Down at the River

We have had two awesome days - Saturday and Sunday. We are between English camps.
Actually, we also went to the night market on Friday night - shopping and eating - a lot of fun.
Kung Ho church arranged a day in the mountains for our whole group on Saturday. We drove up to Wulai Falls with two brothers from the church who have land and ties to the aborigine people. We walked across a bridge to hike up the mountain. Larry couldn't resist the testing the water.

We drove further up the mountain to a special home where the owners helped us make moche - a rice treat. It gets the consistency of marshmallows and is rolled in peanut flour. Each of us had the chance to pound the rice. We stopped at the falls and took pictures.
Larry and I had spent our anniversary there in 2005! We were treated to a wonderful lunch - fish, pork)wild boar), chicken, vegetables, shrimp, chicken soup, spicy plums and oranges to name a few of the things I can remember. On the way home we stopped for a famous local treat - popsicles (mango and red bean flavors). After the trip, the group continued on to shop at two areas before heading home.
Sunday was another wonderful day. The church service was a real blessing. We even had it translated through headphones. After a short break, we drove to the mountains again to a river park for a BBQ and baptism. The same men we saw on Saturday provided the meat for the BBQ. There was venison, boar, sausage, flying squirrel, snail, and rat! Yes, rat! Tammi ate some of it! There was a variety of fruits and vegetables and we even found that someone brought pizza and donuts! It was a very fun gathering. The river was very rocky but there was a nice deep area so kids could jump off the rocks and swim a little. After eating we assembled in the air conditioned meeting hall for singing. Then we went back out to the river and 27 baptisms were done. The small group leader baptized those from their small group. As they were baptized they sang a welcome song to each one. We returned to the hall for a ceremony and then everyone had communion with the new believers. They received a gift and then after songs and prayer the meeting broke up and friends and families brought them beautiful bouquets and gifts and there was cake. It was a joyful time.