Easter Announcement Almost Ready to Go

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

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

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

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

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.