Sunday, December 16, 2007

More photos :)



The team with a puppet version of Satan













Anthony on his first scooter ride....in Chiayi

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Couple of nights in Chiayi...

Prayer (walking) in the morning, and Ministry (talking) by night... that's pretty much characterised most of our days here in Chiayi...

We started the day with team devotion... and this morning (A.D. 12th December 2007), we meditated upon 1 Thessalonian... 3 weeks was Paul in Thessalonica (Acts 17)... and that's also the time we shared together in Taiwan... it feels like we've been here for years! (in a good way)... well, that's how close we've become... like a real family, one shared for his testimony... different team members taking different roles for the common good...

Today each one of us has the privilege of sharing our time with a missionary... i mean the missionaries sharing their lives with us... and that's uninterrupted time of question and answer, one on one! some of us went prawn fishing: using stick and bait to hook prawns, like that catching normal fish (as opposed to prawning: scooping prawns)... some went to the temple (to chat with the guard), some went to get hair washed and shoulder message at local barber... and oh, the scooter rides... :)

Tomorrow, before our prayer walk, we spent some time with an idol maker...

In the evening (today and tomorrow), we spent our time with the university students: 'English Coffee Bar'... it's been a good experience for me (victor), who come from University (student) church, back in Sydney... even though language has been a problem for me relating, it doesn't stop us establishing relationships... (we took photos, we exchanged email addresses, etc)... during our shared time, we filled in the time doing our skits ('Chronological Bible Story' and 'Christmas Gift')... Betty shared testimony on the first night, while Natalie and me shared on the second... oh, we bush danced together too!... as for informal activities, we played Jengga, Uno-stacko, talked, shared photo album, shared tract, shared everything that could show who we are and tried to share the gospel... oh, uncle Rocky's passion to share the gospel here (and everywhere else) has been a good encouragement for me...

One of the things that i noticed is that the Uni students kept on asking "what do you think of Taiwan?" together with "why do you come to Taiwan?"... if you're us, how would you answer?

Also, unlike the rest of the team, i've been privileged to view the other clubs on campus... the question that kept on bombarding me as i faced them is "what does the Christian club have to offer, especially in terms of skills or creative arts?

On the second night, the guys had an interesting experience participating in Bible study with the working class men... "Men's tea night" is what we call it...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Last days in Taipei.... Arrival in Chiayi

The last few days in Taipei have been a bit more relaxing. We continued helping out with the Kid's ministry on Saturday (8th December) by taking the Wanhua kids to the park. It went well and we had 18 kids, our team and 7 helpers at the Park outing. We played various games like Stuck in the Mud, Egg and Spoon Race, M&M game and Pass-the-parcel. We also performed our Xmas skit which asked the kids what Christmas meant to them, how Australians celebrated Xmas and explained that Xmas is so special because God gave us the best gift by sending His only son to save us.

The last two days in Taipei we had some free time and so we spent some time with the Nicholsons and other missionaries before heading down to Chiayi.

In Chiayi…..

Day 1:
On the first day at Chiayi we were given an introduction at the OMF office, an orientation of the area that we will be working in, met up with some Christian students at Chiayi University and then had a prayer meeting. At the prayer meeting we had the opportunity to meet all the missionaries that are working in Chiayi. It was great to hear about all the different ministries that were happening in Chiayi, and hear about how the missionaries decided to serve in Taiwan and their backgrounds.

The next few days we will be busy with preparing for Saturday’s Christmas Community outreach event/Park carnival with activities like bicycle decoration, face painting, balloon animals, taking blood pressure, games and photo taking. The team has been split up and allocated to different missionaries based on the activity we will be helping out with on Saturday’s Christmas Community outreach event at the park. We are also preparing for the English Coffee Bar at Chiayi University in the next few days. We will be performing our Xmas skit that we mentioned earlier, giving our testimonies and our Chorological Bible story about Creation.

Some prayer points:
*The team will have a good rest
*Lots of students will be attending the English Coffee Bar on Wednesday and Thursday night
*That we will have good weather on Saturday for the Park Carnival
*People who we have invited to the Park carnival will come to the event
*Good preparation for upcoming events.

Friday, December 7, 2007

a bit more of taiwan!















Us at restaurant ministry: Milk Teas!! YUmm!!













At the Ximen Restaurant Ministry Church




















Wow !! our leader is doing so much work! =P














Anthony taste-testing Irene's food














Peak hour...and you thought sydney was hectic!


Us with our MRT cards ! =)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

A few days in Taipei ~*

These last few days have been quite tiring for the team .

We visited several different ministries around Taipei that the OMF missionaries are in charge of..just a few interesting and amazing things we have come across and have been challenged by are:

- Restaurant Ministries: The team got to help out with handing out flyers around noodle food stalls and small restaurants etc to invite the locals to one of the small churches. Although lanuage was an initial problem and also many of them were too busy to chat with us, God was gracious and we did manage to have a few good chats with a few people. Pray that those who said they will go to the christmas gathering at that local church will find time and turn up to the event.

- Prayer Walking in Wanhua : This area is famous for the temples and spiritual worship. The team worked in pairs and prayed as we walked around the streets and looked at the stall workers and also the brothels. There are a few ministries there reaching out to the working class as well as "downcasts" ie. prostitutes or homeless in the society. pray that these ministries will be fruiful and that these people will find Hope in their life.

- Kids ministry: Today we got to help out with a fair and interacted with around 20 kids from "at-risk" background families . Most of these kids come from broken families and none of them actually know how it feels to be loved and care for. Especially for me, ( betty) i was striked by how all these kids are so young and they need to be cared for but their parents are too complicated or busy for them..Lets pray that God's love may be made known to these kids who have hardly experienced love in their lives.

Lastly, please continue to pray for us as a team..to be united by our focus on Christ alone and to serve each other and those we meet with Love and humility.

IC,
Betty ( on behalf of the team)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

a teaser of taiwan =)





Group Picture at the Nicholsons
















Margaret + kids at Wanhua ministry















Us in Wanhua park ministry















Common street Processions - Temple God's birthdays




















Common Temple God heads + ppl holding them

Activities Today

Today, we start really working.

Half the team will get to do some shopping at the wet market and prepare lunch for the team. This is so that they can experience what they will have to cope with in living in Taiwan.

The other half of the team gets an extra hour to do what they want to today and will return the cooking favour in a couple of days time.

We will also be visiting the shop workers in the department stores today with Elisabeth from Germany. Elisabeth has been working here for over 20years and it's a real joy to meet her.

Anthony (for the team)