2005 The Shaffers 3rd year, a year of firsts

Dear Friends and Family,
This year has been a wonderful one for our family, a time of challenges and changes. We have seen and done many new things this year, so we will tell you a little about all of our firsts this year. The most significant is, of course, the arrival of our first child. The next significant is Ben’s college graduation and 3rd most important is the long trek and adventure that has taken us to Taiwan for Ben’s first career job. We want to wish you all a merry Christmas and send our love with this letter since we are far away over the ocean. May peace be in your heart and happiness surround you.

Elnorra Elizabeth Shaffer (10 months) -
First breath- February 4th at 11:22 am
First smile- Easter Sunday, what a treat!
First food- 6 months, banana
First Halloween- a spider costume
First tooth- the bottom two teeth broke through along with her first fever (103.5°F) on the 16th of November (9 ½ months old)
First of everything she does!





Windy (30 years)-
First childbirth- What joy it is to have my life’s dreams come true, a happy marriage and a child.
First “retirement”- I changed jobs from a small business owner to a full time mom. After 13 years repairing musical instruments and 9 years running “Windy’s Winds” I closed my repair shop. Hopefully someday we will own a home in the US where I can set my shop up as a hobby business, but until then I’m plenty busy trying to keep up with my little girl!
First storage unit- We wouldn’t have made it out of the country if we did not receive tons of help packing up in Utah, thanks again to all that helped us out!



Benjamin (25 years)-
First Shaffer to graduate college- this year has been good for me.
First real job - now you know, what people with History degrees do: move to Taiwan and teach English to kindergarteners!
First spicy fish ball soup breakfast- and many other fun and, believe it or not, delicious foods like octopus balls! Yum!
First time to know, and not just believe, that Asia really is out there across the big blue from the land of my nativity. I have had some breath taking moments seeing how beautiful Taiwan is. The Portuguese did well to name it Il Formosa or beautiful island. I am trying hard to learn Chinese but it will take time. At least I can say that I have expanded my mind, enriched my life, and broadened my experience this year. We have had many more opportunities to serve others and to share our knowledge of Jesus Christ this year. I hope you all have a happy New Year.






First passports- at 30, 25 and 3 months respectively

First international flight- what an adventure to travel with a 3 month old...she was as good as can be expected!

First international move- our apartment in Taipei, Taiwan is on the top floor of a 5-story building and we climb the stairs because there is no elevator... and as for our kitchen: oven, what’s an oven? Cabinets… what are cabinets? Counters… what are counters? But it does have 360° of tile and a floor drain, a door, and a small step to keep water in and for “fong shwei.”

2005-06-02 Taiwan's National Theater Building


First new appliance- we bought a brand new electric dryer at Costco and it has 2-prong standard wall plug!

First name stamps or “chops”- We were very careful in choosing our Chinese names and are pleased with the results.
Shaffer= 牧 “Mu” which means shepherd, the same meaning as Shaffer and a reminder to be like the good shepherd.
Ben=尼飛 “Nephi” from my middle name (pronounced nee-féy) which consists of the character for a focused or pure mind and the character for flying.
Windy= 嵐 “Lan” which combines the characters of mountain and wind to mean beautiful mountain or specifically the clouds that form between the mountains. (Mu, Lan…he he, what fun to have a name that sounds like the first name of the legendary Chinese heroine.)
Elnorra= 聖愛 “Shung I” which means divine or holy love.
If you are not already receiving e-mail from us and would like more than a yearly update please e-mail us at windyswinds@napbirt.org. We wish you all the best and a very happy holiday season.

Love and hugs,
The Shaffer Family

Mail arrives in good time when addressed in English.
5F, #eleven lane 195, WoLong Street, Taipei, Taiwan 106
02-2739-596seven hm, 0930-1three7-184 Ben’s cell, 0930-137-4zero4 Windy’s Cell
(The country code is 886 and city code 2. You may need to drop the 0 at the beginning of our phone numbers to get through, it depends on the company.)

Permanent contact: c/o DD Jay, 31six North Bonito Street, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
In the USA messages can be left with DD at (928) 774-8442 or toll-free (888) 773-01zero4