Taiwan Prattler

The Relationship Between Prayer And Action

2012-01-21T21:22:00.001+08:00

One of the core values of the Christian organization I work for which has based me here in Taiwan is that “PRAYER IS THE PRIMARY WORK OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD.” Here are some reflections on that core value and how it relates to another important topic, namely, ACTION (Most of the thoughts reflected here are not original!)

Prayer without action can be like never putting a vehicle into gear. The engine will keep on running without the car actually going anywhere. On the other hand, action without prayer is like trying to drive a car without adding any fuel. The car will likewise not go anywhere. A balance has to be struck because prayer and action go hand in hand.

A web article asks if Christians promote prayer over action. Some people have the impression that Christianity tells people to pray for those who are sick or in need at the expense of doing something practical about their needs. This impression is incorrect in two ways: its substance is incorrect, for the Bible teaches us to act as well as to pray, but it also mistakenly assumes that prayer is ineffective. The Bible emphasizes in several places that one must put faith into action by deeds, not just praying or thinking nice thoughts or saying nice things (eg. 1 Jn 3:17-18; James 2:15-17).

Similarly, Jesus' life included both prayer and action. If God meant for us to spend all of our time praying, Jesus would have spent all his time praying for people instead of going out to help and teach them. Although Jesus devoted plenty of time to prayer, it was not the only thing he did. In fact, he taught that we should not pray long redundant prayers (Mt 6:7-8, Lk 20:47).

Why then does the Bible emphasize prayer? When we pray, God is interacting with us and teaching us about Himself, that He loves us and cares for our needs, that He is faithful and will respond when we ask him for what is good (Matt 7:7; Mark 11:24).

Prayer, however, requires action. What do we do after we have prayed? Sit around and wait on God by doing nothing? Sometimes perhaps, but prayer most often demands some kind of action on our part. Is God able to answer our prayers supernaturally? Of course! But since we pray out of faith, true Biblical faith requires action.

If you are praying for God to heal your body, pray, but then do something about it. Go see the doctors and specialists that are out there to help you heal. If you are praying for God to help your church to grow, pray but then do something about it. Similarly if you are praying for God to meet your financial needs, pray, but then do something about it! Seek out successful men and women and get their wise counsel. Sit down and put a financial game plan together. Don’t bide time by doing nothing! Engage in those actions which you believe God would use for His glory. If you are praying for your marriage or for a relationship, pray, but then act! Seek out Godly counsel from your pastor or some other qualified Christian counselor.

To summarize, we are not just praying out of dependence upon God, but out of faith in God. If you really believe something, you will act in faith after you have prayed. That is because God honors our faith. God blesses our faith. We pray in faith, therefore, our prayers require action.

Never forget that prayer is not a passive exercise but an active one. We are active participants in God answering our prayers. It is God who is answering our prayers, but our faith almost always requires us to be involved in that process. Just as James wrote to believers that “faith without works is dead,” so prayer without action is powerless!

All Other Ground is Sinking Sand

2011-08-16T13:23:00.001+08:00

In addition to other serious environmental issues caused by the presence of Formosa Plastics, Chiayi and Yunlin (as well as other counties along the western coastal plain of south-central Taiwan) are plagued by the reckless siphoning off of ground water for agricultural (and industrial?) use, with little or no consideration for future generations. The end result of this illegal aquifer over-pumping carries staggering implications (just as it is does elsewhere in the world, as described in books like Plan B 4.0). The land is literally sinking centimeters every year!

I took these pictures last week. I’m no engineer, but it looks like these technicians working under the shadow of Taiwan’s elevated High Speed Rail (HSR) track a few kilometers north of the Chiayi Station are concerned about this issue of sinking land too (Umm, I almost forgot, I used to be an electrical engineer, but that was many moons ago in a land far far away..).

From the pictures one can see what looks like small circular slabs which have been inserted above the square shapes to maintain the original height of the tracks. Anyone out there in blog land know anything more specific about precisely what’s going on?

Below are a few links to recent articles concerning the the threat of sinking earth in relation to the future of the HSR. I wonder which will come first, a major disaster, or the reclaiming of this land by the sea (underneath highway 61 a few kilometers to the west, many tombs can be seen which are underwater these days)? With work like the above going on, I wonder how safe riding this thing actually is???!!!

Sinking earth threatens Taiwan high-speed rail

Taiwan's fast rail saviour offers unpleasant buffer

Taiwan high speed rail 'sinking'

“Taiwan Prattler” Stats

2011-07-30T20:39:00.001+08:00

Since Blogger has had stats available on its dashboard for a few years, this post may be nothing new to many of you. Nevertheless, I continue to be amazed at how this free service analyzes my blog’s posts, traffic sources, and audience.

For example, my modestly-viewed blog breaks down all-time pageviews according to countries as follows:

I never would have guessed that Iran would be in the top ten!

Nor would I have been able to guess that 108 of the all-time 146 views from France occurred in the last month:

There’s a list of most-viewed all-time posts (can also break down by month, week, or day). The unmerited controversy raised by the 2nd one below left me feeling a little unsettled at the time:

About 6 hours ago on this Saturday afternoon I sent out an email update to a group of 189 prayer supporters back in the US, Australia, Canada, as well as here in Taiwan. The email included two links to blog articles. I observe from the statistics that those two links have been viewed 13 and 5 times so far today:

And the people viewing them lived in the following places:

However, the sum of the posts doesn’t add up to the some of the audience pageviews, leading me to wonder if there might still be a bug in the service?

This article has been viewed 9 times since I published it a few minutes ago. Most of the views have come by way of the facebook graffitti application:

The other statistics speak for themselves. Again, not many people view this blog, but it’s nevertheless interesting to learn where the majority of them are and what kind of browsers and OS’s you use!

Maybe in a few more years the dashboard stats feature will be able to tell us what our blog readers had for breakfast as well as their social security numbers and dates of birth!

2011 Local Temple God Birthday Festival

2011-07-24T02:47:00.001+08:00

Today shortly after our Children’s English Class ended a local god parade went by. Friends told me that the 4 or 5 men taking turns standing on the stand were from Taitung in the eastern part of Taiwan. When on two occasions I asked older gentlemen if there was a story or significance behind the event, what I heard them say is that a long time ago someone did something similar in order to ward off evil and bless/protect people. Sorry I didn’t catch more of their Taiwanese so as to better relate the story to you!

Tonight my ears are still buzzing from the noise even though I only observed from a distance for a few minutes. As I prepare to sleep, I’m glad that Jesus died and rose again from the dead, that his shed blood protects me from any similar evil that I need warding off from, and for his living presence which blesses me daily.

Custard Apples in Mr. Chen’s Garden/Rec Area

2011-06-24T10:18:00.001+08:00

A unique fruit found in Taiwan and other Asian locations is the Custard Apple 釋家 shìjiā (also known as Buddha Fruit). Interestingly, the two Chinese characters above have the meaning “release home” which is another name for “Buddhist” (It’s also the name of one of my birds featured previously in this blog, named not after the religion but after the fruit!).

My neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Chen began planting Custard Apple trees over 2 1/2 years ago. Here is a sapling:

A larger sapling:

One of the smaller trees bearing its first fruit:

And some bigger ones- still much smaller than the hand-sized (and larger) fruit you buy at the market:

Congrats to Mr. Chen for his perseverance in planting! He will make sure the delicate tree branches are bound together properly to stand firm against the typhoon winds and heavy rain which are expected this weekend.

As long as we’re visiting with Mr. Chen, let’s take a look at the beautiful little recreation area/garden he’s been working on across the street from our homes ever since they widened the road 3 years ago…

Much prettier than the rubbish heap which other less “public-spirited” (公德心) neighbors have distastefully been creating directly across the street from my house! (pic definitely not shown!)

Mr. Chen has been investing 2 or 3 hours a day for the past several years on his little project. There are baby chickens in the chicken house.

While he’s still flattening the field to increase the size of the playing area, at least now Mr. Chen and his grandkids can begin to enjoy a little croquet (chuí qiú 槌球)!

The Chens have planted banana trees xiāng jiāo 香蕉 (above) as well as papaya (mù guā 木瓜).

I have no idea how to say the above! Can somebody help me out here?

Windows 7 Update Hiccup

2011-06-23T11:19:00.001+08:00

After all these years, Windows still has its hiccups (yes, I know you Apple lovers- I should go with a Mac). Witness what happened after I applied the latest Windows 7 updates:

Museum of the Works of Zhu Ming (Ju Ming) 朱铭

2011-06-20T15:34:00.001+08:00

This past week we took an afternoon trip to admire the life-like work of the Taiwanese artist Zhu Ming, born in 1938. He has an impressive indoor/outdoor museum devoted largely to his works along the northern coast of Taiwan not too far from JinShan.

Though this blog entry will be brief, the trip was well worth the visit! Special thanks to Soo and Don and Rachel for organizing the trip. Fourteen years was way too long to finally get to this place!

Below is just a small representation of what you can see there. See this link for more about Zhu Ming and his work.

Baby Bat

2011-06-20T15:03:00.001+08:00

Came across this little fella a week ago on the blazing hot sidewalk in front of my house. It must have fallen out of the small tree. I was amazed both by the delicate intricacy of its features as well as by the sounds it was already emitting.

To give it some relief form the sunlight, I deposited it in some bushes in the field across the street.

Dragon Boat Festival Weekend Sunday Afternoon Ride

2011-06-06T09:15:00.001+08:00

Sunday afternoon I rode my bicycle for the fifth time in the last year or so down to the DongShi Fisherman’s Wharf along the western coast of Chiayi County (see my 2010 post). Because of the intense afternoon heat, I took it much slower than usual.

Usually, the tourist park is deserted, or nearly so. But because of the three-day Dragon Boat holiday, the normally vacant beach area was swarming with families. There were no dragon boat races going on this evening, but the stands selling grilled squid, etc. were all open and doing very good business. Sadly, no one bothered to fill the wading pool area with water, but at least the fountains in the background were in full-blast for the kids and their parents to cool off in!

Due to having both the setting sun as well as the wind at my back, the 2nd half of my 70 km ride was much cooler and more relaxed than the trip down the coast.

Below I enjoyed the beautiful view of the “red forest” along the side of the river before the sun set and the bugs began coming out!

Drizzling in Puli

2011-05-27T14:50:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, we made a day trip to Puli.

The first few times I ever visited Puli were in the days and months following the horrific 921 earthquake. We put on a summer camp there in 2000. I can’t remember for sure, but it had probably been at least five years since my last visit.

An impatient truck driver honked as we waited at the red light in front of the hill leading up to Puli Christian Hospital. Then, when the light changed to green he recklessly passed us on the left, narrowly grazing the side of my car as he speeded on his way. At the next light I got out of the car and let him know what he had done. Thankfully no noticeable damage!

In addition to a few other popular destinations in Puli including the winery, chocolate shops (I tried the ice cream instead of chocolate—delicious!) and two roadside eateries, we visited the so-called “Paper Dome”(see this link and that link).

When we arrived at the front gate of the park surrounding the Paper Dome, we were immediately impressed by the serenity , natural beauty, and artistry in the park.

By chance, the graduating class of the QingShui Elementary School of Nantou, known all over Taiwan for the quality of their music department, was there for a performance.

In addition to music, they were good at many other things.

Amazingly, the junior high school from Shuilin Township (just next door to the township where I live) “happened” to be visiting the Paper Dome as one segment of their day-long field trip at the same time as we were. We know a number of the students personally!

My favorite part of the outing was the chance to sip an iced tea watching and listening to the rainfall while reading my Kindle at the very nice wooden tables in the restaurant area. Although you have to buy a 100 NT ticket to visit the Paper Dome, you can redeem 100 NT in the restaurant or the souvenir shop in front of it by either getting a drink or postcards, etc.

The lotus plants to the left and right of the restaurant windows were beautiful, especially in the hard drizzle:

Visit there sometime!

Two Birds, a Locked Car Door, and a TV Channel

2011-05-10T12:03:00.001+08:00

1．The First Bird

As I’ve written about elsewhere, on the afternoon of May 13, 2008 I let one of my three pet birds, a yellow love bird I hand-fed as a baby 6 months earlier, out of its cage.

With the bird on my hand, I walked two houses down as I had many times before to ask my neighbors’ grandchild if she wanted to play with the bird. Then, to my surprise, the bird flew a few centimeters up off my arm and returned again. Then it flew about a meter up and returned again. The third time, it lifted up about 5 meters and got swept away by the strong wind!

I watched in disbelief as in about 10 seconds the bright yellow bird was carried about 300 meters by the wind. Finally, it landed on top of a duck barn very far away. I quickly drove over on my motorcycle but I could not find the bird. I was very sad because I knew I would never see it again. My Canadian friends Lorne and Kathy-Lu prayed that God would help me find the bird.

Three months later, on Monday, August 11, I received a telephone call from a family whose two children came regularly to my house to study English. The family who had locked their car keys in the car. They called to tell me that someone had given them a bird that had flown into their yard the day before. They told me it looked like my bird. So I went to get it.

Was it the same bird? It was very tame, just like my bird. And since this community is not large, I thought the possibility was very high that it was the same bird. Perhaps God arranged for this family to find the bird. But only He knows for sure!

What do you think of this story? Was it the same bird? Why or why not?

2．A Locked Car Door

On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008, a friend of ours whose two kids sometimes came to my house to study English got out of her car to give me a piece of Mother’s Day cake. She left the car keys in the car with the engine running since she only planned to be there long enough to give me the piece of cake. However, when she tried to open the car door, she discovered that it was locked! She and her husband looked for an hour for an extra set of car keys. But they could not find them. So the husband came back with a friend. They brought a coat hanger with them in order to pick the lock.

They tried to pick the lock for at least 10 minutes but could not unlock the door. So I asked if I could give it a try. I stuck the coat hanger down one time into the door window, but I could not open the door either. Then God led me to say a prayer out loud. I prayed that in the name of Jesus Christ that God would open the door in order for people to know about Him. Do you know what happened? As soon as I pulled up on the clothes hanger, the door lock came right up! The men were amazed. As soon as the man and his friend got their car back home, the family called on the telephone to ask me to say thank you to God for them. I told them they could do it themselves!

Two days later, on May 13, the bird in the first story above flew away from my house. It was found 3 months later by this same family.

What do you think about this story? Is it possible? What do you think about it being the same family who found the bird?

3．The Second Bird

Over the next 2 years, I got 3 other birds, including 釋迦 (Sek-khia). One day, Sek-khia flew into the schoolyard at a school in Taichung where some friends of mine work. They called me on the phone to ask if wanted a bird. I said yes!

Sek-khia is very funny. He is also quite talented and can speak many languages. He can say:「你好可愛！」and 「你好」(Chinese), “I love you” (English), and 「不要睡」and「阿！有蟑螂！」( Taiwanese). In the summer of 2010, Sek-khia’s neck developed a ring. So I knew that Sek-khia was a boy and not a girl.

Early Wednesday morning, March 30, 2011, I was putting Sek-khia back into his cage when he slipped out of my hand and landed at my feet. We were outside so I knew I had to be very careful. I had to act quickly. But before I could grab his chain, the bird flew away.

I watched as he flew higher and higher and faster and faster away from my house in a north-easterly direction. I followed by foot, and then by motorcycle. After looking for him for at least an hour, I was very sad. I knew I was not likely to see him again. I left the cage door open in case Sek-khia should return.

The next day in the afternoon I got a call from a friend. He called to say his sister’s son at Four Lakes Elementary school to the west had seen a bird in the schoolyard that looked like my bird! But when he tried to catch it, the bird flew away. However, later that afternoon they saw the bird in the schoolyard again and this time the young boy and his uncle caught the bird. Many other kids at Four Lakes Elementary School were there watching.

I believe that God, who made the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents, arranged for my friend to find the bird. I believe this because God wants more and more people to know of His power, and of His love for them.

Do you think it is a coincidence that the second bird was found by my friend? Do you believe in a God who made the world, and who arranges circumstances in our lives？Why or why not?

4. A TV Channel

We have a friend named Peter who comes to help us at our church every Saturday and Sunday. I bring Peter with me often when I go to visit people in Four Lakes. Many years ago, Peter used to do bad things (he was a big gangster who did drugs). He had to go to prison. But now he is a changed, new man.

We have some other church friends from northern Taiwan who from July 24-25, 2010 ran a bilingual summer camp for elementary school students here in Four Lakes. While the rest were teaching the classes, I took 2 or 3 other teachers to drink tea with friends in the community. The second day, we went to visit a man in Four Lakes who knows my friend Peter. Almost every week I bring Peter to drink tea and have conversation with this man. He is very hospitable and loves to talk.

The pastor’s wife from northern Taiwan friend told my friend that if he wanted to learn more about Christianity, he could watch the GOOD TV channel. So the man picked up the remote control and turned to GOOD TV. Guess what? There on the TV was Peter, who drinks tea with the man almost every single weekend! Good TV was showing a short program about how Peter turned from a life of drugs and how changed him into a “new creation”.

A week or two later I went to visit this man again. We joked about how funny it was that last time he switched the TV channel only to immediately see Peter on TV. As we were talking, the man took the remote control and turned on the TV. Once again he turned to the GOOD TV channel. Guess what? Peter was on the TV a second time!

The man in this story is the same person who found the second bird in the story above.

What do you think of this story? Was flipping the TV channel and seeing the same person (not a famous movie star) twice a coincidence? Why or why not? What about it being the same man who found the second bird? How does God arrange circumstances in your life? How can you ask Him to do so?

A year ago last spring, I bought yet another baby bird-- a Ducorps Cockatoo I later named “Frank-Frank.” “FF is one bad dude! He is even more intelligent than the 2 mentioned above. As mentioned elsewhere, so far he can wave, shake hands, and turn around in a circle all upon command! But how will God’s Spirit connect him in supernaturally with what He is doing to cause His Kingdom to come to this community? I hope Frank-Frank doesn’t have to fly the coop before he can be used by God!

Countryside Art

2011-05-07T12:17:00.001+08:00

Last week I went for a long bicycle ride to the next township and back (longer because I got lost!). Instead of the main roads, which are quite narrow and have a lot of trucks in places, I went by way of less-trafficked paths that criss-cross through the rice and other fields. Below is some of the artwork painted on walls in front of houses which I passed. Enjoy!

Penghu Trip #2

2011-05-07T11:36:00.001+08:00

Back in August, 2008 I shared about my first visit to Penghu (Pescadores islands) with a large group of coworkers. This week I was finally able to visit again for 3 days/2 nights, with a little more freedom since I went alone.

Once again, I took the ferry round trip (about 2,000 NT) from BuDai in Chiayi, just 30 minutes from my house. The water was rough on the way back.

Unfortunately I missed the fireworks on the Rainbow Bridge in MaGong City on Monday and Thursday nights because I didn’t do my trip-planning homework and was not there on those nights. I was also not able to visit any of the other islands since I did not plan that much time for the trip. Those things would have been nice, but mostly I just wanted to retreat for a few days.

I brought my bicycle over with me this time. Although I didn’t traverse the whole island, I did make good use of it cycling back and forth from MaGong City to the visitor center and down to ShanShui and ShiLi beaches on the southern shore. I prefer the countryside here in Yunlin County for bicycling as there were lots of cars, trucks, scooters, and fumes heading into and out of town. One guy just missed me by inches. Not exactly a tourist paradise! Over near the beaches, however, the cycling was much more pleasant.

The 2nd day, I broke down and rented a scooter. The weather was quite cool and I was able to enjoy sitting in the shade at a rest spot along the road to the Great Bridge. My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I drove my scooter back from the beach in the cold wind that evening and I enjoyed a very long hot shower to warm up.

The third day I was back on the bike again, checking out a short but pleasant bike path which starts at the Guanyin Park and runs along the precautionary wall separating the water from MaGong island.

There were signs and maps posted every couple of hundred meters, but inexplicably the path abruptly ended just a kilometer or so into the trip!

I’m glad the people of Penghu decided against the gambling casinos a few years ago, but they could do a lot more to make the place tourist-friendly. For example, not putting up bike path maps and guide posts until the paths are finished!

The beautiful sandy beaches with the blue water offshore were a sight for sore eyes. The first day I went skin diving off the side of the LiShui beach. The visibility was poor due to the sandy bottom but I did see lots of puffer fish and other tropical fish. The second day the visibility was even worse due to the overcast skies and increased wind. And the coral over at the third beach (AoMen) has seen better days. If you go to Penghu for snorkeling, go to another island. Or better yet, save your money and go diving in the Philippines, Thailand, or Malaysia. Then again, including travel, it probably wouldn’t be much more expensive.

Since I don’t particularly care for seafood (I don’t dislike it but can easily do without it) and because of my budget for this trip, I chose to stay in MaGong City due to the abundance of 7-11’s, coffee shops, a McDonalds, a sit-down Domino’s Pizza (one of only 2 in Taiwan; the other is in SiHu Township in Changhua County), etc. I would not repeat this mistake if there is ever a “next time" because of the place I chose to stay somewhat randomly from the internet.

It was just a few hundred yards from the port. When I arrived, they pulled a “switch and bait” on me, telling me the price they quoted when I called from home that morning was the April price. Since the difference was only 150 NT and I didn’t want to take the time to go to one of the other places I had called, I decided to stay there anyway. The small room was clean, had wireless internet and cable TV so I was happy to be able to watch some of the NBA playoffs. However, it became evident at night that the surroundings across from the hotel were somewhat seedy.

Most significantly, the attitude of the manager left a lot to be desired. The crowning example of this was when I went back to pick up my backpack before heading over to the ferry. She was having a sit-down meeting at the front desk with her two assistants, both of whom were noticeably emotionally upset. As she raised her voice, one of the poor girls started crying. It’s bad enough she was shouting at them, but if you’ve got to “tan2 shi4qing2” 談事情, at least do it out of plain sight and hearing of the customers!" My emphatic verdict would be to anyone reading this post: AVOID THE FENG-GU Hotel like the plague! You can stay at a nice homestay a 15 minute scooter ride away for about the same price as the moderately-priced hotels.

People Highlights of the trip:

Meeting a family from the U.S. who are here because the husband is filming a 3-D movie with Ang Li at the old airport in Taichung: The Life of Pi. I read this novel a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, and will look forward to the movie! I took the two boys with me snorkeling over off the point on Shi Li beach.
Chatting with a guy from Chuanghua who has lived in Penghu for 13 years and oversees one of the beach areas. I found out later they charged the family above for use of the showers/changing rooms, but he let me use them for free, most likely because we were chatting in Taiwanese and Mandarin.
A friendly husband and wife from Penghu (apparently well-to-do) who lived way over at the other end of the island with whom I conversed in Taiwanese and Mandarin. I think He would have dropped everything to take me around the island, but I politely declined. He maybe could have been looking to make some money this way, or enhance his business relationships by introducing a potential customer, but I think he was mostly being friendly.
Chatting with a young man from Kaohsiung doing his compulsory military service with the Coast Guard in MaGong. He’s only been here half a year and feels bored to death. I’m not sure I can blame him.

I’d say the overall highlight of my trip was the last afternoon (2 or 3 hours) I spent reading and meditating over in a shelter atop the precautionary wall past the Youth Hostel. I wouldn’t want to do this in August, but the weather was cool again this day. So nice to just sit down or lie back and listen to the sound/watch the sight of the ocean! Some of the best pleasures in life come absolutely free.

Before entering the ferry, I sipped on a cactus smoothie. Cactus ice cream, smoothies, bing, etc. are a specialty here. Try one if you come.

Building Dedication and 90th Anniversary Celebration at Local Elementary School

2011-04-22T15:47:00.001+08:00

This morning I went with my coworker to a new building wing dedication and the 90th anniversary celebration of the local elementary school.We were served popcorn and water immediately upon sitting down by the attentive and courteous students.

The local notary and his wife, whom we often visit in their home, and who have a burden to preserve traditional Taiwanese high cultural heritage, easily spent a month of their personal time making masks one by one by hand for the children to wear and dance in. They did a great job!

Prior to the kids dancing, the notary public and his fellow adult dancers donned their costumes and danced in front of and through the new building. Is this just cultural appreciation, or is there perhaps something more? Below, the principal thanks the notary for all of his diligent work.

Schools are officially neutral “secular” institutions here in Taiwan. However, temples are central to the society in the countryside. Therefore, early into the building dedication, all the dignitaries were invited to step out from the tent and get in a long line in order to lift up incense sticks to the gods. You can see them behind the tent below:

Offerings were also put on the table for the gods/ancestors to enjoy:

Later the next hour, during the 90th birthday celebration, the school principal introduced all the other invited guests who were asked to sit on the platform, including us. Others were introduced according to their organizations and positions as stated on the invitations and sign-up lists. When we were introduced it was simply as “our American friends. ”

I am looking forward to meeting the new principal when he arrives to begin his or her job at the school this summer, and to the summer camp we will do for the students there. A friendly acquaintance of ours who is a dean at the school is helping us to arrange it.

Outing to NanTou Aviary

2011-04-22T12:13:00.001+08:00

Five years ago the first or second time I went to HsiTou in Nantou County, Taiwan, I noticed that there was an aviary nearby. Yesterday, however, was the first time I invested to visit. For 40 NT per ticket plus 20 NT for parking it was a bargain!

Another of Taiwan’s Protected (Endangered) Species:

Poor Duck… What a Dorky Face!

IIn Area B stands a Crane Museum next to a large hilly area ruined during the 921 Earthquake and deemed unsafe thereafter.

It didn’t feel all that safe inside the museum either.

From the bottom near the Crane Museum was a steep staircase (only 200 steps, but it felt like many more). If you climb it, you get a 好漢 “Hao Han” (Heroic Person) certificate!

Here’s the view looking up from the bottom:

And the view from the top:

Of course, we got our free certificates.

I’ll have to make sure my easily-jealous Ducorps Cockatoo back at home doesn’t see the pics of the new cockatoo friend I made below:

She really liked Annie’s colorful watchband!

Of course, I’d really like to get a 金剛鸚鵡 macaw, but (1) one costs over 100,000 NT, and (2) one or more of the birds I have now will probably outlive me. Enough is enough!

Since we each have birds of our own, we were much more at ease handling the exotic birds here than most of the other tourists, but Annie still doesn’t look 100% confident below, does she?

And the Ugliest Bird of the Day Award goes to….

And finally, some pretty peacocks to wind up the day.

May The King Come Soon to Four Lakes

2011-04-15T15:57:00.001+08:00

Next Tuesday through Thursday our rented truck will proclaim a theme in colloquial Taiwanese in keeping with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in the days leading up to his suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection from the dead:

Rejoice greatly, ~~Daughter Zion!~~ Shout~~, Daughter Jerusalem~~! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 ~~I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.~~ He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea. --Zech 9:9

~~Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:~~ “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”--Rev 11:15

Copyright permission was obtained for the colorful print above by Keni Arts, as well as the rights to use the majestic song “You Sit on the Throne” by River of Life Christian Church Music Ministries (click below to listen).

Happy Easter!

While I hope we have the time soon to put together a more generic recording that can help people here understand the larger biblical context for the resurrection and kingship of Jesus Christ, I nevertheless feel that getting something out is better than doing nothing this time of year—our most important holiday! May we have something else for next time that can be used multiple times throughout the year!

Happy Easter to everyone reading this blog as you earnestly await His Second Coming in glory.

Sharing Appropriately While Serving the Community with Excellence

2011-03-15T15:09:00.001+08:00

Yesterday while waiting to get in to see the doctor, I was once again impressed by the modern facilities at the new Chiayi Christian Hospital building which opened a year or so ago across the street from the older facility.

Outside this faith-based hospital, you will not find cultish missionaries riding their bicycles around and around in squares at stop light intersections pretending to be going somewhere in order to pounce upon unsuspecting victims (you know who I mean if you’ve lived in Taiwan for any period of time). Neither will you find well-intentioned evangelical Christian workers approaching you to directly share a gospel tract (there are, however, proper venues for this). Or Christians who pressure you into saying a prayer as you wait to see your doctor. Rather, at Chiayi Christian Hospital, what you do find is first-rate medical service which gives glory to God primarily by doing just that: “offering high-quality medical care and holistic care” (as emphasized by their founder back in 1958).

While the hospital’s principle mission is to glorify God by being a good hospital, it does not shrink from sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ as appropriate. In this regard, most evident and impressive to me in the new facility are all the large flat screen TVs one finds in multiple locations in front of every outpatient service waiting area.

In one small square of the screen is health information, in a smaller rectangle the date and time, and in another a separate scrolling message. The majority of the screen, however, is devoted to programming from Taiwan’s Christian TV station, Good TV.

Some of the programming might appeal more to upper middle class Christians whose ancestors came over from mainland China many years ago as opposed to grassroots Taiwanese. And yes, the guy who sang the Beatles’ song “Yesterday” so passionately in English on the tube last night probably did not connect in a spiritually-meaningful way with anyone at the hospital (including me)! Nevertheless, I did note that some of the programming seemed oriented to the elderly, grassroots Hoklo speakers who were sitting all around me. This is huge because many of those waiting ---some were probably illiterate – were intently tuned into the singing and especially the stories and personal testimonies.

How does this relate to us in our community as we wait on Jesus to plant His church? I want to continue to include a Christian song, bible story and a brief prayer near the end of our weekly Children’s English Club in order for kids to be able to know and relate to Jesus, His Spirit, and our Father in heaven in their native languages. However, I do not want to give anyone in the community the opportunity to accuse us of proselytizing by manipulating kids into raising their hands to pray to know Jesus as part of games we offer, by using the appearance of teaching English while not actually teaching it (or teaching very very little), etc.

If a parent sends their child to us, I want them to know up front that they can trust us with him or her. Christian content in their native tongue will be a small part of the total package, but the larger product is intended to immerse their child into the holistic English speaking environment of games, singing, and story-telling (however amateur we are as teachers or for however brief the time).

Back at the hospital, if someone is a devout Buddhist or Daoist, they can choose to go to another hospital or to sit further away from the television sets on the walls. Similarly, if someone does not want their child exposed to the brief Christian content we offer every week, they can choose to send their kid elsewhere and tell their child not to partipate in the prayer, etc. However, for those who do choose to allow their children to come and participate, we can be used of God to influence entire families incrementally closer to Christ.

If we can teach English with excellence, then God ultimately gets the glory—both in our Children’s English Club activity as well as in the lives of the children and their families. And if we ever have the chance to start a more traditional “Good News Club”—but promote it as being precisely that--- then Lord Jesus, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, please “Make it so!”

Powerpoint to Video Conversion

2011-03-13T00:59:00.001+08:00

This evening I spent an hour or so playing around converting a powerpoint 2010 presentation with embedded audio and video to video which might be posted on the internet for others to view. For comparison purposes, I tried two different methods:

1. The first method involved (1) saving my powerpoint 2010 slides as “jpeg file interchange format” instead of as a powerpoint presentation. Then I(2) copied the slides in one fell swoop over to Windows Live Movie Maker, (3) added a song, for which I then (4) under “project” fitted the slides to the music with one simple click (I didn’t bother to add the extra video at the end, but this would have been a simple matter of copying over since that’s what movie maker is known for in the first place). Here are the results published directly to youtube from moviemaker:

2. A handy service called authorstream allowed me to directly upload the powerpoint presentation without fretting the details. It handle the conversion itself and allows posts to facebook, etc. although it didn’t place the audio and video quite right. It also lost page transitions. Still, not bad! You can view the results for yourself:

western yunlin four lakes work

True Prosperity

2011-03-09T15:16:00.001+08:00

The True Jesus Church, according to Wikipedia, is a “non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China in 1917.” Here in Taiwan, some say the True Jesus church denomination (it has many churches) is a pseudo-Christian cult since the very name itself implies that other groups do not know the “true Jesus”, belong to the “true” church, etc. I have only had limited experience with its adherents (mostly children living temporarily in a tent city with their families in DongShi, Taichung county after Taiwan’s notorious 921 Earthquake), so I will not comment further about this here.

However, over the years I have often driven by the True Jesus Church along the intersection of ChongHua and GongYuan Roads in Taichung City. Finally yesterday I was able to take a picture:

Here’s a close-up of the poster, which has always caught my attention in light of the context (others have probably written about this in years past as well):

In the bible verse quoted above, Job 22:21 says: “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, someone failed to notice that the one making the statement in the statement above was Job’s poison-dart throwing “comforter” Eliphaz the Temanite. I remember as far back as high school being told by my English teacher, that, when reading Job, be careful to note who is saying what!

At the end of the book, after the LORD speaks to Job, he says to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7). Unfortunately, this group has unknowingly posted a statement over their main entrance about prosperity which comes from the mouth of someone who misrepresented God’s truth.

What does the bible say about blessing and prosperity? For one, it’s in a Person and not our possessions. Here are some statements coming from places in the Good Book the veracity of which no one would doubt:

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Ps 34:8)

Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. (Ps 112:1)

May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (ps 115:15)

Jesus said: "I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

And finally, Jesus said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Let’s seek God instead for this kind of prosperity, as difficult and agonizing as it may sometimes sound.

Noisy Birds

2011-03-01T17:51:00.001+08:00

It’s been a while since I blogged, and even longer since I wrote anything about my three pet birds “Precious” the Quaker parakeet (Monk Parakeet) from South America, “Sek-khia” the Indian Ringneck from, um, India, and “Frank-Frank” the Ducorps Cockatoo from the Solomon Islands. The clip below captures a moment of their lively speech earlier today (some of the background noise filtered out). All three birds contributed, although Precious usually has less to say:

Thankfully one set of neighbors is only home at night…

Which of the following phrases can you detect in the above recording?

1. Argh! A roach! A! U Kā-Choa̍h！阿！有蟑螂！ (In Taiwanese)

2. How are you? Nǐ hǎo!你好！ (In Mandarin Chinese)

3. You are so cute! Nǐ hǎo kěài! 你好可愛 (this phrase taught by previous owner- Mandarin Chinese)

4. Don’t sleep! Mài khùn 不要睡 (Taiwanese)

5. “Precious” BǎoBeì 寶貝 (Mandarin)

6. I love you! (English)

7. Hello! (English)

Unfortunately, due to the annoying frequency of the first phrase above, I probably cannot ask my friends at the restaurant to take care of my birds next time I am away from home. Wish I had thought of that before I taught “Frank-Frank!” to say it!

Speaking of “Frank-Frank” the Cockatoo, here are some basic tricks (shake hands, turn around, wave goodbye) I taught him recently. He learned each one in about 10 minutes:

Chinese New Year Truck Ad Development

2011-01-20T23:54:00.001+08:00

Last month I was prayerfully thinking about how I might connect Taiwanese culture with the Beautiful News of Jesus in a Chinese New Year message I thought I might be giving at a nearby Taiwanese/Mandarin-speaking church. The idea that came to mind was the man-eating wild “Nian” monster legend. Chinese people around the world share this story as a basis for celebrating the Chinese Year.

Thankfully I wound up not having to prepare that message, so I didn’t pursue the “monster” idea any more. However, last week I had to start thinking about what we might do for our church planting team’s “Chinese New Year” truck campaign.

Thankfully “Nian” is not just the name of a fictitious monster, it’s also the Chinese character 年 whose origins are represented below:

With the idea of “harvest” in mind (especially in light of the fact that we live in agricultural communities!), we began to brainstorm a poster which might extend the idea of blessing for a bountiful harvest. This would be plastered on all four sides of the advertising truck we hire:

However, out of concern that this might be a little too “artsy” or off-the-wall for the traditionally-minded grassroots people living in this area, we decided to fall back on a more traditional-look developed for us by the advertising company’s media person:

The audio announcement will wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year, pronouncing God's blessing for an abundant harvest for the New Year in colloquial Taiwanese. The following scripture verses will be rotated in between the blessing announcements:

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Ps 34:8)

Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. (Ps 112:1)

May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (ps 115:15)

Jesus said: "I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

The Taiwanese song we are obtaining permission to use in the background is literally translated as “All Creation is Filled By Your Grace” (by Streams of Praise). One line that stands out to me in the lyrics mentions the Chinese/Taiwanese saying 一枝草，一點露 (yī zhī cǎo, yī diǎn lù): “there is a drop of water on every blade of grass. This basically translates as “there is always a way out.”

Though I’m not quite yet satisfied with the recording and mixing level, here’s basically what the recording will sound like:

Chinese New Year Blessing

May God use both the verbal message as well as the posters displayed on the truck to bless those in our communities who hear and see them!

“Spring Couplet” for Chinese New Year

2011-01-20T16:27:00.001+08:00

This is a variation of the traditional spring couplet, which Taiwanese hang over the doors of their homes prior to the Chinese New Year to invoke blessing. Team member Lorne White produced this version for our team to give out in our communities prior to the “year of the rabbit”. The large characters translate roughly as “Come In and Go Out Peacefully.” The yellow page (the reverse side of the red banner) relates a few words Jesus has to say about peace. May God use these banners to bless all those who receive them and choose to hang them in their homes!

Grace to the Self-Deceived

2011-01-18T23:25:00.001+08:00

Christians all over the world celebrate John Newton’s famous hymn Amazing Grace: How Sweet the Sound, remembering the beautiful story of the slave ship captain’s abrupt repentance. However, the story that is typically told appears to oversimplify the matter. Chapter 6 of Marcus Rediker’s excellent The Slave Ship: A Human History shares a fuller version (although perhaps to be fair it would be worth exploring an even more in-depth biography).

The son of a distant and severe father who himself was a ship captain, John was groomed by the elder Newton for command from an early age. However, early on in his seafaring career the younger Newton chose regularly and enthusiastically to fall into mischief and rebel against authority on all the ships he served—a regular “prodigal son”. This downward spiral eventually resulted in Newton’s status as being no more than a slave himself, “depressed to the lowest degree of human wretchedness.” Soon thereafter, he went “native” while in Africa, to return again to his cultural heritage a few years later.

During the resulting 1747 homeward passage, the threat of death was imminent one day when Newton was awakened by the force of a violent sea. A man not known for a reverent relationship with God, Newton surprised both himself and those around him by exclaiming to the captain after attempting repairs on this ship: “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us!” He indeed saw God’s providence in living through that particular crisis, but that did not affect his future career direction.

Once Newton became a captain, he was not particularly successful. He commanded three voyages of slave ships, none of which turned a big profit. On the first cruise (1750-1), he held mandatory religious services on board until those on board became too sick. On the one hand, because of the extent of disease and disorder, he called out for divine assistance. However, terror and torture dispensed from his hand to both sailors and slaves continue to define Newton’s life direction during this time.

During his second voyage (1752-3) Newton began to keep a spiritual diary for the purposes of bringing himself to a deep sense of his past sins and follies, to enlarge his mind, and to compose his heart to a perfect peace and charity with all mankind. In his prayers, he understood that death was the nature of the business, asking God only to help him to be ready to embrace it. However, self-deception continued to reign as -- like all slave ship captains of the day-- he ruled supreme over “the captain’s own little private hell.”

During the third voyage (1753-4), Newton’s journal entries turned more and more to his spiritual life and less to the daily transactions of the ship. Afterward, when he was within two days of sailing off on his fourth voyage, an apoplectic stroke led him to leave the slave trade altogether. Newton wrote that “it pleased God to stop me by illness”. This forced retirement was not by choice, as Rediker duly notes.

Back in 1752 (2nd voyage), Newton had written a letter to a friend which reminds one of the lyrics of Amazing Grace he would not write for another 21 years. He wrote that he once was lost, “ a depraved unhappy apostate, but now was “found” as the Christian master of a slave ship. A year later he explained how God brought him out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, from slavery and famine on the coast of Africa to his present situation. However, in the words of Rediker, the reality of that particular situation was to share “a small wooden world with 87 men, women, and children whom he was carrying through the Middle Passage into even deeper bondage.” At the time of that proclamation Newton may have escaped from Egypt, but the truth that he was working for Pharaoh was evidently lost on him (p. 186).

It would be more than 3 decades before Newton eventually came out to declare himself against the slave trade. God’s grace and long-suffering patience with people like Newton (and you and me!) is truly amazing, isn’t it?

Carrying Stones for Jesus?

2010-12-26T13:36:00.001+08:00

Today after the conclusion of our small group meeting here in our coastal southcentral Taiwan setting, I had the chance to share the following story in Chinese with three of our community friends while we were sitting around drinking tea. The story is quoted in Tim Keller’s Prodigal God, page 51:

One day Jesus said to his disciples: “I’d like you to carry a stone for Me.” He didn’t give any explanation. So the disciples looked around for a stone to carry, and Peter, being the practical sort, sought out the smallest stone he could possibly find. After all, Jesus didn’t give any regulations for weight and size! So he put it in his pocket. Jesus then said: “Follow Me.” He led them on a journey. About noontime Jesus had everyone sit down. He waved his hands and all the stones turned to bread. He said, “Now it’s time for lunch.” In a few seconds, Peter’s lunch was over. When lunch was done Jesus told them to stand up. He said again, “I’d like you to carry a stone for Me.” This time Peter said, “Aha! Now I get it!” So he looked around and saw a small boulder. He hoisted it on his back and it was painful, it made him stagger. But he said, “I can’t wait for supper. “ Jesus then said: “Follow Me.” He led them on a journey, with Peter barely being able to keep up. Around supper time Jesus led them to the side of a river. He said, “Now everyone throw your stones into the water.” They did. Then he said, “Follow Me,” and began to walk. Peter and the others looked at him dumbfounded. Jesus sighed and said, “Don’t you remember what I asked you to do? Who were you carrying the stones for?”

Wind Generation Update

2010-11-29T21:22:00.001+08:00

A couple of months ago when I was riding my bike along the west coast I noticed that a new platform had been erected to indicate how much power was being generated in Four Lakes’ 14 wind generators. Yesterday was the first time I observed it to be outputting power generation levels. It took a while, but the grid is finally working.

There’s also a new logo on one of the wind generators, apparently by a local temple. Everything is franchised out these days….

Singing Competition

2010-11-16T05:44:00.003+08:00

Yesterday the community sponsored a Folk Custum Cultural Festival on the plaza in front of the local temple. In addition to drums, “country technique”, and many other performances put on by children and adults, there was a lottery in the evening in which lots of prizes were given away, including a half dozen or so bicycles and a large flat screen HD TV (I noticed the crowd was 10 times larger when they had the drawing than it was earlier in the afternoon!).

However, I went over there in the afternoon and once again in the evening not for these, but to watch parts of two rounds of the singing competition in which two acquaintances of mine participated. “Benz”, who I’ve written about before and is one of my earliest acquaintances here, came in 2nd place for the 2nd year in a row. Congratulations again this year, Benz!

The New Children of Taiwan

2010-10-26T13:11:00.005+08:00

Earlier today I saw this link about families of foreign wives here in Taiwan as posted by OMF Field Director Phil Nicholson on his facebook page. As our bookkeeper/secretary said this past Sunday in small group, it is no longer appropriate to call them, in either English or Chinese, "foreign brides" since so many of them have lived here so long already.

Many places I have been recently (field directors' meeting from earlier in the month, mission prayer meeting, various other conversations) I'm hearing people talk about this-- even more than before. The 60+ children who participate in ShuiLin Presbyterian Church's tutoring and outreach programs 15 minutes down the road are almost exclusively from foreign bride Taiwanese families. How might God be wanting to love the so-called "new children of Taiwan" (xin taiwan zhizi) and mixed marriage families, and use them to subversively transform Taiwan's worldview to a Christian worldview from the inside-out (Paul Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews)? How might we move in line with Him in our church planting projects to accomplish this very purpose?

Moon Festival Truck

2010-09-22T11:51:00.001+08:00

Mid-Autumn Festival Truck Campaign

2010-09-16T20:57:00.001+08:00

After having prayerfully planned for quite sometime, last month I decided that the timing was not right for another truck campaign so closely on the heels of our last one. Anyway, according to three Taiwanese Christian friends, my desire to connect the Moon Festival with psalm 8 from the bible didn’t connect well with the traditional Taiwanese understanding of the Moon (aka Mid-Autumn) Festival. This includes the goddess in the moon and a rabbit making medicine in the moon, along with the idea of family reunions. So I dropped the idea without regret.

However, three weeks ago an elderly lady who lived next door to the office suddenly passed away peacefully in her sleep one night. We had just seen her taking her typical strolls up and down the street the previous couple of days. She and her grandson,a frequent participant in our Saturday afternoon English Club, had posed with Santa when we offered photos last Christmas and delivered them in January:

Also, our intern had prayed with her about a physical infirmity last year, and finally, as I reviewed a recording of our Easter truck broadcast from this past spring, I noticed that she appears across the street from the truck at the end:

Could it be that somehow the little snippet she overheard that day led her to a hope in Jesus, who overcame the grave? One can hope.

Anyway, last week was an extremely slow week in the office with apparently nothing big about to materialize on the horizon administratively to occupy my time. At that time I believe God spoke to me that, within the limited range of things I am able to do at the present time, He wants me to stay on target. It was after all well within the purpose for Him bringing me here in the first place to go ahead with another truck ad! What was that purpose which I believe he had for my life here before I got here? “To move out, minister, and multiply the grace of God.” Anyway, what better way to do that with an upbeat, mobile truck campaign?

I got back to the drawing board, and in spite of what turned out to be an unexpectedly busy week on several other fronts, was able by God’s grace (and a little help from friends and from the advertising company) to quickly churn out in a matter of hours the poster above as well as the following poster and recording clip:

The lyrics for the portion of the song by Heavenly Melody singers, for which we obtained copyright permission today, goes something like this:

“Moon! Please tell me what my life is all about. Sometimes it feels complete, and other times scanty. Spring and fall come and go, sometimes feeling complete, and other times scanty… “

Then there’s a greeting from our church wishing everyone a Happy Moon Festival. And finally, our own translation of psalm 8 in colloquial Taiwanese, since there is none presently published we can use (the bible society here is in the process of doing a modern translation of the Old Testament, but it is not yet available):

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Weather permitting, this will go out into two townships next Tuesday and Wednesday. May God use this feeble imperfect effort.

Neighborhood Theft

2010-09-08T21:19:00.001+08:00

Usually I lower my steel door around 9:00 pm and sometimes well before, just like most of my other neighbors in this agricultural village. Last night, because I got home later, I didn’t lower it until well afer 12.

Unknown to me, directly across the street at approximately 11:00 pm, a crime took place. My neighbor’s truck, filled with stereo and electronics equipment which he uses for his job every week, was hot-wired and vanished. Another neighbor noticed the truck was gone around 2:00 am when he got up to go to the bathroom. Although my door was still up, I wasn’t on the first floor to have noticed the crook, as I’m sure he or they were careful to check out ahead of time.

A little over two years ago during the noon siesta I saw a stranger across the street just sort of standing there. I found out 2 hours later that a neighbor behind me had been robbed. The guy I saw must have been the watchman.

I didn’t find out about today’s heist until this evening, when I had a chance to listen and console my saddened neighbor, who spent the whole night driving around western Yunlin county hoping he might come across his truck. Sure hope he finds his stuff, as I’m sure this is a huge unexpected loss he cannot afford. I’ve gotten lax the last few months in not locking the cars I’m watching over with their steering wheel locks in addition to the regular alarms… they’re back on and secured tonight!

“Them”

2010-09-04T14:30:00.001+08:00

This past week while reading Paul Hiebert’s discussion of peasant worldviews in his book Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change, I was reminded of a numbing truth I feel from time to time in our village here: “Although individuals and groups of people who come from outside and pass through the village may participate in its life, they remain “others” or “them.” (p. 126).

While traditional society here has and continues to be affected by modernity, postmodernity, and “glocalization”, I still often feel very much like a “them” here. For example, I am often welcomed “to go drink tea” according to the culture’s code of hospitality. And when the Mid-Autumn or Chinese New Year comes, invitations to join others often come as well. Sadly though, due to cultural, lingusitic, and faith differences, at other times the feeling of distance and disconnection from the community feels so palpable you could cut it with a knife. For example, the other day I was riding my scooter around town to visit folks and felt a little discouraged as to how few folks I could really call friends here, although I have many acquaintances. After three years!

God encouraged me when I parked by the phone company to change my service. Just as I was getting off my scooter, a mother and her two children also parked to go in to pay their bill. Just this past Sunday, that same mother and two children had walked unexpectedly in the front door of our office to attend our small group. The previous day, the two children had attended the Children's English Club for the first time. In the small group, the mother shared her open-mindedness to the Christian faith, and asked us to pray for her husband, who is suffering from cirrhosis and some other serious health issues. So I was reminded once again that even though we don’t have that many close friends here, the Great Physician indeed is still subtly at work behind the scenes introducing spiritual, emotional, and physical healing to those of us who are sick and in need of a doctor.

Introducing the Formosan Golden Bat

2010-09-01T12:58:00.003+08:00

A mere four kilometers from my front door down a less-travelled country road which passes briefly through Water Forest Township on the way to Northport lies a tiny hamlet named Sucin village.

The village had a few murals painted in the last few years:

But today the reason for my stopping briefly on my way to conduct business at the bank in Northpoint was to see the village’s Formosan golden bats (金黃鼠耳蝠), which I only heard about yesterday despite the fact that I’ve lived here 3 years. That’s because I don’t always pay good attention to my surroundings when I’m driving through (preferring to listen to my audiobooks!), and I’ve missed the story each time it’s been broadcast on the TV news.

The Formosan golden bats live within the walls of an elementary school I often pass by. The word pun in the directional mural above associates 幸福 with 幸蝠. In Western society, bats are often associated with evil. But in Chinese society, the character for blessing 福 sounds just like the character for bat 蝠, so bats might be taken by some (especially enterprising businesspeople) as a sign of blessing. I still wouldn’t want one living in my house!

Even with the help of the staff there, I was only able to detect a few of the small golden bats (they appeared from a distance to be smaller than the palm of my hand). This time of the year most of them have already scattered (plus, today the weather, influenced by tropical storm Lion Rock, has caused them to hide).

Finally, I should add that at the end of last year a small but very colorful and respectable museum opened inside the side door of the school property. My hosts were very hospitable!

I am told the ideal time for viewing the most bats together inside the schoolyard is around Mother’s Day. What an ideal date for the mothers among our international workers who live in the area to go out on with their husbands!

Around that time, the bats should look something like this, all clumped together like fruit on a tree (mmmm, delicious!):

Check it out if you happen to be in the Northpoint (BeiGang) area of Yunlin County around that time.

Early Christian Influence on Asian Buddhism

2010-08-18T11:10:00.005+08:00

This past weekend an acquaintance in the community I was visiting with our intern equated the Christian faith with the West in at least two negative statements he made. The implication was that it isn't an Asian faith. I corrected him by stating that Christianity in fact originated in the East, but I don't think that fact sunk in.

In "The Lost History of Christianity", Philip Jenkins highlights the forgotten history of the early Asian church. He also shares the following anecdote. In 782 the Indian Buddhist missionary Prajna arrived in the Chinese imperial capital of Chang'an, but was unable to translate the Sanskrit sutras he brought along with him due to having limited Chinese. No problem... just ask the local indigenous Christians for help!

The Christian bishop Adam, himself an Asian and whose name heads the list on the Nestorian monoment, had already translated parts of the Bible into Chinese. Either out of intellectual curiosity or from ecumenical goodwill, he helped this Buddhist missionary with his translation. Japanese monks in Chang'an at this time took these very translations back with them to Japan, where they became the founding texts of the two great Buddhist schools Shingon and Tendai which influenced all the famous Buddhist movements of later Japanese history. Scholars still speculate whether Adam either subconsciously or consciously worked Christian concepts into the translated sutras. (Jenkins, p. 16)

First Day of Ghost Month

2010-08-10T12:27:00.000+08:00

The seventh month of the lunar calendar, also known as “Ghost Month,” began today.

People immersed in local Taiwanese folk religion believe that on the first day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, the gates of hell are opened for one month, allowing spirits imprisoned in the ten halls of hell (18 levels sort of like purgatory) out for a vacation as they wander to and fro in the physical world.

Our “Peace Truck” hit the street about 9:45 am. It also offers a prayer hotline for situations both related and not related to ghost month. May God in His wisdom use the music and spoken words to set up divine appointments which lead to peace, wholeness, healing, and deliverance.

We had some outside help from interested acquaintances in the community this time around. First, a friend from the community with whom we maintain a cordial relationship lent her voice for part of the recording. Second, the man from the advertising company felt our poster did not have an acceptably-high pixel density. So he took the initiative of having his junior higher put another one together for us. While I prefer our original design better (the picture of Jesus with the lambs is too traditional for my taste), the text, telephone number, etc. are much more visible on his. In the end, for the sake of cordial relationships and not wanting to dampen his enthusiasm, I mixed them up, with his on the left and front, and ours on the back and right. May God use both of them!

For the other poster, and text published previously, etc. click here. Also, here’s a video of this morning’s action if anyone cares to watch:

Welcome to Pirate Forest Township!

2010-08-07T00:14:00.001+08:00

This evening when I went to meet our intern and the leader of a drug rehabilitation center in Taiwan at the Conservative Baptist Church in BeiGang, the pastor, Mike Gee, who is from nearby ShuiLin (Water Forest) Township, shared some interesting history, most of which I had heard before but some which I had not.

The monument at the traffic circle in BeiGang commemorates the place of earliest immigration of Chinese into Taiwan right there in BeiGang, 391 years ago (?). They came not from mainland China, but from Japan. Since they were pirates, they had already been kicked out of China.

The township next door where MIke is from is called “Water Forest Township” (ChuiNa). However, in Taiwanese the original name was Water Thief Forest (ChuiChatNa). Water Thief, of course, means Pirate! They came first to this part of Taiwan, murdering many of the native inhabitants and driving the rest off the plains and up into the mountains, taking their land and women, since they had none.

I had just been at the ChuiNa（Mandarin Chinese:ShuiLin) 水林 Presbyterian church to share with a bunch of students just a few hours before. Too bad I didn’t know they lived in “Pirate Forest Township” then! It would have made a great introduction (I’m told most young people living there now would not know that Water Forest was originally known by another name).

Peaceful July

2010-07-21T13:51:00.001+08:00

How to bless people here with peace during the 7th lunar month, known here in Taiwan as ghost month? We willuse a manner similar to the truck advertisements last year for Christmas and this year for Easter.

1。Written on the Truck Poster:

Peace to Everyone! Free Prayer to “Return the Soul of a Terrified/Startled Person” (this sentence would makes perfect sense to someone involved in traditional folk religion in this part of Taiwan—it is usually offered as a business transaction) No money required！

At the suggestion of a Taiwanese teacher, I asked my Saturday Children’s English Club students to draw pictures to see what ideas they could come up with. I gave them the theme “peace”:

LOL. He says: If you don’t fight (wars, etc), then there won’t be anyone die!

These last two pictures both contain apples, which was quite meaningful (there are also fish in the pictures, which in the Chinese language sounds like the word for “abundance”, but when we tried to put them on our poster, they looked too much like beached whales to me so we deleted them).

To Chinese people, apples are equated with peace because of the same sound in the first syllable of each word. In fact, when I googled “apple” and “peace” in chinese, a number of web pages ask the question: “Why do Chinese people give away apples on Christmas Eve (literally in Chinese: “Peace Eve” ).

This is a first start. We need to make some final design decisions soon:

2．Taiwanese Truck Recording:

In a modern language version of Taiwanese:

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27, NLT)

Hello friends! If you as an adult or child have had your soul startled, or are lacking peace in your heart, you can come here for a free prayer for your startled soul to return, or to pray for peace. Effective! Please call… to make your appointment. (again, this makes more sense to Taiwanese in their language than looking at the English)

If the musical group “Streams of Praise” gives us copyright permission, we will also use their song “Peaceful July” in the recorded announcement.

3。When people call to make an appointment, explain that the person in question needs to come him or herself, and that Jesus is able to help them. We will also emphasize that our method of helping the startled soul to return is different than their traditional folk religion method—we are praying in the name of Jesus. If this is acceptable to them, they are welcome to come.

4. When they come, there is a CD of personal testimony in Taiwanese playing. And 5 bible verses about God’s peace will be on the walls for them to look at while they wait for a moment:

Matt 11:28-30

Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah 32:17, 57:19

Phil 4:6-7

1 Peter 5:6-7

5. We have a standard prayer ready to use which can easily be customized (won’t try to translate it here).

6. If anyone asks why we are praying for them for free, we explain that the love of God is free with no strings attached. We are performing this small service to show the love of Jesus. Would they like to know him?

7.When they leave, we give them an apple, as well as one of three booklets dealing with the topic of blessing (an important cultural theme here). After people receive this kind of service in their traditional folk religion, it is expected they receive something like this.

8。Of course, for any chance of this is to come to fruition or work in the end without us coming across as absolute fools, we must schedule a time of prayer and fasting before the appointed time. We’re taking a risk here, but God seems to be leading us in this direction.

7/30/2010 Update:
Unfortunately, as I gathered feedback from various individuals, the apple idea didn’t seem to click. So here is our revised poster, with the music we have now been given permission to use on the days requested:

A Real American Breakfast!

2010-07-21T11:53:00.001+08:00

Here in Taiwan, although I love the food, one of the meals I miss the most when eating out is an authentic American breakfast, rich in calories and with plenty of coffee, juice, etc: blueberry pancakes, waffles, omelettes, eggs over easy, sausauges, you name it! So imagine my ecstasy eariler this week when I observed this new breakfast shop named “American Breakfast” in North Point next door to the 85C coffee shop!

Though it was early afternoon, I parked the car and went in to take a look at the menu. The fare seems only slightly different than the breakfast shops in this town. And just like at one of those shops in my village, I can eat pizza for breakfast! Now that’s a real American breakfast?

Evening Bicycle Ride

2010-07-15T06:56:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I rode my normal route from Four Lakes, through E-Liao, E-Lun, BoZiLiao, SanTiaoLun, Flying Sands (and a few other villages), and home again. On the way, I was able to stop as usual at the tea shop in E-Lun, chat for a few minutes with a number of acquaintances at the basketball court in Flying Sands and the park in Four Lakes, and see these young people finishing up their wall mural in SanTiaoLun (more of these murals seem to be popping up in every countryside village in recent months). Most of it was done by kids but now the older folks are taking over…

Have Some Cake

2010-07-15T06:39:00.001+08:00

In Huwei, about a half hour from here, is a towel factory. On the day we went, tourists were everywhere. What attracts them to a place like this? The towels are shaped into lollipops, cakes, pies, etc. Check it out sometime if you’re in the area. But if you go, be careful to keep the rules (last picture below), especially the first one (sorry for the poor pic quality, had to use my cell phone camera on this visit).

E-Lun Night Market

2010-07-09T10:08:00.001+08:00

In Taiwan people like to go to night markets to pass the time (they’ve never been my favorite activity because I don’t like crowds). There isn’t much of a night market in this town, but my coworkers in Baojhong are very faithful in visiting and praying for people in theirs.

Night before last I made my first visit to a night market about 15 minutes away in the coastal town of XiaLun (Mandarin; Taiwanese: E-Lun) in Mouth-of-the-Lake Township. Being as I’ve volunteered in a few different schools with students from this town and that I often ride my bicycle through there on my route around the coastline, I was saddened in the 20 minutes or so we walked around the night market that I didn’t bump into anyone I knew.

As I walked down the last lane, I spoke a simple prayer asking that I would bump into somebody. Within about 20 seconds I heard a guy shout “hello” behind me and lo-and-behold there was a group of high school basketball players/drop-out (?) guys I met a few years ago from the community of Flying Sands. We didn’t have a long or especially meaningful conversation, but this nevertheless was an answer a prayer!

After exiting the night market, I had to walk around the perimeter back to the car. Well, I thanked God for the contact and spoke up another simple prayer. Within a minute I had bumped into the husband and wife who operate the local eatery I frequent most often here! And then another neighbor! Usually when I get my food at the eatery, the husband is way too busy, tired, and stressed to talk. It was the most relaxed I’d ever seen him. Again, no supernatural miracles or extraordinary conversations, but I was reminded I need to pray like this more often….

Sek-kia is a Male too

2010-07-05T08:34:00.001+08:00

In a previous post I introduced Sek-kia the multi-lingual Indian Ring-Neck parrot whom I inherited for free. By the way, Sek-kia is the name of a fruit here in Taiwan we don’t have in the U.S. (custard Apple, sugar apple) but is also a way to say “Buddha.”, Anyway, I recently discovered in the past two weeks that Sek-kia, just like Bala mentioned in another recent post, is also a male. Note the new rings which just came in around the neck….

Actually, as their body size and shape of their beaks is different (Sek-kia is about 2 inches longer, his beak is somewhat smaller proportionally, and the ring on the back of his neck is redder), and as Bala can only meow like a cat while Sek-kia speaks human words, I’m beginning to wonder if Bala is an African ringneck and not an Indian ringneck. Or if Sek-kia is a roseneck. Or it could just be that Bala is stupid. Poor Bala! (pictured below)

Mr. Ding Meets the Reporters

2010-07-02T07:22:00.001+08:00

Day before yesterday my neighbor Dave Ding invited me to go with his wife and daughter to the art exhibition in Chiayi city where his latest prize-winning wood carving is on display. Mr. Ding and the other artists were interviewed by the reporters, and next Saturday a ceremony will be held.

Taiwanese Turtle

2010-06-30T08:22:00.001+08:00

Long ago when I was in junior high school, l remember riding in the van on the way to Fairy Stone, Virginia with my brothers and sisters and my mom when she swerved to miss a box turtle…. accidentally driving straight over it instead. :-(

Turtles are not an uncommon sight when driving in America, but I was surprised the other night while driving on a country road in the rain when I thought I saw one on the side of the road here on the western plain of southcentral Taiwan. I turned around, and sure enough, there it was. This “flower turtle” （花龜） is slightly smaller than my hand.

Having a friend who likes turtles to the degree I like to raise birds (well, maybe not quite that much), I scooped it up and delivered it to him last night.

In other nature-related news, 3 weeks ago at dusk my neighbor and I watched as a small bird (we thought it was a sparrow) flew in to my open door. I looked and looked the next day, but never found it, thinking that in a few weeks the stench would give the position of its corpse away. But yesterday morning, after having kept the steel doors shut for the better part of a week while I was out of town, I found a tiny bat by the bottom of the door… still living, but barely. I released it in the field across the street. So I guess if it was the same creature, bats can survive a long time without feeding…

Guava is a Boy!

2010-06-21T17:23:00.001+08:00

I bought Guava about 2 years ago when still a baby Indian Ring Neck. About a year ago, our relationship moved from a love to a hate relationship, perhaps as a result of sitting it out on a 3rd floor window balcony all day for a few days, perhaps simply as a result of entering into adolescence. Anyway, soon after everytime I let Guava out of the cage it had the immediate instinctive reaction to begin biting me! Things haven’t changed.

At first I assumed Guava was perhaps a girl….

But in the last month these dark rings developed, leading to the certain knowledge that Guava is a handsome mature male!

Elementary School Graduation

2010-06-19T09:01:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I attended the graduation ceremony at the local elementary school.

Back when I was a young boy in America, there was no such thing as a graduation ceremony for elementary school students. Nor for middle school/junior high. And if there was, it probably would not have been meaningful for me as we moved around quite frequently.

Yesterday near the end of the 2 hour ceremony, tears were flowing from many of the young boys and girls whom we knew and taught last year in the school’s English Club. I thought about taking pictures of some of them, but settled for “happy pics” with some of our young friends.

One aspect of the ceremony that struck me was that the students both performed and gave speeches in Taiwanese – the mother tongue we are encouraging our workers to learn – and NOT the Mandarin language. A coworker in the next township said the principals gave their speeches in Taiwanese in several of the ceremonies he and his wife attended.

Drinking Tea, Shooting Pool, Playing Majhong

2010-06-09T12:44:00.001+08:00

This past week the local news television stations have been buzzing about a story in which at least 9 policemen were recorded on camera to be associating with gangsters in a private nightclub in Taichung city.

The story breaking two weeks before the election isn’t a coincidence, and is influencing public opinion. But there’s no new insight here for locals as to their being strong links between known criminal elements and the police force and/or government.

Four or five years ago while entertaining some friends from Mansfield, Ohio, one them asked to be taken around to a local police station in Taichung. He just happened to be the chief of police in his town back in Ohio and wanted nothing more than to introduce himself to his counterpart in the local police station and maybe drink a cup of tea with them. When I introduced this gentleman the officers present wanted nothing to do with him. Don’t know if they were just embarrassed with associating with foreigners, or if there might have been a fear of being exposed of something else. We met with similar responses in two places.

A few days later on that particular trip we were escorting our guests back to the airport and had to spend the night in a motel a half hour from the airport to accommodate everyone’s early morning departure.
That night I went back down to the kiosk outside the motel rooms to get an internet cable for my computer. I was shocked to see 3 or 4 police cars come screaming over, put a sign on the kiosk and rope it off in what was evidently a raid.

A while later I went back down again because I still needed my internet cable. I assumed the police had left as I didn't see their squad cars. Knocking on the door, I opened it and went it only to see a couple of cops standing over the attendant, who had taken a big wad of money out of the cash register/drawer and was in the process of counting it. I received my cable and quickly and quietly made my exit….

May God somehow help some of the most honest and upright politicians to win this Saturday. Please pray for Taiwan’s election.

Happenstance Occurrence?

2010-06-01T23:50:00.001+08:00

Tonight I picked up my friend a little before 7 and we headed over to North Harbor to get something to eat. She wanted to try a small eatery stall near an elementary school her coworker had told her about. We could not find it from the sparsely scrawled directions at right, so proceeded without a clue several hundred yards down the same road toward the temple side of town. Our thought was to just park along the main road there and eat something at a random eatery in front of the temple.

As I was looking for a parking place, out of the corner of my eye I saw someone who looked like our intern's wife (they live an hour north of here) walking up the road. I could not get her attention, but called her husband in Taipei and verified that it was indeed her. She was in town to deliver goods (she apparently comes here about once every two months). After 10 minutes or so we had gotten in touch with her and met back by the road in front of the temple.

The store she had been to was one I had accompanied our intern to late last year. The son of the shop keeper lady's younger brother has been in the same drug rehabilitation center our intern graduated from.

Anyway, our intern's wife and the shop keeper invited us to join them for dinner. They piled into my car. Without us saying a word, guess where they led us?

They instructed me to drive back over to the main traffic circle and park near the 7-11/Watsons. We then walked through a back alley between taller buildings to the same small eatery (Beef Noodle Soup) we had been looking for in the first place! It was only a little after 7:30 and we discovered once we got there it did not open until 8:00. So we had a long time to chat.

I don't know what God accomplished through an appointment to such an out-of-the-way place that was according to His ultimate purposes, but it clearly seemed to be of His doing.

By the way, the Beef Noodle Soup in front of this small stall was the best I’ve had since I moved here.

Unrecognizable to Acquaintance

2010-05-31T22:25:00.001+08:00

The other day when passing through Taipei I thought I saw a young lady whose family I’ve known ever since I first came to Taiwan 13 years ago and lived that first year in ShenKeng in Taipei County. She would have been a young teen then.

She came into the 7-11 while I was at the check-out counter and I looked over at her 2 or 3 times. She only stared blankly past me, so I assumed I must have mistaken her for someone else.

The next day I was talking to the whole family up in CiDu in Keelung where I visited for church. Indeed it was the same young woman. Her mom told me that the evening before her daughter had come home and said: “Mom, I saw someone who looked a lot like Mr. So and So today. But it must not have been him because he was so fat.

Ouch!!!

Afternoon Bike Trip to Chiayi County DongShi YuRenMaTou

2010-05-31T21:21:00.001+08:00

I took this afternoon off and took off on the bicycle for DongShi YuRenMaTou in Chiayi County （嘉義縣東石漁人碼頭）along the Puzi bike path in LiuJiao. From my house and back I rode about 73 kilometers.

In my last post I talked about “Red Forests” in the water. Along the low-lying waters of the Puzi river the red forest is much taller—maybe about 5 meters.

The view along the river was pleasant, although I had to settle for using my cell phone camera and you can’t really tell from these pictures.

Since there’s not a lot to see or do in this immediate area, we take guests sometimes to the park/play area, seen below.

At the harbor, students were busy practicing for the Dragon Boat races which will be held on DuanWuJie in a few weeks.

Dwindling Red Forests

2010-05-28T21:03:00.001+08:00

While I loathe to see what is already happening with the ecosytem this week in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the disastrous BP oil spill, here in my own neighborhood are equally dramatic (though much slower) ecological and environmental shifts in the making.

First, this morning the students at the local junior high school were talking to me using English about the environmental pollution that is occuring in our neck of the woods as a result of pollution emanating from Formosa Plastics on the coast.

Second, when I asked my friend Roger this afternoon what differences he has noted in the local ecosystem between he was a boy and now, he cited how the land is sinking all along the western plain of south-central coastal taiwan. Because the land is sinking, beautiful “Red Forests” (actually look more like large sets of dense bushes) growing in the shallow waters have been dying out at an alarming rate over the years. The reason for this is because the sprouts you see pictured here fall so deep below the low tide they can never survive to grow in to trees.

Roger took me to see a healthy “Red Forest” not too far from his house in coastal Mouth-of-the-Lake Township this afternoon. Above and below you can see the pics and description.

Was I Just Visited by Gangsters?

2010-05-26T13:42:00.001+08:00

It’s coming up on election time for mayor and local representatives, and I most likely just visited by gangsters promoting their candidate. If you’re looking for me to post a picture of the candidate which he just gave me when we shook hands, don’t look for it here!

I told them as I have other candidates and their workers who’ve come by the last two weeks that I don’t have the right to vote here, but as is usually the case I’m still politely handed the literature. Never mind that I probably wouldn’t want to vote for them even if I could as it was clear that over the noon hour they had a little too much to drink. Not the best way to attract voters, but I guess it doesn’t matter as they have other means.

Yesterday eating lunch with coworkers at a local establishment the owner and his wife did not seem their normal talkative happy selves. We think it’s because the customers at the other table, a group of 5 or 6 men one might describe as looking a little thug-like. My coworker had seen them the previous evening eliciting a discomforting reaction from one of his neighbors. Maybe they were out “encouraging” the voters. A couple of the same fellows were back at the same restaurant in the evening when I drove by again.

A friend from a nearby township said that votes are going for 5,000 NT per person in the election in which he is assisting. The present mayor of that place is a known gang leader. Three years ago I heard that another local acquaintance’s father (whose family used to be a prominent in the community) was coerced into stepping down from re-election after he was physically threatened. Democracy at work. But my country’s democracy has it’s own problems too.

BeiGang Matsu Birthday Celebration

2010-05-03T09:04:00.001+08:00

Last night I went with 2 friends to visit the family of my friend Sam in North Harbor (BeiGang), an early cultural center in Taiwan. We were told we would just be eating snacks so we ate a light supper first, but we were in fact treated to a full course home-cooked meal! Afterward we learned the meal was prepared in the home and not hired to outsiders was because of the death of an extended family member in the last year.

BeiGang is no longer on the main circuit on the annual Matsu pilgrimage, but it does retain a unique claim to fame with regard to the celebration of the birth of their goddess Matsu. Children put on make-up and climb atop trucks to give away candies as the parade of dozens of trucks passes through town. The candy truck circuit began last night, and will continue every evening for the next five days.

I was uncomfortable and didn’t stick around to watch the candy parade very long. In the 15 minutes or so I observed, I was particularly struck with how unhappy those on the trucks looked. I didn’t see a single smile the whole time, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed this either. That reminded me of how how last Christmas a Christian church came to visit the restaurant I was at in Tainan at the time for Christmas caroling, a celebration of the birth of God’s Son Jesus Christ as a baby into this world. Due to what was probably a busy day of work and the start of a long evening of caroling, not a single one of the carolers was smiling, and the singing came across as tired and forced. Maybe it’s better to keep activities like these short so that all those participating can continuously radiate an aura of joy. Not always easy to do!

A Couple of Taboos

2010-04-16T09:19:00.001+08:00

This morning at the junior high school it was not easy for the teacher and I to get the students to use English to talk about their field trip to a popular amusement/cultural park earlier in the week. So toward the end of the class when the word “point” came up naturally in the flow of conversation, I changed the topic to ask about something I heard yesterday from my Taiwanese teacher while studying a Taiwanese language textbook on popular folk culture (specific topic: The Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival).

Is it OK to point at the moon with your index finger? We do this all the time in western culture, so think nothing of it. With smiles on their faces the students informed me that, in Taiwanese folk culture, it is taboo. If you point at the moon, Thai-im-niu-niu, the moon goddess, will come and cut your ears to punish you for your disrespect.

The students at the junior high gave me the same explanation as the teacher yesterday. Then they excitedly shared another taboo that is also forbidden in popular Taiwanese culture: It’s not OK to sit on a pillow, because if you sit on a pillow, [it] will rot away.

We also talked about a proverb I wrote about last year. A girl shared that twice her dad had gotten rid of dead dogs in this manner. When talking about the cats, one young man didn’t know how to say “hang” and said “decorate” instead, prompting the teacher to break out laughing. He also didn’t know how to say “put” or “lay” with reference to dogs. These are not what you would want to put on (decorate) or put under your Christmas tree!

I’ve observed a couple of class periods now how enthusiastic the students suddenly get when we turn away from the magazine they use as a conversational starter and I ask them about Taiwanese culture instead. I’m really looking forward to what the teacher has asked them to share with me about Taiwanese culture for next week!

--------------------------------------

The reason I was reading about the Moon Festival yesterday is because I’m planning a truck announcement/blessing for the Mid-Autumn Festival later in the year:

“O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens… When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? … O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! ” 耶和華我們的主啊！你的名在全地是多麼威嚴，你把你的榮美彰顯在天上。。。我觀看你手所造的天，和你所安放的月亮和星星。啊！人算甚麼，你竟記念他？世人算甚麼，你竟眷顧他？。。。耶和華我們的主啊！你的名在全地是多麼威嚴。

Mr. Ding's Blog

2010-04-06T06:53:00.004+08:00

For those of you who asked, here is Mr. Ding's blog. The link was already passed to FB users.

Mr. Ding Wins More Deserved Recognition

2010-04-04T15:58:00.001+08:00

My friendly neighbor and friend, 47 year-old Mr. Ding, who in school only had a middle school education and who I introduced in this blog a few years ago, is very very happy today. He won a national wood-carving competition and is featured in both the printed and online edition of a major newspaper today! The grand prize is 150,000 NT dollars. Congratulations Mr. Ding!

Resurrection Proclaimed a Day Early Already (Every Day is OK)

2010-04-03T15:00:00.001+08:00

Saturday morning the advertising truck I hired mentioned in the last post arrived in our town. I’m happy that Mr.. Huang, who drove for us last time, is our driver again. The announcement is a little clearer than last time. Mr. Huang will drive through Mouth-of-the-Lake Township today and our township tomorrow.

Easter morning I followed him around a bit and took another short clip:

Easter Announcement Almost Ready to Go

2010-03-31T22:37:00.001+08:00

Last Christmas I wrote about how, with the help of a few friends, I put together at the last minute a poster and recording from Luke 2 proclaiming in the vernacular the birth of Jesus (I hired a truck from a local advertising company to share that recording by way of loudspeaker as it drove through every village and town in our township, and half of another).

I was away and occupied by other things for the better part of the last 2 months. But thankfully with the timely help of three friends I’ve nearly finished an Easter announcement to propagate this weekend through Monday (which also happens to be Tomb Sweeping Day in the Taiwanese Lunar Calendar):

Though using the trucks is not the most incarnational means possible, as I mentioned in my post last December it is culturally appropriate for this part of Taiwan. I want to make use of technology and every means possible not just to invite people to attend events, etc. but to do what our organization, in its name as translated into Chinese （宣道會） says it stands for: 宣楊神的道, that is, “ make the Word of God (i.e. Jesus) widely known.” Jesus Christ has conquered death! He has risen from the dead!

Both the poster and recording once again fall short of perfection (poster contrast, cassette quality, and maybe next time I’ll have time to recruit multiple readers for different roles), but may God in His grace have mercy and use them to allow some people to hear Beautiful News this weekend who might not hear it otherwise. From Matthew 28:

… As the new day was dawning, [the two women] went out to visit the tomb. ² Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. ³ His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

⁵ Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. ⁷ And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead… ”

⁸ The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. ⁹ And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid!…

Self-Serve Lunches

2010-03-30T17:30:00.001+08:00

I was away from Taiwan for 5 weeks, so no blogging for quite a while!

Ever since I first came on island in 1997, a common and inexpensive way to eat has been to visit the local self-serve restaurants. Here in my town, I’ve become good friends with a family who operates the best such place in town. I go here a couple of times a week (picture stitched together here). My favorite meat is the grilled chicken, and my favorite veggie here, as the owners could most certainly tell you, is the eggplant!

Sunday Visit in the Countryside

2010-01-24T15:25:00.001+08:00

Our intern is working out an arrangement for his son to come down during winter vacation next week to work for a week on the cow farm where 3 children from my Saturday English Club live. He prefers that his son learn the value of hard work rather than sit around just playing on the computer and watching TV. So this morning I went with him to check out the farm first.

My main reason for wanting to go was to see my students. They were hard at work when we arrived.

Winnie and Jane’s aunt and her parents presently have over 300 heads of cattle on their farm, which includes dozens of calves but no bulls. I was surprised that, unlike cattle in the U.S., they are still primarily grass and hay-fed. The owners import grass and hay (along with corn, of course) from the United States.

Each cow has two numbers on its ear- one for the company that the cow belongs to and the other for the farmers. There’s also a number on the side of their back.

The grandfather and his wife live in a separate house 50 yards or so over. The grandkids (and maybe one set of parents) live in the elevated house below right:

The large sticks are to keep the calves moving between pens, as you can see below:

More Lessons from the Birds

2010-01-22T16:15:00.001+08:00

Following up on my last post, there are few other things we can learn from the birds about being good cross-cultural learners and workers.

First, from the clip below, we must maintain the active, inquisitive attitude of the learner. It’s important to have fun! And not just to just stay stuck up in the ivory tower (or, in this case, with your head stuck down in the feed can). Maybe you even want to get a little crazy when you’re practicing what you’re picking up!

Let’s take this reminder from two of my other birds-- Precious (Mandarin 寶貝 Bao3Bei4) and Bala (Guava): As international workers finding ourselves on the receiving end of abundant, unmerited blessings we have neither earned nor deserve, we want to rescue the perishing… to pass those blessings on. But will Precious come to the rescue of Guava?

Let’s shake hands with Custard-Apple to thank him for his assistance in these two posts!

Custard-Apple, the Multi-Lingual Parrot

2010-01-22T15:36:00.001+08:00

Some people say that crossing cultures, learning other languages, etc. is for the birds. Well, let’s learn from the birds! Specifically, what an Indian Ring-Neck parrot named Sek-khia can teach us about being an effective cross-cultural/language learner.

By the way, “Sek-kia” (釋迦 Shi4Jia1 in Mandarin) means “custard- apple” in the Taiwanese/Hoklo language. The custard-apple is a sweet fruit here in Taiwan, Thailand, and maybe a few other places:

Now back to my Custard-Apple… Sek-khia the multi-lingual parrot’s first language, as far as I am aware, was Mandarin. He (she?) spoke it the very first day I inherited him:

你好可愛 (Ni3 Hao3 ke3ai4) means “You are very cute.”

Next, Sek-khia moved on to pick up the Taiwanese or Hoklo language:

“Mai2 Khun3” means “don’t sleep.”

Sek-khia then moved on to his third tongue, English:

Sek-khia can also converse in the Hmong or Miao tongue (the Miao are a indigenous people in China and elsewhere):

Tangentially, I have also been told that Sek-khia could converse in the dog tongue, but that was before I inherited him and I have never heard him utter it. With languages, if you don’t use it, you lose it, just like my three years of high school and college German! I thought that next I would work with Custard-Apple to acquire elvish, the dwarf tongue, and maybe a few words of Orcish.

Alas, you won’t have a chance in this post to hear what my other bird, Precious (Mandarin 寶貝 Bao3Bei4) can say: “stop that”, “shut Up” , “I love you” ,“Mai Khun” and especially a very funny laugh! She’s too shy to be recorded.

Lantern Festival Celebration in Chiayi

2010-01-16T11:25:00.001+08:00

New Year’s Day I was in Chiayi in south/central Taiwan and saw what I suppose is the giant lantern for this year’s National Lantern Festival, which rotates among locations in Taiwan every year. Too bad I won’t be in Taiwan for Chinese New Year’s this year. However, having visited the national celebration a few years in a row in in the late 90’s when I first moved to Taipei, I haven’t really had the urge to fight the crowd.

Pilgrim Learners

2010-01-15T21:11:00.001+08:00

Today over lunch at McD’s (yes, sometimes I stoop this low here in Taiwan) I was reading chapter 6 of Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship by the late Lesslie Newbigin. Suddenly, I happened upon the word “pilgrim”.

At this exact moment, in order to drown out the loud music in the fast food restaurant, I encountered for the very first time the song “Pilgrim” by the artist Enya stored in my mp3 player. The confluence of events caught my attention immediately. Here are the lyrics and a link to Enya’s lovely song:

Pilgrim, how you journey
On the road you chose
To find out why the winds die
And where the stories go.

All days come from one day
That much you must know,
You cannot change what's over
But only where you go.

One way leads to diamonds,
One way leads to gold,
Another leads you only
To everything you're told.

In your heart you wonder
Which of these is true;
The road that leads to nowhere,
The road that leads to you.

Will you find the answer
In all you say and do?
Will you find the answer
In you?

Each heart is a pilgrim,
Each one wants to know
The reason why the winds die
And where the stories go.

Pilgrim, in your journey
You may travel far,
For pilgrim it's a long way
To find out who you are...

Pilgrim, it's a long way
To find out who you are...
Pilgrim, it's a long way
To find out who you are...

A lovely song (I still like her theme from Lord of the Rings better), but I have to disagree with the lyrics stating that the answers lie in “the road that leads to you”. Here’s what Newbigin was saying in the very instant I simultaneously encountered the word pilgrim both in the mp3 and the book:

“If we allow the Bible to be that which we attend to above all else, we will be saved from two dangers: The first is the danger of the closed mind. The Bible leaves an enormous space open for exploration (ie. if you interpret it correctly—neither as fundamentalists nor as liberals do). If our central commitment is to Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate in our history, we shall know that in following him we have the clue to the true understanding of all that is, seen and unseen, known and yet to be discovered. We shall therefore be confident explorers. The second is the danger of the mind open at both ends, the mind which is prepared to entertain anything but has a firm hold of nothing. We shall be saved from the clueless wandering which sometimes takes to itself the name of pilgrimage. A pilgrim is one who turns his back on some familiar things and sets his face in the direction of the desired goal. The Christian is called to be a pilgrim, a learner to the end of her days. But she knows the Way.” (p. 91-92)

May the biblical story continue to awaken my imagination and challenge and stimulate my thinking and acting (91). May I also, while seeking to be a lifelong learner encountering different fields beyond my ability to completely comprehend, trying to understand different kinds of books, etc. – continue to be a confident explorer yet humble, not arrogant), fighting the good fight, perservering in the quest.

The Conclusion of Christmas Activities

2009-12-26T11:45:00.001+08:00

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we distributed a little over 600 bags of candy and literature as we caroled in our two communities. Santa Claus trailed closely behind us in the markets! We were happy to be accompanied by several members from Songshan church in Taipei. We couldn’t have done it without them!

Christmas Truck Announcement:
On Wednesday I had the truck announcing the birth of Jesus written up in previous posts drive routes in the northern portion of our neighboring township. Unfortunately, when I went looking for him, no one in the 4 villages I asked in the target area had seen or heard the announcement. Later, when I called the driver, I found out he had meandered off the

agreed-upon path! Soon thereafter, a worker at a tea stand as well as a friend in another village called to say he had passed by.

Christmas Eve and Day the truck drove back and forth in my township. In order to give people a chance to hear the message, he drove extremely slow. He passed through the majority of villages only one time as a result.

I received feedback from one acquaintance yesterday that the volume was not loud enough… if we choose to do this again, perhaps I should pay to have a more professional recording done.

The Influence of the Biblical Story

2009-12-23T06:40:00.001+08:00

Two weeks ago in our adult English class as we were reading a simplified version of a story about the birth of Jesus, I asked students how they would feel if an angel appeared to them. One of them replied “lucky”, while the other said, in all honesty, he would ask the angel for money. Slightly different from the fearful response of the shepherds! But these are probably typical responses as to how someone rooted in Taiwanese culture and religious practices might respond to their understanding of an angel.

Similarly, last night I was reading stories about Jesus from Luke with a friend. When I asked him what motivated Jesus to heal the sick and deliver the oppressed, he responded that Jesus was only doing those things in order to spread his fame. Again, honest answers from someone with a traditional Taiwanese cultural and religious background.

Yesterday I was reading form Lesslie Newbigin’s Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship. In the first chapter Newbigin delineates four principles which provided the foundation for the subsequent development of science in Europe, a science which far outstripped the brilliant thinking of India, China, and the Arab world. What set these principles apart is that they were based upon faith in biblical revelation: “Science developed in Europe in a way that far outstripped the work of ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Indian science because it was willing to take as its starting point affirmations rooted in the biblical revelation of God as creator and redeemer.” (p. 11)

Newbigin continues: a long long time ago, the medley of barbarian tribes and petty kingdoms which then constituted Europe began to be shaped and influenced by a network of monastic communities which eventually took over the whole of Western Europe. These communities had at their center the continual reading of the Bible, both in study and in the worship rituals of the community. The biblical story came to be the one story (emphasis added) that shaped the understanding of who they were, where they came from, and where they were going. … “It was this story that shaped those barbarian tribes in the cultural and spiritual entity that made Europe something other than simply a peninsula of Asia (p. 13). Though one might effectivly argue that Europe was never thoroughly “Christianized” – the veneer was superficial in many places – nevertheless, the development of science in Europe was directly influenced by the faithful telling and retelling from generation to generation of bible stories.

I find great hope in that. Evangelism, when you get right down to it, can be very simple: telling the story of the bible. As I introduce people like those mentioned at the beginning of this blog entry to the biblical stories of creation,the life of Jesus, as well as the other narratives, poetry, and biblical prophecies of God’s Word, they will- if they come with an open heart-- be influenced. I will be influenced. Indeed, over time, entire cultures will be transformed! As I was reminded again in my devotionals this morning:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11

Ready for Christmas

2009-12-16T21:19:00.001+08:00

We’re in the final few days before our flurry of Christmas activities gets underway (well, not including the stories we’ve already been sharing the last few weeks of adult and children’s English classes). This evening, I went to check on the progress of our truck Christmas broadcast. The poster’s ready!

Unfortunately, prospects aren’t so bright for our first outdoor activity. Temperatures are expected to reach a new low for the winter Saturday night. Furthermore, construction has just begun in the area in front of the temple where the night market is usually held. Who knows where we’ll eventually set up our table with Santa Claus…

Coarse-Sounding Language

2009-12-14T23:58:00.002+08:00

Last week I was chatting with some elderly women who are friends with my neighbors. They cannot read, and only speak Taiwanese, so communicating with them in my low-intermediate level Taiwanese is difficult at best.

Without intending insult to them or Taiwanese culture, which I love, I used a term to communicate that when I first came to Taiwan, I found the Taiwanese language disagreeable to hear, not pleasing to the ear, coarse, etc. My point was that it sounded that way to me because I could not understand it.

Oops. That comment really stuck with them!

Today when I walked back to the house after visiting with a neighbor, the two old ladies flagged me down when I said hello to them. Today on the television, they said, was a foreigner who spoke really good Taiwanese. He said that when he first started learning Taiwanese, he found it very beautiful to the ear!

台灣人本土意識很強。 Next time I’ll try to smooth things over by emphasizing how lovely I am finding the Taiwanese language now that I am finally beginning to understand more of it.

Christmas Caroling Truck

2009-12-14T10:32:00.005+08:00

I wrote in the previous post about the truck advertisements for local election candidates, and the resulting idea I had listening to them every day.

Translating that idea into reality for Christmas took far more time and energy than I expected. Because we have 4 other Christmas activities we’re preparing for I had to put in a lot of overtime.

Here’s the poster we’ve created to post on each side of the truck:

And here’s a clip from the track I mixed in modern Taiwanese (very different from what is used in Presbyterian churches), repeating every 30 some seconds. I also mixed in a Christmas greeting.

I am hiring the truck and driver for two full business days. Amazingly, they still use old-style tape cassettes instead of mp3s. So I had to save my recording in that format, which reduced the clarity, but I think both the music and message will still be heard.

Now everything is in the hands of the advertiser so I’ll prayerfully await the opportunity to observe the truck driving through every little street and alley of every village in our township (30,000 people) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! May Jesus Christ be lifted up where He is not known!

Election Trucks

2009-12-02T15:42:00.007+08:00

This Saturday elections are being held to determine mayors, county magistrates, and city/county councils here in Taiwan. Trucks with noisy loudspeakers blaring candidate mottos ride up and down the streets. A funny rhythmic one I heard last week is: 口湖鄉長要換，不然口湖會更爛！Our county is one of the hotly contested elections, so extra efforts are being made by the candidates to get their message across. Here’s an example I caught on video last night:

As a westerner who values privacy, I find all the noise obtrusive. Similarly, a Canadian coworker shared the following anecdote earlier today with us: “One day while I was chatting with a local friend, I was feeling very annoyed with a passing advertising broadcast truck. To me the blaring female voice was like fingernails on a chalk board. I was startled when my friend turned to me, obviously enjoying it, and commented how nice it sounded to her. （那個女人的聲音很好聽！）

Although the loudspeakers are just a bunch of noise and invasion of privacy to us, they are an acceptable form of communication/advertisement here. Wouldn't it be exciting, if, after the election, I could commission those same trucks to take the following message in colloquial Taiwanese to every street in every village in our two townships:

Thiⁿ-sài kā in kóng, Bo̍h-tit kiaⁿ; in-ūi góa pò lín tōa hoaⁿ-hí ê hó siau-sit, hō͘ peh-sìⁿ lóng ū hūn;
in-ūi kin-á-ji̍t tī Tāi-pi̍t ê siâⁿ í-keng ūi-tio̍h lín siⁿ chi̍t ê Chín-kiù-ê, chiū-sī Chú Ki-tok.
Lín beh khòaⁿ-kìⁿ chi̍t ê eⁿ-á ēng pò͘ pau, khùn tī chô-ni̍h ê, chit-ê chiū-sī hō͘ lín chòe kì-hō.
Hut-jiân ū chōe-chōe thian-peng kap hit ê thiⁿ-sài saⁿ-kap tī-teh, o-ló Siōng-tè, kóng,
Tī ke̍k kôaiⁿ ê ūi êng-kng kui tī Siōng-tè, Tōe-chiūⁿ hô-pêng tī I só͘ hoaⁿ-hí ê lâng ê tiong-kan.

In English that would be:

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Instead of the candidate's portrait, we could post a picture of the Nativity, the angels, or the star of Bethlehem burning brightly in the night. The drivers/trucks will be available soon…

Staircases

2009-11-30T15:08:00.001+08:00

I’m thinking about staircases today.

More specifically, a sketch of staircases I saw in Lesslie Newbigin’s The Open Secret (following Walter Freytag’s The Gospel and the Religions) which tells me how I can dialogue with people of other faiths here in Taiwan:

In Taiwan, a stock answer someone will give you about religion is that “all religions are good”, “all religions are the same”, etc. They all help us to do good, be better people, etc. I heard this again just this past weekend from an elderly Taiwanese speaking man with whom I was enjoying tea.

So, for example, Christianity may be represented below by the staircase on the left while Buddhism points to the right:

This view, actually, is not too far from from what Newbigin says:

The staircases represent the many ways by which humans learn to rise toward the fulfillment of God’s purpose. They include all the ethical and religious achievements that so richly adorn the cultures of humankind. But in the middle of them is placed a symbol that represents something of a different kind – a historic deed in which God exposed himself in a total vulnerability to all our purposes and in that meeting exposed us as the beloved of God who are, even in our highest religion, the enemies of God. The picture expresses the central paradox of the human situation, that God comes to meet us at the bottom of our stairways, not at the top; that our real ascent towards God’s will for us takes us further away from the place where he actually meets us. I"I came to call not the righteous, but sinners.” Our meeting, therefore, with those of other faiths takes place at the bottom of the stairway, not at the top. “Christianity” as it develops in history takes on the form of one of those stairways. Christians also have to come down to the bottom of their stairway to meet the adherents of another faith. There has to be a kenosis, a “self-emptying.” Christians do not meet their partners in dialogue as those who possess the truth and the holiness of God but as those who bear witness to a truth and holiness that are God’s judgment on them and who are ready to hear the judgment spoken through the lips and life of their partner of another faith. (page 181)

Quoting further from Newbigin:

Obedient witness to Christ means that whenever we come with another person (Christian or not) into the presence of the cross, we are prepared to receive judgment and correction, to find that our Christianity hides within its appearance of obedience the reality of disobedience. Each meeting with a non-Christian partner in dialogue therefore puts my own Christianity at risk.

The classic biblical example of this is the meeting of Peter with the Gentile Cornelius at Caesarea. We often speak of this as the conversion of Cornelius, but it was equally the conversion of Peter. In that encounter the Holy Spirit shattered Peter’s own deeply cherished image of himself as an obedient member of the household of God…(p. 182)

We are, in the end, “not the exclusive possessors of salvation, nor as the fullness of what others have in part.” Nor are we the answer to the questions they ask. So why then do we dialogue and share about our faith? Ours in the end is a humble task:

The purpose of dialogue for the Christian is obedient witness to Jesus Christ, who is not the property of the church but the Lord of the church and of all people and who is glorified as the living Holy Spirit takes all that the Father has given to humankind – all people of every creed and culture—and declares it to the church as that which belongs to Christ as Lord. In this encounter the church is changed, the world is changed, and Christ is glorified. (p. 183).

Here’s my refinement to the simple diagram above, with each staircase representing a different religion (yes, atheism is a stair too):

And finally, my Christmas version… The Word became flesh and dwelled among us:

Thank you, Father God, Son, and Holy Spirit, for coming into the world as a defenseless baby in the lowest and meanest of circumstances. Thank you for meeting me at the very bottom of the stairs, in the gutter, so to speak. Thank for guiding me to the light, just as you directed men and women to the infant Jesus in antiquity. On the basis of your light, power and strength, continue to change me Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Scooter Helmet Regulation Enforcement

2009-11-10T22:54:00.001+08:00

Some years before I arrived on the scene in Taiwan in 1997, helmet regulations were already in effect for scooter drivers in urban centers. However, when I moved to the countryside a little over 2 years ago, a different world awaited me. Probably less than 1 in 10 of the local population bother wearing helmets. The local police force turn a blind eye. The epitome and funniest example for me of law infringement these past two years has been a friendly local village head, who drives around the community every day waving and saying hello to everyone wearing only his baseball cap for cranial protection.

The last two days pressure finally came down from county or national government officials to enforce the helmet regulations. Today in the daytime I saw several people driving around as usual without their helmets, but this time police cars were out in number on the streets to take the pictures of those not wearing helmets as their scooters passed by. Many of the scooter riders had no idea they were being photographed. One of my neighbors was busted. Tonight they had roadblocks set up on the road between townships to catch people unawares as they drove by.

Whether this will end within a day or two (as these kind of law enforcement campaigns often seem to do in Taiwan), or if this is finally the end for not wearing a helmet in this countryside corner, only time will tell. Stay tuned!

Update on Yesterday’s Quakes

2009-11-06T08:40:00.001+08:00

True to my experience, the newspaper says yesterday evening’s earthquake was the biggest in that region in 10 years.

Sandstorms and Earthquakes

2009-11-05T21:18:00.009+08:00

It's been an interesting week of experiencing Mother Nature in south-central Taiwan.

First, on Monday morning we experienced a sandstorm with typhoon-force winds (I should mention that all the sand and dust were just local -- not from mainland China-- due to the lack of rain here in months). It lasted from around 5:00 am or earlier to late in the night, and spread thick layers of dust inside all homes, schools, and businesses. The old timers I consulted all say it was the first time in their lives here they've experienced anything like it.

Secondly, just now as I was driving back from Taichung I felt two sizable earthquakes centered in Nantou County, exactly where I happened to be driving at the time! As I was heading south on the freeway, I had just adjusted my seat when the car lurched to the left and right. I was lucky I didn't lose control. At the time I wondered if something was wrong with my steering wheel or if the chair adjustment had sent me lurching unknowingly. Only when I got home did I learn from a neighbor it was an earthquake. According to the National Weather Bureau website, it was a 6 in magnitude located off the closest exit to my position.

About an hour later I was stopped at a drive-in window of a fastfood restaurant when an aftershock hit. Again, it was a sizaeable earthquake, a 5.7--- definitely the biggest I've felt here personally since 921 back in '99. According to the website, there have already been 6 aftershocks since the initial quake in just 3 hours.

Abba Father Speaks

2009-10-07T09:17:00.006+08:00

Last week a teacher at a local junior high school asked me how I know it when God is speaking to me. I proceeded to share two stories when I felt God had specifically spoken through somewhat amazing (to me, anyway) circumstances.

Far more often, however, I find God speaks when I stumble across the same biblical truth – whether arcane or obvious -- “coincidentally” placed in two or three seemingly unrelated environments. For example, once a few years back a pastor friend first heard me and then two other people who don’t even know each other all share from the same rarely heard passage in the book of Ezekiel, all within a couple weeks of each other. Do you think God might have been trying to communicate something through that passage?

Being dull-witted, I have to be lovingly batted over the head like this sometimes in order for God to get my attention as well. Anyway, earlier this week He did. This past Sunday I visited a local church in which the pastor’s wife spoke about the glory of God. When the bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” what is meant by the glory of God? As God’s children progress down the road of sanctification, dealing with the root sin issues in our lives, we give more and more glory to Him. We reflect the character and glory of the Father as we grow in intimacy with Him.

How do we succeed in this journey? The key, according to the speaker that day, is remaining in the love of the Father, going back always and repeatedly every day throughout the day to the love which the Father has for us. One practical way the speaker said we should do this is by addressing our prayers not to “God” (general term 神), but always and only to “Abba Father”.

I mentioned this last point about praying exclusively to “Abba Father” the next day to a coworker, who without knowing the context strongly objected.

Amazing! Later that same day as I was passing time on the train, I tuned in randomly to one of many downloaded sermon podcasts stored in my mp3 player. Ten minutes into his message, the speaker said the only time he recalled Jesus praying to “God” was in the moment of His greatest separation from Abba Father as He hung dying for us on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34, see also Psalm 22:1). You can listen to that powerful segment below or the entire message here.

How did Jesus instruct us to pray in the first line of the Lord’s prayer? Anyway, that’s one way Abba Father has spoken to me so far this week.

Hanging Clothes out at Night

2009-09-16T20:45:00.001+08:00

In an earlier post I shared about the local belief of how to dispose of dead dogs and cats.

Recently a coworker here in the Taiwanese countryside heard about a superstition forbidding whistling at night. I tried to confirm it the other night when a young boy was visiting, but he didn’t seem to have anything against whistling, even suddenly doing so himself. However, earlier the same evening when he started to tell me a story which involved the Chinese word for “death” or “die”, he interrupted himself in mid-sentence saying it was best not to use that word after dark.

This kind of fear doesn’t end with children scared about ghosts. This week I learned from others that here locally there’s a tradition which speaks against leaving your clothes hanging at out night: they will attract the ghosts roaming aimlessly outside who are looking for clothes to wear! And then there’s the one about not ringing a bell outside at night or playing a flute. They will attract ghosts in the same manner as the Pied Piper attracted rats. These are real concerns here in the Taiwanese countryside.

A Bird Tale

2009-08-22T19:49:00.019+08:00

And as the time approached for my master to go on a journey, he tried to find someone to take me in, but there was no room for me in any inn. So he wrapped me in cloths and placed me in a manger, because there was no room in the last resort.

And when he could afford to hide me no longer inside his luggage on his way out the door to the airport, he got a papyrus basket for me and coated it with tar and pitch. Then he placed me in it and put it among the weeds of a nearby shrimp and fish farm. He stood at a distance with his motorcycle helmet and sunglasses hiding his face to see what would happen to me.

Then the parents of some English club students happened to walk down to the fish and shrimp pond to sneak in some fishing. They saw my basket among the weeds and sent their son to go fetch it. They opened it and saw me! I was squawking loudly, and they felt sorry for me. "This is one of the foreigner's pet birds," they said. And they took me home and took care of me as one of their own. And I grew and became strong; I was filled with wisdom (along with plenty of gourmet bird foods and liquids) and learned to speak more and more Taiwanese and Mandarin, and the grace of God was upon those who saved me!

Convenient Stores

2009-08-21T08:16:00.001+08:00

One of the first things you are likely to notice upon first arriving in Taiwan is the ubiquitous convenient store. They’re everywhere!

As this link relates, “Taiwan has the highest concentration of convenience stores in the world. Few people in Taiwan can make it through the day without entering either a 7-11, OK or Family Mart and hearing the customary "Welcome!".

The first time I took a bus by myself in densely-populated Taipei County to visit Canadian coworkers when I arrived in Taiwan in 1997, my coworkers told me to get off when I saw the 7-11. Oops!

7-Eleven by far has the largest market share (4,000 outlets in 2008). Family Mart (全家) is second with 2,324 stores. Hi-Life is third with 1,236 stores, followed by OK Mart with 824 (Taiwan Times).

By far most of these are franchised outlets, but there still remain a few privately-owned English-challenged family businesses, such as the one I photographed below yesterday.

Taiwan Disaster Numerical Comparisons

2009-08-18T22:45:00.001+08:00

Popular opinion continues to be that the Morakot “88 水災”water calamity which occurred over the Chinese Father’s Day weekend is worse in scope than the infamous 921 Earthquake.* This grieves not only the hearts of the people of Taiwan, but also the heart of God, especially as it becomes more and more apparent that certain aspects of this disaster may have been man-made and not so-called acts of God.

To compare some numbers, one week and two days after the typhoon, the official death toll from landslides and flooding is 107 with 307 missing (and the number of dead could surpass 500). Damage is upwards of US$130 million in crop damage alone.

The 921 Earthquake Sept 21, 1999 in comparison killed 2,416 with 11,433 injured, 44,338 houses completely destroyed, 41,336 houses severely damaged, and NT$300 billion (US$9.2 billion) worth of damage.

But there are equally tragic tales which are not told as often. For example, Taiwan has one of the highest worldwide suicide rates per capita with one about every 2 hours, mostly among unemployed men, a rate falling short of that in Japan (one suicide every 15 minutes) and perhaps one or two other countries.

Finally, in Taiwan (total population 22,900,000) every year there are approximately 30,000 abortions among women 20 years and under (as reported in this 2002 news post and elsewhere). An abortion is performed every 45 seconds, leading to the establishment of temples in the last 20 years specifically designed to worship and appease the souls of dead infants.

In conclusion, our heavenly Father mourns for all the different kinds of losses above! Let us remember to mourn them as well.

*88 stands for August 8; which in Mandarin Chinese sounds like the word for “Papa”. Hence 8-8 is celebrated as Father’s Day here).

Pray for Typhoon Morakot Flood Victims, Reconstruction, etc.

2009-08-16T12:58:00.001+08:00

This morning at a nearby Presbyterian church service, the pastor asked us to pray as follows (reference my 90% reconstruction of the chinese here) for the victims of Typhoon Morakot and Taiwan:

1. Ask the Lord to forgive our sins.

2. Ask the Lord to forgive us for the way we have damaged nature and failed to take good care of the land.

3. Ask the Lord to have pity on the flood victims of typhoon Morakot.

4. Ask the Lord to have pity on the general populace of Taiwan.

5. May the love and grace of the Lord be upon us.

6. May the Lord use us to make his love manifest.

7. May the Lord protect the bodies of all those working in flood disaster areas.

8. May the Lord use our government, policies, units, etc. giving them wisdom and loving hearts.

Good ways to pray!

Celebrating Christmas on Gwangung’s Birthday

2009-08-15T00:04:00.001+08:00

Today is the birthday of the god of the local temple here, so the streets were full of celebrants feasting together in front of houses. Just as a westerner might invite a friend over to enjoy Christmas dinner, regardless of how seriously he or she might take the spiritual meaning of Christmas, so also several friends and neighbors invited me to dine with them.

On two previous recent occasions -- once here and once in another community-- I felt at peace joining the locals for their birthday feasts (and on one of them God even opened the door for me to talk about Jesus and teach someone how to pray to Him). On neither of these occasions was the “reason for the season” even mentioned. I had a great time with my friends.

But on this occasion with the intensity and roar of the enthusiastic celebration roaring all around me (I love quiet), and having been familiar from personal experience with Gwangung even prior to coming to Taiwan, I just didn’t feel comfortable accepting any invitations. So several times the past few days I politely declined them or even evaded those good people who I thought might invite me… which I really felt discouraged doing. And went swimming instead.

Anyway, that was the main source of discouragement I felt today. Add two other sources of discouragement: 1) major snags in procuring a visa for an all-expense paid trip to Shanghai to join two friends for the Shanghai portion of their 30th anniversary Asian tour—I’ll probably have to cancel on them. 2) Receiving a 3,000 NT fine in the mail for speeding on the highway a few weeks ago when I was nearly falling asleep. My mood went from bad to worse.

God encouraged my spirits with something else strange and unexpected which I also received in the mail: a very belated Christmas present! A stateside church member had intended to mail me a gift last year, but it lay forgotten in the car and the kindly person in question kept forgetting and procrastinating through the year all the way until mid-August!

Anyway, God couldn’t have arranged for the generous and thoughtful gifts to come at a more appropriate time… just when I was feeling most isolated and detached from the local community. Now, celebrating Jesus’ birthday on Gwangung’s birthday, I feel encouraged again. Tomorrow I’ll be out making the rounds chatting with friends and acquaintances in the community again to make up for lost time.

Typhoon Disaster Said to be Worse in Scope than 921 Earthquake

2009-08-14T23:34:00.001+08:00

Conversations I’ve had with different Taiwanese friends the last two days have revealed that in the popular mindset the havoc wreaked by typhoon Morakot is larger in scope than I initially realized. Everyone I talk to in my neighborhood says they believe it’s worse than the horrific earthquake back on Sept. 21, 1999, which I experienced a couple of years after arriving in Taiwan.

Being an earthquake, I felt 921 to great effect way up in Taipei where I was living at the time. The flooding and landslides wreaked by Morakot, in contrast, were only apparent to those unlucky enough to be struck by them, so it’s harder for me to be aware of their condition without physically being there.

The typhoon disaster relief stories I’m hearing now are beginning to stir up memories for me of the aftermath of the 921 earthquake. Today reading the blog of a foreigner who with a friend travelled down south to volunteer, I’m reminded of how I volunteered several times in the days and weeks following the 921 earthquake. Basically, while I gave a few people rides and volunteered to help in a tent city twice for several days, the bottom line was that I and my fellow foreign coworkers, not being specialists in the area of disaster relief, weren’t really needed. In fact, I wonder if we might have even been in the way. Going down south to look at destroyed buildings for the most part was just a photo opp, and what they didn’t particularly need in these areas at that time were tourists, however well-intended.

In the aftermath of 921, the Taiwanese quickly adapted to handle the physical clean-up on their own (with the financial assistance they received from foreign governments and on-site foreign specialists). A lot of the help they needed in the camps during the time I was there was administrative, and a functionally-illiterate foreigner wasn’t going to be able to do much good other than to play with the children.

On another note, unfortunately this typhoon has begun to exacerbate pre-existing political tensions the last few days. Grassroots Taiwanese (to which group most of my present acquaintances belong) blame the KMT government/president for not caring enough about the aboriginal inhabitants who comprise most of the disaster victims down south (For those readers who might not know, Taiwan’s aboriginal population came over in fleets of small boats from China or the Philippines or some other island chain several thousand years ago – no one really knows. The second main wave were those coming from Fujian in mainland China 2 or 300 hundred years ago (whose descendents I am surrounded with here now), while the so called “Mainlanders” only came after they were forced out of China by the communist government in 1949).

Now that the scope of this disaster is becoming clearer, may God continue to empower the people and government of Taiwan to care for their own -- regardless of whether they are aboriginal, mainlander, or grassroots Taiwanese.

Typhoon Morakot Brings the Floodwaters

2009-08-09T20:49:00.001+08:00

Typhoon Morakot headed away from Taiwan and off for mainland China already over a day ago, but somebody forgot to tell the rain to leave with it. Pingdong County in southern Taiwan has had more rain than any other time on record (over 2500 mm since last Thursday) and a few headlines say Taiwan has experienced its worse flooding in 50 years, especially in the south.

Here in Yunlin County, we’ve had 1776 mm of rain so far with at least two more days of rain expected. The field pictured below a minute from my house was formally a watermelon field… now just a water field! There was flooding on the roads in places locally here earlier today, although when I was out again just now the waters have receded a little.

Some friends who run a restaurant in Guanziling in Tainan (spa resort area) have been without power for 4 days already and say some roads there have been washed away again.

A few moments ago I also called my oyster-farming friend in coastal Chiayi, who along with everyone there experienced such financial loss in the last tropical storm. The floods there in his town of DongShi are bad, and he expects even worse news tomorrow when he goes out on his boat to inspect his oyster farm out off the coast. He thinks his loss will be about as much as the 4 year old second hand Toyota Altis he just bought this past month, but, in the Taiwanese spirit, he is taking this loss well since all his family and friends are safe.

Bicycling in Taiwan

2009-08-07T14:29:00.001+08:00

Cycling is the latest fad to take Taiwan by storm. Who knows how much longer it will remain popular (bowling died a quick death about 10 years ago, leaving dozens of abandoned or converted properties around this part of the island). Anyway, I like to think that me getting into biking is more a result of the suitability of where I’m living now in the countryside, as well as being too old to jump around playing basketball like I might have done in previous years, and not a passing fad.

The bicycle I bought is maybe 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of some of the premium bikes you see so often around here now, but it’s more than enough for my needs. I wanted the black model, but only yellow was available from the factory with the larger frame. I’m just happy to acquire a bike with a 21 inch frame, since most shops don’t carry these.

If the bicycle was a red bike with a bell, a basket, and training wheels or tripod (to borrow a facebook friend’s words) this might be a less boring picture, but since they requested to see the Giant XTC SE V, here it is!

Burger King in Taichung

2009-08-07T13:36:00.001+08:00

About 7 years ago when I moved to Taichung, I remember my first trip to a local Carrefour where I saw a Burger King restaurant in the food court. All the signs and tables were there, but how disappointed I was to discover that it had recently gone out of business!

Where I live now, there is very little indeed in terms of western food. Although I love Chinese food, the Chinese food available here is not the greatest and the only western food within a half hour of my home is McDonalds, which is not particularly appetizing to me or healthy.

So imagine my excitement when last month I read about Burger King reentering the Taichung market by opening their new flagship store near the FengJia Night market. I paid them my first (and perhaps only?) visit yesterday (picture at right).

Happily, I also see from the BK web site their second Taichung store is scheduled to open just a 5 minute walk from one of the schools where I sometimes go to study Taiwanese. Since Chinese New Year Taichung has both a Costco and now BK again. I can enjoy them occasionally but it’s nice healthwise to have a good buffer in between them and me!

Language Gaffes

2009-08-07T13:25:00.001+08:00

Yesterday when I was studying Taiwanese I made two language mistakes that are rather indicative as to how difficult this language is to an (aging) western learner (Actually, I’m sure I made many more but these were the two that stuck out).

First, I read a prayer which should have been addressed to choân-lêng ê Pē (Almighty Father). Instead, however, I added a nasular tone to the second word, Pē * thus addressing my prayer to “Almighty Illness” or “Almighty Sickness”!

Later I made a similar mistake as I was reading a story about a superlative thief who deftly climbed over a chhiû*-á (wall or fence) when I thought I was saying he had climbed a chhiū-á (tree).

I doubt I’ll ever get beyond these nuances, but at least I’m having fun with the language and can share some simple stories and conversation with Taiwanese friends and acquaintances.

Dedicated Bicycle Lanes in Northport

2009-08-04T21:37:00.001+08:00

Now that I’m regularly riding on my new moderately-priced 21 inch frame Giant XTC SE V bicycle, it’s reassuring to know that in BeiGang they’ve recently added dedicated lanes for bicycles. No matter where I looked, the scenery was similar (last week on the blogosphere I saw a similar post regarding lanes in northern Taiwan).

Thankfully, there are unobstructed countryside lanes and paths in the rice fields and along the coastline that run for miles once you’re out of town. I’ll never be one of those cycling around the island, but one morning last week I biked 54 km to Dongshi in Chiayi with some friends and have been out several mornings for rides half that far this week on my own.

More Wind Generators

2009-07-29T14:45:00.001+08:00

Over the past couple of years driving to and from Taipei on the #3 freeway, I’ve appreciated the Taiwan government’s desire to be “green” by stationing wind generators on the coast halfway between Taichung and Taipei. I saw some out on Penghu last summer, and read again recently about more generators having been added elsewhere on island.

But I wasn’t expecting to discover them practically in my own Western Yunlin backyard when, heading to the coast west of here for the first time in a half year or so, I spied several new wind generators (those pictured here).

I observed 4 or 5 units not yet in operation, but the project sign below said the plan is for 14 generators to eventually be in operation in this location.

Raining on Today’s English Club

2009-07-25T18:31:00.001+08:00

Early this morning I was unhappy to not be able to take my brand new bike on a 4 hour round trip bike trip with some friends to Dongshi in Chiayi County due to the threat of inclement weather. I was especially unhappy about the trip’s cancellation when the weather this morning turned out to be just fine! That changed this afternoon just before my afternoon English club for neighborhood kids… the rains began coming down resulting in a reduced attendance of 8 kids with one parent.

It went well though. Last week for the short bible story segment I began using a new set of bilingual children’s stories for kids which relate events from the viewpoint of animals (a hungry lion’s view of the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den; an elephant’s perspective of the Noah flood story. The English is simple with Chinese above it, and there’s no more than a sentence or two for each beautifully illustrated page.

Today I’m sure it wasn’t lost on the kids that when we got to the part of the Noah story about the rains coming down, exactly that started happening outside to dramatic effect! I added the part about the rainbow since the storybook didn’t share about this symbol of God’s promise.

We went on to a book about numbers and finished the class. The rains stopped. After the last 3 kids were picked up, when I was riding my scooter home, there ahead of me above the wide road was a beautiful rainbow with one end of the arc coming down just over my house. For any of the kids who were outside at the time, I’m sure this visible representation of God’s promise which we had just talked about wasn’t lost on them either.

Story Telling, Story #2

2009-07-25T18:16:00.001+08:00

I wrote in my last entry about the opportunity to practice sharing the first creation story with 11 people the first week back from the conference about story telling. I’ve moved on to a simplified Taiwanese version of the second creation story in Genesis 2.

Although I’m still not able to tell either story without peeking down at the written Romanized spelling every couple of lines, at least my delivery is getting smoother and pronunciation understandable to local Taiwanese speakers. I’ve already been through the second story with 6 people (2 adults and 4 children) in two separate tellings. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible time-wise to have the desired interaction and feedback with most of them this afternoon in the second telling. But I’m encouraged that my attitude so far has been to 加油 (add oil) rather than give up.

11 People Heard the First Creation Story So Far This Week…

2009-07-22T20:33:00.001+08:00

Last week my colleagues and I attended seminars on bible story-telling at an annual conference for workers from different Christian mission organizations and churches. When just beginning to tell stories, we were encouraged to just be willing to give it a try no matter how imperfect the initial effort. The goal is then to make sure the listener got the details right, and to gather feedback in order to improve.

About 6 months ago I began studying basic Taiwanese versions of some New Testament stories. Although I went through the lessons in class, my intermediate language ability left me feeling inadequate to tell the stories. Anyway, even though I’m not telling stories the way our speaker recommended (I’m trying to memorize and sneaking peaks at the written story instead of visualizing), the last few days I made the goal to start trying harder.

Two weeks ago I began studying vocabulary related to some Old Testament stories. So last Saturday I shared the first creation story in Taiwanese with a mother and son who came early to my English Club. Then today I shared with my friend Roger at the Middle School, who gave me very constructive and helpful feedback and repeated the story back to me. Surprisingly, he then invited me to share with the 8 junior highers whom I met with at the middle school’s summer school English Club.

11 people have heard the story so far in less than a week… Not a bad start, even if my Taiwanese story telling skills leave much to be desired! At least I’ll be able to tell the story of God’s creative Word better in the future because I’ve started telling people now as best as I’m able. Next week I’m going to back to the other book and try to start sharing some of those Taiwanese bible stories a bit more proactively as well.