Anybody living on the north end of the island of Taiwan is becoming very good friends with rain. I seems like it has been going nonstop for months now.
You’ve heard “When life gives you lemons, make lemonaid!” Well when Taiwan gives you rain . . . .
It is our prayer that you have seen God’s mighty hand at work in your life over the past year and that you enter this coming year with great anticipation of what the Lord will do in your life and the lives of those dear to you. God bless you all!
Check out the **Taiwan in Focus section below for some really good info and a link to a short video . . .
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December 2011
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| Big plans for Christmas | |
| “I knew the Father had big plans for my Christmas that would ultimately lead to His glory, yet I had no idea He would be taking me to the other side of the earth to spend it with people I had never even met.” Hundreds of university students will spend this Christmas in China. A firsthand account will be posted December 21 at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/student-blog/first-person-my-christmas-in-china. |
Give to the nations this Christmas
 The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides 57 percent of the support for the Southern Baptist missionary force of 4,952 missionaries worldwide.This year’s goal is $175 million. Give so that others can hear of Christ’s love. Go to http://www.imb.org/.”We thank you for your sacrificial giving, and your prayer and support of us as we serve the Father here.” Worker in EA “If not for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, I don’t think we’d have the opportunity to be here doing what we’re doing.” Worker in EA |
The gift of prayer
 Radical needs call for radical prayerJoin us in praying all year long for the East Asian Peoples andencourage others to do so too. Order multiple copies of the 2012 East Asian Peoples Prayer Calendar through the IMB Resource Center at 1-800-999-3113 or online at http://imbresources.org/. The resource is free and is also available in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. It can be previewed or downloaded at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/resources/.Christmas prayer requests from frontline workers
Go to http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/prayer-blog/christmas-prayer-requests/for more Christmas requests. Prayer for Tibetans, Muslims and Mongolians Download the December PEAP (Praying for the East Asian Peoples)
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What Christmas is all about
 “They may be getting harder to find in America, but you can locatepeople all over the world who know what Christmas is all about. They’re in some surprising places …” Read the story at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org. |
Japan in recovery
| Child of PeaceMany births that took place in Japan on November 1, the day the world’s population exceeded 7 billion, were to parents who suffered as a result of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis. Mrs. Kawamura-san learned she was pregnant only four days before the earthquake and there were times during her pregnancy when she was unable to get proper nutrition. But now she holds a healthy daughter named Nene, which means “peace”. Parents are welcoming babies as symbols of hope and recovery. Pray that many Japanese will hear of the birth of the Prince of Peace. http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/japan-in-crisis/.Send in the clowns “IMB missionaries Tak and Lana Oue say ‘heart care’ … is one of the top priorities in this stage of disaster relief. When community leaders told them it was time for the people to move on with their lives —to laugh and be cheered, they knew it was time to bring the clowning ministry from Georgia.” Read the story at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/feature/clown-ministry-boosts-healing-process-in-japan/. |
**Taiwan in focus
| Churches reaching outDecember is the busiest month of the year in Taiwan’s evangelical churches, 212 of which are Baptist. Beginning in early December and lasting through Christmas Day, outreaches are held in homes, parks, schools and on the streets. Almost every church building will be packed on Christmas Eve, with many of the churches winding up their festivities in the wee hours of Christmas morning with caroling throughout the community. Pray with Taiwan Christians that a huge segment of its 23 million people will accept Christ this season.Idols on parade“She froze — partly because the road was blocked and she had to stop, but mostly because she was shocked at what she saw. For 45 minutes, she watched a parade of idols, carried on floats, proceed down a main road in Taipei.” Read the story at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/portraits-of-an-east-asian-city-taipei-taiwan/ Visit fascinating Taipei online at http://vimeo.com/channels/245669#33505849.  |
Stay in Touch
Go to http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/
to read the latest stories and features. Our East Asian Peoples Twitter
and Facebook are also updated frequently. Sign on to stay in the know! http://www.facebook.com/pages/IMB-East-Asian-Peoples/156767504344205?v=wall http://twitter.com/#!/eapeoples
Double celebration
Most of the East Asian Peoples will celebrate two New Years in
January: January 1 and the Lunar New Year that will fall on January 23,
2012. This is a great time to share Christ with your Chinese friends
and neighbors anywhere in the world. Special Chinese New Year’s
evangelistic resources will be posted on December 26 at http://eastasianpeoples.imb.org/resources/.
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Every once in a while we go north of town to an area where there are a few stores that carry more products that Americans & European people want. Since we are in the middle of a three day weekend (Monday is a holiday – Taiwan’s independence anniversary) we decided to make a run. Here is a picture of the loot – $53 worth.
bag of 7 limes – 2 bags microwave popcorn – box of 2 pkgs crackers – 10 oz Brown sugar – 2 lbs flour – Lea & Perins Worchester Sauce – Can of lima beans – Can of Chili – Jar of peperoncini peppers – 2 bananas – Ground Nutmeg – Marjoram leaves – Celery powder – can of pinto beans – Can of black beans – Mandarin oranges – Salad dressing – sm bag Cheetos – sm bag Sour Cream & Onion Ruffles.
Here are a couple of things that we did not buy:
Seaweed Wasabi potato chips yummmmmmm
Noodles Oodles facebook credits !@#$%^&*???
A couple of days ago we were out running errands when we saw the tire delivery guy . . . .
Ministry of Interior celebrates religious diversity in Taiwan
GLOBAL VILLAGE:The ministry said that the fact that 27 different officially registered religions could coexist peacefully was a sign of Taiwan’s tolerance
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
There are more than 15,000 religious establishments in the country, including nearly 12,000 Buddhist or Taoist temples and about 3,000 Christian churches of various denominations, which shows that Taiwan is a religiously diverse country, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday.
“On average, there are 41 religious establishments — including temples and churches — in each township or municipal district,” Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah said in a statement.
“The density of religious establishments in Taiwan is very high compared to most countries. This shows that we are a religiously tolerant and diverse country,” Jiang said.
That all different religions in the country could coexist peacefully and respect each other is also proof that Taiwan is a tolerant society, the minister added.
According to the MOI, there are a total of 27 officially registered religions in the country, including the major religions of Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, as well as smaller or locally developed religions such as Confucianism, I-kuan Tao, Maitreyaism, and the Unification Church.
As far as Taoism and Buddhism are concerned, Taoist temples account for 78.3 percent of all 11,875 officially registered temples in the country, while Buddhist temples account for 19.6 percent, MOI statistics show.
For Christianity, 76.5 percent of the country’s 3,336 churches are Protestant, while Catholic churches account for 22.2 percent, according to the MOI.
Regarding the geographic location of religious establishments, more than 30 percent of all temples are in Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County, while more than 30 percent of Christian churches are located in Taipei City, Greater Kaohsiung and Hualien County, the MOI statement said.
“From the figures, we see that different religions enjoy popularity in different regions,” the press release said. “Taoism and Buddhism are popular in southern Taiwan, and Protestantism and Catholicism are popular in northern and eastern Taiwan.”
Published on 6-19-2011 in the Taipei Times
Because things often disappear from the online archives. I have copied the complete article here.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/06/19/2003506165
I know, you’re saying – uh . . . Jackie that was last month.
True. However, over on this side of the planet, people today are all going around wishing each other Happy New Year! It’s the lunar calendar and this is THE biggest celebration of the year – think Christmas for Americans. Tuesday is New Year’s eve and Wednesday is the first day of the lunar year. This year is the year of the Rabbit.
I’m told across the top it says “Best Wishes to you”. The left column says “New Spring covers the land” and the right column “Blessings upon all people”. So – if you haven’t heard it lately, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
During the Christmas break we took a couple of days vacation and did some driving around this beautiful island that we live on. Here are a few of the pictures we took . . .
Click any picture to see a larger version of it. Click HERE to go to Flickr and see a slide show of all the pictures.
