Artie got baptized and we got to Skype with Silas for Mother's Day!!!

This week we got to Skype with Silas for Mothers' Day!!!  They were Skyping at the church.  It will probably be the last time we Skype before he comes home sometime around the end of the year.  He's not sure yet when his return date will be.  His entrance into the MTC at the beginning of his mission was delayed one week, and the church keeps adjusting the transfer schedules.  He said this next transfer period will be extended into the middle of July - longer than the normal six week transfer period.  

We asked him what he thought his post mission plans would be.  He said it was so hard to learn Mandarin that he definitely wants to continue to study the language in college, and hopes to make it a big part of his future career.  He said he doesn't want to lose his language skills when he gets back to the states.  He said he is currently working on his reading and writing skills with both traditional characters and simplified.  Taiwan uses traditional characters, while mainland China uses simplified characters.    

We got to meet his companion, Elder Hongvillai.  His English is really good. He got to Skype with his mother in Thailand the day before.  They celebrate Mothers' Day in both Taiwan and Thailand.  He said his sister is a baker in Moab and that he would like to go visit her someday.  We hope he gets the chance. 

We also got to meet a ward member whose English name is Middle.  They pick such interesting English names.  Silas is doing well and seems to really have hit his stride as a missionary in Taiwan. We got to hear him talk with Middle in Mandarin many times as he was trying to explain our conversation. There was a lot of Mandarin and laughing going on, so we must have been entertaining. We were also trying to figure out how to correctly pronounce Silas' Mandarin name - Bo Zhang Lao.  He kept trying to teach it to us, but we weren't picking up on those subtle tones that are so important in Mandarin.  Well, at least we kept them entertained.  

We also found out that Artie got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!!!  His father is a member and he told Artie that is was up to him if he wanted to come to church and be a member.  It takes a lot of dedication for a young man like Artie to get up and go to church without any promptings by his father.  The church can always use another priesthood holder and we think Artie will be great.  His father and the ward must be so happy to have another priesthood holder.

For P-day, Silas said that they were going to go with brother Middle and get some Thai food (a taste of home for his companion) and check out nearby Tainan City.