Well we have been home a month and got so caught up with reuniting with our friends and family we never posted our final story.
After a long week of saying good byes, and tying up loose ends, it was time to go home. On Thursday we spent the entire day cleaning and getting the apartment ready with a brief break to have dinner with Justin and Jeff. By 2am we had pretty much everything finished and we headed over to Joshua's apartment ( a Korean sister who also was leaving the same day as us ). She had very kindly offered for us to stay with her since her room mates had already left and her land lord allowed her to stay until she left the country. We were very grateful for a place to stay but the 2 nights were a little tough since the apartment had no air conditioner and it was in the 90s. Also the bed was not comfortable and had no sheets. But we didn't need to be spending time sleeping anyways :).
Friday we got up early and went and finished a few things at the apartment. We also called Tres and he came over, and talked with us for a while and took the food that we had left over. It was exactly what we needed. Then our landlady came and after chatting with her a bit and getting our final utilities paid we got our deposit back and it was time to say goodbye to our Taiwan apartment. So with the big things done we went to have breakfast/lunch one last time at Aunt Stella's (the really good Waffle and panini place).
After spending the day studying for the meeting and running a few errands we only had 2 big things on our to do list. One sell our scooter. This ended up being harder than we expected since so many foreigners were leaving all about the same time. Thus there was a surplus of scooters for sale and a shortage of buyers. We went with the Liu's to several scooter shops and most offered as little as 2000nt (we originally paid 10000nt). The best offer we received was for 3000nt which when you work it out then it makes our transportation for 6 months only cost us about 35usd per month not too bad. But at dinners the Liu's kindly bought it from us for 3500nt.
That night we had our last meeting with the Nantun congregation. It was very nice just about everyone came up to say goodbye. We also got the rest of our calls and studies turned over. After the meeting it was back to packing. We brought way too much!!! We had 4 large suit cases 2 carry ons and 2 back packs all way over weight. We had to throw away a lot of our clothes. The next day(Saturday 6-1-13) 2 sisters and brother liu came at 7am and picked up Joshua, us and all of our luggage - it took 3 cars! They took us to the bus station which goes straight to the airport in Taipei.
Once at the airport we asked where to go for our flight. They told us that the only flight going to San Francisco left earlier in the morning. They told us that our airline no longer flies that route and would not be fling it again until next March! So after a little panic and a few prayers we went to the United airline booth and started getting things settled. We only had two options, we could stay together but we wouldn't get home until Sunday or Monday. The other option was we would fly together to Japan then to San Francisco and spit there. I would fly to Huston while Hannah would fly to Chicago. Going this route we would only arrive about 5 hours later than our original scheduled arrival. So after some scrambling and Hannah almost missing her flight to Chicago we both made it to our destinations. My flight arrived in Kansas City about 9:10 20 min ahead of schedule. Hannah's flight on the other hand got delayed several times do to storms and her flight didn't leave until 9:05 so she got in about 10:30pm. It was a wonderful reunion with both sets of parents and Ben & Amanda there to welcome us home.
We stayed the night at Randy & Cindy's house with our kitties and got up early the next day for the last day of the District Convention.
Our time in Taiwan was so wonderful. We are so thankful that we were able to go. The new friends we made and the experiences we had are priceless. We want to thank all of our friends and family for their support. But ultimately we know that all of the credit goes to Jehovah. He took such good care of us and continues to do so.
Also upon our return we learned that our group had been approved to become a congregation. Very exciting and it will mean that our new knowledge will be put to good use. Our congregation will be moving from Independence Missouri to Roeland Park Kansas.
Well for the most part this will end our blog. We will be posting at least one more post with all of our knowledge consolidated to help anyone who would like to make a similar trip.
Thanks for following us our adventure!
Love Phil & Hannah
After a long week of saying good byes, and tying up loose ends, it was time to go home. On Thursday we spent the entire day cleaning and getting the apartment ready with a brief break to have dinner with Justin and Jeff. By 2am we had pretty much everything finished and we headed over to Joshua's apartment ( a Korean sister who also was leaving the same day as us ). She had very kindly offered for us to stay with her since her room mates had already left and her land lord allowed her to stay until she left the country. We were very grateful for a place to stay but the 2 nights were a little tough since the apartment had no air conditioner and it was in the 90s. Also the bed was not comfortable and had no sheets. But we didn't need to be spending time sleeping anyways :).
Friday we got up early and went and finished a few things at the apartment. We also called Tres and he came over, and talked with us for a while and took the food that we had left over. It was exactly what we needed. Then our landlady came and after chatting with her a bit and getting our final utilities paid we got our deposit back and it was time to say goodbye to our Taiwan apartment. So with the big things done we went to have breakfast/lunch one last time at Aunt Stella's (the really good Waffle and panini place).
That night we had our last meeting with the Nantun congregation. It was very nice just about everyone came up to say goodbye. We also got the rest of our calls and studies turned over. After the meeting it was back to packing. We brought way too much!!! We had 4 large suit cases 2 carry ons and 2 back packs all way over weight. We had to throw away a lot of our clothes. The next day(Saturday 6-1-13) 2 sisters and brother liu came at 7am and picked up Joshua, us and all of our luggage - it took 3 cars! They took us to the bus station which goes straight to the airport in Taipei.
Once at the airport we asked where to go for our flight. They told us that the only flight going to San Francisco left earlier in the morning. They told us that our airline no longer flies that route and would not be fling it again until next March! So after a little panic and a few prayers we went to the United airline booth and started getting things settled. We only had two options, we could stay together but we wouldn't get home until Sunday or Monday. The other option was we would fly together to Japan then to San Francisco and spit there. I would fly to Huston while Hannah would fly to Chicago. Going this route we would only arrive about 5 hours later than our original scheduled arrival. So after some scrambling and Hannah almost missing her flight to Chicago we both made it to our destinations. My flight arrived in Kansas City about 9:10 20 min ahead of schedule. Hannah's flight on the other hand got delayed several times do to storms and her flight didn't leave until 9:05 so she got in about 10:30pm. It was a wonderful reunion with both sets of parents and Ben & Amanda there to welcome us home.
We stayed the night at Randy & Cindy's house with our kitties and got up early the next day for the last day of the District Convention.
Our time in Taiwan was so wonderful. We are so thankful that we were able to go. The new friends we made and the experiences we had are priceless. We want to thank all of our friends and family for their support. But ultimately we know that all of the credit goes to Jehovah. He took such good care of us and continues to do so.
Also upon our return we learned that our group had been approved to become a congregation. Very exciting and it will mean that our new knowledge will be put to good use. Our congregation will be moving from Independence Missouri to Roeland Park Kansas.
Well for the most part this will end our blog. We will be posting at least one more post with all of our knowledge consolidated to help anyone who would like to make a similar trip.
Thanks for following us our adventure!
Love Phil & Hannah
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