Typhoon Repartak has come and gone, but not much really happened. Correct me if I'm wrong (I have no way to double check), but the typhoon was originally predicted to bend north of Taiwan and eventually curved straight into Hualien. Right before land, however, it curved even further south and slammed into Taidong on the lower part of the island. Result: Taidong getting flipped upside down and Hualien getting nothing. Throughout the day in Hualien, it would rain very heavy for 30 minutes and then just stop for another 30 minutes. No wind though. Compare that with Taidong, where cars were flipped over and one of the Elders apartment's roof caved in. Even so, weather forecasts put a 70% chance of the typhoon curving back up the island and hitting Hualien, so we were in our apartments all day long. We made a ton of phone calls, designed a fortress out of 8 mattresses, and went and watched the rivers flood their banks like crazy.
Saturday we were able to go to the temple with our recent convert Xu Yang Kai. Usually Hualien Elders can't get permission to do so, but for some reason (probably Elder Jensen going home this week), President let us go. After we got permission to take our recent convert there, I realized I could call my recent convert named Joe from XinFeng (who hadn't gone yet) to see if he could come as well. I called him on Wednesday, and to my surprise they were already set up to go to the temple on the exact same day at the exact same time. Not only that, but they were bringing my other recent convert Emma, a less active that Elder Humphries and I reactivated, and two members that I had gotten to know pretty well. It was so amazing and such a big miracle. How grateful I am that we have temples in our lives and that in Utah they are so convenient. I love you all, have a great week!!
waterfalls formed after the heavy rain from the typhoon
Gecko with Repartak in the background. Originally he was hanging out by a strip of tape that was put over the window to avoid shattering during typhoons, so I scared him a little away from it so I could get the photo. Pretty funny. Geckos are everywhere lately.
typhoon fort!
an awesome Buddhist temple
Okay, so the Gecko photo and the cloud photo with the temple in the foreground are rad. Seriously. Great pics. (This is Dad.)
a ladder into the clouds
me driving to church on the laps of the other three Elders (I know)
Taipei temple
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