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.