考驗

Trials.

Before I came on a mission, I know that I would inevitably run into a ton of trials. I knew I would face ones I never imagined having to deal with. But that is the tricky thing, dealing with ones that you don't expect. There is beauty in that though, being able to run the hurdles that life throws at you. I've learned through experience that sometimes you trip over a few and have a few bruises as a result. But when you finish, all those bruises are just things you laugh about later on. 

Not much has happened recently in 新莊 that I would want to really tell you about. But there have been some minor cool moments.

We went to 土城 for a zone meeting this past tuesday. On the way back, we were super rushed and I had no idea where to go because we were on our bikes riding like 40 minutes outside of our area. We finally found the right road, which turned out to be a free way, and a super tall bridge over a wide river. Riding a pedal bike alongside a freeway with a 300 ft drop off to your side is a bit of a thrill, but the view was awesome. We stopped for pictures.

from the bridge

One night, after some ridiculous rejections, I decided we were going to take a break and get on top of this massive exercise building in the middle of the city and look at the lights a bit. We ended up meeting someone who was super interested in our church, but only took a Book of Mormon. So we planted some seeds from a good view.

night skies of Taipei

We made it home a little early one night. And we have this mountain trail next to our house that we like to run most mornings. So we took 20 minutes to do a night run and saw Taipei 101 in the night sky way out there.

We got another Taiwanese steak, but this one was especially good because it came with a buffet on the side. I got myself a "Mexican Cake" which I thought would be like a tortilla. It was a deep fried chip folded over a jalapeno and a chunk of ham. Maybe that doesn't sound so good, it wouldn't to me either, but in Taiwan, even the greasiest Mexican food will do.

I ate a lot of mangoes this week. They are the size of my head.

Keep living life! Pray for those in need. Have faith in miracles. Life is beautiful.

for Christina

Elder Miner and I

biking life

this guy snapped at me.  scariest thing in my life