Changhua!

What happens when 5 teachers take a train from Feng Yuan to meet 4 teachers in Changhua, but the 5 teachers are late, so the 4 teachers leave and come back, but the 5 teachers are already gone...and the 4 teachers were supposed to relay a message from 2 teachers to the 5 teachers about meeting the 2 teachers in Daqing, so after taking a train from Changhua the 5 teachers wait in Daqing for the 2 teachers for 3 full hours, when 8 teachers were actually supposed to be in Taichung?!?! The answer is quite simple: the 5 teachers have a fantastic Saturday exploring Taiwan anyway!

Waitin' for the train...

Ready for more Taiwan! Also, notice that our hair is still down...it's a contest of sorts to see who holds out the longest before pulling it up. If you need an elastic, ask Meg...she may or may not have 5 on her wrist.

Too much fun on the train! Guessing game, anyone? :-)

Feeling just a little lost upon our arrival in Changhua...

First stop: Confucius Temple!

Entrance to the temple courtyard!

A new meaning to "fishing pole"

So, on the bus to Changhua, we sat across from the man and woman on the right. We randomly saw them inside a store later that day, and they wanted us to follow them. So we went to the top of this building similar to the cultural center in Feng Yuan, where he showed us this art gallery. From the little English they spoke, we figured out that he was a painter. He doesn't have arms, so he uses his mouth to hold the brush! He introduced us to his teacher, the man in the middle. So cool!

We climbed about a billion sets of stairs like this to get to the top of the mountain to see the giant Buddha. It was quite the workout in the middle of a very hot and very humid day, but definitely worth it!

Somewhere on the trail...


Come up with your own caption for this picture!

Extremely intelligent things are being thought in my head right now...

Looking out from the temple

So many things to love about this picture!

Kristi meet Buddha

BUDDHA!

I just need to tuck in my elbows, and I'm pretty sure we're identical.

Libby, me, Meg, and Erin lovin' Taiwan!

The rockin walkway across from Buddha

A tiny glimpse of the incredible view!

This trail just kept getting better!

Fountain of Awesomeness we found on our way down.

Flowers in our hair...yay! Oh how I wish these trees would grow in Utah!

Yum! No idea exactly what I ordered...but I've decided it's probably better not to know, just pretend all mystery meat is chicken, dig in, and enjoy!

Tired of waiting...yes...very, very tired.

Haha, oh how I love the many entertaining signs here!

Taipei Temple!

I had a fantastic weekend! Saturday morning we walked to the chapel in Feng Yuan where we met the other branch members to ride the bus to Taipei. It was another great ride talking with friends and looking at the gorgeous scenery...I seriously cannot get enough of the amazing green mountains here. We arrived in Taipei and went to the temple! A small group attended a session and the rest of us were able to do baptisms. It is a very small temple, but still incredibly beautiful! I loved walking around Taiwan's Temple Square! Afterwards we went to Taipei 101! We had limited time and there was a 40 minute wait in line, so we didn't go to the top...but we'll definitely put that somewhere in our plans during the next 6 months!

Rest stop in Taiwan = photo opp!

Haha...we have a little too much fun together sometimes...

I keep finding cool plants here...this one had pink AND orange blossoms!

green, Green, GREEN!!!

Me, Erin, Libby, Whitney

Me n Meg ready for the bus ride...love her!

I LOVE THE TEMPLE!

Laura, Meg, and me after baptisms

Beautiful grounds! The building on the right is a huge stake center, distribution center, etc.

Taipei Taiwan Temple

Temple Square :-)

Love it!

TAIPEI 101! Libby, Laura, Lien, Erin, me, Meg

A restaurant named after one of my favorite treasures ;-)

COLDSTONE!!! At this moment in time, I was 100% ok with resorting to American food.

I'll make it to the top soon, don't worry!

Me n Libby enjoying the view of the city from this sweet bridge across the road.

Sunset in the city...beautiful.

The second tallest building in the world...pretty amazing if you ask me! Check out how blue the sky was that day!

"I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!"

Today was our second time attending church in Taiwan. I think it has already become my favorite thing about being here! We take a 40 minute bus ride to our small English branch in Taichung each week. Today we combined with a Taiwanese ward and one of the missionaries translated for us. I love how kind, accepting, and united the members are here. I feel so at home with them already and am happy to have a family in Taiwan! Today we also had the opportunity to go to a special meeting with President Uchtdorf in Taipei! The drive there was beautiful...it is SO green here, I love it! The meeting was quite the experience with all the translating back and forth, but the spirit there was incredible. It's amazing how the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is universal. We stood and sang "I am a Child of God" with 6,000 people speaking a different language, but we understood each other perfectly.

On our way to the meeting with President Uchtdorf! I loved hearing him speak, his testimony was so powerful...and yes, he did share multiple airplane stories!

This is my friend Sherstin from Logan...she's serving a mission in Taipei and saw me at the meeting! So good to see a familiar face :-)

Our meetinghouse in Taichung

Outside with some of our new friends!

Me, Katie, Libby, Erin and Meg waiting to take the bus home from church