So far so good as far as food and such. Last night we visited a "night market" in the town we are in (Suantou) which is an open street fair - like Stepping Out - except every night. Most of the food is deep fat fried and the Taiwanese college students we are with bought all kinds of food for me to try - candied tomatoes (small tomatoes dipped in hard candy, fried squid, fried fish patties, fried oysters or oyster balls with sugary syrup on top. This was our "dinner". Everyone is very kind and helpful in the church and team we are a part of. People usually stare at me and children at the market came up and asked me how tall I was. I'm learning a few Chinese phrases to ask them their name... I even have a part in a Chinese drama we are practicing for Tuesday's opening of the camp. I have one line that I'm memorizing over and over.
We are housed in a rented storefront facility that has air conditioned rooms we sleep in - I'm not sure how effective I would be during the day if our sleeping quarters weren't cool. I got close to eight hours of sleep last night, woke up only once after the a/c died and it was sweltering and I was sweating. The room Chuck, Tim, and I sleep in doesn't have any windows, not that that would help. Feel good today and have hopefully gotten over any jetlag.
The church we are working with is tiny - it has two storefront rented facilities, the smaller one is about the size of our kitchen, the larger the size of the high school Sunday school room. There are idols in many of the homes (the doors are all open and most of the homes have a room clearly devoted to idol worship). There are stores where you can by incense burners and other things for setting up your own altar in your house. A common practice in homes we walk by is to have a charcoal burner outside to burn “money” to your ancestors. The team we work with says that one reason they invest in this community is because of this practice that has most people captive - to convert to Christianity means you stop doing this and so "disrespect your elders". This is a big stumbling block to the gospel.
The believers here are very sincere and devoted... the local pastor was a business man in the US who moved back to live here and work. Pastor Joseph is his name.
We are housed in a rented storefront facility that has air conditioned rooms we sleep in - I'm not sure how effective I would be during the day if our sleeping quarters weren't cool. I got close to eight hours of sleep last night, woke up only once after the a/c died and it was sweltering and I was sweating. The room Chuck, Tim, and I sleep in doesn't have any windows, not that that would help. Feel good today and have hopefully gotten over any jetlag.
The church we are working with is tiny - it has two storefront rented facilities, the smaller one is about the size of our kitchen, the larger the size of the high school Sunday school room. There are idols in many of the homes (the doors are all open and most of the homes have a room clearly devoted to idol worship). There are stores where you can by incense burners and other things for setting up your own altar in your house. A common practice in homes we walk by is to have a charcoal burner outside to burn “money” to your ancestors. The team we work with says that one reason they invest in this community is because of this practice that has most people captive - to convert to Christianity means you stop doing this and so "disrespect your elders". This is a big stumbling block to the gospel.
The believers here are very sincere and devoted... the local pastor was a business man in the US who moved back to live here and work. Pastor Joseph is his name.
1 comment:
Joe, sounds like you all are off to a good start! I'm glad you made it there safely and that the living conditions aren't too bad. I didn't even think about it until you mentioned it, but you must stick out like a sore thumb there. You're like a giant to those people. :o) Maybe you can use that as a tool to attract people and then have the opportunity to share the gospel. Thanks for serving over there. Look forward to more updates, big guy.
Scott
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