2000-09-23
Bell’s Second Week in Taiwan 9-23-00
Dear Family and Friends,
We’ve survived another week in Taipei. After a full week of language class, we know a little Chinese; yet lack confidence in our pronunciation. Our language teacher, Gwey is very nice and blushes easily. She gave us our Chinese names the very first day. Jackie’s name is Bei (shell) Eer Jay (out-standing person). My name is Bei (Shell) Su Ann (think – peace). Today, she took me to lunch at one of the little side café’s and attempted to teach me how to hold my chop sticks while eating beef noodles. It was a pretty tasty dish (what I was able to grab with my sticks). I brought “to go???- complete with chop sticks for Jackie at the office.
Our host family has been out of town since Wednesday and although we miss them, it has forced us to fend for ourselves. Jackie is pretty good about reading the maps and making a plan. We ventured out to some new areas on the subway and we are getting more comfortable about our travels. We ended up at a 9 – story department store Thursday evening. It had a nice grocery in the basement where we finally found a few items we hadn’t been able to find until now. We are learning to keep our loads to about 50 lbs. (15 lbs for me), since we have to tote everything from the store to the subway. Then it’s about a 10 minute walk to our apartment. There are some things that make us laugh… like we think we need rear view mirrors attached to our sunglasses so we can see the approaching mopeds while walk down the narrow streets. Then today (with another heavy load in tote), we got on the wrong train and had to back track. Life is not dull here!
Although the mission decorated the apartment for us, the guest room (my study) is left up to me to decorate. Cynthia took me shopping to pick out fabric last week (it’s one of the few things that is really cheap here). On Tuesday, we had the fellow come measure the window for the drapes and the bunk beds for the spreads. Cynthia speaks Chinese fluently, however the fellow is Taiwanese (different language) and so he brought a helper to help with the communication. My head was spinning, listening to Cynthia converse with the helper, the helper converse with the man, while Cynthia explained it all to me in English. We had a tri-lingual conversation going on in my study. Whew!
To our BSF friends… the Matthew Study started here on Tuesday night. Jackie found out that the Men’s class meets at a Presbyterian church about 5 minutes from our apartment. There were less than 20 men in attendance, with only one discussion group. The women’s class meets at the church next door to our apartment. There were enough ladies for 7 discussion groups, plus an additional 26 visitors. It is so comforting to know that BSF is around the world in 950 plus classes. The same sweet spirit and the obvious love of God is here in Taiwan! I chuckled when I noticed a bug zapper on the floor beside the Teaching Leader’s lectern. : )
On Monday (on our way to the subway), we passed a Buddhist priest performing a ceremony over a young couple with his incense. On Thursday, a young Buddhist priest sat next to where Jackie stood on the subway. I prayed for him, that God would dispel the darkness, expose the deceit, and soften his heart to receive Christ’s grace and freedom. Then on Friday, a young Chinese girl (maybe 14 years old) sat next to me on the subway. As I noticed the English print on her shirt, I smiled and said, “Knee how??? (hello), she responded “Hi???. I said, “I like your shirt.??? She said, “Thank you. It is second hand???. I then asked, “Do you know what it says on your shirt???? She responded “No???. I read out loud, “God’s Victorious Army???. She smiled; I smiled, and then it was time to get off the subway. I keep thinking about how that young girl wears the banner of the one true God, yet she probably doesn’t know Him; how the Buddhist priest burn incense out of fear to a dead god while the love of Christ awaits to set him free from fear; and how the young couple participated in a ritual to appease their ancestors without knowing that pleasing God is the only thing that counts into eternity. I read in my Bible in Isaiah 43 & 44, how the people were no different years ago with their meaningless rituals to their wooden idols. God’s instructions never change, all nations simply need to call upon the Lord for his deliverance and He will blot out their transgressions forever (Isaiah 43:22-25). At this point in our cultural adjustment, all I know to do…. is pray.
Please pray that the Lord will reveal His area of ministry for us soon and that we will embrace it wholeheartedly.
Please pray for our ability to grasp the Chinese language so we can cross cultural barriers for the kingdom of Christ.
May God Bless you All.
Love,
Jackie & Fran
