Is watermelon sweet? Dad in Taichung (Feb. 14,2017)

                                              Dad visiting the mission office in Taichung

Dad sneaking a selfie with Sammy's companion, Sis. Reeve.  (Sammy was in a meeting with her mission president, Pres. Loh)

Dad explaining to Sis. Reeve's parents about his sneaking around in Yuan Lin:

Brother & Sister Reeve,

Hey!  I'm the father of Sister Daynes, your daughter's companion.  I just wanted to share with you how happy we've been with the first two months (in country) for our daughter.  Your daughter seems to be the perfect companion for ours and she's been so positive about the whole experience.  Thank you so much!  I've been wanting to send your daughter an email thanking her for being so great to Sammy (our daughter) but I don't know her first name.  Can you send me her email address?  

I also need to apologize to her for putting her in an awkward position this past week.  I feel really bad about how everything happened so quickly but I hope it will be a good story some day.  You may be hearing from her about the experience and her story may be different but, here's what happened:

I was in Taiwan on a business trip and my wife sent me with a backpack full of goodies for Sammy.  I got on a train and headed down to Taichung.  I went to the mission office to drop off the package and I spent about a half hour there talking to the missionaries... and a senior couple who would have talked for hours if I'd let them.  I should have gone back to Taipei at that point, but I got in a taxi and was curious to see Yuanlin.  The only reference point I had was the LDS church so my taxi dropped me off there.  My goal was to just cruise around the town, take some photos and then leave without being seen.  Thanks to google maps it wasn't difficult to find the church.  So, the chapel there was really nice and it looked empty.  I started walking around the building and I walked by a window and a girl inside looked surprised to see me.  I had been spotted so I hustled around the back of the church trying to figure out what to do.  Then, I saw that this girl had come over to another side door and I could tell it was your daughter.  She had spotted me and I'm pretty sure she knew who I was (because they knew that I was supposed to be in Taichung that week).  Soon, I saw two Elders looking over her shoulder.  I wasn't sure what to do so I was kind of waving at them to pay no attention to me... thinking that I could hide or something... but then I waved them over.  Sister Reeve and the two elders ran toward me and she said "what are you doing?!!!"  And, I explained "I don't want her (Sister Daynes) to know I'm here.  Where is she?"  And, Sister Reeve explained that Sister Daynes was inside having an interview with the mission president!  Oops!  Awkward situation!  So, I just took a selfie with Sister Reeve and the two elders and I said, "don't tell her that I was here!" and as they ran back in she said, "Okay! you're crazy!"  Then I hustled out of the church parking lot, hailed a cab, and went back to the train station.  I'm feeling pretty guilty about the whole experience... and I didn't even see my daughter.  I put them in an awkward situation and I feel bad about that.  The photo, however, is classic.  I'm not sure if your daughter or the Elders told my daughter about the encounter but if they do, I hope it will be fine.  I probably could have hid outside the church somewhere and tried to get a photo of them but I was kind of spooked because the mission president was there and I didn't want them to get in trouble for my immaturity.  My wife thinks I'm crazy but it is pretty funny that I got in there, got a photo with the other three missionaries and wasn't spotted by my daughter (as far as I know).  I hope they're not too mad at me.  

I'd like to send this photo to your daughter, and leave it up to her if she wants to share with my daughter.

Mike Daynes

Our first e-mail from Sammy after she heard about dad's "phantom visit" to Yuan Lin:

I was in the middle of my interview when I saw you walk past with a big leprechaun grin on your face (I was in the room right next to where Sister Reeve was). I said "Oh my gosh...that looks like my dad. I've been thinking about my dad a lot because he's in Taipei right now...that can't be him. Sorry about that, what were you saying?" The only way I was able to finish the interview is because I convinced myself it couldn't possibly have been you. Then I came out of the room and asked if anybody had seen a waiguoren, Sister Teh said yes, she had seen you running away and was sorry because she likes to talk to waiguoren and would've liked to talk to you. So...then I kind of started freaking out. At first I was giddy, and then we left and went to a 7/11 and I started to cry. I won't lie to you, I cried a lot that day. I couldn't believe you were RIGHT THERE and I hadn't gotten to talk to you. I wasn't so much angry about the fact that you'd shown up as I was about the fact that I hadn't gotten to talk to you.

That night when I'd calmed down some Sister Reeve told me she'd seen you and that actually made me feel a lot better. I was glad you'd talked to somebody. I'm very certain that the whole thing was God's arrangement, Shen de ampai. You happened to show up EXACTLY when I was in the interview, and I just so HAPPENED to be facing the window. It was too perfect not to be arranged by God. This leads me to wonder what he wanted me to learn from it, other than to become a walking testimony of the white handbook. Maybe you can shed some light on that for me.

I don't want to make you feel super bad because I know you're just being you. But yes, President Teh does know lol. I'll write him a letter this wek and explain a little. I don't think he faults you, Sister Teh was pretty cool with it. She reasoned that because you're in the country you'd do anything to see your daughter. Its lame you didnt actually see me though. I read the email you wrote to Sister Reeve, it had a lot of the answers to the questions I've been dying to ask you all week. And it was a hard couple of days but I got better as the week went on. If it makes you feel better, I was incredibly upset not because I was mad but because I miss you so impossibly much and wanted to talk to you so so so bad. Anyway yeah I'm going to end this before I cry more. Love you. You really are pretty flippin awesome. :)