A Weekend Adventure

Last weekend, a co-laborer, "Libby" (name changed for privacy), who has lived in our city for more than twenty years invited us to spend the weekend with her and two 12-year-old national girls. The girls wanted to give us a tour of the city, and Libby wanted to show us ways we could be involved in the work going on here.

First stop, the science museum!

Libby is a mentor to these two young girls. (One of the girls is actually living in her house because of some family issues.) The girls really don't enjoy their science classes. So, Libby took all of us to a hands-on exhibit at a local museum hoping our enthusiasm for science would spark the girls' interest. I think it worked.

Next stop, the changing of the guards at the Military Martyrs' Shrine.Everything in this country is strongly influenced by the local religions. The Martyrs' Shrine is no exception. People come here to worship those who have sacrificed their lives during revolutions and wars. We learned a lot about local religions that day from Libby and the two girls.

On to the Aborigines Museum.
In this country, there are 14 recognized minority groups, each with different languages and customs. The museum features miniature and life-sized models of aboriginal dwellings and a village meeting hall. Also on display are pottery, baskets, hunting weapons, musical instruments, aboriginal costumes and ornaments, while the basement area describes aboriginal belief systems. It was amazing to learn about all the differences of religion in each tribe. (On a different outing, we got to meet some of Libby's friends that work with one of these ethnic tribes.)

Another interesting picture from the Aborigines Museum:

The silver "hat" has two openings for the eyes. Esther and I decided that we wouldn't mind visiting this tribe. They are the only ones that never participated in head-hunting.

After the Aborigines Museum, we headed to a famous night market!
The night market was literally shoulder-to-shoulder full of people. The girls, Esther, and I pushed and shoved our way like everyone else. We tasted some interesting national foods and soaked in the local flavor. There are soooo many people in this city, and only about 2% claim to have a personal relationship with Father.

In the night market, we saw something new to us:

Each of these banners marked the doorway to a little room where a person sat at a little table waiting to read your fortune. Many of these rooms were filled with couples seeking auspicious days for upcoming weddings, singles looking for that perfect mate, and people searching for answers to life's biggest questions. There were even special rooms for English and Japanese patrons. It was sad to see so many people searching for help in these kinds of places.

After the night market, we returned to Libby's house and fell exhausted into bed. The next afternoon, Libby led a house group meeting with some national folks and some Filipino factory workers. (There is a huge Filipino population in our city; most of them workers who have come here alone in search of jobs to support their families back in their home country.) After church, Libby treated all of us to a special meal: Pizza from Pizza Hut! And yes, in the foreground, those are buckets of chicken. Don't you always order buckets of chicken from Pizza Hut? Well, it was all delicious!

Our weekend adventure was really a great way to get to know the city's culture through the eyes of natives and "almost-natives" like Libby. Esther and I now have a much better understanding of how to talk to people in a culturally appropriate way about those most important topics. Hopefully, this experience will help us as we begin our own work with the people in this city.

Welcome to our NEW blog!

Welcome to our new blogsite! Why did we start a new blog? Well, last week, our family changed locations. So, we decided to start a separate blogsite for this journey. (We will no longer post to our old blogsite, but a new blogsite about our old city will be up and running soon. We will keep you all informed of that information as it becomes available.)

As you can tell by our blog heading, our new city is very different from our old one! And yet, very much the same. We thought we'd use this entry to share some things we have noticed about the differences and the similarities. One difference is the food. Remember hot pot from our old blog?It's still available in this city, but not nearly as popular as it was in our old city. (Probably because it's so hot here!) Instead, there is lots of food sold by vendors on the street. Local snacks are easy to eat on the go!
Speaking of food on the go:
Those really are Pizza Hut delivery scooters. There's a Pizza Hut take-out restaurant just a couple of blocks from our new home! (Of course, the prices for Western foods are the same or higher than the USA, so we haven't sampled it yet.) In our old city, we were happy just to have one little KFC. Here, KFC's are everywhere; some even four stories tall!Being in a tropical area means they also grow different foods. No more mutton or donkey jaozi. But, LOTS of fruits like:bananas! Yes, this tree was actually growing in a residential area near our new home.


Another HUGE difference from our old city is the freedom to openly worship.
This Baptist church has several services on Sunday and lots of activities throughout the week. The English-speaking service that we recently attended had over 500 present. And it's right out in the open! Of course, the city is also much more heavily influenced by Buddhism and every other conceivable belief system.

Another big difference is the memorials built to remember famous people from this island's history. This huge building and the surrounding park is all dedicated to Chiang Kai Shek. A far cry from the statue of Mao that reigned over our old city's main square.

But, one thing that has definitely not changed here:masses of people. Everywhere. So many more than in our old city. Millions of people everywhere we look. All searching for peace, hope, and love through materialism, career advancements, false religions, or pleasure. However, these people are still speaking our Old language, have the same Old customs, and worship the same Old gods. So, we keep doing what we did before. We continue to learn the language and the culture. We continue to spend our days looking for ways to point people to Him. We continue to share HIStory at every opportunity.

Our people group has not changed. We have not changed. He has not changed. We're just in a new location doing exactly the same thing we've always done. Please think of us daily as we all make the necessary adjustments to be the very best representatives of Him that we can possibly be.