Five Accept Christ

 Wednesday at the prison we had the opportunity to speak with mainland Chinese inmates.  All 6 who came were presented the Gospel in Mandarin.  Khun Darunee translated Richard’s Thai into Mandarin, as he used the EvangiCube.  His presentation was long because he explained in detail each picture and God used it to touch the hearts of those present.  Five our to the six persons wanted to confess their sins and believe. 

One girl named Lee Fang had grown up with a Christian mother and had been curious about Christianity. However, she had never accepted Christ until coming to the prison. Now she wanted Jesus in her life. She told us that the day before she had had a terrible headache and stomachache.  When she prayed to God, He healed her almost instantly.  To her this was proof that God was with her.  She came to Taiwan under a false name from mainland China to make money, married a Taiwanese man, and had triplets.  Then the police found her and put her in the immigration detention prison.  Upon release in the next 2-3 months, she will be deported back to mainland China with no chance of returning to Taiwan.  She is very distraught because she will not be able to see her children and husband in Taiwan again.  Now that she has found Christ, she wants to have a united family under God.

Another man asked if it was the responsibility of every Christian to proclaim the Gospel, then why had he never heard about God until he came to this prison?  He had even painted the walls of a church in China and no one told him about God.  He had heard about many gods, but never a god, who would take away his sins.  He now wanted this God of forgiveness.

First English Class

Jim, Brenda, Richard, Tony, and Linda went to the apartment complex library near where we are living.  We went early to set up for our first English class.  The Chinese librarian named Cindy was very helpful.  People began coming and coming until we had 75 people of different ages crowded into the room! Jim had planned for maybe 20 or 30. Some had to stand and more chairs were brought in.  With so many people, those in the back of the room had a hard time hearing. However, the class went well. The creation story was taught in English, sentences were learned, and questions were asked.  Everything was translated into Chinese to make sure that those attending understood the story. The Taiwanese were also thought praise songs in both English and Chinese. Everyone seemed to love the singing. We praise God that so many came and had a chance to hear the beginning story in the Chronological series.

New Customs

Customs:  When traveling to another country there are adjustments to make.  Here are three of ours. 

1. Using the umbrella.  We use our umbrellas every day to help protect us from the sun.  It also provides some coolness in the heat. (Of course, we also apply sun screen liberally before leaving the apartment to walk the streets)

2. Garbage collection:   Monday through Friday the Garbage truck comes down our street.  The 2^nd night we were here, the truck loudly played the tune Fur Elise which we heard clearly on the 11^th floor.  Other tunes are also played as the truck proceeds down the street at about 7 pm.  People from the various apartments go downstairs with their bags and recyclables to chat as they wait for the truck to pass by.  Others wait until they hear the tune from the trucks, then run for the elevator, go down to the first floor and quickly jog to the street in hopes that they are not too late. When the trucks arrive, each person goes to the street to heave their own bags into the back of the appropriate truck. We give our recyclable bag to an older lady, who goes through it looking for plastic bottles and paper products which she can resell. (In contrast, in Texas when we hear a tune coming from a truck, we assume that its the ice cream man.)

3. Bags at the stores:  In Neili City, stores don’t give you bags when you purchase something.  If you want a bag for the items you bought, you must pay for it.  Otherwise, you must bring your own sturdy bag or carry the items you purchased under your arms, in your pockets, or in your hands (at least the first time until you know better).  The store we buy most of our groceries from is 15-20 minutes away by foot.

Prayer and Praise

    1. Continue to pray for our health and safety. Praise: we are about over our stomach aliments.

    2. Pray that the Tuesday night English Class will progress smoothly and with good attendance.

    3. Pray for Thais to come to an English class that we are trying to set up in our apartment on Monday night.

    4.Pray for us to have many good opportunities to present Christ to inmates at the Immigration Prison. 
5.Pray for Richard as he preaches in Thai this Sunday night at the Thai Fellowship Church.

Immigration Prison

We went to the prison with the Thai church.  Khun Darunee, the Thai Christian leader, took us to the prison.  Men & women stay there up to 4 months waiting to be repatriated to their home country when they have overstayed their visa, or done petty crimes.  People from Indonesia, Viet Nam, Philippines, & Thailand were in the prison.  These people were brought into the basement where a program using mixed media told the story from creation through Jesus Christ.  The story was translated into all the above languages.  Christian songs were sung.  Then the people were segregated by nationality and we got to talk to the 3 Thai inmates.  Before leaving, the Christians distributed orange juice, apples, & snacks to each inmate.  The inmates saw and heard the Gospel.

Unexpected Blessing

Mama Noodles

Sunday night the Thai worship service was cancelled because their lights went out due to a typhoon the day before.  Richard decided we should explore a street close to the church that had several factories. He thought just maybe we’d run into some Thai workers. Looking around, we saw a Thai girl who had come out of a store selling Thai food. We tried to catch up to her but she entered a factory complex before we could reach her.  Thus, we went further up the street to an intersection and turned right. Down the street we saw Thai writing on a sign!  It turned out to be a karaoke bar. But 2 doors down was a small grocery store selling various ethnic foods. Out front were about 8 men from northeast Thailand who were factory workers. They were outside drinking beer. They were friendly, but not really interested in what we had to say about God.  So we went inside the small store to talk to the owner, a Chinese with a Thai wife.  The wife was a Christian, but because of her husband's business, she was not able to get out much.  We talked to her about an hour.  Before we left, she gave us about 14 different varieties of Thai Mama noodles (kind of like Ramen noodles).  It was very generous of her to give them to us & she invited us to come back.  We exchanged phone numbers. The Bible verse Romans 8:28 came to mind about the situation.   Even though we didn’t get to worship in Thai at the church Sunday night, God had something better in store for us.

Religion In Taiwan

Religion in Taiwan is different than the belief system we were use to in Thailand. In Thailand, Buddhism was main religion.  However, in Taiwan the main religion is Taoism. Add to that, a mix of Confucianism (an attitude of the importance of family relationships) & Mahayana Buddhism. If that isn’t enough, toss in a spoonful of ancestor worship practiced by most Chinese on the island. On the first and the 15^th day of each month, many Taiwanese can be seen burning paper money to send to heaven to make life more comfortable for their departed ancestors. This practice is a barrier to Christianity because many old folks are afraid that when they die the younger generation would no longer care for their spirits if they became Christian.

Fair at ChungYuan University

Thai Vietnamese & Philippine representatives at the Fair

Many different Christian Organizations came to this Government University to tell about their ministries and give out information, brochures and tracts.  Organizations represented included seminaries,Through the Bible, those reaching out to different nationalities in and outside of Taiwan and the handicapped.  It was well attended and a great time to touch those who are not Christians.  It was a great encouragement to us to see so many Christian organizations active in Taiwan.  

Prayer & Praise

 1.  Praise God that typhoon "Sioluk" (hurricane) quickly  past  north Taiwan.  We did have some high winds, and electricity, gas, and internet outages. Trees and fences were damaged, but nothing serious.

2.  We will begin teaching English Bible in our apartment complex.  Pray that those attending will come to know Jesus as Lord.

3.  Praise God that we have found pockets of Thai people.  Pray that some will be interested in God’s plan for their lives.
4. We have been having stomach problems the past few days. Please pray that we will be better soon.

Coming to Taiwan

Our plane flight went well and we arrived in Taipei safely.  The trip was around 24 hours. An IMB  missionary couple met us at the airport and took us to our new apartment home. To our surprise, the 11th floor apartment was big!  The first 2 nights we woke up at 2 am but were able to go back to sleep by 4 (the effects of jet lag). The bright sun comes up every day at 5 am so it is difficult to sleep much past that time. (Picture above: view from our balcony)

Meeting a Friend

How would it be to meet someone from your home city (Round Rock, TX) in a foreign country?  That’s just what happened to us.  Before leaving America, we met a lady named Jennifer, who is from Taiwan.  She  returned home in June to visit her relatives in Taiwan.  Within 2 days of us arriving in Neili, she visited us at our apartment with her mother, 2 daughters and a niece.  She made sure that we were well and took us around our new neighborhood to show us good places to eat, supermarkets, an internet cafe', and fresh vegetable markets.  She then gave Linda a mobile phone to use while in Taiwan and made sure that we had phone numbers of her relatives who could help us while in Taiwan. What a great friend. God is good!                                                 

                How about another friendly face in Taiwan-the Colonel?

Accomplishments

Chinese Shrine Near Our Apartment

  1.  We walked all around our neighborhood finding supermarkets, fresh markets, fast food places, & conveince stores. We walked a mile and a half and found a large department store and the train station. 
  2.  We got a SIM card for Richard’s unlocked i-phone.  No easy task of filling out forms with documentation in a language you don't understand.

  3.       We’ve successfully ridden the bus to another district and didn’t get lost, but found friendly people wanting to practice their English with a foreigner who even gave us a ride to our destination!

  4.       We’ve been out walking 2-3 hours everyday looking for Thai writing, and listening for Thai language speech.

  5.       We’ve gone to a Mandarin cell church on Sunday morning and then a Thai church Sunday evening.

  6.       We’ve learned some phrases and numbers in Mandarin, the major language here.

We feel exceedingly blessed by God for leading in our lives.
                                                                               

Prayer Requests & Praises

Bible and Basic Christian Study

  1. Pray that we rapidly find Thai and Taiwanese people interested in the
Gospel.
2. Pray that we will quickly and successfully start a group in our apartment or a library near our apartment complex.
3. Pray for us to have wisdom about activities we need to participate in.