Shifting gears (without a clutch)

Well, this post serves as more of a notification than anything else, I suppose.
Every now and again life likes to throw a few hot potatoes at you. At which point you have to make a decision... catch the potatoes- painfully and frantically juggling them until you make the next logical decision, or take a few steps back and let the potatoes hit the ground (or some other passer-by)
It's not the best analogy, I know. But, it does sum up my current situation in a way.
It's my turn, once again, to have those piping hot plant tubers chucked in my direction. And rather than attempt to juggle these projectiles in a clumsy and uncomfortable manner- I have chosen to take a few steps back.
Thus, I am ending my journey here in Taiwan (at least for now). I have about three months left here, in which I hope to complete my experiences with a bang. So, stay tuned for what may be the last installments in this journal of my Asiatic ineptitude.
With any hope, I will be better equipped to deal with the next arsenal of potatoes that might accompany the next adventure. (Or learn to invest in oven mitts)

The countdown begins- 3 months and 4 days remaining.

And May be

Who would have known May would creep up so quickly. The month started out with a bang. We had our zone visit for Taiwan two weekends ago. Only the Northern half of the country were invited to attend the actual talk. That included our congregation, so we rented buses and made the trek out to Taoyuan. The group attending was mostly Chinese congregations so the opening talk, announcements, and songs were all in Chinese. The brother who gave the zone talk came from the Germany Bethel so he spoke English, and a brother translated it in to Chinese along the way. There was also a sizeable Chinese sign language group there, it was cool to watch them sign the songs.

The talk was very encouraging, and very informative. He brought out many points most of us had never thought of, and related some exciting experiences in the Chinese and English fields. He was talking about how undeniably involved the angels are in our ministry, and gave the following experience:

A man in Indonesia came down from a mountain village, where he lived, to the city of Jakarta to go to the train station. He wasn't planning on boarding the train, but was going to throw himself in front of it. He stood on the platform waiting to end his life, but a very different chain of events took place. The train was late. And as he stood there something fell out of the sky and hit him on the head. It was one of our study books. The man picked it up and began to think twice about what he was doing. He read the book and began studying and was eventually baptized. This experience was told at a circuit assembly some time later, and one sister in the audience heard it and realized it was her book that had hit him in the head. After the program she found the man and explained that on that same day she had been preaching at the train station. She was witnessing to a woman on a balcony above the train tracks when the woman's husband came over. He began asking what they were doing and became very angry, grabbed the book and threw it over the balcony. I'd say it hit the target.

Anyhow, the zone visit was a very encouraging day. There were over 6,800 people that attended the talk in Taoyuan and thousands more all over the country that got to listen by video tie-in.

Last Saturday I had another fun filled day in Suao port witnessing. I was able to catch a ride in an actual car this time, with one of the French families in my congregation. We took a different route that the GPS suggested would be shorter. However, it ended up leading us by a narrow winding road up and around a mountain. It definitely was not a faster route, but the scenery was amazing. There are huge peaks covered in lush green rainforest, deep valleys, tiny villages peaking out of the hillsides, furrows of tea fields, rivers and waterfalls, and the occasional massive gold statues and pagodas situated among the vines and trees. It was a beautiful drive that I hope to be able to do again when we have more time. Would be ideal on a motorcycle.

We had a large group with us at the port, as the Tagalog language class decided to practice their new service presentations and joined us. The sun was out and there were plenty of fisherman to preach to. After we had preached through the whole port we decided to walk to the beach to see if we could find more fisherman. Then we all decided it was play time, and enjoyed the beach for the rest of the evening. The beach is very nice and the water is warm. It reminded me of being back in Hawaii. Unfortunately I didn't have proper swimming gear, so I only got to go knee-deep. But it was worth it just to see the beach again.

Our group was quite a spectacle there. This area is well off the tourists path usually. So when a group of 20 or so foreigners, all dressed in nice service clothes, come to a remote beach and jump in and swim (the Taiwanese don't swim, so we were the only ones in the water), it drew quite a crowd. People were standing all around us just staring, some were taking pictures of us, some were video taping us like were were a group of rare animals they'd never seen before. It did open up an opportunity for those who speak Chinese to witness to the Taiwanese onlookers.

After the beach some of us went to a seafood restaurant back at the ports. We ate virtually every kind of creature that lives in the sea. They just kept bringing us more and more dishes until we couldn't eat anymore. The food was very good and amazingly cheap. We had everything from raw tuna, to jelly fish, oysters, whole squids, shrimp, shark and more.

the 'shortcut' through the mountains

The Brinster family 

Suao beach

full moon on the beach

On Sunday after the meeting, Melissa and I decided to try to find a hiking trail called Elephant Mountain. We had heard it has great views of the sunset over Taipei. We did find it, only just a little too late for the full sunset. But we did get some spectacular views of Taipei city at night all lit up.

Well, summer finally feels like it's here. The weather is plenty hot now, and all I can think about all day is where to find the next cold beverage. Mel and I head back to Hong Kong again on Saturday. And who knows what else May will have in store for us.

End.