As Taiwan is on my mind frequently (daily) & I remember my time there & the people, I have decided to share with you my experience on the other side of the world. While I would like to post my letters that I wrote upon my return home in 2005 & 2006, I've no idea where they are at this time. For now, I will share with you my e-mails home to family & friends while in Taiwan. Though many of you may have received those e-mails, many of you did not as we did not even know one another at the time. I have enjoyed reading my words from a few years ago & reliving these moments in my mind. In the days ahead, I will try to share all of them but for now, I share with you first, my first e-mail I wrote home...July 2005.
I survived the plane ride. Though long, my only complaint was that the long flight was much too warm. However, nothing was unbearable. I was mesmerized by the size of the plane as it was a doubledecker. Well, here we are in Taiwan-12:30 a.m. our time while we still have much of the day left. Right now, we are on a break until 3:00 in the afternoon (it is now 1:30). We spent some time in our room singing & then headed here to the cafe' just around the corner a ways from our hotel. Yesterday, upon our arrival we got our hotel rooms which are not nearly as bad as I dreamt. In fact, they are nice though the shower is a bit unusual (no shower curtains here!). Some of the newest missionaries here took us on a walking tour around the city we are in & will live for the next week. We got to see quite a bit- a 7-11, the Post Office, grocery store, hardware store & of course, many fruit stands. Mango & Papaya are in season here now & we're all looking forward to trying the fresh fruit. The watermelon looks like it is to die for as does the pineapple. After our tour, we dis some prayer walking near the school which for me, was the highlight of the day (next to the ice cream I ate last night at the night market). I was overwhelmed with a sense of a broken heart for these people as we passed by & noticed the flags upon every single door to "keep the evil spirits out." There's not a door without these flags. It is so disheartening. First day & I was already choked up crying. That's OK though as we should be heartbroken for those that are lost. Yes, we went to the night market lastnight & well, to me it was pretty much a carnival meets a flea market-rather boring although it was good to see it as it's a part of their culture here. We saw plenty of great tasting food (OK, maybe not-raw fish, etc) that we had to hold Haley back from buying. The people here are very friendly & always wave or say hello. I was a bit apprehensive when buying my ice cream lastnight as I'd never dealt with foreign money or having to do that sort of thing but Rex (our leader) helped me out which basically consisted of much pointing at signs. Al of the missionaries are awesome & I love them already. It's going to be great getting to know them further over the next week. Our team is doing well together-glad to be getting to spend time with each of them. Today, we held worship time outside of a temple. It was amazing to be able to do so. We then, toured the temple & Wes (the head missionary) taught us about everything. Seeing the temple was an experience I will never forget. Very sad. Some more tears came while we were there. The temple keeper was asking one of the missionaries why we were there & when she told him to teach English, he did not understand. However, when she told him to teach about Jesus Christ, he did get it. He stretched out his arms & pointed to his hands as if to show the nails being driven through Christ's hands. At that point, the tears could not be held in. That was an amazing moment. I wish Haley had captured it on video. the building was so very ornate & beautiful but it is so sad to think that these people are practicing these rituals that will only lead them on a dead end path & God hates their temples. As Wes told us today, we hate the temple & their practice but love them as God does. As for food, you will be pleased to know I've been a brave soul. While all but Katie had eggs on the plane, she & I tried the Chinese rice soup. I thought it was great. Yesterday, we ate the Hakka noodles that were featured on the church website from 2003 that looked so terribly gross. Yep, we ate it & by golly, I loved them-especially after putting the hot sauce in it. Haley was not too wild about it at all. Lastnight's supper was not horrible but not amongst my favorites. We had plain white rice, clams, goat, chicken, shrimp, pork & squid. I tried all but the squid. Today, we had fried rice with pork in it for lunch & it was delicious. They never salt anywhere so lastnights plain white rice was a bit bland for me. Having soy sauce today was a huge blessing. Everything is doing so well. The groups that have come before have talked greatly about the rooster & dogs across the street from the hotel being such a nuisance but we never heard them at all this morning. Praise God! We went to bed at 9:15 lastnight & got up at 5:30 this morning & we were few out of the entire group that were able to sleep that long. Anyway, we've got to meet in a bit to go over school stuff & tomorrow we'll spend the day preparing for Mon. when we begin teaching. Love you guys & know that I am doing just fine here-haven't really even had any complaints even with the heat. Love you!
A little over a week ago, with tears streaming down my face, I hugged my sister tightly and said good-bye. While I am sure that I was mesmerized by Haley when she first arrived in this world, I was not always as amused with her. In fact, for many years, I did not like having her around at all. By God's grace, as He transformed my heart and I grew older, my love and appreciation for my sister returned. As many of my friends left for college, I did not have many friends who remained in town. Then, my friends began to marry and move away. One person was always here though-yep, my sister. We began spending more and more time with each other-time I cherish. Haley may be younger than me but in many areas, I look up to her and have great admiration for her. My sister has always had a heart for the underdog, the less popular or the "different" kind of individual that most (including myself unfortunately at times) would stay away from. She has always been quick to forgive no matter how many times someone may have hurt her. I could go on & on about all of her good qualities and traits. Though watching her walk away from us at the airport was extremely difficult, I am more proud of her now than ever. I hope that when we sense God calling us to action that we, like Haley, would follow in obedience and not ignore what He ask of us. Thankfully, Veterans Day fell on the day before she left and because I work at a financial institution, I had the day off. I had planned to run some errands and get things done. As I prepared to do so, Haley mentioned that she thought I would like to wait so that I could go with her. It was clear to me that though she may not have really cared one way or the other to go by herself, she knew deep down inside that I would rather wait and go with her than go it alone and miss an opportunity to spend time together. I decided to wait on her and then we headed out together to do some shopping. I am so glad that in the last few weeks before Haley's flight out, we were able to spend much time one with another and enjoy one another's company. On the eve before Haley left, our entire family in town (and some that even drove in from KY) came over for dinner and visitation time with Haley.
Haley still was not packed. But...as our family always does, everyone pitched in to help pack up her room, carry things to the basement, fold her clothes, etc. 
Our Cousins Lisa & Chanda were the last ones to leave late & when they left, Haley was still packing. 
I'm not sure what time my sister made it to bed. Despite going to bed late myself and not sleeping well, I was up at 3:30 to throw on some clothes and go with my parents to take Haley to the airport though. As we rode in the van, I took a few pictures of my sister and me. I don't think she was too overjoyed about the bright flash going off in the pitch dark blinding her eyes though. I continued my picture taking while in the airport too. Haley asked why I was taking so many pictures and I told her I was doing so because it was my last chance to take pictures of her for a long while. So, even though I look absolutely horrific in the photos (having not showered or washed my hair yet, no make-up, etc.), they are precious to me. 
Now, my sister is in Nicaragua and the testimonies of God already moving greatly there are an encouragement to my heart to hear of. I pray for Haley daily. I pray for many missionaries around the globe daily. I ask you to also, remember these in prayer who are carrying forth the gospel both near and far.