On Saturday we went to Hsinchu (fifteen minute train ride away) just for fun. At the train station on our return, who should we run into but two missionaries!, straight from the heart of Utah. (Seriously, they could not have been more Utah'n if we paid them. It was awesome.) They stood out like flies in milk. It was so relieving to see them I must say. We had been wondering about the church situation here and trying to figure it out. The phone number for the Bishop on LDS.org was incorrect as I had tried it and so we were planning on just winging it on Sunday and hopefully ending up at the right place at the right time for church. Well luckily we ran into the missionaries in the middle of a billion people and they were able to tell us exactly where to be and at what time for church. Miraculous indeed. I almost took a picture and said, "I'm going to email your parents a picture of us," but refrained because that's weird. (People did that to me all of the time though!)
So this morning we set off for church; pioneer style. We started at 8 am and walked the twenty minutes to the train station. Then waited another forty until the train took off for Taipei. We weren't sure about the train situation so that's why we left so early. It took 1 hour and 55 minutes to get to Taipei with all the stops along the way. Once we got there we took a 5 minute taxi to the church and boom! we were there. We were about 15 minutes late but glad we made it.
It is seriously an awesome building. I'll take more pictures next week because I didn't want to look too "touristy" my first time at this church. It's on the same lot as the Taipei temple.
There's no young single adult ward but there's an english speaking ward, and it may as well have been a Utah ward: packed and full of children. A lot of US Government employees over here for whatever reason. Everyone was super nice and the Bishop introduced me to the young single adult representative for the ward. My first thought was, "Taiwan has enough english speaking ysa's to have a representative?" He said they do a lot of stuff so that should be fun. Might be tricky living farther away but sacrifices must be made for a social life sometimes, dangit!
The Taipei temple.
I have always wondered what church was like in other countries. But really, it was no different at all. Glad to know it's the exact same all over the world and I can finally say that I now have experience in knowing that.
5 comments:
What a distance to go to church. Wow! 2 Missionaries right when you needed them. Awesome!
This story has so many amazing gems Craig. I love it. Thanks for sharing and reminding me of that wonderful truth. It's the same everywhere.
wonderful adventure son. You touched a chord with the sameness of the church worldwide. Your mom and I were in Holland when we were first married and attended a Ward there. It was a Fast Sunday and although everyone spoke Hollandese, I guess that is how you spell it, the spirit was the same and the church felt the same. It is an awesome truth to think about that isn't it? And wait till they find out you play piano, then it will all have a familiar ring.
tender mercy to run into the missionaries, right? also, 9 years ago i was standing right where you took that picture of the Temple. for some reason being able to visualize where you were, because i've been there too, makes me feel a little more connected to you--even though you're across the world!
hollandese, dad? really?
anyway, awesome craig. you're such a pioneer! roughin' it.
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