TAIWAN

November 2016

Taipei

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

Street-side dumplings

Kaohsiung

Addison trying to eat his first hot pot -

between the mystery ingredients, the often failing flame,

and the chopstick-noodle combination, we were cracking up so hard

We often enjoy affogato when at the Bernards' -

or, as it's known in Taiwan, "iced cream floting on the coffee" :)

The view from the skyscraper Taipei 101

Special Convention

November 11-13

On the subway the first morning, we met this 4 year old cutie pie.

He said to his mom in Chinese, "I am too happy!" and "This is beautiful!"

The welcoming crowd was awesome!

These friends sang "Joy of Conventions" for us in English

Handing out little gifts

Dumplings for breakfast

Saturday morning, we met this sweet sister at the subway station.

She was getting baptized that day!

Her son, far right, was the first one in the family to study the Bible.

Little Russian beauty

Watching the baptism

254 were baptized!

The attendance for the weekend peaked at more than 20,000

Seeing an old pal

Saturday evening, we befriended these three sweet sisters.

Dennise, in the middle, is originally from California but moved to Asia

to help with the preaching work.

Ja Ja, on the right, serves Jehovah despite family opposition.

Getting to know them was really encouraging

On the way to the subway, Dennise ran into Maria.

Dennise's father witnessed to Maria while she was visiting the U.S. 

on a brief business trip. She's now a pioneer! 

Before the program started Sunday,
some of the friends performed native dances

This little boy was my absolute favorite - he had so much personality.

We called him Taiwanese Arlo :)

He had made all of these great drawings to hand out to the friends he met

His flag says, "See You In Paradise"

This little girl was so happy to get a gift from Lindsey

Meeting up with Patrick

Patrick's parents, Steve & Polly, were also visiting for the convention.

We had a lot of fun with them!

I nicknamed his mom "the apostle Polly" because 

she witnessed to everyone - even despite language barriers!

The whole weekend was great,

and sharing it with these two made it over-the-top awesome!

Night Market

Squid

Chicken feet

In a related story, I had such a funny conversation at the convention

with an Australian sister who's serving in China. 

The subject of food came up and she told me in a lively way 

that people actually eat the feet off of their chickens 

and had I ever even imagined such a thing??

So I went ahead and told her of the parallel to the cuisine back home in Appalachia :)

Bubble tea!

The overwhelming generosity of the friends really touched our hearts.

Everyone back in Jenkins enjoyed picking a little gift out 

from their loving brothers and sisters in Asia.

Taroko Gorge

Sitting on our balcony, listening to the water and the birds

Traditional Amis singing by the fire

The super moon

Passion fruit, guava & dragon fruit

in addition to papaya, pineapple & watermelon

One day we rented scooters and explored the gorge

Polly was a trooper!

The gorge was stunning.

For awesome landscape shots, you can head to Addi's site

www.addisonwilliams.com