Apartment robbed!

Well, even though the robbers took our computer, (that is why we haven't blogged for a while), and both cameras, (we do feel bad about losing our pictures), he or they did not take our passports or US currency! The drawer where they were was opened, but not disturbed! What a miracle! And the fact that we had to go to the internet cafe to do our "computering", is even a good thing because we met a young man there to whom we gave church pamphlets to and have an opportunity to go back now and thank him for burning a music CD for us and will see if he is interested in learning more!!

So far, we haven't learned how to put our pictures on the blog or e-mail, but we are so grateful to Arnie, the assistant temple recorder, for loaning us this lap top and changing it from Chinese to ENglish! He has done so very much for us. What a blessing!

Monday, April 28th, we attended a University concert which we both really enjoyed! President and Sister Chen's daughter gave the tickets to us! It was every bit as entertaining to watch the conductor as listen to the beautiful music! He was so tiny -- but boy, did he ever pack a whallop, getting those musicians to play their very best! It was amazing!

I've been thinking lately of why the temple is so peaceful and happy. It is because of the Spirit that is there and because those who come have had to prepare themselves to receive a recommend to be there. Everyone is a little better person as they do these things! That is why we are supposed to always have a recommend in our possession. We have to be striving to live as the Lord would have us live to obtain one!

A great blessing I find in serving in the Temple is the fact that even when I don't feel good and wonder if I can finish the work I'm supposed to do, Father always helps me to be able to! He has never failed me! My prayers for help are always answered!

Elder Scott came and spoke to the young single adults of Taiwan, and President and Sister Walker were privileged to be there. He was very concerned about the fact that there are so many young adults over 30 and not married! He asked them the question, "How many young, single adults are there in the highest degree of the Celestial kingdom?" Then he answered his own question - "NONE!" Then he counseled the young single adult men to get to work. He promised the young single adult women that if they keep faithful and worthy, they will not miss out on any eternal blessings - including those of a worthy husband and children! "I don't know when this will happen or how, but I promise you, in the name of the Lord, that it will," he said.

I was extremely blessed in being able to participate in singing two songs in Chinese with a choir that sang at Stake Conference. At one point of time, I could not see the Pinying, but I was able to look at the conductor and get the wording! They put me right in the middle on the front row, too, so I couldn't hide! Thank you, Father, for helping me make it through! It was a small miracle!

Sister Huang's life was saved when she was crossing the street, noticed that a woman had been in an car accident and was crying and upset in the road ahead of her. She felt so bad for her, that she stopped walking and said a prayer that this distraught woman would be comforted. AS she did a huge boulder fell onto the road where she would have been had she kept walking! It came from the mountain above the road. Sister Su happened to be an eye witness to it, but didn't realize until she got to the temple and started talking with Sister Huang, that it was her that narrowly missed being killed by the boulder. The Lord's protecting hand was definately over Sister Huang!

Thursday May 15th, I received the highest compliment I've ever had. Sister Chen told me how much she and President Chen appreciated us coming from so far to help in the temple and called me, "a woman of God"! Today, the Lord, lest I get feeling too smug about it, really made it known to me that we could and should be doing more and sacrificing more to do His work while we are here and while we have this time. I pray for forgiveness and help in doing better!

Saturday, May 17th - What a privilege to help Leonora receive her temple ordinances today! Linda and Virginia and Sister Calvert were there to support her, too! AS we stood, hand in hand in the sealing room, looking at eternity through those beautiful, never-ending mirrors, we wept with joy to think of the fact that her husband had received his ordinances a week before in the Phillipines temple and one day, they would be sealed together as husband and wife and family, eternally!!

Well, it is late and I'll finish recording some other specail experiences later. Goodnight!

It's freezing out here?

These are the four flights of stairs that get us up to the road to walk home from the MRT station! We are getting very good at climbing stairs, now!

Tomorrow, we will have another adventure with Sister Xia and Sister Venables, our sweet Senior missionary from England! We'll have more pictures for you then!
One of our sweet friends, Nancy Swenson, who teaches English in Central Taiwan, but is a BYU student who will be going back for schooling in the Fall. She is from Reno, Nevada and comes up each month to do baptisms for the in the Temple. Very special gal!! She was in Brock and Jordan's ward until they moved to room together before Jord left on his mission! It is really a small world!
I wish I could have taken a front view picture of this elderly lady, gathering plastic bags and cardboard for recycling. Many of the elderly do this - some push or pull very, very large carts, loaded with items that look like they would be too heavy for them to handle!
Because todays temperature was below 80 degrees, this little dog needed a warm doggie shirt! I chased him down the street and finally cornered him by this bush! The Chinese love their pets!

More Odds and Ends

This little furnace is used to send money , and messages to deceased ancestors. Usually they use a cute little red furnace. This one at a temple. We see tables of food set out to feed the ancestors and after they have had a chance to eat what they want the people take the food and eat what is left.


We see lots of fun stuff here; like a highly certified automotive technician rebuilding an engine in the street. Also we thought it was interesting to have a large parking lot just for motor bikes.

A little about what we see in Taiwan

We were on a bus, going home from having dinner at Chili's, trying to get down the main street while the "night market" was on. I'll put on another that shows the side street that not even a bike or motorcycle could get through!! They are supposed to have good sales here, but I have not been able to get Dad NEAR those crowded conditions!
Doesn't the 101 Tower look like a gigantic candle at night?
This is President Walker's second counselor's wife and daughter and new grandbaby! We are in the foyer just inside the outside doors and before you go into the Temple proper. She is such a loving person!


Did we write about how many Chinese people love their pets and treat them like children? We see it all the time. Women buy special purses that have the top part cut out so a small dog inside the purse can put his head out, but not get his body out until the owner opens the purse; entire stores devoted just to doggie things like beautiful strollers, bathing tubs, clothes and toys just like a baby has! It is unbelievable! Here is a picture of one of these doggie store signs and the charming way they advertise!

Chinese Restarurant update

We talked about Chinese food but we didn't have any pictures.
Now we have pictures so you can take these Chinese food samples to Mandarin and order true Chinese food from these pictures. Enjoy!

Hiking - Chinese style

We had a most interesting hike the other day. It was, for the most part unbelievable. Here are the pictures to prove our point. The entire trail was finished in rock stairs. Everything was so nicely done! They even had an outdoor weight room at the top, with a man who was lifting a barbell, but watch out in between! You wouldn't want to hike it if it were wet! We should call this hike the "stairway to heaven" hike because it was ALL UPHILL until you got to the top of the mountain. Then you hiked ALL DOWNHILL! A sweet Chinese lady who was going the opposite direction offered to take our picture together! The day was perfect for hiking because it was cool and a little windy! It was very beautiful - but oh, those stairs!! I like hiking in Utah much better, even though they don't have fancy stairs and outdoor weight rooms! You can see where we were hiking in relation to the 101 Tower in the one picture with Dad in it, and the one with me in the forefront! In the other picture, I sat down to pet this dog, but he just snubbed me and walked on by, not giving me any notice until he reached the Chinese sign above! Oh, well.

Giving 110% pays off!!

It has been so great to get to talk to some of you this week and to find out how to FINALLY talk to the Lagerstroms on the telephone! All this time we have been blocked from getting through but we figured it all out now, so watch out!! We have been humbled to hear of Brock's award at the annual BYU football Awards Banquet and Ceremony, and he had no idea he was getting it! There were not that many awards given, and Brock was the only one who received one who was not a starter on the team! We are especially proud of him because Dad had read earlier, of this award and the great man for whom they made it! He was BYU's equipment manager for many years, and so beloved by all who knew him. He was the spiritual uplift of the guys on the team, and was always there, cheering them on as a team and also in an individual way, with a listening ear and sympathetic heart for anyone who was down, or needed to have his confidence strengthened! During the evening of awards last week, they played clips of each of the players who were being honored and Brock's clip showed his enthusiasm and support for the team and individuals. It really touched Brock's heart and the hearts of everyone. In fact, one man came up to him afterward and said, "The only football player that was honored tonight whose hand that I want to shake, is the hand of the recipient of this coveted "Floyd Johnson Shield of Faith Award!" Congratulations! Brock went home and wept! He realized that giving 110% in everything he did, from weight-lifting, and all that tough, football practices entail, to serving and supporting others with his whole heart, pays off in character and integrity and makes everyone around him become a better person and a better player because of his example!! Another "tender mercy" for him, was the fact that Coach Reynolds came up to him and wanted to know what number he would like put on his jersey. Wanting Lance's number, but not thinking it would be available, he said, " Is number 36 available?" "Yep", responded the coach. So we will know what number to look for from now on!

Today was an especially rewarding Sunday. We are practicing some of the most beautiful songs in our Ward Easter program, and we have some of the most beautiful singing voices I've heard in a choir and as soloists. The program should have everyone feeling the Spirit of love for the Savior by the time it ends. After choir practice, we helped with the Filipino dinner and then I taught some piano students, Virginia, Erlinda and Mary Jane! They are such a joy to teach because they get soo excited to learn new things and just squeal and hug me during the lessons! Erlinda told me, " We want to make our teacher happy - so we practice every day." Can you imagine such appreciative students? Here is a picture of those that were with me today! They have such tough lives, living and working away from their families and children, who are being taken care of by others in the Philippines while they work here to send money to them. But you have never seen a happier, more grateful people for the little that they have!
This Saturday, at the 2:00 session, we should have Virginia, Chris Allen, and Leonora, from our Temple Preparation class, receive their Temple blessings! The sisters want me to be their escort. I hope we can arrange it at the Temple, and that they don't need me in another capacity there at that time! President Walker said it shouldn't be too busy because it is election day here and most people will be voting!

President Eyring's article in this last special issue of the "Ensign", really hit home to me as I pondered it a second time. There is so much I can learn from his suggestion to ponder the times in my life that the Atonement has helped me change and repent and give thanks to Father for those times. We can then help others more and be a more powerful voice, if WE can get the gift of bearing a sure witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world! The time I thought of, was when I felt such resentful feelings toward Pop and the way he treated Mom and my brother Doug. I d to feel that way towards him, but I did, and I had to work so hard to feel good towards him for so many years. But as I kept trying to repent and asking the Lord to help me, I began to feel a great appreciation and love for him, and the Lord made those negative feelings disappear. None of them are left!! What a miracle! It was so hard at first, but as I persisted in asking for help, it became easy!! What a testimony to me of His Atoning power to change our very hearts! WEll, there are so many wonderful experiences I still desire to share with you, but I'd better head to bed. It is late and Dad has fallen asleep! THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND WE LOVE YOU!! Mom and Dad