Erek Short—Arizona, Undeclared, Baritone

Today, Friday the 14th of May, we the choir woke up early for an 8:30 departure to the bus. Many of us woke up at 7:30, got ready, finished packing, ate, and had our devotional. The song at devotional was "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today." I wonder what the people in the hotel think when we sing a four part hymn and—not to toot our own horn—sing the song well. I hope they can feel the spirit. We are here to share the gospel through music. I hope they felt inspired to look into the church through our music.

The devotional was by [Michael] Gunter and Travis [Kneisly] and they talked about avoiding being complacent will our singing and our spirituality. Gunter gave us a verse: 2 Nephi 28:21. It is about how Satan tempts us to be ok with where we are; that there isn't any higher or better spiritual level for us. However, no one is perfect, so we should constantly strive for perfection. It was a great devotional.
After, we counted off and loaded the bus and went to Feng Chia University for the cultural exchange. At the cultural exchange, we had a very short tour of the Feng Chia sporting center. It was a huge building that is used by the school for classes but it is open to the public. They explained the cost for a half a year membership was about 20-30 American dollars. And the whole building cost about ten million dollars! I don’t know how the place earns money.

After, we performed the cultural performances for each other. There were judges that judged us and group nine and ten won! I was a part of group ten and we did a hula dance. It was fun to perform and learn. After the performances, we ate and said our goodbyes to the students and exchanged small gifts and Facebook information. From what I understand from the Chinese culture, the people love to keep in touch with people they meet like us. It's exciting to have friends in another country! As we left, a small few got snacks out of vending machines and we leave for Taipei and the temple.

We arrived in Taipei and went to the temple. It was an amazing experience. We then checked in to the hotel and ate dinner. It was a great meal. There was fish, ham, pork, and dishes both spicy and savory with rice, obviously. And after dinner we went to the night market. There were many amazing things to buy and eat. We stayed out a little later and plan to sleep in tomorrow. Wish us luck on our performance tomorrow!