As I write this entry, I am burning up with a fever. Again, my health has taken a turn for the worse. I believe that I stated in a previous entry that I have been healthy here in Taiwan for about a total of only four days. Other than that, I have had one illness or another. All of them have been either some sort of cold virus or the flu. Currently, I am suffering from a cold.

Basically, today was uneventful. Recently, I have followed the mindset that I should try to make each day better than the day before. That is a great goal, but doing it is tough. Today was no exception. I believe that I must make my opportunities in life, that they just don’t happen. Having said that, I also know that believing in something is different from actually living according to it. You see, I believe in a literal separation of faith and works. My friend Jenna would disagree with me on that point, but I have had too many experiences to change my mind. Furthermore, it is a part of the Mormon doctrine, to which I wholeheartedly agree.

What I am trying to say is that just by feeling something is the right thing to do doesn’t mean you I will do it. As I child, I gave my mother a great deal of stress, due to this fact. Certainly, I believed that what she was telling me was what I should do, I just wanted to live contrary to that, being the rebellious youth that I was.

Colin was a good boy today. He failed his vowel test, but I think he will get it eventually. At school, I had the older children study phonics. Then, when the younger children joined them, I had them all do an art project. They painted their hands different colors and then embossed them on paper. Very easy.

For the kitchen period, I had them do another easy thing. I had them put peanut butter on a cracker and then sprinkle it with raisins. That taught them a few basic words, such as cracker, peanut butter, and raisins.

In Ch’ing-shui, I taught the first class and then Shu Mei taught most of the second class (the new one). Julie did not like her name, wanting “Kitty” instead. Zoe was not there today, I don’t know why, but we gained another student. I named her “Debi”, for no real reason but that it goes well with her older brother, “Dan”. Dan is a student in the first Ch’ing-shui class. He is one of the smarter students and we are hoping that Debi will be likewise.

After the classes, I came home very tired and, as I said previously, sick. I responded to email and then made this entry. Afterwards, I will surf the web a bit and then get some much-needed rest.

I’m listening to Blues tonight, as I write this. Once in a while, once in a great while, I’m in the mood for some good Blues music. Obviously, it is a reflection upon the mood that I’m in. I should be happy today, for we began a new class and that goes toward my goal of making a successful venture here in Taiwan.

However, I cannot help but feel a bit down, because of the increased amount of hours I have to work. In addition to the new class, I picked up two more tutors. They are sisters, college-age girls. I will be teaching them on Monday and Wednesday nights. They begin next Wednesday, the day after tomorrow.

These new tutors will very challenging for me, as they speak English well. It isn’t like teaching the children, where I can use simple activities to teach them simple phrases. With adults, I have to come up with more complex activities to teach them more complex phrases. Luckily, these girls want to hone in on their conversational abilities, using me as a native speaker, and not on their grammar and punctuation skills.

Having stated that, I know that there is a lot I can teach them. I spoke briefly to one of them today. Her English name, “Ally”, breaks out of the norm of common names that most English teachers give their students. Most names are like Lisa, Alan, Ruby, and Bill. Ally seems very intelligent and I am hoping that she can become fluent in English in a short time. Although she has a ways to go, that would be a feather in my cap.

Speaking of names, the new class we began today had three girls in it that I had to give English names to. In honor of a friend of mine, I gave one of the girls the uncommon name of “Zoe”. I tried this before, and the girl came back the next day with a different name – Lisa. So, we’ll see if it sticks this time. The other two I named in honor of my sisters, “Kaye” and “Julie”. There was a fourth girl who Shu Mei named “Vicky”.

I didn’t know it when I gave the children their names, but Kaye and Julie are sisters. What a coincidence! Regretfully, I found out from Shu Mei, after the class, that Kaye may not be able to attend as her mother cannot afford for both of her daughters to attend. I asked Shu Mei if there is anything we can do, like only charge them monthly and not quarterly, to ease the mother’s burden. She said that she will talk to her. I hate to lose children. Adults can come and go, as they will anyway, but children need stability.

I neglected to speak about Colin. He managed to learn the sounds of the vowels today. Using ideas provided by a phonics video and Shu Mei, and one of my own, I presented the vowel sounds to him today. I think that he will retain them, although I’ll be able to tell for certain tomorrow (i.e., test).

I have been writing a friend from my old work. She is interested in coming here to be a teacher at the end of June. I hope that she does, although I wouldn’t hold it against her if she didn’t. Having her here would free up my busy schedule. That would enable me to spend more time developing audio-visual helpmates for the school and coming up with an extended curriculum. That is my goal, to step away from the hands on teaching and help the school progress to be a successful venture.

My hours after the classes were spent trying to educate myself about making my web site better. Even though I put videos on the site, from the dinosaur exhibit, I don’t think they are showing correctly. I have to study a great deal about this, as I have never done it before. Also, I’m still trying to locate an applet that will show my current time on the starting page of my web site. That is basically for my mother, who often wonders, “What time is it now in Taiwan?”

Tonight, I am back listening to country western music. This time, it isn’t ole time country, but classical country – Roy Clark. When I was a teenager, I saw him in concert. It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. It seemed to me that he truly cared about making people feel uplifted by his music. He put forth a great deal of energy in performing. According to my good friend Ron Jacoby, nothing has changed. Ron is close to the country music scene, having befriended Glen Campbell and his daughter Debi. Because of his ties to the Campbells, Ron has the honor of meeting many music legends, including Roy Clark. That blessing could not have come to a more deserving individual than Ron, for he truly loves and appreciates that genre of music.

Today I went to Church, it being Sunday and all. (See, I’m even starting use country western grammar. How scary!) I did not learn anything at Church. Unfortunately, that happens with me, from time to time. I don’t know if it is that the subject matter is so basic, this being a new area for the Mormon Church, or that I just allow my mind to wander during the lessons. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Regardless, I felt that the three hours at Church were unproductive in the learning area.

I did get the opportunity to bless the sacrament. Boy was I nervous! As I stated yesterday, Shu Mei helped me write down the Chinese words for the prayer. Without that, I couldn’t have even made the attempt. However, it has been about 22 years since I blessed the sacrament, except for a few times on my mission. Because of that, I couldn’t even remember the procedures. Certainly, I have seen the process many times throughout the years. But, it is like the sun. I see it in the sky everyday, but I don’t really think about how it got there. Today, I had to think “how it got there”.

Luckily, I could follow the lead of President Yen, our former Branch President, who said the first prayer. For the second prayer, I read the words that Shu Mei had helped me write yesterday. I think I heard a few giggles from some of the children in the congregation during it, but I am not certain. After the Sacrament Meeting, several of the Branch members approached me and said, through Shu Mei, that I did a great job. To me, that meant I sucked. The reason I state this is that they would only say this if: a) They wanted to compliment me, because: a) I was really good… which I wasn’t, or b) They wanted to make me feel better, because I sucked… which I did.

After Church, I came home and responded to email. I must mention one email exchange that has been going on for quite some time now. I am exchanging doctrinal-based email messages with a friend of mine, Jenna Murphy. I went to high school with her (her name then was Jennifer Eccles) and contacted her late last year, after seeing her listing on classmates.com and wondering what ever happened to her. We have been bantering around some gospel subjects for a while now. Jenna is a Christian and has a different viewpoint on key doctrinal issues than I do. From what she says, her beliefs lie solely in the Bible, prayer, the Holy Spirit, and her common sense. My beliefs come from the aforementioned sources, but also include the LDS scriptures (i.e., Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price) and modern day revelation from a living Prophet.

During and after the email responses, I caught myself surfing on the web, reading about subjects that I never would have imagined reading about before. At one point, I was actually reading about the benefits of salt! I cannot believe how carried away I can get at times.

Later on, I met with “Jason” back at the Church. We had an appointment with a sister there, “Theresa”. We are her home teachers. Theresa used to attend the adult English class we had at the school, which was summarily canceled last week. (We canceled it because of the fact we cannot rely on the adults showing up to class all of the time. Anyway, we will soon begin a new children’s class.) Jason and I spoke for a few minutes, before Theresa arrived. Jason speaks decent English and he can understand most of what I am saying. He told me that Theresa might need help with getting a testimony. Jokingly, I asked him if he wanted me to give her one.

When Theresa arrived, we sang a hymn together, said a prayer, and then talked with her about her feelings regarding Church. She stated that her family (i.e., mother, father, and grandparents) were against her attending Church. Often, on Sundays, they would leave her at home to take care of everything, so she was unable to attend Church. I told Theresa that she should find out what she really cares about and then pray to God for help in obtaining it. I felt that she really did lack a strong testimony, because of what she was saying about her inability to attend Church. I don’t mean to sound heartless, but I believe that God will make a way for us, if we truly put our faith in Him. (Easier said than done, of course.)

Chet Atkins is now playing guitar with Roy Clark over my headphones. Chet was always my favorite guitarist. I was deeply saddened when he died a few months ago. Speaking of dying, I heard that they recovered over 70 bodies from yesterday’s fatal plane crash. Upon reflection of the incident, I felt guilty. Initially, when I heard about it, I wondered if there were any Americans onboard. Then, I started to thinking… who cares? I mean, people are people. It does not make it any better if they are from a different country than I am from or not. I was ashamed of my thoughts.