BEHOLD: Suao ports experience

Previously I had blogged about preaching at the docks in Suao, as well as other ports around Taiwan for the different English Congregations. So far our congregation has had great experiences preaching there.

Yesterday our Saturday field service group meeting was to be at the Taipei Main station, which is basically a massive confusing hub where all trains, subways, and buses converge. From there we were all hoping to take a bus out to Suao to preach at the docks. Unfortunately though, our service group conductor had been asked at the last minute to lead the group and had not received the 'OK' from the elder who is normally in charge of coordinating trips out there. We didn't even know if the boats would be there at this point. The brother asked to take the lead that morning is a relatively new brother in our cong. from France, his English is poor, and he'd never led a group out to Suao before, let alone knew how to get there without the aid of GPS. So the entire group was sort of floundering without direction while we waited for the word to go or stay. We decided that we'd better make the most of our time and preach in and around the station until we had further instruction. We weren't finding much success in the station however, there were almost no foreigners there at all. About an hour later we all re-grouped to find out that yes, the boats were in and we could go. The majority of us were very excited to spend the day there, some decided to stay in Taipei.

Then once again the plans were changed- the French brother told us he would be driving his family there by car and meet us all there. So a new group leader was appointed impromptu. This brother however was not entirely prepared to lead a group of sisters out to Suao, he also had no idea how to get us all there and his Chinese is not good enough to know how to ask. We eventually got ourselves on a bus, but found out we would have to transfer to a different bus somewhere along the way, of course no one was able to provide a bus number or location for pick up. So we headed out, and after about an hour bus ride we arrived in the middle of seemingly nowhere. None of us had any idea where to catch the next bus, how much it would cost, or which direction to go. So we began wandering around trying to look for clues, when all of a sudden a little asian lady came running up to Melissa and I and speaking Chinese to us pointing at the magazines. I finally figured out she was trying to ask if we were witnesses. As it turns out she is a Japanese sister from the local Chinese congregation and just happened to ride by with her husband and saw us walking down the street looking very lost. They didn't know much English, but were happy to try to help us get on a bus. They stayed with us for about a half hour and even brought us all coffee to keep us warm until we were finally put on the right bus.

When we arrived in Suao we found that some sort of religious parade had just begun. So we had competition now with the noisy Chinese parade of God's, awful bag-pipe-esque chinese music, firecrackers and smoke all making a big ruckus. However, as we continued we were able to find lots of people to preach to. Many friendly fisherman from Indonesia and the Philippines approached us asking for magazines. They know who we are now and are often eager to talk. We were trying to invite as many people as we could to the bible study meeting that was going to happen later on that night. (A restaurant in the harbor has allowed us to use the upper half of their restaurant to hold meetings for the fisherman every full moon) The two brothers who usually care for the port witnessing and conduct the group study were going to show up that evening to have the meeting. As the day went on, we were all tired and soar from walking all day and carrying loads of literature and traveling. But we covered the entire area. Melissa and I left the ports around dusk, and walked about a half hour to find a train which took another two hours to get us home. It was definitely a long day.

The brothers who traveled out there after we left to conduct the meeting had been texting their return visits and bible studies all day to let them know about the meeting, and many said they would be there. When they arrived they were able to go aboard a few boats and conduct some studies with a few fisherman, but were eager to get the group bible study going in the restaurant. When they got to the restaurant, no one showed up. None of the return visits, none of the studies, no one. They were a little concerned because that was pretty strange for no one show up. They waited there for a while, and eventually a man came up the stairs. He was the founder and president of the Suao Fisherman's Association. He explained that all the fisherman and captains had been called to an emergency meeting held by the Fisherman's association, but he decided to skip out on it to come to the bible study. Pretty soon, he was followed by two other heads of the association who wanted to come to the bible study, as well as one of the return visits. They conducted the study until 10:30 at night with the 4 attendees. The men let the brothers know that next time they want to hold a bible study there to call them first and they will be able to round up every Filipino on every ship as well as their captains and let them all know ahead of time to meet at the restaurant. This is very good news since usually it's a game of 'text and see who shows' for the brothers who come all that way in hopes of finding the few interested ones they've invited before.

We really got to see how Jehovah directs the work. Every time we hit a bump in the road, Jehovah smoothed the path. It was a real pleasure to be there to watch how the entire trip unfolded. We're looking forward to further progress with this unique territory.

Our colorful competition...