My Birthday Week!

I started off my birthday week (on Saturday (October 16) and Sunday) with a glorious trip to Green Island with Kailey, Karyn and Tricia! I went snorkeling for the first time. We watched a magnificent sunset! We went to one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world! We visited the Little Great Wall! I feared for my life a few times. I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, including the ocean, mountains, valleys, trees, waterfalls, and rocky shores! I learned a little more about Taiwanese history.

Green Island!

The sunset on Green Island!

On Wednesday, which was my actual birthday, I taught my classes like normal. It was lovely because my classes went well that day! My students were well-behaved and it was good!

After work on Wednesday, Karyn, Kailey, Liz, Amy and I went out to eat at this fabulous restaurant called the Spaghetti House! I don't remember what we got, but I liked it!

I received three birthday cakes on my birthday! This is me holding my third birthday cake :) I received a cake from two of my students in the morning, which the students and I ate together with two of the other teachers and one of the secretaries. I got a cake from the school, which I shared with my 5As. And my roommates made me one (the one in the picture), which we ate after dinner at the Spaghetti House! Let's just say I'm pretty positive that is the most cake I have ever received on my birthday before :)

On Friday night, I tie-dyed for the first time ever. Kailey's mom sent her a package with tie-dye stuff in it and we decided Friday night was a good night to do it! This is the before picture!

This is during the process. I had no idea that you put rubber bands on the shirts to make the shirt swirly :)

Putting on the dye!

The final result! It took some getting used to, but I really like how both of them turned out :)

On Saturday, Liz, Kailey, Karyn and I went to Taichung! Of course we had to go to Burger King to get whoppers. (Let's just say it's an inside joke about something I did not actually say :)

Whopper!

After Burger King, we tried finding the science museum. But alas we got on the right bus, but going the wrong way and by the time we realized that, we decided it wasn't worth it to go anymore. So we went to this Confucius Temple in Taichung and then we went shopping at the outdoor market. I didn't buy anything, but I enjoyed looking around!

Then after the market, I went to stake conference at the beautiful Taiping chapel! It was lovely! The choir sang "Faith in Every Footstep" in Chinese and I felt the Spirit so strongly as they sang! I love music!

This whole past week was lovely! I have been blessed with many good friends and my awesome family! I thank the Lord everyday for them and for the experiences I am able to have while I am here!

Opposition in All Things!

As I was at stake conference today, something that stuck out to me that a few of the speakers spoke about was opposition in all things. Along with the trials of life, there are many blessings. Along with the bitterness in life, there is happiness. Along with the sorrows in life, there is peace. Along with the sadness is joy.



We go through hard times and we wonder why we must go through this trial or why it is so hard. I love this talk that I read today (that just happened to coincide with the talks in stake conference) in the May 2010 conference Ensign. "All Things Work Together for Good" by Elder James B. Martino. Now I will quote from that talk.

"Each of us will face adversity no matter where we are. We are taught in the scriptures that there 'must needs be... an opposition in all things.' We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face it but how we face them... Our trials come in many forms, but each will allow us to become more like the Savior as we learn to recognize the good that comes from each experience. As we understand this doctrine, we gain greater assurance of our Father's love. We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from that experience."

I love when Elder Martino says that instead of asking Why me? or What did I do to deserve this? we should ask What am I to do? What can I learn from this experience? What am I to change? I must say that for me that is much easier said than done. But I love the scriptures in Mosiah 24 that talk about Alma and his people that were put into bondage. They were not allowed to pray aloud. They had horrible, laborious tasks put upon them. Yet they did call upon God in their hearts and the Lord did comfort them.

Mosiah 24:15 "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

I love that they did 'submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.' They were in bondage, yet they trusted in the Lord and knew they must learn something from that trial. Elder Martino said that "We must remember that often the answers from our Heavenly Father do not remove the trial from us, but instead He helps strengthen us as we pass through the experience."

Elder Martino concludes his talk that "As we pass through the trials of life, let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become even more prayerful, let us serve others, and let us forgive one another. As we do this, 'all things [will] work together for good to [us] that love God.'"

I know that as we put our trust in the Lord and 'submit cheerfully and with patience to the will of the Lord', and as we strive to lose ourselves in the service of others and pray to the Lord diligently, we will be strengthened in our trials. The Savior knows what we are going through. He can help us. He understands.


In Alma 7:11-13, we can learn that Jesus Christ took upon Himself our pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind and He took upon Him our infirmities "that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. They know each of us. They want to help us. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life!

A Little Piece of Heaven! Part 2 (Green Island)

We woke up bright and early (5 AM) on Sunday morning to watch the sunrise! We heard that watching the sunrise at the hot springs was awesome, so we decided to do that.

But it was rainy and cloudy that morning because of Typhoon Megi heading towards the Philippines, (which is relatively close to Green Island). So we didn't quite get to watch the sunrise. But as it became lighter, we realized what a magnificent little place we were located at!

The surroundings were beautiful! We had a little black hill on one side with the beautiful contrasting green growing on it (You can see a little bit of the hill in the picture above). We had the rocky shore of the ocean in front of us with huge waves crashing against the rocks. We had more black, rocky mountains on the other side of us, but in the distance.

This is the natural part of the hot springs! They were closed while we were there (because of the huge waves), but we could walk up to them and see how beautiful they were! The hot springs that we swam in, in the pictures above, had the water pumped in from the natural hot springs below.

These hot springs are one of only three salt water hot springs in the world! They were amazingly beautiful and relaxing! I loved it!

See that pool of water in the background... well that's part of the hot springs too.

After a couple of hours at the hot springs soaking up the beauty and the water, we went back to our hotel and ate breakfast and got ready for the day.

Before we left our hotel for one last time, we had to visit our little friend, the pet deer, I mentioned we visited in the last post.

He was a beautiful and sad little creature! He was tied up and had a tiny cage to sleep in.

Our next stop was the Little Great Wall! The view from the top was amazing!


This was on the way up the Little Great Wall! Haishenping Bay! Look at the cool arch in the rock on the right hand side of the picture!


On the way up! I loved this little hike!

On the way up the Little Great Wall looking to the left!

This is looking to the right at the top of the wall! What a magnificent view! It was breathtaking!


On the scooter! Tricia drove most of the time, but I did drive for a little bit too :) It was fun! Depending on where I live when I get home, I would consider getting a scooter as my mode of transportation!

I don't even know how to describe the beauty of the next place we went! It was lovely, beautiful, breathtaking, magnificent! Those words don't even do it justice. The next 10 pictures are from the same place. Notice the diversity of the scenery!

Black mountains with contrasting green growing on it! Green grass in the valley with an occasional patch of purple wild flowers!

Waterfall on the mountain and grass almost as tall as me!

Rocky shore and the rock island!

A natural arch!

Me!

I have no words to describe!

Ocean waves crashing against the rocky shore!

A little river of water a long the way!

Notice the animals grazing in the field :)

This is near the place in the above pictures! We got pretty dang close to the shore.

Look at the wave crashing against the rock in the background!

Some ancient ruins! Youzihu! I think they were once houses of some aboriginals that lived on the island! What a beautiful location!

Youzihu!

Our next stop was the Green Island Prison! That was a fascinating place! It was once a political prison during the White Terror! If you want to learn more about it click here.

The phones really worked! I was the prisoner, Tricia was my visitor :)

The Taiwanese flag in the prison.

That writing on the mountain says "Exterminate the Communists, Restore the Country." This is right outside the prison.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of prisoners who were locked up in the prison!

Can you tell which people are real and which are not?!

That is a wax figurine! They were amazingly realistic! Looking at them from a distance, I totally thought they were real and kept on having to remind myself that they are not real.

This room showed the living quarters of some of the prisoners. It was pretty cramped in there.

Some lived in worst conditions. Like in an 8x8 padded cell with one little window near the top of the room.

Here's an up close picture of one of the wax figures! The details were intricate!

I learned a lot from this little museum. It was fascinating to learn a little more about Taiwanese history.

After the wax museum, we went to the lighthouse! It was beautiful! We walked around the beach there and searched through the coral and shells that had washed up on shore.


Me in front of the beautiful lighthouse!

The lighthouse was our last stop before we got on the ferry back to mainland Taiwan. This picture was taken at the beginning of our ferry trip from hell.

I'm not even sure where to begin. First I'll just say that Typhoon Megi was heading toward the Philippines, which is pretty much directly south of Taiwan! And although the typhoon did not hit Taiwan at all, we still felt the effects of it on our ferry ride.

This was out the window of the ferry during the ride. On a clear, calm day, you should be able to see in the distance. There were at least 20 foot waves. We rolled side to side and up and down. I thought we were going to tip over and sink. Seriously! I was scared. I can't even really describe the experience in words.

I honestly feared for my life. I had a lot on my mind on this ferry ride. I thought of the song "Jesus, Savior Pilot Me." I thought about my family. I thought about what I would do if the boat did tip over. I thought about a lot of things, but mainly I just prayed. I prayed hard. I wondered if anyone happened to be up in America and was praying for me at that time too.

Thankfully though, we made it back to mainland Taiwan safely! I said many prayers of thanks that day! The Lord was watching over us!

When we got back to Taitung to catch the train back to Changhua, there were no seats left on either of the trains we needed to get back home. So we stood up and sat on the ground for the two-hour train ride to Kaohsiung. Then I had a seat for about 45 minutes on the train from Kaohsiung to Changhua, then I sat on the floor the next 2-1/2 hours.

I actually didn't mind it! It just added more to the adventure of our trip!

Green Island really was a little piece of heaven! I loved every minute of it, even the scary parts (looking back on it). I love nature and I love adventure!