January 2005 Archives

Hello. My name is Samuel Bavido and I have now officially taken over the title of "Coolest guy in Taiwan". I took that title Tuesday night, at about 11:30, as I had my passport stamped an officially entered the country.

I am 19 years old and the second of 8 children. My sister BonnieJean (BJ, Beej) has been here in Taiwan for a year now, working on Kinmen. About two and a half months ago she asked if I would be interested in coming over to Taiwan and teaching English, hopefully on Kinmen with her. I hadn't really thought about it much before (not seriously, anyway), but God gave me a real excitement for it and within a few days I was sending off my application.

And now a little bit about myself (I am, after all, the coolest guy in Taiwan! Surely you want to hear all you can about me!) I was homeschooled all my life and my family has been in ATI for 18 years. I enjoy karate, juggling, performing, teaching (gymnastics, karate, CF!E, English and anything else!) reading (big Tolkien fan here) and anything else that takes my fancy.

I guess I'll write something about my first impression of Taiwan while it's still fresh. I was kinda expecting a huge culture shock: stepping off the plane and feeling like I'd landed on another world. It didn't seem all that different, but the longer I'm here, the stranger things get!

The food is quite good. The fact that it's all dumped into one pile is annoying. Chop sticks aren't as hard as they seem, but rice is still a challenge.

There seems to be only one rule to driving in Taiwan (as far as I can tell...maybe I'm all wet, but this is the way it seems to me): brake smoothly. Even if it means almost missing your turn and making an almost-U-turn, you must never, ever brake quickly. You can drive in the other lane, you can tailgate a moped (like one foot away from it), you can throw everybody around the car while shifting gears, but you must always brake smoothly!

American old people tend to stay at home. It seems the Taiwanese old people get out a little bit more.

Figuring out the tones isn't quite as hard as I thought it would be, but I've still got a LONG way to go.

My first day of teaching was interesting. I've never actually taught an English "class". I've done a lot more one-on-one tutoring, and assisting with classes. The first 20 minutes were very difficult, but God gave me some cool ideas and it's worked pretty well since then. My TA is awesome. Pray for her: as far as I know she isn't a Christian. I'm hoping to get a chance to talk to her about it tonight.

I've got to go clean up my area of the room now. It's amazing how messy something can get in only three days!

Samuel Bavido, from Nantou

This week we are at another camp at Fuli Elementary School. I have the rather interesting privilege of working with the lowest level students. It's interesting not because of their English level, but because all of the bad students from the other classes are in my class as well! This week I have first through sixth grade students all in one class. That presents challenges as I try to explain activities to the entire class so that everyone can understand. Or when I have siblings that have not yet learned how pleasant it is when brothers live in unity!

I'm not sure that I ever realized before how grateful I am that my parents loved me and trained me in right actions from the beginning! I am very thankful that I was so priviledged to be raised in a Christian home. It is a priviledge that after working in Taiwan, will be very hard to take for granted ever again!

'Till next time!
God bless!
Gracia Engle

Well, here I am in America! It is a little hard to believe that after seven months in Taiwan I am actually on American soil again. It feels good! What a blessing to be able to come home for three weeks during our winter break and reconnect with my family and get some much needed refreshment.

So what is it like coming back to the States after more than half a year in a foreign country? The first thing that strikes me is that everyone understands me, and speaks my language! In the airports on the way back I was always embarrassing myself by starting to speak Chinese to the attendants, store clerks, and travelers. It is taking a while to adjust to the simplicity of communication! I helped out with the three year olds Sunday School class on my first day back home and spent the entire class marveling at their amazing English! I had to keep reminding myself that these kids could understand everything I said and I didn't have to slow down my speech as I do in Taiwan.

The next thing that stands out to me is the wealth, affluence, and accumulation of material possessions that I see around me everywhere. Even my own home, though very modest by American standards, seems so big and full. Americans have so much STUFF that is unneccessary or extra. My first trip to Wal-Mart had me completely inwe as I looked around at aisles andisles of things.My friends and aquaintences in Taiwan live so simply, yet very happily. It has been a new experience for me to return to the States and see things through their eyes.

I am also amazed at how much I miss Kinmen and my little friends there. Many of them also left Kinmen for the winter break, and as they left one by one either they or I were crying. I am grateful that the end of this semester did not bring final goodbyes. I will be returning to my same schools to finish out the year. The Lord has truly made the island a part of me and given me great joy in serving Him there. I can see Him working in hearts and lives and I know that He still has work to do in Kinmen.

Of course, the best part of being home is getting to spend time with my family. It's so good to be back in the family circle and feel once more, in a tangible way, the love of my sweet parents and precious siblings. Already I have had long talks, gone places with them, done things I've been dreaming of doing, and just enjoyed being with them. God is good to allow me this opportunity.

I do feel kind of guilty though, knowing my team is working so hard in winter English camps, so here's a big CHEER for all of you!!!! Keep it up y'all!!! Love, love, love those kids!! God is using you in ways you may not even know right now. JIA YOU!!! (Meaning, GO GO GO!!)

As you pray for our team, please remember two prayer requests:

~Our teams as they work the winter English camps - pray for the kids, the TAs, good weather, and strength and creativity for teaching

~Samuel, Christine, and Shawn as they prepare to join the Kinmen teaching team for the upcoming semester

Thanks to every one of you for your faithful prayers. We serve an amazing God who hears and answers the prayers of His people. In Taiwan we see answers to those prayers every day, and know that our family and friends are bringing us before the throne. May His richest blessings be upon you all as you continue to pray for us.

From the good 'ol USA,
but still for theinmen team,
Rebekah Gilley
Phil. 1:20

Greetings from Kinmen!

This week marks the beginning of the winter English camps. Monday was the first day, and it seemed to go pretty well. This is the fist time of doing camps for a few of us American teachers as well as for some of the Ta's that are here. Coming into this week, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I decided not to expect anything, and I'm glad I didn’t, because I don't think my expectations would have matched up with the way things really are. If I was asked to explain camp in one word, I don't think that I would be able to. So far it has been challenging but fun at the same time, tiring but also very enjoyable. It's a little hard to explain, but the kids that I am working with here, are a little different than those that attend the schools that I work at on an every day basis. I can't exactly explain what it is, it's not that their behavior is bad or anything like that, it's sort of like they are just there going through the motions of English camp counting down the days until the real vacation is set to start. I guess I don't really blame them, I don't think I would want to study Chinese if I was on vacation.

Today is the fourth day of camp, and it has started going a lot smoother that the first day. After that first day, I was kind of dreading the second one, but the worry was not necessary because the days since then have gone by relatively trouble free, which is a huge praise.

The other day, I came across a really quote from John Haggai, it said this: “Attempt something so impossible, that unless God is in it, it is doomed a failure.”

Reading that, did a lot to get my priorities back on track, for me it is so easy to only want to do those things that are easy and require as little effort as possible. It is very tempting to leave the big challenging task for someone else whom In think is better equipped to handle the situation. Recently I have had to make lot of big decisions about what I will do after Taiwan and I think I know what I am supposed to do, he has even given direction through my authorities, but I am still very hesitant, Why? Because it is one of those situations that to me seems absolutely impossible. It is a huge comfort to me to know that if it is his will, it is going to happen in spite of me.

Well, that has been a little run down on camp life so far, I hope
that you enjoyed it.

Anthony
Ji Ji

Hello and welcome to Yong Le, my home for the next two weeks during winter English camps.

Saturday I moved to Yong Le, along with Mai, Isaac, and Christina. Joel left for Jimen to help with the camps there. We arrived at Yong Le about 3:30, and began to settle in. Most of the afternoon was spent talking with TA’s, planning, and adjusting to our surroundings. Christina Furrow arrived from Hualien about 4:30 as well.

Sunday morning after breakfast the five of us had a small worship service, we sang hymns, and listened to a message from Eph. 6:1-4. It was good to meet together in God’s presence.

After our church service, it was more planning and preparation. I had a couple meetings with our TA’s (teaching assistants) during the afternoon, and also with my team to fill them in on changes and plans that had been made.

Now it is Monday, the kids arrived about 12:30 this afternoon, and we are officially underway. This afternoon was filled mostly with introductions, testing the students to determine team arrangements, and getting to know our students a little through some team time.
I am really excited about my class; I have the kids with the lowest English levels. This isn’t always an easy group to teach, but it can be very rewarding. My TA, Amy, should be a lot of fun to work with, and I think we will have a fun class.

One of the things we did today was come up with a team name and motto. All of my students were suggesting animal names (shark, tiger, dolphin, turtle), maybe because those are the few words they do know. Anyway, after some discussion, we became the Tigers. None of the kids were very helpful in coming up with a motto, so I made one for them:

Tiger, Tiger, in the dark
We will eat you with a fork.

I know, I know, not very good, but the kids seemed to like it, even after they knew what it meant. It was pretty funny.

The camp here at Yong Le is unique in the fact that it is an overnight camp, i.e. the kids stay here 24/7 for 2 weeks. They will be with us till Feb 4th. The theme for our camp is “American Holidays” which is going to be really fun to teach about. Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday we are teaching on Christmas, and then it is Easter, followed by Thanksgiving.

We will be teaching right through Saturday and Sunday, so please pray for us. Pray that we would be able to live our faith, and that our TA’s and kids would be able to see Jesus exemplified in us. Pray that the camp would run as smoothly as possible, and that the challenges we face would be seen as opportunities to see God’s hand work more wonderfully, and that He would give wisdom as we look for ways to overcome these challenges.

From Yong Le and Nantou,

Chase Hiebsch

Well, it's break time, from school that is. I'm now just waiting for
the TA's and other Americans to come here for three English camps in two weeks. Nervous? Sure. The will be my third time teaching it, and to be honest, it's not exactly right down my alley. The communication and leadership does not come easy, but I'm so glad I have a God who cares about everything about me. I can go to Him in prayer, when everything seems "bu-ke-nun" (imposible). He gives me comfort, encouragement, and even correction when I need it. I have already spent time with him in prayer, so while I am waiting for the unexpected, I know I can be excited about the work God is going to do.

They are here!

Isaiah 43:4

Andrew Stewart
(Mt.11:28-30; Phil.1:21)

This afternoon Ben, Gracia, Jo and I traveled by train to the southern tip of Hualien county to a small town called Fuli. This is where we'll be spending two weeks teaching English camps. Last summer was the first time for an English camp in this area and they asked for us to come back again during winter vacation.

We were greeted at the train station by the school's director and got into our vehicle of transportation for the next two weeks - a small Taiwanese pick-up truck! Thankfully we have warmer weather than last week or we would have all been icicles by the time we arrived at the school! As it was, the ride was very nice. I love driving through the country side in the open.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the school where we were met in the courtyard by the eight TAs we will be working with for the next two weeks. We unloaded our luggage, had a tour of the school, and settled into our dormitory. The rest of the afternoon was spent going over the camp schedule and making sure we had all the last minute details ironed out. I think it'll be a great two weeks!

At six o'clock all thirteen of us piled into the pick-up and drove to a small Chinese restaraunt for dinner. The food was wonderful and we were able to spend the time getting better aquainted. We made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some food for breakfast and then came back here to the school.

As I write, everyone has gathered in the library to finish up projects and plans for the camp like making posters for the songs, writing up worksheets, and choosing some "rainy day" activities. It's great to hear a mixture of English and Chinese with plenty of laughter mixed throughout!

We have many great opportunities in the next two weeks to share Christ's love with those around us! Please pray that we would keep our eyes on Jesus and that He would receive the honor and glory for the good that is accomplished.

Katrina Nisly writing from Fuli, Taiwan

GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS?!

At the end of this semester, I keep looking back and TRYING TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED....So many incredible things have taken place in the last five short months. These months have been easy, hard, tiring, exhilirating, relaxing, and stressful all at the same time! In many ways, the end of this semester is like the end of the last semester: After 400+ classes and 297 hours of teaching, I am ready to take a break!

Looking back on the semester, I can see many situations were God showed Himself strong, and where He received great glory. Yet, this is only the begining of what so many of you are praying for. In Jeremiah 33:3, God promises to do "great and mighty things which thou knowest not." But...what do we know? What have we already asked for? Will God do "exceedingly abundantly above" all of what we hope for? "Yet, you have not, because you ask not." (James 4)

"Ask and you SHALL receive!" (THAT IS A PROMISE)

O God, may you work EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTY more than we could ever ask or think in our teaching here in Taiwan. May you do those GREAT and MIGHTY things for Your glory. Reveal your light and love to this nation. Amen.

Lucas Stewart

Well this update is coming to you at the very last minute. I got less then an hour to go before I leave Hualien to head back to America for 19 days. Now generally the day before is supposed to be your packing day. However for me the last day up until departure always seems to be a full and never ending.

Yesterday was no different but thankfully it didn’t kick into busy gear till about 11:30 that morning. I went to have lunch with my teachers to celebrate the last semester. All of the male teachers and few of the female teachers took it upon themselves to get drunk. They were very happy as most drunk people are and around 1:30 we all left the restaurant. From there I went straight into Hualien City where I met up with some new Chinese friends for a last minute “English lesson.” It’s not really lesson it’s just sitting at Starbucks to talk. Please pray Joanna, Dennis, and Jerry they are Jehovah’s witnesses and Dennis and Jerry are homosexual. I at first didn’t know what to think about meeting with them but God has given me a genuine love for all of them and I know in time HE will be faithful and will reveal himself to them.

Well I said goodbye to them at 3:30 and left from Starbucks to go to the recording studio. The government has given us a project here in Hualien to record an English CD to be used in the school classrooms. Now Michael is an awesome guy, when I look at Michael all I can think of is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Michael is in great shape a big smile and sounds like Arnold. We arrived at 89.7 FM Radio to record this project just before 4:00. We got all setup and worked at chopping through the whole thing. The Lord was good to us and gave me wisdom for the last minute changes in the grammar.

After we finished recording Michael and I insisted that we take each other out for dinner. It was extremely funny seeing that we had both wanted to take each other to the same restaurant. Michael called his wife and his three boys and we picked them up in his tiny mini van. This was a big surprise for his wife and three boys as they had always wanted to meet a foreigner.

Dinner was exceptionally good and had a chance to talk with Michael about the Lord. Michael is also Jehovah ’s Witness but I’m amazed at how much Godly wisdom he has. He has so much truth and so much of a revelation of God’s WORD yet Satan has blinded him from realizing that the only way to heaven is through His Son Jesus Christ. Then add to it his wife is Buddhist. Michael was a real privilege to talk to as he gave me insights into even current situations. Michael told me about how 4 years ago he was working in Taichung (2nd largest city in Taiwan) his job required him to leave for work at 6:30 in the morning for a 1 hour commute to work and then leaving to go home @ 9:00 that even.

He talked about how he had a great job, two brand new cars, he was giving his family everything they could need materially yet as he told me he wasn’t giving his children a father and his wife a husband. He realized that he was missing out on the greatest gift to man next to salvation and a wife which of course is children. He was telling me how he made the choice to move from luxury to a simple life. Michael is living in the middle of nowhere for Taiwan they live on a tight budget but as he told me last night he has his family it truly is his greatest treasure.

I sat there in the van last night talking to God and saying now I know why you had me so busy today. You wanted me to hear some things from Michael tonight. In fact things have been difficult here the last week and a lot of spiritual battles have been raging on. I asked myself the question even just that afternoon Lord why am I even here in Taiwan what is your purpose for me. God through Michael reminded me once again why I’m here and I have such a renewed vision for when I come back that I’m excited to see what God is going to do.

I have to stop as I leave in less then 20 minutes. Please pray for us, pray for us, pray for us. Please go on your knees before the Lord and pray that God would continue to shine through us. That we may truly be a light and testimony of what Christ has done on Calvary.

Pray that the enemy would not have any power in our lives over these next few weeks. Please pray for the teachers every day as they are going to be stretched physically and spiritually. Pray that they would remain faithful in God’s word and seeking Him every day. Pray for the hearts of the children and TA’s. Pray, pray, pray, and when you’re finished praying please pray for us again.

Prayer is the work and without each of you praying we wouldn’t be where we are today.

From Hualien,
Joshua Smith

I just had to laugh. Sometimes Taiwan just makes you laugh. I was sitting in a big dark room on a nice black leather seat; behind me members of the PTA were enthusiastically singing along to popular Chinese songs. Very loud popular Chinese songs… In front of me Joel was squinting in time with the music as lights from the disco ball thingy would spin and hit him square in the eyes. Ike had two laughing little kids on his lap bouncing happily as if Ike were a giant trampoline. Chase reached over and began tickling the kids and soon the American teacher playground grew to include him as well. Mai was to my left chatting with Lisa, one of my good friends and an English teacher here at Ying Pan. Welcome to the end-of-semester thank you dinner for Ying Pan Elementary school. Parties here are definitely an experience… Yup, I love Taiwan and sometimes I just have to laugh- and be extremely grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to spend two years of my life here. Taiwan will always have such an incredibly special place in my heart.

We had to leave the party before the cigars and round two of Chinese karaoke (bummer). We went outside the restaurant and caught the next bus into Nantou city to meet the Children’s Institute and Basic Seminar team for dinner. It was great to see so many familiar faces and talk to some old friends. After waving goodbye to the “Hosanna Bus” and CI team we hit the night market. I had a nice talk with the Sock Man. I understood most of what he was saying but he seemed to think I understood every word cause he was talking stinking fast. I bought some socks from him too. I like buying things from nice salespeople. Anyway it was a great night and I’m so thankful to be here in Taiwan now.

Please be on your knees praying for our winter camps. I have now entered coffee mode as I try to finish up planning and I know most of us are scrambling to get last minute details smoothed out. Pray that we would remember why we are here and not get so caught up in the logistics and details that we forget to just love the kids. Pray that communication with King Car representatives and TAs will be clear and that we’ll be a good witness to them. And above all, pray that our focus will be continually on Jesus and that everything we do will spring from that. You don’t know how vital your prayers are to our ministry here and I for one am extremely grateful for each of you that prays for us. Thank you!

For the Ying Pan team,
Christina Moody

Hello everybody! Hope your all doing great! A popular book right now is "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. One of the lines in the book reads, "He wants His lost children found!" . Our good friends of course immediatly come to mind and Man, I want them to know Jesus! Thanks for your prayers :)

Lucy

A beautiful aboriginal, Lucy is very animated and though only knows two English sentences, has an uncanny way of communicating almost effortlessly with us. We met her last year and are now good friends. Not a week goes by that we don't go to her shop to talk, study Chinese, laugh and just be with her. Lucy has had a hard life and though she seldom shows discouragement my heart screams for her to know the Saviour.

Dorm Kids

One of our friends, the other day, hid his cigarette as we walked toward him, now knowing from all our playful comments that we disaprove. He said in February he will quit smoking, hmm I hope so. Entertainment reigns at our dorm as we constantly have kids popping in to say hello, I wish you could see our living room sometimes! Who needs T.V. when you live with dorm kids! I picture Jesus holding out His arms to these kids and saying "Let the children come unto me!"

James

I believe God has his hand on this close friend. James is assigned to us for his service, to help us with whatever we need. He has become "one of the family" and we'll be very sorry to see him go in April. James is a blast to have around and has helped us so much with our Chinese! I believe he has many people praying for him to surrender his life in order to find it! There's few people that I would be more excited to see come to Jesus than James.

Kinmen people

Often I'm amazed and even shamed at the kindness of these people. We want them to have the wonderful life in Christ that's there for the asking!

I believe God has His hand on this island that hardly anyones even heard of. I feel so honored to be able to be here and get a peek into what He's doing somewhere else in the world, and what He's doing in people's hearts! Wow God is so awesome!


Samuel and Joy

We just went to their house for dinner tonight. The pastor and his wife are a gift from God to Kinmen, they radiate the love and joy of the Lord and I am so grateful that their here!

Please pray for these people, we covet your prayers not only because we know God is faithful to hear and anwser but also because these people are our good friends and we take it as a personal gift when you pray for them! :) Please pray for Lucy, James, the Kinmen people and Samuel and Joy. Please pray that God would be glorified here and we would have the eyes to see and walk through those doors of opportunity in conversation to direct attention to Jesus! Thanks, we really appreciate all you guys! Take care.

Thought of the day: "Faithful is He who has called you, who also will do it" The Bible

Question of the day: what Chinese phrase resembles "wall-eye-knee" ?

This update is brought to you by the letter “s”. Meaning the Software on the webpage Screwed up and So I didn’t get my update poSted until today. Sorry about that.

Anyway, yesterday I wore my “I’m Blogging This” t-shirt and although I didn’t do it on purpose it was very fitting seeing as I had to write the update for that particular date. So bear with me. When I’m wearing that shirt I am required by international law to blog everything that happens from the time I put it on to the time I take it off. So here goes.

My day started off pretty normal for a Tuesday. As normal as any day I have I guess. I’ll just take a moment here to say that there is no such thing as a normal day in Taiwan. I would say that normal is a setting on the washing machine but our washing machine as everything in Chinese so I don’t really know if it is a setting or not. So I geot up in the morning and got ready for school. Although I have blogged what happens during that time I didn’t post it here and so if you want to read it e-mail me. I walked out the door for school knowing that today wouldn’t really be like any other day of the year because it’s the last week of the semester and so we would be doing more partying than anything else. Sure enough when I got to school I found out that none of my 6th grade classes were having English class that day and instead one 6th grade class and one 4th grade class were going to go on a walk down to Er Shuai. None of you live here and so you don’t really know how far Er Shui is but it would be a good solid hour walk for me by myself. Take into account that we were dragging 50 kids with us it looked like it would take longer. So, after getting everyone ready we headed out for our walk of the morning.

It turned out that there was a county park between where we were and where we were going and the plan was to take some of the nature trails through the park to get to the train station in Er Shuai. I must say that it was really cool and I enjoyed it a ton. The nature walk started on the top of the mountain with one of the better views I’d seen in the Nantou county areal. You could look over the who area and see for miles. Well, if there wasn’t smog you could. We then began our decent into the depths of hell. Well, not really but that’s what it felt like. We started to go down stairs on the side of the mountain and I lost count somewhere around 140. I don’t consider myself to be all that out of shape and am quite active but those stairs did a real number on my legs that’s for sure. I was walking with Abby, who is the English teacher I work with, and I noticed that our progress was getting slower and slower as we hit more and more stairs. By the time we got to the bottom my legs were beginning to think about doing the Jell-o wiggle that they do when you’ve done to much and didn’t stop when you should have. The kids on the other hand seemed to enjoy it. The would go tearing down the stairs as fast as the could until one of them lost their footing and fell on the child in front of them who fell on the child in front of them who fell on the child in front of them and so on until the pile was big enough to bring itself to a halt. Hey they’re cute, I never said they were smart.

So we get to the bottom of the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain there was a large um…what do you call them…pack? Herd? Gaggle? Family? Group? Flock? whatever…of monkeys. The kids enjoyed watching them and acting like them. Oh…wait that’s normal…and after 20 min or so we were on our way. We got to the train station without a hitch and grabbed our train back. All in all it had taken about 3 hours. Not bad for that group I guess.

After that we had a big “Hot Pot” party for lunch. Each class had their own table with all the fixings for hot pot. Hot pot is a soup where you just kind of add whatever you want as it goes and the boiling broth cooks whatever meat, veggies, tofu, whatever you put in. There are about 3 classes for every grade and so we had about 20 or so tables making hot pot. Abby and I don’t really have one class that we work with and so we spent the whole lunch hour walking from table to table seeing who’s was the best. I felt like Happy the Chef at a show or something…maybe Anthony Bourdain…nah the kids wouldn’t understand that kind of English…then again maybe they would.

After lunch I spent class time with first and second grade just playing games and having fun. All of my kids in first and second grade gave me “Happy New Year” cards which was really cool. I got over 150 of them. I have a lot of first and second graders…

So after school I came home…um…fell asleep…went shopping for groceries…hit the night market…came home…took off my shirt…that’s about the rest of it. Sorry, kind of boring.

Daniel Neu

My first semester has come to an end, as this week all classes are over and the students are spending time playing games and cleaning their schools. It is a very strange feeling to say goodbye for the three week vacation. Most of my schools will keep the same classes as I had the first semester, but there are a few changes that will be made. There is always some new thing that comes up to break apart any "normal" feeling we may have. Here, the unknown is normal. I am looking forward to next semester with the hopes of having a better understanding of how to teach, and what to expect, so I am praying that I, and all of the other teachers here, will have a very good next semester. But, there is not much time to think about that.
Now it is time to prepare for Winter English camps! I know that we will have a great time, but we stay busy the entire time, so sometimes it is easy to fall behind in sleep. Pray that these camps will go well and fulfill the expectations of our leaders. Also pray for all of the teams that are teaching for wisdom and strength. Pray that we would have good relationships with our TAs, and that the students will be well behaved and want to learn English.
The ministry here in Taiwan is very extensive. We interact with many different kinds of people every day, and we have a very close relationship with many of them. There are a lot of opportunities to share with people and to talk with them about the things that really matter. It is my heart felt prayer that God will find us as instruments fit for the work that He has called each one of us to. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It is a greater help than you can imagine. May God bless you as you seek His face.

From Nantou,
Joel

A peek inside a foreign Enlglish teacher's classroom...

The students were seated nicely at their desks, hands folded and ears anxious to hear the teacher's lesson. The teachers say something, and they obediently repeat it, phrase after phrase. The teacher gives a command, and immediately the students' hands are placed behind their backs (a common "attentive" position in classrooms here). Then comes the review. They know their stuff, most of them can answer the questions thrown at them without a problem.

Wow. These kids are amazing, aren't they? Too bad they were in the English teacher demonstration video, and not in my classroom. I mean, who wouldn't want to teach a class made in heaven?

Most of the classes I've taught in haven't been quite as perfect. Honestly- and this is just Ginger's opinion #101- mine were way more exciting. Somehow perfection seems to lack the excitement of the unknown and dealing with whatever happens instead.

Kind of like a fourth grade class..

Me: "Ok, touch your head, your shoulders, your nose..is that your nose? No, ok- so touch your eyes, your shoulders.."

It was somewhere between touching heads and shoulders that the class ended up flexing their muscles at me. I'll have to say, it's really cute when fourth graders do it.

And there was the third grade...

"Everybody stand up. Stand UP." The first kid started it, then the next thing I knew half of the boys were perched on their chairs striking the best "Discus thrower" pose I'd ever seen. It looked better than the statue! (is there a real statue??) But hey, they stood up. I did manage to make them get down before almost completely losing it.

I love those moments- the ones where perfection takes a walk, and something simple, yet meaningful takes its place. Maybe that's just my idea of perfection walking out, and God's idea of it smacking me in the face to say, "Chill..it's in MY control. I'm handling it, you just teach class and love those kids."

I'm so glad life is not dependant on Ginger's idea of perfection. God's is SO MUCH better!!

Is Your All on the Altar?
What kind of question is that when you see I am a missionary in Taiwan “suffering” for Christ? If you can’t tell my All is on the Altar!

This morning God asked me an important question, Jo is your all on the alter? I let Him know yes and why I knew it was. Later on He brought this song to mind. I want to share it and some thoughts I had with you.

You have longed for sweet peace and for faith to increase
-Lord, please give me a longing for Your peace and faith. I guess I must admit a lot of the time I don’t have Your peace or the faith to trust You to increase Your ministry.

And have earnestly, fervently prayed
- may I be sincere and not just half hearted because a Christian must pray, but Father give me a desire to pray, a desire to talk with you.

But you cannot have rest or be perfectly blest
– Father, why not?

Until all on the altar is laid
- What does “all” mean? Does it mean everything, my thoughts, my attitudes, my time, my health, my friendships and my activities?

Is your all on the Altar of sacrifice laid?
–If I am going to be honest with You and myself NO I have not given You my all, my thoughts, the way I think and respond to things, my time, how I feel health wise, my friends, and what I do or don’t do during my day or could I say night as well.

Your heart does the spirit control?
-No, the spirit does not always control my heart. Father, I ask that you would take my heart and direct it to be on Your course.

You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest
- Father, I long to be blessed and for peace and sweet rest.

As you yield Him your body and soul.

-So I give to you my body and my soul, Amen.

Josephine Papp
Hualien, Taiwan

*January Tenth*

Wow.

I think that date's going to be engraved in memory for a while now.
Its the date that's been looming on the horizon for so long, and yet has come so quickly. The date of doom. ;-P The date when we all have to tell King Car whether or not we want to stay here another year after this semester. I know it's been a pretty difficult decision for some of us, while others have known for a relatively long time what they should do. I don't know yet what each person has decided, but I pray that each one of us will now have confirmation and a peace about the decision that we’ve made.

*Peace*

Peace is an incredible phenomenon.

“…the dayspring from on high has visited us…to guide our feet into the way of peace.”Luke 1:78,79

During the past nine months I’ve been experiencing this phenomenon of peace as a guiding force when making decisions. It’s a new experience for me, and it’s really cool. :-) Last April, I also had to decide whether to stay on for another year of teaching or go home and start college, (as I had been planning to do). Whenever I would think about staying in Kinmen, I had "a peace.”But whenever I would think about going home and starting college, I just“didn't have a peace.”Then, once again, when I was deciding about whether or not to switch from elementary school to Jr. High for this coming semester, I had “a peace” about choosing Jr. High. I didn't have the same “anti-peace” about staying in elementary school that I'd had about going home, but when I decided to teach Jr. High, I was able to recognize that same peace that I'd had when I'd decided to stay here for another year. And now, finally, I've just made a decision about whether or not to teach yet another year after this semester. As soon as I'd finalized my decision to go home and not come back this fall, I felt like crying -- because I don't know for sure if I'll ever have another chance to come back here -- but I also immediately sensed that now-familiar presence of peace. And what I find most amazing about this peace is that it's not really a feeling. It's too tangible and steady to be a feeling.

It's the knowledge that nothing is “off,” and it's like laying a
burden down as soon as I decide to follow it.

May God bless each one of us with a definite confirmation of our
decisions in the weeks to come, and may His peace rest on us and our families.

~BJ, Kinmen team

“…the peace of God…passes all understanding…”Philippians 4:7

It’s time for the final exams of this semester and sometimes I think I’m just as nervous as my small friends. To some extent my work is being tried as the tests show how much they learned or can remember of what I’ve been teaching them the past couple months. I wish I could help them do better, but my chance to do that is over and now it is up to them whether they really learned the material or not. Some times they surprise me with how much they’ve learned and how well they can do, and some times I wish I could spend more time with other small friends to help them succeed.

As I have tests on the brain right now I’ve been thinking about the test that the Lord give us on a regular basis. Chinese practical application tests when my students ask questions and try to talk to me in between classes using a mixture of limited English and Chinese or when trying to communicate to a Taxi driver where you want to go. Then there are the more serious test such as when a teacher asks you a question about God or the bible and you need to explain in a way that they can understand. Or how do I respond when God allows my neat little schedule to be all mixed up and thrown out the window or my kids are unruly in class? Thankfully however, God does not leave us on our own even in these trials and testing.

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth…he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. “
(John 14:15-16, 26-27)

Christina Furrow
Sincheng, Hualien

Hi once again from Nantou, Taiwan! This has been a (sorta...) busy week. Most all of the schools have been doing finals for the semester, the kids are all nervous, and we have been planning for winter camps. Camps have been the biggest talk around here these last few days, we have a little over a week to finish planning and setting up for two weeks of hard work. I am up late again, and I still have lots to do... Today was very nice though. I went to Chiao Jen, a smaller school in Nantou City, 300 students. I really enjoy it, the kids love to play, the teachers are always willing to help in any way that they can (that can be a little limited though...), and they are always anxious to help me learn Chinese. I arrived and found out that I would be doing testing all day...fun, fun, fun. A little boring. "Listen and Circle....number 1.....'b-bird'....'b-bird'...number 2....'c-coat'...'c-coat'...." and so on. We finished in one of the classes, and sang 'Oh, Suzanna'. I was very surprised that they remembered so much of the song from last week.

Another thing that I have been doing is working with the Chinese church here. I am helping teach the English Sunday school for the older kids. It has been great, the kids are getting some good Bible study, and it has helped me a lot. I mean, as I read and teach any scripture, I always have to apply it to myself first. This last week it was about Jacob. We talked about letting God take care of our needs. We often complain and beg for things that we want, whining about the things that we don't have. I was reminded that God know about all we want. A very simple truth, but I always forget that He knows what I should and shouldn't have, what I need and I don't. He WILL take care of it all.

Lord, thank you for everything You have given me. It is all Your's to do with as You please. Remind me that all I need is You...You are my All in all. Nothing else can fill me. Only You. Praise and glory to Your Everlasting Name! Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you!

Isaac Mazur
Ying Pan

(18) Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
(19) Woe to him who says to wood, Come to life! Or to lifeless stone, “Wake up!” Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.
(20) But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. Hab. 2:18-20

I have been thinking about this passage a lot lately, In particular I have thought about the people in which I live around. Here in Taiwan many people believe in the god Buddha. Buddha is an idol which man has carved, and it is an image that teaches lies, and Buddha can’t speak. Buddha has no life in it, “Wake up Buddha!” Can Buddha really give guidance? Let all of the Earth be silent before God!

As I was talking to one of my friends today I found out that these were some of her questions as well. Here was her god (Buddha), who had no answers for here when she needed them. Sarah, she said “Do you ever fell like running away, what do you do when you have problems?” I told her that I pray that God would help me. She told me that Lydia (my sister) had prayed with her about two months ago when she had some troubles. I asked her if she had a Bible? She told me that she did and that she has read some if it for college.

We had a nice long talk about how we deal with problems. She said that many people here in Taiwan go to the temple to pay money when they have problems so that there problems will go away. I asked her if it works for her she said “I don’t know.” I asked her if she was a Buddhist, and she said that she was raised a Buddhist, but did not really practice it very much. I left her with the question does paying money work? Let all the earth be silent before Him.
Please pray for the Taiwan team as we try to be salt and light.
Sarah DeLuca,
Ji Ji Taiwan.

" Children are a blessing from the Lord! "

" Ni da Mama?" I turned to see where the little excited voices have come from. Was I talking to my mom? Yes I was. Shaking my head softly and laughing a little to myself, I thought of how some people would think it very annoying to have children come and inturrupt you while in the middle of something. I asked my mom to hold on for a second as I asked one of my students if they would like to talk to my mom on the phone. With wide eyes and a very timid but detirmined, little girl said yes. I laughed to myself as I noticed how nervous she was, I could just see the list of English vocabulary words running through her head, trying to remember them all in case she needed to use them. The small conversation that followed was not quite so trying as she expected. She soon relaxed and began to ask my mom questions and answer my mom's questions. "Gail?" she repeated more like a question, and looked at me with a smile. Giggling a little, I reasured her that yes, my mom's name was Gail just like the little girl in our English curriculium. She then proceeded to ask my mom how old she was. I had to laugh out loud for that one. All of a sudden she looked at me with the look of " I don't understand her anymore." My mom must have said a number that we hadn't yet covered in class yet. "Ni ting budong ma? " I asked. (Do you understand what you are hearing?) " Wo ting budong!" I don't understand what I am hearing.) she replied with a puzzled look as she handed me my cell phone. That was the end of the conversation. She bounced away happily, as the other students followed her saying " Ta shou shemne?" (What did she say?) With most of the students no longer by my side I began to confirm to my mom that she had heard right. Yes, her name was Kandy, she was 10 years old, and in the 4th grade. As the class bell began to ring once again I hung up with my mom. Thanking the Lord silently for the joy that kids bring I headed to class. What class was I teaching next? Kandy's class. So what's my advice for the day? Take time to see what kind of blessing a child can bring to your day. That might be just the thing God has placed in your path to remind you He's still the one who gives you the joy in life.

Mai Lewis,
Ying Pan

Today is my day to update, although I am not sure what to write about at all. My life has been a little boring lately, pretty typical stuff. The semester is drawing to a close,it's weird it seems at times like the year has been so long, while at the same time it seems to have flown by. There have been trials and challenges, but for each one of these there have been many more blessings. Lately I have been faced with a very tough decision, but it has not been only me who has a big decision to make. Every one of the American teachers that are here need to decide whether they will come back for another year of traveling or not. For me this has not been an easy decision to make,I want to back, in some ways but in other ways I don't. I absolutely love Taiwan, it's people,the culture, the students, the teachers that I work with, the different kinds of food….. Well I like everything about this country. I also miss the states. I am an American, I love my country,and I can't but think that maybe the Lord has something for me there, but I don't know what it is. I think that I could probably speak for all the teachers in Taiwan when I ask you to please pray for us, that we would make the right decision as far as coming back is concerned. I apologize for the shortness of this update, hopefully I will have a little more to write about next time it is my turn to do this.

Later
Anthony
Jiji

Sorry if this update has a few to many facts or seems a little dry. Mostly it is the highlights of our official semester report. Some of you have ask about this report and I think that it will give you a good idea of how this semester went.

The winter semester of 2004 saw great growth of the TESOL ministry in Taiwan. Twenty-two teachers served in four teams in three counties in Taiwan. The teachers are now teaching in more than 88 schools in Taiwan teaching in about five percent of the total number of schools in Taiwan. This semester the teams have taught more than 24,000 Taiwanese children.

In addition the teachers also conducted three teacher training seminars. These seminars were designed to encourage and give new ideas to Taiwanese English teachers. The American teachers had a warm welcome and good attendance for each conference with one Taiwanese teacher saying at the end of one of the conferences “at this conference I received many new ideas, made a lot of new friends, and got new energy for teaching.”

The teachers also have had many opportunities for significant ministry this semester. From teaching English bible studies, and serving at local Taiwanese churches, to sharing Christ with teachers and students at holiday parties, the teachers have made advancing Christ Kingdom a focus. This semester the team has tried to capitalize on the amazing platform they have been given for their message.

The greatest challenge the teachers face is to maintain a professional attitude at all times. After all the cameras are gone, and after all of the newspaper stories have been written, and all the principals and teachers have welcomed the American, they have to live up to the high expectations. The teachers are teaching in the school districts with the lowest levels of English in Taiwan.

In Hualien county many of the students come from aboriginal people groups who in recent years have been oppressed. The culture and family structure were devastated by the Japanese seventy years ago, and alcoholism and poverty have taken their toll on one the most beautiful counties in Taiwan.

All of these factors make the job of the English teachers very difficult, they are asking the team here to succeed were everyone else has failed. Taiwanese teachers and professors have been unable to design a plan to raise the English level, and other attempts to bring in foreign teachers have failed.

Ben Jacob

Recently I was thinking about my life here - my many friends, the joy that the bring to my heart, the way they brighten my day, and the love that I feel from them when I am with them. I was beginning to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and I got that comfortable feeling that I must be pretty special or they wouldn't care so much for me. Suddenly this question broke into my reverie and hit hard: Do I love my students, dorm kids, high school friends, and college friends because of what I get from them or do I love them with Christ's kind of love - giving, without asking anything in return? I have been enjoying the company, fun, and friendship with these people because it makes ME happy, it helps ME to feel less homesick, it makes ME feel loved. Have I forgotten the purpose of my coming here and the reason for God's bringing these souls across my path? Do I really have genuine love for these people that I claim to hold so close to my heart? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to communicate Christ to them and see Him take hold of their hearts and lives? Once again I find myself humbled to realize my selfishness and weakness as I contemplate the task the Lord has set before me. I am called to be a reflection of Him to those around me. I pray that as I enjoy the friends He has blessed me with here, I will begin to see them as He sees them...souls in need of His salvation. May I then reach out with His love, His, compassion, His mercy and invest all of myself into the lives of those He has called me to reach.

Thoughts from one on the island ~
Rebekah Gilley
Phil. 1:20

A new year has come again. As I think about the New Year I think about all the many things that God has promised to make new to me. Amongst those many things I think of His mercy to me. I look at verses like Lamentations 3:22-23 it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord’s mercies are surly new every morning. I am amazed at His mercy to me. How every day he shows himself faithful to me.

I love waking up in the morning and walking out on my balcony to see the sun rising over the mountains. I will normally stand out there and enjoy the sunrise for a few minutes before starting my day. If the weather is not to cold I will sit and have my quiet time out there. The walls of my balcony are high enough so that they offer privacy while still letting me enjoy the sunrise. I think that that is my favorite place to be alone and reflect on the Lords faithfulness to me and how His mercies are new every morning.

I hope that as you face this New Year you will think about how God’s mercy is new every morning. That always is an encouragement to me when I am bogged down with the little challenges that come up day by day. God’s mercies are new every morning. He is Faithful. I can rest in Him.

Ji Ji,
Lydia

Who would have thought that I would ever get to go to Hong Kong? But, that’s just what I was doing this last weekend. Over new-year I was going to be heading to Hong Kong with 11 people. What a trip! I was so excited! Ever since my first trip to Taiwan 5 years ago I’ve had the traveling bug. It’s something that I think everyone has once they get out of the US. There is a whole world of places to see and I’ve got big plans to check them out in this life. Hong Kong was high on the list and now I’ve been there. But I want to go back.

It all started for me in Nantou where I met the Ying Pan team so that we could get picked up for the airport. They had told me to be there before 2:00 so sure enough I get there only to wait until after 3:00 to get picked up. That’s ok though; I was soon to learn that I should get used to waiting on this trip. The flight was still ahead. We get to the airport where we find the rest of the team huddled in an abject concentration over plates of suspect looking spaghetti. They looked up greeting us with smiles as we all got together again for one weekend of what might be the last time the 11 of could be together. But not thinking about that, of course, we got ready to go to our gate for the flight. Randy, our King Car guy, is at the desk trying to get our tickets; he has a funny look on his face. Any time someone from King Car gets a funny look on their face I decide really quick that I want to start running in the other direction. It’s never a good thing. But for some reason, of which I’ll never understand, I stay to hear the announcement. “Your flight has been delayed”, he says. Great, just what we needed. Although our minds are falling into the tunnel of despair we can indeed see a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s only delayed for about an hour. That’s not bad. We won’t get to do new-year in the Hong Kong but at least we’ll be on our way. We all start walking towards that great light at the end of the tunnel with our free meal vouchers in hand…

…the light was a train…

…WHAM…

After sitting and waiting for the flight to come through we found out that it was snowed in somewhere around Shanghi and turns out we will be sitting in the airport for new-year. Technically we are nowhere. We’ve already gotten through customs so we are out of the country, but we’ve not gone through customs on the other side. This means we are in no country at all and will be spending new-year there. Great huh? So, we sit and wait…and wait…and wait… We started up some good old Dutch Blitz like the nice little ATI students we used to be (did I just say that?) and Joel and I proceeded to beat the ever living heck out of the rest of the team. I think we hit 100 before anyone had gotten to 75. I know we ended with around 180 and the next team up was somewhere around 120, I think. We eventually walked up to the boarding gate where this nuts-o-lady starts yelling in half broken English something about how no one should get on the plane and that we should boycott the flight and all get our money back. This poor woman must have been a few fries short of a whole happy meal. I mean, we all have been waiting for the flight for like 4 hours and now just as it’s getting here I’m going to boycott it and not get on the plane? Yeah right. Shut up lady. So, before the SWAT team could show up to gas the lady and her friends we all figure it’s time to get on the plane. So with a big wave and a “so long” to our nuts-o-Chinese-friend we get on the plane. Ahhh…at last, end of scene one.

Scene two opens with us getting off the plane in Hong Kong. This was pretty much uneventful for the most part. Chase did get his Exact’o knife taken away from him and Josh had to have his brain checked at the gate but other than that we had no problems. We headed outside and the first thing we figured out was that it was cold…I mean COLD…like COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD…we would get used to that by the end of our first day. So after gaining the air back into my lungs after having it punched out by the icy blasts of wind I follow the rest of the team out to the taxies. They have red taxies and green taxies in Hong Kong. Very festive if you ask me…. …Ok, don’t ask me, see if I care.

Anyway, we get into a red taxi, which has the wheel on the right side; this being very cool and head out to the hotel. Hong Kong is very British and so they drive on the left side of the road there. That was very freaky at first. I’d never done that before and it kind of threw me for a loop. I mean, try crossing the street when you can’t remember which way you need to look. Left first or right? You’re going to have splattered American all over a Hong Kong road if you aren’t careful. It was just a little odd to say the least. As we were driving to the hotel I remember thinking to myself that I couldn’t believe how modern everything felt. I’ve been living in Ji Ji for the last several months and even though I go to Taichung and Taipei every once in a while you still have the feeling that those cities aren’t quite there. Like, in Taipei you can’t drink the water from the tap and you will still see people washing all their clothes by hand or having pretty lame indoor plumbing, if any. The roads are not the greatest in Taiwan but in Hong Kong they were great. You could tell that Hong Kong has more money than Taiwan. After the roads and the modern feel I noticed the buildings. They were everywhere. At any time in Hong Kong you can look around and count over 20 buildings that are over 30 floors. It’s amazing what they’ve built. It’s all so tall. They would have a cluster of say, 6 buildings together all of which are around 30+ floors or so. Each building was identical and was owned by the same company. This was not just a once or two time occurring thing. I saw at least a half a dozen of those. It was crazy.

The taxi ride in and of itself was pretty boring. Nothing happened. I could see Ginger in the side mirror and she never stopped grinning the whole ride. But other than that it was just a drive. When we got to the hotel we made our first “hey, look at me I’m a tourist” move. I got out of my taxi and saw that the bill was about (my memory fails me on the exact amount now) 230 Hong Kong Dollars (HKD). So I give the guy the 500 that had been given me for the taxi. He comes back and hands me 50 in change. Having taken taxies in Chicago and Taipei before I was excepting the guy to try to cheat me somehow and was ready for this. I look at the money he gave me and then at him and said “What the (input whatever word you think fits)!? I gave you $500, you owe me $200”. He replies, while pretending to not understand English, “Tolls”. “Ok, give me $150” I replied. The tolls had been something like $20 but hey, I’m a nice guy. He keeps babbling on in his incoherent drug fried whatever of a language he was trying to speak for another 2 min. This whole time I’m getting really mad at the guy. I know he understands some English. He’s a taxi driver in a British colony for crying out loud!! Well, Ben’s driver has already left and mine is the only one still standing there fighting with me over the change so Ben walks over to me and asks what the problem is. I turn around to look at him and in that moment, Uber-Jerk-the-taxi-driver jumps into his little pimp mobile and drives off. I’m left standing there with $50 HKD and a taxi ride that just cost me $200 too much. Not a good way to start if you ask me. For the next 20 min I pretty much fumed and stormed on about it while people tried to tell me it was ok because it was King Car’s money. I know it was but I hate getting cheated when I know it’s going to happen!

So after that we check into the hotel. By now it’s like 4:30 am and I’ve been up waaaay to long. After getting my key and telling everyone what I was going to do in the morning and were I was going and when it was happening I grabbed Ike and headed up to our room. We both needed sleep bad. I unlocked the door and walked into a meat locker. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. It was colder than most professional freezers they have in restaurants. Ike assured me that this was indeed our hotel room. He even went so far as to lay down on one of the blocks of ice. Or was that a bed? There at least was a bathroom with a hot shower so I figured I would live. I unpacked my PJs, stuck them on, and went to sleep. Then started to shiver and preceded to do that the rest of the night. The hotel has this really funny practical joke they like to play on guests. They stick a thermostat on the wall with a little switch that has heat/cold on it. Then they watch through a hidden camera while the guest turns on what he thinks is the heat and then goes to bed. The room will actually get colder at this point. The guest gets up several times playing with the switches and knobs trying to get the heat to work but he can’t hardly use his fingers because the are frozen. I doesn’t matter because the heat doesn’t work anyway. The people at the hotel will show these videos at their company Christmas party every year and get a good laugh over a bottle of scotch. You know though, I thought that Hong Kong would be louder than it was. I couldn’t hear any traffic or anything. I think that may have had something to do with the fact that Ike’s teeth were chattering all night. Who knows. I managed to get some sleep and then was out of bed like a shot (ha ha!!) later that morning for a fun filled day of Hong Kong! I got down stairs to meet up with my traveling buddies for the day.

Josh
Joel
Isaac
Chase
Mai
Ginger
and Me (yes we are buddies…both of us)

These are the people with whom I would be spending my day, like it or not. Just for the record I did like it and would go anywhere with that group. It was great! First thing we did was go looking for a Starbucks. After getting about 3 hours of sleep we were all in need of something with caffeine in it. We managed to find one at Times Square. To get to Times Square we had to walk through this really cool meat market where everything was just kind of hanging out everywhere. I’ll get back to the meat marked later. Joel and I had an interesting experience walking there later in the day. But more on that later, next we found ourselves standing in a starbucks, some of us getting Hong Kong mugs, some of us getting coffee, some of us getting both but all off us getting warm. Hong Kong was actually pretty chilly that weekend, so any chance to warm up was welcome. After Starbucks a nice police man helped Josh and I figure out what bus to get everyone on so that we could head over to Stanley Market for some shopping. Now, as Murphy’s Law states nothing ever works like it should. The bus we got on only had enough room for all the team but one of us. This meant that Joel got left behind for the next bus. Now I’m not sure what happened for the next hour and a half. I’ll have to check with Joel to find out for sure but this is what I think might have happened.

None of us had any clue what Stanley Market looked like or where we were going. We just kind of hoped we would see a sign or something so that we could get off the bus at the right time. Well, sure enough we saw a sign but it would appear that it was at the wrong time to get off. So we rode the bus for another stop and the driver told us to get off. We got off and waited for the next bus so that we could hook up with Joel. 10 min passed, then 20, bus after bus went by and Joel wasn’t on any of them. Chase figured he had gotten off a stop before where we saw the sign. I figured he had been eaten by some bareheaded cannibal from the mainland. Sometimes I’m wrong and so Chase took a walk to go find him. The rest of us were supposed to stay and wait. After 30 min Ginger and I wanted to go look at the bay. So we told everyone we were going to check out the bay and that we’d be back in about 10 min. Assuming that they heard us we went off. We ended up with some nice pictures of the bay and once we were satisfied we went back. When we got there the group was nowhere to be found. They had run off someplace and we didn’t know when they would be back. So we waited for a while and walked around looking for them and after a while figured that we would find them when we went shopping so Ginger and I headed off to hit the deals. A little ways in we met up with the rest of the people, including Joel, and soon we were all hunting Stanley Market for that perfect deal. What we didn’t know was that Josh, Mai, Isaac, Chase, and Joel had all gotten back together and thinking we were still down by the bay had gone down there themselves. I think we must have just missed each other or something.

Stanley Market

Stanley Market is an area where smart Chinese people sell dumb things to stupid foreigners for too much money. It’s a little like the IRS in that they steal from you without giving anything back worth the least bit of value. Only the IRS does it to residents, Stanley Market does it to tourists. I think some of the people found things that were cool and maybe even a good deal or two but for the most part I think we were a little disappointed with it. It wasn’t all that great for people who already live in Asia and can find Asian knick knacks next door to their house in Taiwan. It’s more for the person who’s never been to Asia. One thing that was funny was Josh trying to get a Chinese shirt for his mom. It would seem that his mom and Ginger are about the same size and so Josh kept asking Ginger if this would fit or if that would fit. At one point Ginger even tried on a dress and modeled for us all just so some of the people could get the right idea for buying something. That was pretty funny.

After we were done shopping we headed over to find some lunch. Lunch wasn’t all that bad but it was kind of pricy. 15 bucks for a burger and water is a little steep if you ask me. But hey, it’s vacation. So we ate there and enjoyed it. I observed that the British never seemed to teach the Chinese how to wait on tables. Everywhere I went in Hong Kong the servers were terrible. They were just plain rude and dumb most of the time. I never wanted to leave a tip anywhere. They stick the %10 surcharge on the bill everywhere though. After finishing dinner we ended up with a little more shopping and a stop at a phone booth where a really rude British guy took our picture with all of us in it. Then, with full tummies, less money, heavier bags, and smiles on our faces we went looking for downtown Hong Kong and the Star Ferry.

The Ride to Star Ferry

We would have to take a bus to get to Star Ferry. We managed to hook up with a double-decker bus for the ride. That was way cool. Ginger and I grabbed the very front seat on the top level for the best view. Once again the whole “drive on the wrong side of the road” thing messed with my mind. Also the tunnels that go on forever as you pass under mountains are really neat. The view was very pretty and the drive was really pleasant. At first things were not really all that dense. There were trees and hillsides to observe on one side of the bus with the open bay on the other side of the bus. It was quite a site. As we got closer into the downtown area we were surrounded by those same tall buildings I saw earlier in the morning while on the taxi. We had to look really funny as Ginger, myself and the rest of the team turned every which way trying to get as many pictures of a city we might only see once. There were big buildings, small ones, shinny ones, dull ones, pointy ones, flat ones, chunky ones, slim ones, flat ones, full ones, rich ones, not as rich ones, just every kind you could imagine. All of this glistening in the high early afternoon sun. We stayed on the bus for a while and we eventually got to our final destination. It dropped us very close to where we wanted to be at Star Ferry. One thing that was really weird about the walk over to Star Ferry was that there were dozens of older ladies sitting along the sidewalk playing cards. Like there was a bunch of them. Maybe 40 or so. Little groups of four or five all sitting there playing cards. Kinda odd but hey, whatever yanks their chain I guess.

Star Ferry

This was one of the best parts of the day for me. The boat ride was nice. Very nice actually. Offering a very exquisite view of the bay and the Hong Kong Skyline. But I’m getting ahead of myself here aren’t I?

We passed the old card playing ladies and got to the pier. After watching Josh dodge an Arabic cloths tailor who was trying to sell him (said in best Abdul voice) “Veerry nice and high quuuaaaliteee seeiilk shits for eeeeou my ddarrrk friend, Cuuustom made of de fiiiineest seeiilk” What I dork. I mean, who would buy clothes from this guy? Whatever… So anyway, we buy our tickets for something like 40 cents US and hop on the upper deck. We might have gotten the lower deck but we’d been warned by an outside source that everyone on the lower deck spits a ton and that it would be nasty and horrid to ride down there. So, on this advice we grabbed seats (not really grabbed seats…get your mind out of the gutter) on the upper deck. The pictures were nice, the bay was calm, Chase and Ginger who were sitting with me, behaved themselves like the adults we all are (bwaaahaahaa!!) and I had a really good time on the ferry! The view was amazing. The Hong Kong skyline is like no other skyline I have ever seen. I’ve been to some amazing cities in my life time. Everything from San Francisco, to Chicago, to New York, to Boston, and I have never seen anything like this. It was just amazing for sure. They can pack more tall buildings into the smallest amount of space. I would assume it’s because Hong Kong is on an island and that they just have to many people. They could move some of the stuff to the Kowloon side of the greater Hong Kong side but I guess that would ruin the skyline. So they can keep It just the way they want  We arrived in Kowloon after about 20 min of sailing. Kowloon is the mainland side of Hong Kong. They say it’s more Chinese than the other part and is cheaper. I wouldn’t know about that. All we did was go into McDonalds to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms sure sucked. I’ve been in better looking ones in Russia. They did have a McCafe though. It’s coffee bar that is run by McDonalds. You can get a McLatte, or a McMacchiato or whatever. Kinda odd but it was busy so I guess it works. Look to see those in the states soon. I would imagine some of you have already seen them.

After hitting the bathroom and taking some pictures we got back on the ferry to hit the island again. We wanted to try to get to The Peak before sunset if we could. Once again we got tickets for the ferry, this time for the lower deck. I think it was about 30 cents for a ferry ride down low. I never saw a single person spit on the ferry. In fact there were signs everywhere stating that spitting is against the law and that anyone found doing it would get fined something like 800 US. Not a good idea you know? Tell that to Chase. Mr. Hocksalot. :- ) I can say that about a good friend. On the lower deck of the ferry things were very cool it was one of the best parts of the day and I will be eternally grateful to Mai for recommending that we do it. I got some of the best pictures of my whole trip on there. The view of the skyline was breathtaking to say the least. It made for some fun self portraits as well. Ginger and I got into the whole trip. I tried to tour Hong Kong with a self portrait at each spot we came to. I think I got most of them. So needless to say I was very happy with Star Ferry. If you ever go to Hong Kong that’s a must for sure. There is an incredible variety of boats and ships on the bay. They make for a very entertaining view that I enjoyed very much. The water was surprisingly clean. I’ve been in bays and harbors that were nowhere near this clean. That says a lot about their system of business in Hong Kong. Actually I was pretty much impressed with how clean things were compared to Taiwan. Now I live in the actual “Taiwan” and not the tourist places but I think Hong Kong was much cleaner than Taipei. The transportation sure was.

So we get back from the ferry and run over to another bus where we wanted to sit on top but there wasn’t enough room. The bus had an open roof for site seeing. After thinking about it though I’m glad that there wasn’t any room on top. I think I might have frozen if I went up there. The ride wasn’t that long anyway and the inside was nice. We were all pretty excited at this point though for our next stop was The Peak. Everyone had told us that this would be the best part. Were they right? Was it that great? Well, we were about to find out.

The Peak

The first part of The Peak was kind of discouraging. The line for the cable car was about 900 miles long. I was thinking to myself that we would NEVER get up there. With so many people how in the world would we ever make it in the little amount of time that we had? Chase and I left the rest of the team standing in line and headed off to see if there was another way to get up there. We did manage to find a foot path. Have you ever heard of the TV show “Highway to Heaven”? This foot path sure as heck looked like it. I know in our team’s case it would have been a stairway to heaven. If I had tried to go up that I think I would have died and then I would have been there for sure. So, we didn’t take the stairway. When we came back to the line we saw, to out pleasant surprise, that the line was moving pretty well and that we would only be there for maybe 30 min at most. We ended up sticking it out and sure enough it wasn’t to bad. Besides they had these cool TV monitors that advertised different things that were on The Peak. There was some kind of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” up there with all kinds of nasty things. You know like info on the world’s fattest man and some pigmy African dude that could shove whole bowls under each lip. Stupid stuff like that. There was also a place that had realistic looking statues of all the famous people who have come to The Peak while in Hong Kong. People like Jackie Chan, The Governator, etc. That looked kind of cool. At least it entertained me a little while I stood in line. The other thing that entertained me was all the different people around me.

In Hong Kong there is a whole lot of people. The Chinese people are not like Taiwan Chinese at all. They look different, act different, and sound different. There were people from all over the world there. There were annoying Europeans, stupid looking Americans, clueless Africans, and ignorant Chinese people. I don’t know why it is but what requires that ever American who travels abroad to look like a fashion ignorant moron? I mean I understand that as ATI students we are already stupid looking but at least our colors match. Others wear things like camo pants with striped shirts and checkered jackets. Their hair is always some dumb color with a dumb looking cut and they have glasses that look completely retarded. This is a normal look for a traveling American. Why? Don’t ask me. I just work here. I did enjoy watching the people around me as I always do and found much to be interested in that’s for sure. I mean the people I traveled with were odd enough as it was :- )

I would also like to take a short moment to point out that this would be the last time outside when I was anywhere close to being warm.

So we get on the cable-car to go up the mountain. Have any of you ever been on a cable car before? The use them quite a bit for hills and inclines. You’ll find them all in San Francisco and some other places as well. The way it works, mostly for SFO, is there is 1 – 2 inch cable under the road that runs parallel with the direction the street is heading. The cable car sits on rails over the cable. When the car goes forward they engage a gripping mechanism under the car that grabs the cable thus allowing the cable to pull the car forward. On the one in Hong Kong there were only two cars that went up the mountain. So instead of a gripping mechanism there was simply a car attached to each end of the cable. When one car went up, the next car came down. It’s very smooth and is much safer than trying to send a self propelled car up and down such steep hills. I really liked the cable car. Ginger didn’t like that fact that she didn’t have a headrest for the steep incline but had we switched spots she would have had one. I did. I felt sorry for Chase. The view was nice and Josh got some video I think. Maybe we’ll post some of that on the web page. Who knows. I think that the cable car is the only place Ginger and I didn’t get a self portrait. Darn…gonna have to go back now :- ) Rats…

We got to the top of the mountain and it was here that the whole trip was made worthwhile. I have been to few places that were as cool or as beautiful in their own little way. The top of the mountain was about a half mille higher than the rest of the city. This meant that you had an amazing view of the lights below. On top of the mountain they had built a 6? Floor mall/food/plaza building. There were all kinds of observation decks all over the place. You could go out on one of them and, if you didn’t freeze to death, you could look down on Hong Kong and see one of the best city light views in the world. The bay stretched on in both directions with the smallest little lights shining from the lamps on the ships navigating the channel. Closer to shore you saw the even smaller less pronounced lamps of a fishing vessel, the fisherman trying his late night luck in the dark. Who knows, he might be catching what you will see in the meat market the next morning. Moving into shore you see the red lights of backed up traffic. In the back of your mind you are glad you aren’t down there but at the same time I found myself thinking “do they know they’re being watched from a mile away”? It’s kind of fun to wonder what they are thinking while sitting there in their cars. You can also see the ribbons of light spreading out over the water in all different directions as cars, trains, and busses make their way across the numerous bridges that span the bay. They have a way of making their bridges very attractive and the lighting was neat to see. As you look at the scene the real thing that stands out is the buildings. So many sizes and so many colors! I’ve never seen anything like it. Not only did the city look like some kind of radioactive porcupine with glowing quills sticking up from everywhere, it looked like a radioactive punk porcupine what with all the colors I saw. A streak of deep blue here, a shot of red there, yellow dancing across an apartment complex, even quiet shades of green, clear whites slicing like razors into the sky projected from the roof of a select building or two, and more so the odd arteries of yellow street lights going in more directions than my mind could understand. It must take one heck of a power plant to run that building. Those Hong King people go through a lot of cute little atoms in their nuclear power plants every night.

We stood there looking at the city snapping pictures for quite a while when I began to hear the calling sound a stomach that is in need of the basics. What surprised me the most was that I heard other stomachs answering in reply. I never did figure out who was making the noises but it was coming from Mai and Joel’s direction. Either way we figured it was time to get something to eat. Having hungry explorers wandering around a city with no idea what they are doing is a bad idea. At least we should be full right? So off we go looking for that perfect meal.

Someone had this Swedish place they wanted to try. It was up on the 2nd or 3rd floor of the plazas and sounded like it had good prices. The only problem was that it was booked out. Darn. So we go to the other side of the plaza looking for a place. We ended up at the Café Deco. Now this place was cool! It was also a little pricy. The atmosphere was to die for. There was a live jazz trio that played for supper. They were really good even if they didn’t know how to play the theme from the Pink Panther, right, Chase? The music really added to the soothing and relaxing feeling that I got in that place. There were dimly lit candles on the tables and a cool feel to the color in the room. The huge window overlooking the skyline was gorgeous which only added to the feel. The food ran around $20 - $30 USD a meal though I though the quality was very good. Not quite that good but you were also paying for location and atmosphere. I had Moroccan lamb, someone had Salmon, others had pasta, Ike had the best part of the deal. We treated him to supper for his birthday. He had some kind of flying fish sushi thing that looked really good. I like sushi and at a place like this I bet they do it right. All in all I think we spent something like $120 on 7 people. The coffee was like $4 bucks a pop. That was fun. Hey, I’m not complaining at all. I only get Hong Kong once and I figure that you better live now or die regretting it. So I forked out the bucks. After finishing supper we headed out to a higher overlook where we took some group pictures and I tried to get some shots for a panoramic of the city. I think the shots came out ok and I stuck them together in Photoshop. I’ll try to show you all sometime. The rest of our time up on The Peak was spent freezing while standing in line for the cable car down. The cable car ride was pretty uneventful though pretty. I enjoy cable cars but not ones where nasty Chinese guys with gas sit next to you. He just about got himself tossed out the door. We got to the bottom and I figured why not take the MRT back to the hotel? I asked a guy where it was and we headed off.

The MRT

Let me say first off, not everyone in Hong Kong who is an employee at a business knows what they are talking about when giving directions. The directions were supposed to be easy. Go straight down this street until you get to the Hong Kong bank. Turn left at the bank, then keep walking for about a block and a half and you will get there. All together it would be like maybe – 5 blocks total? It sounded pretty easy at first so we started walking. After about 4 blocks we hadn’t seen a “Hong Kong Bank”. We had seen a lot of other cool things and I was enjoying the walk around downtown, it’s just that we all wanted to get back to the hotel so drop things off, refit and head back out. At this point it was about 9pm and so we needed to hurry some. We did take a moment to stop in the courtyard of a very cool looking skyscraper where the view of the city was just about perfect. On the right hand side there was one of the oddest deigns of a skyscraper I’d ever seen, behind me there was the plaza of the building where we were standing with it’s pools, fountains, and lights. To my left the highway ran with the cars all running on the wrong side of the road; you could see several well lit foot bridges crisscrossing over the streets in many different places. I stood there just soaking it all in not believing that I had just spent the day in Hong Kong. After a while though our resident nag Chase got us moving again and after checking with a security guard, we headed over to the MRT station. I would think they have these things everywhere but I hadn’t seen them yet. Then again I hadn’t been looking for them either. I had completely forgotten all about the MRT here in Hong Kong and so we hadn’t used it yet. I’m glad we took the buses so that we could see more of the city and get an idea of where things were but the MRT is a bit faster.

Down the stairs of the MRT we walked, heading into the deep labyrinth of catacombs. There was a very familiar feeling to the MRT here. We take the MRT in Taiwan a lot and so this was just like home for us. Just like home and yet not really like home. The MRT was different and they had a lot of neat little perks that they should use in Taipei if they ever get the chance. Getting tickets was easy and finding the right line wasn’t all that bad, thanks to Isaac. We rumbled on over to where the trains come and it was here that many of the people on our trip saw something for the first time. The tunnel for the MRT was completely glassed in. There were sliding doors where the doors to the train would be when it stopped. But the rest was glassed off. In Taipei, Moscow, Chicago, and New York, the subway/MTR is open. When the train is coming down the line someone, if they wanted, could jump down onto the tracks and get run over. We won’t go into a debate on whether I think that’s a good idea or not. But in Hong Kong it was glassed off so you couldn’t jump. I’d seen this before in shuttle/tram systems before but never in a subway. It was kind of cool. The cars in the MRT were newer than the ones I Taipei though I felt they were a little smaller. It was smooth and easy and soon we were all getting out for Times Square. We went walking down the corridor to find our exit and I noticed that the colors of the walls were very unusual. I’m not sure what is accomplished by painting the walls of the MRT purple, pink, yellow and off white but they seem to like it. I felt like I was walking though a bottle of Pepto-Bismol or a big blueberry. Hey, at least it got me where I wanted to go.

We emerged from the MRT somewhere in a mall and road the really cool curvy escalator up to street level. We popped out next to Starbucks and so some of us got Hong Kong mugs while a few other people looked at cell phones and other things. We didn’t stick around all that long because we wanted to get back to the hotel. So, retracing the steps we took that morning we headed through our little meat market; now dark and empty void of the teaming crowds that we’d seen this morning. It was a little odd knowing that just this morning loud obnoxious people had been here hacking up all kinds of critters and handing them out for money. Joel and I were not happy at all with the feeling we had when walking. Your feet would slide around on the concrete like there was a layer of grease half an inch thick on the road. The sounds of “Eeeewww…WWWyyyeeewwww…yuck…eeewww…ugh…” could be heard from our part of the street as we slid our way home. I seem to remember Joel saying something about playing Hong Kong street hockey in shoes. As we neared the hotel we passed over the last crosswalk. The crosswalks in Hong Kong all make this little clicking noise. Ginger learned from someone that these are for blind people so that they know when it’s safe to cross. When the clicking is faster you can go. When it’s slower you need to stop or you’ll get run over by a bus or something. Mai later learned this from Ginger. At last we arrived in our hotel tired but glad the day had gone so well. It was about 10pm and we were actually thinking about heading back out again :- ). Hey, you only live once right? Josh needed to get his haircut though because where he lives in Taiwan there isn’t anywhere to get an American haircut and Mai does a good job. I needed to offload pictures onto my laptop and some of the people wanted to turn in. By the time we all got done doing whatever it was we were going it was almost midnight and I was assuming that most any place I wanted to go would be closed. I guess if I had wanted to go get drunk, stoned, and laid I could have but those aren’t really big on my list of things to do…in fact I don’t think they are on the list at all…so facing the facts that the day was over we all chatted for a while longer while Josh got his eyebrows plucked in the next room and then went to bed. Isaac and I stayed up a little while longer looking at pictures of the day and having a good laugh at some of the videos but that was only for maybe 20 min or so. I had to be up again around 7:30 to head out for Starbucks.

The Next Morning

There is nothing like Starbucks in the morning. That is unless it’s Starbucks in Hong Kong on a chilly morning with a friend. After sleeping in my igloo refrigerator hotel room for another night I busted out of bed bright and early around 7:15. Actually I hardly crawled out of bed because the room was so cold I could hardly stand to get out from under the covers. But at last I managed to work my legs to fight against the cold and fell out of bed. After laying on the floor for about 2 min trying to remember my name, where I was, why I was there, and why I felt like I had a 11th hour hangover, I managed to get into the shower. WOW!! It was warm, thank God. I was in much better spirits after a hot shower. That was quickly ended however when I stepped out of the slightly warm bathroom and back into the igloo. The steam actually froze and fell to the floor. I’m glad I dried myself off or I wouldn’t have been able to move. I managed to get dressed and then shuffled out my door where Ginger was waiting to find one last Starbucks so she could get her Hong Kong mug and maybe do some more shopping around Times Square. I was just going along for the walk and a coffee. I knew I needed to do something in the morning to shake off the sleepy eyed look before I got on the plane. I’m really glad I went though we had a blast! We started off by walking over to Times Square looking for some shopping. Most everything was closed because it was Sunday morning. That was a bummer but we kept walking and found ourselves in the real shopping district of Hong Kong. Unfortunately everything was closed so we never really got our shopping done. We did find a bakery where the two of us got some really good croissants for breakfast. I forgot how much I enjoy a good bakery. We ran out of time after a while and had to start heading back. Daniel, with his great since of direction managed to not remember the way we came, so we kind of just walked around for a while looking for Times Square. You’d think that it would be easy to find and I’m sure it would be if I had remembered what the dumb building looked like that was at the center of it. We did find a very cool Starbucks and got drinks and I think Ginger got her mug. It was the kind of Starbucks that you just want to sit down with a book, notebook or laptop and drink your coffee and relax. Really big and soft chairs and a quiet atmosphere. Good place and a good memory.

On the way back we shot our last self portrait in Hong Kong city. It looks like we haven’t slept enough. Wonder why? We got back to the hotel and headed up to our rooms to grab our things and get on the bus. It was time to go back to the airport. It was so short yet so fun. I think I want to do it again sometime. The bus ride back was boring. I think I had some kind of sleep deprived conversation with Chase about hooking my sister up with his brother and then how we’d be related after that and how that would suck and that my sister would try to beat his brother anyway and so I didn’t think it would work out all that well even though his brother is a really nice guy and even though my sister is really nice and that they both like cowboy hats and boots and motorcycles so maybe we should hook them up… You talk about weird things when you haven’t slept in a while.

The Airport

We got to the airport and did some last min shopping after getting our tickets. T-Shirts, postcards, things like that were easy to find and I myself invested in some more Hong Kong junk. We went to the gate where we drank coffee took pictures of the airport and stared at each other with these, “I’m so tired I could go on a manic rampage, killing dozens of little oompa-loompas right now and never give it a second thought” looks. 6 hours of sleep in the last 60+ can do that to you. I remember winning at Uno several times and eating chocolate covered espresso beans with glee and throwing them at people. Chase and Mai were able to actually catch them in their mouths. I also remember thinking that the airport was very cool and very clean and very annoying because I wanted to plug my laptop in but all the power was European and not 110. They called our flight, we walked on the plane, I sat down, and the rest starts to get blurry. I tried to sleep on the plane and listen to music but a 1 hour 45 min flight with a meal just doesn’t really lend itself to it all that much. The flight wasn’t bad at all and I spent part of my time discussing with Ben and Ginger how to steal a phone number to make your own IF card and how spies might use that against mainland China. I think Ben though Ginger looked like a spy or something. Maybe it was Bek who was the spy. I can’t remember. The plane landed with the normal bump and go and we pulled up to the airport.

Customs in other countries is much easier than it is in America. Mostly I think that it’s because Taiwan doesn’t have to worry about as much about moronic Arabs coming into their country to kill their innocent women and children. Needless to say they didn’t hardly even check my bags or anything this time. I got in without a problem and so did everyone else. We grabbed our luggage and walked out to where our van would be waiting. I had this odd feeling while in the airport. It was like Taiwan was almost home. It was something I was familiar with compared to Hong Kong and I’ve been living here for the last six months. Yet at the same time it was an odd feeling like I would never really be home. I almost don’t have a home anymore really. After moving around as much as I have in the last few years anywhere can be home to me. So do I dare call Taiwan home right now? Yeah, I think I can and still be ok. It’s where God has me right now and so that’s where we are together and that makes it home for me. You know, it’s amazing where your mind goes sometimes. Anyway, the walk out to the van was boring. Many of us remembered the last time we walked out those doors. It was 6 month ago when this whole adventure had first begun. It’s amazing how things always come to a full circle. We got out to the van where Randy was waiting for us. He informed us that we would all be taking different vans to our different places. The Ying Pan people would go one way, Kinmen the other, Ji Ji yet another, and Hualian still to a different place. It was at that point that someone mentioned that this might be the last time the 11 of us original people would be together with just “us”. That was a hard thought. I’ve really grown to love these people and we got really close this summer. They are the best team in the world and even though we may have our problems sometimes, it’s still a great group. I don’t think I would have had it any other way.

Well, there was the group picture to be had so we all huddled together one last time. Ginger and I got our last self portrait in front of the airport, some of the people gave Isaac his really cool big mother load of a knife for his birthday and we all got into our vehicles. It was kind of a quick thing, no lingering waiting or anything like that. People knew it had been a good time and they knew it was over and they new what they had to do. So we all left. Hualian and Kinmen off to the airport and to the train station and Ying Pan and Ji Ji off to King Car HQ to meet our rides back.

I had the coolest ride back to Ji Ji but that will have to wait for another time and another story :- )

The Last Notes

Needless to say we are all so glad we got to go. The trip was great and it was relaxing. I know I needed it. I was starting to get stressed out and fed up with some things so it was nice to just let loose and have some fun for a day. Seeing all the people from this summer was great. It was like the family was back together again. I think I would go with those people anywhere and trust them anywhere. That’s not something I do often. You can ask the people who know me. I don’t trust just anyone, but I trust the people I spent the day with in Hong Kong. They’re an honest, open and real group. They’re the best and have lived with me through the good and the bad these last 6 months. I hope that this long long long little update of mine didn’t put you to sleep. I hope it gives you a feel for what we did this last weekend. I hope it’s a blessing to you to see that we are still alive and that we are still real people living the real life here in Taiwan. I know when I was back home in the states more often than not I wouldn’t think about missionaries as being real people doing real things. They were just people off out there somewhere who lived as legends and ghosts in my little “American” bubble. I’m hoping you don’t see us like that. We’re the people you know and the people you love. We’re learning, growing, rejoicing, praying, hurting, laughing, crying, singing, and longing just like the rest of you. Please keep us in prayer this next year as we continue down the last half of this race God has given us. Satan doesn’t like us being here and he’s going to try to stop us no matter what; with you however, we can fight back against him and his evils. Your prayers encourage us to keep on keeping on. Sure, we had a nice rest for the weekend but only your prayers will keep us going in 2 months when things aren’t so good looking.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read these, what…12 pages? Wow, I’m talking and I can’t shut up…

God bless and keep you. Come and visit us here in Taiwan! We’d love to have you! Check out the web page for some other updates on things and for some more Hong Kong pictures as well as pictures from the rest of the year at…
www.light2taiwan.com

You can e-mail me at Drschplatt@gmail.com if you have any questions about anything. Also on the web page is a link for contacting people on the team. Please! We love to hear from you. Write us…we need it.

Thanks again,
In Christ,
Daniel Neu
Light2taiwan.com team

New Year's eve here in Hualien county was very quier. While most of the team was in Hong Kong to renew their visas, Christina and I stayed home and had a big meal of popcorn. We worked on a puzzle that our team had started on Christmas day, and had wanted to have finished before New Year's day. Some of families represented here in Hualien have a tradition of working on a puzzle over the Christmas holiday. The team decided that it was a good tradition to continue on, so we did! Now our coffee table is beautifully decorated with a Thomas Kincade puzzle for all to enjoy.

God also has a tradition of putting puzzles together. The puzzles are our lives; the pieces are the circumstances that He places us in; and He has the box top. It is all divinely ordained to fit together so that when the puzzle is finished, the person of Christ is clearly visible to all. It is up to us to trust Him as He directs our steps in every decision that we make whether large or small. "Trust in Him with all thine heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths." ~ Prov. 3:5-6 As those of us here in Taiwan make many decisions, may we follow the Lord's leading!

Til next time!
Gracia Engle

What an interesting few days. Let me tell you about it, but I’ll have to go back to December 31st to fill you in on the whole story, so here goes…
The 11 of us who came over on July 8th had to leave Taiwan to get our visas renewed. We have 6 month visas (yes, it’s already been 6 months), and the time had come to get them renewed. King Car scheduled a trip to Hong Kong for the 11 of us; we were all pretty excited about going.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:50 pm on Dec 31st. We would get to Hong Kong in time to celebrate the New Year there, very cool. When we went to check in at the airport however, we found out that our flight departure time had been delayed till 11:15 pm, due to snow in Shanghai, China, where our plane was coming from. So, we’ll hit the New Year in the air on the way, ok, we can handle that. But wait, we come to find out, upon reaching our gate later that evening that the flight had been delayed again. Eventually we did leave, but not till 1 something in the morning on January 1st, 2005. Happy New Year, by the way!
So we made it to Hong Kong about 3 in the morning, and were at our hotel some time around 4. Needless to say we all crashed for several hours before pulling ourselves out of bed to go shopping the next morning.
Hong Kong is definitely unique. From the British influence (drive on the right side of the car, left side of the road; numerous sky scrapers) combined with somewhat Asian feel, to the countless English accents you come across. The markets, restaurants, shopping districts, slums, docks; Hong Kong is unique.
I spent Saturday, January 1st, shopping and eating with others from the group. We hit Stanley Market, rode the Star Ferry to Kowloon Island and back, and then rode the Summit Peak Tram up one of the hills/mountains? Where we ate dinner, and spent most of the evening.
Sunday morning we left for the airport at 9 am, and our flight left Hong Kong about 12:45 or 1 pm, after another delay (this time only about 30 minutes, instead of 5 hours).
Monday I went to school and taught my normal classes, then came home and crashed. I was officially sick. I think it was a stomach bug or something, I had a fever all night, and other stuff too. I am feeling quite a bit better this morning, but that’s why I’m a little delayed in writing my update.
As you think of us over here, remember to pray that we would continue to shine for Jesus in all that we say and do. Pray for our ministry to our students and teachers, and pray that we could reach out to them as opportunities present themselves.
To all of you back home, have a great day!

Chase Hiebsch
Ying Pan

Hey it's me again!

Let me continue from where I left off.

Ok! 8:30. Monday morning. At Joh-one elementary school- my first class is 5th grade. The peroids at all the schools are 40 minutes long with a 10 or sometimes 20 minute break in between classes. During that class time I have taught from 40 minutes to 0 minutes. It depends on the teacher, and if there going to have a test that day. For the 5th grade and the next class (6th grade), I teach with Lily. She usually does the first 20 and I teach the last.

Teaching 5th graders is very interesting. There seems to such a big gap between the sweet and somewhat strange 4th graders (depends on the kid) from the almost 6th grade 5th graders. I think It's during the 5th grade year that liking your English teacher and school isn't always cool. Fortunately most of my 5th grade classes are going pretty well, but I think during the winter vacation all the 5th graders on the island get a little memo stating that for next semester it is no longer cool to like school. Though some might have gotten it already, I still love them all very much.

Next class: 6th grade. 6th graders are King (and Queen) of their school. They are the big guys that demand respect from the 5th and below. At almost every school there seems to be an Alpha male, or sometimes female, that decides if you should like me or not. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but hey they're powerful! To be totally honest, if I had a different Alpha leader in any of my classes then I think they could be very different. Learning through experience though, if I can get the Alpha then usually the rest of the class will follow. Not that you try to appease them, but you earn there respect and also show genuine love to them as well as to everybody else. However, this is all Andrew's opinion 101.

4th grade. Fourth graders are cute. They're also smart. They like the American. I love fourth grade!!!!! (this semester.......so far). I don't know what it is, maybe it's just my schools, but my 4th graders are impressive. Some could probably quote the english book to me (kidding), and as a whole they're pretty enthusiastic. As you can tell, teaching 4th grade has been so far so good this semester.

Finally there's the 3rd grade. Sometimes teaching third grade is like being in a room full of ambulances. Once there's a problem a high picth, "RRRREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAARRRR" goes off. Teaching 3rd graders has been very different this semester. 1) Last semester they were in 2nd grade, so there I didn't teach them last year. 2) The 3rd graders last semester had already had a semester of English before I came, while these guys are just starting. It's improving though.

Well, I'll stop here and continue next time!

Drew

Today was a very special day. Last night one of my students spent the night with me and then this morning she went to Church with us. After Church we went for a walk and saw a procession for a god. It was like a lot of the others that I have seen. After watching for a little while we decided it was time to grab some lunch so we went to eat. After eating we came back here and played some games and hung out. About 3 my friend went home and after a little while we decided to go for a walk. We saw the procession, and since Anthony wanted some pics, we decided to go get his camera and then go find the procession.

As we walked down the road we met some friends and we asked if the procession would be coming by the temple close to our house. They said it would, so we waited at their house for a few minutes. The procession began to pass the house and we watched from the front steps for a few minutes until we decided to go down by the temple. The procession became more of a show when it passed in front of the temple. The things I saw today were very sobering. (It is easy to go through the motions of things here in Taiwan and forget the real needs that are here.)

In the procession there was the usual things like, the beating of drums and clashing of symbols, people dressed up as gods, wooden carts burning incense and carry miniature statues of the gods, people carrying and waving long branches, traditional dragon costumes etc. But the thing that hit home the most were the young men, who were probably younger than me, that beat themselves until they bled. It was a sight that brought tears to my eyes. To think that their religion requires this type of thing of them broke my heart. As I watched the procession I began to think of many of my students who were lost. (I saw quite a few of them watching the procession.) It reminded me of the need to be in prayer for my students and the people of Taiwan. Though I can’t always share the gospel with others, I can do my part and play with my students, and show them that they are loved. I can reach out to those around me, by smiling, inviting them to my house or just returning a “hello.”

It is a blessing to be here in Taiwan, but I need to remember that things are not all grand and wonderful. There are many people around me that are lost and don’t know where they will go when they die. It is amazing how quickly the Lord can readjust ones focus. Although it was hard to watch parts of the procession, I hope that the things I saw will help me to remember the reason I am here.

God Bless,
Holly
JiJi, Taiwan