Building Dedication and 90th Anniversary Celebration at Local Elementary School

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

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

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

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!”