Trip to Memory Lane in Zhonghe

This trip has had very little specific places or people from my past. But we are running out of new things to do and see, so I thought we'd take a free afternoon and hit an old area of mine near Taipei.

On my mission, I served in only 3 areas. The first two were in what counts, in Taiwan, as country-side: Bade and Miaoli. My last area, which I opened back up to sister missionary work, and opened it while training a new missionary, was in the heart of what was at the time, the most densely populated area on the planet: Zhonghe/Yonghe.

Right: Eloise on Memory Lane itself, or the street on which I think our apartment was (and still is... see below).

The kids outside the Zhonghe/Yonghe church. Now THREE wards meet there. The outer white tile has been replaced with a granite looking stone. Nice!

I went from only serving in branches to covering two wards. At that time, unlike the Elders whose areas were only a portion of the district, the sisters covered the entire district. Only when we were sent there, we covered two entire districts. Up til that time, I had never been more stretched in my life. The work was huge, the press of people was intense, and church on Sunday was 6 hours long, plus meetings. We sisters had a work load that was otherwise covered by 8 elders. And all with a companion who didn't speak Chinese. Though I'd never felt such pressure, I also had never felt the Lord so close as I felt him then. I received powerful answers to prayers. We enjoyed such success that within 3 months, they brought in another sister companionship and assigned us to one district (though I don't now remember which) instead of the two.

Inside of the chapel, very little has changed. I stood at this pulpit many a time to share my testimony, including the final testimony I shared with members before I went home.

THIS was the place I went back to see. The chapel, which had been the only one I served in as a missionary, now is on the old and small side for Taiwan. The sister missionaries we met there (coincidentally, and blessedly, as it would have been locked!) let us in, and told us that in most areas now in Taiwan, they all have chapels! (I already new my other areas had chapels, and have even been to Miaoli's on a previous trip. And by the way, this area STILL has 2 sister companionships, though it's unlikely that they've kept the sisters there at a constant number over the last 18 years.)

This original shot was taken only a few weeks before I came home and on the p-day when I discovered I still wanted to dance when I got back. I was in the middle of one of my only ballet work-outs here when the Elders showed up and wondered what I was up to. Kai replaces Elder Bolander, who interestingly, I met up with in China on a ballet tour years later!

This is a recreated shot. In the original, I'm holding a broom
because I was sweeping out the font in preparation
for the baptism.

Anyway, I had fun recreating with the kids, some of the shots from my mission at this church. I think perhaps the roads seem much less familiar, not only for the change that can happen in 18 years, but also because we taught SO MUCH, and our area was so huge, we were either in the church teaching, or not on many of the same roads twice.

This was also the only place in MY LIFE where my fantastic sense of direction failed me on a regular basis! I got more lost here than I have ever been anywhere else. BUT, going back with my kids, my old landmarks and sense of where I was at got us from the MRT station to the church and over to where I think our apartment was. I was able to point to the road where, on our bikes, we alluded a guy who was following us on a scooter. I showed the kids the one-direction road where we lived and told them about driving against the crazy flow of traffic to short-cut our way home. (It's now a calmer two-way street. I think the MRT has really reduced vehicle count on the street level mid-day.) I told them how my bag was stolen from the church and for weeks after, I would scan the banks of the stream we walked and biked along, hoping to see my scriptures cast aside by the thieves. I bought them a green mango chunk filled popsicle and told them about the hot p-day where that was all I ate because I was too hot to eat anything else. I told them about weirding the elders out with a decorated table and flowery sign that read, "Welcome to District Training Meeting," just for the amusement of myself and my companion.

I *think* this is "the agency" -  our nick-name
 for our apartment. - specifically,
the detective agency. My comp was Agent 1,
and I was Private "Ai" - my Chinese name.
Good times!

There were hundreds of other stories I didn't share, and won't share here. But it was good to be there and give a tiny taste of that time in my life to my kids. Amazingly, they listened and even seemed to enjoy mom's time on Memory Lane. What a blessing to have this moment with my kids. I wish I might have shared the moment with more of the amazing people from that time and place, but they have actually met both companions I had in that area. And as for the members of both wards, I hope I see them in Heaven!

PS: Perhaps I took it for granted, because I was always there, but completely unplanned, just at the right time, two different sets of sister missionaries showed up. The first set let us in, and then had to go. We promised to leave the door locked behind us. But we managed to forget an umbrella in the locked chapel. We were about to abandon it when the second set stopped in. They saw the lights on and were able to unlock the chapel again so we could grab what we had left. It was such a blessing to get in to the building because the whole rest of the time, we were on the street wandering.