Short but sweet

Nope. I didn't find a cute vertically challenged girl if that was what you were thinking from the title. I just don't have a lot of time to write a nice post like I usually do but I did want to record a great experience that I had this weekend here in the land of jungle and heat. This weekend in Taiwan they had an All Taiwan Missionary Reunion up in TaiZhong and me and another friend of mine decided to go up and attend. I have never attended any type of reunion ever, not because I don't want to but because for some reason I'm always either out of the loop, or out of the country, or just out of my mind. For what it's worth I've always wanted to go to some kind of reunion because I love seeing people that I haven't seen in a long time that I've been close to in the past. I really mean that. I flew across the country this summer just so I could see some of these "haven't seen in a long time that I've been close to" friends so it definitely is something that stands as a priority in my life. Anyway, I went up to this reunion but I didn't see anybody that I knew. I really wasn't expecting to because there were only two native Taiwan missionaries in my mission when I was here so anybody else would have had to fly into Taiwan to attend, and that comes out to a really expensive ticket. But I did have a great time getting to know a lot of the returned missionaries from previous years. In fact this reunion they had a special guest there. It turns out that one of the first four missionaries that came to Taiwan has now returned to serve in the Temple and they had him speak. I was fascinated by the stories that he told because it was like learning a bit of church history that was so foreign to me. I mean I'm pretty familiar with American church history which I am fascinated already with but I don't know a lot about how the church started out here on the island that I know and love. Well his stories really brought things into perspective. It reminded me a lot of Elder Groberg's books and how the world was just so different back then and how much of a risk missionaries during that time period would take to go on their missions. I had a lot of respect for the early missionaries, and members of Taiwan after his message. But the part that moved me the most was a little video of some native missionaries challenging the youth to go out on missions. It was pretty cute and inspiring to see these native missionaries but for just 5 seconds of this video I saw one of my closest friends that I have made out here, Josh who is on a mission right now, and it caught me off guard. I haven't seen this guy in over a half of a year and this guy had to go through so many trials to actually get out on this mission including getting constantly berated by the people that he loved the most, thrown out of the house, warned to never come back and that he was no longer a part of his family. I put him up in my place right before he left on his mission so he wouldn't go homeless. But when I saw him on this video his face had such a glow to it, and he looked so different; not so much that he looked older but he was no longer Josh my good friend that I would always hang out with, he was Josh the missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. The change was so palpable and it hit me that he had received so many blessings by going through that experience to help him out on his mission. I was so moved that I cried a little bit because I knew that Heavenly Father helped Josh because he loved him which I was so happy because I love him as well. It is always such an awesome feeling to see when people who are close to me are blessed by the grace of God. I guess it acts as a testimony that it can happen in my life as well. I love the Lord and the many blessings which I receive from him daily. Hurrah for Israel!

Happy Middle Moon Festival!

Well this week I had a pleasant surprise. On Sunday we (meaning me and my American co-workers) went out with some of the funniest Taiwan friends that I have and had a Middle Moon Festival barbecue, Taiwan style. For all you Americans that don't know what the difference between a Taiwan barbecue and our I'll give you the low-down. In America we have innovated the Barbecue to be a standing up activity, where the man controls the cooking and we have even limited the selection of foods that you can put on a barbecue to mainly beef, pork and hot-dogs with the occasional fish and Ka-bob assortment. In Taiwan they do not lug around a big machine or even have that much of an expert way to barbecue. They just put charred pieces of wood between a man-made thing of rocks, or inside a thin metal box that is later thrown away and put a screen of some sort over the top to put the things that you are barbecuing on. The creativity of things to barbecue is also very plenteous as well. You name it, they've covered it in Teriyaki sauce and put it on their little campfire contraption. From vegetables that look like cattail roots and fish-product pancakes, to whole squid and chicken-heart-ka-bobs they will broil away to their hearts content. The point of having a barbecue on the Middle Moon festival is also so that you can be outside and look at the moon and the Moon was very pretty that night. We also ended up having a water fight started by a big beefy dude named JiaMing that kind of got out of hand and almost made it so we couldn't continue the barbecue but it was all in good fun.

Anyway, my pleasant surprise came after that night of fun. As we were driving home that night I voiced how I didn't want to go back to school the next day and my friend said, "You don't have school tomorrow. Tomorrow is the Middle Moon Festival holiday." and I was like, "I know but I thought we were still going to school." to which he replied, "Who would go to school on a holiday?" I don't know what I was thinking but I went home with a much lighter countenance knowing that I had one more day off before I had to go back to teaching. I think I slept more than I played but it turned out to be a great day.

I just received another answer to prayer this week as well. Coming back here I've made specific goals for myself to be more motivated on doing the things that I should be doing every day more consistently. I've been doing pretty well in implementing them but I just play a little bit too much so that I get really tired by the end of the week and those things kind of get left in the dust. Well, I just received another assignment under a calling that I already have. Since this year we don't have any students that need to take seminary at Zhong Shan we have discontinued the release time class, but they did not release me from my Seminary teacher calling. Well, apparently the early morning seminary teacher that teaches the youth here in Daliao has not been feeling well lately and they need a substitute to take over for the classes being taught at 5:50am. Ahhhhhhh! I told the bishop that it would be really difficult to keep a calling in the ward while doing this so he promised me that my Sunday responsibilities that needed preparation during the week would not be given while I did this. I then told him that this couldn't have come at a better time because I have been kind of thinking that I need a lifestyle change. Maybe this will make me a more responsible person with my scripture reading and my sleep schedule. Hopefully I don't have to have a major break down to change my lifestyle habits :) Nobody likes a crabby seminary teacher. I know because I lived with one for 4 years. I would appreciate any prayers that can be spared for my well being. I'm sure that I will at least love teaching the youth the gospel again because that does really feed my need for doing something that really makes a difference. Well, here's to another week. Hurrah for Israel!!

...and I thought my brother was bad!

Whew! First full week of classes and I am wiped! I do feel a lot more prepared and natural than last year though. I'm not as nervous for classes that I don't feel prepared for and the kids no longer scare me. Yes, you heard me right. My first year of teaching I had a very real fear of children. Not of all adolescents in general or anything, just any adolescent that had the detriment of taking my class. Maybe I had first time jitters, maybe it was worrying about acceptance, maybe it was repressed memories from my past about how hard elementary and middle school was, I don't know. I just know that entering the school campus and being around high school kids, even during my student-teaching experience, kind of made me have a little shortness of breath. The thing is is back when, when I was younger, that kind of fear would paralyze me whereas now that kind of fear fuels me to continue on and gives me the energy to be the person that I am today. I'm one of those freaks that likes scary movies for this reason. They give me energy and make me so much more excited about the world around me.

So, like last year, at the beginning of the year is when the students that don't have English names get to choose their English name. This is a very important part of the curriculum because to a teenager a new name is a very exciting and identifying moment so I take it seriously as well. I usually give them some sheets of paper that list different English names, whether they are boy or girl names and what they mean to facilitate this activity but only a handful of the students actually use them. Mostly the students will think of names of things that they have heard in the media that define popular and/or in-style feelings that make their name unique to themselves. Now we do the same thing in our culture when we choose names for our children. My brother and his wife I thought were numero uno when it comes to inventing different exotic and inventive variations on a name to name their kids which I have mocked them for in the past. But my kids make them look like mere amateurs! I will get names like Apple, milk, milk tea, chocolate, double-egg, hot, sugar, and coffee. If you thought that those were weird though, I'm just getting started. Just this year I have students named Prada, Nike, Adidas, Kappa, Fire Truck, Coach, a girl named Converse and a guy named Chanel (as in #5). I even had a girl that wanted to be named Victoria Secret but I talked her down to the name Secret. But at least those are actually real things. Then we get into the names that are just noises. In one class alone I have the name Lu-lu, mu-mu, Yo-mo, Mo-mo, Schmo-mo, Nichun (pronounced Nick-yun), and Ilo (prounounced YO!). I mean every time I think that they have gone over the line and I should tell them that that is not a name I am brought back to my dear brother and others in America who are likewise as creative and I think, "I've heard of rappers being named worse." The one student that takes the cake though, that I finally did interject and tell her that she could not have this name, was a sweet little girl who wanted to be named Pee-pee. That's right, PEE-PEE! I lost it right in the middle of class and almost fell over I was laughing so hard. The truly horrible thing is that when I explained to her that her name was the name for urine she didn't seem at all phased. I made her change it to Emily instead.

On a more serious note, I have really enjoyed coming back to this island. I have so many people here that I love and have made so many friends that it was hard to be away in America for that short two month period. I'm starting to feel what it is going to be like when I have to leave here and I don't like it. I might be setting myself up for not being satisfied with any job that doesn't either have some kind of traveling out of the country or makes me enough money that I can travel out of the country as much as I want. Now I can see why some people don't want to really venture away to live too far from home, because then the people you develop relationships with can be close enough to go and visit frequently. This having good close friends in countries halfway across the world kind of sucks. Maybe this is Heavenly Father motivating me to be successful in anything that I do so that I can have the freedom to stay close with all of these amazing people. Whatever does happen I've seen that no matter if you are or you aren't near those people that you really love, Heavenly Father takes care of them for you. I'm so grateful for his guiding hand, not only in my life but in the lives of the friends and family that I care about a lot. Heavenly Father does answer prayers of protection as long as we pray with faith.

Back in Taiwan and ready for action

Well, here I am back in Taiwan and things seem to be just the way I left them with minor variations. The school is still so last minute and unorganized that I'm amazed at how well it does, the ward is still full of warm and kind people that make me feel so loved and accepted, the Taiwanese people are still so accommodating that it makes me want to be a better person, and Kaohsiung is still a wet hot mess. The minor changes to the atmosphere are just the people that I see often. Because the school did not get all of their certifications in on time and everything their Kindergarten that has been successfully built is now going to be used by the high school students as classrooms until they do get that certification done, which means that our International department just hired two more teachers than normal and now don't have the classes to satisfy the contracted amount that they said they would give them. Therefore they had to talk to our part-time teacher Mark, who was told that they would still have need of his services, and kind of had to say "psych!" and tell him that they actually didn't have enough classes to give him this year. Also, all the English Honors classes need are three teachers to manage it so they gave those classes to the three new teachers, which cut into my hours a lot. But, never fear! Superhuman Clinton can also speak Chinese so he can handle all of the vocational English classes which are very much like the overseas Chinese class that gave him such a headache last year because of all of the little stipulations that a regular Chinese teacher would know about because of the familiarity of the educational culture and the fact that they know how to read the announcements on the website. I am definitely a little nervous about this whole situation yet like last year I'm sure that everything will work out. Another change of scenery is that my "companion" from last year to which I relied on for inspiration, elocution-al accuracy, vocabularical prowess, and all around buddyness, Erica, has left my side to go on to bigger and better things. I'm happy and excited for her future yet sad that our futures are not coinciding this year.

Yet we're starting off with a bang! I already saw my beloved 2-13 class and have warned them that this year is going to be a step up from last year because they are now third years and are expected to aim higher. Hopefully that speech but the fear of God into them so they are more pliable and willing to work. I'm such an evil teacher and gave them homework on the first day of school :). It seems like every night this week I also have been out seeing the people that I love and getting to know the people that are new. I've already taken my new co-workers out to an island called 旗津 (Qijin) and one of them already got sick from that outing and another got yelled at by a security guard for trying to swim in the ocean which I in turn got yelled at by my co-worker because he was upset that he couldn't swim. Definitely a change from last year but I love the different dynamic. Life has a way of making things different just to make things interesting and non-stagnant. I also have some personal goals and expectations for myself this year that I hope will be met with excitement and motivation instead of the usual laziness and waning desire. Hurrah for Israel! The work still goes on in my life as I hope it goes on for others.