was a bigger challenge with Joseph being that he served in Taiwan. As luck would have it Bob's work was taking him to Taiwan so we planned a vacation in conjunction with a business trip a year after his return.

We title this blog Tender Mercies because of the wonderful experiences we had each day as we walked the streets of Taiwan. Several of the days we did not have things lined up with people he wanted to see and things always worked out so beautifully. Things feel into place so that we could see so many of the people Joey wanted to see. Joey was to be both our tour guide and interpreter for the week and he did a great job by helping us learn about and meet the people he came to love.

We landed in Taiwan and took a taxi to the Taiwan Temple patron housing. The next morning as we came outside to go to church two full time missionaries walked out of the mission office. One of them was Elder Hammer, one of Joeys companions. After a long embrace and some pictures it was off to church. We took the subway to one of the Chinese branches that Joey attended. It was a great reunion (Joey was afraid no one would remember him). One of the speakers didn't show up and Joey was asked to speak. We wish we knew Chinese but the holy ghost helped us to feel much of the meetings spirit.

That night we went to a members home for dinner. We enjoyed pigs feet, jelly fish, shark and more. We helped him call the missionary in the USA that baptised him years ago. Home on the subway and looking forward to an adventure down south.

We ate breakfast "on the street" which was very good. then on to the subway and then the 3 hr train ride to Hualien. The train ride was grand with ocean and mountain views. When we arrived Joey mentioned that even though he couldn't contact any people in this city he still wanted to be there. He suggested that we just go to the church and see what happens. On our way to the church we passed a member that drives a taxi and Joey gave him a shout. The church was locked but a member (custodian) let us in. The custodian happened to be the big sister of the taxi driver that Joey knew. They called him and he came and he wanted to be our tour guide for the day in his taxi. So he grabbed his camera and off we went to Taroko Gorge. (They claim it is the 3rd prettiest place in the world)

Amazing canyons, gorges, cliffs, etc. But after 5 hours of nature viewing, Miriam actually said..I never thought I would say it but " I am tired of nature". I think she was just tired but we never thought it would happen. Back to the city by way of the cemetery and ocean. That evening we went to a outdoor show of traditional aboriginal dancing. We spent the night in a bed and breakfast type hotel. The owner was wonderful to us and Joey even had the opportunity to teach parts of the first discussion to a group of guests that asked some questions. Later that evening (11:30 pm) a nurse that went to English classes that Joseph taught and joined the church came over with her son and visited with us. She brought us mulberries and juice for a nice treat.

The next morning it was the best street breakfast with Jeff, a young man that Joseph taught. We had a great lunch with the Lu family then off to the train station where we barely hopped the train to continue our journey to Taidung. (literally)

Mountains and rice patties as far as the eye can see. An entertaining taxi ride (110 in a 60), a hotel with mattresses on the floor but free bikes, yet another great breakfast on the street, and an adventure with the Lu family. They took us to the hot springs where we sat in natural hot springs while our raw eggs were cooking close by in really hot hot springs. We enjoyed meeting and talking with the very friendly people at the resort.

Now to the airport for a flight back to Taipei. (Well, Bob just stepped away from the computer and told me it is my turn. This is going to be consolidated compared to his.) We had a few more days in Taiwan. We went to the temple for 2 endowment and 1 sealing session. That was really sweet for us. We ate great meals with Bob's work people, Daniel and Amber who are younger friends of Joey's. They accompanied us up to Danshui where we had such a great time together. Walked and walked just like missionaries on the streets. We found his favorite Mexican restaurant and Eddy. Each evening we had dinners with people he worked with on his mission. They love him and you should see his face with the people he spent so much time with and grew so close to. He really glows.

One particularly special experience was looking for a Filipino girl that he found and taught on his mission. We passed her on the street going to her home. She has not been able to come to church because of situations with schedules. He was able to get a hold of the missionaries that speak her language and find a branch that will meet in the afternoon so she can attend. He talked with the missionaries and this girl and got commitments to attend and get a hold of each other. The Elders told him they were going to keep helping her to come now. So she was happy and so was he. It was fun for me to see him in action and testifying to her of the importance of the covenants and remind her of the blessings of keeping them. They speak English but she prefers Tagoli.

We got up early and a member taxi driver drove us to the airport. Joey waited for many hours for his plane. We got on our plane and went to Cambodia for Bob's work. The people of Taiwan are the some most gracious and giving people we have ever met. We are so privileged to have had this beautiful experience. We are so grateful that Joey had the opportunity to serve his mission here and feel the tender mercies of the Lord on this blessed land and himself. (Oh, Bob had successful meetings and enjoyed the people at work as well) CHECK OUT THE PICS IN THE ALBUM LINK