Kiaora everybody it’s blogger time. I thought if I include the family letter in the blog that you can get the best of both worlds and it also might help me keep more up to date. This letter has some old and some new, hope you enjoy it.
All you need is love ba ba baba ba, love is all you need. Obviously the Beatles had not been present in the delivery room, it takes more than love, and in my experience there seems to be a moment where despite the absolute pain, faith, hope, and charity combine with pure determination and a child is born. Manaseh has Ammon's face and Michael's build. He is a very curious lad always looking around with his big pukana eyes. I feel he is destined to be a great missionary and an honourable father.
Manaseh, a.k.a Mana, is already on all fours and it won’t be before long that he will forsake the head slide and role for the crawl and fall off the bed. All our Taiwanese friends call him mini manu, mostly because he is big boned hehe. He is very curious and strong and has mastered the grab and rip technique, with a special vengeance toward Dr Sues.
Ammon and Michael are loving school and they seem to be very popular. Yesterday they both won medals in their school races and Michael proudly told me all about it in Mandarin. I am so blessed to have them as my sons.
As some of you have already heard we have decided to go home next year and shack up with mum. I will miss Taiwan with all my heart, it has been good to us. When I first pondered coming to Taiwan I felt a bit like Adam after offering his sacrifice and it was not until recently that my true purpose for being here has come to my understanding. Living here in Taiwan has strengthened the cords of love that eternally bind me to Fiona. It's as if Taiwan has been the fellowship of our wedding ring and we will return king and Queen, with experiences that uniquely bind us together for eternity.
Fiona has started work in the mornings with me, so every morning we get to ride together on the scooter like newly-weds. Time seems to be flying all around me and often the many leaning experiences I wish to share with you all get swept away in the rush of every day living. As I look around at the calamities that seem almost common place, I can’t help but hear the ever pressing words of our prophet, to repent and come unto Christ for the kingdom of God is at hand. But there is so much that blinds our eyes and demands our time.
Our lives are constantly bombarded with tantalizing advertising, delicious and good to the taste. It’s as if in our quest to gain knowledge we fall into a recurring theme of keeping up with the next best, when in true historian fashion the outdated becomes the past and unlike eternal truth personifying it’s maker, is only a means to praise mankind and lift you up in the pride of your peers acceptance.
So if there is to be anything good from the past it is to be found in the traditions and accomplishments that led men to look to the stars for guidance and trust in the Lord for all else. Taiwan is a concrete metropolis clothed in an oasis of neon lights. The stars in the bright sky struggle to be seen amongst the big stars Sony and Benq. I miss lying on soft grass and looking up on a starry night at the splendor of the heavens. I miss my family in New Zealand and if it wasn’t for the love of our closest friends here in Taiwan I’m sure I would have come home a lot earlier.
We are trying to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. I think we’re up to almost 6 pages a day now. We have noticed the difference in our lives and the promises of our prophet fulfilled. So until next time Fiona and the boys send their love and we all hope that you are healthy and happy, Aroha Nui Manu…
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